The more you delve into the life of A.S. Pushkin, the more mysteries appear, for which there are no answers yet. I have long wondered: why, after the duel between Pushkin and Dantes, two sisters, Natalya Pushkina and Ekaterina Goncharova, became strangers?

It is known that Dantes was madly in love with Natalia, and Catherine was madly in love with Dantes. It is also known that after the first challenge by Pushkin to the duel of Heckeren, Dantes announced that he was marrying Catherine, and that he had liked her for a long time. Why did he decide to take such a step - to marry a woman four years older than him and, of course, far from being such a beauty as Natalya was?
One thing can be said with certainty: he did this not because of the fear of a duel, as some Pushkinists assumed and even claimed. Dantes was not a coward, which is confirmed by many facts from his biography and his behavior before the duel. Of course, the duel meant the collapse of his career and did not bode well for his adoptive father, the Dutch envoy Gekkeren, who could lose his post and be expelled from Russia. Such a prospect did not please them and, in order to avoid a duel, Dantes announced his marriage to Natalia's sister Ekaterina. By this, he tried to prove to Pushkin that his jealousy was unfounded, and that he had long decided to marry Catherine, and that he had not done this before only because he did not receive his father's consent. Now he has received this consent and all obstacles have disappeared.

And here begins the difficult reconciliation between Dantes and Pushkin. The challenge to the duel of Dantes by Pushkin had already been sent, “the process had begun” and it was already difficult to stop it.

Dantes stated that he intended to marry Catherine, but only after Pushkin took back his challenge, and this challenge must remain secret. Otherwise in public opinion Dantes may be just a coward who expressed a desire to marry Natalia's sister in order to avoid a duel.
Dantes and his adoptive father wanted only one thing, that the initiative for reconciliation came from Pushkin. He should have sent them a call rejection letter.

Pushkin agreed to write a letter refusing the call, but this refusal mentioned the matchmaking of Dantes to Catherine as a motive for the refusal. Such an interpretation of the letter, of course, was unacceptable to Dantes. It turned out that Pushkin took back the duel challenge, because Dantes was marrying Natalya's sister, which means he was getting married in order to avoid a duel. As a result, it turns out that Dantes is a coward.

No matter what they say about him, Dantes was not a coward. He then wrote to his second and to everyone who tried to settle this matter: “... here are my thoughts, and I think that Mr. Pushkin will understand them. "Marry or fight." Since my honor forbids me to accept the conditions, this phrase would put me in the sad need to accept last decision. I would still insist on it in order to prove that such a motive for marriage cannot find a place in a letter, since I already intended to make this proposal to myself after the duel, if only fate would be favorable to me. It must, therefore, be definitely stated that I will make an offer to Mademoiselle Catherine not for reasons of satisfaction or settling the case, but only because I like her, that this is my desire and that this decision is solely my will.
The next day, he said to Sologub, Pushkin's second: “You don't want to understand that I'm marrying Catherine. Pushkin withdraws his challenge, but I don't want to give the impression that I'm getting married to avoid a duel."

Dantes nevertheless insisted on his own, and Pushkin relented. He wrote a letter that suited Dantes and did not offend his honor. Here is the letter:
“I do not hesitate to write what I can say verbally. I challenged Herr Georges Gekkern to a duel and he accepted the challenge without entering into any explanation. And now I ask the gentlemen of the witnesses of this case to deign to consider this challenge as not having taken place, having learned from the rumors in society that Mr. J. Heckeren decided to announce his intention to marry Mrs. Goncharova after the duel. I have no reason to attribute his decision to considerations unworthy of a noble man.
Further, Pushkin verbally added to Dantes' second: "However, I am ready to admit that Mr. Dantes acted as an honest man."

So, Dantes announces his marriage to Natalia's older sister Ekaterina. Some said that he would marry a “broom with a handle”, thereby emphasizing Catherine’s ugly appearance, others that she was “quite beautiful and well-educated.” What prompted Dantes to take this step? After all, girls both prettier and richer than Catherine, and younger, would gladly go for him.

N.M. Smirnov, close to Pushkin, wrote: “What forced Dantes to marry a girl whom he could not love is difficult to determine: did he want, sacrificing himself, to calm Pushkin’s doubts and save the woman he loved from the censures of the world; Or did he hope, having deceived the jealousy of her husband, to have, like a brother, Free access to Natalia; whether he was afraid of the duel is unknown. Here you can admit both the first and the second, but not the third.
famous explorer Pushkin's life M. Yashin wrote that Dantes married at the request of the king. There were opinions that he married because Catherine was already pregnant by him. All this is not true. It is documented that Catherine was not pregnant. The king did not demand.

I think that Dantes was pushed to this step by his insane love for Natalia. Having married Catherine, he had the opportunity to at least more often see the object of his unbridled passion. If he was not destined to be the husband of the one whom he so passionately loved, then Dantes was already ready for the role of brother-in-law, a relative of Natalia. Maybe in Catherine he saw some traits, inclinations, habits, etc., similar to Natalya. (sibling, nevertheless) and fell in love with her for it. Thanks to Natalya, in his heart, perhaps, a small flame of love flared up for Catherine. By at least, Dantes' letters to Catherine do not indicate that he was indifferent to her:
“My heart is full of tenderness and affection for you, dear Katenka, and I want to repeat this to you myself with the sincerity that is characteristic of my character and that you will always meet in me ... All yours, my beloved.”
Here is an excerpt from another letter:
“Our future is cloudless, drive away any fear, and most importantly, never doubt me; it doesn't matter whoever they are surrounded by, I see and will see only you; I am yours, Katenka, you can rely on me, and if you do not believe my words, my behavior will prove it to you.

If Dantes had hopes for family relations with the Pushkin family, and therefore for “free access to Natalya” after marrying Catherine, then these hopes collapsed immediately after the wedding. Pushkin categorically did not want to have any relationship between his house and Mr. Dantes. Dantes came to him on a wedding visit, but Pushkin did not receive him. Following the visit, Dantes sends two letters to Pushkin one after the other, but the poet returned them unopened.

Yes, Pushkin resolutely did not want to have any connection with Dantes, and he had good reasons for this. He saw that "beautiful appearance, unfortunate passion and two years of constancy" had already made an effect on the heart of his wife. Be that as it may, Natalie was no longer indifferent to Dantes. S.N. Karamzina writes in a letter: “Natalie is nervous, withdrawn, and when she talks about her sister’s marriage, her voice breaks.” "Natalie lowers her eyes and blushes under the hot and long gaze of Dantes."
Natalya's sister Alexandrina later recalled that Natalya "undoubtedly was touched by this great passion, born to her against her will, but she does not think that a serious feeling was mixed with this."

Pushkin did not go to the wedding and did not take the young people to him. Natalia was only at the wedding. By the way, Tsar Nicholas 1 gave Natalia five thousand rubles free of charge for a wedding gift to her sister Catherine.
What feelings Natalya experienced at the wedding, we do not know, she knew how to hide them. “To allow me to read my feelings seems like a profanation,” Natalya later wrote to her second husband P. Lansky. “Only God and a select few have the key to my heart.”

The wedding took place on January 10, 1837, and after half a month Pushkin wrote an insulting letter to Gekkeren, which is tantamount to challenging him to a duel again. Pushkin was resolute and it was useless to conduct any negotiations on the cancellation of the duel with him. Yes, and the honor of Dantes and his father in the letter were so hurt that they could no longer go to reconciliation with Pushkin. The duel, unfortunately, took place.

The military court commission sentenced Dantes to the gallows. The opinion of the commander of the cavalry regiment, where Dantes served, was different. He asked the king to deprive Dantes of all rights Russian nobility, demoted to ordinary soldiers with the definition of distant garrisons for service. The higher military authorities had the same opinion. The king agreed with this opinion with a slight amendment. On the report, he wrote as follows: “To be therefore, but ordinary Gekkern, if not a Russian citizen, should be sent abroad with a gendarme, taking away officer patents.”

They say that Pushkin did not hide from his wife that he would fight a duel and asked her for whom she would cry? “According to the one who will be killed,” Natalya allegedly answered. She was really worried and crying. Daria Fikelmon then wrote in her diary: “An unfortunate wife with with great difficulty rescued from the madness into which she seemed to be driven irresistibly by a dark, deep despair.

What was in her heart, only God knows. Maybe somewhere in the depths of her soul she suffered according to Dantes. With very subtle hints about the same, the Empress writes to her bosom friend Bobrinsky: “... and who knows if, next to remorse, she does not feel, against her will, another feeling that increases her suffering.” But this is all guesswork. Natalya herself knew how to hide her feelings.

Before leaving abroad, Catherine, who already bore the name of Dantes, came to say goodbye to her sisters. She had not been to the Pushkins since the moment when she left for the church for the wedding. What was said at this meeting is unknown. Apparently, Ekaterina Nikolaevna was accused of something. A.I. Turgenev testifies that Catherine was crying. The fact that the conversation between her and Natalya was far from friendly is evidenced by the fact that for the entire time Catherine was abroad, until her death, Natalya would not write a single letter to her own sister. Once, in a letter to her brother Dmitry, Ekaterina asked him why Natalya was not writing to her. The answer was: “You ask me why she does not write to you; to tell the truth, I don’t know, but I don’t suppose any other reason than the fear of dropping my dignity, or, rather, my good name, by correspondence with you, and I think that she will not write to you soon.

It is not clear why Natalya was offended by her sister? Because Catherine married Dantes? In this case, she only had to be happy for her sister, and not be offended. Ekaterina is a girl already overripe, and her desire to marry, and even for a loved one, is quite understandable. But Natalia's resentment towards her sister is not entirely clear.
Maybe Natalia was still jealous of Dantes for her sister? No wonder Catherine said that she forgives Pushkin. Why does she forgive Pushkin Natalya? Maybe because she married woman, did not want to give Dantes to her sister? Here you can only make assumptions and guesses, but in any case, after Dantes married Catherine, Natalya should only be happy for her own sister, wish the newlyweds happiness, and firmly make it clear to Dantes that there will be no reciprocal feelings on her part for him. Judging by the memoirs of contemporaries, she did not do this, but continued to "lower her eyes and blush under the long glances of Dantes."
Shortly after the duel, Daria Fikelmon will say: “Finally, we all saw how this deadly thunderstorm grew and intensified! Either the vanity of Madame Pushkina was flattered and aroused, or Dantes really touched and confused her heart, be that as it may, she could no longer reject or stop this unbridled love.

And it was necessary to curb this love of Dantes for the sake of the happiness of his sister.
Pushkin, challenging Dantes to a duel, also had to think about his sister-in-law, whom he could make unhappy for life by killing her husband. Anger and a thirst for revenge overshadowed his mind, and he was ready to make unhappy not only his own family, but also someone else's.

Did Catherine know about the upcoming duel? Some Pushkinists unreasonably claim that Catherine knew about the duel and did not warn Natalya about it, and that Natalya allegedly could not forgive her. But there is no evidence that Catherine knew about the duel. There is only a note from Catherine, addressed to the daughter of V.F. Vyazemskaya: “Our premonitions were justified. My husband has just fought with Pushkin; thank God, the wound (of my husband) is not at all dangerous, but Pushkin is wounded in the lower back. Go comfort Natalie."

From this note it can be seen that Catherine had only premonitions, but she did not know for sure. Then many had premonitions, including the king. By the way, there is evidence that another sister of Natalya Alexandrina knew about the duel, but Natalya had no resentment against her sister, which is confirmed by their further family relationship.

Was Catherine happy with Dantes? In all her letters, she always emphasized that she was happy and that she was even afraid of her own happiness. She loved Dantes infinitely. In one of her letters to him, she wrote: “... the only thing that I want you to know her, of which you are already quite sure, is that I love you deeply, deeply, and that in you alone all my happiness , only in you, you alone ... "
After the wedding, she wrote to Dantes' father: "My happiness is complete, and I hope that my husband is as happy as I am." Ignoring these documentary facts, many Pushkinists stubbornly insist that Catherine could not be happy with Dantes. They did not want to believe in this happiness, it did not fit then, in Soviet time, in a general tone of condemnation of Dantes. Here, for example, as Pushkinists I. Obodovskaya and M. Dementyev wrote in their book “After Pushkin’s Death”: “And this woman, who so often talks about her happiness, was probably very lonely and unhappy.”

They could not admit and believe that Pushkin's killer could be good father and husband. There is a lot of evidence that Dantes was both a good father and a good husband. Here is what Ekaterina's brother Ivan from Baden wrote to his brother Dmitry: “... You probably already know from your mother that Katya came here with her husband and two older girls to see us. The presence of her husband was much more pleasant to me than I was prepared for it ... I wanted to first see what their family relationships, and when I realized that my sister was happy not in words, but in reality, this prompted me, naturally, to change my somewhat icy reception of her husband to a treatment more benevolent and free. In fact, he is just as good a husband as his father ... I can’t believe my eyes, seeing how tender he is with his wife and how he loves his little ones. So, we parted as good friends, and in order to prove it to them, I promised to come to them at their estate in the first days of June ... "

And this is how Obodovskaya and Dementyev comment on this letter from Ivan Goncharov: “How can one explain that Ivan Nikolaevich so easily believed in the “happiness” of his sister, so quickly changed his attitude towards Dantes? Before him was played, and, no doubt, quite skillfully, a performance replete with scenes of marital happiness.

White is stubbornly called black only to justify the pre-set goal of discrediting Dantes and Catherine.
Obodovskaya and Dementiev claim that relatives treated Catherine coldly. Brother Dmitry, for example, "wrote to her rarely, reluctantly." This is a lie. Here is what Dmitry wrote to Catherine before her departure to France:
“Dear and kind Katenka. I'm sorry if I was late in replying to your letter of March 15, but I've been away for a few days. I understand, dear Katenka, that your situation is difficult, since you must leave your homeland, not knowing when you can return, or perhaps you are leaving it forever ... nevertheless, be sure, dear friend, that no matter how far I am I have never been away from you, my feelings for you are unchanged, I have always loved you, and be sure, dear and good friend that if ever I could be useful to you, I will always be at your disposal ... "
Dmitry even named his daughter in honor of his sister Ekaterina. The same feelings of love were expressed in letters by her mother. None of the relatives ever accused Catherine of anything, because there was nothing to blame her for. Only her younger sister Natalya accused her, she did not write a single letter to her sister. But why she was offended by Catherine remains a mystery.

Catherine gave birth to three beautiful daughters to Dantes, but she understood and saw that her husband really wanted a boy. The grandson of Dantes Catherine, Louis Metman, testified that Catherine went barefoot to the local chapel and on her knees, with tears, asked God for a son. God heard her and she finally gave birth to a boy, but she herself soon, never recovering from a difficult birth, died.

After the death of his wife, Dantes wrote to Dmitry: “... I have never had such a cruel and unexpected blow, this death again turned my whole life upside down, which the angelic nature of your beautiful sister made so calm and happy. One could say that we had some premonition that we would have little time to live together; we never parted, in all my trips and travels my wife accompanied me, I did not have a single secret thought from her, and Catherine gave me the opportunity to always read in her beautiful and noble soul. Our happiness was too complete, it couldn't last! God did not want to leave this exemplary mother and wife further on earth. Providence, inscrutable in its commands, sometimes pleases to give us such chosen beings to indicate what all women should be, and then it takes them back to leave them to mourn for those who had the good fortune to know them ... "

Dantes, at 31, was left a widower with four children (three daughters and a son) and never remarried. He raised the children, gave them a brilliant education, and died surrounded by children and grandchildren at the age of 83. His son was brave warrior, more than once distinguished himself in battles, was seriously wounded, awarded the order Legion of Honor.
Dantes was buried next to his wife Catherine in Sulz.
One street in the city is named after him.

Everyone probably knows that Pushkin shot with Dantes because of his wife Natalia, nee Goncharova. Was there really a romance between Natalie Pushkina and Georges Dantes?

Goncharova and Dantes

Natalie Goncharova was known as a real beauty and always enjoyed success with men. Of course, she had many admirers, they said that even the emperor himself was not indifferent to her ... At first, Pushkin was proud of his wife's success in society. Moreover, she was quite restrained, no one would dare to call her a coquette, making eyes at men. But around 1830, Natalya Nikolaevna met a French citizen, a cavalry guard, and also adopted son envoy of the Netherlands, Baron Louis Heckern Georges-Charles Dantes, who began to actively look after her.

Dantes literally pursued Natalie. At first, worship from the side young man she was even flattered. But somehow she told her husband and Princess Vyazemskaya that a certain friend (according to some sources, it was actually her distant cousin Idalia Poletika) invited her to her place, and at that time she herself left home. All this was arranged by Baron Gekkern. When Natalya was left alone in the room, Dantes entered and, taking out a pistol, began to threaten to shoot himself if she did not give herself to him ... Fortunately, the mistress's daughter soon entered the room, and the situation resolved itself.

family drama

On November 4 (16), 1836, Pushkin and several of his friends received by mail an anonymous libel in French, under the heading: "Patent for the title of cuckold." Its content was as follows: “Chevaliers of the first degree, commanders and cavaliers of the Most Serene Order of Cuckolds, having gathered in the Grand Chapter under the chairmanship of the Honorable Grand Master of the Order, His Excellency D.L. Naryshkin, unanimously elected Mr. Alexander Pushkin coadjutor of the Grand Master of the Order of the Cuckolds and historiographer of the Order. Permanent secretary Count I. Borch.

What these lines alluded to, no one had to guess.

Pushkin immediately sent Dantes a challenge to a duel.

However, at the same time, Dantes offered his hand and heart to Natalya Nikolaevna's sister, Ekaterina Nikolaevna. Relatives managed to dissuade Pushkin from a duel with a future relative ...

The marriage of Georges Dantes and Ekaterina Goncharova took place on January 10. Meanwhile, rumors about a love affair between Dantes and Natalie Pushkina continued to spread. On January 26, Pushkin sent a letter to Baron Gekkern, in which he said that he was refusing to give him and his adopted son a home. The answer was a challenge to a duel. But the baron could not fight Pushkin himself, as this would be a threat to his diplomatic career: this role was assigned to Dantes.

We know about the future: the duel that took place on January 27 on the Black River, and the sad end of the poet ...

Was there a betrayal?

In 1946, Henri Troyat published excerpts from d'Anthès' letters to Geckern, dated early 1836, in which the author reports his passion for "the most charming creature in St. Petersburg." According to Dantes, the husband of this woman is "rabidly jealous," but she feeds love feelings to him, Georges... The researcher Tsvyalovsky, who translated the letters into Russian in 1951, believes that they were talking about Natalie Pushkina. “The sincerity and depth of Dantes' feelings for Natalya Nikolaevna, on the basis of the letters cited, of course, cannot be doubted,” writes Tsvyalovsky. — Moreover, the reciprocal feeling of Natalya Nikolaevna for Dantes now also cannot be subjected to any doubt.

Meanwhile, another Pushkinist, N.A. Raevsky, points to the lines from the letter, from which it follows that the proposal is violated for his sake marital debt beloved answered Dantes with a refusal.

According to the literary critic Y. Lotman, Natalya Pushkina served only as a screen: an affair with a brilliant secular beauty was intended to hide true character Dantes' relationship with Gekkern, who had homosexual inclinations. And the letters were written on purpose and served as another proof of Dantes' love for this woman.

V. Fridkin in the book "From Foreign Pushkiniana" claims that after receiving the libel, Pushkin explained to his wife, and she confessed to him that she really accepted Dantes' advances, while at the same time remaining physically faithful to her husband. “The poet's house at that moment collapsed like a card,” writes Friedkin. Pushkin has lost the meaning of his life. You can't want to kill another person just because your wife loved him. But you can wish death for yourself because of this.

It is known that Natalya Nikolaevna was very sad for her husband and even lay in a fever for several days. She married only seven years after the death of Pushkin - for General Peter Lansky. Throughout her life, the poet's widow was accompanied by rumors about her guilt in the death of her first husband. So, immediately after the death of Pushkin, an anonymous poem began to circulate in the lists: “Everything here breathes contempt for you ... You are a reproach to the whole world, a traitor and the wife of a poet.”

It is possible that all these events became an indirect cause of Natalya Lanskaya's health problems and her relatively early death at 51 from pneumonia. It happened in November 1863. The historian and literary critic Pyotr Bartenev published the following obituary in one of the St. Petersburg newspapers: “On November 26 of this year, Natalya Nikolaevna Lanskaya, nee Goncharova, died in St. Petersburg at the age of 52, in her first marriage to A.S. Pushkin. Her name will long be pronounced in our public memories and in the very history of Russian literature.

"of the purest beauty, the purest example" , mother of seven children, wife of two husbands and mistress of the emperor

On December 8, 152 years ago, the wife of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Natalya Goncharova, died, who had a fatal influence on the fate of the great genius.

Fortune teller's prediction to Pushkin

Around 1820, after graduating from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, Alexander Sergeevich entered the service of the College of Foreign Affairs and settled in St. Petersburg. Somehow he found out that northern capital a famous fortune teller has arrived German descent Alexandra Kirchhoff. Pushkin and several friends visited her.

Looking at Pushkin's palm, the fortuneteller said:

Upon returning home, you will find an envelope with money on the table. Soon you will be prompted to change the type of service, and then exiled twice. You will enjoy great fame among your contemporaries and descendants. At the age of 37, you will have big troubles because of your wife. beware white man or a white horse. If they do not interfere, then you will live to a ripe old age..

And indeed, at home, Pushkin found out that a comrade from the Lyceum had come to see him. Korsakov and returned to the poet gambling debt. An envelope with money lay on the table.

A few days later the general A.F. Orlov invited Pushkin to enter military service, and in 1820 the poet was expelled from St. Petersburg for anti-government poems.

The end of the fortuneteller's prediction came true in a fatal way. But about this in order.

Childhood of Natalie Goncharova

Natasha Goncharova born August 27, 1812 in the estate of Carian, Tambov province, where the Goncharov family with children lived after being forced to leave Moscow due to the invasion.

She was the youngest sixth child in a family where, besides her, there were three sons and two daughters. Natalie's mother was famous in her youth for the beauty that all her daughters, and especially the youngest, inherited. After falling from a horse, his father suffered a head injury and suffered from mental illness, aggravated by drunkenness, so he often started violent scandals.

Until the age of 6, Natalia lived with her grandfather, Afanasia Goncharova, in his estate Linen factory. Tasha lived like a little princess: her grandfather ordered expensive dresses and hats for her granddaughter, the rooms were littered with toys and sweets, magnificent holidays were held in the park. The old man adored his granddaughter, and all his upbringing was reduced to unbridled pampering. The girl was taught to write and count, French. She was taught the name Natalie, explaining that she would be called that when she became a young lady. Then Natasha moved to, where her mother had a house in which the whole family lived.

The Goncharov sisters received excellent education: they learned French, German and English, the basics of history and geography, Russian literacy, understood literature, since the library collected by their father and grandfather, under the supervision of Natalya Ivanovna, was preserved in great order. The poems of Pushkin, famous throughout Russia, were known by heart, copied into albums. They could lead household, knitting and sewing, sat well in the saddle, controlled horses, danced and played not only the piano, they could also play a chess game. Especially in the chess game, the youngest, Natasha, shone.

Pushkinists have recently found school notebooks Natalie and to their complete amazement discovered that this girl was much smarter than her peers. An amazing essay was found on the topic state structure. But Natalia was only 10 years old! The essay was written with such detail that testifies to her incredible erudition. A notebook with French sayings and aphorisms was also found.

The extraordinary beauty of Natalia became a sure pass to the world of turbulent social life: from an early age they began to take her to balls and assemblies. By the age of 15, the glory of the first beauty of Moscow was firmly entrenched in her, a crowd of admirers accompanied her everywhere. The owners of the best houses in the old capital vied with each other to invite the Goncharovs to the festivities. And in December 1828, the first Moscow beauty was at the ball of the famous Moscow dance master Yogel.

Meeting Goncharova and Pushkin

Pushkin was fascinated by the beauty of Natalie at this ball. Goncharova was then barely 16 years old. In a white dress, with a golden hoop on her head, tall (about 176 centimeters), with a very thin waist, luxurious shoulders and chest, with expressive eyes, covered with long eyelashes, with silky hair - she attracted many looks. In all the splendor of her beauty, she was introduced to the first Russian poet Pushkin, who " for the first time in my life I was timid».

The first meeting of Pushkin and Natalie. Source: radikal.ru

Pushkin, in love, did not immediately dare to appear in the Goncharovs' house. An old acquaintance brought the poet into their living room Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy, who soon became a matchmaker. For about two years, the story of courtship, painful for the poet, dragged on. Natalya Ivanovna Goncharova had heard a lot about Pushkin's political "unreliability" and, in addition, she was afraid that the groom would demand a dowry that simply did not exist.

Close friends of Pushkin noted that after meeting with Goncharova, Alexander became completely different from his former self.

God knows - I am ready to die for her, but die in order to leave her a brilliant widow, free even tomorrow to choose a new husband- Pushkin wrote in a letter to his future mother-in-law on the eve of the wedding.

My wishes have been fulfilled. Creator
He sent you down to me, you, my Madonna,
The purest beauty, the purest example.
These famous poems written by a poet about a bride.

Natalie Goncharova also fell in love with Pushkin. Although he was 13 years older than her, 10 centimeters shorter and at first glance not handsome, but thanks to his talent he was reputed to be the most witty and popular man, he was very charming with the women he was interested in, which is also confirmed by his Don Juan list love victories, and Natalie Goncharova was 113th in it.

A contemporary who knew the Goncharovs N. P. Ozerova said:

…the mother strongly opposed the marriage of her daughter, but ... the young girl persuaded her. She seems very passionate about her fiancé.

This observation is also confirmed by a letter from Natasha herself to her grandfather asking for permission to marry Pushkin:

Dear grandfather!.. I learned with regret the bad opinions that you are told about him, and I beg you, because of your love for me, not to believe them, because they are nothing but low slander...

Wedding of Alexander Pushkin and Natalia Goncharova

The wedding was scheduled for February 18, 1831. During the wedding in the Moscow Church of the Great Ascension at the Nikitsky Gate, Pushkin accidentally touched behind the lectern, from which the cross and the Gospel fell. During the exchange of rings, Alexander Sergeevich's ring fell to the floor. Then his candle went out. He turned pale and said: All are bad omens!»

Ustinov E.A. Pushkin's wedding

The newlyweds settled in a dacha in Tsarskoye Selo near. The beauty of Pushkin's young wife attracted attention, who was reputed to be a great lover of women. The emperor even changed the route of horseback riding in order to pass Pushkin's windows; but, alas, the curtains were tightly closed. After that, there were rumors about Nikolai's special interest in Natalia.

Natalie Pushkina almost immediately became the "most fashionable" woman of high society, one of the first beauties of St. Petersburg. Her beauty D. F. Ficquelmont called "poetic", penetrating to the very heart. Thin, “airy” portrait of N. Pushkin by work A. P. Bryullova conveys the youthful beauty of Natalie's appearance.

The married life of Natalya Nikolaevna with Pushkin

For the six years that the couple lived together, Natalya Nikolaevna gave birth to four children. But love for children did not obscure in her soul the desire for secular success. On the last day of 1833, the 34-year-old Pushkin was granted the rank of chamber junker, a junior court rank.

According to Pushkin's friends, he was furious: this title was usually given to young people. In his diary on January 1, 1834, Pushkin wrote:

On the third day I was granted the chamber junker (which is rather indecent for my years). But the Court wanted N. N. [Natalya Nikolaevna] to dance in Anichkovo.

A rather close circle of courtiers gathered at the Anichkov Palace at the tsar's.

Together with the humiliating chamber junkerism, he received a lot of trouble and expenses. For every ball, the wife needed new dresses and jewelry. In addition, the affairs of his parents were so confused that the poet had to take on their debts.

According to Pushkin's parents, Natalie felt great pleasure at the opportunity to be presented to the court in connection with the appointment of Alexander Sergeevich as a chamber junker and to dance at all court balls. She, as it were, rewarded herself for a bleak childhood and youth in a gloomy house, between a half-mad father and a mother who suffered from drinking bouts. She was flattered that her beauty made an impression on the king himself.

Alexander Sergeevich was very puzzled by all this, since he " I wanted to save money and go to the village».

In secular society, Pushkin and his wife were in vogue: she - for the beauty and elegance of manners, he - for the mind and talent. But they were not loved and willingly spread poisonous gossip about their spouses. Alexander Sergeevich had not been distinguished by restraint before. Now, when he had to live in debt, he was harsh to the extreme. He was often on the road and was afraid that Natalya Nikolaevna would not take a false step in the light.

Pushkin twice tried to resign from the court service, but both times he was refused and given a severe scolding if he did not appear with his wife at the court ball.

Pushkin was not a model in family life: he was still drawn into a whirlpool of strong sensations, often he returned home only at dawn, spending the nights now playing cards, now in merry revels in the company of women of a certain category. Jealous to the point of madness, he did not even mentally dwell on the heartache experienced by his wife, who was waiting for him in vain, and often, laughing, would initiate her into his love affairs.

Out of boredom, Natalya invited her sisters to live with her: Ekaterina and Alexandra. Pushkin did not fail to immediately put Alexandra into his bed, and this love of the three continued until his death. Despite his frivolity, Pushkin did not commit serious betrayals and continued to love his wife.

Natalie's romance with Georges Dantes

At that time in Petersburg high society a prominent position was occupied by the cavalry guard lieutenant baron Georges Dantes, accepted into the Russian service and adopted by the Dutch envoy Baron Gekkern. A self-confident, blond, tall, handsome man, lively, cheerful, witty, a welcome guest everywhere, began to show sympathy for Pushkin's wife.

Ironically, Dantes turned out to be distant relative Natalia Nikolaevna. Pushkin invites him to his house. The Frenchman shows a certain interest in the poet's wife, but at the same time does not go beyond the limits of decency. He visits their house, goes for walks with her.

However, Pushkin is concerned. In May 1836, he scolds his wife:

And against you, my soul, there are some rumors ... it is clear that you brought someone to such despair with your coquetry and cruelty that he started a harem of theater pupils. Not good, my angel; modesty is the best ornament of your sex.

Natalya Nikolaevna considered coquetry to be a completely innocent occupation. To the question of the princess V. F. Vyazemskaya how the whole story with Dantes could end, she replied:

I have fun with him. I just like it, it will be the same as it was two years in a row.

On November 4, 1836, Alexander Sergeevich received three copies of an anonymous message, which included him in the order of cuckolds and, as he was convinced, hinted at Baron Dantes' persistent courtship of his wife.

Pushkin refused the Frenchman a house. But the gossip did not stop, and the poet challenged Dantes to a duel, which, at the request of Baron Gekkern, was postponed for 15 days.

During this time, it turned out that Dantes made an offer Ekaterina Nikolaevna Goncharova, who became pregnant from him - and Pushkin took his challenge back. In January 1837, the wedding took place. The poet's friends calmed down, considering the incident settled. But they were wrong. Pushkin sent Dantes new challenge and was mortally wounded in the duel.

So the fortuneteller's prediction came true: Pushkin suffered at the age of 37 because of his wife from Dantes, who was a white (blond) man and rode a white horse.

Before his death, the poet said to Natalie:

Mourn me for two or three years. Try to forget about you. Then marry again, but not for a windbag ...

Natalie's romance with Emperor Nicholas I

After the death of Pushkin, the emperor paid off all his huge debts in the amount of 130 thousand rubles, gave a pension to his wife and children, and ordered the publication of his works.

After two years of provincial life at the Linen Factory, Natalya Nikolaevna reappeared in St. Petersburg. One day she and her aunt Ekaterina Zagryazhskaya I went to one of the fashionable shops to make new clothes after a long stay in the province. Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich happened to be there too. He was very happy to meet and wished to see her at the masquerade ball in the palace.
Natalya Goncharova appeared at the ball in ancient Hebrew attire: in pale-yellow shalwars and a long purple caftan, which tightly fitted her slender figure, and a light, white woolen veil, framing her face, fell over her shoulders. A wave of admiration swept through the hall. As soon as the dancing began, the emperor immediately went to Natalya Nikolaevna. He took her by the hand and led her to his wife.

« Watch and admire' he said loudly.

And the empress Alexandra Fedorovna, having called the artist, she immediately asked to make a portrait of Natalya Nikolaevna. According to rumors, the emperor inserted a copy of this portrait into the cover of his pocket watch, which he did not part with until his death.

As a result of a 5-year secret close relationship with the emperor, Natalie became pregnant 7 years after Pushkin's death, and then Nicholas the First urgently found her a second husband - a friend of Dantes, a colleague of the "cotillon prince" in the Cavalier Guard regiment Peter Lansky.

Marriage of Natalie with Peter Lansky

Lanskoy was then a lieutenant colonel and expected to be assigned somewhere in the provinces, but after his engagement to Natalie in 1844, the tsar changed his mind sharply: he left him in the capital, appointed him commander of the court regiment, and gave the young a luxurious government apartment. Born soon to Natalia Lanskoy daughter - known as Alexandra Arapova- was actually the daughter of Emperor Nicholas I.

Pushkin's children Petr Lanskoy accepted as family. AT new family, besides Alexandra, two more daughters were born - Elizabeth and Sophia. Natalya Nikolaevna never forgot the poet, and Lanskoy treated her feelings with great tact and respect.

Lanskoy made good career: was quickly promoted to general, rose to the rank of adjutant general, then became governor general of St. Petersburg. Natalie led with him quiet life, full of care for 7 children. This life ended on a chilly autumn morning on December 8, 1863, as a result of chronic disease lungs, which happened from numerous colds and smoking.

Everyone probably knows that Pushkin shot with Dantes because of his wife Natalia, nee Goncharova. Was there really a romance between Natalie Pushkina and Georges Dantes?

Goncharova and Dantes

Natalie Goncharova was known as a real beauty and always enjoyed success with men. Of course, she had many admirers, they said that even the emperor himself was not indifferent to her ... At first, Pushkin was proud of his wife's success in society. Moreover, she was quite restrained, no one would dare to call her a coquette, making eyes at men. But around 1830, Natalya Nikolaevna met a French subject, a cavalry guard, and also the adopted son of the envoy of the Netherlands, Baron Louis Heckern, Georges-Charles Dantes, who began to actively look after her.

Dantes literally pursued Natalie. At first, the worship from the young man even flattered her. But somehow she told her husband and Princess Vyazemskaya that a certain friend (according to some sources, it was actually her distant cousin Idalia Poletika) invited her to her place, and at that time she herself left home. All this was arranged by Baron Gekkern. When Natalya was left alone in the room, Dantes entered and, taking out a pistol, began to threaten to shoot himself if she did not give herself to him ... Fortunately, the mistress's daughter soon entered the room, and the situation resolved itself.

family drama

On November 4 (16), 1836, Pushkin and several of his friends received by mail an anonymous libel in French, under the heading: "Patent for the title of cuckold." Its content was as follows: “Chevaliers of the first degree, commanders and cavaliers of the Most Serene Order of Cuckolds, having gathered in the Grand Chapter under the chairmanship of the Honorable Grand Master of the Order, His Excellency D.L. Naryshkin, unanimously elected Mr. Alexander Pushkin coadjutor of the Grand Master of the Order of the Cuckolds and historiographer of the Order. Permanent secretary Count I. Borch.

What these lines alluded to, no one had to guess.

Pushkin immediately sent Dantes a challenge to a duel.

However, at the same time, Dantes offered his hand and heart to Natalya Nikolaevna's sister, Ekaterina Nikolaevna. Relatives managed to dissuade Pushkin from a duel with a future relative ...

The marriage of Georges Dantes and Ekaterina Goncharova took place on January 10. Meanwhile, rumors about a love affair between Dantes and Natalie Pushkina continued to spread. On January 26, Pushkin sent a letter to Baron Gekkern, in which he said that he was refusing to give him and his adopted son a home. The answer was a challenge to a duel. But the baron could not fight Pushkin himself, as this would be a threat to his diplomatic career: this role was assigned to Dantes.

We know about the future: the duel that took place on January 27 on the Black River, and the sad end of the poet ...

Was there a betrayal?

In 1946, Henri Troyat published excerpts from d'Anthès' letters to Geckern, dated early 1836, in which the author reports his passion for "the most charming creature in St. Petersburg." According to Dantes, the husband of this woman is “rabidly jealous,” but she has loving feelings for him, Georges ... Researcher Tsvyalovsky, who translated the letters into Russian in 1951, believes that they were talking about Natalie Pushkina. “The sincerity and depth of Dantes' feelings for Natalya Nikolaevna, on the basis of the letters cited, of course, cannot be doubted,” writes Tsvyalovsky. “Moreover, Natalya Nikolaevna’s reciprocal feeling for Dantes now also cannot be subject to any doubt.”

Meanwhile, another Pushkinist, N.A. Raevsky, points to the lines from the letter, from which it follows that the proposal to violate the marital duty for his sake, the beloved answered Dantes with a refusal.

According to the literary critic Yu. Lotman, Natalya Pushkina served only as a screen: an affair with a brilliant secular beauty was intended to hide the true nature of Dantes' relationship with Gekkern, who had homosexual inclinations. And the letters were written on purpose and served as another proof of Dantes' love for this woman.

V. Fridkin in the book "From Foreign Pushkiniana" claims that after receiving the libel, Pushkin explained to his wife, and she confessed to him that she really accepted Dantes' advances, while at the same time remaining physically faithful to her husband. “The poet's house at that moment collapsed like a card,” writes Friedkin. Pushkin has lost the meaning of his life. You can't want to kill another person just because your wife loved him. But you can wish death for yourself because of this.

It is known that Natalya Nikolaevna was very sad for her husband and even lay in a fever for several days. She married only seven years after the death of Pushkin - for General Peter Lansky. Throughout her life, the poet's widow was accompanied by rumors about her guilt in the death of her first husband. So, immediately after the death of Pushkin, an anonymous poem began to circulate in the lists: “Everything here breathes contempt for you ... You are a reproach to the whole world, a traitor and the wife of a poet.”

It is possible that all these events became an indirect cause of Natalya Lanskaya's health problems and her relatively early death at 51 from pneumonia. It happened in November 1863. The historian and literary critic Pyotr Bartenev published the following obituary in one of the St. Petersburg newspapers: “On November 26 of this year, Natalya Nikolaevna Lanskaya, nee Goncharova, died in St. Petersburg at the age of 52, in her first marriage to A.S. Pushkin. Her name will long be pronounced in our public memories and in the very history of Russian literature.

Natalya Nikolaevna Goncharova is the wife and muse of the great Russian poet. She was one of beautiful women Petersburg. This is evidenced by her portraits, painted by artists during the life of Natalia. According to rumors, the emperor himself was in love with her. Until now, discussions and disputes have not subsided around her personality.

Childhood and youth

Natalya Goncharova was born on September 8, 1812 in the Karian estate of the Tambov province, where the Goncharov family was forced to live due to Patriotic War 1812. Her father, Nikolai Afanasyevich, was from a family of merchants and industrialists who received nobility during the reign of the Empress.

He was educated, knew foreign languages played the violin and cello. He served as secretary of the Moscow governor. Mother Natalya Ivanovna came from an ancient noble family Zagryazhsky. In her youth she was an extraordinary beauty. Natasha owes her beauty to her.

The whole family later moved to Kaluga province, in the village of Linen Plant lived Natalia's grandfather - Afanasy Nikolaevich. He was a domineering and wasteful man, which his father did not like very much. But in 1815, his grandfather removed him from the management of affairs. Natalia's parents decided to return to Moscow. At that time, they had five children in their arms. And Afanasy Nikolaevich asked to leave his favorite Natalie in the estate.

Just at this time, Natalya's father began to progress mental illness. Some have linked it to a head injury from a fall from a horse. But the biographers of Natalie Goncharova, who study the archives, are convinced that he still suffered from alcoholism. In a state of intoxication, he was rude and violent, offended his wife and children.

So, having stayed with her grandfather in the village, Natasha did not lose, especially since he spoiled her in every possible way - he bought expensive dresses and hats, presented her with toys and sweets. But you have to give him credit great attention he devoted to the education of the girl. She studied writing and counting, mastered French.

Later, having moved to Moscow, Natalya received a decent home education. She was taught Russian and world history, Russian language and literature, geography, as well as German and English languages. By that time, she was fluent in French. And she even said that it was much easier for her to write in French than in Russian.

Pushkin's wife

Natalya Goncharova met her future husband Alexander Pushkin in the winter of 1829. Both of them attended the dance master Yogel's ball in the house on Tverskoy boulevard. At that time, the girl was only 16 years old. But Pushkin was immediately struck by her beauty on the spot.

A couple of months later, he appeared on the threshold of the Goncharovs' house to ask for the hand of their daughter. But Natalya's imperious mother declared that her daughter was still too young. In addition, she had heard about his reputation as a freethinker and political unreliability. But she did not give a categorical refusal. Therefore, already in the fall, Alexander Sergeevich again came to woo.

The engagement of the young took place on May 6, 1830. And the wedding, due to red tape with the dowry, was only on March 2, 1831. During the wedding in the Moscow Church of the Great Ascension at the Nikitsky Gate, Pushkin dropped the ring, and after that his candle went out. Like many, he considered this a bad omen. The couple soon moved to Tsarskoye Selo, and Alexander Sergeevich was happy.

In St. Petersburg, Natalia's beauty made an impression on the local secular society. She quickly settled in, becoming a frequent guest at social events. In 1832, the Pushkins had a daughter, Maria. In the same year, Natalia's grandfather died, leaving the estate burdened with a debt of 1.5 million rubles.

Life in the capital was expensive, but for reasons of "prestige" the Pushkins continued to live in big house. Natalya loved to go out, and Alexander sometimes played cards and lost. The family was in a difficult financial situation.

In 1933 their son Alexander was born. In the same year, Nicholas I granted Alexander Sergeevich to the junior court rank of chamber junker, which made Pushkin extremely saddened. But he understood that the Court wanted Natalya Nikolaevna to attend balls more often. Moreover, even then there were rumors that the emperor was not indifferent to her. In fact, the poet was even proud of his wife's success in society, especially since Natalya never gave a reason, even coquetry was not noticed behind her.

In 1935, Natalya gave birth to a son, Grigory. In the same year, she met a French citizen, a cavalry guard, and also the adopted son of the Dutch envoy Gekkern. The man began defiantly courting Pushkina. She was pleased with his attention, and she loved to dance at balls, especially since the young woman became pregnant again and attended social events extremely rarely.

But between spouses there have always been trusting relationship, he was her main support, she was his muse. There is an opinion that Natalya, although she was carried away by Dantes, was faithful to Pushkin to the end. In May 1836, she gave birth to a daughter, Natalia.

However, many blame Natalia for the death of the great poet. She was blamed for a meeting with Dantes at the apartment of her second cousin Idalia Poletika, who, by the way, was among the main enemies and persecutors of Pushkin. But there is no confirmation of this meeting. Some believe that it was Poletiki who came up with this “plan” with Dantes, thus creating a persecution around Alexander Sergeevich.

In November 1836, a letter was sent to all the poet's friends with offensive content towards Natalya and Alexander. Pushkin immediately thought that this was the work of Dantes and then for the first time challenged him to a duel. But it did not take place, and Georges Dantes wooed Natalia's sister, Catherine.

In society, this news only exacerbated the situation. Some believed that Dantes would marry an unloved woman in order to divert all suspicions from Natalia. Others saw this act as just another way to hurt Pushkin. After all, everyone knew how jealous Alexander Sergeyevich was. Their family was present at the wedding of Dantes and Catherine, but the Pushkins did not go to the festive dinner. They did not accept newlyweds and own house. But at social events they still met.

On January 23, at the ball, Dantes insulted Natalya Nikolaevna. Pushkin wrote a letter to Gekkern so harsh that a duel was inevitable. But since Gekkern was foreign ambassador, he could not participate in a duel. Dantes challenged the poet to a duel instead of his father. On January 27, a duel took place on the Black River.

Pushkin was seriously wounded in the stomach. On his deathbed, he asked his wife to be a widow for 2 years. On January 29 he passed away. Natalya was very upset by the death of her husband, she fell ill and left with her children for an estate in the Linen Factory. She was only 25 years old, and she was already a widow with four children.

Natalya Nikolaevna got married not two years later, as Pushkin bequeathed to her, but seven years later. Her chosen one was Peter Lanskoy, a lieutenant general, a colleague of her brother. He was not rich, but he sincerely loved Natalia and accepted her children as his own. In this marriage, three more daughters were born.

Death

In 1861, Natalya Nikolaevna fell ill, and every spring the woman began to suffer from terrible coughing fits that prevented her from sleeping. Doctors advised her to change the climate for a while. Peter Lanskoy took a vacation, and they went abroad with their daughters. The family visited several German resorts, but this did not affect the health of Pushkina-Lanskaya. All autumn the family lived in Geneva, in the winter they moved to Nice. The woman soon recovered.

However, doctors warned her that "any cold will take her away like an autumn leaf." In November 1863, the woman went to the christening of her grandson in Moscow and caught a cold. On the way back, her condition worsened. She died at the age of 52 from pneumonia on November 26, 1863. Her husband Peter Lanskoy survived her by 14 years.

Natalya Nikolaevna Lanskaya was buried at the Lazarevsky cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Memory

• 1927 - film by Vladimir Gardin "The Poet and the Tsar", in the role of Natalia - Irina Volodko
• 1981 - film by Boris Galanter "And I'm with you again ...", in the role of Natalia - Irina Kalinovskaya
• 1986 - film by Leonid Menaker "The Last Road", in the role of Natalia - Elena Karadzhova
• 2002 – documentary Galina Samoilova "Three Lives of Natalia Goncharova"
• 2006 - the film "Pushkin. Last duel", in the role of Natalia -
• 2014 - film by Denis Bannikov "Duel. Pushkin - Lermontov ", in the role of Natalia - Svetlana Agafoshina
• 2015 - documentary film by Alexei Pischulin "Pushkin after Pushkin"