Natalia Nikolaevna Pushkina-Lanskaya (, 1812-1863), née Natalie Goncharova (Гончарова), was the wife of the poet Alexander Pushkin from 1831 until his death in 1837.

Natalia Goncharova was born on September 8, 1812 (August 28, 1812 Old Style) in the Karian village in the present-day Tambov Oblast, where her family lived during the occupation of Moscow by the forces of Napoleon I of France. Her father, a scion of the family of paper manufacturers from Kaluga, was pronounced demented in 1815; the household was managed by his wife, Natalia Zagryazhskaya, an imperious lady with connections within Muscovite nobility.

Natalie (as she was familiarly known) met Alexander Pushkin at the age of 16, when she was one of the most talked-about beauties of Moscow. Her striking handsomeness was said to have been inherited from her maternal grandmother, a noble lady of Swedish descent. Pushkin considered himself physically ugly and there was no want of wealthier suitors, yet his dazzling fame made his prospects seem bright.

During the six years of their marriage, Natalia Pushkina gave birth to four children: Alexander, Grigory, Maria (touted as a prototype of Anna Karenina) and Natalia (who would marry into the royal house of Nassau). As the family resided for prolonged periods in the country, while Pushkin frequented the capitals, such a lifestyle could not but occasion a sizable correspondence between the spouses. Seventy eight letters of Pushkin to his wife are extant, frequently written in a light-hearted tone with touches of ribaldry, yet there are no what may be called love letters among these. It is believed that the poet dedicated several poems to her, including Madonna (1830). As for her own correspondence with Pushkin, it was lost with the exception of one letter, written together with her mother Natalia Ivanovna.

In 1835 she met a French immigrant Georges d'Anthès and was involved in a society intrigue, which provoked rumors of her alleged affair with d'Anthes and resulted in a duel between her husband and Baron D'Anthes on January 27, 1837, in which Pushkin was mortally wounded. The propriety of her behaviour in this situation was disputed by commentators; some — including Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetayeva — veiledly or overtly blamed Pushkin's death on her, feeling that she could not understand his greatness and didn't take an appropriate interest in his art. That she preferred worldly pleasures to his society is hard to argue with; and her constant exhortations of money for costly dresses and jewelry forced the poet to write increasingly for money rather than for pleasure.

Much was made of her relationship with Nicholas I after the poet's death; it was even rumoured that she became his mistress. In 1843, Pushkin's widow met Pyotr Lanskoy (1799-1877), who served at the same regiment as her brother. After having been blessed by the tsar, their wedding was held in Strelna on July 16, 1844. Lanskoy enjoyed the sovereign's favor and made a remarkable career, while his wife gave birth to two daughters: Yelizaveta and Sophia. Natalie died on November 26, 1863 and her ashes were put to rest in the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

References

• Vadim Stark. Zhizn s poetom. Natalia Nikolayevna Pushkina, in two volumes. Moscow: Vita Nova, 2006. ISBN 5-93898-087-9, 5-93898-099-2, 5-93898-100-X.

1812 births | 1863 deaths | Russian nobility | Aleksandr Pushkin

Natalja Nikolajewna Puschkina-Lanskaja