Maria Antonia Branconi
Maria Antonia of Branconi, born of Elsener ( born October 27, 1746 Genoa; † July 7, 1793 in Abano ) was mistress of the Prince Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Brunswick, friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and owner of several goods, including Long stone. The Branconi was known in her time as the most beautiful woman in Germany.
- 2.1 Branconi room at Schloss Wernigerode
Life
The daughter of German - Italian parents, grew up in Naples. At the age of 12, she was married to JJ Francesco Pessina de Branconi († October 21, 1766 in Rosarno, Reggio Calabria Province ), an official of the royal Neapolitan Generalpachtungen. At the age of 20 she was already a widow and mother of a son and a daughter. A month later, in November 1766, she met the heir to the throne Brunswick Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand ( 1735-1806 ), who was after his marriage in 1764 on an extended study trips through Europe.
Ducal mistress in Braunschweig
She went to the Brunswick Crown Prince as his official mistress to Brunswick. Their son Karl Anton Ferdinand (1767-1794) was born on December 29, 1767 and baptized in the Protestant church of St. Andrew. The acting as a godparent grandfather Duke Charles I sat down for the collection of the illegitimate child as Count forest castle in the kingdom of count one. Education took over the scholar Johann Joachim Eschenburg. Branconi owned a palace in the Wilhelmstrasse Brunswick, which was a social meeting place. In 1776 she bought Good Long stone circle Halberstadt. It was in 1774 together with her two children from his marriage to Branconi ennobled by Emperor Joseph II. The break with the crown prince took place in 1777, which made Louise of Hertefeld to his new mistress.
Change of residence and travel
Branconi retired in 1777 after a long stone and made several trips to Switzerland and to France, where she was accompanied by her secretary and steward Carl Johann Conrad Michael Matthaei (aka Samson Geithel ). She bought the estate in 1786 Chanet near Neuchatel. She lived from 1787 to 1791 in Paris and held in 1790 for the last time in a long stone. From another relationship came from a 1788 -born son. To alleviate their health problems they undertook several beach holidays. While a cure, she died 1793 in Abano. Her son was District President of Osterwieck after the founding of the Prussian Province of Saxony.
Acquaintance with great minds
During their stay in Braunschweig Branconi learned several of the local Collegium Carolinum professors teaching communities, among them Johann Joachim Eschenburg and Johann Arnold Ebert. She had 1773/74 in Halberstadt contact with the poet Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim. In Aachen she met in 1774 the writer Sophie von La Roche. On a trip to Switzerland, she met in Zurich in 1779 the philosopher and writer Johann Caspar Lavater and know it in Lausanne JW von Goethe. This was mesmerized by her beauty and spirit. On their visit to Weimar in 1780 was followed by two return visits Goethe in 1783 and 1784 in Long stone. It held an exchange of letters with her and sent her manuscripts of his works, " Iphigenia in Tauris " and " Wilhelm Meister ", too. The statement that Branconi served as a model for the Countess ORSINA in Lessing's " Emilia Galotti ", is not provable.
King Frederick II of Prussia wanted to know " who is actually is Branconi born from Elsner? also whether and for what foreign country, you have yourself, possessed, with the specified ansehnlichem assets, in dero local principality? ". Then she assured on February 13, 1786 in Neufchatel, "that I am of my parents and Gros parents because as well as father mother for lawful marital parentage. "
A created by Anna Rosina de Gasc Portrait Branconis is located in Brunswick Herzog Anton Ulrich- Museum.
Family
Maria Antonia of Branconi had two children from her marriage to Johannes Josephus Franciscus de Pessina Branconi. Son Antonio Francesco Salvatore Pessina de Branconi (* 1762, † May 20, 1827 ) was a canon in Halberstadt, Prussian chamberlain, District Administrator of Osterwieck and mayor. Daughter Anna Maria Antonia Rosa Pessina (* 1764) later married a Major Lebbin.
For this purpose, a bastard son of Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Brunswick is named Karl Anton Ferdinand Graf von Forst castle (* December 29, 1767, † September 24, 1794 in Frankfurt am Main). This son was Lieutenant Colonel on the staff of Hohenlohe. He died of wounds he had suffered in the Battle of Kaiserslautern on 21 September. He was there adjutant of General von Hohenlohe. Karl Anton Ferdinand was ennobled in 1770 as Count of forest castle.
Maria Antonia de Pessina Branconi and her children were taken in 1774 in the knightly nobility Empire with German names leadership " of Branconi ".
During her stay in Switzerland, she is said to have later had a son Adolph Jules Marie.
Branconi room at Schloss Wernigerode
Height when used as a museum Schloss Wernigerode a so-called Branconi room was inaugurated on 19 July 2011, which shows beside her portrait furniture from their possession, which have been subject to the expropriation of the land reform in 1945 in Long flintlock. A personal relationship of Maria Antonia of Branconi to Wernigerode and there reigning Count of Stolberg, however, is not detectable.