Alexander von Humboldt and Fryderyk Chopin

Abstract

In 1887, Henryk Siemiradzki created a painting entitled Chopin in the salon of Prince Antoni Radziwiłł in 1829. The painting shows a scene in which Chopin's playing is listened to by members of the princely family and invited guests, including the famous nature scientist Alexander von Humboldt. Siemiradzki developed the composition of the painting based on a text by the Poznań teacher Marceli Antoni Szulc from 1873. However, Szulc's text is an authorized translation of a story written by the German writer Elise Polko in 1868. Siemiradzki's painting was shown in some European countries in the years 1887–1892. In the following years, only copies of its photogravure were known. The painting was considered lost for 106 years until it reappeared in New York in 1998. A biographical analysis was carried out of the periods in which Chopin, Humboldt and Radziwiłł could have met at the same time. Prince Radziwiłł's residences in Berlin, Poznań and Antonin, as well as Warsaw, were considered as meeting places for these persons.