The Countess Louise Turheim called "Loulou" by her intimate friends
and her sister Princess Constantine Razumofsky, met Madame Hanska in
the course of her prolonged stay in Vienna in 1835, and the three
women remained friends throughout their lives. The Countess Loulou was
a canoness, and Balzac met her while visiting in Vienna; he admired
her for herself as well as for her friendship for his /Chatelaine/.
Her brother-in-law, Prince Razumofsky, wished Balzac to secure him a
reader at Paris, but since there was limitation as to the price, he
had some trouble in finding a suitable one. This made a correspondence
with the Countess necessary, as it was she who made the request; but
Madame Hanska was not only willing that Balzac should write to her but
sent him her address and they exchanged messages frequently about the
canoness.
In 1842, /Une double Famille/, a story written in 1830, was dedicated:
"To Madame la Comtesse de Turheim
"As a token of remembrance and affectionate respect.
"DE BALZAC."
The Countess de Bocarme, nee du Chasteler, was an artist who helped
Balzac by painting in water-colors the portraits of her uncle, the
field-marshal, and Andreas Hofer; he wished these in order to be able
to depict the heroes of the Tyrol in the campaign of 1809. She painted
also the entire armorial for the /Etudes de Moeurs/; this consisted of
about one hundred armorial bearings, and was a masterpiece. She
promised to paint his study at Passy in water-colors, which was to be
a souvenir for Madame Hanska of the place where he was to finish
paying his debts. All this pleased the novelist greatly, but she
presented him with one gift which he considered as in bad taste. This
was a sort of monument with a muse crowning him, another writing on a
folio: /Comedie humaine/, with /Divo Balzac/ above.
Madame de Bocarme had been reared in a convent with a niece of Madame
Rosalie Rzewuska, had traveled much, and was rather brilliant in
describing what she had seen. She visited Balzac while he was living
/aux Jardies/. She was a great friend of the Countess Chlendowska,
whose husband was Balzac's bookseller, and the novelist counted on her
to lend the money for one of his business schemes. Being fond of
whist, she took Madame Chlendowska to Balzac's house during his
illness of a few weeks, and they entertained him by playing cards with
him.
Balzac called her /Bettina/, and after she left Paris for the Chateau
de Bury in Belgium, he took his housekeeper, Madame de Brugnolle, to
visit her. Madame de Chlendowska was there also, but he did not care
for her especially, as she pretended to know too much about his
intimacy with his "polar star." Madame de Bocarme had one fault that
annoyed him very much; she, too, was inclined to gossip about his
association with Madame Hanska.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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