Rita de Acosta Lydig

Who was Rita de Acosta Lydig?

Rita Lydig was an American socialite regarded as "the most picturesque woman in America." She was photographed by Adolf de Meyer, Edward Steichen, and Gertrude Käsebier, sculpted in alabaster by Malvina Hoffman, and was painted by Giovanni Boldini and John Singer Sargent, among others. She also wrote one novel, Tragic Mansions, under the name Mrs Philip Lydig, a society melodrama described as "emotionally moving and appealing" by The New York Times.