Maria Brignole Sale De Ferrari
Marchesa Maria Brignole Sale De Ferrari , Duchess of Galliera , Marchesa of Groppoli , Princess of Lucedio (born April 5, 1811 in Genoa , † December 9, 1888 ibid) was an Italian aristocrat , salonnière and patroness .
Life
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The daughter of the diplomat Marchese Antonio Brignole Sale (1786–1863) and the Marchesa Arthemisa Negrone (1787–1865) came from an old and very wealthy Genoese noble family and counted several doges among her ancestors, both on her father's and mother's side . Her father took the French side in the Italian campaign of Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1790s and was later elevated to the position of “Marquis de l'Empire” and Maître des requêtes , ie lecturing council, in the State Council of the Ligurian Republic . When this subsidiary republic of revolutionary France was incorporated into the newly created French empire in 1805, he was involved in the negotiations, just as in the case of the Batavian Republic a year later. He then served as Prefect of Montenotte and Savona until the end of the Empire in 1814. After the Restoration in Sardinian service, he was ambassador to France from 1834 to 1848 and was part of King Louis Philippe's circle .
His daughter Maria spent her childhood in the Palazzo Rosso , the family palace in Genoa. In 1828 she married the Marchese Raffaele de 'Ferrari, one of the richest men in Italy, but was not very happy in the marriage because both partners were too different. After her husband accidentally caused the death of one of his servants soon after the wedding, the couple fled from the authorities to Paris , where the Marchese had wanted to move anyway, since their Genoa was too provincial. Her husband developed a brisk business activity in France. He was soon one of the richest financial tycoons in France and earned millions from speculating on the railways. As recently as the 1860s, he played a leading role in financing the Suez Canal .
In 1837, Crown Prince Oskar of Sweden sold the titular duchy of Galliera - located in the province of Bologna in Emilia-Romagna - which Napoleon had established in 1812 for his step-daughter Josephine von Leuchtenberg and which she brought as a dowry to her marriage to Oskar in 1823 the Marchese de 'Ferrari. As a result, in addition to immense wealth, the title Duke and Duchess of Galliera came to Ferrari, which was given by Pope Gregory XVI. has been confirmed. In 1839 King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia also awarded them the title of Prince and Princess of Lucedio .
Finally, in 1852, after King Louis Philippe had abdicated as a result of the Revolution and had to flee France and the House of Orléans had now largely sold its French private property, Ferrari acquired the Hotel Matignon from Prince Antoine , the king's youngest son, in Rue de Varenne No. 57 in Paris. It was here that Maria Brignole Sale established herself as the grande dame of Parisian society during the Second Empire , organized numerous festivals, welcomed famous artists, intellectuals and politicians of her era and set up an important art collection, primarily with works by van Dyck and Rigaud . Adolphe Thiers , François Guizot , Prosper Mérimée and Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve were among her habitués , who frequented her palace, now also known as the Hôtel Galliera .
In 1886, Duchess Maria, meanwhile widowed, withdrew to her homeland of Genoa, where she died in the Villa Voltri in 1888 .
Philanthropic work
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Since the death of her husband in 1876, the Duchess of Galliera became increasingly active in charity. Since their only son Philippe , who lived his passion for collecting postage stamps, was republican and refused both French and Italian citizenship, declined the father's inheritance and finally allowed himself to be adopted by an Austrian aristocrat, the entire fortune of around 200 remained Millions of francs with the mother. She retired to the first floor of her palace and left the ground floor to the Count of Paris , the Orléanist pretender to the throne, who had returned to France after the fall of the Second Empire in 1871, so that at that time the Hôtel Matignon-Galliera was also jokingly known as “ Headquarters of Orléanism ”called.
In the twelve years up to her death, she, who was now able to freely dispose of her assets, spent around 180 million francs on charitable causes, including to the Sciences-Po University, which she co-founded , where her son also taught free of charge and to the Saint-Philippe orphanage in Meudon . She also founded the Village éducatif Saint-Philippe in Meudon, the Ospedale Galliera in Genoa and the Hospice Ferrari in Clamart in health and educational institutions . From today's perspective, their most important foundation was the Palais Galliera on Square Brignole-Galliera , which has housed the Parisian fashion museum, Musée Galliera , since 1977 .
heritage
Since her son had renounced the inheritance, before her death in 1888 she made extensive bequests, including 5 million francs to the widowed Empress Friedrich , who used it to build her widow's residence at Schloss Friedrichshof in Kronberg im Taunus .
After the Duchess quarreled with the French Republican government in 1886 on the occasion of the wedding celebrations of Crown Prince Charles of Portugal and Princess Amélie d'Orléans , which took place in her home and caused a stir among anti-royalists, and tensions also arose between her and the Count of Paris She bequeathed the Hôtel Matignon to Austria-Hungary , whose government installed their ambassador in France here until the building finally became the residence of the French Prime Minister in the 20th century . Large parts of its Genoese collections and possessions, including the Palazzo Rosso and the Palazzo Bianco , went to the city. Her name lives on in the names of numerous squares and buildings in Paris, Genoa and Clamart.
She bequeathed the title "Duke of Galliera" to Antoine d'Orléans, duc de Montpensier (1824–1890), who founded the Spanish line of the younger house of Orléans through his marriage to Princess Luisa Fernanda of Spain , which still holds the title today, currently by Prince Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón (* 1968). It is questionable whether she was free to dispose of her husband's title (at the expense of her son, who of course never led it), but the Spanish crown should have recognized it after his death at the latest.
family
Marriage and offspring
Marie Brignole Sale married the Marchese Raffaele de'Ferrari (1808–1876) in 1828. They had three children:
- Livia (1828-1829)
- Andrea (1831-1847)
- Marchese Filippo de'Ferrari (1850-1917)
relative
One of Mary's paternal uncle was the Baden politician and diplomat Emmerich Joseph von Dalberg .
Her paternal great-aunt 2nd degree Catherine de Brignole-Sale was successively with Prince Honoré III. von Monaco and married to Prince Louis (V) Condé .
literature
- Luca Ponte: Le genovesi . Fratelli Frilli Editori, Genoa 2008. ISBN 978-88-7563-367-7
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Brignole Sale De Ferrari, Maria |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Brignole Sale, Maria |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian aristocrat, salonière and patroness |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 5, 1811 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Genoa |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 9, 1888 |
| Place of death | Genoa |