Countess Józefina Amalia Mniszech (1752–1798) was a Polish

noblewoman A noblewoman is a female member of the nobility. Noblewomen form a disparate group, which has evolved over time. Ennoblement of women has traditionally been a rare occurrence; the majority of noblewomen were linked to the nobility by either their ...

, State Lady, Dame of the

Order of Saint Catherine The Imperial Order of Saint Catherine () was an award of Imperial Russia. Instituted on 24 November 1714 by Peter the Great on the occasion of his marriage to Catherine I of Russia. For the majority of the time of Imperial Russia, it was the onl ...

, amateur painter, and art collector.

Early life

By birth a member of the House of Mniszech, she was born as the only child of Court Marshal

Jerzy August Mniszech Jerzy is the Polish version of the masculine given name George. The most common nickname for Jerzy is Jurek (), which may also be used as an official first name. Occasionally the nickname Jerzyk may be used, which means "swift" in Polish. People ...

and Countess Maria Amelia Friederike von Brühl, and the granddaughter of

Heinrich von Brühl Heinrich, Count von Brühl (, 13 August 170028 October 1763), was a Polish-Saxon statesman at the court of Electorate of Saxony, Saxony and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and a member of the powerful German von Brühl family. The incumbenc ...

. On 1 December 1774 Józefina Amalia was married in

Dukla Dukla is a town and an eponymous municipality in southeastern Poland, in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 2,017. The total area of the commune is . Dukla belongs to Lesser Poland, and until the Pa ...

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki Count Stanisław Szczęsny Feliks Potocki (; 1751–1805), of the Piława coat of arms, known as Szczęsny PotockiE. Rostworowski, Potocki Stanisław Szczęsny (Feliks) herbu Pilawa, n:Polski Słownik Biograficzny, t. XXVIII, Wrocław–Wars ...

, member of the

House of Potocki The House of Potocki (; plural: Potoccy, male: Potocki, feminine: Potocka) was a prominent szlachta, Polish noble family in the Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569), Kingdom of Poland and magnates of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Po ...

on the behest of her parents. They had eleven children, only eight of whom reached adulthood. As a dowry, Mniszech received

Vyalikaya Byerastavitsa Vyalikaya Byerastavitsa is an urban-type settlement in Grodno Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Byerastavitsa District. It is located near the city of Grodno. As of 2025, it has a population of 5,647. History It was gra ...

. The couple live in

Tulchyn Tulchyn (, ; ; ; ; ; ) is a city in Vinnytsia Oblast (Oblast, province) of western Ukraine, in the historical region of Podolia. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Tulchyn Raion (Raion, district). Its population is 13,896 (2023 estim ...

where she had eleven children, however the paternity of the younger children is in doubt as they didn't live together after 1787. Józefina Amalia was known in society for her beauty, cheer, ambition, and conversation, which did not always follow etiquiette of the time. She took lovers both before and during the marriage. Jozef Klembowski who managed the Potocki residence could be the father of some of her children. Her later lovers include the colonel of the Targowicki Regiment, Dzierżański, who is assumed to be the father of her youngest daughter, Idalia, and the Commander of the Court Police in

, Tadeusz Mossakowski. Countess Potocka enjoyed the favour of

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

, who granted her the title of Lady of State in 1792, and in 1793, bestowed upon her the Order of Saint Catherine of the Grand Cross. 1791, Stanisław Potocki expressed his desire to legally marry Countess Sophia Witt, but Józefina Amalia, who was backed by the Empress, refused to grant him a divorce. On 23 May 1792, Potocki entered into an arrangement with his wife, where he transferred his estates and the custody of their children to her, in return she pledged to pay him 50 thousand gallons per year. Following this, he left with Countess Witt and they lived in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

for two and a half years. Józefina Amalia left the management of her property to the discretion of the stewards and continued to live in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, participating is society and refusing to send her husband a single penny. In 1796 Potocki returned to Russia and with difficulty managed to break the arrangement. Józefina Amalia agreed to a divorce only after Catherine II had died. The episcopal court in

Kamianets-Podilskyi Kamianets-Podilskyi (, ; ) is a city on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi. Formerly the administrative center of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, the city is now the administrative center of Kamianets ...

announced the divorce in the beginning of 1798. However the same year, Józefina Amalia unexpectedly died in her St. Petersburg house on the

Fontanka The Fontanka (), a left branch of the river Neva, flows through the whole of Central Saint Petersburg, Russia – from the Summer Garden to . It is long, with a width up to , and a depth up to . The Moyka River forms a right-bank branch ...

at the age of 46, leaving behind many children "products of years and leisure" as she herself said.F. G. Golovkin. Court and reign of Paul I. - M .: Sphinx, 1912. - P. 395.

References

* Polski Słownik Biograficzny t. 27 s. 740 (''Józefina Amelia Potocka'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Mniszech, Jozefina Amalia 1752 births 1798 deaths Jozefina Amelia Potocki family 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian painters State Ladies from the Russian Empire Recipients of the Order of Saint Catherine