Video: The fatal "queen of muses and beauty": why Princess Volkonskaya was considered a witch in Russia, and a saint in Italy
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
December 14 marks the 227th anniversary of the birth of one of the most outstanding women of the 19th century, mistress of a literary and art salon, singer and poetess, Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya … She conquered not only poets, artists and musicians - even the Emperor Alexander I lost his head because of her. A. Pushkin called her either "the queen of muses and beauty", then a witch. They said that she brings misfortune to everyone with whom fate confronts her. But when Volkonskaya moved from Russia to Italy, she earned the nickname Pious and the glory of a saint.
She was born in 1789 in the family of Prince Beloselsky-Belozersky, who was famous for both his beauty and brilliant erudition, for which he received the nickname “Moscow Apollo”. Zinaida received an excellent education: she knew 8 languages, sang no worse than an opera singer, wrote poetry, was well versed in art. She became the first woman among the members of the Society of Lovers of Russian Antiquities at Moscow University.
She easily won the hearts of the most brilliant gentlemen, but Emperor Alexander I became her love for many years. He did not respond to Zinaida Alexandrovna with the same ardent feelings, but for many years they were bound by platonic relations, tender correspondence and mutual admiration. They gave her in marriage to the unloved - the rich prince Nikita Volkonsky. This marriage was nominal, they lived "a family apart", and when in 1811 the princess had a son, it was whispered in the public that his real father was the emperor. Although, judging by their correspondence, there were actually no grounds for such statements.
Prince Volkonsky lived in St. Petersburg, and the princess from 1824 settled in Moscow, in the same house that later became known as the "Eliseevsky store". Here she organized a literary and art salon, whose frequent guests were the most prominent cultural figures of those times: E. Baratynsky, P. Vyazemsky, A. Delvig, A. Mitskevich and A. Pushkin. Many poets, artists and musicians at first glance lost their heads from the princess.
The Italian artist and sculptor M. Barbieri, who painted the walls of her theater and worked on the interiors of living rooms, was hopelessly in love with her. The poet Batyushkov dedicated poetry to her, the artist F. Bruni painted portraits, both were in love with her. The most sensational were two dramatic stories associated with the name of Princess Volkonskaya and forever cemented her fame as a “famme fatale”.
Princess Volkonskaya turned the head of the poet D. Venevitinov, who was 15 years younger than her. She did not reciprocate his feelings, but she did not drive him away either. Once she gave him a ring found during the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and the poet announced that he would wear it either before the wedding or before his death. Anticipations did not deceive Venevitinov: he soon died (from a cold, but everyone said that from unhappy love), and took the ring with him to the grave.
They said that Princess Volkonskaya brings misfortune to everyone who falls in love with her. Often, her salon was accused of excessive theatricality, and its owner was accused of hypocrisy. A. Pushkin, who at first called Volkonskaya "the queen of muses and beauty" in poems inspired by her, then called her a witch and wrote about her and her beau, the Italian singer Miniato Ricci in obscene expressions. "I am in admiration of the receptions and I rest from the damned dinners of Zinaida," wrote Pushkin in 1829.
Count Ricci divorced his wife because of Volkonskaya, and Zinaida Alexandrovna converted to Catholicism and went with him to Italy. They lived together until the end of Ricci's days, whom the princess survived for two years. There are very contradictory testimonies about the last 30 years of Volkonskaya's life in Italy. They say that the princess not only became a zealous Catholic, but also reached religious fanaticism.
One acquaintance who visited her in Rome shortly before her death wrote: "The prelates and monks completely ruined her … Her house, all her property, even the crypt where the body of her husband lay, were sold for debts." She made a vow of poverty, donated all her fortune to charity, there were even rumors that she caught a cold and died after giving her cloak to a beggar. Some considered her an eccentric prude, others - a true Catholic. In Rome they called her a saint and gave one of the streets her name.
No less dramatic was the fate of Maria Volkonskaya, who is named among the candidates for the role of Pushkin's "hidden love": who was NN from the Don Juan list poet?
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