Myths & Misconceptions

The legend is bigger than the man. Here's what survives a check.

“He seduced a thousand women.”

No. Scholars indexing the memoirs count roughly 120–126 named women. The figure of a thousand is a later exaggeration with no basis in the memoirs or any other source.

“He wrote the libretto of Don Giovanni with Mozart.”

Legend, no evidence. Casanova was in Prague in October 1787 for the premiere of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and the legend of his collaboration with Lorenzo Da Ponte on the libretto has been repeated for two centuries. No letter, manuscript, or contemporary account substantiates it. It belongs in the myths column until evidence appears.

“He was the Chevalier de Seingalt.”

Half true. He used the title from about 1757 and signed his own books with it. No authority granted it. It was self-styled — documented self-fashioning, not a rank.

“His real father was a Venetian nobleman.”

Unproven. Casanova hints in the memoirs that his godfather, the patrician Michele Grimani, may have been his true father. There is no corroboration, and the claim serves the memoirs’ narrative a little too neatly. Flagged as anecdote.

“These are his last words: ‘I have lived as a philosopher, and die as a Christian.’”

Unconfirmed. The line is widely repeated; no contemporary witness records it. Treat as legend.

“The memoirs tell his whole life.”

No. The narrative breaks off in 1774 despite the title’s promise of 1797. The last twenty-four years come from other sources.

“Every portrait labeled ‘Casanova’ shows him.”

No. Authentic portraiture is limited to essentially one certain lifetime image: Johann Berka’s 1788 engraving, drawn from life. Other circulating likenesses are after a presumed bust or unattributed. This site labels each image with exactly what the archive says.

Source notes

• Each correction above follows the scholarly consensus summarized in the Pléiade Histoire de ma vie (2015) apparatus and the BnF “Fonds Casanova” documentation.