A little about the personal life of the great Kobzar
“I want a girl to be a Ukrainian, simple, not a lordly kind, an orphan and a maid, to the ends of her hair,” writes the artist and poet Taras Shevchenko from St. Petersburg to her second cousin Bartholomew in Korsun of Cherkasy region on December 17, 1859. - I, in flesh and spirit, are the son and brother of our unhappy people, and how can I connect myself with the dog's panish blood. And that young lady dressed up will do in my peasant house! Out of boredom, my short life will disappear.”
Literally six months after this letter, 46-year-old Taras Shevchenko falls in love with 19-year-old maid Lukeria Polusmakova. They meet in St. Petersburg at the literary salon of Varvara Kartashevskaya, who came from Chernigov with servants. To please the poet, the girl was dressed in Ukrainian clothes, in which Lukeria served as the table.
“Lady Kartashevskaya had a servant girl, the Little Russian girl Lukeria — her face is young, fresh, though a little rough and not very beautiful, but in her own way attractive. With beautiful blond hair and the one that is not that proud, not that calm posture, which is peculiar to her tribe,” writer Ivan Turgenev recalled the girl.
In the spring of 1860, Kartashevskaya went to France and asked the opera singer Nadezhda Zabil to take Lukeria Polusmakova to her temporary service.
“She was afraid to leave herself in St. Petersburg,” wrote Nadezhda Simonova’s daughter Zabily, in writings. “My mother refused for a long time, not wanting to have someone else’s slave in her house, and then she agreed. Lucheria got up later than her mother. Nothing in the rooms did not. She always walked unwashed, with a black neck and uncombed hair. However, she was a flirt and loved to flaunt her thin, flexible camp, for which she wore lacing under an embroidered shirt, and made love intrigues with the neighbors' lackeys, who were roasting game in her pockets.”
They lived in the village of Strelna near St. Petersburg. Taras Shevchenko often came to visit them. I spent a lot of time with the maid, walking in the garden. Soon decided to get engaged to her.
Friends of the poet did not approve of his choice. They believed that the girl agreed to the marriage of mercenary motives. Shevchenko tried to dissuade from this act. But he often ignored the remarks of his friends or openly resented them.
For Lukeria, Taras Shevchenko rented an apartment and hired a tutor to teach manners and literacy. The poet gave her clothes and jewelry. One day he even presented a Gospel in a white frame with golden edges to a girl. He could spend on Luqueria more than 180 rubles in one day, which corresponded to the official’s salary at that time.
“Only Lukeria pulled out the presents, first of all she grabbed the cross and let it be scrubbed - gold. Seeing that he was not gold, with a heart threw him away and pouted her lips, ”recalls Simonov in the notes. “But once again, Shevchenko, walking towards us from the station, on the way gathered up various herbs and tied Lukeria from them with a wonderful, purely artistic bouquet. Having received it as a gift, Lukeria, as soon as the happy groom went into another room, threw a bouquet on the ground and spat angrily, saying that the devil knows that even if the flowers, and then the grass, make people laugh.
Polusmakov once confessed to Zabile that she does not love her fiance. She considers him old for herself. A marriage is going to go for Shevchenko only because of his wealth and fame. Nadezhda Zabila did not dare to tell this to the poet, fearing his wrath.
Lukeria continued to flirt openly with others. About her there were indecent rumors. It was rumored that she even had a connection with her tutor. Shevchenko could not stand it and broke off relations.
Literally six months after this letter, 46-year-old Taras Shevchenko falls in love with 19-year-old maid Lukeria Polusmakova. They meet in St. Petersburg at the literary salon of Varvara Kartashevskaya, who came from Chernigov with servants. To please the poet, the girl was dressed in Ukrainian clothes, in which Lukeria served as the table.
“Lady Kartashevskaya had a servant girl, the Little Russian girl Lukeria — her face is young, fresh, though a little rough and not very beautiful, but in her own way attractive. With beautiful blond hair and the one that is not that proud, not that calm posture, which is peculiar to her tribe,” writer Ivan Turgenev recalled the girl.
In the spring of 1860, Kartashevskaya went to France and asked the opera singer Nadezhda Zabil to take Lukeria Polusmakova to her temporary service.
“She was afraid to leave herself in St. Petersburg,” wrote Nadezhda Simonova’s daughter Zabily, in writings. “My mother refused for a long time, not wanting to have someone else’s slave in her house, and then she agreed. Lucheria got up later than her mother. Nothing in the rooms did not. She always walked unwashed, with a black neck and uncombed hair. However, she was a flirt and loved to flaunt her thin, flexible camp, for which she wore lacing under an embroidered shirt, and made love intrigues with the neighbors' lackeys, who were roasting game in her pockets.”
Photo © uk.wikipedia.org
They lived in the village of Strelna near St. Petersburg. Taras Shevchenko often came to visit them. I spent a lot of time with the maid, walking in the garden. Soon decided to get engaged to her.
Friends of the poet did not approve of his choice. They believed that the girl agreed to the marriage of mercenary motives. Shevchenko tried to dissuade from this act. But he often ignored the remarks of his friends or openly resented them.
For Lukeria, Taras Shevchenko rented an apartment and hired a tutor to teach manners and literacy. The poet gave her clothes and jewelry. One day he even presented a Gospel in a white frame with golden edges to a girl. He could spend on Luqueria more than 180 rubles in one day, which corresponded to the official’s salary at that time.
“Only Lukeria pulled out the presents, first of all she grabbed the cross and let it be scrubbed - gold. Seeing that he was not gold, with a heart threw him away and pouted her lips, ”recalls Simonov in the notes. “But once again, Shevchenko, walking towards us from the station, on the way gathered up various herbs and tied Lukeria from them with a wonderful, purely artistic bouquet. Having received it as a gift, Lukeria, as soon as the happy groom went into another room, threw a bouquet on the ground and spat angrily, saying that the devil knows that even if the flowers, and then the grass, make people laugh.
Polusmakov once confessed to Zabile that she does not love her fiance. She considers him old for herself. A marriage is going to go for Shevchenko only because of his wealth and fame. Nadezhda Zabila did not dare to tell this to the poet, fearing his wrath.
Lukeria continued to flirt openly with others. About her there were indecent rumors. It was rumored that she even had a connection with her tutor. Shevchenko could not stand it and broke off relations.
