Maria Wodzińska,
''primo voto'' Skarbkowa,
''secundo voto'' Orpiszewska (7 January 1819 – 7 December 1896), was a Polish artist who was once
engaged
An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...
to composer
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 leadin ...
.
Life
Maria Wodzińska was a daughter of Count Wincenty Wodziński and Countess Teresa Wodzińska, of the
Jastrzębiec clan. She had three brothers, Antoni, Feliks, and Kazimierz, and a sister, Józefa. The family moved to
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
in 1832, where Maria was "the brilliant star of the household... striking in every sense". She studied piano with composer
John Field and art at the Geneva Academy. Prince Louis-Napoleon (later
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
) was reportedly among those in love with her, as was poet
Juliusz Słowacki
Juliusz Słowacki (; french: Jules Slowacki; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of mode ...
, who wrote a poem about her. She was described as having "a touch of the Mediterranean about her": olive-toned skin and dark hair and eyes.
She was one of the recipients of Chopin's so-called
Farewell Waltz in 1835. She also painted the composer, creating what Tad Szulc called "one of the best portraits of Chopin extant—after that by
Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross").
It may refer to:
People
* Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium
* Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...
—with the composer looking relaxed, pensive, and at peace". All biographers believe, that in 1836, with the approval of Maria's mother, Maria and Chopin were engaged to be married, but her father objected to the match because of Chopin's poor health, and their relationship ended in 1837. Yet according to t
he Chopin Institute in Warsaw there is no written proof for this assumption.
On 24 July 1841 she married Józef Skarbek, a son of
Fryderyk Skarbek
Fryderyk Florian Skarbek (15 February 1792 – 25 September 1866), a member of the Polish nobility, was an economist, novelist, historian, social activist, administrator, politician, and penologist who designed the Pawiak Prison of World War II i ...
, Frédéric Chopin's godfather after whom Chopin was named. The couple later divorced.
In 1848 she married her first husband's lessee, Władysław Orpiszewski, and they had a son, but the boy died at age four. Her husband died in Florence in 1881, leaving her a widow. She spent the rest of her life in
Kłóbka
Kłóbka is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lubień Kujawski, within Włocławek County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Lubień Kujawski, south of Włocławek, and ...
, Poland, at her niece Józefa's.
She was interred at Kłóbka, and her artistic and other effects remain at her last home.
Wodzińska's nephew Antoni—not to be confused with his father, Maria's brother Antoni, who was a boarder in the Chopin home during Chopin's childhood and lived in Paris when Chopin was there—wrote a book detailing Chopin's relationship with her: ''Les trois romans de Frédéric Chopin'', published in 1886.
Frederick Niecks
Frederick Niecks (3 February 184524 June 1924) was a German musical scholar and author who resided in Scotland for most of his life. He is best remembered for his biographies of Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann.
Biography
Friedrich Mat ...
, Chopin's first exhaustive biographer, said the book was "more of the nature of a novel than of a biography". In 1912 he wrote a biography of his aunt, ''O Marii Wodzińskiej'' (About Maria Wodzińska), whose first book edition was published in 2015.
Gallery
File:Maria Wodzińska.jpeg, Wodzińska's 1830s self-portrait
File:Chopin, by Wodzinska.JPG, Wodzińska's watercolor of 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 leadin ...
, 1835
File:Wodzińska - Anna Emilia Wiesiołowska.jpg, Anna Emilia Wiesiołowska, ''née'' Skarbek (1793-1873), sister of Fryderyk Skarbek
Fryderyk Florian Skarbek (15 February 1792 – 25 September 1866), a member of the Polish nobility, was an economist, novelist, historian, social activist, administrator, politician, and penologist who designed the Pawiak Prison of World War II i ...
and godmother of 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 leadin ...
, by Wodzińska
File:Maria Orpiszewska.jpg, Maria Orpiszewska, née Wodzińska, in later life
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wodzinska, Maria
Frédéric Chopin
19th-century Polish painters
19th-century Polish women artists
1819 births
1896 deaths
19th-century composers