- Dorothea de Ficquelmont
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Portrait of the countess of Ficquelmont by Piotr Sokolov
Countess Dolly de Ficquelmont, born Countess Dorothea (Daria Fiodorovna in Russian) von Tiesenhausen (October 14, 1804, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire – April 10, 1863, Venice, Austrian Empire) was a Russian writer and salonist. The grand-daughter of Russian Napoleonic wars' hero General Prince Kutuzov, she was a Russian aristocrat of German Baltic origin and entered the Austrian nobility by marriage.
Contents
Biography
Dolly von Tiesenhausen was the daughter of Count Ferdinand von Tiesenhausen, aide-de-camp of Emperor Alexandre I of Russia who died at Austerlitz[1], and of Princess Elisabeth (nicknamed Lisa or Elisa) Koutouzova, daughter of Prince Kutuzov. Lisa remarried in 1811 to Count Nicolas Khitrovo, Russian special envoy in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. From 1815, Dolly von Tiesenhausen spent her childhood with her mother and her sister Catherine -future Lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Court of Russia- in Reval, then moved to Florence where she spent the rest of her youth.
On June 3, 1821, she married the twenty-seven year older Count Charles-Louis de Ficquelmont, Austrian Ambassador before the Habsbourgs-Tuscany. Following their marriage, the Count was appointed Ambassador to the Court of King Ferdinand I of Two Sicilies in Naples. In spite of the revolutionary troubles in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies and the increasing tensions between Austria and Naples, Dolly and her mother perfectly integrated into Naples' high aristocratic society. Nonetheless, they returned to St.Petersburg in 1823. Emperor Alexander offered her mother, Princess Khitrova, an imperial pension and the family was often seen at Court.
View of her St-Pétersburg's PalaceA large correspondence between the Khitrovos and the Emperor shows that he had befriended the young Countess Dolly. Back in Naples in 1825, Dolly gave birth to her only daughter, Elisabeth-Alexandrine-Marie-Theresa de Ficquelmont, Countess de Ficquelmont by birth and Princess Clary und Aldringen by marriage. In 1829, Dolly's husband, Count Ficquelmont is appointed Austian Ambassador in Russia. The couple bought a palace at 4 Palace Quay which hosted their household and was used as an Austrian Embassy. Dolly's mother, Princess Elisabeth Khitrova had her own apartments in the palace and held a Salon. Countess Ficquelmont, who took great interest in Literature, philosophy, religion and politics, also held her own Salon.[2] Alexander Tourguéniev, Viazemski or Ivan Kozlov were regulars of the Countess' Salon. Pushkin was often seen in Ficquelmont's Salon which was described by Prince Wiazemsky as a place of wisdom and intelligence[3]
Teplitz's CastleIn 1839, her husband was recalled to Vienna to assume the duties of the Foreign Office, so the Ficquelmonts left Russia. During her remaining years, Dolly would essentially lived between their palaces of Vienna and Venice and their daughter's Castle in Teplitz.
Her husband, Count de Ficquelmont became Minister-President of the Empire during the 1848's revolutionary troubles. But, close ally of Russia, he was accused of supporting the Russian repression. The Countess, who was at their Venice's Palace at the time,[4] was arrested twice by the Venetian guarda civil and finally had to leave the city on board an English ship with her daughter, son-in-law and grand-children. The family eventually returned to Venice after the Revolution collapsed and Count Ficquelmont died in their Venetian Palace in 1857.
After her husband's death, Dolly continued writing her correspondence and organized it in order to published it. It is mostly made up of philosophy and political thoughts. She also wrote a Journal (Diary) in French that was published in 1950 in Italian and Russian. The St.Petersburg's period had been closely studied by historian Antony Florovski (1884–1968).
Countess Dolly de Ficquelmont is buried in Princes Clary und Aldringen's family Chapel in Dubi, near Teplitz.
The Countess and Pushkin
Countess Dolly de Ficquelmont and her sister Catherine by Alexandre BrioullovPushkin met Countess de Ficquelmont during Fall 1829 and was often invited to her St.Petersburg Palace. They became friends. In 1922 historian Mstislav Tsiavlovski published poet Nachtchokine's writings (Pushkin's friend): according to Barteniev, Pushkin was in love with a brilliant socialite noblewoman holding a Salon in St.Petersburg. Even if the lady is not named, no doubts she is Countess de Ficquelmont. Ficquelmont's palace is also believed to be the frame for the old Countess' palace in Pushkin's The Queen of Spades. Pushkin would also have depicted his own feelings for Dolly through Hermann's love for Lise. However, historian Leonid Grossman has said Pushkin only saw himself as a new Boccaccio. Indeed, the relationship between Countess de Ficquelmont and her husband was perfect.
See also
- Family von Tiesenhausen
- Family de Ficquelmont
Notes
- ^ His death inspired the André Bolkonski episode in Tolstoï's War and Peace
- ^ [1] (The St.Petersbourg's Ficquelmont Palace) provided the setting of two of the most famous salon of the period (1830's), reigned over by Ficquelmont's wife (grand-daughter of Prince Kutuzov) in Personnality and Place in Russian Culture, Essays in Memory of Lindsey Hughes, Simon Dixon, 2010, History
- ^ In the early 1820's the Countess read in the original language Sallust, Cicero, Virgile, Terence, Dante, Petrarch, Manzoni, Goethe, Byron, Schiller, Jean Paul, Hofmann, Milton, Fénelon, La Rochefoucauld, Madame de Genlis, Chateaubriand, Madame de Staël, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Benjamin Constant, Lamennais, Montalembert, etc. according to N. Kauokhtchichvili who helped with the first publication of her Journal (Diary) in Russian.
- ^ Venetia was a part of the Austrian Empire
Source
- Фикельмон, Дарья Федоровна
- М. И. Гиллельсон. Пушкин в итальянском издании дневника Д. Ф. Фикельмон
Categories:- 1804 births
- 1863 deaths
- Memoirists
- 19th-century Russian people
- Salon-holders
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