She was born in 1878. She was the daughter of Marceli T. Górkiewicz (1835–1910), a Polish insurgent who conspired against the Russians. During the Crimean War, he fought under the command of Michał Czajkowski (1804–1886). The painter’s father ended up in Turkey following the January Uprising. He married Helena van Lennep (1848–1927), who came from a Dutch family that had long resided in that part of the world.

Activities and circumstances during the First World War

Through family connections, the Górkiewicz family became acquainted with the discoverer of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890). It is said that Marceli Górkiewicz also took part in the excavations. The couple had eight children.

Interestingly, one of their daughters – Evelyn – lived in Constantinople and was adopted by a distant relative, Alice Whitaker, and her husband Edgar. During the First World War, Evelyn devoted herself to caring for British prisoners of war, helping several soldiers to escape. A written account of her courage has also survived. In an article published after her death, a prisoner of war she had rescued stated that:

Putting herself in grave danger, she visited the writer of these words one September afternoon, whilst he was hiding as a fugitive in a squalid house in a seedy neighbourhood of Constantinople. She brought us what we needed most: money, vital information, sound advice and – in a gesture typical of her courtesy – she arranged for us to have clean clothes.

Her self-sacrifice was regarded by some locals as madness, so – as the reporter went on to write:

In the face of all manner of difficulties she encountered and constant discouragement from her friends, she (Evelyn – RB’s note) boldly championed the cause of the prisoners during the dark days of 1916 and 1917. She was a guardian angel to the British in Constantinople.

For one of them, Evelyn’s care was particularly important, as he decided to return to Constantinople to ask for her hand in marriage. The author of the album of watercolours became the wife of Sir Robert Paul. The couple spent some time in Beirut, where Evelyn’s younger brother, Marcel de Górkiewicz (1887–1956), was living at the time.

For unknown reasons, family ties were not maintained, and later in life Marcel claimed that he had no sister named Evelyn. The artist subsequently settled in Ballyglan, near Waterford, in Ireland. Her involvement in helping British soldiers was described in one of the books by Francis Yeats-Brown (1886–1944). Evelyn died in Ireland in May 1963.

Her work and surviving watercolours

Little is known about her artistic output; unfortunately, her works are scattered and only a few are held in public collections. Exceptions include two watercolours at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (‘Easter Sunday, 5 April 1896, from H.M.S. “Dryad”’ and ‘View from the Reading Room of the Constantinopolitan Club’).

Both were painted in the same year and depict views of Constantinople. They most likely entered the museum’s collection in the 1960s. These orientalist works are small in size, measuring 34.6 cm by 15.6 cm. They are very similar in style to the watercolours recently exhibited, at the turn of 2023 and 2024, at the Meşher Museum in the Beyoğlu district (formerly Pera) of Istanbul.

This exhibition featured rare works from the private collection of one of Turkey’s wealthiest men, Ömer Koç. He also owns an album of watercolours by Evelyn Górkiewicz. Visitors could see the album open at a watercolour depicting a view from the Aga Hamam on the last day of 1895. The album was created between May 1895 and January 1896. It currently contains 26 watercolours and pen-and-ink drawings.