Henriette Negrin met Mariano Fortuny in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century and, in 1902, went to live with him in Venice at the
Palazzo Pesaro degli Orfei, now
Palazzo Fortuny, one of the museums of the city. Henriette Negrin and her husband shared an interest for textile creations. In particular, she researched
pigments for the dying of fabrics, applying the dyes herself to the wood
stencils for
printing the textiles. She developed a
pleating machine the patent for which was filed by the
National Institute of Industrial Property (France) of Paris on June 10, 1909. In a signed hand-written note on a copy of the patent (copy kept at the Marciana Library), Mariano Fortuny acknowledged his future wife as the inventor of the machine: " Ce brevet est de la propriété de Madame Henriette Brassart qui est l’inventeur. J’ai pris ce brevet en mon nom pour l’urgence du dépôt." (''"This patent is the property of Madame Henriette Brassart This pleating technique plays a central role in the design of the
Delphos gown, whose creation Henriette Negrin confirmed as her own In the letter, Henriette Negrin indicated her decision to terminate all production of the dress that she had designed. During the 47 years of her life with Mariano Fortuny, Henriette Negrin was fully involved in all aspects of their creative life. After his death, she curated her husband's art collection, donating works to several museums and compiling the inventory of the contents of their residence. She donated the building to the city of Venice, which came into its full possession after her death in 1965. ==References==