in visual arts. In 1809, while visiting an art shop near the Spanish Steps, he met Bianca Milesi, the 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy merchant from Milan, with whom he fell in love. Despite her 1825 marriage to a French doctor, he was to remain her passionate admirer until her death from cholera in 1849. He later stressed that she had been a major source of inspiration for him, especially in allowing him the transition "from painter to poet", while the literary critic Eugen Lovinescu believed she inspired Asachi's Romantic nationalism. At the time, he authored his first poems on Romanian nationalist subjects, which earned him an award presented by the Roman Literary Society. One of these was Viitorul ("The Future"), which voiced a call for national regeneration. Interested in the origin of the Romanians and the history of Roman Dacia, Asachi studied events depicted on Trajan's Column and searched the Vatican Library for documents regarding the history of Romania. It was during the latter research that he came across Dimitrie Cantemir's History of the Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire in its English-language edition. Through Bianca Milesi, Asachi met François Miollis, the French commander in Rome, who reportedly told him that Napoleon Bonaparte intended to emancipate Moldavia and Wallachia as a result of the expedition into Russia, and thus create a new "Dacian Kingdom" in the area of present-day Romania. Partly as a result of this encouragement, Asachi decided to travel back home on 22 June 1812, and, sailing down to Galaţi, arrived in Iaşi on 30 August. His designs regarding French protection over the Danubian Principalities were ended by Napoleon's retreat from Russia, and by the restoration of Ottoman suzerainty and Phanariote rules, when Sultan Mahmud II appointed Scarlat Callimachi as Prince. Early lectures and mission to Vienna In reaction to these developments, Gheorghe Asachi centered his attention on cultural improvements, Westernization, and Enlightenment teachings, with support from Metropolitan Veniamin. In 1813, his expertise and familiarity with European languages led Prince Callimachi to appoint him Reviewer (Referandar) for the Department of Foreign Affairs. In 1814, increasingly opposed to the Greek-language teaching favored by the Phanariotes, Asachi proposed the first in a series of Romanian-language educational institutions, a course in engineering and topography to be held at the Princely Academy in Iaşi; once approved by the ruler and countersigned by Veniamin, the lectures attracted a number of young