Marie Cantacuzène (20 July 1820 – 29 August 1898) was a Romanian princess and

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

, and wife of the painter

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (; 14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Ar ...

Biography

Marie Cantacuzène was the eldest of the three children of Prince Nicholas Cantacuzène and Princess Pulcheria Sturdza. She received a Catholic education, and was fluent in French. At age 16 in 1836, she married Gheorghe Stratulat, a

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

, but the couple quickly separated. She then married her cousin, Alexandru Cantacuzino, who served as a minister in Romania. They separated, but never divorced. She was close friends with

Nicolae Bălcescu Nicolae Bălcescu () (29 June 181929 November 1852) was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution. Early life Born in Bucharest to a family of low-ranking nobility, he used his mother ...

and

Vasile Alecsandri Vasile Alecsandri (; 21 July 182122 August 1890) was a Romanian patriot, poet, dramatist, politician and diplomat. He was one of the key figures during the 1848 revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia. He fought for the unification of the Roma ...

. From 1850, Cantacuzène lived with her father in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

. In 1854, her brother introduced her to

Théodore Chassériau Théodore Chassériau (; ; September 20, 1819 – October 8, 1856) was a Dominican-born French Romantic painter noted for his portraits, historical and religious paintings, allegorical murals, and Orientalist images inspired by his travels to A ...

, with whom she had a tumultuous relationship in the two years prior to painter's death. Cantacuzène met Pierre Puvis de Chavannes at the Chassériau workshop, and the couple were in a relationship from 1856. She was a frequent model for him, featuring in a number of his paintings and sketches. They maintained their relationship for 40 years, finally marrying on 21 July 1898, just before their deaths.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantacuzène, Marie 1820 births 1898 deaths People from Suceava County

Marie Marie may refer to the following. People Given name * Marie (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** List of people named Marie * Marie (Japanese given name) Surname * Jean Gabriel-Marie, French compo ...

Romanian artists' models Spouses of politicians Romanian princesses Romanian emigrants to France 19th-century Moldavian women