Basilewsky

Overview

The tag covers the rich Russian Basilewsky family and individual members, never given a first name: a Basilewsky of 1874 at Ostende, a man of about forty, «frère de la princesse Souvoroff»; the old father Basilewsky, a self-made man whose daughters married well; and M. and Mme Basilewsky whom Marie meets in 1879 through Anitchkoff. The daughters are the «demoiselles Basilewsky» who became Princess Souvoroff, Mme Doubelt, Mme Kondareff, Mme Smelsky and Mme Galve; Mme Basilewsky of 1883 is their mother (see MME_BASILEWSKY).

In Marie's diary

• Ostende, 16 August – 5 September 1874 (023.0129–0507, 024.0115): Basilewsky, «le frère de la princesse Souvoroff», accompanies Basilévitch and the Bashkirtseffs to the races, dines, and walks on the dyke with them; «un homme de quarante ans à peu près, le type d'un pope noir» (023.0204), «un homme bon, mais un pope» (023.0294), witty, amuses the party by playing a serenade on his umbrella under their balcony (023.0431–0433); he introduces the Duke of Beaufort (023.0379) and says he keeps two hours a day «uniquement pour penser» (024.0115). The Mon Journal index is silent on his first name.
• Nice, December 1876 – January 1877 (068.0063, 068.0632): «la plus laide et la plus pauvre des Basilewsky» is Mme Kondareff, sister of Mme Souvoroff; at the Skating Marie meets Mme Smelsky «avec sa sœur Mlle Basilewsky».
• 1877 (071.0614, 075.0119–0121): Mme Smelsky, née Basilewsky, is a cousin of Mme Kondareff, with a large house in Paris; the father Basilewsky is «fils d'un sonneur d'église», found gold mines in Siberia on a little field of his own, and now «ses filles sont princesses» and he dines with the grand dukes and receives the Emperor at home; he is the one who buys the bills his daughter Mme Doubelt has signed for 600,000 roubles.
• Nice and Paris, February – April 1879 (084.0292, 084.0541–0709): Mme Bashkirtseff befriends «M. et Mme Basilewsky, des amis d'Anitchkoff», known to Marie from Monaco/Nice; the family calls, dines, and Marie visits them in Paris; at their rooms her aunt meets Baroness Linsingen, «la complaisante des Souvaroff, Doubelt»; Mlle Tchernitsky is their protégée (see TCHERNITSKY).
• Paris, 1883 (102.0507): «Basilewsky» is in a list of evening visitors.

Sources

The diary paragraphs cited; Mon Journal name indexes (Kondareff, Doubelt, Souvoroff entries cite the maiden name Basilewsky). The 1874 man and the 1879 M. Basilewsky may be the same person or two members of the family; the diary does not say.