Countess Katarzyna Potocka, née Branicka Korczak coat of arms (10 December 1825 – 20 September 1907) was a Polish noblewoman and art collector. Through her paternal grandmother, Aleksandra Branicka, she was a putative great-grandchild of Catherine the Great.[1] She had two sisters and four brothers, the eldest of whom was the French exile, financier and philanthropist, Count Xavier Branicki.[2]
Katarzyna Branicka | |
|---|---|
 Katarzyna Potocka by Franz Winterhalter | |
| Coat of arms | Korczak coat of arms |
| Born | 10 December 1825 Luboml, Volhynian Governorate, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine) |
| Died | 20 September 1907 (aged 81) Krzeszowice, Grand Duchy of Kraków, Austria-Hungary (now in Poland) |
| Noble family | Branicki |
| Spouse(s) | Adam Józef Potocki |
| Issue | Róża Potocka Artur Władysław Potocki Zofia Potocka Maria Potocka Wanda Potocka Andrzej Kazimierz Potocki Anna Maria Potocka |
| Father | Władysław Grzegorz Branicki |
| Mother | Róża Potocka |
She married Count Adam Józef Potocki on 26 October 1847 in Dresden. Chopin dedicated his Waltz in A-flat major to her. It was the last waltz by Chopin to be published in his lifetime.She was said to have been a great beauty and the subject of several portrait artists, including in 1854, the German painter, Franz Winterhalter.
Descendants
Jennah Karthes de Branicka, the German TV Middle East reporter, who also has Lithuanian ancestry, is among the last actual descendants of the Branicki family who are associated with immense wealth and infamy in Polish history.
References
Further reading
- Kenarowa, Halina. Ed. (pl) Maria Kalergi: Listy do Adama Potockiego. (translated from the French by Halina Kenarowa and Róża Drojecka) Warsaw, 1986.
