Wilhelmine Biron of Sagan

[Yseult]

Thanks a lot, GvE!! Pauline was a pretty young lady, allthough she wasn´t an alluring creature like her elder sister Wilhelmine or a exotic woman like her younger sister Dorothea.
I have read "By Influence&Desire". It was the first book I ordered about the princesses of Courland. I think the five women -the mother and the daughters- were fascinating. By the way, I´m trying to doing something about the ladies...one of my little stories that only the people who is very close to me can read Can I ask where you found the portraits of Pauline? What do you know about her? She´s overshadowed by Wilhelmine and Dorothea...I just know she married the prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and they had a son together, but, later, Pauline settled in Vienna with Joanna.

[GvE]

The following painting of Wilhelmine by Angelica Kauffmann was painted in Roma in 1785 and was last known to have been sold by the Duc de Talleyrand at auction at Galerie Georges Petit in Paris in 1899. The original painting's whereabouts today is unknown.



 

[Yseult]

She was so cute!
Duke Peter was absolutely infatuated with his firstbon daughter. He ordered a great ball to celebrate the second birthday of Wilhelmina, just a few months after the death of duchess Benigna (Peter´s mother) and when the duchess Anna Dorothea was expecting her third baby (Joanna). When the couple Peter/Anna made their great journey through Germany and Italy, Peter was the one who wanted Wilhelmina to go with the parents while the sisters, Pauline and Joanna, rested in Vircava under the care of Elisa von der Recke. It´s almost a miracle both Pauline and Joanna could love so frankly their elder sister

[Marc]

Are there any good single pictures of Princess Johanna Catherina,later Princess Pignatelli and why was she,it seems to me,in the shadow of her sisters?

[Yseult]

Are there any good single pictures of Princess Johanna Catherina,later Princess Pignatelli and why was she,it seems to me,in the shadow of her sisters?

Hello, Marc! It´s nice to meet you again in this thread

I haven´t found a good portrait of Johanna. Just can offer this:



I think she was the "Cinderella" of the Courland´s sisters, Marc. When she was very young, she fell in love with a young italian musician who was employée by the duke Peter. They started an intimate relationship and Johanna became pregnant. The couple ran away from Nachod to Hamburg, I believe, where the two were planning to take a boat to America. Of course, when the duke knew his daughter has dissapeared, he sent servants and soldiers sto follow the lovers. The duke´s servants found Joanna in Hamburgo and she was forced to return to home; the italian musician was arrested and he never was released from prison, it´s said he was murdered into his cell.
Johanna was pregnant by her lover. The father was in deep, deep anger and he suffered a stroke: as he was dying, he deprived her daughter of her share of his great fortune. After her father´s death, Johanna had a son, named Fritz, who was put no nurse with a faithful family. Later, Anna Dorothea, the duchess widow, provided a dowry for her daughter and she was forced to marry a neapolitan man: Francesco Pignatelli, Duke of Acerenza. Johanna was not entitled princess Pignatelli, but duchess of Acerenza.
The marriage of Johanna was not a succesful one, and she divorced her husband and fled to Vienna, where she lived with her sister Pauline.

[GvE]

The only two pictures of Johanna that I have been able to lacate are the one you posted above and the one I previously posted on this topic showing her with Pauline. I do hope that someone will post a third or a fourth picture. What you say above regarding Duke Peter and his outrage against Johanna is correct. By the way, did you receive my e-mail?   

 

[Yseult]

The latest I receive from you, is dated on 19 February... 

I'll attempt to resend tomorrow.

Ok, GvE, and thank you so much for your kindness.

And, dedicated to Marc, who wished a picture of Johanna, I add another of Pauline on the same style

[Marc]

Thank you for those pictures!I have never seen them I don't know why but the Kurland sisters seem very interesting to me.

[GvE]

And, dedicated to Marc, who wished a picture of Johanna, I add another of Pauline on the same style

Hello Yseult:

The last photo you sent to Marc has never been confirmed to be actually that of Pauline. Please treat this pictiure as an "unconfirmed" likness of her.
 
GvE

[Yseult]

And, dedicated to Marc, who wished a picture of Johanna, I add another of Pauline on the same style

Hello Yseult:

The last photo you sent to Marc has never been confirmed to be actually that of Pauline. Please treat this pictiure as an "unconfirmed" likness of her.
 
GvE

Allright
And, Marc, I believe they seems very interesting because they were very interesting Sometimes, I think they were born one century before of the right one: women, at these times, never could shine by themselves, women needed a man to reflect their light from the private life through the public stage. Imagine Wilhelmine being a man: a man duke of Sagan, with all the properties she had, with her fortune and her family connections, with her clever mind and her taste for public affairs, could have done a great career as diplomat. Not less than Metternich, not less than Talleyrand. But Wilhelmine was a woman. She could not be a statesman, a politician or a diplomat. The same thing happened to her younger sister Dorothea. Wilhelmine needed a Metternich, Dorothea needed a Talleyrand.

[GvE]

And, Marc, I believe they seems very interesting because they were very interesting  Sometimes, I think they were born one century before of the right one: women, at these times, never could shine by themselves, women needed a man to reflect their light from the private life through the public stage. Imagine Wilhelmine being a man: a man duke of Sagan, with all the properties she had, with her fortune and her family connections, with her clever mind and her taste for public affairs, could have done a great career as diplomat. Not less than Metternich, not less than Talleyrand. But Wilhelmine was a woman. She could not be a statesman, a politician or a diplomat. The same thing happened to her younger sister Dorothea. Wilhelmine needed a Metternich, Dorothea needed a Talleyrand.

I believe what you say is absolutely correct!!!

For those of you who are interested in additional information concerning Wilhelmine and the Courland princesses please connect to the topic on this site entitled "Konstantin Hohenzollern-Hechingen".

GvE

[Yseult]

I believe what you say is absolutely correct!!!

GvE

This is my point of view on these ladies. They were misjudged...because they were women so advanced for these times.

[Marc]

Maybe someone found some picture of Johanna?

[Infante John]

Until now, these are the only images (of Johanna) I've found it.

[Marc]

Thank you for this...I assume that her portraits are rare to find due to her early life and relations with her family,parents...