Women in the Life of Balzac/Chapter IV/Part IV
"I have found a letter from the kind Comtesse Loulou, who loves you
and whom you love, and in whose letter your name is mentioned in a
melancholy sentence which drew tears to my eyes; . . . I am going
to write to the good Loulou without telling her all she has done
by her letter, for such things are difficult to express, even to
that kind German woman. But she spoke of you with so much soul
that I can tell her that what in her is friendship, in me is
worship that can never end."
The Countess Louise Turheim called "Loulou" by her intimate friends and her sister Princess Constantine Razumofsky, met Madame Hanska in the course of her prolonged stay in Vienna in 1835, and the three women remained friends throughout their lives. The Countess Loulou was a canoness, and Balzac met her while visiting in Vienna; he admired her for herself as well as for her friendship for his Chatelaine. Her brother-in-law, Prince Razumofsky, wished Balzac to secure him a reader at Paris, but since there was limitation as to the price, he had some trouble in finding a suitable one. This made a correspondence with the Countess necessary, as it was she who made the request; but Madame Hanska was not only willing that Balzac should write to her but sent him her address and they exchanged messages frequently about the canoness.
In 1842, Une double Famille, a story written in 1830, was dedicated:
"To Madame la Comtesse de Turheim
"As a token of remembrance and affectionate respect.
"DE BALZAC."
The Countess de Bocarme, nee du Chasteler, was an artist who helped Balzac by painting in water-colors the portraits of her uncle, the field-marshal, and Andreas Hofer; he wished these in order to be able to depict the heroes of the Tyrol in the campaign of 1809. She painted also the entire armorial for the Etudes de Moeurs; this consisted of about one hundred armorial bearings, and was a masterpiece. She promised to paint his study at Passy in water-colors, which was to be a souvenir for Madame Hanska of the place where he was to finish paying his debts. All this pleased the novelist greatly, but she presented him with one gift which he considered as in bad taste. This was a sort of monument with a muse crowning him, another writing on a folio: Comedie humaine, with Divo Balzac above.
Madame de Bocarme had been reared in a convent with a niece of Madame Rosalie Rzewuska, had traveled much, and was rather brilliant in describing what she had seen. She visited Balzac while he was living aux Jardies. She was a great friend of the Countess Chlendowska, whose husband was Balzac's bookseller, and the novelist counted on her to lend the money for one of his business schemes. Being fond of whist, she took Madame Chlendowska to Balzac's house during his illness of a few weeks, and they entertained him by playing cards with him.
Balzac called her Bettina, and after she left Paris for the Chateau de Bury in Belgium, he took his housekeeper, Madame de Brugnolle, to visit her. Madame de Chlendowska was there also, but he did not care for her especially, as she pretended to know too much about his intimacy with his "polar star." Madame de Bocarme had one fault that annoyed him very much; she, too, was inclined to gossip about his association with Madame Hanska.
In 1843, Balzac erased from Le Colonel Chabert the dedication to M. de Custine, and replaced it by one to Madame la Comtesse Ida de Bocarme, nee du Chasteler.
One of the most attractive salons in Paris at the beginning of the Monarchy of July was that of Countess Merlin, where all the celebrities met, especially the musicians. Born in Havana, the young, beautiful, rich and talented Madame Merlin added to the poetic grace of a Spaniard the wit and distinction of a French woman. General Merlin married her in Madrid in 1811, and brought her to Paris, where she created a sensation. Being an accomplished musician, she gave delightful concerts, and though also gifted as a writer she was as simple and unpretentious as if she had been created to remain obscure. In addition, she was so truly good that she had almost no enemies; her charity was inexhaustible, and she possessed one of those hearts which live only to do good and to love.
It was Balzac's good fortune to be introduced into the salon. He explained to Madame Hanska that he went there to play lansquenet in order to escape becoming insane! He was anxious to have Madame Merlin present at the first presentation of his Quinola, where she wished to have Martinez de la Rosa with her, but the novelist dissuaded her from this.
Madame Merlin was a friend of Madame de Girardin, and ridiculed the Princesse Belgiojoso when these two were rival candidates for the presidency of the new Academy that was being formed.
During Madame Hanska's secret visit to Paris in 1847, Balzac declined an invitation to dinner with Madame Merlin, excusing himself on the ground of lack of time, but promised to call upon her soon. A few months before this (1846), he dedicated to her Les Marana, a short story written in 1832. Juana is inscribed to her also.
As has been seen, Balzac frequently depicted the features, lives, or peculiarities of various friends under altered names, but toward the close of Beatrix he laid aside all disguise in comparing the appearance of one of his famous women to the beauty of the Countess: "Madame Schontz owed her fame as a beauty to the brilliancy and color of a warm, creamy complexion like a creole's, a face full of original details, with the clean-cut, firm features, of which the Countess de Merlin was the most famous example and the most perennially young . . ."
In 1846, Balzac dedicated Un Drame au Bord de la Mer, written several years before, to Madame La Princesse Caroline Galitzin de Genthod, nee Comtesse Walewska. Balzac doubtless met her while visiting Madame Hanska in Geneva in 1834, as she was living at Genthod. He met a Princesse Sophie Galitzin, whom he considered far more attractive, and later met another Princesse Galitzin. One of these ladies evidently aroused the suspicions of Madame Hanska, but the novelist assured her that there was no cause for her anxiety.
Another woman whom Balzac honored with a dedication of one of his books, but for whom he apparently cared little, was Madame la Baronne de Rothschild, wife of the founder of the banking house in Paris. Balzac had met Baron James de Rothschild and his wife at Aix, where she coquetted with him. He had business dealings with this firm, and planned, several years later, to present to Madame de Rothschild as a New Year's greeting some of his works handsomely bound; the volumes were delayed, and he accordingly made a change in some of his business matters, for this was evidently a gift with a motive. The dedication to her of L'Enfant Maudit in 1846, as well as that of Un Homme d'Affaires to her husband in 1845, was perhaps for financial reasons or favors, since he never seemed to care for the couple in society.
In the winter of 1837, Countess San-Severino Porcia wrote from Paris to her friend in Milan, the Countess Clara Maffei, that Balzac was coming to her city, and suggested that she receive him in her salon. This distinguished and cultured woman had visited the novelist in Paris, and had been much surprised at the kind of home in which he was living, how like a hermit he was secluded from the world and the persecutions of his creditors; she was amazed when he received her in his celebrated monastic role.
The Countess Maffei retained her title after her marriage (in 1832) with the poet, Andrea Maffei, who was many years older than she. She was a great friend of the Princess Belgiojoso, and during the stirring times of 1848 the Princess had been a frequent visitor in her salon. Six years younger than the Princess, the Countess threw herself heart and soul into the political and literary life of Milan.
"For fifty-two consecutive years (1834-1886) her salon was the
rendezvous not merely of her compatriots but of intellectual
Europe. The list of celebrities who thronged her modest
drawing-room rivals that of Belgiojoso's Parisian salon, and
includes many of the same immortal names. Daniel Stern, Balzac,
Manzoni, Liszt, Verdi, and a score of others, are of international
fame; but the annuals of Italian patriotism, belles-lettres and
art teem with the names of men and women who, during that half
century of uninterrupted hospitality, sought guidance, inspiration
and intellectual entertainment among the politicians, poets,
musicians and wits who congregated round the hostess."
Balzac arrived in Milan in February, 1837, was well received, and was invited to the famous salon of Countess Maffei. The novelist was at once charmed with his hostess, whom he called la petite Maffei, and for whom he soon began to show a tender friendship which later became blended with affection.
Unfortunately Balzac did not like Milan; only the fascination of the Countess Maffei pleased him. He quarreled with the Princess San-Severino Porcia, who would not allow him to say anything unkind about Italy, and was depressed when calling on the Princess Bolognini, who laughed at him for it.
In the salon of the Countess Maffei the novelist preferred listening to talking; occasionally he would break out into sonorous laughter, and would then listen again, and—in spite of his excessive use of coffee—would fall asleep. The Countess was often embarrassed by Balzac's disdainful expressions about people he did not like but who were her friends. She tried to please him, however and had many of her French-speaking friends to meet him, but he seemed most to enjoy tea with her alone. Referring to her age, he wrote in her album: "At twenty-three years of age, all is in the future."
After Balzac's return to Paris he asked her, in response to one of her letters, to please ascertain why the Princess San-Severino was angry with him. Later he showed his appreciation of her kindness by sending her the corrected proofs of Martyres ignores, and by dedicating to her La fausse Maitresse, published in 1841. The dedication, however, did not appear until several months later.
In a long and beautiful dedication, Balzac inscribed Les Employes to the Comtesse Serafina San-Severino, nee Porcia, and to her brother, Prince Alfonso Serafino di Porcia, he dedicated Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes, concerning which he thought a great deal while visiting in the latter's home in Milan. The hotel having become intolerable to the novelist, he was invited by Prince Porcia to occupy a little room in his home, overlooking the gardens, where he could work at his ease. The Prince, a man of about Balzac's age, was very much in love with the Countess Bolognini, and was unwilling to marry at all unless he could marry her, but her husband was still living. The Prince lived only ten doors from his Countess, and his happiness in seeing her so frequently, together with his riches, provoked gloomy meditations in the mind of the poor author, who was so far from his Predilecta, so overcome with debts, and forced to work so hard.
To Madame la Comtesse Bolognini, nee Vimercati, who was afterwards married to Prince Porcia, Balzac dedicated Une Fille d'Eve:
"If you remember, madame, the pleasure your conversation gave to a
certain traveler, making Paris live for him in Milan, you will not
be surprised that he should lay one of his works at your feet, as
a token of gratitude for so many delightful evenings spent in your
society, nor that he should seek for it in the shelter of your
name which, in old times, was given to not a few of the tales by
one of your early writers, dear to the Milanese. You have a
Eugenie, already beautiful, whose clever smile proclaims her to
have inherited from you the most precious gifts a woman can
possess, and whose childhood, it is certain, will be rich in all
those joys which a sad mother refused to the Eugenie of these
pages. If Frenchmen are accused of bring frivolous and inconstant,
I, you see, am Italian in my faithfulness and attachments. How
often, as I write the name of Eugenie, have my thoughts carried me
back to the cool stuccoed drawing-room and little garden of the
Viccolo dei Capuccini, which used to resound to the dear child's
merry laughter, to our quarrels, and our stories. You have left
the Corso for the Tre Monasteri, where I know nothing of your
manner of life, and I am forced to picture you, no longer amongst
the pretty things, which doubtless still surround you, but like
one of the beautiful heads of Raffaelle, Titian, Correggio or
Allori which, in their remoteness, seem to us like abstractions.
If this book succeeds in making its way across the Alps, it will
prove to you the lively gratitude and respectful friendship of
your humble servant,
"DE BALZAC."
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ W. R. Whitehouse, A Revolutionary Princess.