Giuseppe Scaraffia was born in Turin, Italy, in 1950. He graduated in Philosophy at the University of Milan with a thesis on the idea of happiness in Diderot. He has taught French Literature at the Sapienza University of Rome since 1976. Over the years his research has focused in particular on the great myths of seduction of the 19th century, from the figure of the femme fatale to that of the tall dark stranger. José Alberto Ribeiro is Director of the National Palace of Ajuda-Royal Treasury Museum since 2013. He researches the history of collections and Portuguese art of the 19th-20th centuries, focusing particularly on the members of the Portuguese Royal House and their cultural and artistic practices.