Anatole Demidoff di San Donato
Anatole Demidoff , Prince of San Donato ( Russian Анатолий Николаевич Демидов , transcription Anatoli Nikolajewitsch Demidow, born April 5, 1813 in Saint Petersburg , † April 29, 1870 in Paris ) was a Russian industrialist and promoter of science and art. Further spelling of the name: Anatol Nicolaïevitch von Demidov.
Life
Anatole Demidoff came from the influential industrial family of Demidow and was born on April 5, 1813 in Saint Petersburg as the second son of the industrialist Nikolai Nikititsch Demidow (1773-1828) and his wife Baroness Jelisaweta Alexandrovna Stroganowa (1779-1818). Demidoff was raised in Paris . Already in his early years he promoted French romantic artists such as Paul Delaroche ( execution of Lady Jane Gray ), Eugène Louis Lami and Eugène Delacroix . As a patron of French science, Demidoff later became a member of the Académie des sciences . In addition to supporting art and science, Demidoff also advanced to become an avid jewelry and jewelery collector.
After his parents' death in 1828, he and his older brother Paul Nicolaïevitch Demidoff (1798-1840) inherited the family business of the Demidoffs, an old Russian mining and steel production empire in the Urals , which made an annual profit of 5 million rubles . At the age of 16 Demidoff took over the business and - to the reluctance of Russian Tsar Nicholas I - managed the company from Paris. Even the scientific expedition organized by Demidoff from 1837 to 1840 of renowned naturalists and engineers to southern Russia and the Crimean peninsula to research the mineral resources presumed there, did not favor the tsar. The research trip opened up new insights into hard coal mining and thus promoted Russian industry, but the Tsar was irritated by the fact that only French researchers took part in the excursion. Demidoff himself took an active part in the research, studying the northern coast of the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula. In 1840 he published the research report Voyage dans la Russie méridionale et la Crimée, par la Hongrie, la Valachie et la Moldavie, exécuté en 1837 , which included geographical, geological, zoological, botanical and sociological knowledge of the areas examined. Further works followed.
Demidoff lived an extravagant life in Paris and in his Italian Villa di San Donato near Florence and invested a large part of his fortune in art and jewelry. His luxurious lifestyle and fascination with Napoléon - a fascination inherited from his mother Elizabeth - continued to exacerbate the Russian tsar's disapproval.
In 1840 Demidoff received the title of Prince of San Donato from Grand Duke Leopold II because of his charitable and economic activities in Italy . It was also about getting his fiancée, Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, the title of prince. Demidoff's title was never recognized in Russia or by the Russian Tsar.
In the same year, on November 1, 1840, Demidoff married Mathilde Bonaparte , the daughter of Napoléon's youngest brother Jérôme Bonaparte and his wife Katharina von Württemberg in Florence . Although the bride's mother was a direct cousin of the tsar, the marriage strengthened Nicolaus I's disfavor. The reason for this was the promise of the Russian Orthodox Demidoff to raise the children from this marriage in the Roman Catholic faith of the bride.
When Demidoff and Mathilde traveled to Saint Petersburg in 1841 to justify themselves to the Tsar, the newly wed couple was cleverly pitted against each other by the Russian imperial family. The intrigues were successful. Demidoff and Mathilde's marriage was now marked by affairs and disputes. He had a long-standing affair with Valentine de Sainte-Aldegonde - a relationship that he continued against Mathilde's will. Mathilde then left Florence with her lover Alfred Émilien de Nieuwerkerke and her husband's jewelry collection. The marriage was finally divorced in 1847 with the support of Nicholas I after long negotiations and Demidoff was legally forced to pay Mathilde an annual maintenance fee of 200,000 francs . Despite his vehement demands, Demidoff never got his jewelry back.
Demidoff lived in Florence in the following years. In 1843 he was made an honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , in 1852 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . He died in Paris on April 29, 1870 . He was a knight of the Tuscan Order of St. Joseph . His picture gallery, which was one of the largest and most valuable private museums in Europe, was auctioned off after his death.
Works
- Observations météorologiques faites à Nyjne-Tagielsk et à Vicino Outkinsk, Monts Oural, Gouvernement de Perm . Paris 1839 ff. (Magazine)
- Anatolīĭ Demidov (principe di San Donato), André Durand , Denis Auguste Marie Raffet: Voyage pittoresque et archéologique en Russie: exécuté en 1839 sous la direction de M. Anatole de Démidoff , Gihaut Frères, 1840
- Voyage dans la Russie méridionale et la Crimée, par la Hongrie, la Valachie et la Moldavie . Bibliothèque de Sorbonne, Paris 2005 (1 CD-ROM, repr. Of the Paris 1840 edition)
- Lettres sur l'empire de Russie . Bethune, Paris 1840
- Album de voyage pittoresque et archéologique . Bourdine, Paris 1849 (3 vol.)
- La Toscane. Album pittoresque et archéologique . Edizioni Giunti, Florence 1993 (repr. Of the Paris 1871 edition)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ List of members since 1666: Letter D. Académie des sciences, accessed on February 9, 2020 (French).
- ↑ Member entry by Anatol Nikolaevich von Demidov (with picture) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 3, 2016.
- ↑ Member entry of Anatolij N. Démidoff at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on February 3, 2016.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Demidoff di San Donato, Anatole |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Демидов, Анатолий Николаевич (Russian); Demidoff, Anatoli; Demidow, Anatoly Nikolajewitsch |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Prince of San Donato, Russian industrialist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 5, 1813 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Petersburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 29, 1870 |
| Place of death | Paris |