Source note

ZAMBINELLA, a eunuch, who sang at the Theatre Argentina, Rome, the leading soprano parts; he was very beautiful. Sarassine, a French sculptor, believing him to be a woman, became enamored of him, and used him as a model for an excellent statue of Adonis, which may still be seen at the Musee d'Albani, and which Dorlange-Sallenauve copied nearly a century later. When he was over eighty years old and very wealthy, Zambinella lived, under the Restoration, with his niece, who was wife of the mysterious Lanty. While residing with the Lantys Zambinella died in Rome, 1830. The early life of Zambinella was unknown to the Parisian world. A mesmerist believed the old man, who was a sort of traveling mummy, to be the famous Balsamo, also known as Cagliostro, while the Bailli de Ferette took him to be the Comte de Saint-Germain. [Sarrasine. The Member for Arcis.]