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| Anatoly Demidov | |
|---|---|
 Anatoly Demidov, byKarl Brullov, 1831 | |
| Prince of San Donato | |
| Reign | 1840-1870 |
| Predecessor | Creation |
| Successor | Pavel Demidov |
| Born | (1813-03-24)24 March 1813 Saint Petersburg,Russian Empire |
| Died | 29 April 1870(1870-04-29) (aged 57) Paris, France |
| Spouse | |
| House | Demidov |
| Father | Nikolai Nikitich Demidov |
| Mother | BaronessElisabeta Alexandrovna Stroganova |
Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, 1st Prince ofSan Donato (Russian:Анатолий Николаевич Демидов; 5 April OS: 24 March 1813 – 29 April 1870) was a Russianindustrialist,diplomat,active state councillor, and arts patron of theDemidov family.[1]
Born inSaint Petersburg orMoscow, he was the second surviving son of CountNikolai Nikitich Demidov and BaronessElisabeta Alexandrovna Stroganova. He grew up in Paris, where his father was ambassador.
His paternal grandparents wereNikita Akinfiyevich Demidov and, his third wife, Alexandra Evtikhievna Safonova.[2] His maternal grandparents were Baron Alexander NikolaevichStroganov and Elizaveta Alexandrovna (a daughter of Chief General A. A. Zagryazhsky).
He served briefly as a diplomat himself in Paris living in thehôtel built byCharles de Wailly for the sculptorAugustin Pajou, at 87rue de la Pépinière, now therue La Boétie, Rome andVenice.
Upon his father's death in 1828, Anatole settled for good in Western Europe, returning to Russia as little as possible. This attitude alienated him from tsarNicholas I of Russia, who always had an antipathy towards him.
In 1837–38, he organised a scientific expedition of 22 scholars, writers and artists, of whichAuguste Raffet and the criticJules Janin became Demidov's friends, to southern Russia and theCrimea, headed up byFrédéric Le Play. It cost 500,000 francs and its results were published asVoyage dans la Russie méridionale et la Crimée (4 vol., 1840–1842), with 100 original lithographs byRaffet and dedicated to the tsar despite his not having taken any interest in the book, irritated by that most of the expedition's members had been French.[3]
Demidov also financed a trip to Russia by André Durand in order to identify landscapes, which were published under the titleVoyage pittoresque et archéologique en Russie in 1839.[4] In 1840, Demidov himself published a series of articles on Russia in theJournal des Débats – these were collected asLettres sur l’Empire de Russie in 1840 with the aim of fighting certain received French ideas about Russia. Nevertheless, these works irritated Nicholas I due to their description of Russia's feudal system. In 1847 Demidov made a trip to Spain with Raffet, publishing an account of it later asEtapes maritimes sur les côtes d’Espagne in 1858. In 1842, he was elected a foreign member of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
He also considerably expanded theDemidov collection assembled by his father at theVilla San Donato nearFlorence, being particularly interested inRomantic art. In theParis Salon of 1834 he acquiredPaul Delaroche'sThe Execution of Lady Jane Grey, at the present in theNational Gallery, London. In 1833, he boughtFrançois Marius Granet'sThe Death of Poussin, which caused a sensation at the1834 Salon.
He commissioned paintings fromEugène Delacroix and watercolours fromRichard Parkes Bonington andThéodore Géricault, as well as Briullov'sThe Last Day of Pompeii. His collection was split up in public sales in Paris in 1863 and shortly before the prince's death in 1870.
The family owned copper andmalachite mines in theUrals and Demidov was known as "the king of Malachite". In 1835 he presented TsarNicholas I with the amazing malachite Rotunda which is now on display in the Fore Hall before the Nicholas Hall of the Hermitage in St Petersburg.Later he donated 15 tons of malachite for columns inSt Isaac's Cathedral, and his mines supplied the material for theMalachite Room in theWinter Palace, constructed after the fire of 1837.[5]
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Like his parents, Demidov was a great admirer ofNapoleon I of France. He built a museum below the house of San Martino onElba, where Napoleon had lived during his first exile, and he caused a mass to be sung atPortoferraio every 5 May (which is still sung today). In 1839, he was introduced byJules Janin into the circle ofJérôme Bonaparte, former king of Westphalia, who was living in exile at theVilla di Quarto inFlorence.
A plan to marry Jérôme's daughter princessMathilde-Létizia Bonaparte to Demidov was quickly formed. It was agreed that she would receive a dowry of 50,000 francs in jewels (bought by Demidov for 1 million francs from Jérôme, always short of money) and 240,000 francs in money, payable in instalments. A decree of 20 October 1840 also made Demidov thePrince of San Donato to allow the princess to hold onto her title, though Demidov's princely title was never recognised in Russia. The marriage took place inRome orFlorence on 1 November 1840.
In March 1841, the couple went to Saint Petersburg, where the Tsar was full of attention for his first cousin Mathilde, through her mother, and losing no opportunity to humiliate Demidov by any means possible. In spite of this, Anatole began his own infidelities. On 17 August 1841, the couple arrived in Paris, where they lived athôtel Demidoff at 109rue Saint-Dominique until June 1842, when they moved to spend a year in Saint Petersburg before finally setting up home at the Villa San Donato. Their relationship soon soured, with Demidov refusing to give up his mistressValentine de Sainte-Aldegonde, duchesse de Dino, following the princess taking CountÉmilien de Nieuwerkerke as her lover.
Mathilde made a violent scene with Valentine during a costume ball in 1845 and in reply Demidov slapped her face twice in public. Separated since 1843, in September 1846 Mathilde fled to Paris to take refuge with Nieuwerkerke, taking with her the jewels from her dowry. Even so, Demidov was condemned by a tribunal in Saint Petersburg to send Mathilde an annual pension of 200,000 francs and was never able to recover his jewels.
In many ways, Demidov felt he deserved such punishment, and their separation was authorised in 1847 by a personal decision of tsar Nicholas I. Demidov's many other mistresses includedMaria Calergis, considered one of the most beautiful women of her era, Ernestine Duverger, and Fanny de la Rochefoucauld (daughter ofFrançois, 8th Duke of La Rochefoucauld, with whom he had an illegitimate son.
Demidov tried to repair the damage the separation had done to his social standing by increasing his charitable donations. He created hospitals, orphanages and started an international committee to aid prisoners of theCrimean War, as well as giving 1 million roubles to finance that war for which tsarAlexander II of Russia made him chamberlain and Councillor of state. In 1860, he, theduc de Morny and doctor Oliffe made up the consortium of investors which founded the bathing resort atDeauville, and he took part in the famousCarnival de Paris, a painting at themusée Carnavalet shows his team taking part.
A bon viveur, two chicken dishes were named after him, including Chicken Demidoff—elaborately stuffed, smothered, trussed, and garnished, and the Demidoff name is also applied to dishes of rissoles and red snapper. He died in 1870 of a pulmonary congestion in his hotel on rue Saint-Dominique in Paris. Dying without legitimate issue, his title of Prince of San Donato passed to his nephewPavel Pavlovitch Demidov.
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Media related toAnatole Demidov at Wikimedia Commons| Italian nobility | ||
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| Preceded by Creation | Prince of San Donato 1840-1870 | Succeeded by |
