Pauline Henckel von Donnersmarck
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Pauline Countess Henckel von Donnersmarck (born May 7, 1819 in Moscow as Esther Lachmann ; known as Marquise de Païva or La Païva ; † January 21, 1884 at Neudeck Castle ) was a Parisian courtesan of the 19th century.
She was famous for her decadent celebrations in her Hôtel de la Païva on the Parisian Champs-Élysées , which significantly shaped the image of the Second Empire .
Life
Esther Lachmann was born as a child of poor Polish Jews in the Moscow ghetto . Her father was a weaver. In 1836 she married the tailor Antoine Villoing, with whom she had a son, but escaped the marriage and settled in the slums of Paris in the 4th arrondissement , where she also took the name Thérèse and tried to find a wealthy admirer .
Her efforts were successful, and she fell into a love affair with the composer and piano maker Henri Herz , who gave her access to artistic circles. Presumably they got married in London , although as a married woman she should not have remarried; she had a daughter with him.
Influential people visited her in her Paris salon , including Richard Wagner , Hans von Bülow , Émile de Girardin and Théophile Gautier . The expenses required for this almost ruined Henri Herz economically. He then tried to find business opportunities in the US to increase his income; but since Pauline Thérèse continued her lavish lifestyle during his absence, his family threw her out of the door.
She now took her stay at the Hotel Valin and was employed as a milliner by one of her numerous admirers . In Baden-Baden she met the Portuguese marquis Albino Francesco de Païva-Araujo. Her first husband had meanwhile died of consumption , so that she was able to marry the Marquis on June 5, 1851 without any hindrances, and overnight she acquired a fortune, a title and the nickname La Païva . Later the marquis returned to Portugal. The marriage was not annulled until 1871. The following year the marquis shot himself.
Their last conquest was Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck , imperial count and cousin of the imperial chancellor Otto von Bismarck and one of the richest men of his time. He was eleven years younger than her and had a hotel particulier built for her on the avenue des Champs-Élysées (Hôtel de la Païva), a jewel of a hotel with a neo-renaissance facade with marble inlay and a protruding hanging garden hides a fabulous, crazy mix of styles, bought the Pontchartrain Castle in Jouars-Pontchartrain for her and showered her with every luxury. According to contemporary reports, she regularly wore clothing and jewelry valued at two million francs on her body.
Both were expelled from France in 1878 on suspicion of espionage. The couple then went to Germany and lived at Neudeck Castle in Neudeck in Upper Silesia , where Pauline died at the age of 64.
photos
Une soirée chez La Païva by Adolphe Monticelli
The neo-renaissance facade of the Hôtel de la Païva (2009)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Henckel von Donnersmarck, Pauline |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Henckel von Donnersmarck, Pauline Countess; Lachmann Esther (maiden name); Païva, Marquise de; Païva, La |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French mistress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 7, 1819 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Moscow |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 21, 1884 |
| Place of death | Neudeck Castle |