Artist (photographer) from New York City.

She has a bloodhound, Henry, to which she is devoted.

<<< If she's a) a photographer and b) from New York, it seems likely that she'd know MarthaLandsmann. What do you think? -- RobHague >>>

<<< That was exactly how we imagined it, yes. -- Steve McIntyre >>>

<<< O.K. - we can sort out the details as and when. I guess she knows LisaDaVinci too. Also, the name sounds kind of Eastern European - is she another one with WWI baggage, or is she American born and raised? (Of course, the two aren't neccesarily mutually exclusive...) -- RobHague >>>

Background

Not everyone will know all of this.

Rebecca came to Unity ostensibly to branch out into landscape photography. Previously she'd mainly done portraits. She was born Rebecca Bostwick in a poor part of New York; the Swarovski comes from one of her husbands. She started out as an artists' model (not very respectable) and consequently there are portraits of the young Rebecca in various galleries. She's particularly proud of an early Cubist example in the New York Metropolitan Museum and will drag people to see it.

She describes herself as a respectable widow. She was certainly briefly married to a minor painter called Werner Swarovski who died in 1895, and has hung onto his name ever since. Those who know the art world may know that Werner shot himself, officially while suffering from temporary insanity. Rebecca never mentions it, and if the subject is brought up will dismiss it as all being a very long time ago. In fact she had been on the verge of leaving him as he had found out she had been having an affair.

Afterwards Rebecca was supported by her lover for a while but eventually took up photography and started to make a living at that. They split up amicably after some years. Rebecca continued to live in New York amongst the artistic community.

As she was starting to become better known as a photographer she was cited as the Other Woman in a society divorce case. This helped her career no end, especially as she turned up in court and cheerfully gave detailed evidence. It is suspected that she had arranged this with the wronged wife on discovering her existence. The wife got her divorce and she and Rebecca occasionally visit one another.

After this incident Rebecca found herself much better off and decided to stay single for a while and concentrate on her career. She made enough money to be independent; this is helped by the fact that she was also left a legacy by one of her patrons. Since she moved to Unity she's started thinking about getting married again.