House in Stasinów

In December 1873 Andriolli bought the estate of Stasinów near Nowomińsk (today’s Mińsk Mazowiecki) and started to decorate the manor house and garden. In 1874, he brought his mother from Vilnius to Stasinów, then Natalia, whom he married in the Church in Minsk Mazowiecki on 25 November 1875. Natalia Tarnowska brought about 3,000 rubles as her dowry, which, combined with a considerable fee for her husband’s illustrations to Maria by Malczewski, was sufficient to enlarge their property.

The manor house in Stasinów soon became a place of social meetings, mainly for the Warsaw intelligentsia. Andriolli liked to show off his famous dish, “kołduny” dumplings, which supposedly delighted even the famous Lucyna Ćwierciakiewiczowa, who used this recipe in her famous cookbook 365 obiadów [365 dinners]. One of the local residents Andriolli particularly favoured and with whom he made friends was Henryk Dobrzycki (1841-1914), a physician in the nearby Mienia, who had previously been involved in helping the January insurgents. Dobrzycki, unlike Andriolli, began his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts, and after two years he switched to medical studies. He was also a social activist and composer, a confidant and the first Andriolli’s biographer.

In 1876 Andriolli’s daughter Maria was born. Unfortunately, the child fell ill and died on 9 June 1878 at the age of about two years. On 13 December 1880 Elwiro’s mother died. Both family members were buried in the parish cemetery in Nowomińsk (Minsk Mazowiecki). The tombstone erected in March 1882 by Andriolli has not survived, nor has the manor house in Stasinowo, which was irretrievably destroyed after 2008.The marriage to Natalia was also impermanent and ended with a divorce in 1887.