Tatyana Bakunina

Tatyana Aleksandrovna Bakunina (; 1815–1871) was the sister of the Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin and the lover of writer Ivan Turgenev. Bakunina's relationship with Turgenev, described by literary critics as the "Pryamukhino affair", is reflected in Turgenev's poem and several other works. Biography Bakunina was a member of a Russian noble Bakunin family, known since the second half of the 17th century. Her father, Aleksandr Mikhailovich Bakunin, worked abroad for many years after defending his philosophical thesis. After returning to Russia, he engaged in the improvement of his estate Pryamukhino. He married Varvara Aleksandrovna Muravyeva, who whom he had eleven children; Mikhail and Tatyana were yearlings; Tatyana was the fourth child in the family. Born on her parents' estate in Pryamukhino village, she was baptised on at the Pokrovsky Church in the manor of her uncle Mikhail Pavlovich and aunt Nadezhda Pavlovna Poltoratskikh. In addition to Mikhail, Tatyana's three younger brothers, , and , are the most famous personalities. Life in Pryamukhino The owner of the estate sought to create a special world in his house, one that combined life and art. Aleksandr himself tutored Tatyana, considered a "typical inhabitant of the Pryamukhinsky nest", in English, French and Italian, and taught her the natural sciences. She picked up her love of poetry and philosophy from her older brother Mikhail. The writer and publicist Nikolai Stankevich, the literary critic Vasily Botkin, the poet Ivan Klyushnikov, and the historian Timofey Granovsky stayed at Pryamukhino for a long time. In a letter to Mikhail Bakunin, Vissarion Belinsky, who was on friendly terms with Tatyana, referred to her as a "marvellous, beautiful creature":