Agnes von Kurowsky, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Agnes von Kurowsky

Muse for Ernst Hemingway

Date of Birth: 05-Jan-1892

Place of Birth: Germantown, Pennsylvania, United States

Date of Death: 25-Sep-1984

Profession: writer, nurse, novelist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Agnes von Kurowsky Stanfield (January 5, 1892 – November 25, 1984) was an American nurse who inspired the character "Catherine Barkley" in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Kurowsky served as a nurse in an American Red Cross hospital in Milan during World War I.
One of her patients was the 19-year-old Hemingway, who fell in love with her.
By the time of his release and return to the United States in January 1919, Kurowsky and Hemingway planned to marry within a few months in America.
However, in a letter dated March 7, 1919, she wrote to Hemingway, who was living at his parents home in Oak Park, Illinois, that she had become engaged to an Italian officer.
Although Kurowsky did eventually return to the United States, they never met again.
Their story is shown in the 1996 film In Love and War. Hemingway used his experiences in Italy as the basis for ten short stories.
Fictionalized characters based on Kurowsky appear in his short stories "A Very Short Story" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro", as well as his novel A Farewell to Arms.