In the fall of 1753, Casanova was brought to the attention of Marina Morosini, a member of a patrician family that had provided Venice with political and military leaders. She was 22 years old, beautiful, tall with a white complexion, but she was also terribly bored of life in the convent. A patrician wedding required a large dowry, so Venetian nobles preserved the family fortune by marrying only their eldest daughter and sending the others to one of the city’s 50 convents. Marina was exceptional in that she had willingly become a nun, but suddenly she began to yearn for the theatre, gambling, and love affairs. In September 1752 she found the perfect lover: the French ambassador to Venice.