Józef Boruwłaski

Józef Boruwłaski, painting by Philip Reinagle

Józef Boruwłaski (born November 1739 in Halicz , † September 5, 1837 in Durham ) was known for his small body size. At the age of 30 he reached his final height of 99 centimeters.

Life

Józef Boruwłaski came from a poor Polish family and had five siblings. While the parents were of normal stature, some of the children, including Józef, the third son, and the seven years younger daughter Anastasia, only reached a very small height.

The father died when Józef Boruwłaski was nine years old. A widowed patroness of the mother, the Starostin of Caorliz, took care of the boy and raised him in her household for several years. Józef Boruwłaski developed into a gifted composer and acquired social decency. After the second marriage of his first patroness, he could easily switch to the household of the Princess von Humiecka, who gave him the nickname "Joujou" and initially took him to her property in Rychty . In her wake he traveled to Europe and was accepted at the courts of Maria Theresa in Vienna , the exiled Polish King Stanislaus I. Leszczyński and the Duc d'Orléans in Paris .

First journey

The first stop on the trip was Vienna. The stay there lasted six months and was used, among other things, to have Boruwłaski give dance lessons from the ballet master Angelini. Then he traveled with his patroness via Munich to Lunéville , where the exiled Polish king lived. A court dwarf , Nicolas Ferry , called Bébé lived at his court . When it turned out that Boruwłaski was, firstly, significantly smaller than Ferry and, secondly, far exceeded his mental abilities, a jealousy scene ensued. Ferry tried to drag the competitor into a fire and kill him. However, the clamor of the fight called the king and Boruwłaski was saved. During his time in Lunéville, Boruwłaski made the acquaintance of Mr. von Tressan , who wrote his encyclopedia article on dwarfs under the impression of meeting the Polish visitor. From Lunéville one traveled on to Versailles and Paris. Here Boruwłaski was an attraction for members of the higher classes. At the instigation of Count von Oginski from Lithuania , Boruwłaski received guitar lessons from Gaviniès . An invitation from the Duchess of Modena, which was turned down by Princess Humiecka, led to diplomatic complications. The Duchess of Modena complained to the Queen about the snub; this commissioned the Princess Humiecka to comply with the Duchess's request. However, she was not willing to show off her Joujou. So the Queen invited the two parties to her home, but without the invitees knowing that their respective opponents would appear. So the Duchess of Modena was able to take a look at Boruwłaski.

After spending more than a year in Paris, they went on to Holland and then via Germany to Warsaw . Here, the young Boruwłaski developed a passion for the theater. At the same time he discovered his love life; but a short-term relationship with a young actress ended in disappointment. On the other hand, he enjoyed the protection of King Stanislaus II.

In the house of his patroness, Boruwłaski fell in love again around 1779, this time with the French-born Isalina Barboutan, who initially rejected him, after which he fell seriously ill. After his recovery, an intensive exchange of love letters developed with Isalina, which Józef Boruwłaski also quoted in his autobiography and which ultimately led to a change of heart at Isalina Barboutan.

Jósef Boruwłaski was able to marry thanks to a pension that the king gave him and after the latter intervened. However, Boruwłaski was faced with the question of how he could earn a living for his family and himself, as permanent and sufficient support from the king, for example, was not necessarily to be counted on and after his marriage the financing from his previous patroness had come to an end . So he planned a second trip, which was supposed to bring him money like a tour. He was particularly encouraged in this plan by Prince Chamberlain.

Second trip

The Boruwłaski couple left Warsaw on November 21, 1780. Five days later it arrived in Krakow , where the young woman had to stay for a long time because of an ailment: their first child, a daughter, was born there. The family arrived in Vienna on February 11, 1781. However, this time was extremely unfavorable, as the court was in mourning after Maria Theresa's death and all conversations had to be canceled. Nevertheless, Boruwłaski paid visits to his old patrons and was particularly welcomed by the Count von Kaunitz . At Kaunitz he also made the acquaintance of the British Ambassador Sir Robert Murray Keith , who played a role in his later move to England.

Kaunitz, interested in science, found that Józef Boruwłaski had grown ten inches between his first visit to Vienna in 1761 and his second stay twenty years later .

The trip was initially not a financial success. Boruwłaski, who could play the violin and other instruments in addition to the guitar, was able to organize a lucrative concert after the period of mourning, but had to find that he could not earn a living in this way. Finally, he was forced to be viewed for money. He was encouraged in this by the French ambassador Baron de Breteuil. Kaunitz and Murray Keith also advised; the latter recommended crossing to England instead of traveling to France, as Boruwłaski had initially planned. Before he turned to England, however, he visited Pressburg on the recommendation of Princess Féguetté . After giving a concert there, he moved on to Linz , where Count von Thierheim welcomed him on a friendly basis. Here, too, he gave a concert, with the result that the little daughter of Thierheim asked her father to buy this little man for her. After a stay in Regensburg , where he did not meet the Prince of Thurn und Taxis , Boruwłaski went on to Munich. There his appearances had the desired financial success. Then he went to Thurn und Taxis in Teschen . With recommendations to Prince Wallerstein , he then traveled to Hohenaltheim and then to the Margrave of Ansbach in Triesdorf . He spent six weeks there, supported by the actress Hippolyte Clairon , who used to spend her summers in Triesdorf. The family then traveled to Brussels via Frankfurt am Main , Mainz , Mannheim and Strasbourg and from there to Ostend .

Stay in Great Britain

After a stormy crossing, the ship landed in Margate on March 20, 1782 , from where the family traveled on to London . William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire , and his wife Georgiana supported the Boruwłaski family here and, in particular, made sure that the young woman, who spat blood during the crossing to England, was given medical treatment. Dr. Walker, unprepared for the special couple, mistook the husband for a child on his first visit.

In London, Boruwłaski not only met Lady Spencer, who put him in contact with the Prince of Wales , and other nobles, but also a giant who happened to be on tour here at the same time. In his memoirs he did not mention the name of this man, whose knees were at the height of his head, but there is a picture of him standing next to Charles Byrne , who became known as the "Irish giant".

On May 23, 1782 he was received by the royal family. Shortly thereafter, Boruwłaski fell seriously ill - he attributed this mishap to his strenuous efforts to amuse the Royal Highnesses. The already proven Dr. Walker and the royal personal physician Sir Richard Jebb were able to cure him.

Nevertheless, the family could still not live on the donations from the nobles. After a successful first concert, this source of income again proved to be unreliable and Boruwłaski, who had traveled to Bath for the winter , finally had to present himself to the curious as expected for money. Over time the price fell from one guinea to five shillings and finally half a crown .

In April 1783 Boruwłaski traveled to Ireland . There he was cheated by a false marquess, which cost him time and money. In Drogheda , his pregnant wife fell ill again. The unborn child was believed to be dead and it was decided to initiate the birth prematurely. At the last moment the child's signs of life were detected and the action was canceled. The next accident occurred near Dublin . The family servant, Francis Lombardi, disappeared with some of the Boruwłaskis' possessions. Months later, a stolen watch turned up at a watchmaker in Dublin, but Boruwłaski was unable to get his property back. All these circumstances had delayed the itinerary. Boruwłaski has now toured Liverpool , Manchester , Birmingham and Oxford . In March 1786 he returned to London. Here he met Oginski again, who had once promoted his musical talent. Boruwłaski gave a concert again, but it was not the first time that spending exceeded income. Oginski paid the bills for him. Boruwłaski was still seen more as a curiosity than a musician. The Duke of Marlborough, for example, ordered one of his shoes for his cabinet of curiosities, the public wanted to read a life report of the "dwarf", which he eventually wrote.

Boruwłaski, whose detailed autobiography appeared in two languages ​​in 1788 and was later reprinted several times, spent his later life from around 1800 in Durham, where he had a cottage , and died there at the age of almost 98. He was friends with actor Stephen Kemble , with whom he spent a lot of time in Durham.

It is not known when Boruwłaski's wife, with whom he had four sons in addition to his daughter, died. The fate of his - apparently normal - stature offspring has not been clarified either. Boruwłaski lived with two Misses Ebdon, daughters of a violinist, in his retirement home in Durham.

Grave, pictures etc.

Józef Boruwłaski was buried in Durham Cathedral . His grave is marked with the letters JB. While it is often reported to be next to Stephen Kemble's tomb in the Chapel of Nine Altars, there are also sources that it is near the entrance to the north tower, next to the tomb of his friend John Leybourne. An impression of his body, which Joseph Bonomi the Younger made shortly before Boruwłaski's death, is now in the Museum of the University of Durham ; In addition, a number of shoes and clothing as well as portraits of the "dwarf" have been preserved. A memorial plaque for him hangs in St Mary's Church in South Bailey. Banks Cottage, his old home, has not survived; only his garden house in the form of a Doric temple still stands.

Fergusson and Boruwłaski

Józef Boruwłaski has been depicted frequently and has also been the subject of scientific research. In 1759, for example, George Desmarées painted it in Munich. The painting is said to be in one of the castles in Triesdorf today. Around 1785 he was shown in full figure by Philip Reinagle in an oil painting. The painting was intended for the John Hunters Collection and is located in London at the Royal College of Surgeons of England . 1786 created Thomas Rowlandson the image The Polish Dwarf Performing Before the Grand Seignior . It shows Boruwłaski playing the violin in front of the smoking harem master. The picture is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art . Presumably it is based on reports from Boruwłaski about a trip to Turkey , which was made from Rychty. In 1950, a wax portrait of Boruwłaski from the Glenn Tilley Morse collection became the property of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It had been bought from a Miss Hannah Falcke in 1927. The portrait dates from 1798 and was made by Samuel Percy . The colored wax relief shows Boruwłaski in profile from the left and is mounted under glass. In 1802 John Kay created the picture Fergusson and Boruwlaski . Neil Fergusson was the tallest man in Edinburgh and was good friends with Boruwłaski. Kay's depiction shows the two of them returning from sightseeing in Edinburgh. The last image of Boruwłaski created during his lifetime is likely to have been the aforementioned impression of his body in 1837.

The French writer Eve de Castro wrote a biographical novel about the life of Józef Boruwłaski, drawing on his memoirs. It was published in France in 2014 under the title Joujou and in a German translation in 2016 under the title Der König der Schelme and was awarded the Prix ​​Montesquieu in 2015.

plant

• Mémoires du célèbre nain, Joseph Boruwlaski, gentilhomme polonois, contenant un Récit fidelle & curieux de sa Naissance, de son Éducation, de son Mariage et de ses Voyages, ecrits par lui-même , London 1788, ( digitized )

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Boruslawski, Joseph . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 2nd part. Publishing house of the typographic-literary-artistic establishment (L. C. Zamarski, C. Dittmarsch & Comp.), Vienna 1857, p. 79 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Eve de Castro: The King of the Rogues (French original title: Joujou ), from the French by Ulrike-Werner Richter, Cologne 2016.

Web links

Commons : Józef Boruwłaski  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• short biography

Individual evidence

1. ^ Philip H. Highfill et al .: A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800 , Volume 2; Southern Illinois University Press 1973; ISBN 978-0-8093-0518-6 ; P. 239
2. ↑ Christopher Somerville: ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: A Good Walk: Durham and the River Wear, Co Durham ); The Times, February 28, 2009 issue.
3. ^ Philip H. Highfill et al .: A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800 , Volume 2; Southern Illinois University Press 1973; ISBN 978-0-8093-0518-6 ; P. 238 f.
4. ↑ Steve Clew: Count Joseph Borulawski (1739–1837) ( Memento from September 18, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
5. ↑ Priscilla Grace: Wax Miniature of Joseph Boruwlaski ; Metropolitan Museum Journal 15; New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1981; Pp. 175–182 (pdf, 1.71 MB)