Izabela Fleming
Princess
Izabela Czartoryska (
nee Countess
Fleming) (
1746-
1835) was a
Polish noble lady, writer, collector of art, founder of the first Polish museum.
She was the daughter of Count Jerzy Detloff Fleming and Princess Antonina
Czartoryska. She married Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski on
November 18,
1761 in
Wołczyn. It is rumoured that she had an
affair with the Russian ambassador to Poland,
Nikolai Vasilyevich Repnin [
1].
In
Paris in
1772 she met
Benjamin Franklin, one of the leaders of the
American Revolution, and the French philosophers
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and
Voltaire, who at the time brought new ideas to the old order.
In
1775 she completely transformed (together with her husband) the Czartoryski Palace at
Puławy into an intellectual and political meeting place.
Izabela discovered the talent of the young painter
Aleksander Orlowski and financed him.
In
1784 she jointed the
Patriotic Party. After the
Kosciuszko Uprising two of her sons were taken by
Catharine of Russia as political hostages.
In
1796 she ordered the rebuilding of the ruined Palace of Puławy and started a museum. Among the first objects were
Turkish trophies from the siege of
Vienna. Also included were historical objects, from Polish families and royal treasures.
In
1801 she opened the first museum in
Poland, called "The Gothic House" or "The Temple of Memory". It contained objects with sentimental significance pertaining to the glories and miseries of human life.
During the
November Uprising in
1830, the museum was closed and all objects evacuated. Her grandson
Władysław Czartoryski re-opened the museum in
1878 in
Kraków.
*
Myśli różne o sposobie zakładania ogrodów (
1805)
*
Pielgrzym w Dobromilu, czyli nauki wiejskie (abt.
1818)
*
Czartoryski Museum* http://www.muzeum-czartoryskich.krakow.pl/
