Count Konstanty Grzegorz Branicki (9 May 1824 – 14 July 1884) was a Polish landowner, collector and naturalist who established a private museum of natural history in Warsaw. The bird species ''

Heliodoxa branickii The rufous-webbed brilliant (''Heliodoxa branickii'') is a species of hummingbird in the "brilliants", tribe Heliantheini in subfamily Lesbiinae. It is endemic to Peru.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World an ...

'' and '' Odontorchilus branickii'' described from his collections were named after him.

Life and work

Branicki was born in Biała Cerkiew, the son of Władysław Michał Branicki (1783–1843) and Róża. He was born at time when Tsarist Russian intelligence watched over his family and considered them as potential enemies. Born with a heart condition, he took an interest in natural history and had a great love of travel. He then travelled with his brother

Aleksander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

to Egypt and Nubia in 1863. Another trip was made in 1866 to Algeria with

Władysław Taczanowski Władysław Taczanowski (; 17 March 1819, in Jabłonna, Lublin Voivodeship – 17 January 1890, in Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist and collector of natural history who explored the Russian Far East and northern Africa. He specialized mainly in orn ...

and

Antoni Stanisław Waga Antoni Stanisław Florian Waga (8 May 1799 – 23 November 1890) was a Polish zoologist, traveller, writer, literary critic and Piarists, Piarist. He was also a collector of rare books on natural history. Along with Władysław Taczanowski, Taczano ...

. The two Branickis established a private zoological museum in 1887, financing expeditions into Ussuri 1883-1885, to Korea and Japan (1885-1887), and Peru (1881-1902). Later they paid for collectors including

Benedykt Dybowski Benedykt Tadeusz Dybowski (12 May 183331 January 1930) was a Polish naturalist and physician. Life Benedykt Dybowski was born in Adamaryni, within the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire to Polish nobility. He was the brother of naturalis ...

, Konstanty Jelski,

Jan Sztolcman Jan Stanisław Sztolcman (sometimes referred to as Jean Stanislaus Stolzmann) (19 November 1854, Warsaw – 28 April 1928, Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist, ornithologist and collector naturalist who travelled extensively in South America. He wa ...

, and others. He took an interest in archaeology and undertook excavations around Mironowski; many of the findings are now in the Krakow archaeological museum. The Branicki museum was later managed by his son, Ksawery Branicki (1864–1926), in Warsaw. It became part of the state museum in 1919 and in 1928 became part of the State Zoological Museum. Branicki was married to Jadwiga Potocka and they had a daughter Róża Maria Branicka and a son Ksawery (also given as Xavier) Branicki (1864–1926) who was also a naturalist and collector.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branicki, Konstanty 1824 births 1884 deaths Polish naturalists Natural history collectors