Katarzyna Branicka

Countess Katarzyna Potocka, née Branicka Korczak coat of arms was a Polish noblewoman and an art collector.

Early life and ancestry

Born into the House of Branicki, Katarzyna was the youngest child of Count Wladyslaw Gregorz Branicki and Countess Rosa Potocka, member of the Potocki family.
Through her paternal grandmother, Countess Aleksandra Branicka, she was a putative great-grandchild of Catherine the Great.
She had two sisters and four brothers, the eldest of whom was the French exile, financier and philanthropist, Count Xavier Branicki.

She married her first cousin, Count Adam Józef Potocki on 26 October 1847 in Dresden, member of the Potocki family.
The couple had seven children, two sons and five daughters:

Potocka (1849–1937)|Countess Róża Potocka], married firstly to Count Władysław Krasiński ; married secondly Count Edward Aleksander Raczyński
Artur Władysław Potocki, married to Princess Roza Zofia Lubomirska
Countess Zofia Potocka, married to Count Stefan Zamoyski
Countess Marie Potocka, married to Count Adam Sierakowski
Countess Wanda Potocka, died unmarried
Count Andreas Potocki, married Countess Christina Tyszkiewicz
Countess Anna Potocka, married Count Xaver Branicki

Chopin dedicated his Waltz in A-flat major to her. It was the last waltz by Chopin to be published in his lifetime.
She was said to have been a great beauty and the subject of several portrait artists, including in 1854, the German painter, Franz Winterhalter.

Countess Katarzyna died on 20 Sep 1907, aged 81, in Powiat krakowski, Małopolskie. Her body ws buried in the Potocki family crypt the Church of St. Martin in Krzeszowice, Poland.