UNPUBLISHED CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE EMPRESS... - Lot 29 - Osenat

Lot 29
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Estimation :
40000 - 50000 EUR
UNPUBLISHED CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE EMPRESS... - Lot 29 - Osenat
UNPUBLISHED CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE EMPRESS MARY FEODOROVNA AND PRINCE SERGEY GALITZIN [DECABRIST INSURRECTION]. MARY FEODOROVNA (1759-1828), EMPRESS - AUTOGRAPH GALITZIN (GOLITZIN) SERGEY (1774-1859), PRINCE - AUTOGRAPH RESCRIPTS OF THE EMPRESS MARY FEODOROVNA GIVEN TO PRINCE SERGEY MIKHAILOVICH GALITZIN BETWEEN 1821 AND 1828. SECOND COLLECTION. LS with large parts of autographs in the hand of the empress. 1821-1828. 127 letters in French, 54 letters in Russian, 416 pp. in-8. Letters bound in a collection, bound in period brown leather. Ex-libris from the library of Prince S. Galitzine. A.B.E. (traces of folds, light stains on pages, large stain on letters №55 and №142, tear on letter №105). The correspondence presented at auction is a previously unpublished record of the life and charitable efforts of Empress Maria Feodorovna (wife of Emperor Paul I). The second wife of Emperor Paul I, Sophie-Dorothea of Württemberg-Montbeliard was a Prussian princess chosen by Catherine II for her son. The princess received an excellent education and was fluent in several languages. She became Grand Duchess and later Empress of Russia under the name of Maria Feodorovna. She supported her husband in all his initiatives and gave birth to ten children. Two of them became emperors (Alexander I and Nicholas I). Early on, the empress became interested in charitable works. In 1796, she became the director of the Smolny Institute for the education of noble girls. In 1797, she was appointed head of several charitable institutions and orphanages (Foundling Home, Alexander Institute in Moscow, Widows' Home, etc.). Until the end of her life, she took care of these institutions and contributed to the reform of the organization of orphanages in Russia. For many years, Prince Sergei Galitzine was at her side to help her in this task. The correspondence presented here describes in detail the work done by Marie Feodorovna during seven years and testifies to her close relationship with her faithful friend Prince Galitzine. The correspondence shows how the empress supervised the life of several orphanages year after year, supporting in particular the financing of her project of villages in which peasant families took care of orphans with state subsidies (the orphanages of the big cities were then overcrowded). "Prince Oranski (Oranje-Nassau of Holland) will bring you this letter when he visits. He will probably wish to visit our institutions. In that case, I ask you to organize the visits and to make sure that the teachers are in their places and ready to tell him about their work (...)" (21 June 1825). Mary Feodorovna gave friendly advice to Prince Galitzin on the management of his hospital fund in Moscow (Galitzin Hospital) and supported the construction of a new building for the Council of Guardians. She personally takes care of the organization of the lives of the brightest students and strives to keep education in the institutions at a high level. "The French language is one of the main objectives for them and it is absolutely necessary to give them the opportunity to practice it a lot (...) But the essential for this objective, it is to have good Ladies of class, who make speak well this language. This is a condition that must be absolutely demanded and no one must be placed who does not express herself correctly and with ease in French. (28 April 1824) She also insisted on the importance of German and science for the young pupils in her institutions, and monitored the salaries of the schoolmistresses (which were calculated according to their skills and the number of pupils in each class). The empress gave detailed answers to each report on the financing of the orphanages. Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Galitzine accompanies the empress in each project. He was regularly decorated by the emperor for his fidelity and his help to Maria Feodorovna's projects (ring decorated with diamonds, decree of the emperor of June 27, 1821, etc). The Empress shared all the family news with Prince Galitzine: "the expectation of the Grand Duchess Alexandrine's childbirth means that I cannot enjoy it at my ease in Pavlovsk, having spent the nights for the last six days in Tsarskoe Selo and spending the days dividing myself between three places, the two palaces and my Pavlovsk (...)" (Tsarskoe Selo, 2 June 1825). She tells him about her worries for her daughters-in-law and talks a lot about "her" Pavlovsk (her favorite palace, given to her by her husband). "I found my Pavlovsk (...) through the friendship of my son, who was kind enough to have a beautiful iron door placed there for the 14th.
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