Zygmunt Krasiński o "słupie lodu chodzącym w gorsecie", czyli o Izabeli z Czartoryskich Działyńskiej
Zygmunt Krasiński on the "pillar of ice walking in a corset" - Izabela Działyńska née Czartoryska

Summary/Abstract: During her lifetime, Princess Izabela Czartoryska (Iza) - from 1857, Countess Działyńska - was considered unapproachable, secretive, proud and haughty. This is how Zygmunt Krasiński presented Iza in the context of the numerous suitors trying to win her hand. The poet focused primarily on one of them, Prince Jerzy Lubomirski, who was his close friend. The letters addressed to him also contained the most opinions regarding the princess as a maiden, which I note in detail. Krasiński claimed that the main reason for the failures suffered by Lubomirski and other suitors was the princess' "icy" character. In this text, I partially dispute this opinion. Based on manuscript sources from the home archive of the Princes Czartoryski Library and the Kórnik Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences, I reconstruct the course of Prince Lubomirski's unsuccessful matrimonial endeavours and offer a personality profile of Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski's daughter. I also question whether Emperor Napoleon III did actually intend to marry her. I also draw attention to the persistence of the stereotype of Izabela as a "cold" princess, as described by the bard.

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