Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia (18 August 1819 – 21 February 1876) was the daughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, and sister of Alexander II. In 1839, she married Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg. She was an art collector and President of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.

Early life

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia was born on in Krasnoye Selo in Saint Petersburg. She was the second of seven surviving children and the eldest daughter. Her parents, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia 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 avoided overindulging them. The Tsar liked to sing chorus music with them. Maria was known fondly as "Masha" within the family and with close friends. Maria and her siblings grew up in a close knit family, remaining on good terms all their lives.

Maria was raised in the company of her sisters Olga and Alexandra. Grand Duchess Maria, who painted fairly well, later made watercolors. She never lost her love for the arts, becoming a benefactress and art collector. All three sisters had musical abilities and were involved in charitable work. From 1835, Grand Duchess Maria was an active member of the patriots' society, which had been founded by Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna. 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".

It was not a desirable match for a daughter of a Russian Emperor. 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 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. The ceremony was described in detail by the Marquis de Custine, 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. 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 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, after Maria. Whilst their palace was under construction Maria gave birth to three children, Princess Alexandra (1840-1843), Princess Maria, and Prince Nicholas. The couple lived in the Vorontsov Palace waiting for the completion of their own residence.

Maria played a leading role in the decoration of her home, displaying her taste and sense of elegance. Because she [Maria] 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, theatrical performances and concerts. Maria also owned a country estate, Sergievka, bought from the Naryshkin family and given to her as a wedding gift. Located west of Peterhof in a little bay opposite Kronstadt, the villa Sergievka became a favorite family retreat. Maria 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 and Tsarskoye Selo.

President of the Academy of Arts

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna 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's 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. In 1852, 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 at the age of 35. Maria was 33 when she was widowed.

Grand Duchess Maria 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 devoted herself to her collection with even greater ardor. 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.

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, Empire of Russia at the age of 56.

Art collections On her death in 1876, Maria Nikolaevna'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 Stroganova. 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 entitled the Heritage of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna. After the revolution the collection was dispersed and now can be enjoyed in museums in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Vienna and the United States. Today the Palace houses the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly.

Children Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna had seven children from her marriage to the Duke of Leuchtenberg:

NameBirthDeathNotes Princess Alexandra Maximilianovna9 April 184012 August 1843Died in childhood, at age 3.Princess Maria Maximilianovna 16 October 184116 February 1914 Married Prince Wilhelm of Baden (1829–1897). Had issue.Prince Nicholas Maximilianovich4 August 18436 January 18914th Duke of Leuchtenberg, married Nadeshda Sergeevna Annenkova (1840–1891). Had issue. Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna1 April 18454 May 1925Married Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg 1844–1932Prince Eugen Maximilianovich 8 February 184731 August 1901 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg, first marriage to Daria Opotchinina who died in childbirth. Second marriage to Zinaida Dmitrievna Skobeleva.Prince Sergei Maximilianovich 20 December 184924 October 1877 Never married. Killed in the Russo-Turkish war, at age 27. Prince George Maximilianovich, 29 February 1852 16 May 1912 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg, First marriage to Duchess Therese Petrovna of Oldenburg, second marriage to Princess Anastasia of Montenegro.

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna had two children in her second marriage:

NameBirthDeathNotes Count Grigori Grigorievich 9 May 1857 26 February 1859 Died in childhood, at age 1. Countess Elena Grigorievna 11 February 1861 12 February 1908 First marriage to Vladimir Alexeievich Sheremetev, second marriage to Grigori Nikitich Milashevich.

Ancestry