Partner Alexandru Bogdan-Pitesti
Alexandru Brătăşanu (May 14, 1901 – 1970) was a scenographer and painter, professor at the Institute of Fine Arts in Bucharest and Constantin. To members of the Știrbey-Vodă circle, painter-designer Alexandru Brătășanu was introduced as Alexandru Bogdan-Pitesti's male lover. Theirs was a "degenerate" affair, according to Oscar Han.
Brătăşenii are remembered both under Matei Basarab and Under Constantin Brâncoveanu, both under the Phanariots, as well as in the nineteenth and next century. Their patronymic comes from that of the village Brătăşeni in the former county of Romanaţi (today the county of Olt).
Ghinea Tzucalà, a Greek from Rumelia, married to Florica from Văleni – from a rich and old boyar nation of the place, to which the attention of the late historian and genealogist Dan Pleșia drew attention – took, first, the name of "Brătășanu". Its original Greek name, probably a nickname, has as its equivalent in Romanian a word that sounds very similar. Since the interwar period, a street behind Obor was named "Ghinea Brătăşanu", after the name of this velit boyar from the time of Matei Basarab. Ghinea took care of the country's coffers, which, however, he did not always win too well, which attracted the dissatisfaction of the soldiers with the unpaid balance. They rebelled in 1653.
But he also had merits: he founded or had a contribution to the construction of three places of worship: the Crivina – Olt monastery, the Jitianu monastery near Craiova and the Church of the Holy Trinity in Slatina. Jitianu Monastery is still today one of the known monastic settlements in Oltenia, with a rich museum of religious art. All the later Brătășenii were to be the descendants – on the male line – of this Greek governor established in Wallachia. According to Nicolae Stoicescu, Ghinea had the following children: Mihu, Preda, Petru, Alexandra, Papa, and Mihăilă.
Of these, Preda Brătășanu – married to Ilinca, the daughter of Dumitru Filisanu – deserves to be recorded in a history of Romanian diplomacy: he was sent to Istanbul, by Constantin Brâncoveanu, in November 1688 – immediately after taking over the reign – together with Pârvu Cantacuzino and several other boyars. Also, another descendant of Ghinea, Barbu Brătăşanu, was to be the soil of the same ruler, a few years later, at the High Gate.
It is interesting to note that Brătăşenii played a certain diplomatic role twice in Romanian history: the first time, with Preda Brătăşanu and his nephew Barbu Brătăşanu, in the time of the ruler Constantin Brâncoveanu – with whom they were also very closely related – and much later, in the context of the Parisian preparation of the Union of 1918, by that "magnate" of Romanațean who was Pavel (Pavlică) Brătășanu, great owner and conservative-democratic politician. Among these episodes in the family history there are many generations of boyars with the governors and estates, located especially in the former Romanaţi county and in the Olt county. In the Phanariot age, the inscriptions with the Greek governors ensured positions at the Princely Court, which was to a much lesser extent the case of the Brătășeni, who became "country boyars", very "earthlings", despite their ancestor coming from the south of the Danube.
However, they did not completely get out of the sphere of power: Radu Brătăşanu appears as a sail armaș in November 1737 and on December 3, 1739; Grigoraşco Brătăşanu is remembered on September 15, 1743 as biv vel șetrar; Ioniță Brătăşanu appears as vel sluger between June 11 – November 4, 1755, vel clucer of area in 1766 and, much later, on July 5,1793, also vel stolnic on October 26, 1770; Ştefan Brătăşanu is mentioned as vel paharnic on November 10, 1767.
From the branch of Ioniță Brătăşanu descends on the feminine line the great interwar poet Adrian Maniu. In the Catagraphy of the boyars from Wallachia from 1829, at dolj county, in the paragraph containing the "sons of boyars", is mentioned "Grigore Brătăşanu, of the late medelnicer Dincă Brătăşanu".
The latter was the son of Ioniță Brătăşanu above. Grigore Brătăşanu had from his marriage to Zoe Măinescu a son, George, and two daughters, Smaranda – married to colonel Dimitrie Călinescu, from the boyar Călinescu family from Muntenia – and Ecaterina, married Andronescu. Smaranda and Dimitrie Călinescu had a daughter, Maria, married to Grigore Maniu, the son of the man of letters Vasile Maniu, a Banat resident in Bucharest. From the marriage of Maria Călinescu to Grigore Maniu were born the future writer Adrian Maniu, the painter Rodica Maniu-Mützner and a son named Horia Maniu.
Also, Smaranda and Dimitrie Călinescu had a son, Petre, who also embraced the military career, married to one of the daughters of the great owner from Craiova Gogu Vorvoreanu, having two daughters. One of them, Ana-Maria – by marriage Ghika-Deleni – was an interesting painter, but unfortunately totally forgotten today, author of numerous portraits of ladies and gentlemen from the old Romanian society. She would surely deserve an exhibition that would return to her the art of public conscience. In this lineage of Brătăşeni was inherited the property from Şpârlița (formerly in jud. Romanati, today jud. Olt), whose church was founded by Costache Brătăşanu and Toma Brătăşanu.
Other vestiges in the region related to the Brătășeni family were the church from Piatra – founded by Elenca Brătășanu – and their house in Dobrun. Also, in the village of Murgeanca in Bărăgan there is a church dedicated to "Assumption", built, as it is mentioned in the inscription, by Captain Alexandru Brătășanu (+ 1873), whose tomb is found in its yard.
Another branch of Brătăşeni was that of Pavel – called Pavlică – Brătăşanu (1857 – 1935), a political friend of Take Ionescu, leader of the Conservative-Democratic Party led by him and one of Nicolae Titulescu's mentors from his youth. He was one of the artisans of the Union of 1918 and this fact is attested even by the epithet of "great Romanian", attributed to him on the imposing commemorative plaque, placed in 1936, in Paris, on the 21st, Avenue de l'Opéra. Such a Romanian lieu de mémoire in the center of Paris, whose trace would have lasted so many decades, is worthy of remembrance. Let us hope that this commemorative plaque will not be removed, as unfortunately happened with the one that reminded, in the Island of Saint-Louis, of Martha Bibescu. Coincidentally or not, the son of a sister of Pavel Brătășanu was Ion Pangal (1893 – 1966), a high-ranking character of the Romanian Freemasonry, former minister plenipotentiary in Spain.
He was married to Angela Djuvara, sister of Mircea Djuvara, reputed professor at the Faculty of Law in Bucharest. A brother of Pavel Brătăşanu, Alexandru, was the father of three brothers, including Paul-Mircea (b. 1898 – died in the communist prison in Piteşti), engineer with studies in Grenoble, Alexandru (1901 – 1970), and Constantin. According to the Cugetarea Encyclopedia, Paul-Mircea Brătășanu held numerous positions in the '20s – '30s: director in the Ministry of Industry, honorary counselor at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (1929 – 1931), deputy of Romanaţi (1932 – 1933) and vice-president of the National-Peasants' Organization of Romania.
He had two daughters, adopted by her brother Alexandru: Călina – married to the archaeologist Gheorghe I. Cantacuzino, descendant of the ruler Serban Cantacuzino (later divorced) – and Doina. Alexandru Brătăşanu performed the scenography for numerous plays, many of them staged at the National Theatre in Bucharest. Another brother of Pavlică Brătăşanu, Constantin, was married to Zoe Vorvoreanu, one of the daughters of the aforementioned Gogu Vorvoreanu. From their marriage, a son was born, Preda, who studied engineering at the Ecole Centrale in Paris. However, he died at a very young age – 21 years old – in October 1927.
Another brother of the Romanian politician, Anton Brătășanu, had descendants who still exist today in Bucharest: the husband of the well-known opera singer Cleopatra Melidoneanu.
My published books:
