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sollannaart · 16 days

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Józef Poniatowski’s women.

Part V. The rest of ladies who might have been of some interest to him

Good day everyone and let me share with the rest of information I possess on Prince Poniatowski's love interests. (Though, I have to admit, the ladies from this list were the least likely - from all the mentioned in these series of post - to have some kind of affair with Pepi.

To start I would like by Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen of Prussia.

On the right - unidentified artist, miniature portrait of Prince Poniatowski, 19th century. On the left - portrait of Queen Louise by Giuseppe Grassi, 1802.

Prince Józef had the opportunity to meet the wife of the king Frederick William III at least four times, because the royal couple visited Warsaw - which had become a part of Prussia as a result of the third partition of Poland - three times, in 1798, 1802 and 1805. And in 1802 Poniatowski himself had to go to Berlin, to settle the matter of the inheritance left by his uncle Stanisław August.

According to Juliusz Fałkowski, while at Warsaw Prince Józef "…gave a ball and a dinner in the Copper-Roof palace in their honor [the King and Queen of Prussia - A.S.] and was flirting with the Queen everywhere", for which he received the star of the black eagle, although he rather "expected something else from the beautiful queen." After the departure of the royal couple, "he longed a little for the crowned beauty who had easily won his heart in passing."

An Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun painting of Queen Louise, c. 1801

The second source that mentions the relationship between these two is the book by Marian Brandys "Kozietulski i inni", which states (without giving sources, unfortunately) that during Pepi's visit to the capital of Prussia "… it was also said that the beautiful Queen Louise fell in love with in a knightly Pole."

However, if you ask my opinion about the likelihood of an affair between Pepi and the Queen of Prussia, I will say that in my opinion he was "flirting" her to make it easier to solve the inheritance problem. As for the fact that she could also be in love with the prince, I have no opinion because my knowledge about Queen Louise is not very great.

The second lady in today's list will be prince Józef's first cousin once removed, Anetka Potocka (née Tyszkiewicz, the daughter of Konstancja Poniatowska and a grand-daughter of prince Kazimierz, the oldest of the Poniatowski siblings).

On the left - Poniatowski's portrait by Franciszek Paderewski, on the right - Portrait of Anetka Tyszkiewiczówna, Giuseppe Grassi, 1796.

Born in 1779, she was 16 years younger than Pepi, and she remained unmarried for quite a long time, becoming the wife of the Count Aleksander Potocki in 1805. (Marian Brandys, in the biography of Anetka's uncle prince Stanisław, states that some time before 1791 there was an idea to join all the Poniatowski estates marring Stanisław to his niece, but it was eventually abandoned.) The marriage brought them three children, but after 16 years Anetka asked for divorce and then wedded Colonel Stanisław Dunin-Wąsowicz. During the times of the Duchy of Warsaw, she was a frequent guest at the Copper Roof Palace, visited Paris, witnessed Napoleon's sojourns in Warsaw, with all of those events been described later in her memoirs.

Portrait of Countess Dunin Wąsowicz, Anna née Tyszkiewicz, 1836.

As for her relationship with Prince Józef, it were her own words that made Fałkowski write that "the beautiful prince fell in love with Anetka" although "it was a platonic feeling".

"… Mrs. Aleksandrowa (Anetka Potocka - AS ) herself half-admitted thisin her old age. ''On disait alors que le Prince Joseph avait pour moi un sentiment plus tendre que l'amitié (it was said that Prince Joseph had for me a feeling more tender than friendship),' she would recalled with a dreamy expression on her face."

The second thing that leads historians to believe that Pepi could have distinguished this cousin of his from other relatives is the provision in his will, according to which she was to receive, after the death of the prince's sister, Teresa Tyszkiewicz, his favorite palace in Jabłonna near Warsaw. And when this did happen, Anetka ordered a triumphal arch to be built in the park in memory of Prince Józef.

The palace in Jabłonna, 2019

The triumphal arch from Jabłonna's park, 2019

And collage of mine is an illustration to the part dedicated to the rest of the women, whose portraits I wasn't able find. And honestly, the evidence that they might have been Prince Józef's love interests is very weak. But, since historians from time to time do mention these ladies' names, I thought them worth being included as well…

For example, in the prince's testament, together with Henriette de Vauban, Zofia Czosnowska and the above mentioned Anetka Potocka, there was mentioned Elżbieta Merlini, the daughter of Dominique Merlini, an Italian architect, the last main builder of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But such concern for the architect's daughter may have been explained by a sense of moral debt to her father, which the prince Józef inherited from King Stanisław with the rest of the things.

Then, the list of Pepi's women sometimes complemented by another "Elżbieta" - Cichocka (although her real names were Emilia Karolina - or Katarzyna) née Bachmińska I° voto Szymanowska, II° voto Cichocka, III° voto Abramowiczowa. It is said she even sojourned in Jabłonna before 1810, until being apparently forced by Zofia Czosnowska to leave the place. After that Madame Cichocka went to Vilna, where she married her third husband. However, what IMHO should be taken into account in regards with this lady is that her second husband, Michał Cichocki, was an illegitimate son of Stanisław August, which might have made Prince Józef consider her a relative and thus take care about.

The same can be said about Madame Kicka - Józefa Martyna Rozalia née Szydłowska, who was a sister of Elżbieta Grabowska, another mistress of King Stanisław.

Sometimes the names of women who were friends and companions of Madame de Vauban are also included to the list of prince Józef's love interests. Those are: Anna Krasińska, a relative of general Krasiński and the wife of Mikołaj Oppeln-Bronikowski; Salomea Wielhorska née Dembińska; Anna Trębicka née Czerska, future wife of general Kamieniecki, and Józefa Potocka née Sollohub.

PS. As the regular visitors to the Copper Roof Palace are as well mentioned two ladies of the surname Walewska: Józefina née Lubomirska, the wife of Adam Walewski and the future wife General Witt, and Maria, the wife of Anastazy Walewski. The first of them was known for her kind of loose behavior, so presumably she might have at least flirted with Pepi; the second one is the famous Maria Walewska, but all I know about her makes me think her love for the emperor left no room in her heart for other men.

Portrait of Maria Walewska by Robert Lefèvre

#poniatowski #józef poniatowski #józef poniatowski’s women #queen Louise of Prussia #Giuseppe Grassi #Anetka Potocka #Jabłonna #Jabłonna palace #Maria Walewska #Robert Lefèvre

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sollannaart · 2 years

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Józef Poniatowski’s women.

Part IV. The emperor’s sister and a couple of cousins.

Good evening, dear all, and let me continue about prince Józef’s women.

The first point in today’s list will be the person I omitted writing the first part of the series. Namely - Pauline, a sister of Napoleon.

Images used for collage: Poniatowski’s portrait by Grassi, and Pauline’s by Robert Lefèvre

Excluding the four women from the above-mentioned post (who are documented to be prince Józef’s love interests) it is the princess Borghese who has the highest probability of having affair with Poniatowski. The certainty of being so is not 100%, because, as I have found reading documents from the époque, the alleged romance was mentioned by one person only (by Anetka Potocka), and the rest of the people just quoted her.

Pauline Bonaparte-Borghese, Duchess of Guastalla, by Robert Lefèvre

And, if the affair did have place, it didn’t last long. Because Pauline has never been to Poland, and Poniatowski stayed in France only about 4 months in 1811.

Portrait of Pauline Bonaparte, by Salomon-Guillaume Counis

Btw, this is my favourite image of Pauline, because the creators of my favourite Napoleonic TV series chose an actress to play Pauline who looked pretty much like she on this portrait.

The next person in my list will be the Duchess Maria of Württemberg, née Czartoryska. Being the daughter of the princess Izabela and - officially - the prince Adam (and unofficially - of the king Stanisław August himself), princess Maria was Pepi’s second cousin. (A little bit about the Czartoryskis I wrote there.)

Images used for collage: a copy of Grassi’s portrait of prince Józef, and Maria’s portrait by Heinrich Friedrich Füger

Maria was 5 years younger than her cousins, and though some historians name her among the possible brides the Poniatowskis family were considering for Pepi, I do not think this is plausible. Because having only sixteen years she was given by her parents as a wife to the duke Louis of Württemberg.

Portrait of Maria Anna Czartoryska, Duchess von Württemberg, made by Louis-François Marteau

The marriage, however, didn’t prove to happy. The Duke, being made the commander of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's army during the War in Defense of the Constitution in 1792, betrayed the Commonwealth, refusing sending his troops to fight the Russians. And Maria, having that year given birth of their only child, a son, initiated next year divorce.

Maria’s portrait by Johann Baptist von Lampi the Elder

As for prince Józef and his possible relations with Maria - there is a list written by Maria’s mother around the year 1788, when Maria and her husband after 4 years in Prussia came to settle in Warsaw. And in this list the princess Izabela warned her daughter, that she should have been careful when prince Józef would start courting her! As a proof of that piece of advice the princess Izabela wrote that “Prince Joseph himself says loudly that he is incapable of true love, that he only likes to play with women.”

Not very much of evidence, is it? But had there be no any interest between Maria and Józef the former’s mother would not have had a reason to warn her daughter.

Anyway, it looks like princess Izabella’s piece of advice made her daughter reject Pepi’s courtship (if the latter did happen). Because no one of diarists ever mentioned any kind of romantic liaison between the two.

Maria’s portrait by un unknown author, ci 1810.

Although in 1813, upon learning of the death of Prince Joseph, in a letter to her brother prince Adam Maria expressed a great regret which she claimed would not leave her until her death.

And what about Maria herself? What happened to her after divorce? Alas, her later life didn’t look like as a happy one. Having divorced the duke she had to give their son away to the his father’s family (who raised the boy in the spirit of polonophobia…). Never remarrying, Maria found her “consolation” in philanthropy and writing (her novel Malvina is considered to be Polish first psychological novel).

The last woman of today’s list will be… Maria’s younger sister, princess Sophia (Zofia) Czartoryska, married name Zamoyska.

Images used for collage: prince Jozef’s portrait by Antoni Brodowski and princess Sophia’s - unknown author’s copy after Josef Grassi

She was 10 years younger than Maria (and 15 - than Pepi), and though in the last years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth existence she was among other considered as a possible bride for prince Józef this project remained “on paper”. And eventually, in 1798, Sophia married Stanisław, count Zamoyski.

Portrait of Stanisław and Sophia Zamoyski with their children, Sebastian Ludwik Wilhelm Norblin

And here lies the biggest problem, „undermining” a theory that there might have been a romance between countess Zamoyska and prince Poniatowski - because in comparison with her older sister Sophia’s marriages seemed to be a happy one. She and her husband had 8 children, and in society she was known as a woman of very high virtues.

Sophia’s portrait by Josef Grassi

Nevertheless, there is a historian (Waldemar Łysiak) which stated there might have been possibility and that is why I feel I have to mention this.

Everything happened in spring of 1813, when prince Józef with the Polish Army he managed to gather after the disaster of the previous year stayed in Kraków. A lot of people tried that time to dissuade him to lead this army to the emperor of the Frenchmen, advising switching sizes, joining the anti-napoleonic coalition instead. And the beautiful Sophia was among those people. She even arranged - in her country house “Pod Lipkami” (“Under linden trees”) - a farewell party for the Polish army and its commander on the eve of their leaving. (And, in Łysiak’s opinion, the consummation of the romance might have happened just there.) The party that in fact turned out to be the last , as Juliusz Fałkowski called it, “nice and happy moments of prince Jozef’s life" on Polish soil…

#józef poniatowski #poniatowski #jozef poniatowski #prince poniatowski #joseph poniatowski #józef poniatowski’s women #maria czartoryska #maria würtemberska #zofia czartoryska #zofia zamoyska #pauline bonaparte #maria of württemberg

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sollannaart · 3 years

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Contents of my blog (mainly devoted to prince Józef Poniatowski)

Some posts are re-blogs of my friends’ ones, for them the authors are given in brackets.

(The images added just to draw attention)

Portraits:

On paintings as a child

Painted during his lifetime

The most known posthumous (and its copies)