Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (1819-1876)
Encyclopedia
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna of Russia (18 August 1819 – 21 February 1876) was a daughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...

 and sister of Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...

. In 1839 she married Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg
Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg
Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon de Beauharnais , 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, 3rd Prince of Venice Prince des Français and Hereditary Prince of the Kingdom of Italy and claimant to the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was the husband of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of...

. She was an art collector and President of the Imperial Academy of Arts
Imperial Academy of Arts
The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, was founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov under the name Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts and commissioned a new building, completed 25 years later in 1789...

 in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

.

Early life

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna was born on 18 August 1819 in Krasnoye Selo
Krasnoye Selo
Krasnoye Selo is a municipal town in Krasnoselsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia. It is located south-southeast of the city center. Population:...

, near Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

. She was the second of seven surviving children and the eldest daughter. Her parents, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...

 and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Charlotte of Prussia, were devoted to each other and to their children. They were warm and affectionate parents, but avoid to overindulging them. In the evenings, Alexandra Feodorovna played games with her children, riddles and charades. The Tsar liked to sing chorus music with them. The siblings grew up in a close knit family remaining in good terms all their lives.

Maria Nikolaievna was raise in the company of her sisters Olga and Alexandra
Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia
Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia, and his wife, Princess Charlotte of Prussia.-Biography:...

. Their rooms, located on the ground floor of the Winter Palace
Winter Palace
The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and...

, were unpretentious and void of luxury. The girls were prescribed fresh air in all seasons, and doctors controlled their diet. Classes began at 8: am. Maria’s education was placed under the supervision of the liberal privy Chancellor and poet Vasily Zhukovsky
Vasily Zhukovsky
Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century...

, who had previously been Alexandra Feodrorovna’s Russian teacher. Zhukovski remained in close terms with his royal wards until his death. Maria and her sisters received dancing, music and drawing lessons. Her childhood sketchbook (1826–1830) has survived and it is in the hands of her descendants living in the U.S.A. Grand Duchess Maria, who painted fairly well, later made watercolors. She never lost her love for the arts becoming a benefactress and art collector. Artistically gifted, she showed an early interest in interior design, decorating her rooms with her personal style, she would later make of her Palace in St Petersburg one of the most beautiful in the city. All three sisters had musical abilities and were involved in charitable work. From 1835, Grand Duchess Maria was an active member of the patriot’s society, which had been founded by Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna. The society occasionally met in session in Maria’s room at the winter palace.

Grand Duchess of Russia

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna was noted for her formidable personality, her wit and her strong character. Her sister Grand Duchess Olga, wrote in her girlhood diary that Maria was "hot tempered, attentive and generous towards the poor, sympathetic to good deeds, but could not bear pretense of coercion. She is a hundred times more virtuous than me, more dynamic than all seven of us; she lacks only a sense of duty".

Maria Nikolaievna was brave and inventive, appreciated novelty, and was almost indifferent to the opinion of high society. She was lively, energetic, talented and impulsive. In appearance and character she was like her father. She was Nicholas I’s favorite child and the one who resemble him most closely both in appearance and character. Like him she looked serious and severe. Her stare also brought to mind her father’s formidable gaze.
The physical similarities with her father were marked in portraits and photographs that preferred to portrait her in profile, the same like her father.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna worried about finding a suitable husband for her most gifted and emotional daughter. On her part Maria Nikolaievna did not want to leave Russia upon her marriage or have to change her religion.

Marriage

In 1837 King Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...

 sent his nephew, Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg
Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg
Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon de Beauharnais , 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, 3rd Prince of Venice Prince des Français and Hereditary Prince of the Kingdom of Italy and claimant to the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was the husband of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of...

, to take part in cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 maneuvers in Russia. Maximilian was the only surviving son of Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Prince Français, Prince of Venice, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy, Hereditary Grand Duke of Frankfurt, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg and 1st Prince of Eichstätt ad personam was the first child and only son of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and Joséphine Tascher de la...

 and grandson of Empress Josephine. He was handsome, well educated and interested in cultural pursuits.
A year later, in October 1838, he made a second visit. With his good looks and manners he impressed Maria Nikolaievna, as noted by the Grand Duchess Olga in her diary: "In four days it has become quite clear that Max and Maria were made for each other.

It was not a desirable match for a daughter of a Russian Emperor
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

. Maximilian was below the rank of royalty, only entitled to the style of Serene Highness as member of a secondary branch of the House of Bavaria. He was also Roman Catholic, not Orthodox, and his own family, his mother Princess Augusta of Bavaria
Princess Augusta of Bavaria
Princess Augusta of Bavaria, Duchess of Leuchtenberg was the second child and eldest daughter of Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt.- Marriage and issue :...

 in particular, was against this marriage. Maximilian was the last of the Leuchtenberg – Beauharnais family line and his mother feared that his descendants, brought up in the Orthodox faith, would be completely Russified . She said history would blame her son.

Furthermore the Bonaparte
Bonaparte
The House of Bonaparte is an imperial and royal European dynasty founded by Napoleon I of France in 1804, a French military leader who rose to notability out of the French Revolution and transformed the French Republic into the First French Empire within five years of his coup d'état...

 family had been bitter enemies of Russia. Nevertheless the Tsar granted his permission for the marriage on condition that his daughter did not leave Russia to live abroad. Since the Duke of Leuchtenberg was not a member of a reigning family, it was easy for him to take up residence in Saint Petersburg.

The wedding took place on 2 July 1839 at the grand church of the Winter Palace
Winter Palace
The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and...

. The ceremony was described in detail by the Marquis de Custine
Marquis de Custine
Astolphe-Louis-Léonor, Marquis de Custine was a French aristocrat and writer who is best known for his travel writing, in particular his account of his visit to Russia in 1839 Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia...

, who visited St Peterburg at that time. He praised the Grand Duchess for her grace, but disliked the Duke of Leuchtenberg. Nicholas I spared no expense for his daughter’s wedding and the festivities lasted for two weeks. The couple remained in Russia, where their seven children grew up in the circle of the imperial family.

Grand Duchess Maria's palace

On their wedding day Tsar Nicholas I decided to present Maria with her own palace. He chose a site in the centre of St. Petersburg strategically positioned opposite St. Isaac's cathedral, on the banks of the Moika river. No expense was spared in fitting it out for the young couple, specially commissioned from the architect Andrei Stackensneider and, close enough to the Winter Palace
Winter Palace
The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and...

 for the Tsar to pay daily visits to his daughter. The palace was finished by the end of 1844 and was named as the Mariinsky Palace
Mariinsky Palace
Mariinsky Palace, also known as Marie Palace , was the last Neoclassical imperial palace to be constructed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was built between 1839 and 1844 to a design by the court architect Andrei Stackensneider....

, after Maria Nikolaievna. Whilst their palace was under construction Maria gave birth to three children. The couple lived in the Vorontzov Palace waiting for the completion of their own residence.

The grand duchess played a leading role in the decoration of her home, displaying her taste and sense of elegance. Because Maria Nikolaievna was afflicted with circulatory leg problems the Mariinsky Palace was designed with a staircase without steps installed in the right wing connecting all three floors away from the main rooms. The palace was filled with works of arts and family relics some of them inherited from Empress Josephine. Maria organized lavish parties, theatricals performances and concerts. Maria Nikolaevna also had a country state, Sergievka, bought from the Naryshkin family and given to her as a weeding gift. Located west of Peterhof
Peterhof Palace
The Peterhof Palace in Russian, so German is transliterated as "Петергoф" Petergof into Russian) for "Peter's Court") is actually a series of palaces and gardens located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These Palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the...

 in a little bay opposite Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...

, the villa Sergievka became a family favorite retreat. The grand duchess and her husband spent their honeymoon there and between 1839 and 1842 they commissioned Stackensneider to rebuild it. It was transformed from an old manor house into a summer palace in the style of a Roman patrician villa. In the summer they usually lived in Gatchina
Gatchina
Gatchina is a town and the administrative center of Gatchinsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located south of St. Petersburg by the road leading to Pskov...

 and Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo is the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of St. Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin and of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.-History:In...

.

President of the Academy of Arts

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna and her husband had artistic inclinations and were active in charitable and artistic causes. Maria's husband became well-known as a scientist throughout Russia. He took an interest in science and studied mining technology; he was a member of the academy of Science. In 1844 Nicholas I appointed him head of the Mining Engineering department. In 1843 he was appointed President of the Academy of Arts. Maria was proud of her husband accomplishments calling him a scholar. However by the late 1840s the couple drifted apart. They had separate lives and both had love affairs of their own. Maximilian became a well known womanizer while Maria started a long term relationship with Count Gregory Alexandrovich Strogonov. Court rumors attributed the paternity of her son George to her lover. The Duke of Leuchtenberg developed tuberculosis during mining expeditions in the Urals. Efforts to improve his health traveling to warmer climates abroad were unsuccessful and he died on 1 November 1852.

The Grand Duchess was an avid art collector, and after the death of her husband, she replaced him as President of the Academy of Arts. From then on, Maria Nikolaievana devoted herself to her collection even with greater ardor. She spent lavishly as consequence her finances decline particularly after the death of her father. Alexander II, although close to her sister, kept her on a strict budget.

Second marriage

Maria Nikolaievna made a second marriage in 1854, to Count Grigori Stroganov (16 June 1824 – 13 March 1879). It was a morganatic union and was kept secret while her father lived. Officially the marriage did not take place until 16 November 1856, after Nicholas I's death. Anna Tyutcheva commented, "The former tsar would have sent Masha to a convent and exiled the count to the Caucasus", but her more gentle brother Tsar Alexander
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...

, as the new head of the family, preferred not to let on that he knew about the secret marriage. Her sister Olga described her as more talented than all her brothers and sisters put together, but lacking a sense of duty. Maria begged her brother to recognize her second marriage and permit them to live in Russia, but he did not dare permit it; instead, he suggested she continue to live abroad while he maintained ignorance of their marriage. Because he could not recognize her marriage, he paid special attention to her children by her first marriage, who lived in St. Petersburg without their mother.

In 1862, Maria Nikolaievna installed herself in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 in the Villa Quarto, which had belonged to Jérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...

, and appointed the painter and collector Karl Liphard as her advisor. They went almost daily to visit museums, private collection and antique dealers.
In Italy, the Grand Duchess was zealous in her purchases of painting, sculptures and furniture for the complete refurbishing of her residence.

Grand Duchess Maria probably suffered either from varicose veins or from some sort of bone disease, and by the end of her life she had become an invalid. She died on 21 February 1876 in Saint Petersburg at age 56.

Art collections

On her death in 1876, Maria Nikolaievna's art collections were divided among her surviving children: Prince Nicholas of Leuchtenberg, his brothers Eugene and George, their sisters Princess Maria of Baden and Princess Eugenia of Oldenburg and their half-sister, countess Elena Strogonova. In 1884, her son, Nicholas Duke of Leuchtenberg, mounted an exhibition at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts with the Grand Duchess former collection. In 1913 another exhibitions was organized at the Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...

 entitled the Heritage of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna. After the revolution the collection was dispersed and now can be enjoyed in museums in Moscow, Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 and the United States . Three of Maria's sons by the Duke of Leuchtenberg lived in her former residence the Mariinsky Palace
Mariinsky Palace
Mariinsky Palace, also known as Marie Palace , was the last Neoclassical imperial palace to be constructed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was built between 1839 and 1844 to a design by the court architect Andrei Stackensneider....

 until 1884, when it was sold to the treasury to pay for the family's mounting debts . Today the Palace house the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly.

Children

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna had seven children from her marriage to the Duke of Leuchtenberg:
NameBirthDeathNotes
Princess Alexandra Romanovskaja 9 April 1840 12 August 1843 died in childhood.
Maria, Princess Romanovskaja
Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg
Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg, also known as Princess Maria Romanovskya, Maria, Princess Romanovskaja, or Marie Maximiliane was the eldest daughter of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.-Family and early...

 
16 October 1841 16 February 1914 married Prince Wilhelm of Baden
Prince Wilhelm of Baden (1829–1897)
Prince Louis William Augustus of Baden was a Prussian general and politician. He was the father of Prince Maximilian of Baden, the last Minister President of the Kingdom of Prussia and last Chancellor of the German Empire...

 (1829–1897), younger son of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden
Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden
Leopold I, Grand Duke of Baden succeeded in 1830 as the fourth Grand Duke of Baden....

. They were the parents of Prince Maximilian of Baden
Prince Maximilian of Baden
Maximilian of Baden was a German prince and politician...

.
Nicholas, 4th Duke of Leuchtenberg 4 August 1843 6 January 1891
Eugenia, Princess Romanovskaja
Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg
Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg, also known as Princess Evgenia Romanovskya, or Eugenia, Princess Romanovskaja was a member of the French House of Beauharnais, though she was born and raised in her mother's native country, Russia...

1 April 1845 4 May 1925 married Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg
Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg
Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg was the second son of Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg and his wife Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg. Though he had a German title and ancestry, Alexander and his siblings were born and raised in St...

 1844–1932
Eugen, 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg 8 February 1847 31 August 1901 married 1) Daria Opotchinina 1845–1870, married 2) Zinaida Skobeleva 1856–1899
Prince Sergei of Leuchtenberg 20 December 1849 24 October 1877 Killed in the Russo-Turkish war
George, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg
George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg
George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg, also known as Prince Georgii Romanovsky or Georges de Beauharnais was the youngest son of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.-Family and early life:George's father Maximilian de...

29 February 1852 16 May 1912 married 1) Duchess Therese Petrovna of Oldenburg
Duchess Therese Petrovna of Oldenburg
Duchess Therese Petrovna of Oldenburg was the youngest daughter of Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg and his wife Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg.-Marriage:...

 30 March 1852 – 19 April 1883, married 2) Princess Anastasia of Montenegro 1868–1935


Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna had two children in her second marriage:
NameBirthDeathNotes
Grigori Grigorievich, Count Stroganov 9 May 1857 1859 died in childhood.
Countess Elena Grigorievna Stroganova 11 February 1861 12 February 1908 married firstly Vladimir Alexeievich Sheremetev
Sheremetev
The Sheremetev family was one of the wealthiest and most influential noble families of Russia.The family held many high commanding ranks in the Russian military, governorships and eventually the rank of Count of the Russian Empire...

  and secondly Grigori Nikitich Milashevich (1861–1908)

Ancestry

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