Zofia Clavone
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Family Family In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...	Clavone
Parents	Konstantin Clavone Mary Clavone
Husbands	Józef Witt Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki
Children	with Józef Witt Jan Witt Kornel Witt with Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki Konstanty Potocki Mikołaj Potocki Helena Potocka Aleksander Potocki Mieczysław Potocki Zofia Potocka Zofia Kisielew Zofia Potocka - daughter of Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki and Zofia Clavone.In 1821 she married general Pavel Kiseleff. They had one son Włodzimierz .... Olga Potocka Olga Potocka Olga Potocka was a Countess born in 1803 and died 7 October, 1861. She was the daughter of Count Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki and Zofia Clavone.On 4 April, 1824 she married prince Lew Naryshkin. They had one daughter named Sofia , who later came to be the wife of count P.P. Sheremetev.... Bolesław Potocki
Date of birth	12 January 1760
Place of birth	Bursa
Date of death	24 November 1822
Place of death	Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

Zofia Konstantinova Potocka, née Clavone (12 January 1760 — 24 November 1822) was a Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 prostitute, slave, spy and eventually a Polish noble as the spouse of Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki. She was famous in contemporary Europe for her dramatic life and her love affairs and known as the lover of Grigory Potyomkin.

Biography

Born in Bursa, Zofia Clavone was a daughter of Konstantin and Maria Clavone. Her mother, who supported herself by selling vegetables, sold her in 1772 at the age of twelve to the Polish ambassador in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, who provided the Polish monarch with prostitutes: her sister was sold to a Turkish pascha She was the mistress of the ambassador until 1778, when she became a prostitute and called herself Sophie de Tchelitche. In 1779, she was bought by a Polish Commander, Józef Witt, who married her. They had two sons, Jan and Kornel. Witte sent her to Paris with the princess of Nassau-Siegen to be cultivated in polite society. She made a great success in Paris, where she was called La Belle Phanariote and famous for her remark: "My eyes hurt". She was called the most beautiful woman in Europe. During her stay in Paris, she had an affair with the two younger brothers of the French monarch, the count de Provence and the count of Artois

In 1787, the traveled to Instambul, where they were at the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War. A year later, she was present in the camp of the favorite of Catherine the Great, Grigory Potyomkin, and became his lover, a relationship which lasted until his death During the siege of Chotin

Khotyn

Khotyn is a city in Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, and is the administrative center of Khotyn Raion within the oblast, and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, it has a population of 11,124...

, her spouse, then governor of Kamenets, managed Potemkin's spy net in southern Poland and upheld spy contacts in Chotin, though this task was likely managed by Zofia, as her sister was married to the pascha of Chotin. Potemkin made her spouse governor of Cherson and likely used her as an agent among the Poles and Turks. She was introduced as the official lover of Grigory Potyomkin on a ball during his visit in Saint Petersburg 1791. She was sent away by Aleksandra von Engelhardt

Aleksandra von Engelhardt

Aleksandra von Engelhardt , also known as Sasjenka and Countess Branicka, was a Russian noble. She was the niece, confidant and likely the lover of Grigory Potyomkin, and the favourite and lady-in-waiting of Catherine the Great....

 at the death of Potemkin.

In 1798 she married secondly the Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 szlachcic

Szlachta

The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...

 Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, with whom she had had an affair in Jassy, after he managed to help her acquire a legal Catholic divorce with great difficulty. The wedding was a double rite; Catholic and Orthodox, because of the religion of the bride, and in addition was an expression of loyalty to the Empress Catherine. They had eight children. She also had many lovers and illegitimate

Legitimacy (law)

At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...

 children. During her marriage, she also had a love affair with her step son, Szczęsny Jerzy Potocki, who was likely the father of her son Boleslaw. Her spouse founded the Park Sofijówka for her for a cost of 15 million.

After the death of her spouse in 1805, she ended the affair with her stepson and spent her time devoted to her children According to Polish civil law, a widow received a refund of her dowry and participation in her husband's property. Due to her lack of dowry, she was given little inheritance after Potocki, whose only rightful heirs were the sons of his first marriage. She, however, managed to keep almost the entire property, with the support of her former stepson Felix Potocki, which was her lover, and the Tsar's governor Nikolai Novosiltsov, which was also her lover