Baronne Yxkull (the Russian ambassadress in Rome, 1876)

Overview

The wife of the Russian envoy in Rome, whom Marie calls «la baronne d'ixhul» (052.0115), «Mme Ixkull» (055.1007), «la baronne Yxkull» (056.0333) and, most often, «l'ambassadrice». In Marie's account she receives at the embassy at five o'clock, is slow to return Maman's call and then only leaves her card (052.0269, 052.0322, 054.0023), and her coolness blocks the family's presentation at court: «la manière étrange de Mme Ixkull envers nous» (055.1007). Marie tells the story of the couple on 2 April 1876: the envoy, «un vieux célibataire», had a married secretary named Glinka, who surprised him with his wife and made him marry her «après s'être divorcé» (056.0323).

Identification

Very probably Varvara Ivanovna, née Lutkovskaya (1850–1928), the later St Petersburg salon hostess and philanthropist known as Baroness Ikskul von Hildenbandt. Her first husband (married 1868) was the diplomat Nikolai Dmitrievich Glinka-Mavrin (1838–1884), and her second the diplomat Baron Karl Petrovich Ikskul von Hildenbandt (1817–1894), thirty-three years her senior: this is Marie's «Glinka» story exactly. About 0.85; that Karl Petrovich was the envoy at Rome in 1876 rests on Marie's text, not yet on a list of envoys. See Baron Yxkull.

Not the «baron Ixhull, le cousin du ministre» and his wife, who live via Condotti 81 and whom Maman meets «chez la femme du ministre ou ambassadrice» (052.0205): a second Yxkull couple, not identified. «Les Yxkull» who return Maman's visits (053.0473) may be either couple; left untagged.

Translation

Keep Marie's spellings (Ixhul, Ixkull, Yxkull) as written.

References in Diary

• 1876-01-13 (052.0115); 1876-01-18 (052.0269); 1876-01-20 (052.0322); 1876-02-09 (053.0472); 1876-02-13 (054.0023); 1876-03-03 (055.0051); 1876-03-22 (055.1007); 1876-03-26 (055.1205); 1876-04-02 (056.0322, 056.0323, 056.0333)

Sources

• Marie's text, carnets 052–056 (Rome, January–April 1876).
• Лутковский (znanierussia.ru, Большая российская энциклопедия online): Varvara Ivanovna Lutkovskaya (1850–1928), «в первом браке Глинка-Маврина», better known as Ikskul von Hildenbandt, daughter of General Ivan Sergeyevich Lutkovsky.
• M. G. Salman, «"Не делать не в ее характере": новые материалы к биографии В. И. Икскуль фон Гилленбанд», Slavica Revalensia (Tallinn University): her first marriage (1868) to the diplomat Nikolai Dmitrievich Glinka-Mavrin (1838–1884).
• Икскуль-Гильденбандты (ruwiki): Karl Petrovich Ikskul von Hildenbandt (1817–1894), diplomat, wife Varvara Ivanovna.