|
Katarzyna Branicka
Countess Katarzyna Branicka, Katarzyna Potocka, née Branicka Korczak coat of arms (1825–1907) was a Polish noblewoman and art collector. Through her paternal grandmother, Aleksandra Branicka, she was a putative great-grandchild of Catherine the Great. She had two sisters and four brothers, the eldest of whom was the French exile, financier and philanthropist, Count Xavier Branicki.Władysław Konopczyński, "Franciszek Ksawery Branicki”, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. II, Kraków: Polish Academy of Learning – Skład Główny w Księgarniach Gebethner i Wolff. 1936, p. 398. She married Count Adam Józef Potocki on 26 October 1847 in Dresden. Chopin dedicated his Waltz in A-flat major to her. It was the last waltz by Chopin to be published in his lifetime. She was said to have been a great beauty and the subject of several portrait artists, including in 1854, the German painter, Franz Winterhalter. Descendants Jennah Karthes de Branicka, the German TV Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franz Winterhalter
Franz Xaver Winterhalter (20 April 1805 – 8 July 1873) was a German painter and lithographer, known for his flattering portraits of royalty and upper-class society in the mid-19th century. His name has become associated with fashionable court portraiture. Among his best known works are '' Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting'' (1855) and the portraits he made of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1865). Early years Franz Xaver Winterhalter was born in the small village of Menzenschwand (now part of Sankt Blasien), in Germany's Black Forest in the Electorate of Baden, on 20 April 1805.Ormond & Blackett-Ord, ''Franz Xaver Winterhalter and the Courts of Europe'', p. 18. He was the sixth child of Fidel Winterhalter (1773–1863), a farmer and resin producer in the village, and his wife Eva Meyer (1765–1838), a member of a long established Menzenschwand family. His father was of peasant stock and was a powerful influence in his life. Of the eight brothers and sisters, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Szlachta
The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the state, exercising extensive political rights and power. Szlachta as a class differed significantly from the feudal nobility of Western Europe. The estate was officially abolished in 1921 by the March Constitution."Szlachta. Szlachta w Polsce" ''Encyklopedia PWN'' The origins of the ''szlachta'' are obscure and the subject of several theories. Traditionally, its members owned land (allods), [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scheffer Katarzyna Potocka
Scheffer is a German occupational surname related to German Schäfer (meaning "shepherd") or Schaffer (meaning "overseer"). Notable people with the surname include: * Aaron Scheffer (born 1975), American baseball pitcher * Ary Scheffer (1795–1858), Dutch-born French painter, son of Johann Baptist and Cornelia * Cornelia Scheffer (1769–1839), Dutch painter and portrait miniaturist * Cornélia Scheffer (1830-1899), French sculptor and designer *David Scheffer (born 1953), American diplomat, UN Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues * Emmanuel Scheffer (1924–2012), Israeli football player and coach * François Scheffer (1766–1844), Luxembourgian politician, Mayor of Luxembourg City * Frank Scheffer (born 1956), Dutch cinematographer *Guus Scheffer (1898–1952), Dutch weightlifter *Hendrik Scheffer (1798–1862), Dutch-born French painter, son of Johann Baptist and Cornelia *Henrik Teofilus Scheffer (1710–1759), Swedish chemist *Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (born 1948), Dutch p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnates Of Poland And Lithuania
The magnates of Poland and Lithuania () were an aristocracy of Polish-Lithuanian nobility (''szlachta'') that existed in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, from the 1569 Union of Lublin, in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, until the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. The magnate social class arose around the 16th century and, over time, gained more and more control over Commonwealth politics. The most powerful magnates were known as "little kings" due to the extent of their power and independence. Their influence diminished with the Third Partition of Poland (1795), which ended the Commonwealth's independent existence, and came to an end with the Second World War and the communist-ruled People's Republic of Poland. Famous magnate families in the territories of the Crown of Poland included the Czartoryski, Kalinowski, Koniecpolski, Ostrogski, Potocki, Tarnowski, Wiśniowiecki, Zasławski and Zamoyski families; and in the Grand Duchy of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Branicki (Korczak)
200px, Korczak coat of arms of the Branicki family The House of Branicki (plural: Braniccy) was a powerful Polish aristocratic family. The family acquired influence in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century. History The Braniccy of Korczak coat of arms most likely originated in Branica in Lublin region. They rose to power and fortune with Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, Great Crown Hetman and one of the leaders of the Targowica Confederation. Coat of arms The Branicki family used the Korczak coat of arms. File:POL COA Branicki.svg, Coat of Arms of Counts Branicki File:POL COA Branicki alt.svg, Coat of Arms of Counts Branicki Notable members * Piotr Branicki (died 1762), castelan of Bracław * Franciszek Ksawery Branicki (c. 1730–1819), Great Hetman of the Crown, member of the Targowica Confederation, first in the family to be owner of land estate in Biała Cerkiew * Elżbieta Branicka (c. 1734–1800), mother of Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha * Władysław Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waltz In A-flat Major, Op
The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the waltz that date from 16th-century Europe, including the representations of the printmaker Hans Sebald Beham. The French philosopher Michel de Montaigne wrote of a dance he saw in 1580 in Augsburg, where the dancers held each other so closely that their faces touched. Kunz Haas (of approximately the same period) wrote, "Now they are dancing the godless ''Weller'' or ''Spinner''."Nettl, Paul. "Birth of the Waltz." In ''Dance Index'' vol 5, no. 9. 1946 New York: Dance Index-Ballet Caravan, Inc. pages 208, 211 "The vigorous peasant dancer, following an instinctive knowledge of the weight of fall, uses his surplus energy to press all his strength into the proper beat of the bar, thus intensifying his personal enjoyment in dancing." Around 1750, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era, one whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation". Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola in the Duchy of Warsaw and grew up in Warsaw, which in 1815 became part of Congress Poland. A child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed his earlier works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising. At 21, he settled in Paris. Thereafterin the last 18 years of his lifehe gave only 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and by giving piano lessons, for which he was in high demand. Chopin formed a fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth largest by area (after Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne), and the third most populous city in the area of former East Germany, after Berlin and Leipzig. Dresden's urban area comprises the towns of Freital, Pirna, Radebeul, Meissen, Coswig, Radeberg and Heidenau and has around 790,000 inhabitants. The Dresden metropolitan area has approximately 1.34 million inhabitants. Dresden is the second largest city on the River Elbe after Hamburg. Most of the city's population lives in the Elbe Valley, but a large, albeit very sparsely populated area of the city east of the Elbe lies in the West Lusatian Hill Country and Uplands (the westernmost part of the Sudetes) and thus in Lusatia. Many boroughs west of the Elbe lie in the foreland of the Ore Mounta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dictionary Of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes and online, with 50,113 biographical articles covering 54,922 lives. First series Hoping to emulate national biographical collections published elsewhere in Europe, such as the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (1875), in 1882 the publisher George Smith (1824–1901), of Smith, Elder & Co., planned a universal dictionary that would include biographical entries on individuals from world history. He approached Leslie Stephen, then editor of the ''Cornhill Magazine'', owned by Smith, to become the editor. Stephen persuaded Smith that the work should focus only on subjects from the United Kingdom and its present and former colonies. An early working title was the ''Biographia Britannica'', the name of an earlier eighteen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Count Xavier Branicki
Count Xavier Branicki (in Polish: , in French: ), born 26 October 1816 in Warsaw, Poland, died 20 November 1879 in Assiut, Khedivate of Egypt, was a Polish nobleman, political exile and landowner who took French nationality. He became a political writer, financier, art collector and philanthropist. He was the owner and restorer of the Château de Montrésor and estate in France. He was descended from a powerful magnate family with immense land holdings in the Duchy of Lithuania and in Ukraine, partly as a result, it is said, of a family connection with Catherine the Great. He was a member of the close circle of Napoleon III. He was a co-founder of the Crédit Foncier de France, a bank that continues to this day. Publications Branicki was the author of the following works: * . * . * . * . See also * List of Poles * Louis Wolowski Louis-François-Michel-Reymond Wolowski (original ''Ludwik Franciszek Michał Reymond Wołowski''; 31 August 1810 at Warsaw – 15 August 187 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, economic, cultural and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Old Town with Wawel Royal Castle was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, one of the first 12 sites granted the status. The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second-most-important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was reported by Ibrahim Ibn Yakoub, a merchant from Cordoba, as a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 985. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish Academy Of Learning
The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning ( pl, Polska Akademia Umiejętności), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of sciences. (The other is the Polish Academy of Sciences, headquartered in Warsaw.) The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences is co-owner of the Polish Library in Paris. History The Academy traces its origins to Academy of Learning founded in 1871, itself a result of the transformation of the , in existence since 1815. Though formally limited to the Austrian Partition, the Academy served from the beginning as a learned and cultural society for the entire Polish nation. Its activities extended beyond the boundaries of the Austrian Partition, gathering scholars from all of Poland, and many other countries as well. Some indication of how the Academy's influence extended beyond the boundaries of the Partitions came in 1893, when the collection of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
