Countess Maria Tarnowska (or ''Tarnowskaya'', ''Tarnovska'', etc.; 9 June 1877,

Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

– 23 January 1949, Santa Fe,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

), born Maria Nikolaevna

O'Rourke O'Rourke () is an Irish Gaelic clan based most prominently in what is today County Leitrim. The family were the historic rulers of Breifne and later West Breifne until the 17th century. The O'Rourke Clan Chief was at odds with the O'Reilly Chie ...

( Russian phonetical transcription: ''Orurk''), was a Russian convict. She was the daughter of Count Nikolay Moritsevitch

, a Russian naval officer of Irish ancestry and his second wife Ekaterina Seletska - a noblewoman of

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

origin. She gained international notoriety by standing trial for plotting and instigating the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

of one of her lovers. Her 1910 trial in Venice and subsequent

conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a ...

attracted

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

attention from both sides of the Atlantic and became the subject of various books ( Annie Chartres Vivanti,

Hans Habe Hans Habe (born János Békessy; 12 February 1911 – 29 September 1977) was a Hungarian and American writer and newspaper publisher. From 1941, he held United States citizenship. He was also known by such pseudonyms as Antonio Corte, Frank R ...

, etc.).

Biography

After marrying the Russian aristocrat Wassily

Tarnowski Tarnowski (feminine: Tarnowska; plural: Tarnowscy) is a Polish-language toponymic surname derived from the city of Tarnów. Related surnames People * Tarnowski family The House of Tarnowski (plural: Tarnowscy) is the name of a Poland, Polis ...

(1872–1932) at the age of seventeen and giving birth to a son, Wassily (born 1895), and a daughter, Tatyana (1898–1994), she became romantically involved with several other men. She was also known to abuse narcotic drugs (

morphine Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...

). In 1907 in Venice, one of Tarnowska's lovers, Nicholas Naumov (also spelled Naumoff), killed another one of her lovers, Count Pavel Kamarovsky, allegedly upon her instigation. The Countess Tarnowska, as she was commonly called, was arrested that same year in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and transferred to

La Giudecca ''La Giudecca'' was a term used In Southern Italy and Sicily to identify any urban district (or a portion of a village) where Jewish communities dwelled and had their synagogues and businesses. Unlike the compulsory ghettos of Northern Italy an ...

penitentiary A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state, usually ...

in Venice, where the trial was to be held. The trial, locally called "the Russian affair" (''il caso russo''), began on 14 March 1910 and ended on 20 May of the same year, with the conviction of both defendants. Maria Tarnowska was found guilty, but was sentenced to serve a relatively mild term of only eight years in prison, thanks to an ingenious defence (it was one of the first to include

Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in t ...

ian analysis of the defendant's personality and motives) – and, possibly, due to the leniency of the presiding judge. She was transferred to the penitentiary at

Trani Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, Southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani (BAT). History Overview The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the ...

(southern Italy), and released in 1915. Accounts of Tarnowska's life after her release are sketchy at best. She is known to have emigrated to America shortly after her release, in the company of a U.S. diplomat, under the assumed name of "Nicole Roush". In 1916 she was living in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

with a new lover, the Frenchman Alfred de Villemer, and calling herself "Madame de Villemer". There are accounts of her running a store selling

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

and other finery. Alfred de Villemer died in 1940; Maria died on 23 January 1949. Her body was transported back to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

(then the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

), where she was laid to rest in her family tomb.

Post mortem

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He was one of the fathers of Italian neorealism, cinematic neorealism, but later ...

worked on a treatment for a film to be called ''Il processo di Maria Tarkowska'' (''The Trial of Maria Tarkowska''), with

Romy Schneider Rosemarie Magdalena Albach (23 September 1938 – 29 May 1982), known professionally as Romy Schneider (), was a German and French actress. She is regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses of all time and became a cult figure due to ...

but it was never made. The filming was planned to begin in 1966 in Venice.Seymour Benjamin Chatman (1985)
''Antonioni, or, The Surface of the world''
Berkeley – Los Angeles – London: University of California Press, p. 273.

Bibliography

* Andrea Accorsi & Massimo Centini (2005), ''I grandi delitti italiani risolti o irrisolti''. Roma: New Compton Editori, ISBN 978-88-541-0414-3. *

La Domenica del Corriere ''La Domenica del Corriere'' (''The Sunday Courier'') was an Italian weekly newspaper which ran from 1899 to 1989. It came out every Sunday free with ''Corriere della Sera'', but was also sold separately. It was famous for its cover drawings, and ...

, 13–20 March 1910. *

La Stampa (English: "The Press") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin with an average circulation of 87,143 copies in May 2023. Distributed in Italy and other European nations, it is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. Until the late 1970 ...

, 4 September 1907. *

Stefan Michael Newerkla Stefan Michael Newerkla (; born October 7, 1972) is an Austrian linguist, Slavist and philologist. He has taught as Professor of West Slavic Linguistics at the University of Vienna since 2004 and has been Full Member (Fellow) of the Austrian A ...

(2020), Das irische Geschlecht O'Reilly und seine Verbindungen zu Österreich und Russland he Irish O'Reilly family and their connections to Austria and Russia In: ''Diachronie – Ethnos – Tradition: Studien zur slawischen Sprachgeschichte iachrony – Ethnos – Tradition: Studies in Slavic Language History'' Eds. Jasmina Grković-Major, Natalia B. Korina, Stefan M. Newerkla, Fedor B. Poljakov, Svetlana M. Tolstaja. Brno, Tribun EU, ISBN 978-80-263-1581-0, pp. 259–27
(accessible online)
here chapter 3.2 The Competing Clan O'Rourke, pp. 263–265. * Andrea Salmaso (2006), ''Maria Nikolajewna O'Rourke Tarnowska. “L’affare dei Russi”, Venezia (1907–2007).'' Venezia: Hotel Al
(accessible online)
*

Annie Vivanti Anna Emilia "Annie" Vivanti Chartres (7 April 1866 – 20 February 1942), also known as Anita Vivanti or Anita Vivanti Chartres, was a British-born Italian writer. Life and career The daughter of Anselmo Vivanti, an Italian exile of Jewish des ...

(2012), ''Circe. Il romanzo di Maria Tarnowska''. Milano: Otto-Novecento Editore, ISBN 978-88-877-3436-2. * Virginie Roels (4 avril 2024), Une femme de mauvaise vie, Editions Robert Laffont. ( Roman inspiré de la vie de Maria Tarnowska). https://www.lisez.com/livre-grand-format/une-femme-de-mauvaise-vie/9782221267592

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarnowska, Maria 1877 births 1949 deaths Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Argentina Murder in Italy

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...