Portraits of Sigismund III Vasa and Stanisław Radziejowski by Daniël van den Queborn or follower of Frans Pourbus the Younger
In the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków there is a portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa attributed to Dutch school (oil on panel, 93 x 68 cm, inventory number MNK XII-352). The painting was purchased in 1875, together with other portraits and miniatures, from Mikołaj Wisłocki from Pogorzela. It was initially attributed to Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670) and according to the printed sticker on the back of the painting it was purchased in Podbela in Belarus, near the Białowieża Forest and hung for a long time in the old larch chapel in Białowieża (Zygmunt 3o Król - na drzewie ma być roboty fan der Helsta malarza Holenderskiego - nabyty w Podbiałey, pod puszczą Białowieską - wisiał bardzo długo w Starey Modrzewiowej Kaplicy w Białowieży (gub. Grodzieńska:)).
Jagiellonian hunting mansion located in Stara Białowieża was probably used as early as 1409, and around 1594, during the reign of Sigismund III Vasa, it was moved to the center of modern Białowieża, where a mill was also built. Less than a year after his election, in 1588, in the face of the plague in Kraków, the young king left the capital and hunted in the Białowieża Forest. "The manor house in Białowieża built for His Royal Highness for passage and hunting" is mentioned in 1639 and it was destroyed during the Deluge (1655-1660) or soon after and was last mentioned in 1663. In 1597 Sigismund III orders the Court Treasurer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Dymitr Chalecki (d. 1598), to cancel the charges against the serfs employed in digging "Our Białowieża Pond" and to "relax the heavy burdens in the works" (after "Dwór łowiecki Wazów w Białowieży ..." by Tomasz Samojlik and others, pp. 74, 76-77, 80, 84). In 1651 Sigismund's son John II Casimir empoyed a Dutch architect and engineer Peeter Willer (or Willert) for similar works in Nieporęt near Warsaw and Henry IV of France (1553-1610) brought the best Dutch engineers to dry out, drain, build polders with their canals, locks, meadows, and low farms all round the coast of France (after "The French Peasantry ..." by Pierre Goubert, p. 2). It is quite possible that Sigismund also employed specialists from the Netherlands, also those already active in Polish Prussia, to create ponds and supply plants and fish. The painter probably never saw the king in person, so the resemblance is not striking, especially to portraits by Martin Kober, which has led some authors to suggest that it was originally a portrait of somone else transformed into the king's effigy. Probably in the 17th century, as the style suggest, a Latin inscription (SIGISMVNDVS III / DEI GRA: REX POLONIÆ) and a crown were added, however taking into consideration the provenance from the royal Białowieża, tradition, general resemblance and inscriptions there is no reason to claim that this is not an original portrait of the king commissioned in the Netherlands. A similar effigy of Sigismund with a long mustache and blond hair was included in hand colored map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Poloniae Amplissimi Regni Typvs Geographicvs) from Speculum Orbis Terrarum by Gerard de Jode, published in Antwerp in 1593. The likeness of the king is one of the few effigies in this publication, which could indicate that the Polish court influenced it on this particular map or that it was inspired by the increase in orders for effigies in the Netherlands at that time. The style of the painting from Białowieża is reminiscent of the two portraits unanimously attributed to Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569-1622), a Flemish painter from Antwerp (from about 1592 active in Brussels), in the Galleria nazionale di Parma, identified as Luigi Carafa and his wife Isabella Gonzaga (inventory number 297, 303), however, it is even more similar to two paintings atributed to another painter from Antwerp - Daniël van den Queborn, both in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. One depict a child 18 months old in 1604, possibly Louis of Nassau, the illegitimate son of Prince Maurice of Orange (SK-A-956) and the other, dated '1601', Francisco de Mendoza, Admiral of Aragon and Marquis of Guadalest, who was mayordomo mayor (lord high steward) in the household of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria and took part in different diplomatic missions to Poland, Hungary, Styria and the Holy Roman Empire (SK-A-3912). In 1579 Daniël joined the guild of Middelburg and in 1594 he became court painter to Prince Maurice in The Hague. The style of the king's costume and ruff is very similar to that seen in Gortzius Geldorp's portraits of the 1590s - portrait of Jean Fourmenois, dated '1590' (Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, SK-A-912) and portrait of Gottfried Houtappel, dated '1597' (The State Hermitage Museum, ГЭ-2438). Portrait of Joachim Ernst (1583-1625), Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (sold at Christie's, 27 October 2004, lot 46) from the 1610s, as his costume indicate, is attributed to follower of Frans Pourbus the Younger. In 1609, Pourbus moved to Paris and Joachim Ernst's stay in France at that time is not confirmed in sources. On August 14, 1593 Sigismund III arrived in Gdańsk with his wife Anna of Austria, sister Anna Vasa and the entire court. The city was a major port of the Commonwealth where Netherlandish influences became predominant at that time in almost all aspects of life (trade, art, architecture and fashion). The river cruise from Warsaw to Gdańsk lasted 12 days and the ceremonial welcome took place at the Green Gate. On 15 August 1593 the court took part in the procession at the Dominican Church. The ceremony was presided over by the Bishop of Kuyavia, Hieronim Rozdrażewski, who purportedly commissioned a drawing illustrating the event (possibly a study for a painting), attributed to Anton Möller the Elder (Wawel Royal Castle). The king then went with the court to Wisłoujście, from where on September 16, on 56 or 57 ships, he sailed with the people accompanying him and a detachment of the Polish-Lithuanian army to Sweden. The king embarked on a ship provided by the city of Amsterdam (after "Polacy na szlakach morskich świata" by Jerzy Pertek, p. 56). It is possible that among the courtiers accompanying the king was also the young nobleman Stanisław Radziejowski (1575-1637). He was a courtier at the court of the widowed Queen Anna Jagiellon in Warsaw, where he received the title of court steward and after her death in 1596 he passed to the court of Sigismund Vasa, where he again served mainly Queen Anna of Austria and her son Ladislaus Sigismund. He later did not hold any functions at the court, but he took part in confidential missions abroad and in the Commonwealth (after "Radziejowice: fakty i zagadki" by Maria Barbasiewicz, p. 41). Stanisław studied abroad, in Würzburg in 1590. In 1598 he was sent as a peace delegate to Moscow, he become the starost of Sochaczew in 1599 and he accompanied the king during his travels (e.g. in 1634 to Gdańsk). Radziejowski often had the opportunity to host the entire royal court under his roof in his estate in Radziejowice near Warsaw. There was no foreign envoy, no apostolic nuncio who did not experience his hospitality and Queen Constance of Austria, Sigismund's second wife, willingly took a bath in Radziejowice. No effigy of Stanisław preserved in Poland, but as a courtier so close to the queen who traveled abroad, he undoubtedly dressed primarily in Western European fashion. The painting in the National Museum in Kraków (inventory number MNK I-20) depicting the Adoration of the Crucifix with King Sigismund III Vasa and his male courtiers, painted by Wojciech Maliskiewic in 1622, clearly shows the disposition of fashion at the royal court. Only a quarter of the courtiers are dressed in national costume, the others wear ruffs and fashionable hose. In 1583 Balthasar Bathory de Somlyo, nephew of King Stephen Bathory raised at his court in Kraków, was portraited by Hendrick Goltzius in French costume during his visit to the Netherlands with his friend Stanisław Sobocki. Treasurer (Jan Firlej, Grand Treasurer of the Crown) from Stanisław Sarnicki's "Statutes and records of crown privileges", published in Kraków in 1594, also wears western attire, as well as Stanisław's infamous son Hieronim (1612-1667), who was depicted dressed according to Western European fashion in a print by Jeremias Falck Polonus, created in 1652. In 2022 a portrait of a young man painted in similar style to the Białowieża portrait was sold at Dorotheum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 65.5 x 55 cm, 11.05.2022, lot 25). This painting is attributed to Frans Pourbus the Younger and comes from private collection in Uruguay (since the 1920s). The exact provenance is unknown, so it is possible that it was associated with Polish immigration to Uruguay where the first Poles arrived in the 19th century as political refugees who fled after the January Uprising (the first Polish organization in Montevideo was established in 1921). The young man is wearing a fashionable embroidered doublet and a lace ruff. According to Latin inscription in upper part of the painting it was created in Antwerp and the sitter was 18 in 1593 (ANTVE'[rpiae] ANo SAL.. / 1593 / ÆTA' SVÆ.18..), exacly as Radziejowski, when he may have finished his studies and could board a ship in Antwerp for Gdańsk or just order it from Gdańsk in Antwerp, like his grandson Cardinal Michał Stefan Radziejowski, who ordered his portrait in Paris (attributed to painter from Antwerp Jacob Ferdinand Voet, Czartoryski Museum, MNK XII-377). The family resemblance is striking with the portrait of Michał Stefan in the Museum of Warsaw (MHW 15948), and mentioned effigy of Stanisław's son, the shape of the nose, the puffiness under the eyes and a dimple in the chin being particularly similar in these family members. A painting attributed to Frans Pourbus the Younger, which may come from the collection of Sigismund III and possibly linked to Radziejowski's diplomatic activity, is in the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius (oil on canvas, 56 x 44 cm, LNDM T 4019). This "Portrait of a woman with a red ribbon" is dated at the top right '1604' and belonged to the same gallery as "Portrait of a woman with a diadem", dated '1614' (LNDM T 4018), which is an effigy of Marie de' Medici (1575-1642), Queen of France by Alessandro Maganza, identified and attributed by me. The woman's costume is also similar to that visible in another effigy of the Queen of France, created by Thomas de Leu or circle around 1605 (Austrian National Library), while her facial features resemble those of Christina of Lorraine (1565-1637), Grand Duchess of Tuscany (wife of Marie's uncle), after a print by Thomas de Leu, produced between 1587-1590 (The Royal Collection, RCIN 615750). Her features also resemble those in Christine's other portraits, such as that by the French painter, perhaps François Quesnel, from 1588 (Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Inv. 1890, n. 4338) or a copy by the Italian painter, painted after 1589 (sold at Sotheby's New York, May 26, 2023, lot 314). Around 1604, Frans Pourbus painted Christine's future daughter-in-law - Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria (1587-1631) in a yellow dress (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 3385) and her older sister Constance (GG 3306). Several portraits of the Polish-Lithunian Vasas preserved in Florence, such as the full-length portrait of Sigismund III (Inv. 1890, n. 2270) dating from around 1610. The monarchs of the Commonwealth undoubtedly also owned numerous effigies of the sovereigns of Tuscany. Some of them may also have been brought by Radziejowski, who was in Florence in 1616 and who in 1615 gave Grand Duchess Maria Magdalena a mirror in an amber frame.
Portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) by Daniël van den Queborn or follower of Frans Pourbus the Younger, 1590s, Czartoryski Museum in Kraków.
Portrait of courtier Stanisław Radziejowski (1575-1637), aged 18 by Daniël van den Queborn or follower of Frans Pourbus the Younger, 1593, Private collection.
Portrait of Christina of Lorraine (1565-1637), Grand Duchess of Tuscany in French costume by workshop of Frans Pourbus the Younger, 1604, Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius.
Portrait of Queen Anna of Austria by Jacopo Tintoretto
Italian painters, faithful to ancient Roman tradition, frequently idealized their models. On the other hand, painters of the Nordic, Netherlandish and German schools, preferred a sometimes grotesque naturalism. This is best seen in the portraits of Emperor Charles V. In the paintings by Marco Cardisco, Parmigianino, Titian, Giorgio Vasari and Francesco Terzi, he is a quite handsome man with harmonious features and large eyes, while in the paintings by Lucas Cranach, Jakob Seisenegger, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen and Flemish painters, he sometimes looks more like a court jester than a ruler of one of the greatest empires in history.
It was also a strong Habsburg tradition to collect effigies of different rulers of Europe, especially members of their own family. The effigies of Habsburg women who became queens of Bohemia, Hungary, Portugal, France, Denmark, duchesses of Tuscany, Mantua, Savoy, Parma, Bavaria or princesses of Transylvania are richly represented in their collections in Madrid and Vienna. It is therefore quite unusual that the Polish queens from the House of Austria are almost not represented in the collections known today. Some preserved inventories prove that the effigies of Polish monarchs were in the Habsburg collections in Madrid and Vienna. For example, the inventory of certain belongings of Queen Margaret of Austria, sister-in-law of King Sigismund III Vasa, subject to her guardian of the jewels (guardajoyas) Hernando Rojas, from October 1611, lists a miniature portrait (naipe) of the son of the king of Poland (Un retrato del hijo del rey de Polonia en un naipe, item 146) and thirteen "miniature portraits of members of the queen's household, our lady" (Trece retratos de naipe de personajes de la cassa de la reyna, nuestra señora, item 151) (after "Inventare aus dem Archivo del Palacio zu Madrid" by Rudolf Beer, p. CLXXV). For Sigismund's first wife, Anna of Austria (1573-1598), the portraits of her family left in Graz and lost during the Wawel fire in 1595 were obviously of great importance. After the fire, new portraits of the family in Graz had to be painted. The mother, Archduchess Maria Anna of Bavaria, soon sent a portrait of herself, but Anna said the picture bore no resemblance to her mother. "I'm sorry that YH [Your Highness] doesn't have a painter yet. My husband gave me permission for his painter to send him out to paint everyone when he has time, so he will have plenty of work to do" (Es ist mir ye gar laid, das ED [Eure Durchlaucht] jez kain maler hat. Mein gemahel hat mir sein maler bewilligt, wan es wider ED nit wer, denselben hinauszuschigken und alle abzemalen, wann er ainmal zeit hat, dann er hat jez gar vil ze arbaiten), she wrote to her mother in a letter dated April 6, 1595 most likely about the court painter Martin Kober (after "Das Leben am Hof ..." by Walter Leitsch, p. 371, 1267-1269, 1280, 1284, 2376, 2378-2379, 2562). Some information preserved in Austria on the portraits exchanged in preparation for the king's first marriage. The beginnings of the negotiation date back to a time when both were still children, the bride was not yet eight years old and the groom was fourteen and a half years old. It is possible that a portrait of an eight-year-old girl was sent by the Habsburgs. When the affair came to light nine years later, a portrait had to be sent again. "I would like to affirm that the king, as soon as he received the Archduchess Anna's effigy, fell deeply in love with it, opened it in his chamber and, having stood in front of it for a long time, also sent a retrato [Spanish for portrait] of her to his father, the king in Sweden, who was also happy to accept such things" (wol affirmiren, das der könig, alsbald er dero erzherzogin Anna contrafee bekomben, sich stark darein verliebt, dasselbe in seiner camer aufgemacht und villmallen ein guette lange weil darvor gestanden seye, auch seinem herrn vattern, dem könig in Schweden, ein retrato darvon geschickt habe, der im solches gleichsfalls gar wol gefallen lassen), wrote Sebastian Westernacher to Archduchess Maria Anna of Bavaria on May 19, 1591. The effigy of sixteen-year-old Anna hung in the king's bedroom and she was depicted wearing "a white-silver embroidered dress" (in einem weiß silbernen gewirkten rock abconterfeyet), according to a Kraków newspaper about the wedding in May/June 1592. Contemporaries certainly knew that these portraits were often largely beautified, so that the groom had only two options if he wanted to avoid exposing himself to the unknown: send beauty spies or trust the pictures. Before his first marriage, Sigismund sent such spies, but he probably also trusted the effigies. An emissary of the king delivered his portrait to the court master (Hofmeister) of Anna's mother, representing him wearing a jewel with the monogram SA, most probably of his uncle Sigismund Augustus or the groom and bride (Sigismund and Anna), recounted Archduchess Maria Anna to Emperor Rudolf II, in a letter from Graz, dated July 8, 1591 (seines künigs contrafet in ainem tafelein von ebano, darbey auch ain gemaldes glainot an einer klainen gulden kettl an des künigs hals hangend, und darinnen dise zwen puechstaben SA zu sehen). According to some sources, Sigismund's first wife did not care much for luxury. Her confessor, Fabian Quadrantinus (1549-1605) from Starogard Gdański, educated in Rome, affirmed that: "No gold, no jewels, no precious stones were seen on her. She was dressed mostly in black". Other documents prove she did it. According to one inventory, the queen owned more than a hundred items of clothing, and according to a second inventory, more than two hundred. She ordered goods from Florence and purchased luxury goods from Gdańsk. She always ate with a gold spoon and wore jewelry, regularly a ruby and emerald ring, as well as a necklace with a sapphire. Urszula Meyerin, in a letter dated April 3, 1598, claimed that even when she was young, Anna "never respected the voluptuousness, splendor, joys or lusts of the world, but despised and rejected them" (nimmermehr der welt üppigkeit, pracht, freuden oder wollusten geachtet, sondern vielmehr verachtet und verworfen). Jan Bojanowski, however, wrote shortly after her arrival that she was far from being melancholy (krolowa pani nasza is iest pani od melancholiei daleka) and that she was always joyful, but with a gracious dignity (letter of June 22, 1592). When the king wanted to go into battle against the Tatars, the queen expressed the wish to stay close to him, "if necessary, she also wanted to become a mercenary and wear armor" (wan's sein müeste, wolt sie auch ein landsknechtin weren und das fäleisen nachtragen, letter from Ernhofer to Archduchess Maria Anna, April 5, 1595). When she was sent a new portrait of her brother who had become fat, she wrote to her mother: "That's why it seems to me that he was in his 10th month [of pregnancy]" (Darum es dunkt mich auch, ehr sei ihn 10. monat gwesen, letter of February 1, 1597). In another letter to her mother, she commented "that the good old King of Spain is really funny and that you can really enjoy him" (das der guett alt kinig von Hispania erlich paufellig ist und das man sein auch schier gnueg hatt, letter of May 3, 1597). The queen was also adventurous and repeatedly went out incognito to see something, such as the procession on January 27, 1595. Together with Anna Radziwiłłowa née Kettler (1567-1617), she went out in a sleigh "dressed like a patrician lady" (wie burgerin geklaidet). They were not recognized by Polish women and when one of them tried to force her way before the queen, Radziwiłłowa began to argue with her (letter from Ernhofer to Archduchess Maria Anna, March 6, 1595). Similar to other Polish-Lithuanian ladies who experimented with fashion, the young queen undoubtedly also wore Venetian, French, Florentine or Flemish dresses, as described by Piotr Zbylitowski in his "Reprimand of Women's Extravagant Attire" (Przygana wymyślnym strojom białogłowskim), published in Kraków in 1600. Although the queen was very pious, she was not stubbornly zealous like her mother. From August 1592 to August 1593, the young queen lived near the Italianate court of the elderly Queen Anna Jagiellon, sending letters from residences in Ujazdów and Łobzów. Relations between the two queens were probably a bit difficult for many reasons. Above all, they had no common language, as the young queen only spoke German and Spanish and understood Latin and Polish - according to Giovanni Paolo Mucante (Intende, come dicono, la lingua latina, la spagnola, la todesca et anco la polacca, ma non parla se non todesca et spagnola, letter of September 25, 1596). Anna Jagiellon spoke Latin, Polish and Italian. At the beginning there were also some difficulties with priority. During the last six months of her life, the old queen once again lived under the same roof as the young queen. Anna of Austria one day sent her mother the gifts she had received from Anna Jagiellon (letter of November 22, 1593). Young Anna also cared for the old, sick queen herself. The relationship between the two was so good that Archduchess Maria Anna became truly jealous (letter from Salome von Thurn to Archduchess Maria Anna, May 5, 1594). In the Prado Museum in Madrid there is a portrait of a young woman in a green dress sitting on a chair (oil on canvas, 114 x 100 cm, inventory number P000484). The painting comes from the Spanish Royal Collection (no. 597) and was initially attributed to Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) and now to Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594). The woman has flowers in her hair and her costume indicate that the painting was made in the 1590s. A similar dress can be seen in a portrait of a woman from the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden (inventory number Gal.-Nr. 249), dated around 1590 and previously thought to represent Marie de' Medici, Queen of France. Comparison with two woodcuts from Habiti Antichi Et Moderni di tutto il Mondo ... by Cesare Vecellio (Czartoryski Library, 2434 I Cim), book published in Venice in 1598 and assembling contemporary fashion from across the world - Gentildonne ne'Regiment (p. 104) and Donne per casa (p. 108), indicates that she wears the costume of a Venetian noblewoman at home. In this book, the effigy of King Sigismund III (Rè di Polonia / Poloniæ Rex, p. 346) was published with some typical costumes of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Her protruding lower lip and provenance of the painting indicate that she is a Habsburg. The painter beautified the effigy by making the nose and lips smaller, however, the resemblance to other effigies of the Queen of Poland is notable, in particular the portrait from the Royal Castle in Warsaw (FC ZKW 1370), her effigy in the scene of the Birth of the Virgin by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz in the Prado Museum (P001038) and her portrait by Martin Kober in the Uffizi Gallery (2392 / 1890). Idealization was common at that time. The portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa in a large hat by workshop of Philipp Holbein II, which was before 1939 in the collection of Jan Perłowski in Warsaw (lost during the World War II), is the best example of this practice, perhaps initiated by the painter, who wanted the model to conform more to his standards of beauty. The woman in this portrait also closely resembles the queen's younger sister, Constance, who a decade later would become the second wife of Sigismund III, in her idealized portrait at Wawel Royal Castle (inventory number 1783). According to inventories of Queen Anna's clothing held at the National Archives of Sweden in Stockholm (Riksarkivet, Extranea 85), probably made around 1595, the queen also owned a dress similar to the one depicted in the painting: "A green damask skirt with gold edges" (Ain grien damasten rock mit golt gebrämbt, 92).
Portrait of Queen Anna of Austria (1573-1598) in a Venetian damask dress by Jacopo Tintoretto, ca. 1592-1594, Prado Museum in Madrid.
Portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa in a large hat by workshop of Philipp Holbein II, 1610s, lost during World War II.
Portrait of Prince Jerzy Zbaraski as Saint George by Paolo Fiammingo
In 1591, after initial studies in the country, the young Zbaraski brothers Jerzy (George) or Yuriy (1574-1631) and Krzysztof (Christopher) or Kryshtof (1579-1627), descendants of Ruthenian Prince Fyodor Nesvitsky (died before 1442), went on a long trip abroad. They visited Germany, Italy and France. They studied in Padua (1592-1593) and visited Venice, Rome and Naples. In France, they went to Lyon, Bordeaux and Paris. While studying abroad, the brothers converted from Calvinism to Catholicism, however, they were supporters of religious tolerance and opponents of the enormous influence of the Jesuit Order.
They returned to the country at the turn of 1594 and 1595. In the following year (1596) they participated in the expedition to Hungary, in the Moldavian expedition and in the siege of Suceava. In 1598 Jerzy was in the retinue accompanying King Sigismund III Vasa in Sweden. Probably at the turn of 1600 and 1601, both Zbaraski brothers went to the Netherlands, where Jerzy studied Greek and history under Justus Lipsius in Louvain. Between 1602-1605, Krzysztof stayed in Italy again, where he mastered mathematical science under the supervision of Galileo. In 1616 also Jerzy returned to Padua where he enrolled at the university. In 1620, after the death of Janusz Ostrogski, Jerzy Zbaraski was appointed Castellan of Kraków. Like his yonger brother Krzysztof, he was not married and had no children. The Zbaraski brothers were the heirs of their father's enormous fortune, in addition to the estates of their mother, Duchess Anna Chetvertynska (Czetwertyńska), a member of the Ruthenian princely family, who according to Józef Wolff were descendants of Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev. In the 16th century Chetvertynski family owned large estates in Ukraine and Belarus and like Zbaraski family, they had Ruthenian Pogonia, displaying Saint George defeating the dragon, in their coat of arms. Already in June 1589, in the retinue of bishop Radziwill and voivode Mikołaj Firlej, Jerzy visited the imperial court in Prague, where he had the opportunity to admire exquisite art collections of Emperor Rudolf II. From Venice, Jerzy, a great connoisseur and lover of art, brought the painting of Our Lady of Myślenice, later famous for miracles. According to "The History of the Miraculous painting of Our Lady in Myślenice", published in 1642 in Kraków, the original painting belonged to Pope Sixtus V, who left it in his will to the granddaughter of his sister, who became the abbess of a convent in Venice. When Prince Jerzy Zbaraski saw it in the convent, he wanted to have it, but the abbess did not want to give him the original, but agreed to make a copy. During the plague in Kraków in 1624, the painting was supposed to be burnt as "infected", but was spared from destruction. In 1633, the painting was transferred to the parish church in Myślenice. The image of the Virgin Mary is painted on a wood panel (50.3 x 67.8 cm) and because of some style similarities it is attributed to the Prague school from the beginning of the 17th century. The face and pose of the Virgin is however almost identical as in the painting showing Bathsheba at her bath (sold at Cambi Casa d'Aste in Genoa on 30 June 2020, lot 100), created by Paolo Fiammingo (Paul the Fleming, ca. 1540-1596). Fiammingo, born Pauwels Franck, was a Flemish painter, who, after training in Antwerp, was active in Venice for most of his life. He also possibly worked in Florence. Around 1573 he settled permanently in Venice, where he became a student of Jacopo Tintoretto. He opened a successful studio, which received commissions from all over Europe. One of his most important clients was Emperor Rudolf II and Hans Fugger, the heir of a German banking dynasty, who commissioned him in 1580 to produce several paintings to decorate the Swabian Escorial - Kirchheim Castle near Augsburg. The style of the hand of Mary in Myślenice painting is similar to that visible in the Lady revealing her breast (An honest courtesan) by Domenico Tintoretto, dated to the 1580s (Prado Museum in Madrid, inventory number P000382). The portrait of a man as Saint George in private collection, attributed to Italian or Venetian school, is also similar to Tintoretto's style. This small painting (28.7 x 21.7 cm) was painted on copper and the style of painting resemble more precisely the image entitled Profession of arms from the Munich Residence, attributed Fiammingo and created in the 1590s (Alte Pinakothek in Munich). Prince Jerzy Zbaraski was a founder of at least two churches dedicated to his patron saint, Saint George. One in the main seat of the Prince and his brother, Zbarazh in Volhynia, was the burial place of part of the Zbaraski family. The wooden church and fortified Bernardine monastery was founded in 1606, and from 1627 the new brick church was built, most probably to design by Venetian architect and engineer of His Highness King Sigismund III Vasa, Andrea or Andrzej dell'Aqua, driving nearly 1,600 piles into the marshy area. This church was destroyed in 1648. In 1630 Zbaraski also founded Saint George's church in Pilica. Between 1611-1612, Krzysztof commissioned to Vincenzo Scamozzi in Venice, a project for a fortified palace intendend for Zbarazh. In a commentary to his design, published in 1615 in his "L'Idea Della Architettura Universale", Scamozzi recalled numerous meetings and discusions on military architecture with the learned Ruthenian aristocrat. It was however a design of the Flemish military engineer Hendrik van Peene and Venetian Andrea dell'Aqua that was used to built the new Zbarazh fortress between 1626-1631. His treatise on artillery "Praxis ręczna działa" from 1630 (manuscript in the Kórnik Library), dell'Aqua dedicated to Prince Jerzy Zbaraski. In 1627 Jerzy founded the Zbaraski Chapel at the Gothic Dominican Church in Kraków, as a mausoleum for himself and his brother. It was built by the masons and sculptors Andrea and Antonio Castelli, probably according to the design of the royal architect Constantino Tencalla. In the baroque chapel there are monuments to two brothers carved in black Dębnik marble and white alabaster. Jerzy is depicted sleeping in armour and in a pose almost identical to that in the tomb monument of King Sigismund I the Old in the Sigismund's Chapel (1529-1531). His hairstyle is typical of a Polish-Lithuanian magnate from this period and he is holding his mace like if he was holding his manhood, a less subtle allusion to his virility or promiscuity. It is possible that some of the highly erotic works by Fiammingo were commissioned by Prince Zbaraski. The man depicted as Saint George resemble Jerzy Zbaraski from his tomb sculpture, his portrait painted in the 1780s after original from the 1620s (Wilanów Palace in Warsaw) and effigies of his brother Krzysztof (National Museum of the History of Ukraine and Lviv National Art Gallery). Jerzy was accused of a dissolute lifestyle and when he decided to put an end to coin counterfeiters with whom he was about to cooperate, they "persuaded one lady who visited the prince to give him a poison" (after "Niepokorni książęta" by Arkadiusz Bednarczyk, Andrzej Włusek). Despite having no children, the memory of the last Prince Zbaraski preserved in the exquisite works of art that he commissioned.
Portrait of Prince Jerzy Zbaraski (1574-1631) as Saint George by Paolo Fiammingo, 1592-1594, Private collection.
Our Lady of Myślenice by Paolo Fiammingo, 1592-1594, Saint Mary's church in Myślenice.
Portrait of royal courtier Sebastian Sobieski by Leandro Bassano
Around October 16, 1593, king Sigismund III Vasa departed from Gdańsk for his coronation as the hereditary king of Sweden. He was accompanied by his courtiers, including Sebastian Sobieski (ca. 1552-1614), third son of captain Jan Sobieski (ca. 1518-1564) and Katarzyna Gdeszyńska. Earlier that year, in February, Sebastian was sent by the King as his envoy to the Lublin Sejmik (regional assemby). It is the first confirmed important function of this royal courtier. "Instructions for the Lublin Sejmik given from His Majesty to Sebastian Sobieski, a royal courtier in Warsaw on February 16, 1593", is in the Czartoryski Library in Kraków (BCz 390).
Sobieski most probably studied at the Calvinist school in Bychawa near Lublin. On December 17, 1576, probably thanks to the intercession of the Crown Vice-Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, he was admitted, as a page, to the court of king Stephen Bathory. Then, like his brothers, due to growing influence of the Counter-Reformation movement at the royal court, he converted to Roman Catholicism. On May 1, 1584, he was transferred to the group of salatariati saeculares (lay beneficiaries) in which he was until the death of the king. He became a supporter of Zamoyski, supported the election of king Sigismund III and, apparently, he participated in the defense of Kraków against the attack of the troops of Archduke Maximilian II in 1587 and the Battle of Byczyna in 1588. From May 1596, he held the position of Standard-Bearer of the Crown and as such he was depicted in the "Entry of the wedding procession of Sigismund III Vasa into Kraków in 1605" (Royal Castle in Warsaw). Portrait of a bearded man in oriental costume from private collection in France, due some similarity to the style and, possibly, dates of his life is attributed to Hans von Aachen (1552-1615), a German painter trained in Italy. In 1592, while he was still working in Munich, von Aachen was appointed a court painter of Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor and moved to Prague in 1596. According to inscription in Latin in upper right corner the man was 41 years old in 1593 (ANNO 1593 / ÆTATIS 41), exacly as Hans von Aachen, but also Sebastian Sobieski, born in about 1552. The portrait is evidently not a self-portrait of imperial court painter and this wealthy nobleman was depicted in a crimson silk żupan buttoned up to with gold buttons, very similar to żupan buttons of Stanisław Piwo, deputy cup-bearer of Płock, from the second quarter of the 17th century (Skrwilno Treasure, Toruń Regional Museum). His black coat trimmed with lynx fur it is almost identical to the one shown in the portrait of Jan Opaliński (1546-1598), created in 1591 (National Museum in Poznań), or in Twelve Polish and Hungarian types by Abraham de Bruyn, created in about 1581 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam). His lace collar is very similar to the one in the effigy of The Marshal (Stanisław Przyjemski with a marshal staff) from Stanisław Sarnicki's "Statutes and records of crown privileges" by Jörg Brückner in Kraków, created in 1594 (Czartoryski Library). Letters on the table are very important documents, most probably envoy instructions given by the king. The style of painting is identical with portrait of Doge Marino Grimani (1532-1605), created in about 1595 by Leandro Bassano, signed: LEANDER A PONTE BASS [ANO] EQVES F. (Princeton University Art Museum). The man bear a resemblance to effigies of Sebastian Sobieski's brother Marek Sobieski (ca. 1550-1605), voivode of Lublin (1862 woodcut after lost portrait from the Zamoyski collection) and his brother's descendant (Marek's grandson), king John III Sobieski (portrait painting from the 1670s in the Kórnik Castle). Mentioned portrait of Jan Opaliński in Poznań, a copy of a painting destroyed during World War I (from the burnt manor house in Rogów near Opatowiec), is considered by Michał Walicki as a very definite manifestation of the Venetian tradition "referring to the portraits of the Bassanos" (after "Malarstwo polskie: Gotyk, renesans, wczesny manieryzm", p. 33). Stilistically very similar was the painting which was before World War II in the Saint Lazarus hospital in Warsaw bearing the inscription in Latin: R. P. PETRVS SKARGA SOCIETATIS IESV. It represented the court preacher of King Sigismund III Vasa, Piotr Skarga (1536-1612), who became the first priest to hold it. The hospital was established in 1591 on his initiative for the poor and lepers and the founder was depicted sitting in his study before a table covered with an oriental carpet.
Portrait of royal courtier Sebastian Sobieski (ca. 1552-1614) aged 41 by Leandro Bassano, 1593, Private collection.
Portrait of Jan Opaliński (1546-1598) aged 45 by follower of the Bassanos, 1591, National Museum in Poznań.
Portrait of preacher Piotr Skarga (1536-1612) by follower of the Bassanos, after 1591, Saint Lazarus hospital in Warsaw, lost.
Portraits of Queen Anna of Austria and her sisters by Martin Kober and Spanish painters
The inventories of Queen Anna's clothing held at the National Archives of Sweden in Stockholm (Riksarkivet, Extranea 85) were probably made around 1595 because include many items created when she was already queen, such as pillows embroidered with the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania. The young queen dressed primarily in black Spanish saya in the Central European version as shown in her official portraiture by Martin Kober. She also had specifically "Polish clothing" (Volgen IM polnische klaider, items 205-212) and shorter Spanish dresses (Spänische kurze jänger). In private, she wear many colorful clothes - brown, purple, leibfarb (skin color), yellow, red, white, tyrkroth (Turkish red), aschenfarb (gray), blue and others. She also had at least three green dresses: "A green gold cloth robe" (Ain grien gulden stuck, 72), "A green satin skirt with gold edges" (Ain grien atleser rock mit gulden porten, 87) and "A green damask skirt with gold edges" (Ain grien damasten rock mit golt gebrämbt, 92) (after "Das Leben am Hof ..." by Walter Leitsch, p. 1282, 2381, 2555-2562, 2569, 2571).
The green satin "skirt" (87), a symbolic color of fertility, mentioned in the inventory could be the same dress that was depicted in a portrait of Archduchess Anna at the age of 18, dated 1592 (ANNA ARCHIDVCISSA AVSTRIÆ. / ANNO ÆTATIS / XVIII. / MD / LXXXXII.) from the Bavarian State Painting Collections (on permanent loan to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, oil on canvas, 60.5 x 50.9 cm, Gm661 / 6846). This portrait, as well as other similar portraits of her mother and siblings, come from Neuburg Castle. It was therefore most likely originally part of the dowry of Constance of Austria (because her portrait is missing from this series) and later the dowry of her daughter Anna Catherine Constance Vasa. Her large golden pendant shows Jupiter and Danae. The young archduchess was therefore painted shortly before her marriage to Sigismund and the style of this painting is close to Martin Kober, who also worked for the Habsburgs - notably similar to the portrait of Anna's daughter Anna Maria Vasa (1593-1600) at the convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid and portrait of Stanisław Lubomirski (1583-1649) and his sister Katarzyna (d. 1612) at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. All of Anna's sisters were depicted in similar dresses. Because of this and the strong family resemblance of all the sisters, it is sometimes difficult to determine the model in other series, such as that from the dowry of Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria, today at the Villa del Poggio Imperiale in Florence. This series is attributed to Giacomo de Monte (Jakob de Monte), although the style is also close to Kober. In the series in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, probably from Graz Castle, the portrait of Maria Christina of Austria (1574-1621), is identifed to depict Anna (inventory number GG 3238). This effigy is attributed to de Monte, who used the same set of study drawings as Kober to create the portrait from the Neuburg Castle painted in 1595, when the Archduchess was 21 years old (MARIA CRISTIERNA ARCHIDVCISSA AVSTRIÆ. / ANNO ÆTATIS XXI. / M.D. / XCV., Alte Pinakothek in Munich, oil on canvas, 60.5 x 52 cm, 6845). In the series from the Convent of the Descalzas Reales in Madrid, also attributed to Giacomo de Monte, the four sisters were transformed into Christian saints - Anna was depicted as Saint Dorothy, Maria Christina as Saint Lucy, Catherine Renata as Saint Catherine and Elizabeth as Saint Agnes. Among the portraits of the family members of Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain, which were in the Queen's Gallery of the Royal Alcazar in Madrid in 1636, there was undoubtedly also a portrait of the Queen of Poland. These portraits were described as: "Parents and brothers of Queen Doña Margarita. Thirteen half-length portraits of the parents and brothers of Queen Doña Margarita, without frames (?), and made by Bartholome Gonçalez for El Pardo" (Padres y hermanos de la Señora Reina Doña Margarita. Treçe retratos de medio cuerpo arriba de los Padres y hermanos de la Señora Reina Doña Margarita, sin molduras, y los hiço Bartholome Gonçalez para el Pardo, Inventory of the Alcázar of 1636, pp. 185-188). Seven portraits from the series, created by the court painter Bartolomé González y Serrano (1564-1627) before 1627, were deposited in 1918 at the Spanish embassy in Lisbon and were destroyed during the fire of 1975. One of them was reproduced in 1968 in the Antemurale XII (Institutum Historicum Polonicum Romae) as a portrait of Anna of Austria (Anna Regina Poloniae, Museo del Prado). In this likeness, she wears a typical Spanish saya from the end of the 16th century. According to an article by Gloria Martínez Leiva ("El incendio de la Embajada española en Lisboa de 1975", January 16, 2018), it is not an effigy of Anna, but of her sister Archduchess Catherine Renata of Austria (1576-1599). The young girl actually resemble more the effigy of Catherine Renata in 1595, when the Archduchess was 18 years old (CATERINA RENEA ARCHIDVCISSA / AVSTRIÆ. ANNO ÆTATIS XVIII. / M.D. / XCV., Germanisches Nationalmuseum, oil on canvas, 60.6 x 50.9 cm, Gm665 / 6847) by Kober then the portrait of her elder sister from the same series. Posthumous effigies of Archduchess Maria Anna and her husband Charles II of Austria (1540-1590) by González, painted after 1608 (Prado Museum, P002434, P002433), were most likely part of the Lisbon series. Regarding the series by Kober, in which some effigies bear different dates (1590, 1592 and 1595), the painter probably created them at the same time but they show the models at different ages and dates. He most likely copied several effigies of Constance's family while working on paintings for her (or one of her sisters') dowry in 1595 in Graz. The eldest daughter of Archduchess Maria Anna was also depicted with her sisters and mother in the scene of the Birth of the Virgin by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz in the Prado Museum (oil on canvas, 260 x 172 cm, P001038). This painting, commissioned by Queen Margaret of Austria for her private oratory in the palace of Valladolid, was created in 1603 (signed and dated: Juº Pantoja Dela .+. Faciebat. / 1603). It probably commemorates the birth and death of the Infanta Maria of Spain, who died in infancy in her first month (March 1, 1603). Her grandmother, Archduchess Maria Anna, is depicted as a divine midwife accompanied by her already deceased daughters - Anna, Queen of Poland and Archduchess Catherine Renata of Austria, who died at the age of twenty-three before her marriage to Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma. That is why both of them wear more Italian dresses, because in Poland-Lithuania, Italian fashion was popular. All three look at the viewer. The young girl near Saint Anne's bed also looks at the viewer. Her Habsburg features allow her to be identified as Constance of Austria, who in 1602, with her younger sister Maria Magdalena, was considered at the court of Madrid as a candidate to marry Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, but ultimately married Sigismund III in 1605. Although Pantoja accompanied the royal family on journeys to Valladolid, Burgos, Lerma and El Escorial, he probably never left Spain. Archduchess Maria Anna visited Spain for her daughter Margaret's wedding, but that was in 1599. So all the effigies were created by the Spanish painter based on other portraits of family members of the queen or on study drawings, like the mentioned paintings by Bartolomé González. Archduchess Maria Anna's great attachment to her eldest daughter is demonstrated by the fact that when the Archduchess fell into panic because of the Ottoman advance, she wanted to flee to Poland to be with her daughter, and not to Munich, Prague, Brussels or Madrid. In a letter dated September 18, 1594 from Poznań, the queen assured her mother that she could come to Kraków (solang mein gmahel und ich waß haben, so sol ED auch allezeit unverlassen sein).
Portrait of Archduchess Anna of Austria (1573-1598), aged 18 in 1592, by Martin Kober, ca. 1595, Germanisches Nationalmuseum.
Portrait of Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (1574-1621), aged 21, by Martin Kober, 1595, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Portrait of Archduchess Catherine Renata of Austria (1576-1599), aged 18, by Martin Kober, 1595, Germanisches Nationalmuseum.
Birth of the Virgin with portraits of Archduchess Maria Anna and her daughters by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, 1603, Prado Museum in Madrid.
Portrait of Queen Anna of Austria (1573-1598) and her sister Archduchess Catherine Renata of Austria (1576-1599) in the scene of the Birth of the Virgin by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, 1603, Prado Museum in Madrid.
Portrait of Archduchess Catherine Renata of Austria (1576-1599) in Spanish dress by Bartolomé González y Serrano, after 1608, Prado Museum in Madrid, destroyed.
Portraits of Queen Anna of Austria nude (Sleeping Venus) by Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn
Queen Anna of Austria, first wife of Sigismund III, frequently exchanged effigies with members of her family in Austria. Her portraits (conterfet, conterfeit), usually small miniatures (Meiner klein conterfet schick ich ED), are frequently mentioned in her letters to her mother. In January 1595, Anna's brother, Ferdinand of Austria (1578-1637), was about to send two paintings, one for his mother, "the other for your sister, the queen" (das ander für dein schwester die kinigin), according to a letter from Archduchess Maria Anna to him dated January 3, 1595 from Graz (after "Das Leben am Hof ..." by Walter Leitsch, p. 1278, 2380, 2569).
"The reigning queen is 19 years old, slim, but of nice face, pleasant and polite" wrote the Venetian envoy, Pietro Duodo, in his 1592 report to the Venetian Senate (after "Zbiór pamiętników ..." by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, p. 76). Judging by the official portraits of the queen by Kober, nothing can be said about her figure, because she is completely covered by her Spanish dress and only her face is clearly visible. So was Duodo allowed to see the queen naked or admire her naked effigy? In a letter of May 19, 1591 to Archduchess Maria Anna, regarding the portrait of Anna received by Sigismund, Sebastian Westernacher reports that the king "opened it in his room" (in seiner camer aufgemacht). The fact that the king admired it in his private chamber indicates that the portrait was nude or erotic as such effigies were frequently covered. For example, the inventory of paintings from the collection of Princess Louise Charlotte Radziwill (1667-1695), drawn up in 1671, mentions "A closed filthy picture" (Obraz plugawy zamykany, item 685 / 56) (after "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska, p. 279). Regarding one of her portraits, sent from Kraków to Vienna, the Queen declared in a letter that she preferred it to be destroyed rather than fall into the wrong hands (after "Sztuka i polityka ..." by Juliusz Chrościcki, p. 33-34). Such a statement clearly indicates that the effigy must have been very intimate in nature. The same statement concerns the effigies of her family which were lost in the fire of Wawel Castle in 1595. Some of the Queen's personal belongings, including jewelry, were thrown out of windows into the garden and then not all the items were found, some were stolen, including the chest with "portraits of Her Ducal Highness and all the young princes and princesses" (comterfett von ir f[irstlich] d[urchlaucht] und der ganzen jungen herschaft), according to a letter from Urszula Mayerin dated April 7, 1595. "I would prefer them to burn, instead of being stolen" (Es wer mir lieber, sie weren verbrunnen, ais das mans gestolen hat), the queen said, which also indicates that some of them could be erotic in nature. In many ways, the young queen tried to imitate or compete with the old queen Anna Jagiellon. After the fire, she regretted losing all her tiaras: "I lost all my diadems, including one of 53 very large pearls, almost as large as those on the old queen's string of pearls, and various small things" (Ich hab alle meine krenl verloren, darunder ainẞ [mit] 53 gar grosse perl, schier so groẞ alẞ der alten kinigin grosse sch[n]uer und allerlay kleine sachen) (after "Der Brand im Wawel ..." by Walter Leitsch, p. 248, 251). The marriage of all of Anna Jagiellonica's granddaughters was a highly political affair, so their cousin, Emperor Rudolf II, controlled many aspects of the marriage arrangements. Entire galleries of bridal portraits were made for the emperor during these years and Anna of Tyrol (1585-1618) and Constance of Stiria (1588-1631), the sister of Queen Anna of Austria, were also painted for Sigismund after the death of his first wife. At the end of 1603, the emperor sent the painter Hans von Aachen to Innsbruck. The painter then left for Bavaria, Savoy and Modena, when Rudolf changed his mind and thwarted the negotiations with Sigismund III regarding the marriage with Anna of Tyrol. It was even suspected that the painter would "not paint well" (nichz guttz mallen) to prevent the marriage. The effigy of Anna of Tyrol's older sister, Archduchess Maria of Austria (1584-1649) by Hans von Aachen, now kept at the National Art Gallery in Lviv (inventory number 3857), was most likely created for Sigismund in 1604 (dated upper left). The naturalism of this effigy as well as that of Constance (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 9452) is almost grotesque, closer to the paintings from the imperial cabinet of curiosities (Wunderkammer) than to the effigies of relatives of the emperor. The effigies of the young queen Anna of Austria sent to the Medicis preserved in Florence (a three-quarter-length portrait and a miniature - Uffizi Gallery, 2392 / 1890, Inventario Palatina, n. 624) and in Munich, offered to the Wittelsbach family (full-length portrait - Alte Pinakothek in Munich, 6992 and a miniature - Bavarian National Museum, R. 1459). As was customary at the time, the emperor had to receive images of his cousin, the Queen of Poland, but no portrait of Anna sent to her family in Vienna, Graz or Innsbruck is known. In the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna there is a painting of a reclining nude woman ("Sleeping Venus" or "Venus in repose") (oil on panel, 80 x 152 cm, GG 1104). The painting probably comes from the collection of Rudolf II, but it is clearly evidenced in the gallery in 1783 (after "Joseph Heintz ..." by Jürgen Zimmer, p. 101). The painting was thought to be identical to the painting mentioned in the inventory of the Vienna collection between 1610-1619: "Item a nude lady, painted by Joseph Hainzen" (Item ein nackhets weib von Joseph Hainzen untermahlt, No. 83) and to depict a courtesan at the court of Rudolf II in Prague or his mistress, such as Kateřina Stradová also known as Catherina Strada (ca. 1568-1629), the daughter of the painter Ottavio Strada the Elder, with whom he had six children. However, no clear evidence has ever been established. Such private and intimate effigies were not intended for the general public, as today when they can be easily seen in museums and different exhibitions, but for a narrow circle of spectators, so we would probably never find clear written confirmation of who was represented. The painting is now attributed to Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn, a Dutch painter who, between 1589 and 1608, was painter at the court of Rudolf II in Prague, where several painters from Holland and Flanders were working at the time. He was admitted in June 1589 as a portraitist. In 1598, there is evidence that he owned a house in Prague's Malá Strana and even lent large sums of money to other people, including artists. He was inspired by the works of other painters, including two "wandering" Flemish painters Hans Vredeman de Vries and his son Paul, who came from Gdańsk to Prague in 1596. At the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon, there is a pendant (companion piece) to this painting (oil on panel, 90 x 164 cm, CA 134). It also most likely came from the imperial collection in Vienna and, before 1809, it was in the gallery of the Belvedere Palace from where it was taken by Napoleon. There are some differences between the two paintings, such as the color of the pillow, however, both paintings depict the same woman, seen from a different angle. A recent restoration revealed the presence of gold coins at the top of the painting, so originally the composition was intended to represent the model in the mythological scene of Danae, seduced by Jupiter transformed into golden rain. A large gold pendant with the scene of Jupiter and Danae can be seen in the portrait of Archduchess Anna at the age of 18 (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Gm661). The Vienna version was cut on the left and also indicated the presence, at the top of the composition, of gold coins. The two paintings were exhibited together at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna during the temporary exhibition "Baselitz - Naked Masters" from March 7 to June 25, 2023. Embroidered pillows as elaborate as those depicted in the paintings were mentioned in the inventory of the queen's possessions (Riksarkivet in Stockholm, Extranea 85) - "a pillow with the Lithuanian coat of arms embroidered in silver, gold and silk" (Ain kyß mit dem litauischen wapen mit silber, golt und seyden gestickt, 213), "a pillow embroidered with silver, gold and silk with the Polish coat of arms" (Mer ain gewirkts kyß von silber, golt und seyden mit dem polnischen wapen, 214) or "a pillow embroidered with silver, gold and silk with the coat of arms of the Tęczyński family" (Mer ain gewirkt kiß von silber, golt und seyden mit dem tentschinischen wapen, 215). A work from de Quade van Ravesteyn's early period of work, dating from around 1590, showing the mystical marriage of Saint Catherine, is in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on panel, 29.5 x 21.5 cm, M.Ob.108, earlier 235). It comes from the collection of Piotr Fiorentini in Warsaw, bequeathed to the School of Fine Arts in 1858. It is possible that it was part of the royal collection which survived the Deluge (1655-1660) and that the painter visited the Polish-Lithuanian royal court in the 1590s. Two portraits of Sigismund III are also close to the style of de Quade van Ravesteyn - a miniature in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków showing the king at the age of 30, thus created in 1596 (inscription: SIGISMVND[US] POLONIÆ ET / SVECIÆ REX M[AGNUS] DVX LITH[UANIÆ] / ET FINLANDIÆ ANNO ÆTA / TIS XXX, oil on copper, 17.2 x 14.2 cm, MNK XII-144) and a portrait in the National Museum in Warsaw (inscription: SIGISMVNDT. D.G. REX POLONIÆ, oil on panel, 27 x 20 cm, MP 188 MNW). At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous paintings were commissioned and purchased in Prague by the Polish-Lithuanian royal court from the artists of the imperial court of Rudolf II. Some of them or their agents also arrived in the Commonwealth. The best example of such a work, produced in Prague, Augsburg or Kraków, is the signed portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa by Joseph Heintz the Elder (J. Heintzen F. / SIGISMVNDVS ... / REX POLONIAE / & SVECIAE ...) in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (inventory number 11885). Another example is a composition inspired by Pomarancio's fresco at Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome - Stoning of Saint Stephen, attributed to Hans von Aachen. It was created or acquired for Saint Stephen's Church in Kraków (demolished in 1801, now in the new Saint Stephen's Church). In 1601, Andrzej Opaliński (1575-1623) acquired in Prague a portrait of Michael the Brave (1558-1601), prince of Wallachia, for the king, perhaps by Bartholomeus Spranger and a work signed by Spranger (B. SPRANGERS. ANT .F.) from the same period, depicting Vanitas (Putto with a skull), is in the Wawel Royal Castle (inventory number 935, from the Miączyński-Dzieduszycki collection). One such early import to the Commonwealth could also be Spranger's Saint Ursula with female martyrs in the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (LNDM T 3995), donated to the Vilnius Society of Friends of Science before 1937. At the National Museum in Warsaw there is also the Allegory of Fortune from the circle of Spranger (M.Ob.763 MNW) and his signed drawing depicting Original Sin (B(?) Spranger in., Rys.Ob.d.701, from the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw), as well as the portrait of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara close to the style of Hans von Aachen (M.Ob.1913, from the collection of Jan Popławski) and Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, after the print by Jan Harmensz. Muller, painted by von Aachen or circle (M.Ob.812, from the post-WWII Art Repository in Kraków). Both paintings clearly reference Titian's Jagiellonian nudes, particularly the portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon (Venus of Urbino) and the portrait of Anna Jagiellon as Venus with an organist and a dog, copies of which undoubtedly also appeared in the royal collection before the Deluge. The woman greatly resemble Anna of Austria from her portraits by Sofonisba Anguissola (private collection) and Tintoretto (Prado Museum, P000484), identified by me. It must therefore be concluded that through these paintings, the young Queen of Poland wanted to show her cousin the Emperor, that she is not a specimen from his cabinet of curiosities, but a beautiful sovereign of the Realm of Venus.
Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine by Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn, ca. 1590, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Queen Anna of Austria (1573-1598) nude (Sleeping Venus) by Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn, ca. 1595, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Portrait of Queen Anna of Austria (1573-1598) nude (Sleeping Venus) by Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn, ca. 1595, Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon.
Miniature portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa, aged 30 by workshop of Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn, ca. 1596, Czartoryski Museum.
Portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa by workshop of Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn, after 1596, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Archduchess Maria of Austria (1584-1649) by Hans von Aachen, 1604, Lviv National Art Gallery.
Portraits of Stanisław Lubomirski and Bianca Cappello by Alessandro Maganza
On New Year's Day 1595, at the age of about 11, Stanisław Lubomirski (1583-1649), the eldest son of count Sebastian Lubomirski (d. 1613), together with his brother Joachim (1588-1610), left Wola Justowska near Kraków for further education at the Jesuit college in Munich. He was looked after by the trusted servants of his father, Piotr Szczepanowski, and Jan Gębczyński, a graduate of the Kraków University, who kept records of all expenses incurred at that time. Lubomirski stayed in Munich until May 1597. This stay was interrupted by financial difficulties and the wedding of the eldest sister Katarzyna who was marrying Prince Janusz Ostrogski. The costs of studying at the college and the expenses incurred during the over two-year stay in Munich were quite significant, amounting to 4,921 thalers. After returning to Poland, on July 21, 1597, his father ceded to him - with the king's consent - the starosty of Nowy Sącz (after "Stanisław Lubomirski (1583-1649) ..." by priest Andrzej Bruździński, p. 93).
At the end of 1598 or at the beginning of the following year, accompanied by the poet Piotr Kochanowski (1566-1620) and the aforementioned Jan Gębczyński, he went abroad again, this time to the south – to Italy. In 1599 he enrolled at the University of Padua and he also went to France and the Netherlands. He returned in 1601 and the following year he was admitted to the royal court. King Stephen Bathory was Stanisław's godfather. As the Kraków Żupnik between 1581-1592 his father built his fortune primarily from "salt" as well as usurious loans, which was assessed negatively in the Commonwealth. In 1597 even the crown jewels were pawned with Lubomirski and in 1595 Sebastian became the count of Wiśnicz from the imperial nomination. Around that time the "travelling belongings" of magnates and nobles were carried on "treasure carts" and in "room chariots" covered with leather in chests and boxes, often of French manufacture, very sophisticated and waterproof, intended for a specific type of objects, like "a tin case for pictures", according to inventory of the Radziwill family (after "Mieszkańcy Rzeczypospolitej w podróży ... " by Urszula Augustyniak, p. 375). Stanisław, who would later become the patron of a prominent Italian architect, Matteo Trapola, also acquired and commissioned works of art abroad. One such ambiguous expense for a meeting with a painter was recorded by Gębczyński during his stay in Munich - "For the copy of Stach and with the painter" (Za kopią Stach i z malarzem), 5 zlotys 21 grosz. "Everything cannot be entrusted to paper", wrote in a letter of July 8, 1588 from Venice, diplomat Stanisław Reszka and matters which could not be discussed directly were conveyed orally by a trusted and additionally authenticated messenger, who sometimes substituted a letter, simply for lack of time to write it (after "W podróży po Europie" by Wojciech Tygielski, Anna Kalinowska, p. 14). In the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw there is a portrait of an elegant 14-year-old young man against the background of a column and a curtain by Venetian school (oil on canvas, 176 x 115 cm, inventory number Wil.1150). It comes comes from the Wiśnicz Castle and it was moved to Warsaw before 1821. The castle in Wiśnicz was purchased by Sebastian Lubomirski in 1593 and between 1615 and 1621 Trapola enlarged and rebuilt it for his son Stanisław. The original inscription in Latin: Aetatis 14, above his head confirms the model's age, while the later inscription identifying the model as Sebastian Lubomirski (Sobestian Lubomirski Wielkorządca Kr.: W: Woryniecki zmarły R. 1613) was transferred to the back of the doubled canvas. Basing on this information the painting is dated to about 1560 (Sebastian was born in about 1546) and attributed to Giovanni del Monte or de Monte, painter active at that time at the royal court of Poland-Lithuania (he left for Venice in 1557). However, as noted by Wanda Drecka ("Portrety Sebastiana Lubomirskiego ...", p. 92), the cut of his hose or trousers can only be compared with the costumes of the guards in the Entry of the wedding procession of Sigismund III Vasa into Kraków in 1605 (Royal Castle in Warsaw), so-called "Stockholm roll" because it was taken to Sweden during the Deluge (1655-1660) and returned to Poland in 1974. The boy's shoes are very similar to those depicted in the portrait of Swedish statesman Mauritz Stensson Leijonhufvud, dated '1596' (ANNO DOMINO 1596, Skokloster Castle) and the pose and costume can be compared to the portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh and his son, dated '1602' (National Portrait Gallery in London). Similar trousers and shoes can also be seen in a double portrait of two children in matching green costumes, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 116 x 91 cm, GG 3299). The portrait is identified to possibly represent members of the Polish royal family and attributed to the German or Polish school. This is mainly because the girl's costume and pose are very similar to those of Stanisław's sister, most likely Krystyna in her portrait in the National Museum in Warsaw (128871). A ruff similar to that of the boy's effigy was depicted in the portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa, also in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (GG 3302) and the portraits of his children Princess Anna Maria Vasa at the age of 3 (ÆTATIS SVÆ Ao. III.) and Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa at the age of 1 (ÆTATIS SVÆ I. Ao.) in the Monastery of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, painted in 1596. The portraits of King Sigismund and his children were created by his court painter Martin Kober of Wrocław, who died before 1598 in Kraków or Warsaw. All were sent to king's relatives in Vienna and Spain. A copy of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund's effigy was also sent to Bavaria (Alte Pinakothek in Munich). Moreover, the mentioned portrait of two children in Vienna also resembles in style the aforementioned portraits of Kober, who in 1595 went to Graz to paint the family of Sigismund's wife, Anna of Austria (1573-1598). In the same year, on July 14, when Stanisław stayed in Munich, his father Sebastian received confirmation and recognition from Emperor Rudolf II of the hereditary title of Imperial Count of Wiśnicz, granted by Emperor Charles V on February 15, 1523 to his ancestors (after "Genealogie rodów utytułowanych ..." by Tomasz Lenczewski, p. 41). On this occasion or even earlier, the emperor most likely received the portraits of the count and his family members, including his eldest son and his sister Katarzyna. The girl in the described portrait is apparently older than the boy, exactly like Katarzyna born around 1581, who was depicted in a similar rich costume in her portrait in the National Museum in Warsaw (157500). The boy in the painting could be 7 years old, so the painting must be dated to around 1590, when Kober returned from the imperial court in Prague to Poland. The painting can be verified at the Imperial Gallery in Vienna in 1772. His satin doublet of silver color, collar and hairstyle are almost identical as in the portraits of James I(VI) Stuart, king of England and Scotland by Adrian Vanson, dated '1595' (Scottish National Gallery and private collection) and portrait of a gentleman, formerly suggested to be William Shakespeare, dated '1602' (private collection). The portrait should consequently be dated to around 1597, when 14-year-old Stanisław Lubomirski become the starost of Nowy Sącz and soon left for Italy. The boy's facial features closely resemble other effigies of Stanisław Lubomirski in the Wilanów Palace (Wil.1565, Wil.1258). The same boy was depicted in another portrait from Lubomirski collection painted in the same style, today in the Lviv National Art Gallery (oil on canvas, 67 x 78 cm, Ж-1377). It is presumably a fragment of a larger composition showing him in guise of biblical David with a sword. The style of both paintings, in Wilanów and Lviv, is very close to that of Alessandro Maganza (1556-1630), a painter born and active in Vicenza, as well as in Venice, influenced by Tintoretto, Palma the Younger and Veronese. His distinctive technique is particularly well visible in a painting dated '1590' (M.D.LXXXX), today in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (NM 32), representing the Virgin and Child with Saints, as well as in the portrait of a woman with pearls (sold at Capitolium Art in Brescia on October 17, 2018, oil on canvas, 40 x 53 cm). The latter effigy is a version of a portrait of Bianca Cappello (1548-1587), Venetian noblewoman who become the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, painted by Scipione Pulzone in 1584 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, GG 1138). The painter most likely received a drawing or miniature of the Grand Duchess to copy, as his stay in Florence is unconfirmed. It was probably the same with the effigies of the young starost of Nowy Sącz ahead of his visit to Italy. Another interesting "Portrait of a woman", painted in the same style, is in the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius (oil on canvas, 56 x 44 cm, inventory number LNDM T 4018). It is attributed to Frans Pourbus the Younger because of a certain resemblance to his works and the woman represented is obviously Marie de' Medici (1575-1642), Queen of France. It is dated '1614' in upper right corner. Presumably in 1613 Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill of Olyka (1589-1614), went to France, from where he returned via northern Italy and in May 1614, because of his illness, he stayed in Verona, from where, on May 9, 1614, he sent a letter to his friend Ferdinand I Gonzaga (1587-1626), Duke of Mantua (after "Zagraniczna edukacja Radziwiłłów ..." by Marian Chachaj, p. 69). It could be he who commissioned this painting in the Republic of Venice, or it was commissioned by the Vasas. In 1614 the so-called "Treter Eagle" (Ordo et series regum Poloniae) with effigies of monarchs of Poland was published in Paris by Jean le Clerc, and a year later, in 1615, a niece of the Queen of Poland, the Infanta Anne of Austria (1601-1666) married Louis XIII of France, son of Marie de' Medici.
Portrait of Stanisław Lubomirski (1583-1649) and his sister Katarzyna (d. 1612) by Martin Kober, ca. 1590, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Portrait of Stanisław Lubomirski (1583-1649), starost of Nowy Sącz, aged 14 by Alessandro Maganza, ca. 1597, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.
Portrait of Stanisław Lubomirski (1583-1649) holding a sword by Alessandro Maganza, ca. 1597, Lviv National Art Gallery.
Portrait of Bianca Cappello (1548-1587), Grand Duchess of Tuscany by Alessandro Maganza, ca. 1584, private collection.
Portrait of Marie de' Medici (1575-1642), Queen of France by Alessandro Maganza, 1614, Lithuanian National Museum of Art.
Portraits of Dukes of Savoy by Sofonisba Anguissola
The diplomatic contacts of Poland-Lithuania with the Duchy of Savoy in the 16th century date back with certainty to the year 1535, when Queen Bona planned to marry her eldest daughter Isabella Jagiellon with Louis (Ludovico) of Savoy (1523-1536), Prince of Piedmont, son of Charles III and Beatrice of Portugal. She wrote about this to the ambassador of King Ferdinand I, Sigismund von Herberstein, from Vilnius on December 14, 1535 and the matter was discussed earlier by her envoy Ludovico Alifio (after "Królowa Bona ..." by Władysław Pociecha, p. 206). As was customary, the portrait of the Jagiellonian princess was certainly sent to Savoy, while she received the portrait of Louis. Sadly the prince died in Madrid on November 25, 1536. Some informal contacts were much earlier, for example in February 1416 in Chambéry Janusz of Tuliszków, a knight of the Dryja coat of arms from Greater Poland and a diplomat, received the Order of the Collar (later Order of the Most Holy Annunciation) from Amadeus VIII (considered the last historical antipope). They undoubtedly increased around 1587 when the candidature of the Duke of Savoy in the third free election was discussed in Madrid (after "Dwór medycejski i Habsburgowie ..." by Danuta Quirini-Popławska, p. 123).
In the 16th and 17th centuries portraiture was part of diplomacy and monarchs of different countries in Europe frequently exchanged their effigies. Portraits were also sent to friends and family members. In 1558, Georgius Sabinus (1508-1560), a German poet and diplomat, was sent to Poland-Lithuania to win the support of Polish-Lithuanian lords, including Stanisław Ostroróg, Jan Janusz Kościelecki, Łukasz Górka, Jan Tarnowski and Jan Zborowski, to the candidacy of Sigismund of Brandenburg (1538-1566), son of Joachim II Hector, elector of Brandenburg from his second marriage with Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1572), for the throne after his uncle Sigismund Augustus. In the name of young Prince Sigismund, he gave each of them a gold chain, from which hung the portrait of the prince. As he was only known to a few of them, he wanted to present his effigy to them "as a symbol of friendship" (als ein Symbol der Freundschaft). The Polish-Lithuanian lords reciprocated so that "hardly any other envoy sent to Poland has ever returned home with as much wealth and gifts as he does" (mit so vielem Reichtum und Gaben wie er, sei wohl kaum je ein zweiter nach Polen beordneter Gesandter heimgekehrt, after "Forschungen zur brandenburgischen und preussischen Geschichte ...", Volume 11, p. 156). The miniatures probably came from Cranach's workshop, like the portraits of Sigismund's father, although it cannot be ruled out that they were commissioned in Italy by the prince's mother Hedwig. Diplomatic missions were frequently accompanied by the exchange of valuable gifts and they generally represented the country's most valuable exports, so the Italians offered paintings, rich fabrics and luxury cosmetics and the Poles offered clocks, sables, horses and amber. Cardinal Enrico Gaetani, papal legate in Poland from April 1596 to June 1597, offered King Sigismund III Vasa some paintings by famous masters, the queen richly embroidered veils and a conch with musk set in a rich setting, all worth at least 800 scudi. The king gave the cardinal a beautiful temple-shaped clock with moving figurines showing the procession and blessing of the Holy Father worth over 3,000 scudi, and 40 sables worth 500 scudi. The Bishop of Kuyavia in Wolbórz gave the legate two horses with rich Turkish-style shabracks, and the cardinal distributed gold medals with his image to the courtiers. Boniface Vanozzi, sent from the same Cardinal Gaetani to Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, distributed beads, rosaries, medals, agnus dei, pictures on metal sheet in ebony frames and he received a horse with velvet Turkish-style shabrack, a large gold medal depicting King Stephen Bathory, an elk hoof, lots of game, vinegar, oil and sweets. To the king and queen Vanozzi presented paintings, tapestries woven in Spain (or more likely in the Spanish Netherlands), colorful gloves with scent, and musk. The king gave him very expensive sables and a clock worth 1,000 thalers and the queen, various utensils made of white amber for the chapel, a crucifix, a tray for altar cruets, a pax and a monstrance, all beautifully carved in Gdańsk. In 1597, the ambassador of the Spanish king, Don Francisco de Mendoza (1547-1623), Admiral of Aragon and Marquis of Guadalest, received from Sigismund III sables worth 2,000 scudi and his courtiers were offered golden cups (after "Domy i dwory ..." by Łukasz Gołębiowski, pp. 258-259). At that time, the elected monarch of the Commonwealth also sent his brother-in-law, the King of Spain, portraits of his children by Martin Kober, both dated '1596' (Monastery of las Descalzas Reales in Madrid) and in 1621, the Polish ambassador in London, Jerzy Ossoliński, was given portraits "att length" of the King and Prince Charles. The royal collections of the Commonwealth before 1655 were therefore comparable to those of the Spanish monarchs (Prado Museum in Madrid and El Escorial), Holy Roman Emperors (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and Hofburg), Dukes of Tuscany (Uffizi Gallery in Florence and Pitti Palace) or Dukes of Savoy (Galleria Sabauda in Turin and Palazzo Madama). Unfortunately very little preserved today in the former territories of the Commonwealth, including inventories and other documents. In the National Museum in Warsaw there is a portrait of two boys, attributed to circle of Dutch painter Anthonis Mor, who worked for Spanish and Portuguese monarchs (oil on canvas, 56.5 x 46 cm, inventory number M.Ob.941 MNW, earlier 231117). It was purchased in 1962 from Romuald Malangiewicz. Its earlier history is unknown, so we cannot exclude the provenance from the royal or magnate collection in Poland-Lithuania. The painting was cut from a larger group portrait painting, as a fragment of a woman's dress, most likely the mother of the two boys, is visible to the right. Such portraits were particularly popular in Italy at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries - portrait of Maria di Cosimo Tornabuoni, a Florentine noblewoman, and her two little sons, one dressed in dominican habit, by Tiberio di Tito (Tiberio Titi) or a portrait of Bianca degli Utili Maselli surrounded by six of her children, painted by Lavinia Fontana in Rome. If the painting comes from the royal or magnate collection then the main part depicting the woman was destroyed when Commonwealth residences were ransacked and burned during the Deluge (1655-1660) or later, or it was cut into pieces to sell the picture more profitably when the country became impoverished due to wars and invasions. A portrait painted in a similar style and with a woman resembling the two boys in the Warsaw painting is now in Kensington Palace in England (oil on canvas, 42.3 x 33 cm, RCIN 402954, inscription: 305). It comes from the Royal Collection, possibly recorded in the King's Dressing Room next Paradise at Hampton Court in 1666 (number 60), and was previously thought to represent Elisabeth of Valois (1545-1568), Queen of Spain. Consequently, it was attributed to Spanish court portraitist Anthonis Mor and later to his pupil and successor under Phillip II, Alonso Sánchez Coello. It is now identifed to possibly depict Elisabeth's eldest daughter, Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia. A companion portrait is therefore thought to possibly represent her sister Infanta Catalina Micaela of Spain (oil on canvas, 42.2 x 32.6 cm, RCIN 402957, 306). These effigies indeed resemble other effigies of the infantas, however comparing with portraits of Isabella Clara Eugenia by Coello in the Prado Museum in Madrid, painted in 1579 (P01137) and by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz from about 1599 (P000717) and signed portraits of her sister Catalina Micaela from the Castle of Racconigi (0100399544) and attributed to Sofonisba Anguissola (sold ate Christie's New York, October 14, 2021, lot 101), indicate that it should be the other way around - 305 is the portrait of Catalina Micaela and 306 of Isabella Clara Eugenia. In 1585, Catalina Micaela became Duchess of Savoy by marrying Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy in Zaragoza. A similar small portrait (oil on canvas, 55.9 x 45.7 cm) bearing the inscription: DVQUESA / DE.SAVOI, was sold at Period Oak Antiques. The style of the portrait of Catalina Micaela in the Royal Collection resembles the portrait of her mother in the Prado, attributed to Sofonisba Anguissola (P001031) and Sofonisba's self-portrait at the easel (Łańcut Castle). The composition and style of the portrait of two boys in Warsaw is in turn similar to the portrait of Infanta Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria) with female dwarf Ana de Polonia by Sofonisba (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, P26w15). The two boys should therefore be identified as the eldest sons of Catalina Micaela - Philip Emmanuel (1586-1605) and Victor Amadeus (1587-1637) and their known iconography matches perfectly. Both princes were frequently depicted in their youth and in many of their effigies, mostly created by the Dutch painter Jan Kraeck, known as Giovanni Caracca, they wear a similar smaller ruff (e.g. double portrait from private collection in Naples, sold at Blindarte, November 30, 2019, lot 153). Some of them were created in several versions, such as the triple portrait from 1589 (sold at Aste Bolaffi, September 25, 2013 and in Quirinale Palace in Rome). From around 1584 to 1615, Sofonisba resided in Genoa. Although in 1585 she met the Infanta Catalina Micaela on her arrival in Genoa and probably accompanied her on the way to Turin, all the portraits mentioned were probably made from sketches, study drawings or paintings by other painters, such as Kraeck. It was she who, around 1590, produced a miniature portrait of Charles Emmanuel I (sold in 2005, Christie's in London, lot 1009, as the effigy of Victor Amadeus I) and the portrait of the duke with his wife Catalina Micaela and their children (Palazzo Madama in Turin, 0611/D), as indicate the style of the two paintings. The portrait of two princes in Warsaw was therefore a gift to Sigismund III Vasa or his aunt Anna Jagiellon and was probably brought by the Spanish ambassador Mendoza or another envoy.
Portrait of Infanta Catalina Micaela (1567-1597), Duchess of Savoy by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1590, Kensington Palace.
Portait of Victor Amadeus (1587-1637) and Philip Emmanuel (1586-1605), sons of Infanta Catalina Micaela (1567-1597), Duchess of Savoy by Sofonisba Anguissola or workshop, ca. 1596-1597, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Infanta Catalina Micaela (1567-1597), Duchess of Savoy with her sons by Sofonisba Anguissola or workshop, ca. 1596-1597. Possible layout of original painting. © Marcin Latka
Miniature portraits of the Vasas by Sofonisba Anguissola and workshop
Rich gifts accompanied all diplomatic missions. On June 14, 1592, "after the mass sung at dinner", Sigismund III, in his private room in the presence of some senators, gave audience to Pietro Duodo, orator of the Republic of Venice (Petro Dodo oratori S. Reipublicae Venetiarum), accompanied by eight Venetian nobles and seated on a bench decorated with green velvet (scamno ornato velluto viridi). He arrived to congratulate the king on his marriage to Anna. The king knighted Duodo and "presented him with a necklace worth a thousand in gold, and granted him the insignia [effigies?] of the royal family" (et donavit ei torquem millium aureorum, et concessit insignia familiae regiae). He then went to visit the queen, to whom he also gave a letter, and in the name of the Republic of Venice he presented various vessels of engraved silver, for the price of four thousand in gold (donavit S. Reginae vasa diversa argenti caelati pro pretio quatuor millium aureorum).
At that time, portraits were exchanged with Florence. In 1596, the king paid a large sum of 120 florins to the merchant Lawrence (Laurentio mercatori) "for images of Charles V, Emperor of the Romans" (pro imaginibus Caroli Quinti Caesaris Romanorum). Giovanni Paolo Mucante (d. 1617), master of ceremonies of the delegation of the papal legate, Cardinal Gaetano, wrote in a letter dated September 21, 1596 that the portrait of the late Queen Anna Jagiellon in the room was "very natural" (il suo ritratto, come dicevano, naturalissimo) and in 1601 Andrzej Opaliński (1575-1623) acquired in Prague a portrait of Michael the Brave (1558-1601), prince of Wallachia, for the king, according to a letter from nuncio Claudio Rangoni to Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (June 3) (after "Das Leben am Hof ..." by Walter Leitsch, p. 370, 953, 2277, 2381). Painters are sometimes mentioned, but names are missing. In 1592, before the wedding, the tailor Claudio Aubert went to Italy to get everything he needed. Among other things, he paid 96 guilders "to the painters sent to Poland to serve His Majesty" (alli pittori mandati in Polonia al servitio di SM). Much information about the wedding has been preserved, but there is no mention of Italian painters nowhere. In the accounts of 1601, there is only the following note: "Vilnius for the payment to the painters and for the repair of the tents, on August 28" (Vilnae in solutionem pictoribus et in reparationem tentoriorum, die 28 augusti, fl 110). This indicates that different workshops in Italy worked on royal commissions and sent their agents to Poland-Lithuania only to prepare the initial drawings. Besides the Venetian Redutti, who helped the king in goldsmithing work, there is evidence that Ruggiero Salomoni worked with Sigismund. He came to Poland as chaplain to the king's first wife. He was well known for his talent, because as early as 1595 he created the Easter tomb decoration for Cardinal Radziwill in Kraków Cathedral, according to a letter from Sigismundus Ernhofer to Archduchess Maria Anna dated April 5, 1595. Salomoni then acted as the king's agent in Naples around 1619, sending Italian paintings, tapestries and curiosities for the royal collection (after "The Grove Encyclopedia ...", ed. Gordon Campbell, p. 455). Luxury items were purchased in Italy, but also given to friends there. Sigismund's mother owned a silver mirror, perhaps made in Italy, and the royal courtier Stanisław Radziejowski gave Maria Maddalena of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and sister-in-law of the king an "amber mirror" (spechio di ambra), according to his letter to the Grand Duchess (June 12, 1615). The king ordered a large mirror (speculum grande cocavum) from Italy, mentioned in his letter to Salomoni (January 20, 1614). Royal envoys went to Italy, not only to acquire or order luxury goods, but also to bring renowned artists and musicians, as in December 1594, when Krzysztof Kochanowski (nephew of the poet Jan) came to Rome to recruit Italian musicians for Sigismund III or mentioned Aubert, before 1592. Around 1598, the Polish-Lithunian royal court sent numerous effigies of members of the royal family to foreign courts. The Vasas, like their ancestors the Jagiellons, and other important monarchs of Europe, commissioned their effigies from the best artists. This is why their miniature reliefs in colored wax were made by the famous workshop of Alessandro Abondio - busts of Sigismund III and his wife Anna of Austria at the Bode Museum in Berlin (inventory number 881, 882) and at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (NMGrh 1994, NMGrh 1995). Abondio was probably recommended to Sigismund III by his mother-in-law, Archduchess Maria Anna of Bavaria and her husband Charles II, grandson of Anna Jagiellonica (1503-1547), whose wax miniatures by Alessandro's father, Antonio, are located at Abegg-Stiftung (9.7.63). However, if we consider the enormous destruction of art in Poland-Lithuania during the Deluge (1655-1660) and other invasions, nothing can be said with certainty about this and we could also say the opposite that the Jagiellons or the Vasas recommended Abondios to the Habsburgs. At that time, the most renowned miniaturist working for the Habsburgs in Spain and Austria was Sofonisba Anguissola, who produced several of her self-portraits in miniature or small format - at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (60.155), Fondation Custodia in Paris (6607) or the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (GG 285), the latter was most likely a gift for the Austrian Habsburgs. In her portrait in the Prado Museum in Madrid (P001031), recently attributed to Sofonisba, Queen Elisabeth of Valois holds in her hands a miniature of her husband King Philip II, probably also painted by Anguissola. This portrait is a sign of special recognition for the artist. Around 1575 she created a miniature of Emperor Maximilian II (1527-1576), son of Anna Jagiellonica (1503-1547), sold in Paris in 2016 (Sotheby's, June 16, 2016, lot 12, inscribed verso in Italian: Di mano / da Sofonisba / Anguisciola Cre / Monese / Dama Della Regina Isabella / di spagna moglie … / di filippo …). Sofonisba is also the author of several portrait miniatures from the collection of the Dukes of the Infantado in Madrid, which probably originally belonged to the Spanish royal collection. Among the effigies of Archduchess Maria Anna (Archivo de Arte Español - Archivo Moreno, 01616 B), Emperor Rudolf II (01696 B) and King Sigismund III in Polish costume (01784 B), there was also her self-portrait in Spanish costume (01616 B). A miniature of one of Maria Anna's daughters was also sold in Paris with attribution to the circle of Peter Paul Rubens, around 1610 (oil on panel, 8 x 6 cm, sold at the Hôtel Drouot, November 21, 2014, lot 29). This miniature probably comes from a private French collection, so the provenance from the collection of John II Casimir Vasa, who settled in France after his abdication in 1668, or from another Polish collection transferred to France in the 19th century cannot be excluded. Given this and the resemblance to the portrait in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (Gm661), the model is most likely Anna of Austria (1573-1598), future Queen of Poland. The style of this painting also resembles greatly mentioned works by Sofonisba. Several miniatures of the Polish-Lithuanian Vasas created around 1598 are now in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich. All were probably gifts to the Wittelsbachs or came from the dowry of the Polish-Lithuanian princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa. This cycle of small paintings on brass and tin (all approximately 4.5 x 3.5 cm) includes effigies of Sigismund III (R. 1462), his first wife Anna of Austria (R. 1459, R. 1465) and their children Anna Maria Vasa (R. 1497) and Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (R. 1446). Another miniature of Queen Anna in the same style, most likely a gift to the Medicis, is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (oil on brass, 4.1 x 3.5, Inventario Palatina, n. 624). The miniature of Sigismund III from this cycle is particularly similar to the mentioned miniature of Emperor Maximilian II. Another miniature of Ladislaus Sigismund in the same collection (R. 1455), created around 1601, was also created in Anguissola's style. So, all miniatures were painted by the same artist and her studio. It was also Sofonisba's workshop that produced the portrait of Queen Anna at the Royal Castle in Warsaw (inscription: ANA D' AVSTRIA REG:A D' POLONIA, oil on canvas, 61 x 48 cm, FC ZKW 1370). The style of her jewelry as well as the inscription is similar to that in the portrait of Catalina Micaela of Spain (1567-1597), Duchess of Savoy, attributed to Anguissola (sold at Christie's New York, live auction 19994, October 14, 2021, lot 101). Therefore, like all mentioned Habsburg effigies, the Vasa liknesses were commissioned in the painter's workshop on the basis of other effigies or study drawings.
Miniature portrait of a daughter of Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551-1608), most probably Archduchess Anna of Austria (1573-1598), by Sofonisba Anguissola or studio, ca. 1592, Private collection.
Miniature portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) by Sofonisba Anguissola or studio, ca. 1598, Bavarian National Museum in Munich.
Miniature portrait of Queen Anna of Austria (1573-1598) by Sofonisba Anguissola or studio, ca. 1598, Bavarian National Museum in Munich.
Miniature portrait of Queen Anna of Austria (1573-1598) by Sofonisba Anguissola or studio, ca. 1598, Bavarian National Museum in Munich.
Miniature portrait of Queen Anna of Austria (1573-1598) by Sofonisba Anguissola or studio, ca. 1598, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Miniature portrait of Princess Anna Maria Vasa (1593-1600) by workshop of Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1598, Bavarian National Museum in Munich.
Miniature portrait of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) by workshop of Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1598, Bavarian National Museum in Munich.
Portrait of Queen Anna of Austria (1573-1598) by workshop of Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1592-1598, Royal Castle in Warsaw.
Portraits of Anna Vasa and Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa by Sofonisba Anguissola
In 1594 a marriage project appeared during Anna Vasa's stay in Sweden. The candidate was John George of Brandenburg (1577-1624), the administrator of Strasbourg from 1592 and a grandson of the Brandenburg elector, who was to become the governor of Prussia, a feudal fief of the Crown of Poland. In the spring of 1596, an envoy, Paweł Arciszewski, secretary of King Sigismund III, traveled to Sweden with a portrait of John George to Anna Vasa in order to strengthen the princess's sympathy for her bridegroom (after "Das Leben am Hof ..." by Walter Leitsch, p. 2378). The painter was most likely a court painter of Sigismund III or an overseas workshop working for the Polish-Lithuanian monarchs.
Negotiations on this marriage were conducted on the Brandenburg side by the Magdeburg chancellor Wilhelm Rudolf von Meckbach and Johann von Löben who both travelled to Kraków, and on the Polish side by royal secretary Jan Skrzetuski, who travelled to Berlin, and Samuel Łaski. The date of the wedding was set for April 10, 1598 in Stockholm and Anna even received a dowry of 100,000 thalers from her brother Sigismund III Vasa, as well as jewelery, horses, furniture and 10,000 guilders as a wedding gift. Anna and her descendants were to be granted the inheritance rights to Sweden. Death of John George, Elector of Brandenburg on 8 January 1598, death of Sigismund's wife Anna of Austria (1573-1598) on 10 February and the outbreak of the uprising in Sweden made it impossible to conclude the wedding at the planned place and date. When Sigismund's uncle depose him in Sweden, these plans did not materialize. The portrait of a noblewoman and her husband in costumes from the late 1590s by Sofonisba Anguissola (oil on canvas, 123.3 x 93 cm, sold at Sotheby's London, July 11, 2002, lot 177) is very similar to other effigies of Anna Vasa. Her costume in Spanish style and pose resemble closely portrait of queen Anna of Austria by Martin Kober, created in 1595 (Bavarian State Painting Collections and Uffizi Gallery in Florence) and portrait of Archduchess Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574-1616) by Joseph Heintz the Elder, created in 1604 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna). The man's costume is typical for France and Protestant countries in the late 16th century. After return to Poland Sigismund made Anna starost of Brodnica on October 2, 1604, after death of Zofia Działyńska née Zamoyska and in December 1605 she attended Sigismund's wedding in Kraków, sitting in the bride's carriage. The negotiations with John George of Brandenburg were finally discontinued in 1609 and on June 3, 1610 he married Eva Christine von Württemberg (1590-1657), while Anna remained unmarried. Like her mother, Queen Catherine Jagiellon, the princess maintained a splendid and diverse court with different people as evidenced by her letter to Halszka Sapieżyna née Radziwill from Kraków, dated January 28, 1605: "We thank YL [Your Ladyship] for the female dwarf that YL brought us, and we urgently ask YL to send her with someone trusted" (Za karlice, WMci dziękujem, którąś WMć dla nas przywiozła, pilnie prosiem, abyś ją WMć przy kim pewnym sam posłała) (after "Archiwum domu Sapiehów ..." by Antoni Prochaska, p. 449). Although court dwarves of the 16th and 17th centuries are now mainly associated with Spain and their magnificent portraits by Anthonis Mor, Juan van der Hamen and especially Diego Velázquez, many paintings of this type were undoubtedly also found in Poland-Lithuania before the Deluge (1655-1660). In 1551, the painter Andreas Rul from Wrocław (Andreae Rul pictori Vratislaviensi) painted the portraits of 7 royal female dwarves, for which on March 3 he received 42 thalers, plus reimbursement of accommodation costs, and the portrait of king Sigismund Augustus, Anna's uncle, for which on March 17 he received 10 Hungarian ducats (after "Słownik artystów polskich i obcych ..." by Jolanta Maurin Białostocka, p. 355). The oval portrait in private collection in Massachusetts (oil on canvas, 65 x 52.5 cm, sold at Bonhams Skinner, November 11, 2021, lot 1036, as by school of Frans Pourbus the Younger), very similar to Anna's miniature in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, is also stylistically close to Sofonisba as well as a miniature of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa in the Bavarian State Painting Collections (oil on tin plate, 4.4 x 3.7 cm, R. 1455).
Portrait of Princess Anna Vasa (1568-1625) in Spanish costume by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1598, Private collection.
Portraits of Princess Anna Vasa (1568-1625) and John George of Brandenburg (1577-1624) by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1598, Private collection.
Portrait of Princess Anna Vasa (1568-1625), starost of Brodnica by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1605, Private collection.
Miniature of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1605, Bavarian State Painting Collections.
Portrait of Sigismund III Vasa in armour by Domenico Tintoretto
"The imago will be gratiosissima to the King. The King His Highness waits for paintings with great joy: a strange thing how he loves when he has something wonderful" (Imago będzie Królowi gratiosissima. Obrazów król Jmć czeka z wielką radością: dziwna rzecz jako się w nich kocha kiedy co cudnego ma), reveals in a letter dated July 12, 1588, written to Stanisław Reszka (1544-1600), who was in Rome, a Jesuit Bernard Gołyński (1546-1599) about the paintings commissioned by Sigismund III Vasa in Italy.
Sigismund was also a talented painter and goldsmith. According to historian Franciszek Siarczyński (1758-1829) in his "Picture of the Era of Sigismund III" (Obraz wieku panowania Zygmunta III), the king with the help of his court goldsmith, a Venetian Redutti (Reduta, Redura) made many church utensils, such as monstrances, chalices, lamps and candlesticks, which he gave to several churches. In the collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich there is a painting which according to Edward Rastawiecki in his "Dictionary of Polish painters" (Słownik malarzów polskich, pp. 96-97) is "another work of this kind" and it was given to king's daughter Anna Catherine Constance Vasa, "on the back, the preserved inscriptions and seals confirm the origin and authenticity of this interesting souvenir". This work is however listed in Johann Nepomuck Edler von Weizenfeld's "Description of the electoral picture gallery in Schleissheim" of 1775 as the work of Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti, 1518-1594). Stylistically the painting is very close to this Venetian painter and his son Domenico (1560-1635). The monarch with the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece is very similar to that visible in the study for a portrait of a king, most probably Sigismund III Vasa, in the collection of Francis Springell, attributed to Peter Paul Rubens, and to Sigismund's effigy in the Procession with St. Anianus by circle of Tommaso Dolabella in the Corpus Christi Church in Kraków. In the background, among the colonnades, there is a statue of the Madonna and Child, and in the clouds the figure which is interpreted as Saint Sigismund, patron saint of the monarchs. Heresy, depicted as an old woman, lies chained on the steps of the church. On the right are two Jesuits. Saint Sigismund has also a chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece and he bears a strong resemblance to Sigismund III's father-in-law Archduke Charles II of Austria (1540-1590), son of Anna Jagellonica. His crown is bordered with ermine like the Archducal hat (coronet). Curiously also the crown of the main monarch is bordered with ermine. It might be the painter's mistake or that Sigismund III commissioned an effigy of his brother-in-law Ferdinand II (1578-1637) who was raised by the Jesuits and dealt with heresy in his country before becoming emperor in 1619. Sigismund III received the Order of the Golden Fleece from his brother-in-law king Philip III of Spain in 1600. On this occasion he commissioned silver table service in Augsburg for 20,000 florins. The service, created by Hermann Plixen, was used for the first time during a banquet at the Castle in Warsaw on February 25, 1601. The king also commissioned other exquisite items in Augsburg, like the silver sarcophagus of Saint Stanislaus for the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, and in other locations. Through his agent in Persia, Sefer Muratowicz, he commissioned a series of kilims with his coat of arms in 1601 and in about 1611-1615 he purchased a series of 6 tapestries in François Spierincx's workshop in Delft with the Story of Diana. On October 29, 1621 Jan Brueghel the Elder wrote to E. Bianchi about sending a lot of paintings to the King (molti pitture al Re) and the "Battle of Kircholm in 1605" by Pieter Snayers, also created for Sigismund, is today in the Château de Sassenage. In Milan, in about 1600, he commissioned a crystal lavabo (ewer and basin) with his coat of arms and monogram (Treasury of the Munich Residence) and most probably the shishak helmet offered to Feodor I of Russia (Kremlin Museum), created before 1591. His portraits in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, lost during World War II, and in the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw represent him in a rich, chiselled, partially gilt and polychromed blue armor in the type of mezza armatura (half armor), probably made in Milan. Portrait of a man in a suit of armour etched with gold by Domenico Tintoretto of unknown provenance (sold in 2016 at Christie's, lot 163), has almost identical dimensions as effigy of Sigismund III's sister Anna Vasa by Domenico Tintoretto in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (115.3 x 96.1 cm / 115.5 x 96.7 cm). It is possible that they were created at the same time. The man bears a great resemblance to the effigies of Sigismund III Vasa from the early 17th century, especially his portrait painted in Prague in about 1605 by court painter of Emperor Rudolph II, Joseph Heintz the Elder (Alte Pinakothek in Munich). The king was depicted in similar etched armour in the Habiti Antichi Et Moderni di tutto il Mondo ... by Cesare Vecellio (Rè di Polonia / Poloniæ Rex, p. 346), published in Venice in 1598 (Czartoryski Library in Kraków).
Portrait of Sigismund III Vasa in a suit of armour etched with gold by Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1592-1600, Private collection.
Allegory of suppression of heresy by Domenico Tintoretto, 1600-1619, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Portrait of Sigismund III Vasa as Saint Sigismund by workshop of Domenico Tintoretto
Around 1600, most likely an Italian painter Ottavio Zanuoli (d. 1607), created a painting depicting the Communion of the Virgin, today in the Royal Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid. Zanuoli was a court painter of Archduke Charles of Styria (son of Anna Jagellonica) and his wife Archduchess Maria Anna of Bavaria (granddaughter of Anna Jagellonica). According to handwritten list of all the effigies fixed on the back of the canvas, the painting represent the family of Archduke Charles, depicted as Saint John the Apostle, giving communion to the Virgin. His son Charles of Austria (1590-1624), Prince-Bishop of Wrocław from 1608, is holding a jug as a deacon of the mass. Behind Archduchess Maria Anna, represented as the Virgin Mary, are her daughters including Anna (1573-1598) and Constance (1588-1631), two wives of Sigismund III Vasa. The painting was undoubtedly a gift to Margaret of Austria (1584-1611), a daughter of Charles and Maria, who on 18 April 1599 married King Philip III of Spain, her first-cousin. Margaret became a very influential figure at her husband's court and a great patron of the arts.
The royal convent in Madrid is full of such disguised effigies of the Habsburgs. One of the oldest is a fresco in the Chapel of Mary Magdalene (Capilla de la Magdalena, inventory number PN 00610451). In this composition by an unknown painter and inspired by the Madonna with the Fish (Virgen del pez) by Raphael (Prado Museum), the Madonna presents features of the Infanta Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria, 1535-1573), founder of the convent. Next are the portraits of Emperor Maximilian II (1527-1576) as Saint Valerius of Treves (PN 00615942) and of Archduke Rudolf of Austria (1552-1612), future emperor, as Saint Victor (PN 00615941) and portraits of four daughters of Archduke Charles of Styria in the Hall of Kings (Salón de Reyes) - Anna (1573-1598) as Saint Dorothy, Maria Christina (1574-1621) as Saint Lucy, Catherine Renata (1576-1599) as Saint Catherine and Elizabeth (1577-1586) as Saint Agnes. All were probably painted in 1582 by Giacomo de Monte (Jakob de Monte) - for example the portrait of Archduchess Catherine Renata depicted with the attributes of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (breaking wheel and sword) bears the following inscription in German: "1582, Catherine Renata, Archduchess of Austria, at the age of 6 and 8 months" (1582 / KATERINA RENNEA / ERTZHERTZOGIN ZV / OSTEREICH . IRHES ALTER VI / IAR . VIII MONNET). Archduchess Anna, future Queen of Poland and first wife of Sigismund III, has the attributes of Saint Dorothy of Caesarea (crown and basket of roses, PN 00612064) (compare "Linaje regio y monacal ..." by Ana García Sainz and Leticia Ruiz, p. 146, 148, 150-151 and "Joyas del siglo XVI en seis retratos infantiles ..." by Natalia Horcajo Palomero, pp. 398-399). In 1603 the Queen of Spain commissioned paintings to her private oratory in the Valladolid palace, painted by Juan Pantoja de La Cruz, today in the Prado Museum in Madrid. One, the Birth of the Virgin shows three of her sisters, together with their mother, Archduchess Maria Anna of Bavaria, the other, the Nativity of Jesus, shows three of her brothers and three of her sisters, the Queen as the Virgin Mary and her husband as a shepherd. Around 1620, the youngest of Charles and Maria's daughters, Maria Magdalena, who on 19 October 1608 married Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was represented as Saint Mary Magdalene in a painting by Justus Sustermans, preserved in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and in a workshop copy in private collection. Such effigies, in guise of Saints and biblical figures were also popular at the Polish-Lithuanian royal court at that time. The Communion of the Jagiellons at Jasna Góra in 1477 (Casimir IV Jagiellon with his sons admitted to Jasna Góra Confraternity), created by workshop of Venetian painter Tommaso Dolabella in the second quarter of the 17th century (Jasna Góra Monastery), shows King Sigismund III and his sons as their predecessors from the Jagiellon Dynasty kneeling before the Black Madonna of Częstochowa. In the Jasna Góra Monastery, there are also two other paintings created by workshop of Tommaso Dolabella depicting Saints Stephen and Ladislaus, Kings of Hungary, both bearing features of King Sigismund III Vasa and a costume known from other portraits of the king. A painting by workshop of Domenico Tintoretto, also attributed to his brother Marco, whom the father's will names as a painter in Domenico's workshop, from a private collection in Southern Germany (oil on canvas, 113 x 89 cm, sold at Lempertz, Cologne on May 2003, lot 1133), basing on some details of the painting is identified as depicting Saint Louis IX, king of France, kneeling before the Crucifix. The traditional symbols of this Saint are indeed visible in the painting, fleur-de-lis on his coat, pendant, crown and sceptre, however there is also a crown embroidered on his coat and the attire is not blue like in the French royal coat of arms, golden fleur-de-lis on a blue field, used continuously for nearly six centuries (1211-1792). Italian painters since the beginning of the 16th century were well aware how the French king should look like and paintings by Ambrogio Bergognone, active in and near Milan, created between 1500-1520 (Accademia Carrara in Bergamo), by Berto di Giovanni, active in Perugia, created in about 1517 (Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria), by Francesco Curradi, active in Florence, created in about 1600 (Private collection) and Matteo Rosselli, active in Florence, painted between 1613-1614 (Chiesa della Madonna in Livorno), depict the Saint in a mantle of French monarchs with golden fleur-de-lis on a blue field. The Saint from the Tintoretto's painting is therefore not Saint Louis IX. Another saint monarch connected with France is Saint Sigismund (Latin Sigismundus, died 524 AD), King of the Burgundians, patron saint of monarchs and of the Kingdom of Bohemia (in 1366, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, transferred Sigismund's relics to Prague and gave the saint's name to one of his sons, the later King Sigismund of Hungary). Arm reliquary of Saint Sigismund from the Guelph treasure, created in the late 11th century (Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin), was in the late 13th or early 14th century supplemented with an orb surmounted by a fleur-de-lis, a shortened representation of a lily-crowned scepter. Altar painting with Saint Sigismund in the Parish church in Słomczyn near Warsaw (Konstancin-Jeziorna), created in about 1895 after a lost original, is very similar to the painting by workshop of Domenico Tintoretto. The Saint is kneeling before the Crucifix, his crown and sceptre are on a table covered with crimson fabric, his golden mantle and pendant are also very much alike. Another painting in the same church from the 19th century feretory depict Saint Sigismund in similar golden tunic and kneeling before the altar. The church in Słomczyn was founded at the beginning of the 15th century by Mrościsław Cieciszewski and the main patron of the parish from the very beginning was Saint Sigismund. During the Deluge (1655-1660) the church was plundered and invaders destroyed the altars. In 1165 Werner, bishop of Płock (north of Warsaw), brought the relics of Saint Sigismund from Aachen. In 1370 King Casimir III the Great, commissioned a silver reliquary for the Saint, today in the Diocesan Museum in Płock, and in 1601 King Sigismund III Vasa ordered the 13th century diadem to be placed on the reliquary of his patron saint. Sigismund III was frequenlty depicted in a similar żupan-like attire to that visible in Tintoretto's painting, for example in the mentioned Communion of the Jagiellons, in another painting by circle of Tommaso Dolabella representing Tsar of Muscovy Vasili Shuisky swearing an oath of allegiance at the Parliament of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1611 (Lviv Historical Museum) and in the plaque from his sarcophagus with King's military campaigns, created in 1632 (Wawel Cathedral). The man from the Tintoretto's painting bear a resemblance to the portrait of Sigismund III Vasa in a suit of armour etched with gold by the same painter, created between 1592-1600 (Private collection), his effigy in the Battle of Smolensk by Antonio Tempesta or Tommaso Dolabella, painted after 1611 (Private collection) and his profile on gold 10 ducats coin (portuguez), minted by Rudolf Lehman in Poznań in 1600 (National Museum in Kraków). The overall composition resembles the portrait of Piotr Skarga (1536-1612), court preacher of Sigismund III, created in 1588 by Karel van Mallery (National Library of Spain in Madrid). The painting by workshop of Domenico Tintoretto was in the collection in Southern Germany, exaclty as Allegory of suppression of heresy by this painter from the collection of Sigismund III's daughter (Alte Pinakothek in Munich). The king often sent gifts to William V, Duke of Bavaria, like the reliquary of Saints John the Baptist and Dionysius the Areopagite, offered in 1614 (Treasury of the Munich Residence) or silver statue of St. Benno of Meissen offered to the altar of St. Benno in the Munich Cathedral, created by Jeremias Sibenbürger in 1625 in Augsburg (Diocesan Museum in Freising). Together with the statue of St. Benno, the king also donated two silver reliquaries in the shape of a hand (not preserved) and 10,000 guilders for celebrating the daily mass, the so-called Polish mass, in the Cathedral.
Portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa as Saint Sigismund kneeling before the Crucifix by workshop of Domenico Tintoretto, 1592-1600, Private collection.
Portraits of Duke Joachim Frederick by Flemish painters
During the tenure of Andreas Jerin (1585-1596) as the Bishop of Wrocław the counter-reformation began in Silesia. The pressure of militant Catholicism made itself felt also in the Duchy of Brzeg, when, among others, the commander of the Joannites in Oleśnica Mała near Oława removed Lutheran pastors from his estates (1589), while Joachim Frederick's attempt to intervene become futile (after "Brzeg: dzieje, gospodarka, kultura" by Władysław Dziewulski, p. 59).
Joachim Frederick of Brzeg modeled himself on his father George II (1523-1586), but he was a better administrator than him. He confirmed former city privileges and supported the crafts. The castle in Oława was rebuilt and enlarged for Joachim Frederick in the years 1587-1600 by the Italian architect Bernard Niuron from Lugano. Thanks to his family connections and his good relations with the imperial court in Prague and the court in Berlin, he obtained a number of honorary positions. Since 1585 he was Lutheran provost of the chapter of Magdeburg, and in 1588 he was appointed general commander of the regular army of Silesia. After the death of his brother John George, who died without issue in 1592, Joachim Frederick inherited Wołów and after death of his mother and his cousin Frederick IV of Legnica (1552-1596), he become the sole Duke of Legnica-Brzeg-Oława-Wołów (Liegnitz-Brieg-Ohlau-Wohlau in German). Joachim Frederick gained great popularity for his gentleness and diligence. He liked science and he tried to improve the administration of justice in 1599. Since he ranked first among the Silesian princes, from 1592 until his death he had to deal with the matter of helping the emperor, who was at war with the Turks. In 1599, the Duke and his brother-in-law, Charles II of Ziębice-Oleśnica, refused to participate in the election of Bishop Paul Albert because he was not a Silesian and he acquired from Peter Wok von Rosenberg the towns of Złoty Stok (Reichenstein) and Srebrna Góra (Silberberg), rich in gold and silver mines. Joachim Frederick died on March 25, 1602 in Brzeg. The man from the portrait in the National Museum in Poznań (oil on panel, 47 x 38 cm, inventory number Mo 855) resemble the man from the portrait in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inventory number GG 808). Many splendid paintings that once adorned the walls of the Silesian Wawel - the Piast Castle in Brzeg and survived the bombing in 1741, when the castle was destroyed by the Prussian forces in the First Silesian War, were moved to Berlin. Possibly also this picture. The image in Poznań was acquired in 1930 from private collection Karl von Wesendonk in Berlin. Both paintings, in Poznań and in Vienna, are attributed to Adriaen Thomasz. Key, however the man from Poznań version is much older. If he was around 25 when the Vienna painting was created in about 1575, then the Poznań version should be dated around 1600, which rules out Key's authorship, as he died in 1589 or after. The most important arts and crafts center in this part of Europe at that time was the imperial court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague. Many Flemish artists worked for the Emperor and two of them, created very similar portraits of Rudolf. One with light blue eyes, bust-length, wearing a breastplate (sold at Christie's, 27 Jan 2010, lot 344), is attributed to circle of Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569-1622), a Flemish painter from Antwerp, who at the end of the 16th century worked for Archduke Albert and Infanta Isabella in Brussels. The other with dark eyes, attributed to Lucas van Valckenborch (d. 1597) from Leuven, is today in the Liechtenstein collection in Vienna (inventory number GE 2484). The style of the image in Poznań resemble that of Pourbus, especially the portrait of a man in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (inventory number 5862). The same man was depicted in another painting created in about 1600, in which however his face resemble more the Warsaw portrait from 1574 (inventory number M.Ob.819 MNW). His servant gives him a cup of wine. This painting titled sometimes "Two Fools", because of the old man's extravagant outfit, or "Emperor Rudolf II taking the cure", is today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 175.5 x 109 cm, inventory number GG 2773, verifiable in the gallery depot in 1868). It was attributed to Pieter Isaacsz (d. 1625), circle of Cornelis Ketel (1548-1616) or to Lucas van Valckenborch. The comparison with the painting in the Silesian Museum in Opava (inventory number In 2036 A), which was created by Valckenborch, most probably together with his assistant or only by him - Georg Flegel (1566-1638) is the most accurate. In his only known so far painted effigy from a fresco by Balthasar Latomus, the court painter of George II, in the ducal study of the Brzeg Castle, painted in 1583-1584, Joachim Frederick was depicted in colouful red-brown striped doublet, while his father is wearing a black attire. The Duke of Brzeg is also wearing a ruff and heavy gold chains with a medallion, like in the described painting by Valckenborch or Flegel in Vienna. The man from a large gold medal, most likely minted from the Złoty Stok gold, resemble the most George the Pious (1484-1543), Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. George, son of Sophia Jagiellon, was an early adherent of Protestantism. He maintained correspondence with Martin Luther and introduced the Reformation in his Silesian possessions - Krnov, Bytom, Racibórz and Opole, one of the largest centers of Silesian cloth weaving. His son George Frederick (1539-1603), who from 1577 was also Administrator of the Duchy of Prussia, maintained good relations with Poland-Lithuania. He minted coins with the official motto of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: "If God be with us, who shall be against us?" (Guldentaler, 1586, Königsberg), his tomb monument in the Heilsbronn monastery, attributed to Endres Dietrich Seidensticker, is adorned with coat of arms of Poland (White Eagle), repeated three times (after "Kloster Heilsbronn ..." by Graf Rudolph Stillfried-Alcántara, p. 163) and his portrait in the National Museum in Wrocław was created by Silesian painter Andreas Riehl the Younger from Wrocław. The portrait of George Frederick was created in 1601 and he is wearing a medal of King Stephen Bathory with the inscription in Latin STEFANVS. REX. POLONIA. 1581 (after "Portret na Śląsku ..." by Ewa Houszka, p. 12). In 1571, the Regent of Prussia also commissioned a series of portraits of his father George the Pious in the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger (two are in the Grunewald hunting lodge in Berlin, GKI1192 and GKI1048) and for his wife Elizabeth of Brandenburg-Küstrin (1540-1578), who died while she was staying at the Warsaw court, where George Frederick was to be awarded the dukedom by the Polish king, he commissioned the Dutch sculptor Willem van den Blocke to construct the monument in Königsberg Cathedral, which was completed in 1582. His Silesian lands were close to Brzeg and Legnica, so the Margrave, who stayed mostly in Ansbach, entrusted George II od Brzeg with the implementation of the new laws in his Krnov domain. The bust of a bearded man in mentioned gold medal in the Vienna portrait resemble the portraits of George the Pious by Cranach the Younger and 1534 medal with his bust in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg. Joachim Frederick, a Lutheran and the most important among the Silesian princes, minted coins in Złoty Stok, like the gold ducat from 1602 (National Museum in Warsaw, NPO 350 MNW). It was therefore him who most probably ordered both the medal and the portrait in the workshop of Flemish painter. In 1582 41 representations of Dutch wars painted on canvas were purchased by the Brzeg city council (after "Op Nederlandse manier ..." by Mateusz Kapustka, p. 35), indicating that Netherlandish art was strongly represented in his domains.
Portrait of Joachim Frederick (1550-1602), Duke of Legnica-Brzeg-Oława-Wołów by circle of Frans Pourbus the Younger, 1597-1602, National Museum in Poznań.
Portrait of Joachim Frederick (1550-1602), Duke of Legnica-Brzeg-Oława-Wołów with gold medal with bust of Margrave George the Pious by Lucas van Valckenborch or Georg Flegel, 1597-1602, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Portrait of Janusz I Radziwill by Leandro Bassano
"The Polish Lord, at whose court Michelagnolo was already employed, has recently written, that he must go there as soon as possible, offering him a most honorable position, that is, a place at his table, dressed like the first gentlemen of his court, two servants, who will serve him, and a carriage with four horses, and more than 200 Hungarian ducats a year's allowance, that is about 300 scudi, except donations, which will be a lot; so that he is resolved to leave as soon as possible, nor expects anything other than the opportunity of good company, and I believe that he will depart in fifteen days, so I must arrange him with money for the journey, and in addition it is necessary for him to bring with him at the request of his Lord some things, for which among the provision for a journey and the said things I cannot fail to accommodate at least 200 scudi" (Signor Pollacco, a presso di chi è stato Michelagnolo, ha ultimamente scritto, che ei deva quanto prima andare là da lui, offerendoli partito honoratissimo, cioè la sua tavola, vestito al pari dei primi gentil' homini di sua corte, due servitori, che lo servino, et una carrozza da quattro cavalli, et di più 200 ducati ungari di provvisione l'anno, che sono circa 300 scudi, oltre ai donativi, che saranno assai; tal che lui è risoluto di andar via quanto prima, nè aspetta altro che l'occasione di buona compagnia, et credo che tra quindici giorni partirà, onde a me bisogna di accomodarlo di danari per il viaggio, et in oltre bisogna che porti seco ad instanza del suo Signore alcune robe, che tra 'l viatico et le dette robe non posso far di manco di non l'accomodare almeno di 200 scudi), informed his mother in a letter from Padua in the Venetian Republic of August 7, 1600 (Mss. Palatini, Parte I, Vol. IV, pag. 11.), Galileo Galilei, famous Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer.
Already in 1593 Michelagnolo Galilei (1575-1631), an Italian composer and lutenist, son of another composer and lutenist, Vincenzo Galilei, and the younger brother of Galileo went to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where foreign musicians were in great demand. Most likely invited by the influential Radziwill family, he stayed there till 1599 and returned to his previous employer in Poland-Lithuania in 1600 after a short stay in Italy. The "Polish Lord", Michelagnolo's parton, is somerimes identified as Christopher Nicolaus Radziwill (1547-1603) nicknamed "the Thunderbolt", voivode of Vilnius, Grand Hetman of Lithuania and a representative of the Birzai branch of the Lithuanian magnate family (after "Galileo Galilei e il mondo polacco" by Bronisław Biliński, p. 69), who employed several musicians at his court. Christopher Nicolaus was a son of Nicolaus "the Red" Radziwill (brother of Queen Barbara), a Calvinist and protector of the Calvinists in Poland-Lithuania. By his second wife Katarzyna Ostrogska (1560-1579), daughter of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570), he had a son Janusz I (1579-1620), educated in Strasbourg and Basel. Janusz also traveled to Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, and France. From 1599 he was a cupbearer of Lithuania and on 1 October 1600 he married the Orthodox Princess Sophia Olelkovich-Slutska (1585-1612), the heiress of Slutsk and Kopyl (in present-day Belarus) and the richest bride in Lithuania. Sophia, canonized by the Orthodox Church in 1983, died in childbirth on March 19, 1612, leaving all of her property to her husband, and just few months later, on March 27, 1613 in Berlin, Janusz married Elizabeth Sophie of Brandenburg (1589-1629), a daughter of the Brandenburg Elector John George (1525-1598) and a great-granddaughter of Barbara Jagiellon (1478-1534), Duchess of Saxony. It is possible that Michelagnolo was invited to the Commonwealth for the wedding feast of Janusz and Sophia. According to a Galileo's letter from Padua of November 20, 1601 to his brother in Vilnius, he also traveled to Kraków and Lublin. In April 1606 he returned to Italy to live with his brother in Padua. On May 11, 1606 Galileo wrote to him from Venice about negotiating with a German Lord (Signore tedesco) and he secured him a place at court of the Bavarian Elector in Munich. In 1608 Michelagnolo was married to Chiara Anna Bandinelli in Bavaria, whom he most likely met in Lithuania and who was the sister or daughter of Roberto Bandinelli, nephew of the famous Florentine sculptor Bartolommeo called Baccio, who settled with his family in Lithuania (after "Archivio storico italiano", Volume 17, p. 31). According to the catalogue of exhibition of portraits in the Hague in 1903 (Meisterwerke der Porträtmalerei auf der Ausstellung im Haag, p. 2, item 2a), in the collection of Princess Cecylia Lubomirska née Zamoyska (1831-1904) in Kraków there was a portrait of a lute player by Leandro Bassano. It was later owned by Cecylia's son Kazimierz Lubomirski (1869-1930), most probably lost during World War II. A young man with several rings on his left hand is playing a serenade on a lute to his beloved. He is listened to by his dog, conventional symbol for fidelity, especially marital fidelity, wearing an expensive collar, possibly bearing his coat of arms. The window in the background shows his house, an Italian-style villa similar to the pavillons of the Radziwill Palace in Vilnius, the larger palace of the Calvinist branch of the family. The Radziwill Palace, initially a renaissance manor house built in the 16th century, was reconstructed and extended between 1635 and 1653 for Janusz II Radziwill (1612-1655), nephew of Janusz I (1579-1620). The lavish edifice was constructed by Jan Ullrich and Wilhelm Pohl to design by Italian architect, most probably Constantino Tencalla, and was depicted in 1653 medal by Sebastian Dadler, minted on the occasion of the inauguration of Janusz II as the Voivode of Vilnius. The lute player from the Lubomirski collection was signed and dated by the artist. The inscription in Latin stated that the depicted man was 21 years old in 1600 (Anno aetatis suae XXI, MDC), exaclty as Janusz I Radziwill (born in July 1579 in Vilnius), when he married Sophia Olelkovich-Slutska. The sitter bear a great resemblance to other effigies of the Prince, especially a print by Jan van der Heyden after Jacob van der Heyden, created in 1609 (Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum), a portrait by unknown artist (State Historical Museum in Moscow) and a medal with his bust, published in Berlin in "Medals of the princely house of Radziwill" (Denkmünzen des Radziwillschen Fürstenhauses, 1846). It is generally belived that Bassano's lute player is tantamount to a painting acquired in Venice by Count Stanisław Kostka Potocki (1755-1821), who recalled in a letter to his wife of September 22, 1785 from Venice: "I end my article on Venice by telling you that I have acquired one of the freshest paintings of Paolo Veronese that I have ever seen, it is a Holy Family of the size of your Rubens, I hope that you will be happy with it, adding here a portrait of Bassen playing the lute painted by himself which is really a masterpiece of this master, and you will be happy with this acquisition (je finis mon article de Venise, par te dire que j'ai fait l'aquisition d'un des plus frais tablaux de Paule Véronèse que la aie jamais vue, c'est une St. Famille de la grandeur à peu près de ton Rubens, j'espère que la en sera contente, ajoute ici un portrait du Bassen jouant du luth peint par lui meme qui est vraiment un chef d'œuvre de ce maître, et tu sera contente de moi, Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, 262 t. 1, page 60). Veronese's Holy Family is today most probably in the Wilanów Palace (inventory number Wil.1000, also considered to be the painting purchased in Paris in 1808) and it is currently attributed to his brother Benedetto Caliari. Even if the lute player from the Lubomirski collection was acquired by Potocki in Venice, it does not exclude that it represents a person from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as paintings commissioned abroad were frequently created in series, as gifts to relatives and friends. In this case the possibility that it was a gift to the tutor's brother, Galileo Galilei, or his family is probable. If Michelagnolo was a court musician of Christopher Nicolaus "the Thunderbolt", he could teach music to his son Janusz I. "It was customary that the orders of Polish clients abroad were paid through the bankers' offices that organized the transport. Thus, the intermediary between Sigismund III and Chancellor Zamoyski, on the one hand, and Italian painters, on the other, was the Montelupi company from Kraków, whose post office brought finished and paid works to Poland. Gdańsk bankers mediated between our country and the Netherlands, and thanks to their efforts, paintings and fabrics ordered by Ladislaus IV in Antwerp were transported by sea through the Danish straits" (after "Obrazy z kolegiaty łowickiej i ich przypuszczalny twórca" by Władysław Tomkiewicz, p. 119). In the 1620s, most probably after death of Leandro Bassano, who died on April 15, 1622, a painter from the circle of Bassano brothers settled in Pułtusk, a significant economic centre of Masovia. Between 1624-1627 he created three paintings showing scenes from the life of Mary for the Łowicz Cathedral, commissioned by Henryk Firlej (1574-1626), Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland, son of Jan Firlej (1521-1574), and a self-portrait, today in the Dominican Monastery in Kraków.
Portrait of Janusz I Radziwill (1579-1620), aged 21 playing a lute by Leandro Bassano, 1600, Lubomirski collection in Kraków, lost.
Portrait of Sebastian Petrycy by Venetian painter
Sebastian Petrycy or Sebastianus Petricius Pilsnanus, was born in 1554 in Pilzno near Tarnów in south-eastern Poland as a son of Stanisław (died after 1590), a wine merchant. In 1583 he graduated with the degree in philosophy at the Kraków Academy and he began lecturing there. A year later, in 1584, Sebastian became a member of the Collegium Minus (College Minor) and took the chair of poetics and in 1588 he became a professor of rhetoric.
In February 1589, Petrycy was granted a leave to travel to Italy and study at a selected foreign university. He decided to study in Padua, where he received the degree of doctor of medical sciences at the beginning of March 1590. When he returned to Kraków, he applied for the recognition of his diploma at the Faculty of Medicine, but was refused admission and left for Lviv, where he got married with already pregnant eighteen-year-old Anna (he was almost forty), the daughter of a wealthy merchant Franz Wenig, and opened his own medical practice. The death of his wife (February 28, 1596) and of his only daughter, Zuzanna, as well as the lost trial for the inheritance of his father-in-law, prompted him to return to Krakow (around 1600). He became the personal physician of the bishop of Kraków Bernard Maciejowski, who in 1603 was made cardinal by Pope Clement VIII. Between 1603-1604 he went with the cardinal to France and Lorraine and in 1606, as a physician of Jerzy Mniszek and his daughter Marina, he left for Moscow, which cost him almost a year and a half in captivity. During his court career, he worked on translations of Aristotle into Polish. He then returned to the medical profession and successfully practiced for the last 10 years of his life. Petrycy died in 1626 in Kraków, and shortly before his death he founded a marble epitaph for himself depicting him in prayer, created by a royal court sculptor. Portrait of a bearded man holding glasses, comes from the collection of John Rushout, 2nd Baron Northwick (1770-1859) at Northwick Park. It was previously attributed to Titian and Lotto Lorenzo, however stylistically is also close to Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594) and his son Domenico (1560-1635). The man's costume of crimson silk is very similar to Polish żupan, his coat is lined with fur. This effigy is very similar to portraits of Sebastian Petrycy and his son Jan Innocenty Petrycy (1592-1641), who like father was a physician, professor at the Academy and studied in Bologna. Mentioned portraits are today in the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University and were created in the 1620s by workshop of Tommaso Dolabella (1570-1650), a Venetian artist settled in Kraków and a court painter of king Sigismund III Vasa. It is possible that Dolabella's workshop copied some family owned portraits, created in Venice. Consequently the effigy can be dated to beginning of the 17th century when Petrycy was a court physician in Kraków.
Portrait of Sebastian Petrycy (1554-1626) holding glasses by Venetian painter, possibly Domenico Tintoretto, 1600-1606, Private collection.
Portrait of Uriel Górka, Bishop of Poznań by Odoardo Fialetti
The full-length portrait of Uriel Górka (ca. 1435-1498), Bishop of Poznań in Kórnik Castle near Poznań is one of the oldest effigies of church hierarchs in Poland. This large painting on canvas (219 x 111.5 cm, inventory number MK 3360) bears an inscription in Latin on a band above the figure: VRIÆL / COMES DE GORCA DEI GRATIA EPISCOPVS POSNANI / ENSIS. The band, typical of Gothic paintings, as well as the general style of the work suggest that it is a copy of the original portrait of the bishop, as the painting itself is variably dated to the second half of the 16th century or the middle of the 17th century.
The original may be by Stanisław of Kórnik, who was the bishop's court painter for six years in the 1490s, but also commissioned from abroad. Uriel, the founder of the family's power, distinguished himself in the field of artistic patronage and he was in close contact with the artistic circles of Nuremberg. He ordered silverware from Albrecht Dürer the Elder, father of the painter (according to the bill of August 26, 1486 - Item mein her Uriel her bischoff von Poln hat Albrechtn Durer dem goltschmyd silber gebn), he commissioned various works from the sculptor Simon Leinberger, like the excellent composition of Christ in the Garden of Olives sculpted in 1490 for the Poznań Cathedral, and bronze tombstones for himself and his father Łukasz (died in 1475), the voivode, at the famous Vischer workshop (after "Kultura, naród, trwanie ..." by Maria Bogucka, p. 164). The full-length effigy of Uriel on his tomb slab by the Vischer workshop in Poznań Cathedral is comparable to this portrait. So maybe the original effigy of the bishop was also created in Nuremberg or it was a likeness from the gallery of portraits of Poznań bishops modo chronicae depicta made after 1508, commissioned by Bishop Jan Lubrański from the Kraków painter Stanisław Skórka. The style of the painting is obviously Venetian, close to the Bassanos and influenced by Tintoretto, but no Venetian artist is confirmed in Poznań and the surrounding area at that time, therefore the painting must be an import, ordered from Venice, such as the portraits of the daughters of Łukasz Górka (1482-1542). Stylistically closest is the portrait of Doge Antonio Priuli (1548-1623), reigning from 1618 until his death, in the Kensington Palace (inventory number RCIN 407153). The way the face, hands and gold patterned fabrics were painted is very similar. The portrait of Priuli was one of four portraits of Doges acquired by Sir Henry Wotton during his tenure as ambassador in Venice (1612-1616 and 1619-1621) "done after the life by Eduardo Fialetto", according Wotton's will. The other three portraits are also stylistically close, notably the effigy of Doge Giovanni Bembo (RCIN 407152). Odoardo Fialetti, born in Bologna in 1573 and initiated to painting with the Bolognese Giovanni Battista Cremonini, moved to Padua and then to Venice, where he entered Tintoretto's workshop. It is possible that he also spent some time in Rome, completing his training. From 1604 to 1612, Fialetti was a member of the Venetian Brotherhood of Painters (Fraglia dei Pittori). The most possible founder of the painting is therefore Jan Czarnkowski (d. 1618/19), royal courtier, one of the heirs of the Górka family after childless death of Lutheran magnate Stanisław Górka (1538-1592). Czarnkowski completed the Górka mausoleum in Kórnik in 1603 and handed over the church to the Catholics. The effigy of the Catholic bishop of Poznań, educated in Italy, owner of the Kórnik estate from 1475 who brought a gardener from Italy to Kórnik (after "Zamek w Kórniku" by Róża Kąsinowska, p. 17), fits perfectly into Czarnkowski's Counter-Reformation activity. It was commissioned in Italy possibly in opposition to the predominantly Protestant northern school of painting.
Portrait of Uriel Górka (ca. 1435-1498), Bishop of Poznań by Odoardo Fialetti, ca. 1604, Kórnik Castle.
Portraits of Constance of Austria by Gortzius Geldorp
"Although the king was young, he was more inclined to peace than to war, and he did not even want to find employment in anything in the domain of the god Mars. I heard that one time, when the archbishop and chancellor informed him about the war, he wrote something down in a pugilares. They thought that he was anxious about the fate of the war until the king, who was a good painter, goldsmith and turner, showed them a painted little owl", recalled in his diary Albert Stanislaus Radziwill, Grand Chancellor of Lithuania about the beginnings of the reign of Sigismund III Vasa.
The King, so much inimical to idleness (tanto inimico dell'ozio), in his spare time he occupied himself with a certain artistic work, making his effigies, paintings and other items, which he offered as a gift, like "the one of which he painted with his own hand was the portrait of Saint Catherine of Siena last year" (una delle quali che fece di sua mano, fu il ritratto di S. Catherina di Siena l'anno passato), says of Sigismund III another contemporary witness, the papal nuncio Erminio Valenti (1564-1618), in a handwritten description of Poland and the royal court in 1603 (Relazione del Regno di Polonia). In 1605 the king married his distant relative (as a granddaughter of Anna Jagellonica), the sister of his first wife and sister of Queen of Spain, Constance of Austria (1588-1631). Many eminent guests arrived to Kraków for Sigismund's wedding, the bride with her mother Archduchess Maria Anna, and her sister - Maria Christina, Princess of Transylvania, Radu Șerban, Voivode of Wallachia or his envoy, Mechti Kuli Beg, Ambassador of Persia, Afanasy Ivanovich Vlasiev, Ambassador of Russia, among others. The city was beautifully decorated on the entry of the wedding procession (mechanical Polish eagle, most probably from ephemeral decorations, preserved in the St. Mary's Church in Kraków). Also many artists came to Kraków at that time. The so-called "Stockholm Scroll", a unique, fifteen-metre long painting depicting the 1605 wedding procession, acquired during the Deluge and returned to Poland in 1974 (donated to the Royal Castle in Warsaw), is attributed to Balthasar Gebhardt, court painter of Archduke Ferdinand (1578-1637), Constance's brother. Among the most distinguished works attributed to the king there is a gouache painting on parchment with Allegory of Faith in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. It bears the king's coat of arms, his monogram S under the crown, the date 1616 and monogram M.N.D.F.C. Below there is also a signature of king's wife Constantia Regina. Since the effigy of a woman bears resemblance to other effigies of the Queen, it was she who lend her features to the figure. Another painting traditionally linked with Sigismund is Mater Dolorosa in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (inventory number 5082), painted on copper. It comes from the Castle Haag in Geldern in the district of Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia and was most probably part of Anna Catherine Constance's dowry. Sigismund's painting is a copy of a work by Gortzius Geldorp depicting a female saint in adoration signed with monogram 'GG F', painted on wood. Crispijn van de Passe the Elder created a print, published in Utrecht in 1612, with similar composition, showing the penitent Mary Magdalene (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, inventory number RP-P-1906-2063), which is however more close to the Sigismund's painting then to the version by Geldorp. The woman in Geldorp's painting has more Habsburg facial features. The same woman with protruding lower lip was depicted in two other paintings by Geldorp one signed with monogram and dated 'AN ° 1605.GG.F.' (sold in 2015 at Christie's, Amsterdam, lot 52, the other sold in 2011 at Christie's, New York, lot 140). Both paintings represent a lady as Berenice, wife of pharaoh Ptolemy III Euergetes. Berenice pledged to sacrifice her hair to the goddess Venus if her husband was safely brought home from battle during the Third Syrian War. Her hair became the constellation called Coma Berenices (Berenice's hair) and the symbol of power of marital love. Very little is known about Gortzius Geldorp. He was born in Leuven (Louvain) in 1553 in what was then the Spanish Netherlands and learned to paint from Frans Francken I and later from Frans Pourbus the Elder. Around 1576 became court painter to the Duke of Terra Nova, Carlo d'Aragona Tagliavia (1530-1599), a Sicilian-Spanish nobleman, who in 1582 was appointed Governor of Milan and whom he accompanied on his trips. The Duke died in Madrid on September 23, 1599, and Geldorp died after 1619. It is very possible that he or his student came to Kraków in 1605. In 1599 Geldorp created a portrait of a young woman in Venetian costume (sold at Christie's New York, 12 January 1994, lot 134, signed and dated top left: Anº.1599./GG.F), similar to costumes of Venetian ladies published in 1590 in De gli habiti antichi, e moderni di diverse parti del mondo libri due by Cesare Vecellio, cousin of the painter Titian (p. 97-112). The same year he also created a portrait of Hortensia del Prado (Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, inventory number SK-A-2081, signed and dated top left: Anº 1599./GG.F.). Either the painter went for a short time to Venice or Poland-Lithuania, or the lady in Venetian costume visited his studio or most likely sent a miniature, drawing or other portrait to be copied. The same woman as in the painting sold in New York, wearing a similar lace-trimmed Venetian dress, is depicted in another painting, possibly a copy or variant of Geldorp's painting. This painting is also in a private collection (sold at Bonhams London, 6 July, 2005, lot 113). It is attributed to the painter active in Bologna Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614).
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) as Berenice by Gortzius Geldorp, 1605, Private collection.
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) as Berenice by Gortzius Geldorp, ca. 1605, Private collection.
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) as a Saint in adoration (Saint Constance?) by Gortzius Geldorp, ca. 1616, Private collection.
Portrait of a lady in Venetian costume by Gortzius Geldorp, 1599, Private collection.
Portrait of a lady in Venetian costume by Lavinia Fontana, ca. 1599, Private collection.
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria as Venus by Gortzius Geldorp
"At that time, King Sigismund III of Poland commissioned from him the fable of Diana with Calisto bathing & other Poems. They pleased the King, who ordered him to be invited to his court with a worthy reward. However, the painter accustomed to the comforts of his home, refused such a good opportunity, sending there Tomaso Dolobella, his disciple […] He also painted for the same King part of the fable of Psyche, shared with Palma, and Antonio's work having pleased him, he then ordered from him a canvas with the martyrdom of Saint Ursula, which he executed with great diligence, and on the covers he painted the saints Vladislaus, Demetrius and other saints, whom the King surrounded with a cult, and for that worthy work he was commended with royal letters and presented with some gifts", comments on the works of the Greco-Venetian painter Antonio Vassilacchi (1556-1629) called L'Aliense, Carlo Ridolfi in a book published in 1648 presenting the history of Venetian painting (Le Maraviglie dell'arte). Saint Ursula was probably intended for King's mistress, influential Urszula Meyerin, who was most probably depicted as the saint martyr.
As it was said Palma il Giovane (1549-1628) worked with Vassilacchi on part of the fable of Psyche, and for the Cathedral in Warsaw he created two paintings - one with Baptism of Christ (tavola di Christo al Giordano), according to Ridolfi, and the Virgin and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Stanislaus (destroyed in 1944). According to Palma's letter from January 1602 Aliense was to begin designs while in Salò, but he would then need to return to Venice to "finish certain works that he is doing for the king of Poland". Two drawings by Palma, one showing Venus and Psyche (British Museum, inventory number 1862,0809.74) and the other Cupid and Psyche (sold at Christie's, July 6, 2021, lot 3), could be preparatory drawing for the Psyche cycle. A letter from the Treasurer of the Crown, Jan Firlej (d. 1614), addressed to King Sigismund III Vasa (dated April 29, 1599) says that in one of the Italian rooms ("in the new buildings") at the Wawel Castle in Kraków, described as "the happiest", "paintings were made in Venice". The themes of these paintings decorating the interior, were most probably taken from erotic and mythological themes. They covered the walls and filled the gilded coffered ceilings in Venetian style. According to inventory description of Wawel from 1665 "Italian paintings with golden frames" were in the antechamber at the Hen's Foot tower, Italian "pictures" decorating "the ceiling carved with gold work" in the main room there and "around eleven Italian paintings with golden frames". In the room "under the birds", according to the inventory from 1692, there were "four pictures above the door, between which there are nine pictures above the panelling, only two with golden frames ... In this room there are nine pictures in the ceiling" (after "Weneckie zamówienia Zygmunta III" by Jan Białostocki). The king had undoubtedly other erotic and Italian rooms and studiolo in other royal residences in Kraków (Łobzów), Warsaw (Royal Castle, Ujazdów), Vilnius, Grodno and Lviv. Cardinal Ferdinando I de' Medici (1549-1609), who became Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1587, most likely owned such a studiolo or camerino in his Villa Medici in Rome, as suggested by the author of the Instagram profile ARTidbits (post published July 27, 2023). There is a pavilion there with two rooms, considered the most intimate in the entire complex. It was decorated by Jacopo Zucchi with frescoes representing a pergola, birds, plants and small animals. Zucchi is the author of numerous portraits of cardinal's mistress Clelia Farnese (1556-1613), Marchioness of Civitanova. She was depicted as Amphitrite, the goddess of the sea, and Ferdinando as her husband Poseidon, as well as various Roman ladies, in the painting entitled The Kingdom of Amphitrite (The Coral Fishers), which is now in the Lviv National Art Gallery (Ж-272, signed and dated lower right: Jacobus Zuchi fior fecci 159[0]). The painting comes from the Lubomirski collection, so provenance from the royal collection of Poland-Lithuania, as a gift for Sigismund III or his aunt Anna Jagiellon, cannot be excluded. Many copies of this painting exist, all however without the disguised portrait of the cardinal. The Grand Duke corresponded with the King of Poland and in a letter dated September 10, 1595, he even recommended two of his musicians Luca Marenzio and Francesco Rasi to Sigismund. According to Le vite de' pittori ... by Giovanni Baglione, published in 1642, a version adorned Ferdinando's studiolo in his Roman residence, the Palazzo Firenze (after "Jacopo Zucchi's The Kingdom of Amphitrite ..." by Federico Giannini, Ilaria Baratta). Clelia, as suggested by ARTidbits, was also depicted as one of the Three Graces, goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in a painting from a private collection in Rome (Casa d'Aste Babuino in Rome, June 27, 2023, lot 280). The latter effigy closely resembles her portrait attributed to Scipione Pulzone from the Palazzo Farnese in Rome (Dorotheum in Vienna, October 22, 2019, lot 15). The huge popularity of erotic images and nudes caused concern to some preachers of the Counter-Reformation. In his poem "Roman and Christian Lucretia", published in Kraków in about 1570, Bishop Jan Dymitr Solikowski (1539-1603), secretary of King Sigismund II Augustus from 1564, demanded that paintings depicting "shameless arts and all Jupiter Vanities, Mars with Venus" to be burned and painters with them, it should be noted however, that the title page of his work shows a beautiful woodcut with half-naked Lucretia by Mateusz Siebeneicher or his circle (University of Warsaw Library). Over a half a century later, in 1629 the court preacher of Sigismund III and Ladislaus IV Dominican Fabian Birkowski (1566-1636) warned against "these painted fornications", which were very popular in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth before the Deluge (1655-1660): "and yet this eye poison can be seen everywhere, full of these filthy images in bedchambers, halls, dining rooms, gardens and fountains, above the doors, on the glasses and cups". He also added "and our heretics have so corrupted their eyes that they throw the image of the crucified Christ out of bedchambers and rooms, and in its place they hang Fauns and painted Cupids, Venus and Fortuna above the table, so that they may dine and sup with them. [...] And there is no image of the Blessed Virgin anywhere; and the image of filthy Venus has a place, and even better at home" (after "Kazania" by Fabian Birkowski, 1858, Vol. 1-2, p. 81-82). Somber and death-filled aura of the late 1620s provoked reflection. At that time the Commonwealth was struggling with Swedish invasion of Polish Prussia, military defeats and outbreaks of plague associated with troop movements. Only in Gdańsk 9,324 people died during epidemic of 1629-1630 (after "Przeszłość demograficzna Polski", Vol. 17-18, p. 66). In 1630 Mikołaj Wolski (1553-1630), Grand Crown Marshal, favorite and friend of Sigismund III Vasa, but above all an excellent collector, who invited to Poland the Italian painter Venanzio di Subiaco (1579-1659), ordered erotic paintings to be burned before his death except those in Venetian style coffered ceilings. He wrote in a letter of March 6 to Jan Witkowski "that images ad libidinem [to lust] and inciting to sin, which can be found in Krzepice castle, should all be burned; and those which are painted naked on the wall in my room where I slept and in my chamber, I beg you, let a painter who is able to paint any dresses and let him cover inhonestates [deceptiveness]. Ceiling paintings, let them remain as they are" (after "Zakon Kamedułów ..." by Ludwik Zarewicz, p. 197). Nevertheless, "a wall full of paintings with naked people" is mentioned in some manor houses still in 1650 (after "Miłość staropolska" by Zbigniew Kuchowicz, p. 165). Two paintings from the Poznań Society of Friends of Learning, lost during World War II, show how wonderful the interiors of the residences of the First Polish Republic were. According to tradition, they represented the interior of the Leszczyński Palace, most probably the Palace of Bogusław Leszczyński, Grand Treasurer of the Crown in Warsaw, built between 1650-1654 to a design by Giovanni Battista Gisleni. "Portrait of an elegant woman in the guise of Venus" by Gortzius Geldorp (oil on panel, 56.6 x 44.1 cm, sold at Sotheby's, New York, January 29, 2016, lot 454) is a version of portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) as Berenice, created in 1605. The face is identical, while the composition resembles portraits of Venetian courtesans by Domenico Tintoretto, especially the Lady revealing her breast in Prado (inventory number P000382) and the Portrait of a woman as Flora in the Wiesbaden Museum (inventory number M 296), also attributed to Domenico's half-sister Marietta Robusti. Also the style of the painting with bold brushstrokes is more Venetian and tintoresque, it seems that Geldorp copied a work by Tintoretto and inspired by his style. His Penitent Mary Magdalene in the Mauritshuis in The Hague (inventory number 319), was evidently inspired by Domenico's Magdalene in the Capitoline Museums in Rome (PC 32), painted between 1598 and 1602. He also copied Violante or "La Bella Gatta" by Titan (monogrammed upper left: GG. F., sold at Dorotheum in Vienna, April 19, 2016, lot 122).
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) as Venus by Gortzius Geldorp, after 1605, Private collection.
Venus and Psyche by Palma il Giovane, first quarter of the 17th century, British Museum.
Cupid and Psyche by Palma il Giovane, first quarter of the 17th century, Private collection.
Entombment of Christ with the portrait of Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" by Leandro Bassano or workshop
On September 16, 1582 Prince Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616), Grand Marshal of Lithuania, accompanied by a dozen or so people (friends and servants), set off from his family castle in Nesvizh towards Venice from where in 1583 he went to the Holy Land. Through Dalmatia, the Greek islands, Tripoli, Damascus, he reached Jerusalem in the middle of the year, where in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher he was awarded the title of Knight of the Holy Sepulcher. Then through Egypt, where he had the opportunity to see the famous Great Sphinx, the eastern coast of Italy and again Venice he returned to his homeland on July 7, 1584.
Nicolaus Christopher was the son of Nicolaus Radziwill the Black and Elżbieta Szydłowiecka, daughter of Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki. After his father's death, as a result of his stay in Rome (he also visited Milan, Padua and Mantua), he converted in 1567 from Calvinism to Catholicism. Suffering from syphilis, in February 1580 he again went to Italy for treatment, near Padua and Lucca, and spent the turn of 1580-1581 in Venice, with an attempt to make an expedition to the Holy Land. He vowed that if his health would improve, he would go on a pilgrimage. Just few months after return from the Holy Land, on November 24, 1584, he married Princess Elżbieta Eufemia Wiśniowiecka (1569-1596), who was only 15 at the time and was 20 years younger than himself, and he had 6 sons and 3 daughters with her. In 1593, he and his wife left for the last time in his life the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, for treatment in a health resort in Abano Terme near Padua. Nicolaus Christopher died on February 28, 1616 in Niasvizh. During his lifetime Radziwill founded himself a tombstone in the Jesuit Church in Nesvizh - mentioned in the inscription on the pedestal, as well as in the sermon given by the Jesuit Marcin Widziewicz during his funeral. The co-founder was the wife of Nicolaus Christopher, therefore it should be dated to 1588-1596. The general conception of the tomb was probably modelled after the tomb of Pope Sixtus V in Rome, executed between 1585-1591 by Domenico Fontana and the tomb of Queen Bona Sforza in Bari, created between 1589-1593. Nicolaus Christopher saw the coffin with the body of the Queen in Bari in March 1584 and not without significance were his contacts with Queen Anna Jagiellon, the founder of the tombstone in Bari. The center of his tombstone is filled with a plate with a relief image of the prince in profile kneeling in prayer, with his head raised and in pilgrim's attire. It is crowned with a triangular pediment with the Order of the Knight of the Holy Sepulcher. The tomb was designed by a Jesuit architect Giovanni Maria Bernardoni (d. 1605) and created by an anonymous Italian sculptor active in Lesser Poland, possibly from the royal court. Szymon Starowolski (Starovolscius) in the book "A description of Poland or the state of the Kingdom of Poland" (Polonia sive status Regni Poloniae descriptio) issued in 1632, describing the investments made in his ancestral seat and its immediate vicinity by Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan" (founding numerous monasteries, hospitals, the Jesuit college in Nesvizh, the palace and the town hall, as well as the reconstruction of the castle in nearby Mir, the arrangement of gardens, orchards and fish ponds, as well as the marking of roads along which there were moats and rows of fruit trees), ended with the statement that the voivode "arranged Italy for us in the middle of Sarmatia" (after "W podróży po Europie" by Wojciech Tygielski, Anna Kalinowska, p. 471). The painting by Leandro Bassano or workshop from the late 16th century in the Lithuanian National Art Museum in Vilnius (oil on canvas, 110 x 177 cm, inventory number LNDM T 3996), shows the scene of Entombment of Christ with a kneeling donor in the right corner, whose pose is identical with the pose of Nicolaus Christopher in his tombstone. Before 1941, the painting was owned by the Society of Friends of Science in Vilnius, to which it was given by count Władysław Tyszkiewicz (1865-1936), the owner of the Lentvaris estate, in 1907. Similar scene of the Entombment was published on page 61 of Stanisław Grochowski's "The Jerusalem procession in the church of the glorious tomb of the Lord Jesus [...] taken from the books of the Jerusalem Peregrination or the Pilgrimage [...] of Nicolaus Christopher Radziwll, prince on Olyka and Nesvizh [...]" (Hierozolimska processia w kosciele chwalebne[g]o grobu Pana Iezusowego [...] wzięta z ksiąg Hierozolymskiey Peregrynatiiey albo Pielgrzymowania [...] Mikołaia Chrzysstopha Radziwiła na Ołyce y Nieświeżu książęcia [...]), released in Kraków in 1607. A similar style painting depicting the Entombment of Christ was photographed around 1880 by Ignacy Krieger in the Prelate's House (Prałatówka) of Saint Mary's Basilica in Kraków (National Museum in Warsaw, DI 29611 MNW). In the basilica's collections are paintings by painters working for the royal court and magnates of Poland-Lithuania, such as the German Hans Suess von Kulmbach (ca. 1480-1522) and the Flemish Jacob Mertens (d. 1609). The man bears a great resemblance to effigies of Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan", especially to his earliest known portrait, a drawing by David Kandel in the Louvre Museum, created between 1563 and 1564 during his studies in Strasbourg. In the Chapel of Our Lady of Peace (Cappella della Madonna della Pace) at the Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice, there is also a horizontal composition by Leandro Bassano. The church is considered the pantheon of Venice due to the large number of Venetian doges and other important figures buried there since its founding. The chapel was built between 1498 and 1503 to house the Byzantine icon of the Madonna, brought to Venice in 1349. The ceiling stuccoes are the work of Ottaviano Ridolfi and the majority of the paintings were done by artists working for King Sigismund III Vasa - Palma il Giovane painted four medallions on the ceiling representing the virtues of Saint Hyacinth of Poland (San Giacinto Odrovaz), Antonio Vassilacchi, known as Aliense, created a large Flagellation of Christ, on the right and Leandro the large canvas with Saint Hyacinth walking on the water of the Dnieper River (oil on canvas, 230 x 462 cm), on the left. This painting is dated around 1606-1610 and depicts the scene "Saint Hyacinth at the coming of the Tartars walks on the water of the River Dnieper bearing to safety the Holy Sacrament and the image of Our Lady". Leandro created other paintings for this temple, such as "Pope Honorius III approving the rule of Saint Dominic in 1216" in which the 13th century scene is transported to early 17th century Rome with many contemporary portraits, the pope in pontifical robes, the cardinals, the pope's Swiss Guards in typical robes with ruffs. The scene of 13th century Ruthenia is also brought back to the 17th century and the majority of the characters wear Italian costumes. Interestingly, in 1606 Tatar raids began in January. The steppe warlord Khan Temir (d. 1637) led 10,000 men to attack Podolia and was defeated by field hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski at the Battle of Udycz (January 28, 1606). "Christopher, Knight of Christ at the Sepulchre" (Christophorus Eques Christi dni Sepulchro) (257) is mentioned among the paintings from the collection of Princess Louise Charlotte Radziwill (1667-1695), inventoried in 1671 (after "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska).
Entombment of Christ with the portrait of Prince Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616) as donor by Leandro Bassano or workshop, before 1616, Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius.
Portraits of Infanta Anna Vasa by Lavinia Fontana
Sigismund III's sister, Anna Vasa (1568-1625), was passionate about botany. In 1604 she received from her brother the office of starost of Brodnica, and in 1611 of Golub in Pomerania and settled in her estates. She created a real cultural center in Brodnica and Golub and gathered around her people of different backgrounds. Anna financed the printing of Szymon Syreniusz's Herbarium (Zielnik Herbarzem z ięzyka Łacinskiego zowią), published in Kraków in 1613, and she founded a large botanical garden in Golub, where she cultivated medicinal plants and rare herbs, including tobacco.
In Brodnica, the Lutheran princess expanded and reconstructed the interiors of the so-called Palace of Anna Vasa. She also laid out a garden around the palace. Plan of Brodnica in the Military Archives of Sweden (Krigsarkivet) in Stockholm, made for military needs by the Swedes in 1628, just after the death of the princess, shows two gardens in the castle area. The Renaissance palace was built before 1564 by Rafał Działyński, starost of Brodnica, after the fire of the Teutonic castle in 1550 and rebuilt after 1604. The architect was most likely an Italian active at the royal court in Warsaw, possibly Paolo del Corte or Giacomo Rodondo, who were working at the time on the reconstruction of the Royal Castle. For all needs the Princess referred to Warsaw, as she considered herself abandoned in Polish Prussia. From the capital, she brought appropriate dresses, fabrics, beer, wine, mulberry juice, and even paper (after "Listy Anny Wazy (1568–1625)" by Karol Łopatecki, Janusz Dąbrowski, Wojciech Krawczuk, Wojciech Walczak, p. 20, 26, 38, 59, 157-158). From around 1615, Anna also owned a manor in Warsaw, not far from the Royal Castle. It is probably the old house in the garden mentioned in the document from 1622 near the summer residence of Queen Constance. She also resided in a Teutonic castle in Osiek by Lake Kałębie, between Grudziądź and Pelplin, which was transformed into a fine Renaissance residence by starost Adam Walewski in 1565 (demolished in 1772 by the Prussian administration). The princess had a particular fondness for music, dance and ballet. The letter of Nuncio Claudio Rangoni to Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (Kraków, July 18, 1604), describes the performance of the wife of Count Cristoforo Sessi signore di Riolo, a lady "excellent in singing and playing the viola", "in the room of the princess [Anna Vasa], also heard by the king [Sigismund III], remaining in a place where he could not be seen" (quel conte Christofaro di Ruolo è partito di ritorno a Praga dopo l'esser stato alcuni giorni qui, ove la moglie sua ha cantato una volta in camera della principessa, sentita anco dal re, ch'era in luogo onde non poteva esser veduto). In 1619 she helped the daughter of a court musician Wincenty Lilius (Vincenzo Gigli) to enter a convent in Braniewo (letter from Warsaw of November 17) and in 1624 she interceded with Urszula Meyerin to ask the king for an annual salary or the post of mayor for another Italian musician Zygmunt Petart (Sigismondo Patard) (letter from Brodnica of October 1). She enjoyed arranging weddings for her court ladies. In 1605, during the celebrations related to the wedding of Sigismund III in Kraków she organized an expensive "Masked Ball of the Ladies". Anna and her court ladies asked first the king, then the archduke, the prince, "and other gentlemen and courtiers, who also had to jump like them". They were especially amused by the gentlemen who weren't good dancers "even though they had been to Italy". A few days earlier, on December 13, 1605, a ballet had taken place in the presence of the whole court in a special dance hall in honor of the new Queen Constance. The masked dancers wore male and female Spanish costumes, there was also an Italian Commedia dell'arte (Pantaleonów włoskich, którzy długo po włosku z sobą się swarzyli), as well as Spanish, Italian and Polish dances. Masked aristocrats played both male and female roles (after "Balety na królewskich godach 1605 roku" by Jacek Żukowski). The masks were probably imported from Venice, because for example in 1609 in Kraków, Wincenty Zygante (Vincenzo Ziganti) together with the second elder of the painters' guild estimated the possessions of Adam Niestachowski (or Romanowski), namely several dozen Venetian masks, with beards, mustaches, trimmed beards, of Black people, old women, young girls, married women, etc. The ballet prepared for the birth of Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa on August 7, 1619 was equally splendid. Anna led "dances with a stomp" performed by noble women, and her nephew, Prince Ladislaus Sigismund, led young men dressed as Turks. The collection of the Museum of Warsaw includes a perfectly preserved outfit of Adam Parzniewski (1565-1614), burgrave of Kraków Castle and court marshal of Princess Anna Vasa, found before 1952 in the crypt of Warsaw Cathedral. It is an outfit made of materials of Italian origin, probably sewn in Warsaw and consists of a cloak, short puffy trousers and an Italian velvet caftan (velluto ceselato), originally purple, called pavonazzo in Italian (after "Marmur dziejowy ...", edited by Ewa Chojecka, p. 232), inspired by Spanish fashion. According to Gabriel Joannica, the publisher and author of the introduction to the herbarium by Szymon Syreniusz, Anna had "the ability to speak languages, first our Polish, as if native, then others, foreign: German, Italian, French, and partly learned Latin". She also spoke her native Swedish well. Her closest confidant at the court in Warsaw was the "minister in a skirt" and "Jesuit's bigotry" Urszula Meyerin (Ursula Meierin), king's mistress and a devout Catholic. She corresponded frequently with Jung frau Ursull, calling her Mein Liebt Vrsul (My Dear Ursul) in German or mosci Pano Vrsolo (Lady Ursola, close to Italian Orsola) in Polish in her letters. The majority of her letters are now kept in Stockholm (Svenska Riksarkivet), taken during the Deluge (1655-1660). In the oldest known letter from the princess to Urszula, dated in Warsaw on August 16, 1599, she asks her to buy hats for the princess and her ladies. To emphasize her hereditary rights to the Swedish crown, the princess, like her aunt Anna Jagiellon before the royal elections in Poland-Lithuania in the 1570s, used the Spanish title of Infanta (Serenissima Infant. Sueciae Annae, Infanti Sueciae Anna, Serenissimae Infantis Sueciae Anne). The inscription on the tin sarcophagus funded by Sigismund III Vasa, published in Monumenta Sarmatarum ... by Szymon Starowolski in 1655, calls her "The Most Serene Princess, D. [Domina/Donna/Doña] Anna Infanta of Sweden" (Serenissima Princeps, D. Anna Infans Sueciæ). Her letters in Polish were usually signed "Anna, Princess of Sweden" (Anna królewna szwedzka) or simply Anna, in letters in German to Urszula Meyerin. The king's favorite Urszula, close to the two wives of Sigismund III, corresponded with their mother Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551-1608), Archduchess of Austria, and she was probably an intermediary in certain artistic commissions from Anna Vasa. The Queen's official physician was the Venetian Giovanni Battista Gemma, who died in Kraków in 1608, sent by her mother to the court in Warsaw. As at the court of the Archduchess (her portraits by the Flemish painter Cornelis Vermeyen, the Italian Giovanni Pietro de Pomis or the Spanish painters) and at the royal court in Warsaw, in Brodnica also Spanish fashion and Flemish and Italian art must have been very popular. Very little is known about the artistic patronage of the Princess-Infanta. Nothing has been preserved in Brodnica or Golub (at least confirmed). The invaders, mainly Swedes, probably looted or destroyed everything. In a letter dated October 21, 1605 from Kraków (Polish Library in Paris, rkps 56/36, in Polish) to Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (died 1621), she expresses her great joy at the news of the victory of the Commonwealth's army led by Chodkiewicz in the Battle of Kircholm in 1605, during which he inflicted a major defeat on a Swedish army three times larger than his own. The Swedes invaded the Commonwealth in mid-1605, shortly before the marriage of Anna's brother to Constance of Austria (December 11, 1605). Poland-Lithuania was at that time one of the richest countries in Europe, and the Commonwealth could afford a much more powerful and larger army than that of Sweden. However, military spending was limited by Parliament (Sejm) because magnates in the Senate and nobles were afraid that such a powerful army will be used against them to strengthen the power of the king and turn the country into absolute monarchy (compare "Mecenat kulturalny i dwór Stanisława Lubomirskiego ..." by Józef Długosz, p. 33). "Anna, by the grace of God, [hereditary] princess of the Swedes, Goths, and Vandals, heiress of the Grand Duchy of Finland. Lord, dear to us. May God be eternally praised for such a great and significant victory, which he deigned to give against such a main and fierce enemy of the King His Highness and the nation here. [...] And since we have a special and great pleasure from this victory, so that we may have a more perfect one, we therefore urgently ask you in remembrance of this, Your Lordship, that you order an expert and conscious person, taking a painter, to paint the battle scene, formations and all actions how that battle was fought there, having learned the names, places and people, you will do a great and very grateful thing to us", writes the Infanta in the mentioned letter. The oldest and best painting depicting the battle is today in the Château de Sassenage, near Grenoble in France. It is attributed to Peter Snayers, active in Antwerp between 1612 and 1621 and later in Brussels, and probably comes from the collection of the son of Sigismund III, John II Casimir Vasa, who settled in France after his abdication in 1668. Sigismund most likely commissioned it, through his agent at the court of Archduke Albert VII in Brussels in the 1620s, and the original, possibly also by a Flemish or Italian painter, was most likely the painting commissioned by the princess in 1605. Anna died on February 6, 1625 in Brodnica, and the last moments of the Lutheran Princess-Infanta, were vividly commented on in Rome and Florence - letters of Nuncio Giovanni Battista Lancellotti to the Holy See from Warsaw, February 9 and February 18, 1625 and letter of Giovanni Battista Siri, envoy of the Medici family, February 21, 1625 from Kraków (Alii 7 stante passo ad'altra vita la Ser[enissi]ma infante ...). The first Polish monographer of Anna, Marian Dubiecki, wrote in Przegląd Powszechny in 1896 about the efforts of Sigismund III Vasa to obtain papal permission to bury his sister at the Wawel Cathedral. It is possible that through rumors of an alleged deathbed conversion of the Infanta, a devout Lutheran, the Polish court wanted to convince Rome that she should be buried with other members of the family and close to the Jagiellons. It was not until 1636 that her nephew, King Ladislaus IV Vasa, decided to bury Anna in nearby Toruń, in a Baroque mausoleum built especially for this purpose in 1626 at the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, then a Protestant temple. The surviving sources confirm that Anna Vasa's body dressed in an expensive dress and decorated with jewels was waiting in Brodnica, in the "vaulted room", unburied. In May 1626 King Gustavus Adolphus launched his invasion of Polish Prussia. On October 4, 1628 Brodnica capitulated, surrendered by the commander of the Polish garrison, the Frenchman La Montagne, and fell into the hands of the Sweds for over a year. Only the truce concluded on September 26, 1629 (in Stary Targ) obliged them to leave the city on October 6, so the night before, the Swedish soldiers organized a plundering. A few of them broke into the tomb of Anna Vasa, where they profaned the corpse of the Princess-Infanta, tearing off her dress and stealing jewels. The citizens of Brodnica were shocked, so the Judicial Court quickly assembled and the royal court in Warsaw was notified. The Chancellor of the Commonwealth, Jakub Zadzik, sent a sharp letter to the king of Sweden, in which, based on a written statement of the Brodnica Court, he presented shameful acts. It was answered by the Chancellor of the Kingdom of Sweden, Axel Oxenstierna, who only partially admitted that the fault lies with his compatriots, while trying to shift the responsibility onto Poles (after "Skarb Anny Wazówny ..." by Piotr Grążawski). The sarcophagus was probably put back in order because the copy of receipt for the take over of Brodnica from the Swedish army issued by Mikołaj Hannibal Stroci (a descendant of the Florentine Strozzi family), a month later (October 26/November 6, 1629), does not mention the desecration of the corpse. Anna Vasa's crypt in Toruń was opened on April 7, 1994 and the exploration confirmed all known information about robberies. No funeral equipment were found. The skeleton was fairly well preserved, however, it turned out that the right forearm was missing, perhaps as the result of the brutal behavior of the burglars during the robbery of the jewels. No trace of the Infanta's jewelry was known until a document was found in Stockholm in the 1980s describing a find in the Uppsala Cathedral in 1777. A gold bracelet was found on the floor with an engraved monogram of Anna - APS (Anna Princeps Sveciae) and the symbols of the Vasa family, now kept at the Royal Armory (Livrustkammaren) in Stockholm (after "Śmierć i problemy pochówku Anny Wazówny ..." by Alicja Saar-Kozłowska, p. 76-77). The bracelet was probably made in Gdańsk or Toruń, since very similar are depicted in portraits of patrician ladies by Anton Möller from the 1590s (National Museum in Gdańsk and National Museum of Finland), in a portrait of a lady, probably a noblewoman from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in the National Museum in Stockholm (Gripsholm Castle, NMGrh 426) and a similar gold bracelet was found among the jewelry of Zofia Magdalena Loka (Skrwilno Treasure in Toruń), hidden during the Deluge. The collection of jewelry of Anna Vasa was famous and estimated at 200,000 thalers. Some of these jewels she inherited from her mother Catherine Jagellon. In 1606, to repay various debts intended to modernize the starosty and her residence, she decided to sell some of her jewelry to Tsar False Dmitry I. In 2022, a portrait of a lady in a rich costume adorned with jewels and a garden in the background was sold in New York (oil on canvas, 121 x 95.5 cm, Sotheby's, May 26, 2022, lot 223). The painting comes from a private collection in Connecticut and was previously believed to represent Queen Elizabeth I of England. The face resembles some effigies of the Queen, such as the "Darnley Portrait" or the "Rainbow Portrait", but the model is dressed in Spanish costume from the late 16th or early 17th century. The Queen of England wearing a dress of her greatest enemy, it is very unlikely, so the identification has been changed to Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia (1566-1633). The portrait is very similar to the portrait of the Spanish Infanta by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, painted between 1598-1599 (Prado Museum in Madrid, P000717). The costume, the pose, even the landscape are very much alike. In her portrait, Isabella Clara Eugenia holds a miniature of her father Philip II of Spain, while in the described portrait the main jewel is a large gold eagle pendant set with diamonds. Although the Spanish Infanta was not a close member of the Imperial family, she could inherit such a pendant from her grandfather, Emperor Charles V, or receive it from the Austrian branch of the Habsburg family. In 1543, Charles V offered such a "diamond eagle with rubies" (orzeł dyamentowy z rubinami) to his niece Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545) on the occasion of her marriage with Sigismund II Augustus (today in the Treasury of the Munich Residence, Sch 49). In the majority of her portraits, Isabella Clara Eugenia wears a large diamond cross and no other portrait with an eagle is known. Two important elements are missing to consider the portrait in New York as her effigy - an eagle's head, as the imperial symbol is a bicephalous bird - a gold pendant with a double-headed imperial eagle from the 1600s, most likely belonging to Constance d Austria, is in the Monastery of Jasna Góra in Częstochowa, and the protruding lip of the Habsburgs, clearly visible in her portrait by Pantoja de la Cruz. Therefore, the model is not a member of the imperial family or a Habsburg. A similar eagle pendant can be seen on several portraits of Queen Constance of Austria - by Jakob Troschel from about 1610 (Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, Gm 699, 7009/7277), by unknown painter from the 1610s (Museum of Zamość, 62) or by Pieter Soutman from about 1624 (Staatsgalerie Neuburg, 985). In her portrait in Nuremberg, the queen also wears a gold diadem with a heraldic Polish eagle and a Spanish dress - saya, probably a gift from Spain or sewn alla moda from a Spanish model. The Queen of Poland was also depicted in a typical Spanish dress in her portrait by an Italian painter, now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (oil on canvas, 186.1 x 107.3 cm, 1883-137), a companion to the portrait of her younger sister Maria Maddalena of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, in the same collection (1883-136). Spanish, Italian (Venetian and Florentine), Flemish, French and Turkish fashion was at that time very popular in the Commonwealth, as confirmed by Piotr Zbylitowski in his "Reprimand of Women's Extravagant Attire" (Przygana wymyślnym strojom białogłowskim), published in Kraków in 1600. The country became very wealthy from the grain trade and such "extravagant" and rich costumes were not expensive. The next queen of Poland, Cecilia Renata of Austria, was also depicted with an eagle jewel - portrait with a tulip (Alte Pinakothek in Munich, 6781) and an engraving by Eberhard Wassenberg, and a gold brooch with a Polish eagle in the Louvre Museum (MR 418) was probably made for her. Anna Vasa was depicted with an eagle pendant in a miniature by Sofonisba Anguissola from around 1592 (Rohrau Castle). The garden behind the woman in the New York painting was made for her and a villa in the center is her residence. The layout of this garden corresponds almost perfectly to the palace of Anna Vasa in Brodnica, as depicted in the mentioned drawing in Stockholm from 1628. Assuming that the two depictions are very accurate, the differences arise from the fact that the residence has been modified over time (Anna extended the building and built a kitchen) and there is about 20 years difference between them. The painting is attributed to a Flemish painter, however, the style of this work is very characteristic and typical of a great painter Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614) and her studio/workshop. It is comparable to her self-portraits - at the spinet with a maidservant (Accademia Nazionale di San Luca in Rome and private collection), in her studio (Uffizi Gallery in Florence and private collection) from the 1570s, signed portrait of the Gozzadini family from 1584 (Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna) and portraits of Margherita Gonzaga (1564-1618) and her ladies and Alfonso II d'Este (1533-1597), Duke of Ferrara in the scene of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon from 1599 (National Gallery of Ireland). Lavinia was born in Bologna in the Papal States and she and her family moved to Rome in 1604 at the invitation of Pope Clement VIII. Her father was another prominent painter in the service of the popes - Prospero Fontana (1512-1597). A miniature portrait of a couple from a private collection (oil on copper, 19 cm), attributed to the circle of Prospero, is an effigy of William V, Duke of Bavaria and his wife, Renata of Lorraine. If he or his workshop were authors, he therefore accepted orders from abroad based on study drawings or effigies by other painters, his stay in Bavaria not being confirmed in the sources. The royal court and Polish-Lithuanian magnates frequently commissioned paintings from Rome at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. They were delivered to the king by foreigners who stayed in Rome, such as the Jesuit Antonio Possevino (1533-1611), his envoys and courtiers, such as Cardinal Andrew Bathory (1563-1599), Stanisław Reszka (1544-1600) and Tomasz Treter (1547-1610) and others, as well as passers-by, such as Marshals Mikołaj Wolski (1553-1630) and Zygmunt Gonzaga Myszkowski (ca. 1562-1615). Paintings, whose subjects are not known, sent from Rome by Reszka in 1588 must have pleased the king, since Bernard Gołyński reported that they were far superior to the paintings sent to the king by Possevino (after "Z dziejów polskiego mecenatu ..." by Władysław Tomkiewicz, p. 23). Eustachy Wołłowicz (1572-1630), provost (praepositus) of Trakai and a referendary at the court of Sigismund III Vasa possibly owned a painting by Michelangelo (Pietà), reproduced in a 1604 print by Lucas Kilian with his coat of arms and inscription MICHAEL: ANG. / B. pinxit Romae. They also had many portraits, especially of famous Italians. In the second edition of his autobiography, published in 1608, Bologna's best known poet, Giulio Cesare Croce (1550-1609), writes poetically on his portrait made by Lavinia, which was sent to Poland: "And a short time ago I had my portrait made by Lavinia Fontana and my portrait has been taken to live in Poland" (E' poco tempo ch'io mi fei ritrare, / A Lavinia Fontana, e'l mio ritratto, / Fù portato in Polonia ad habitare, "Descrittione della vita del Croce", p. 20). Stylistically the landscape behind the woman in the New York painting resembles the works of Domenico Tintoretto, in particular the portrait of Princess Anna Vasa in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (P24e2). It is possible that Lavinia received a painting by Domenico or his workshop to copy and inspired by his style. The facial features of a woman greatly resemble the Polish-Lithuanian-Swedish Infanta from the mentioned portrait by Tintoretto and the oval portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola, as well as the effigies of her brother Sigismund III by Joseph Heintz the Elder (Alte Pinakothek in Munich, 11885) and by Jakob Troschel (Royal Castle in Warsaw, ZKW 1176). In her 1584 portrait of the Gozzadini family, Lavinia "resurrected" two family members – Ginevra (d. 1581) and her father, Senator Ulisse Gozzadini (d. 1561). If she could paint the deceased as a living person, she could also paint the people living far from her studio, like Anna Vasa. The woman was also depicted in a full-length portrait currently housed in the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid (oil on canvas, 198 x 114 cm, 08470). This painting was probably acquired between 1936 and 1939 and was part of the collection assembled by José Lázaro in Paris. The model's identity has not been established, although "she must have been a person of high courtly status, judging by her attire" (Se ignora todo de la retratada, que hubo de ser persona de elevada situación cortesana, a juzgar por su traje), according to the museum's description. Due to the woman's rich costume from the early 1600s which is obviously Spanish, the painting has been attributed to the Spanish painter whose style was comparable - Rodrigo de Villandrando (1588-1622). However, not only the face and costume are similar to the New York painting, but also the style of this work. The Madrid portrait resembles the style of the mentioned portrait of the Gozzadini family, but most similar is the way in which the portrait of Raffaele Riario (d. 1592), attributed to Lavinia, was painted (sold at Dorotheum in Vienna, April 24, 2018, lot 52). Also very comparable is the portrait of a lady with a fan and a dog from the beginning of the 17th century, now kept at Lysice Castle in Czechia (oil on canvas, 85 x 65 cm, LS00081a). The details of the costume and the way the hands and face were painted are very close to Fontana's style. The face from the portrait with eagle pendant, as a template, was copied in another painting from the same period sold in 2017, also in New York (oil on canvas, 66.7 x 53.7 cm, Christie's, auction 14963, October 18, 2017, lot 572). It comes from the collection of the Hispanic Society of America in New York. This "Portrait of a lady, bust-length" is also attributed to the Flemish school, but the closest in style is again a painting by Lavinia Fontana, which is now in the National Museum in Kraków (oil on canvas, 77 x 62.3 cm, MNK XII-A-664). The portrait of Bianca Lucia Aliprandi, née Crivelli (sold at Christie's London, auction 20055, December 7, 2021, lot 29) and the mentioned painting by Fontana in the National Gallery of Ireland are also very similar. Another portrait of the same woman by the same painter is in the National Art Gallery in Lviv, Ukraine (54.5 x 42, inventory number Ж-1945). It comes from the Lubomirski collection and was donated to the Ossolineum in Lviv by Prince Henryk Ludwik Lubomirski (recorded in 1826). It was allegedly purchased in 1826 in Vienna from P. della Rovere ("Exhibition catalogue: Peter Paul Rubens - Anthony van Dyck" by Svetlana Stets, pp. 576-577), thus possibly sent to the Habsburgs or coming from the older Lubomirski collections. The painting is attributed to follower of Anthony van Dyck. The style of her dress indicates that the painting was made in the late 1580s as it resembles the Spanish-Italian dress of Margherita Gonzaga (1564-1618), Duchess of Ferrara from her portrait by Jean Bahuet (private collection) or her effigy by Jacopo Ligozzi in Lisbon (National Museum of Ancient Art, 453 Pint), painted around 1593. The mentioned painting by Lavinia Fontana in the National Museum in Kraków may have come from the royal collection, probably mentioned in the collection of King John III Sobieski in the inventory of the Wilanów Palace from 1696 (No. 77). Before 1924 it was in the collection of Antoni Strzałecki in Warsaw. The painting was made at the beginning of the 17th century because her costume and hairstyle are similar to those seen in the effigies of the so-called Bellezze di Artimino in Palazzo Pitti or in the portrait of Margherita Gonzaga (1591-1632), Duchess of Lorraine from about 1605 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 25.110.21). According to the museum's catalog entry by Dorota Dec and other publications, this is the artist's self-portrait and she depicted herself as the biblical heroine Judith (compare "Judith" by Lawrence M. Wills, p. 140), being basically a woman who overcomes a man's violence with her cunning intelligence. What better gift for patrons from the Realm of Venus?
Portrait of Princess Anna Vasa (1568-1625) by Lavinia Fontana, ca. 1588, National Art Gallery in Lviv.
Portrait of Infanta Anna Vasa (1568-1625), starost of Brodnica, in Spanish dress with eagle pendant by Lavinia Fontana and studio, ca. 1605-1610, Private collection.
Portrait of Infanta Anna Vasa (1568-1625), starost of Brodnica, in Spanish dress by Lavinia Fontana and studio, ca. 1605-1610, Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid.
Portrait of Infanta Anna Vasa (1568-1625), starost of Brodnica, bust-length by Lavinia Fontana, ca. 1605, Private collection.
Self-portrait as Judith with the head of Holophernes by Lavinia Fontana, 1600s, National Museum in Kraków.
Battle of Kircholm in 1605 by Pieter Snayers, 1620s, Château de Sassenage.
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria by Domenico Tintoretto
At the beginning of the 17th century, as in the previous era, Polish-Lithuanian monarchs and magnates collected portraits of rulers and famous people. In 1612 Jan Ostroróg (1565-1622), voivode of Poznań requested a portrait of the Elector of Brandenburg (letter from Salomon Leuper to John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, February 3, 1612) and in the same year William V, Duke of Bavaria sent a portrait of his son Albert (1584-1666) to Queen Constance of Austria, on the occasion of Albert's marriage (letter of January 4, 1612). The queen exchanged portraits with Albert in 1624. In a letter dated October 15, 1613, Alessandro Cilli reported to the Duke of Urbino that Queen Constance "keeps in her room the portraits of the most serene princes and princesses sent to her from Florence by their Highnesses" (tiene in camera sua i ritratti dei s-mi principi et principesse mandatigli da Fiorenza dalle loro Altezze s-m) (after "Das Leben am Hof ..." by Walter Leitsch, p. 370-371, 911, 2377, 2378, 2381).
Almost two years later, in 1615, through the ambassador Krzysztof Koryciński, Queen Constance also requested and received from Spain portraits of the children and husband of her sister Margaret of Austria "as natural as possible" (los mas naturales que sea possible), according to the Consejo report of January 15, 1615 (El gran desseo que la serenisima reyna su señora tenia de los retratos de VM y de su felicissima prole. Y suplica agora a VM sea servido de mandar se hagan assi el de VM como los de la reyna de Francia, del serenisimo principe nuestro señor, infantes y infantas los mas naturales que sea possible y a proporcion de sus estaturas, porque no podra llevar a la reyna su señora cosa mas cara y que tanto recreasse su vista, como la effigie y semejança de VM y de sus serenisimos hijos y a que nuestro señor le ha quitado la comodidad de ver los originales. Al consejo parece que es muy justo que se le den al dicho embaxador los retratos que pide en nombre de al reyna de Polonia). This was followed by the decision of the Royal Council, probably from April 1615, to grant "portraits of their majesties" (y los retratos de sus majestades y altezas afin que la serenisima reyna su señora reciva el gusto y consuelo que dessea tal vista). In 1620, the new portraits of the Spanish monarchs were delivered to the Polish-Lithuanian royal court, including that of Elisabeth of France (1602-1644), wife of Prince Philip of Spain, future Philip IV (1605-1665), sent through a Polish Dominican Father, according to a letter from Francesco Diotallevi (1579-1622), apostolic nuncio in Poland (1614-1621), to Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1577-1633) (E giunto qua un padre dominicano Polacco, che per molti anni si è tratenuto in Spagna al quale è stato consignato dalla majestà cattolica per presentarlo in suo nome a questa majestà il ritratto della principessa venuta di Francia, moglie del principe figliolo di SM cattolica havendo gli gia per prima mandati i ritratti di tutti gl'altri principi della casa reale, January 10, 1620). Few yers later, in 1624, Queen Constance launched a major campaign to have a proper gallery of family portraits. However, it took time because the painter working in Vienna was very busy. He probably had to make similar or identical portraits for the courts in Madrid, Brussels and Florence. Nikolaus Nusser, Chamberlain of Ferdinand II, wrote at the end of November that completion could only be expected in three months and that Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa will be able to take the pictures with him on the return journey from Italy. Through Prince Radziwill (presumably Sigismund Charles), Empress Eleonora Gonzaga (1598-1655) sent portraits of herself and the Archdukes Maximilian Ernest (1583-1616) and John Charles (1605-1619), both of whom had already died and whose portraits had to be copied in Graz. Nusser, thought that the portraits of the Emperor and Empress should be sent in the same size. "But the empress discovered that she had sent busts to the Polish court" (So hat aber die kaiserin vermelt, das sy bei dem polnischen gesandten brustbilder geschickt), wrote Nusser in June 1625, because the Polish-Lithuanian court did not want to be supplied with too many pictures. Some painters were active at the royal court, but apart from Jakob Troschel, Jan Szwankowski, Jakob Mertens, Tommaso Dolabella, Wojciech Borzymowski, who was supposedly commissioned by Sigismund III to decorate the chambers of the Warsaw castle, and in 1630 for Primate Łubieński he painted a portrait of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund in Gdańsk, and perhaps Philipp Holbein II (goldsmith, jeweller and painter), they were temporary workers or agents of foreign workshops. We only know that Archduchess Maria Anna brought the court painter Balthasar Gebhard with her to Constance's wedding in December 1605, because he had broken a rib during his stay in Kraków. Urszula Meyerin received 100 florins for the care of the patient. In the accounts from 1627 there is also a note: "200 florins given to the Polish painter at the Jasthof [Jazdów?]" (Dem polnischen mahler auf den Jasthof gegeben fl 200, Spetember 12, 1627). At that time, many objects were purchased in Italy, notably in Venice, including books. Gian Battista Gemma, a physician from Veneto, gave the king books to read, some of which were "heretical". This is why the very pious Queen Constance considered Gemma a heretic and even threatened to "throw him out of the room" (per heretico et minacciarli che lo cacciarà di camera), according to Claudio Rangoni's letter to Cardinal Scipione Borghese of November 11, 1606. When in 1606 the pope had a dispute with Venice and imposed prohibitions on the entire state (Venetian Interdict), the king did not want to speak openly against Venice and skillfully avoided making a decision. Crystal tankard with the coat of arms and monogram of Sigismund III Vasa and Constance of Austria (SCA - Sigmundus et Constantia Austriacae), floral motives and a handle in the form of a nude woman, attributed to Miseroni workshop in Milan (Bavarian National Museum, R 2157), is one of the few preserved objects commissioned by the king and his wife in Italy in the early 17th century. At the Prado Museum in Madrid, deposited at the Spanish Embassy in Bern, there is a portrait described as "Queen Eleanor of Austria" (La reina Leonor de Austria) from the early 17th century (oil on canvas, 108 x 88 cm, inventory number P001265). It is said to depict Eleanor of Austria (1498-1558), who subsequently became queen of Portugal (1518-1521) and France (1530-1547). Her Spanish dress and her large ruff indicate that this is rather a person living in the first quarter of the 17th century and not the 16th century. According to an article by Gloria Martínez Leiva ("El incendio de la Embajada española en Lisboa de 1975", January 16, 2018), it is an effigy of Anna of Austria (1573-1598), Queen of Poland from from a series created by Bartolomé González (Retrato de Ana de Habsburgo), but the woman has no resemblance to the effigies of the queen. The attribution of the painting to Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (inventory of Buen Retiro, 1794, no. 897) and Bartolomé González is now rejected and the painting is qualified as an anonymous work. The woman wears a tira similar to that visible on several effigies of Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain (e.g. portrait in the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest with inscription MARGARETA. AVS/TRIA. HISP. REGINA.) or Magdalene of Bavaria (1587-1628), Countess Palatine of Neuburg and Duchess of Jülich-Berg by Peter Candid (Bavarian State Painting Collections, 2471, 3217), so she is a reigning queen consort or duchess. The model therefore could not have been Margaret's younger sister, Archduchess Eleanor of Austria (1582-1620), who, after unsuccessful attempts at marriage on October 3, 1607, took the veil and became a nun in Hall in Tirol. A similar lace ruff and high hairstyle are seen in a portrait described as depicting a lady-in-waiting of Queen Constance of Austria, purchased in 1935 by the National Museum in Warsaw from Z. Iłowicki (deposited at the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, oil on canvas, 82 x 65 cm, 120735), generally dated after 1605 (after "Portrety osobistości polskich" by Stefan Kozakiewicz, Andrzej Ryszkiewicz, p. 251). Comparison with several portraits from a series entitled "Beauties of Artimino" (Bellezze di Artimino), indicates that the two women are dressed according to southern Italian fashion, as the closest are the portraits of Roman and Neapolitan ladies - Countess of Castro (Uffizi, Inv. 1890, 2265), Emilia Spinelli (Palazzo Davanzati, Inv. 1890, 2262), Belluccia Carafa, Duchess of Cerce (Uffizi, Inv. 1890, 2263) and Porzia de' Rossi (Uffizi, Inv. 1890, 2266). The series included portraits of Florentine, Roman and Neapolitan ladies linked to the court of Ferdinand I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. In the 1609 inventory of the Villa Medici "La Ferdinanda" in Artimino, drawn up on Ferdinand's death, there were sixty-five effigies of this type, forty-two Florentine, seventeen Roman and six Neapolitan. The effigies of Roman and Neapolitan ladies stand out from the series, not only by their hairstyle, but also by the style of the paintings which were probably painted in Rome between 1602 and 1608 and are attributed to the workshop of Jacopo Ligozzi, perhaps painted by Achille Gianré. The model bears a great resemblance to the effigies of Constance of Austria, notably the portrait by Frans Pourbus the Younger (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 3306), Joseph Heintz the Elder (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 9452), and by an unknown painter (Wawel Castle, 1783). A portrait painted in a very similar style and from the same period is also in the Prado Museum (oil on canvas, 112 x 92 cm, P002405). According to the museum catalog, it is an effigy of Eleanor de Medici (1567-1611), Duchess of Mantua, however, the model closely resembles the effigies of Margherita Gonzaga (1564-1618), Duchess of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio in mourning, as reproduced by Maike Vogt-Lüerssen (kleio.org, Die Gonzaga). The painting is considered a copy of Rubens, but in the late 18th century it was described as a work by Jacopo Tintoretto (Otra de Tintoreto, retrato de una madama Veneciana, inventory of Buen Retiro, 1794, no. 40). Margherita's portrait as a widow at the Palazzo Franchini in Verona (identified as the portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga by circle of Frans Pourbus the Younger), being a copy of the portrait attributed to circle of Jacopo Ligozzi (Castelvecchio Museum in Verona), is very Venetian in style and could be the work of Alessandro Maganza. The style of both descibed paintngs in Prado, resembles closely the paintings attributed to Jacopo's son Domenico Tintoretto - portrait of a man with a letter and a crucifix (Museo Soumaya in Mexico City) and portrait of a lady (Museum Wiesbaden). The style in which the hands were painted is particularly similar. The details of costume of Constance's Spanish satin saya can also be compared to early 17th century doublet of "a man wearing an elaborately embroidered costume" (Private collection). Although the Queen of Poland was most often depicted in Spanish saya, in two paintings created by her husband, she wears a more comfortable outfit - Allegory of Faith of 1616 (Nationalmuseum Stockholm, NMH 436/1891) and a miniature from the Royal Casket (Czartoryski Museum, DMK Cz 196/I), offered by the king to the court preacher Piotr Skarga (Hanc imaginem, Sigismvndvs Rex. Pol. manv propia pin/xit eamq. donavit Cancionatori svo R. Petro Scargae), according to the inscription on the reverse. Constance also wore an eastern-style jeweled headdress and similar to the Russian kokoshnik, which carried the idea of fertility and was popular in different Slavic countries. She was represented with such a headdress in her portrait from the collection of the Marquis of Leganés in Madrid (oil on canvas, 219 x 140 cm, inscription: La Reina de Polonia, Archivo Moreno, 19513 B), sold in May 2009 with attribution to the Flemish or Genoese school. The possible author could be Sofonisba Anguissola, who lived in Genoa until 1620.
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) in Spanish/Italian costume by Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1605-1610, Prado Museum in Madrid.
Portrait of Margherita Gonzaga (1564-1618), Duchess of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio in mourning by Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1605-1610, Prado Museum in Madrid.
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) in Spanish dress by Flemish or Genoese school, possibly Sofonisba Anguissola, 1610s, Private collection.
Portraits of Constance of Austria and Hortensia del Prado by Gortzius Geldorp
"Long live King Sigismund the Third, under his auspices Everything that happened, the Lord restored from the foundations" (Vivat Sigismundus Rex Tertius, auspicio ejus Omne quod accepit restituit Dominus a fundamentis), is a fragment of a Latin inscription from 1610 on a non-preserved stone slab, which was before World War II on the façade of the Giza House in Warsaw (Old Town Market Square, number 6). It commemorates the reconstruction of the house after great fire of Warsaw in 1607, during which "many expensive Persian and Turkish goods were burned, 22 houses in the Market Square alone", according to Father Franciszek Kurowski. The Gothic house built between 1448-1455 was reconstructed for a merchant Jan Giza, who also added the following inscription "Bravery and human reason can do a lot, But money will always be the shortest way" (Multa vi et ingenio, sed citius pecunia Comparantur omnia). From 1655, this house was owned by Marcin Martens, a carpenter, possibly a relative of a Dutchman Willem Martens (Mertens, Mertensone, Martinson), who purchased stone and marbles for Sigismund III Vasa between 1618-1619.
Huge profits from grain trade, which was exported from Gdańsk the king and nobles spend on luxury goods commissioned or purchased in different parts of Europe (the Royal Granary in Gdańsk, designed by Abraham van den Blocke, was built by Jan Strakowski in about 1621). Descriptions in the registers of movable property belonging to the nobility often provide information about the place of origin of works of art. They show that they came mostly from abroad (for example, silverware mainly from Augsburg, textiles from France, Italy or the East, furniture and clocks from France) (after "Kolekcjonerstwo w Polsce ..." by Andrzej Rottermund, p. 40). Sigismund III conducted extensive diplomatic correspondence with the rulers of the Southern Netherlands on artistic matters, e.g. concerning stone elements forged on the Meuse River on the basis of patterns delivered directly from Poland. "Archives in Brussels, The Hague and Gdańsk reveal the names of Dutch stonemasons and commercial agents working for Sigismund III. In this context, one can even talk about a well-organized and efficiently functioning trade network between both regions of Europe" (after "Dostawy mozańskiego kamienia budowlanego ..." by Ryszard Szmydki). The king's second wife, Constance, with due care for financial matters, managed the royal court and the lands of her dowry. In 1623 she visited Gdańsk for the first time and a year later for 600,000 zlotys, she acquired Żywiec and made this possession the private property of the House of Vasa, because the monarchs in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were generally prohibited from acquiring land. She diligently engaged in charity, patronized poets and painters and composer Asprilio Pacelli taught her to sing. Constance was also notoriously famous for her great Catholic piety, intolerance towards other religions and favor towards German speakers, she also attached great importance to strict etiquette, following the Spanish-Habsburg model (after "Dynastia Wazów w Polsce" by Stefania Ochmann-Staniszewska, p. 128). As an example, in Jastrowie, which was part of her dower, the queen asked her husband to confiscate the temple from heretics and in Żywiec, she issued a privilage (on March 5, 1626 in Warsaw), forbidding Jews to trade and live in her city. The queen also arranged marriages of her German ladies-in-waiting with Catholic nobles, thus, representatives of the nobility who professed Protestantism and Orthodoxy and wanting to make a career at court had to convert to Catholicism. She showed great care in her effigies and refused to give her portrait to Marshal Zygmunt Myszkowski, citing the lack of such a custom. Nor did she want to present a similar artifact to an excommunicated Franciscan who begged for such a substitute for an audience (after "Prawna ochrona królewskich wizerunków" by Jacek Żukowski). All this contributed to her great unpopularity in multireligious and multicultural country. Among her artistic agents was Augsburg goldsmith and merchant Simon Peyerle, who took care of sending items inherited by Urszula Meyerin from her mother from Munich to Warsaw as well as large painting inherited by Queen Constance, after the death of her uncle, the Duke of Bavaria (after "Świat ze srebra ..." by Agnieszka Fryz-Więcek, p. 32). Through him, she acquired large amounts of jewelry. It is worth noting that at that time paintings were almost at the very end of the hierarchy, listed among household tools and kitchen utensils and after jewels, parade weapons, silver vessels, decorative fabrics, which were considered the most valuable (after "Kolekcjonerstwo w Polsce ..." by Andrzej Rottermund, p. 40). A small cabinet painting with the Allegory of merchant justice from the first quarter of the 17th century in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on panel, 37.7 x 28, M.Ob.181 MNW), comes from the collection of Piotr Fiorentini (1791-1858) in Warsaw. The female figure with scales and a sword, a commonly accepted personification of Justice, sits among objects related to trade (weights, barrels, packaged goods, a large scale in the background). The woman has a little crown on her head and her face features with protruding lower lip (Habsburg jaw) resemble other effigies of Constance of Austria. The style of the painting refers strongly to that of Gortzius Geldorp. Another painting very much in the style of Geldorp from the Fiorentini collection in the same museum is the portrait of a young lady, aged 21, dated '1590' (oil on panel, 45.2 x 34.4 cm, M.Ob.196 MNW). Her face and costume resemble greatly that of Hortensia del Prado (d. 1627) from her two portraits by Geldorp in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, one dated '1596' (SK-A-2072) and the other '1599' (SK-A-2081). Hortensia, a noblewoman of Spanish descent as her surname indicates, was first married to the merchant Jean Fourmenois and after his death she married Peter Courten in Cologne. The couple settled in Middelburg in the south-western Netherlands, where they lived in Het Grote Huis in Lange Noordstraat, which Courten had commissioned and Hortensia had a beautiful garden with fruit trees "from all foreign lands", plants "from every foreign shore", described by poet Jacob Cats. Portrait of a man by Gortzius Geldorp from the collection of Jan Popławski, identified as depicting a noble Jacques du Mont, shows him in a large ruff from the first quarter of the 17th century (National Museum in Warsaw, inventory number M.Ob.2415 MNW, earlier 35817). It is possible that both portraits found their way to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth shortly after being painted as gifts for contractors or friends.
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) as personification of Justice by Gortzius Geldorp or follower, 1605-1625, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Hortensia del Prado (1569-1627), aged 21 by Gortzius Geldorp or workshop, 1590, National Museum in Warsaw.
Miniature portrait of Rafał Leszczyński by workshop of Frans Pourbus the Younger
Rafał Leszczyński, great-grandfather of King Stanisław Leszczyński (Stanislas Leczinski), was born in October 1579 as the only son of Andrzej Leszczyński (d. 1606), voivode of Brześć Kujawski and Anna Firlej, a daughter of Andrzej Firlej (d. 1585), castellan of Lublin. He had three half-brothers: Jan, Grand Chancellor of the Crown, Wacław, the Primate of Poland, and Przecław, voivode of Tartu.
He studied at the school of the Czech Brethren in Koźminek, then he was educated in Silesia (Głogów), Heidelberg (1594), Basel (1595), Strasbourg (1596-1598) and Geneva (1599). He visited England, Scotland, the Netherlands and Italy, where in Padua in 1601 he was a student of the famous Italian physicist, astronomer and mathematician Galileo Galilei. He began his public activity as an envoy to the Sejm from the Sandomierz Voivodeship in 1605. In 1609, he became the marshal of the Central Tribunal, in 1612 - castellan of Wiślica and in 1618 - castellan of Kalisz. As one of the leaders of the Polish Protestants, he was in opposition to the pro-Habsburg policy of King Sigismund III Vasa. He was also called the "Pope of the Polish Calvinists". After return to Poland (1603), he maintained contacts with foreign scientists. He was interested in military and cartography. He commissioned a map of the south-eastern borderlands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, unfortunately, despite the help of the geodesist and cartographer Maciej Głoskowski, the work was not completed. In addition to Latin, he spoke French, German, and Italian fluently. He wrote poems, like a paraphrase of Guillaume du Bartas's poem "Judith", published by Andrzej Piotrkowczyk in Baranów in 1620. In his beautiful Renaissance castle in Baranów, built by Santi Gucci, he kept a large library, which, according to an inventory from 1627, had about 1,700 volumes. A miniature portrait from Leon Piniński's collection, today in the Lviv National Art Gallery (inventory number Ж-50), shows a man in a fashionable Italian/French costume. It was painted on copper and according to inscription in Latin the man was 28 years old in 1607 ([...] SVAE 28. ANNO DOMINI 1607.), exacly as Rafał Leszczyński. The style of this miniature resemble greatly a miniature portrait of an unknown man from about 1600 in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also painted on copper, and attributed to a Flemish painter (inventory number P.28-1942) and miniature portrait of an unknown man in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, created in 1614 (Aº 1614), painted on copper and attributed to a Dutch painter (inventory number SK-A-2104). Portrait of the sculptor Pierre de Francqueville (Pietro Francavilla, 1548-1615) by workshop of Frans Pourbus the Younger in private collection, created between 1609-1615 (after original in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, inventory number 746 / 1890), represent similar style of painting and costume. Such collar is also visible in a portrait of an unknown man in the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, created in about 1600 and attributed to Agostino Carracci (inventory number Wil.1627). Major Flemish portrait and miniature painter working in northeast Italy at the beginning of the 17th century was Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569-1622), who from October 1600 was a court painter of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua. He also travelled to Innsbruck (1603 and 1608), Turin (1605 and 1608), Paris (1606) and Naples (1607), and in 1609 Queen Marie de' Medici called him to Paris as court painter. Frans and his workshop also took orders from abroad, not seeing the actual model. Several portraits of Philip III, King of Spain and his wife Margaret of Austria are attributed to him or his workshop (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, The Phoebus Foundation). His visits to Prague and Graz are not confirmed, however a portrait of Emperor Rudolf II (bust-length, wearing a breastplate, private collection) and a portrait of Archduchess Constance of Austria (1588-1631), future Queen of Poland, and her sisters (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna) are all attributed to him. Around 1604 Hans von Aachen and the second court painter in Prague, Joseph Heintz, also painted their portraits in direct rivalry with Pourbus. Most likely on the occasion of his marriage to Margaret of Savoy in Turin in 1608, Pourbus or his workshop created a miniature portrait of Francesco Gonzaga, the eldest son of Duke Vincenzo I (sold as a "Portrait of a mustachioed young man" by Italian school at Gallery Bassenge in Berlin, Auction 113, lot 6003). In 1609 a painter from the circle of Hans von Aachen created a portrait of a gentleman, aged 40 (inscribed and dated A 1609 A 40., upper right), painting a miniature (private collection). The man was the same age as Pourbus when he moved to Paris in 1609. In 1607 the second son of Rafał Leszczyński was born, named Rafał after his father. On this occasion, Leszczyński, who just inherited the Baranów estate from his father, could commission a series of effigies of himself and his family in Italy. It is also possible that a painter from the workshop of Frans Pourbus in Mantua was at that time in Poland. The man from the described miniature resemble the effigies of Rafał Leszczyński's stepbrothers Jan (1603-1678) and Wacław Leszczyński (1605-1666).
Miniature portrait of Rafał Leszczyński (1579-1636) aged 28 by workshop of Frans Pourbus the Younger, 1607, Lviv National Art Gallery.
Miniature portrait of Francesco Gonzaga (1586-1612) by workshop of Frans Pourbus the Younger, ca. 1608, Private collection.
Portrait of Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569-1622) aged 40, painting a miniature by circle of Hans von Aachen, 1609, Private collection.
Portrait of Adam Wenceslaus, Duke of Cieszyn by Bartholomeus Strobel or circle
Another painting created by Prague school of painting of Joseph Heintz the Elder and Hans von Aachen is a small oval portrait of a man in a gorget. The man also wears a white silk doublet, a military tunic embroidered with gold and a wired reticella lace collar. The painting comes from a private collection in Warsaw and was sold in 2005 (Agra-Art SA, 11 December, Nr 7831). The style of the painting is close to Bartholomeus Strobel, a Mannerist-Baroque painter from Silesia, born in Wrocław, who worked in Prague and in Vienna from about 1608. In 1611 he returns to Wrocław to help his father with work in the Augustinian church and in 1619, thanks to the support of King Sigismund III Vasa, he obtained the status of a court painter (servitor) of Emperor Matthias.
This portrait can be compared with signed works by Strobel, portrait of Władysław Dominik Zasławski-Ostrogski from 1635 in the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (signed and dated: B. Strobell 1635) and the Crucifixion in the Church of St. James in Toruń (signed and dated: B. Strobel 1634). According to inscription in Latin (AETATIS SVAE 37 / ANNO 1611), the man was 37 years old in 1611, exaclty as Adam Wenceslaus (1574-1617), Duke of Cieszyn when he was appointed supreme commander of the Silesian troops by the new King of Bohemia Matthias, Emperor from 1612. Counting on imperial favors Adam Wenceslaus, raised in Protestantism, converted to Catholicism and expelled the pastor Tymoteusz Lowczany from Cieszyn on February 23, 1611. He accompanied King Matthias at the ceremonial entry to Wrocław with a retinue of almost three hundred horses. The portrait is similar to the effigy of Duke Adam Wenceslaus in the Museum of Cieszyn Silesia, attributed to Piotr Brygierski (ca. 1630-1718). The costume (gorget, silk doublet, military tunic and collar) and facial features are very much alike.
Portrait of Adam Wenceslaus (1574-1617), Duke of Cieszyn, aged 37 by Bartholomeus Strobel or circle, 1611, Private collection.
Portrait of Sigismund Charles Radziwill by Gortzius Geldorp
In 1616, Sigismund Charles Radziwill (1591-1642), son of Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616) and Elżbieta Eufemia Wiśniowiecka (1569-1596) arrived at the royal court in Warsaw and obtained, in 1617, the titular dignity of Carver of the court of Queen Constance of Austria.
He studied at the Jesuit College in Nesvizh, and then in Bologna. In 1612, he joined the Order of the Knights of Malta (Knights Hospitaller) and fought with the Turks in the Mediterranean. After returning to Poland in 1614, his father founded him a Maltese commandery in Lithuania. At the beginning of 1618, summoned by the Grand Master, he went to Malta. In January 1619, he was in Vienna where a great congregation of Knights Hospitaller was held. He was appointed by the Grand Master general commissioner, together with Charles II Gonzaga (1609-1631), Duke of Nevers. "Having received a license from His Highness the Emperor ... tomorrow, God willing, I am leaving", he wrote in a letter dated January 15, 1619 from Vienna to his brother John George Radziwill (1588-1625). In February 1619 he was in Venice, and he reported again to his brother: "I found his lordship Alexander, our brother, in good health in Venice and I hope that Our Lord will brought him quickly back and your Majesty will see him in our country". After return to the Commonwealth in 1621 he participated in the battle of Khotyn and in 1622 he commanded the unit of the Polish-Lithuanian light cavalry (Lisowczyks) in the Imperial army. He died on November 5, 1642 in Assisi in Italy. Before the discovery of a portrait of a man in black costume dated 1619 and signed by Gortzius Geldorp with his monogram 'GG.F.', it was generally believed that he died in 1616 in Cologne. A copy of Titian's Violante by his hand, sold in 2016 in Vienna (Dorotheum, lot 122, monogrammed upper left: 'GG.F.'), indicate that he was in Venice and in Vienna. According to inscription in Latin in upper right corner of mentioned portrait of a man in black costume the sitter was aged 28 in 1619 (AETATIS. SVAE. 28. / .1619.) exactly as Sigismund Charles Radziwill when he was in Venice and in Vienna. The costume of a man and his facial features bear a startling resemblance to effigy of Sigismund Charles Radziwill in the State Hermitage Museum (ОР-45868), created after original from about 1616. His Spanish style costume, typical for the Imperial court in Vienna, is almost identical to that visible in the portrait of Antonio Barberini, Grand Prior of Rome of the Order of Malta, created in 1625 by Ottavio Leoni. Similar outfits are also visible in portraits by Bernardo Strozzi, like in the likeness of Giovanni Battista Mora the Elder, nobleman of Vicenza near Venice, in the Walters Art Museum and in the portrait of Mikołaj Wolski (1553-1630) by Venanzio di Subiaco in the Camaldolese Monastery in Bielany, created in about 1624.
Portrait of Sigismund Charles Radziwill (1591-1642) aged 28 by Gortzius Geldorp, 1619, Private collection.
Portrait of Łukasz Żółkiewski by Johann Philipp Kreuzfelder
At the end of the 16th century, Flemish/Dutch art was the dominant model for Nuremberg portrait painters. Under the influence of Nicolas Neufchatel and Nicolas Juvenel, two prominent Flemish/Dutch artists settled in the imperial city, the highly developed Antwerp portraiture found its way into local portraiture (after catalogue entry by Judith Hentschel for 1626 portrait of a woman). The pupils of Juvenel were among the most successful and sought-after portrait painters in the city and outside.
Jakob Troschel (1583-1624) from Nuremberg, a court painter of King Sigismund III Vasa, was trained in Juvenel's close circle - according to Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr's "Historische Nachricht ..." he learned from Johann Juvenel and Alex Lindner, and Johann Philipp Kreuzfelder (1577-1636), son of a Nuremberg goldsmith, completed his apprenticeship at Juvenel's workshop between 1593 to 1597. In 1612 and 1617 Kreuzfelder portrayed the Nuremberg councillors and in 1614 Bartolomeo Viatis (1538-1624), a merchant from Venice (City of Nuremberg's Art Collections), then he worked as a portrait painter for the Counts of Oettingen and Hohenlohe-Langenburg. He is believed to have stayed in Rome with the artist Adam Elsheimer (1578-1610) and influences from both Flemish and Italian portraiture may be found in his work. Kreuzfelder has been assigned the monogram 'JC' (for Johannes Creutzfelder) by researchers. In 1626 the painter probably also travelled to Munich, as signed portrait by his hand depicting a lady in rich black dress (sold at Koller Auctions, October 01, 2021, Lot 3013) bears a coat of arms similar to that of Sentlinger family, a wealthy Munich patrician family, and to Constance in the south of Germany in 1628, as effigy of Nikolaus Tritt von Wilderen, a member of the city council of Constance, is attributed to him. A small portrait of a young nobleman (34 x 25.5 cm, oil on copper) from private collection in the south of Germany (sold at Lempertz KG, November 19, 2022, Lot 1516) was painted in the style symilar to the portrait of a woman from the Sentlinger family. He wears elaborately painted, silk, black doublet and loose breeches. The finely painted white lace trimmings of the lavish collar and cuffs, is characteristic of Kreuzfelder. Also the artist's signature in upper right is very similar. The painting was attributed to German School early 17th century and the monogram was deciphered as TB f. (?) (overlapping), however, it could be also JPC f. for Johannes Philippus Creutzfelder fecit in Latin. According to the rest of inscription, also in Latin, the depicted man was 25 years old in 1619 (Aetatis. 25 / 1619), exactly as Łukasz Żółkiewski (1594-1636), the younger son of the Chamberlain of Lviv Mikołaj Żółkiewski (d. 1596). He studied abroad, possibly at the Jesuit College of Ingolstadt, a city between Nuremberg and Munich in the Duchy and Electorate of Bavaria, very popular among Polish-Lithuanian nobility at that time. King Sigismund III ordered works of art in Bavaria and sent them to William V, Duke of Bavaria, while king's mistress, influential "minister in a skirt" or "Jesuit's bigotry" Urszula Meyerin (1570-1635), was most likely born near Munich in Bavaria. Nephew of the famous hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski (1547-1620), Łukasz took part in the Turkish campaign of 1620 and was captured at the battle of Cecora, in which his uncle lost his life. Four years later, in 1624, he accompanied Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (future Ladislaus IV) on a foreign trip at the behest of King Sigismund III. Żółkiewski, who become the voivode of Bratslav, died childless in a battle with the Cossacks in November or December 1636 and was buried in the Jesuit church in Pereiaslav, which he founded a year earlier (1635) along with the Jesuit College. Later, the Cossacks destroyed Pereiaslav including the church, and they threw out the body of the founder from the coffin (after "Ilustrowany przewodnik po zabytkach kultury na Ukrainie" by Jacek Tokarski, Zbigniew Hauser, Volume 4, p. 180). The family resemblance of the 25-year-old man to effigies of hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, Łukasz's uncle, is striking. The shape of the face, lower jaw and lower lip, hair color and hairstyle are very much alike. The style of the portrait resemble greatly two miniatures from the National Museum in Warsaw (inventory number Min.1014 and Min.1015), identified as effigies of Gotthard Kettler (1517-1587), Duke of Courland, which was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and his wife Anna of Mecklenburg (1533-1602). It cannot be excluded that Kreuzfelder arrived at some point of his career to the Commonwealth or Żółkiewski commissioned a series of his effigies during his potential sojourn in Nuremberg, because the painter was known among Polish-Lithuanian clients.
Portrait of Łukasz Żółkiewski (1594-1636), aged 25 by Johann Philipp Kreuzfelder, 1619, Private collection.
Miniature portrait of Gotthard Kettler (1517-1587), Duke of Courland by Johann Philipp Kreuzfelder, first quarter of the 17th century, National Museum in Warsaw.
Miniature portrait of Anna of Mecklenburg (1533-1602), Duchess of Courland by Johann Philipp Kreuzfelder, first quarter of the 17th century, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portraits of Tomasz Zamoyski and Katarzyna Ostrogska by Domenico Tintoretto
In the years 1615-1617, "fulfilling the last will of his father", Tomasz Zamoyski (1594-1638), son of Jan Zamoyski, Grand Chancellor of the Crown (1542-1605) and Barbara Tarnowska (1566-1610), daughter of Stanisław Tarnowski (d. 1618), castellan of Sandomierz, undertook foreign peregrinations. Almost all young magnates made such educational journeys at that time.
Through Kraków in the south of Poland, he reached Gdańsk in the north, where he stayed "about six Sundays" - from around December 12, 1614 to the last days of January 1615, also visiting Malbork and Elbląg. In the last days of January 1615, after receiving letters of recommendation from king Sigismund III Vasa, young Zamoyski set off from Gdańsk accompanied by a small court with Father Wojciech Bodzęcki, professor at the Zamość Academy, and Piotr Oleśnicki, Tomasz's cousin, who studied in Paris and Padua at the expense of Jan Zamoyski. From Lübeck he went to Amsterdam, and from there to England. He arrived in London in mid-July 1615 and spent about 5 months there. James I, captured by Tomasz's wit and kindness, often invited him to hunting and banquets. At the request of Zamoyski the king released several English Catholics from prison - including Father Fludd who was held at Gatehouse Prison. "He was held in high esteem by the King, who often had audiences with him. He often went hunting with his son Charles. The royal horses were always at the disposal of the Lord himself and his servants for fun. King James was given an expensive hat decoration with heron feathers", wrote Tomasz's servant Stanisław Żurkowski in a biography. Wanting to get to know the country better, he went on a trip around the island, which lasted about two months. Then he travelled to France. Zamoyski probably arrived to Tours, where King Louis XIII was staying at that time, in the first days of March 1616. From Tours the he went to Orléans then to Paris. His stay in the capital of France was very busy: he learned the French language, "listened to the courts in the parliament", he was "in academies on various acts and disputes", he improved his skills in fencing and horse riding, and he learned to play the lute. He attended the audiences of King Louis XIII, held receptions for officials and officers of the French court and visited them. He befriended the princes de Guise, de Rohan, de Nevers and de Montmorency. From France young Zamoyski came to Italy in January 1617. From an early age, he had contact with the culture of Italy as his father was educated there. He visited Naples and Rome, where he had audiences with Pope Paul V. Then he went to Loreto, Padua and Venice. Also in Italy he maintained the splendor of his retinue. He visited the studios of masters of engraving, painting and goldsmiths, he acquired luxury goods, he organized parties and gave gifts to people from the ruling class. The cost of Zamoyski's journey was amounted to enormous sum of over 20,000 zlotys, while the income from 1 village at that time fluctuated between 140 and 240 zlotys annually. In the first days of November 1617, through Switzerland, Bavaria, Bohemia and Silesia, Zamoyski returned to Poland, where in Kościan, he was welcomed by servants from Zamość and soldiers from his private units. A few days later, he arrived in Poznań, where "he put away his foreign clothes, cut his hair and returned to Polish attire", as recalled Żurkowski in his biography. From Poznań he went to Łowicz, to pay a visit to the Archbishop of Gniezno, Wawrzyniec Gembicki in his magnificent palace, and then to Warsaw, where he stayed for about two weeks. It was not until December 20 that he arrived in Zamość, where he was solemnly welcomed. Soon after his return his political career advanced, in 1618 he became the voivode of Podolia and in 1619 the voivode of Kiev (after "Peregrynacje zagraniczne Tomasza Zamoyskiego w latach 1615-1617" by Adam Andrzej Witusik). He also decided to marry Katarzyna Ostrogska (1602-1642), granddaughter of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570), Princess of Ostroh on paternal side, and great-granddaughter of Duchess Anna of Masovia (1498-1557) on maternal side. 18-year-old Katarzyna and 25-year-old Tomasz were married in the Corpus Christi Church in Jarosław on March 1, 1620. As a dowry, Katarzyna received 53,333 zlotys, 6 castles, 13 cities, about 300 villages and folwarks. She was born in 1602 in the family of Alexander Prince of Ostroh, voivode of Volhynia, and his wife Anna Kostka (1575-1635), as the youngest of eight children. The family lived in the city of Jarosław. Her father died suddenly the year after her birth, leaving a rich inheritance to his three daughters who reached adulthood: Zofia, Anna Alojza and Katarzyna. The portrait of a young man in a black coat lined with fur, attributed to Domenico Tintoretto, today in the National Gallery in London (inventory number NG173), was presented in 1839 by Henry Gally Knight (1786-1846), a British politician and writer. His right hand rests on a table placed before an open window, and on which is a silver vase containing a sprig of myrtle, consecrated to Venus, goddess of love and used in bridal wreaths. In his left hand he holds a black cap. An open window looks out over a landscape of farmland with two rustic buildings, possibly barns, with what look like thatched roofs supported on wooden trunks or poles, typical for Poland, Ukraine and large estates of the Zamoyskis near Zamość. Merchants from such distant countries as Spain, England, Finland, Armenia and Persia arrived for the annual three-week-long big fair, one of the largest in Europe, in nearby Jarosław - according to Łukasz Opaliński (1612-1662), 30,000 cattle were sold at one Jarosław fair (Polonia Defensa Contra Joan. Barclaium, 1648). The same man was also depicted in a full-length portrait, also by Domenico Tintoretto, which before World War II was in the Łańcut Castle close to Jarosław (catalogue "For Peace and Freedom. Old masters: a collection of Polish-owned works of art ...", pic. 37). He wears a fashionable French/English black costume, very similar to the one shown in the portrait of a young man, attributed to Salomon Mesdach, dated on the table: Aº 1617 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, inventory number SK-A-913). A view of a canal in Venice is visible through the window behind him, suggesting that the portrait is a souvenir of his visit to the city. The man in both portraits bear great resemblance to effigies of Tomasz Zamoyski in Polish costume, as a child aged 12, created by Peter Querradt in 1606 (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) and aged 44, created by Jan Kasiński in 1637 (Diocesan Museum in Sandomierz). Portrait of a lady, known as Donna delle Rose, in Villa Gyllenberg in Helsinki was painted in the same style as the portrait of a man with myrtle in the National Gallery in London. This work is also attributed to Domenico Tintoretto, it has similar composition and similar dimensions (116.5 x 85.5 cm / 119.5 × 98 cm), therefore can be considered as a pendant or a portrait from a series created at the same time. The modish attire worn by this young woman bespeaks great affluence. Her costume is very similar to Venetian court dresses visible in a print published in 1609 in Giacomo Franco's "Costumes of Venetian Men and Women" (Habiti d'hvomeni et donne venetiane). The northern ruff, however, was replaced with a reticella collar from the late 1610s, like an open peacock's tail behind the head, propped up with sticks, similar to Italian and French collars of courtiers of King Sigismund III Vasa. The Procession with St. Anianus by workshop Tommaso Dolabella (Corpus Christi Church in Kraków) and Banner with Adoration of St. Francis by Jan Troschel (Leżajsk Monastery), testifies to the diversity of the court fashion in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 1620s with Polish, Spanish, Italian, French and German styles represented. White rose in her hair symbolizes purity and innocence of a bride. The woman's face bear great resemblance to preserved portraits of Katarzyna Ostrogska, all created when she was a widow and offered to different monasteries (Museum of Zamość), or to the portrait of her daughter Gryzelda Wiśniowiecka (Kozłówka Palace). Lady Zamoyska in a Venetian costume painted by Domenico Tintoretto? This was not surprising for the inhabitants of the Zamoyski estates. There were many Italians in Zamość, at the Academy, in the service of the Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, starting with the court architect, Venetian Bernardo Morando. In 1596 Boniface Vanozzi, secretary of Cardinal Enrico Gaetani in Poland, described Zamość, Renaissance ideal city build for the Chancellor, "a lover of the Italian nation" (amatore della natione italiana), from scratch: "He began to build this town in 1581 and already today it has up to 400 houses, mostly built in Italian style". Before 1604 he commissioned to the main altar of the Collegiate Church in Zamość, several paintings in the workshop of Domenico Tintoretto. Negotiations with the artist were conducted on behalf of Zamoyski by representatives of the Italian Capponi and Montelupi families and completed paintings were delivered to Poland in 1604. The largest painting depicted the Risen Christ with St. Thomas the Apostle - the patron of the temple, paintings in the side parts: St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist - the patrons of the founder, and the painting in the top of the altar - God the Father. This altar was transported to the church in Tarnogród in 1781 and only the side paintings preserved. Tomasz, his father and his wife in Venetian costume were also depicted in two paintings in the Church of the Assumption in Kraśnik (Thanksgiving mass and Rosary procession). Both were created by Tommaso Dolabella in 1626. From 1604 Kraśnik was part of the Zamość estate and the protector of the church was Tomasz Zamoyski, voivode of Kiev. The voivode and his wife founded stalls for the church with their coat of arms and in one of the side altars there is painting of Salvator Mundi by Paris Bordone or his workshop.
Portrait of Tomasz Zamoyski (1594-1638) in French/English costume from the Łańcut Castle by Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1617, present whereabouts unknown.
Portrait of Tomasz Zamoyski (1594-1638) by Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1620, National Gallery in London.
Portrait of Katarzyna Ostrogska (1602-1642) in Venetian costume by Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1620, Villa Gyllenberg in Helsinki.
St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist from the Zamość Collegiate by Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1604, Church of the Transfiguration in Tarnogród.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa in a ruff by Peter Paul Rubens or workshop
"This prince who was the delight of the Poles alone has now become, o Belgians, the object of your affection and that of the world" (Quod sibi delicium soli tenuere Poloni, / Nunc est, o Belgæ, vester, et orbis amor) is the inscription in Latin, paraphrasing Titus, under an engraving with the portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648), eldest son of King Sigismund III Vasa (after French translation by Alain van Dievoet in "Les Lignages de Bruxelles", No. 75-76, 1978, p. 59). This print was made in Antwerp by Pieter de Jode the Elder (P. de Iode sculp.) and Joannes Meyssens (Ioann. Meyssens exc.), most likely between 1625-1632, and shows the prince in profile in armor, with an order of the Golden Fleece and holding military baton (National Museum in Kraków, MNK III-ryc.-40877).
Although the monarchs of Poland-Lithuania commissioned many works of art from Antwerp and Brussels from at least the early 16th century (mainly tapestries and paintings), after the prince's stay in these cities in 1624 these commissions increased considerably. The prince was painted for the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain by Peter Paul Rubens, ordered ten tapestries depicting the story of Ulysses (Odysseus) from the Brussels weaver Jacob Geubels the Younger and purchased many valuable objects. It should be noted, however, that already a decade earlier, around 1615 or even earlier, the Flemish engraver Pieter Serwouters (1586-1657), who was born and worked in Antwerp before moving to Amsterdam in 1622, created an engraving with another effigy of the prince in national costume (inscription: Vladislaus Sigismundus Dei Gratia Polonia Sueciæq Princeps, signed: P. Serwouters fecit, Veste Coburg, VII,347,1). Regarding costume, Ladislaus was depicted in different outfits and in the first known portraits, mainly in foreign costume - Italian, French or Spanish. The principal tailor of the royal court at that time was Nicolas Dugietto or Nicolas Dugudt (Nicolò Dughetto da Parigi, Dziugiet), serving at least until 1616, most likely a Frenchman from Paris, who was paid 612 florins per year. In June 1617 the prince's servant, actor and musician Jerzy Wincenty, purchased in England for his master, his father and stepmother 36 pairs of silk stockings (black and color), 15 pairs of gloves, perfumes, 2 beaver hats, vest (wastcot) and 6 expensive gloves, 6 other vests and as much nightcaps (night capps) and a dozen equestrian gloves. In 1617 the prince used the services of his father's tailor Sebastian (active at least from 1601), and in April 1624 he was served by a certain Pallioni (after "Pompa vestimentis" by Jacek Żukowski, p. 54-55, 58). Although during his journey he frequently ordered clothes from the best local tailors, the Spanish-style outfit depicted in his portrait by Rubens was most likely made before his departure from Warsaw, as the black satin doublet, perhaps from a fabric ordered in Venice, was decorated with the monogram S, referring to his father Sigismund III. Around September 13, 1624, the French ambassador Nicolas de Bar, lord of Baugy, reported from Brussels to the Secretary of State that: "The painter Rubens is in this town. The Infanta ordered him to take the likeness of the prince of Poland" (Le peintre Rubens est en cest ville. L'Infante luy a commandé de tirer le pourtraict du Prince de Pologne). The original painting by Rubens, mentioned in the inventory of the Coudenberg Palace in Brussels from 1659 (No. 122/84), was probably lost when the palace burned down in 1731, but the prince ordered several copies of this effigy for himself and his friends and some of them have been preserved. The most famous and perhaps the most faithful copy made by Rubens and his workshop is that kept at Wawel Castle in Kraków (oil on canvas, 125.1 x 101 cm, purchased by Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1929, earlier in England, offered by the Met in 2020). Another copy, of which nothing is known, is most likely in a private collection. The oval copy kept at the Durazzo-Pallavicini Palace in Genoa (oil on canvas, 77 x 66 cm, 1890 A), was perhaps a gift for Agostino Balbi, whose palace the prince saw in November 1624. There is also a good 17th century copy in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 76 x 58 cm, M.Ob.2434, earlier 34348), which, however, more closely resembles the works of Gaspar de Crayer and his workshop, such as the portrait of Ladislaus' cousin Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665) in parade armor at the Met (45.128.14). The copy lost during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 when the city was destroyed by German forces was comparable in style. This painting was donated by Henryk Bukowski in 1886 to the Polish Museum in Rapperswil (received from the King of Sweden, oil on canvas, 72 x 57 cm, inventory number 501). Willem van Haecht included the same effigy of the prince in his painting of the gallery of Cornelis van der Geest, painted in 1628 (Rubenshuis, oil on panel, 102.5 x 137.5 cm, RH.S.171). Rubens posibly also painted full-length portrait of the prince during the siege of Breda - "he made his portrait from nature" (lo ritrasse al naturale), according to Le vite de' pittori ... by Giovanni Pietro Bellori, published in Rome in 1672, which is sometimes interpreted as life-size. There are several indications that significant contacts between the Polish-Lithuanian monarchs and Rubens' workshop began before 1624. At the turn of 1619 and 1620, Piotr Żeromski vel Żeroński (Petro Jeronsquy), envoy of Sigismund III Vasa, who appeared in Antwerp, bought paintings from Rubens for which the loan amounted to 1,125 Polish ducats (after "Rubens w Polsce" by Juliusz A. Chrościcki, p. 135, 139, 161, 164, 166, 207, 214). Żeromski presented the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Kalisz with a large painting by Rubens or workshop, representing the Descent from the Cross (destroyed or stolen in 1973). In 1619 Jan Brueghel the Elder, who frequently cooperated with Rubens, was released from customs by Albert of Austria for paintings made for King of Poland including 9 portraits and in 1621, he painted three portraits of Polish kings for which he was paid 300 florins by the secretariat of Archduke Albert and Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia on December 16 (En Brusselas, a 11 de deciembre se libraron 300 fl. a Juan Brueghle, pintor, vecino de Amberes, por tres retratos que ha hecho de los reyes de Polonia en el tercio postrero deste anno 1621). Many of Rubens' paintings were in the royal and magnate collections of the Commonwealth before the Deluge (1655-1660). Roger de Piles in his Dissertation sur les ouvrages ..., published in Paris in 1681, states that "The Lion Hunt, for example, and the fall of Saint Paul [The Conversion of Saint Paul] were made for the king of Poland, and four others hunts for the Duke of Bavaria" (La chasse aux Lions, par exemple, & la chûte de S. Paul ont esté faites pour le Roy de Pologne, & quatre autres chasses pour le Duc de Bavières, p. 25). Rubens most likely created a series of effigies of historical kings of Poland and Wespazjan Kochowski in his panegyric written in 1669 on the occasion of the coronation of King King Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki refers to a painting by the master depicting King Casimir the Great (Na cóż tu Rubens Kazimierzu tobie / Wielki, te mury przydał ku ozdobie?). Another series was probably commissioned in Vienna from Frans Luycx, a student of Rubens, because the large painting depicting Casimir the Great's father - Ladislaus the Short was in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden before the Second World War (oil on canvas, 145 x 115 cm, Gal-Nr. 514/Gal.-Nr. 2674 L). Unfortunately, today we can only imagine these paintings, because nothing is preserved in Poland from the original collections. The invaders during the Deluge and other invasions had no respect whatsoever for the country and its people, not to mention its artistic collections. Pierre des Noyers, secretary to Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga, describes the numerous atrocities and barbarities of the invaders between 1655 and 1660, the pillaging of everything including marble floors, windows, the destruction of gilded panels just to obtain a few grams of gold and that "they had even taken the old skirts of the queen's maids of honor and sent them to Sweden" (Ils avaient pris jusqu'aux vieilles jupes des filles de la reine et les avaient envoyées en Suède). In the letter of July 27, 1656 from Warsaw, he added that "the Swedes have done so much damage to Warsaw Castle that it is uninhabitable; they put their horses up to the rooms on the third floor which are full of manure and the dead bodies of their soldiers (Les Suédois ont fait tant de saletés dans le château de Varsovie, qu'il est inhabitable; ils ont mis leurs chevaux jusque dans les chambres du troisième étage qui sont pleines de fumier et de corps morts de leurs soldats). Other towns in the Commonwealth were also pillaged and ruined. In Vilnius, the Russian army destroyed the rich chapel of Saint Casimir and transformed the cathedral into a stable for their horses (after "Lettres de Pierre Des Noyers ...", published in 1859, p. 40, 212). A painting by Peter Paul Rubens, which could possibly come from Lithuanian historical collections, perhaps acquired before the Deluge and which survived the invasions, is now in the National Museum of Art in Kaunas. This is the Crucifixion (oil on panel, 107 x 76 cm, ČDM Mt 1335), which in the second half of the 19th century was in the palace of Counts Tyszkiewicz (Tiškevičius) in Astravas, near Birzai, where the Radziwill family's rich artistic collections were kept. It is interesting to note that this painting is generally dated to the earliest period of Rubens' activity, between 1600-1615, when he was in Italy (1600-1608), Spain (1603) and the Netherlands (1612). In the Neuburg Castle near Munich, where many items from the dowry of sister of Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa were stored before 1804, there is a "Portrait of a young man" by Peter Paul Rubens or his workshop (Neuburg State Gallery, oil on panel, 57.7 x 43.1 cm, 342). The painting comes from the Electoral Gallery in Munich and the Polish-Lithuanian monarchs and the electors of Bavaria frequently exchanged gifts. Already in 1612, Queen Constance praised the artistic interests of her stepson in a letter to Duke William V, Duke of Bavaria, who in February 1623 sent several paintings to Poland-Lithuania and the painting in front of which the duke celebrated services was sent to Warsaw after his death - the transport (via Vienna) lasted from June 1626 to February the following year (after "Świat polskich Wazów: eseje", p. 298-299, 311). The effigy of Polish Saint Stanislaus Kostka in prayer by circle of Rubens, from the collection of the Electors of Bavaria in the Munich Residence (Alte Pinakothek, 7520), could be a gift from Poland, but created in Flanders. The resemblance of the young man to the effigies of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, depicted in the mentioned engravings by Serwouters and de Jode, as well as in the medals with the profile of the prince by Alessandro Abondio (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Landesmuseum Württemberg or Bode Museum in Berlin), is striking. Also noteworthy is the resemblance to the likeness in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (Inv. 1890, 2350) as well as the prince's face in the mentioned painting from Rubens' workshop at Wawel Castle. In his early portraits, such as the paintings from the Wittelsbach collections (Royal Castle in Warsaw, ZKW 66, donated by the government of West Germany in 1973) and Neuburg Castle (Bavarian State Painting Collections, 6817), the prince wears a ruff. A very similar ruff is visible on a portrait of Ladislaus Sigismund's uncle, King Philip III of Spain (1578-1621), attributed to Andrés López Polanco and dated around 1617. The portrait of Philip III can now be found at Skokloster Castle (LSH DIG3535) and was probably plundered in Poland-Lithuania by Carl Gustaf Wrangel (1613-1676), close friend and trusted advisor to the "Brigand of Europe" King Charles X Gustav of Sweden. In this portrait the prince does not wear the Order of the Golden Fleece, which he received in 1615, so the portrait could be dated shortly before he received the order, however, in many later effigies, Ladislaus was depicted without the Golden Fleece. For example, in the series of portraits of Polish monarchs commissioned by the Toruń City Council for the Royal Chamber of the City Hall, Sigismund III Vasa wears the order, while his son and successor is depicted without this distinction. In 2019, a miniature copy of this effigy, attributed to Abraham van Diepenbeeck, a student of Rubens who worked for the clients from the Commonwealth and moved to Antwerp in 1621, was sold in the United States (oil on vellum, 13.34 x 9.53 cm, Concept Art Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA, June 8, 2019, lot 1239). In this version of the effigy, the young prince particularly resembles the effigies of his father Sigismund III, notably the profile portrait at Wawel Castle (9009), purchased in Munich in 2008 (Hermann Historica, Auction 54, April 10, 2008, lot 3223).
Crucifixion by Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1600-1615, National Museum of Art in Kaunas.
Portrait of King Philip III of Spain (1578-1621) by Andrés López Polanco, ca. 1617, Skokloster Castle.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in a ruff by Peter Paul Rubens or workshop, ca. 1615-1621, Neuburg State Gallery.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in a ruff by Abraham van Diepenbeeck, after 1621, Private collection.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in a hat by workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1624, Wawel Royal Castle.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in a hat by workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1624, present whereabouts unknown.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in a hat by workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1624, Durazzo-Pallavicini Palace in Genoa.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in a hat by workshop of Gaspar de Crayer, ca. 1624, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in a hat by workshop of Gaspar de Crayer, ca. 1624, Polish Museum in Rapperswil, lost.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in a hat, detail of the Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest by Willem van Haecht, 1628, Rubenshuis in Antwerp.
Portrait of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa by Giovanni Antonio Galli
After World War II, which was the culmination of horrific invasions and partitions of Poland by its neighbors, very few effigies of Polish-Lithuanian Vasas were preserved in the former territories of the Commonwealth. What is very meaningful is that many of them were acquired abroad in the 19th century by aristocrats wishing to preserve the memory of the most tolerant country in Renaissance Europe. One of these paintings is a full-length portrait of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, future King Ladislaus IV, painted by an Italian painter during his peregrination in the Italian peninsula in 1624-1625, now at Kórnik Castle near Poznań (oil on canvas, 234 x 116 cm, inventory number MK 03369).
It was purchased in 1850 in Paris by Count Tytus Działyński (1796-1861). According to the inscription at the bottom, the effigy was commissioned by the Gundulić family (known in Italian as Gondola), patricians from Dubrovnik (Republic of Ragusa), who settled in Ancona in the Papal States. It was intended as a souvenir of the prince's stay at their house on December 13 and 14, 1624. Ivan Gundulič (1589-1638), a relative of the hosts, an outstanding Croatian poet and patrician from Dubrovnik, probably met the Polish-Lithuanian prince there and dedicated the poem "Osman" to him. He was probably also the author of the inscription on the portrait (VLADISLAO SIGISMUNDI POLONORum REGIS FILIO / SCYTHAR, TVRCARVMQ: TIVMPHATORI INVICTo / GVNDVLA FAMILIA HOSPITI SVO / VT CVIVS HVMANSmam MAEST SEVELIN HIS ÆDIBVs ASPEXIt / SEMPER IN IMAGINE SVSPICIAT.). In the 19th century, the image hung in Casa Gunduli in Ancona (after "„Królewska” galeria obrazów ..." by Barbara Dolczewska, p. 250). The balding prince, who later frequently wore wigs, was depicted in a fashionable black Spanish-Italian costume with the Order of the Golden Fleece hanging on his chest and a rapier at his side. During his peregrination, Ladislaus Sigismund was considered a connoisseur, which is confirmed by the fact that Duke William V of Bavaria asked the prince to evaluate the copy of the painting of Saint Veronica, made according to the Roman original. Already in 1612, Queen Constance praised her stepson's artistic interests in a letter to Duke William. Ladislaus Sigismund's letter of September 18, 1624, sent from Brussels to Urszula Meyerin, and indirectly to his father, contains an important mention of his collector's awareness: "I bought several original paintings. There are many real masterpieces [capolavori] here". In Milan he admired the "crystal crafts". He probably visited van Dyck's studio in Genoa and looked at the paintings in the local Neri palace and the frescoes by Agostino Carracci in the summer palace in Parma. He admired the works of Domenico Ghirlandaio in Florence and visited Guido Reni's studio in Bologna (after "Świat polskich Wazów: eseje", p. 311-312). The prince's aunt, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, in a conversation with the Mantua envoy, Ferrante Agnelli Soardo, said that he "likes to be well received, appreciates music, likes paintings" (according to a letter of Soardo to Ferdinand I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Florence, February 4, 1625). In a letter sent on February 26, 1625 from Bologna, Ladislaus Sigismund mentions hiring a "good organist" (possibly Angelo Simonelli) and a "eunuch" (possibly famous castrato Baldassare Ferri) into the royal service, also expressing hope for employing a skilled alto player. In Naples, he could admire the representative attire of the viceroy Antonio Álvarez de Toledo y Beaumont, 5th Duke of Alba, who had "a diamond jewel on him and a cynturyn [belt - cinturón, citrine?] in his hat, which was estimated at several hundred thousand" and that at the age of seventy (septuagenario) he dyed his hair and beard (after "Obraz dworów Europejskich ..." by Stefan Pac, p. 134). In the late afternoon of January 12, 1625, he listened to "Adriana [Basile-Baroni] singing with her son and daughters". In Venice, which in his opinion "is probably the truest wonder of the world" (letter to Urszula Meyerin, March 5, 1625), he visited the house of a merchant selling diamonds. On March 7, he went to Murano "to listen to a nun who was famous here for her wonderful voice". Two days later he appeared incognito "at the Council of Venice" and on March 20, 1625, from Palmanova, the prince sent a letter of thanks to the Republic of Venice for a lavish reception. He brought numerous gifts to the country - sculptures, caskets, jewels and "paintings by old, famous masters", received from the Duke of Mantua, Carlo Magalotti, Cardinal Francesco Barberini and a painting in a precious frame from Pope Urban VIII. He also made numerous purchases and, like in Venice, they were exempt from customs duties and additional fees (after "Listy Władysława Wazy ..." by Jacek Żukowski, p. 63, 66, 71, 73, 76, 78). Italians also received many gifts and effigies of the prince and members of the royal family. In the Durazzo-Pallavicini Palace in Genoa there is a good workshop copy of Ladislaus Sigismund's portrait by Rubens. Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte (1549-1627), patron of Caravaggio, had in his Roman Palazzo Madama "a portrait of the Prince, son of the King of Poland in a black frame" (un ritratto del Principe figlio del Re di Polonia con cornice nere) and Cardinal Francesco Peretti di Montalto (1597-1655), had in 1655 "a painting with a portrait of the Prince of Bologna [Poland] in Polish dress, holding a jewel [most likely bulava mace] in his hand" (quadro uno con ritratto del Principe di Bologna [Polonia] in habito Polacco, che tiene in mano un gioielo). These were probably copies of portrait of Ladislaus Sigismund in Polish costume by Rubens, as the Flemish painter most likely created two versions of his effigy, one commissioned by the Infanta "with a hat on his head" (con el sombrero en la caveza), and the other - alla polacca, i.e. in Polish costume. Two such copies, identified by me in 2012, were offered to the Medicis (Pitti Palace in Florence, Inv. 1890, 5178 and 5673). They were believed to be images of King Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, and one of them even has an inscription in Italian: MICHELE VIESNOVISKI RE DI / POLONIA. While Poles often preferred Italian, French, or Flemish fashion, foreign aristocrats wanted Polish-style clothing. The Grand Duchess of Tuscany received such outfits from her sister Queen Constance of Austria in 1622. In 1631, Archduke Leopold V (1586-1632) also wanted Polish clothes for his three-year-old son Ferdinand Charles (1628-1662), which were made and sent by the queen. Leopold liked the clothes and wanted to pay for them, but Constance said that a portrait of "young dear Pollack" (deß jungen lieben Pollacken conterfet) would be sufficient (according to Urszula Meyerin's letter to the Archduke, April 4, 1631). The portraits of the young Dukes of Tuscany in Polish clothing existed in several versions and copies, some of which were undoubtedly also sent to Poland-Lithuania. This is why the portrait of a prince, made in a style close to Justus Sustermans and resembling the effigies of the sons of Ladislaus Sigismund's aunt, Maria Magdalena of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, is considered the effigy of one of Ladislaus Sigismond's brothers (Academy of Saint Luke in Rome, inventory number 298). The effigy of the young Vasa in his sumptuous costume was undoubtedly also created in several copies for the prince, his family and his friends. Unfortunately, this is the only version known to date, which also indicates the extent of the destruction of art in Poland. Similar to other exquisite effigies created during his journey, this one is also finely painted. The closest is the Penitent Mary Magdalene from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (37.651), dated circa 1625-1635. This canvas is attributed to a painter active in Rome Giovanni Antonio Galli, called lo Spadarino (1585-1652), member of the Caravaggisti (followers of Caravaggio). Another work painted in the same way can be found in Ancona, where the portrait of the prince was initially kept. It is also attributed to Spadarino and shows a full-length effigy of Saint Thomas of Villanova giving alms. The painting, now at the Pinacoteca Civica di Ancona (oil on canvas, 192 x 112 cm, inv. 51), is dated to about 1618-1620 (in 1618 the Spanish saint was beatified by Pope Paul V). It comes from the sacristy of the medieval Sant'Agostino church in Ancona, mentioned by Marcello Oretti, who visited Ancona in 1777. Two pendant effigies of Ladislaus and his second wife Marie Louise Gonzaga, created in the style of Spadarino or his workshop, were sold in Rome in 2022. No signed portraits by Spadarino are known, so perhaps all were destroyed in Poland-Lithuania or are awaiting discovery.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in Spanish-Italian costume by Giovanni Antonio Galli, called lo Spadarino, ca. 1624-1625, Kórnik Castle.
Portraits of Ladislaus Vasa in national and Spanish costume by Gaspar de Crayer and Pieter Claesz. Soutman
In 1633, the newly elected king Ladislaus IV Vasa decided to amaze the Western European powers with the wealth, diversity and oriental charm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The "Lord of the Three Crowns", because in addition to being elected monarch of the Commonwealth, he was also titular hereditary King of Sweden and titular elected Grand Duke of Moscow (Rè di Polonia, e Suetia eletto gran Duca di Moscovia) (apart from the emblem of Sweden), sent his ambassador Jerzy Ossoliński to Pope Urban VIII, with official announcement of the coronation and confirmation of his loyalty to the pope. The ambassador's grand retinue with 20 carriages, 10 camels and a large number of horses, oxen and mules, passing through Vienna, Treviso, Padua and Bologna arrived at the borders of Rome on November 20, 1633. On November 27, 1633, the envoy made a magnificent entry into the Eternal City.
This splendid entry was immortalized in several paintings as well as in engravings by the Florentine draughtsman and printmaker Stefano della Bella (1610-1664), as well as in Relatione della solenne entrata ... by Virginio Parisi, Urban VIII's chamber attendant, published in two editions (in 1633 and 1634), including one with a dedication to the ambassador. According to Parisi's account and the descriptions in della Bella's prints, the suite included richly dressed camels led by Persians and Armenians, twenty pages dressed in satin, horses with rich harnesses including five beautiful Turkish horses led by Tartars and Armenians, with very superb saddles covered with pure gold, diamonds, rubies and turquoises. The majority of the members of the retinue were dressed in national costumes. Mr. Kociszewski (Chociszewski or Cochiszewsky), senior chamblain of the envoy, most likely of Armenian origin, was dressed in a rich Persian costume (alla Persiana) and rode a richly dressed horse with golden horseshoes and Jakub Zieliński, marshal of the court of the envoy, was holding in his hand a mace of silver (mazza d'Argento in mano). Parisi adds that "each of the horses had large bunches of heron's feathers on their heads, and on their legs horseshoes of solid gold, two of which broke into several pieces as they walked, which were for the most part prey of the people [of Rome]" (Haveva ciascuno de' Cavalli grossi mazzi d'Aironi in testa, et alle gambe, e piedi grosse maniglie, e ferri d'oro massiccio, doi de' quali nel camminare si ruppero in diversi pezzi, che per lo più furono preda del popolo). Several Spanish (Diversi Signori Spagnoli), French (altri Cavalieri franzesi) and Italian aristocrats as well as courtiers from the cardinals' courts joined the procession. Since Rome was the capital of the Christian world for Catholics, this propaganda entry was dedicated not only to Italians but also to monarchs of Spain and France. In addition to prestige and the strengthening of alliances against the enemies of the Commonwealth, the aim was probably also to encourage the arrival of specialists because the Republic of nobles constantly needed engineers, architects, craftsmen, artists and even skilled soldiers to protect the borders. Fabulously wealthy aristocrats and dignitaries of the Commonwealth ordered luxury items from the best workshops abroad, not only in Europe, but also in Persia and Turkey. In 1603, Jan Zamoyski (d. 1614), Catholic archbishop of Lviv, ordered twenty large carpets decorated with his coat of arms from Istanbul and donated them to the Lviv Cathedral (after "Sztuka Islamu w Polsce ..." by Tadeusz Mańkowski, p. 20). The country became very rich thanks to trade (grain, wood, cattle, animal pelts, horses, amber, Polish cochineal, mead, honey, wax and luxury items imported from east), salt, lead, sulfur and copper mining. Persian rugs, killims and saddles, Turkish horse tacks, harnesses, fabrics and weapons are frequently mentioned in inventories before 1655, as well as Venetian glass, Italian, Dutch and Flemish paintings and tapestries, Augsburg silver and Ruthenian and Russian icons. Thanks to this activity, they considerably supported foreign economies, crafts and trade. To meet the demand for oriental-style items, Armenian workshops in the Commonwealth also produced such products. For example, the 1633 inventory of Radziwill Castle in Lubcha in Belarus (Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, 1/354/0/26/45) lists 16 different rich saddles, some in velvet, embroidered with gold, decorated with silver, rubies, turquoises and nacre, mainly made locally (domowey Roboty) and Persian (Adziamskie), as well as 7 Cossack saddles and 2 German, 19 horse tacks, made locally or in Turkey (Rząd srebrny złocisty suty Turecki, five items - 2, 3, 6, 7, 9) and numerous Persian carpets. The diversity of the country is also reflected in various coins. In the first quarter of the 17th century, Pyotr of Ossa Ozhga (Piotr Ożga, d. 1622), crown referendary and starost of Terebovlia, kept in his chest 8,000 ducats, 270 Portuguese (or Portuguese-style) 20 ducat coins, 700 Spanish (or Spanish-style) doubloons, 1,000 Moscow gold coins and 2,000 thalers. One-off commercial transaction (sales of oxen) carried out by the starost of Sniatyn, Piotr Potocki (d. 1648), brought him 55,000 in gold and the dowries of rich noblewomen could range from 25,000 to 400,000 in gold (after "Obieg pieniężny ..." by Andrzej Mikołajczyk, p.129). The wealth of the Republic of nobles brought a huge tragedy - Deluge (1655-1660) during which neighboring countries invaded the Commonwealth (from the north, south, east and west) with superior force and engaged in a looting and destruction that lasted five years. The treasures of Skrwilno (discovered in 1961), Nieszawa (1963), Bydgoszcz (2018), Kiekrz in Poznań (1890) or Nasvytaliai (1926) recall these horrible events. The invasion left the majority of the country in ruins and significantly impoverished, so many structures were never rebuilt and were abandoned. While in many European countries visitors can admire magnificent castles and palaces, in Poland the castle ruins of Tenczyn, Krzyżtopór, Ogrodzieniec, Janowiec, Kazimierz Dolny, Tarnów, Pińczów, Siewierz, Bodzentyn, Kamieniec, Drzewica, Chęciny and other places are just memories of their past glory. Some rich casles and palaces disappeard completly like the Palace in Łowicz, Royal Castles and Palaces in Knyszyn, Radom and Kalisz. The destruction of heritage was so considerable that many significant objects linked to the monarchs of Poland-Lithuania had to be acquired abroad, such as a series of miniatures of the Jagiellon family by the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger purchased in London in the mid-19th century by Adolf Cichowski (Czartoryski Museum). In 1648, the Dutch painter Pieter Claesz. Soutman (died 1657) created an interesting painting for the so-called Orange Hall (Dutch: Oranjezaal) of the Huis ten Bosch palace in The Hague (signed: P. Soutman. F. 1648.). It comes from a series of paintings created by different Dutch and Flemish painters glorifying Frederick Henry (1584-1647), Prince of Orange and his wife Amalia of Solms-Braunfels (1602-1675). Soutman's painting depicts a triumphal procession with spoils of war, including prizes in gold and silver. A similar painting by Salomon de Bray, produced two years later (signed: SDBray - 1650) represents a triumphal procession with captured weapons. It is unclear whether the triumph refers to a particular event. In some paintings of the cycle there is a reference to the Spanish Empire - banner in the procession with the standard bearers by Pieter de Grebber (signed: P. DGrebber Ao 1648) and to the Holy Roman Empire - imperial banner in the procession with musicians and captured banners by Salomon de Bray (signed: SD:Bray. - 1649). They could refer to the Battle of Prague, which occurred between July 25 and November 1, 1648, following which part of the fabulous art collection of the relatives of Ladislaus IV, collected at Prague Castle by the emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612), was plundered and shipped to Sweden. In de Bray's painting from 1650, we can see German mercenaries (Landsknecht) carrying spoils consisting of Italian-style armors and helmets, quivers of arrows and leading oriental horses, as in reference to the print by della Bella showing the pages of the Commonwealth's envoy in 1633 (letter I). The original title of Soutman's painting is "Triumphal procession of the conquered weapons, silver bowls, basins and large cup, a wreathed woman with a silver candlestick in front" (Triomftocht van de veroverde wapens, zilveren schalen, bekkens en grote beker, een bekranste vrouw met zilveren kandelaar voorop). It was made in the painter's studio in Haarlem before December 1648 and he was paid 500 guilders. Among the weapons in the painting we can see the sign SPQR - "The Senate and People of Rome" (Senatus Populusque Romanus), although continued to be used under the Roman Empire, this abbreviated expression generally refers to the ancient Roman Republic. The sweaty man on the right could be Hercules and the gold statues the children are holding probably refer to Roman customs of worshiping various gods in the form of small statues (after "Oranjezaal" by Charles Julien, p. 26). The composition could therefore be interpreted as a triumph over ancient paganism or old-fashioned pluralism. The most intriguing element of this painting, however, is the helmet crowning the composition together with a gilded vase. Almost identical helmet was depicted in two portraits painted by Soutman and his workshop a few years earlier. Both depict Ladislaus IV Vasa when he was crown prince and wearing national costume - one in the Wilanów Palace (oil on canvas, 206 x 127.5 cm, Wil.1134) and the other in the Lviv Historical Museum - Korniakt Palace, both probably from the late 1620s or early 1630s. Such portraits were usually produced in series as gifts for different courts in Europe. The inventories of the Coudenberg collections in Brussels from 1643, 1659 and 1692 mention several portraits of the Prince in Polish or Hungarian costume or in armor (compare "Rubens w Polsce" by Juliusz Chrościcki, p. 214-215). In Henry Metcalfe's collection in the mid-19th century there was probably a similar portrait of Ladislaus in red national costume. It is possible that such a painting by Soutman was also in The Hague. The prince's costume probably inspired a painter who created the biblical scene of Ruth in the field of Boaz, now housed in the National Gallery of Denmark (oil on canvas, 124 x 163.5 cm, KMSsp356). This painting is attributed to Adam Camerarius, active in Groningen and Amsterdam in the 1640s (also attributed to Pieter de Grebber and Soutman). The biblical story about King David's grandfather and the barley harvest seems perfectly suited to the scenery of the Commonwealth, the country once called the "Paradise of the Jews" (Paradisus Judæorum) and the "Granary of Europe" (Granarium Europæ) (sometimes narrowed to Gdańsk, which was the country's main port). The helmet, inspired by the Persian kulah khuds, was typical of Polish-Lithuanian winged hussars and was depicted in the Gołuchów table, frontispiece to Florus Polonicus by Joachim Pastorius, published in Leiden in 1641, and in the so-called "Stockholm Roll" dating from around 1605. It was included in the portrait of the prince because it was an important symbol, a symbol of the military strength of the Commonwealth. The inclusion of such an object in the painting in the Huis ten Bosch was also symbolic, as were other elements of the composition. On May 20, 1648, Ladislaus IV died and on November 17 of the same year, his half-brother John Casimir Vasa was elected new king. Among the important paintings in the Orange Hall is a portrait of Frederick Henry's son-in-law, Frederick William (1620-1688), Elector of Brandenburg, painted with his wife by Gerard van Honthorst (signed: GHonthorst 1649). Today, however, we can only assume that the elector, vassal of the Commonwealth, who knew perfectly the weaknesses of the country and who, during the Deluge (in 1656), according to Wawrzyniec Jan Rudawski, "took to Prussia as a spoil, the most valuable paintings and silverware of the royal table", was already in 1648 planning or anticipating the great pillage by the "northern conquerors" after 1655 (including himself) and suggested it to his Dutch allies. Soutman, who "should also be recognized as a royal painter in Poland" (Petrus Soutman co nomine celebrandus quoque, quod regius Pictor in Polonia fuerit), according to Theodori Schreveli Harlemum, sive vrbis Harlemensis incunabula, published in Leiden in 1647 (p. 290) is generally considered to be the court painter of Sigismund III Vasa between 1624 and 1628. Perhaps the painter Peter, mentioned in accounts of the court of Sigismund III, who was paid 315 florins apparently for preparing the paintings (made from November 1, 1626 to November 30, 1627), was Soutman. Returning to his hometown of Haarlem on October 20, 1628, he asked the administrative authorities in the Spanish Netherlands for permission to bring a box containing paintings from Poland for the Infanta Isabella. These were most likely portraits of the family of Sigismund III, mentioned in the Coudenberg inventories, which were hung in the most important rooms of the Brussels residence, mainly in the Grand Gallery built by the regent of the Netherlands, Mary of Hungary (after "Świat polskich Wazów: eseje", p. 48, 287). Although the majority of paintings from the Vasa period made in Flanders or in the Flemish style are attributed to Soutman and Rubens or their workshops, because their contacts with the monarchs of Poland-Lithuania are confirmed in the sources, the portrait of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund in national costume, preserved in the Czartoryski Museum (oil on canvas, 198 x 118 cm, MNK XII-353), recalls the works of another eminent painter of the Spanish Netherlands - Gaspar de Crayer. Its style is particularly reminiscent of several effigies of Ladislaus' cousin, King Philip IV of Spain, such as the portrait in parade armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (45.128.14), portrait with a dwarf from the Palacio de Viana in Madrid or the equestrian portrait in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (2529), perhaps from the dowry of Ladislaus' half-sister. Effigies of family members were frequently exchanged with Spain and commissioned from the same painters. For the baptism of Anna Catherine Constance in 1619, her mother, Queen Constance of Austria, managed to obtain portraits of children from the court of Madrid and in 1624, in order to update the family gallery, the queen launched another major campaign and ordered the paintings in Vienna. Two other portraits of Ladislaus Sigismond in national costume, also close to de Crayer and his workshop, are today in the Pitti Palace in Florence (oil on canvas, 135 x 98, Inv. 1890, 5178 and oil on canvas, 131.5 x 90, Inv. 1890, 5673). Both are considered effigies of King Michael I Korybut Wiśniowiecki (1640-1673) and were correctly identified by me in 2012. The paintings were probably gifts to Prince's aunt Maria Magdalena of Austria (1589-1631), Grand Duchess of Tuscany or other Italian dukes. Another similar portrait from the collection of Izydor Czosnowski (1857-1934) was before 1961 at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland to the Holy See (reproduced in "Elementa ad Fontium Editiones", Volume III, Tab. I-III), with two other paintings from the same collection - portrait of Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga (1611-1667) dating from around 1650 and portrait of a prince in profile (a copy of the painting now in the Academy of San Luca in Rome, 298), identified as portrait of John Casimir Vasa, but most likely representing the cousin of Ladislaus IV and John Casimir - Giancarlo de' Medici (1611-1663), frequently depicted in Polish-Lithuanian costumes in childhood. In 1976, Izydor's son Leon donated several paintings from his father's collection to the Polish Hospice in Rome, including the portrait of the prince (oil on canvas, 133 x 95 cm, after "Kościół polski w Rzymie ..." by Józef Skrabski, p. 294, 296). The greater contrast of shades and colors in the portrait of the prince from the Czosnowski collection and the greater resemblance to Soutman's painting in Wilanów, indicate that he or more likely his workshop were the authors. Numerous magnates of the Commonwealth also owned royal effigies, arguably created by the finest painters. The inventory of paintings from the collection of Princess Louise Charlotte Radziwill (1667-1695), drawn up in 1671, lists two portraits of young Ladislaus, which could be paintings by Soutman or de Crayer, however the names of the painters are not not mentioned - "King Ladislaus in Polish style, when young" (157/8) and "Prince Ladislaus in Polish style with a mace" (191/17) (after "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska). The relatively small number of preserved paintings also illustrates the extent of the destruction of the Commonwealth's heritage. In the Wilanów Palace there is also another intriguing portrait of Ladislaus, attributed to the Dutch School of the 19th century (oil on canvas, 65.6 x 54 cm, Wil.1394). It is also very close to the style of Soutman (especially how the hair of his mustache was painted and the contrast of colors and shades), comparable to the paintings signed by this painter, such as the mentioned triumphal procession in The Hague or A young man holding a staff in the National Gallery of Art in Washington (2010.19.1, signed: P. Soutman / F.A. 1640) and attributed works, such as Portrait of a woman holding a glove in the Mauritshuis in The Hague (inventory number 755). Ladislaus is older in this portrait than in the other effigies mentioned. He wears a Spanish costume and this image closely resembles the portraits of Ladislaus' cousin, King Philip IV of Spain, painted by the workshop of Diego Velázquez around 1656 (Hermitage Museum, ГЭ-297 and Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, 0634) or an earlier portrait, painted around 1632 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 314). The likeness of the Polish king should be dated to around 1634, when he intensified his contacts with Spain and sent Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667) as ambassador. The inventory of the property of Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga, drawn up three months after her death, on September 27, 1667, lists a "portrait of the King of Poland on horseback in the Spanish style" (le portraict du Roy de Pologne à cheval à l'Espagnole). It was probably an effigy of her first (Ladislaus IV) or her second husband (John Casimir) in Spanish costume.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in national costume by Gaspar de Crayer, 1624-1632, Czartoryski Museum.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in national costume by Gaspar de Crayer or workshop, 1624-1632, Pitti Palace in Florence.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in national costume by workshop of Gaspar de Crayer, 1624-1632, Pitti Palace in Florence.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in national costume by workshop of Pieter Claesz. Soutman, 1624-1632, Polish Hospice in Rome.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) in national costume by Pieter Claesz. Soutman, 1624-1632, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.
Portrait of King Ladislaus IV Vasa (1595-1648) in Spanish costume by Pieter Claesz. Soutman, ca. 1634, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.
Ruth in the field of Boaz by Adam Camerarius or Pieter Claesz. Soutman, 1640s, National Gallery of Denmark.
Triumphal procession with spoils of war by Pieter Claesz. Soutman, 1648, Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague.
Portraits of Sigismund Guldenstern (The Laughing Cavalier) by Frans Hals and Bartholomeus Milwitz
In 1623, Sigismund Guldenstern (1598-1666), also known as Zygmunt Guldensztern or Sigismund Güldenstern, traveled with his older brother Johan (1597-1658) to Leiden in the Netherlands, where they enrolled in the famous university on February 27 that year. It is not known how long they stayed there, but in 1626 Johan became chamberlain to Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg (1599-1655), Queen of Sweden, and Sigismund returned to Poland-Lithuania.
Sigismund Guldenstern was born as the son of the Swedish admiral Johan Nilsson Gyllenstierna (1569-1617) from the Lundholm branch of the Danish-Swedish noble family and his wife Countess Sigrid Brahe (1568-1608). His father sided with Sigismund III Vasa and after king's deposition in Sweden he emigrated to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with his entire family. He probably also named his son after the king. They settled in the royal city of Toruń, which was one of the largest and most influential towns in Polish Prussia (Chełmno Voivodeship) and enjoyed the right to vote in free royal elections. Since the German-speaking community dominated the region, they began to use their surname in the German form - Guldenstern, which derives from their coat of arms, seven-pointed gold star. Before going abroad, young Guldenstern attended the Academic Gymnasium in Toruń (Schola Thoruniensis) and, in February 1615, enrolled with his brother to study at the University of Rostock. Later, before arriving in Leiden, he also attended the University of Strasbourg. During his studies, he learned several foreign languages. After returning to the Commonwealth in the mid-1620s, he served as a courtier at the court of King Sigismund III and was appointed the royal bed-keeper - łożniczy (responsible for the royal bedroom). In 1633, during the coronation Sejm, he received from the new king Ladislaus IV an indigenat (naturalization), that is to say a recognition of foreign nobility in the Commonwealth, after which he acquired all the rights and freedoms of the local nobles. Throughout his life he maintained cordial relations with the ruling house of Poland-Lithuania and the letter of Princess-Infanta Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651), written in Polish from Vilnius on July 14, 1636, is a good example. In 1636, together with Christopher Radziwill (1585-1640), voivode of Vilnius and Andrzej Rej (d. 1641), starost of Libusza, he presided over the funeral of Princess-Infanta Anna Vasa (1568-1625), the aunt of King Ladislaus IV, in Toruń at the Lutheran church. It was the last such large-scale political manifestation of dissenters in the Commonwealth. Due to religious differences, the king himself did not take part in the funeral (after "Listy Anny Wazy (1568-1625)", p. 47). Religion, which in previous epoch was not an obstacle in a country where Orthodox Christians and Jews dominated in many regions, the Protestants were senators, envoys and important officials, Catholics married Orthodox, Lutherans or Calvinists, due to Counter-Reformation and Habsburg influences at the royal court, often became an obstacle during the Vasas. Most likely in 1627, in Warsaw, Sigismund married the daughter of Fabian Czema (d. 1636), castellan of Chełmno and starost of Sztum, Anna Czemówna (1599-1673). She was heiress to large estates in Kashubia, transformed by her father and mother Katarzyna Leszczyńska into centers of Calvinism. By marrying his only daughter to a Lutheran, Fabian obliged him by a marriage contract to maintain Calvinist preachers in Anna's estates (after "Bracia czescy w Wielkopolsce ..." by Jolanta Dworzaczkowa, p. 105). The inventory of Czemówna's trousseau - "Register of things that His Lordship the Lord of Chełmno, some for himself, some for his daughter, Mrs. Anna Cemianska, took from Toruń in 1627, on May 20, some with her (including jewelry) when going to Poland [the Crown] from Toruń [Polish Prussia] a year ago" (Spisanie rzeczy, ktore Jego Mość Pan chełminski częścią dla siebie, częścią dla Corki swey Jej Mci Panny Anny Cemianskey Roku 1627 d 20. Maja z Torunia wiosł, częścią tej z sobą (jako niektore kleinoty) przed rokiem z Torunia jadąc do Polski wzięła) in the State Archives in Toruń (69/833/0/16.4/498, p. 157-162), lists a large number of jewels and other valuable objects, such as gold medals with effigies of Rafał Leszczyński (1579-1636), voivode of Belz and that of the Lady of Vilnius, most probably Elizabeth Radziwill (1583-1611), wife of Lew Sapieha (1557-1633), gold spoons and forks, 9 "Flemish collars" and "two red Persian carpets for Her Ladyship on her way to Warsaw" (Odlewka twarzy na złocie duże Jedna Jego Mci Pana Wojewody Bełskiego, Druga Xięzney Pani Wilenskey [...] Złota łyszka, Złote widelice, [...] Flamskich kołnierzów No. 9, [...] Dwa Kobierce Adziamskie czerwone dla Jej Mci w drogę do Warszawy). Paintings and other household utensils, such as pots and linens, were probably inventoried separately or not listed because they were considered of lesser value. Today, nothing has preserved in Poland of this great wealth, nor any effigy. During the Deluge (1655-1660), the Swedes plundered and burned the Guldenstern estates, including the Lutheran church in Jasna near Dzierzgoń (after "Protestanci w dobrach prywatnych ..." by Aleksander Klemp, p. 119). Taking into account his education abroad as well as his important position at court, the effigies of Sigismund must have been numerous and splendid. The best known of the family's movable possessions is the so-called Kretkowski-Guldenstern carpet kept in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich (inv. 1612). It was most likely made in Armenian workshops in the Commonwealth or in Turkey on the occasion of the marriage of Jan Kazimierz Kretkowski and Katarzyna Lukrecja Guldensztern, daughter of Sigismund and Anna Czemówna, perhaps as part of her trousseau and adorned with their coat of arms (she married Kretkowski in January 1670). In 1624, while Sigismund was probably still studying in Leiden, Frans Hals the Elder (1582/83-1666), a painter active in the nearby town of Haarlem, painted his famous portrait of The Laughing Cavalier also known as The Dutch Knight (De Hollandse ridder), now in the Wallace Collection in London (oil on canvas, 83 x 67.3 cm, P84). The provenance of the painting dates back to the collection of Johan Hendrik van Heemskerk (1689-1730) in The Hague, then it was in Amsterdam, Paris and finally in London. The stadtholders of the Dutch Republic had their residence in The Hague, so the provenance from their collections is possible. A copy of this painting by a different painter and showing differences in costume, dated circa 1630, was sold in 2010 in London (oil on panel, 69.7 x 59.8 cm, Bonhams, July 7, 2010, lot 34). For over a century, when the painting became famous under its current title, the identity of the sitter has not been established with certainty, indicating that he was not Dutch as many believe. Art historian Pieter Biesboer has suggested that the painting may depict the Dutch linen and silk merchant Tieleman Roosterman (1598-1673), who was the same age as the sitter and who is also the subject of another portrait by Hals, painted in 1634, now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (1999.173). However, the differences in his facial physiognomy are evident: Roosterman has a larger nose, more hair, and a different eye color. Such differences would be possible if the portraits had been painted by different painters, who moreover would not have seen the real model and copied other effigies, but Roosterman was one of the richest citizens of Haarlem, at the time where Hals lived there. While in the portrait of Roosterman painted in 1634 his costume is rather typical for a merchant, the richly embroidered doublet of "The Laughing Cavalier" indicates that he is rather a wealthy aristocrat (or posing as such), like Janusz Radziwill (1612-1655), whose portrait in rich French costume was painted in Leiden by David Bailly around 1632 (National Museum in Wrocław, VIII-578). A rich nobleman wearing a similar costume walks through the forest with his wife dressed in a typical Gdańsk costume in a drawing from the book of friendship (album amicorum/Stammbuch) of Heinrich Böhm of Namysłów, made between 1627 and 1633 (Kórnik Library, BK01508). The Catholic Gabriel Kilian Ligęza of Bobrek was depicted in a similar costume in the engraving from his thesis, made by Schelte Adamsz. Bolswert in 1628 (British Museum, 1858,0417.1259), as well as Christopher Michael Sapieha/Sapega (1607-1631) in his portrait painted in 1709 after the original from around 1631 (Wawel Royal Castle, 9150). It has also been proposed that the portrait could be a betrothal portrait, as suggested by the emblems associated with fortune, strength, love and virtue (arrows, flaming cornucopias and lovers' knots), embroidered on his costume. Such a good portrait would help the man to make a career at court and obtain the hand of a rich heiress. According to the Latin inscription in the upper right corner, the man in Hals' portrait was 26 years old in 1624 (Æ'TA. SVÆ 26 / A° 1624), exactly like Sigismund Guldenstern, when he probably visited Haarlem before his marriage with Czemówna. Despite the fact that the painter wanted to see his models, and for his large painting known as "The meagre company" in March 1636 he promised to complete the painting quickly, provided that the sixteen guardsmen of the XIth District of Amsterdam come to Haarlem (Rijksmuseum, SK-C-374), he and his studio also painted figures the painter probably never met in person, such as the French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650), who lived in the Netherlands between 1628 and 1649. Although there is no record of their meeting, the portraits of Descartes in the Louvre (INV 1317; MR 738) and at the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen (DEP7) are attributed to the workshop of Hals or to a follower and the original painted by Hals, considered lost, was engraved by Jonas Suyderhoef around 1650 (Rijksmuseum, RP-P-OB-60.717, signed: F. Hals pinxit). Because the original of "The Laughing Cavalier" was painted in Haarlem, the later copy sold in 2010 was attributed to the School of Haarlem, however, the style of this painting closely resembles paintings attributed to Bartholomeus Milwitz (ca. 1590-1656), a painter most likely from West Pomerania, active in Gdańsk from 1615. On 18 November 1606 he married Geertruyd Arnouts from 's-Hertogenbosch and between 1626 and 1629, during the Polish-Swedish War, he lived in Amsterdam. Around 1633, he painted the splendid portrait of Ladislaus IV Vasa in coronation robe, now kept in the Royal Castle in Warsaw as a deposit of the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 150 x 116 cm, MP 4982). The portrait of the king comes from the collection of the last elected monarch of the Commonwealth Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski (no. 181) and was purchased from Roman Potocki in 1950. The portrait of the Gdańsk councilor Salomon Giese (1590-1651) in the Museum of Gdańsk (MHMG/S/17), is also attributed to Milwitz and is very similar in style to that sold in London. Besides portraits, Milwitz also painted large landscapes and batalistic scenes, such as the 1627 Battle of Oliwa from the main town hall of Gdańsk, painted in 1649 and most likely destroyed during World War II. Magnificent paintings depicting the entry of Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga into Gdańsk on February 11, 1646, now at Wawel Castle (ZKnW-PZS 5520 and ZKnW-PZS 6934), are also attributed to Bartholomeus. As with the portraits of Descartes, Hals and his workshop most likely created several versions and copies of the 1624 portrait, one of which was later copied by Milwitz.
Portrait of Sigismund Guldenstern (1598-1666), aged 26 by Frans Hals, 1624, Wallace Collection in London.
Portrait of Sigismund Guldenstern (1598-1666) by Bartholomeus Milwitz, ca. 1630, Private collection.
Portrait of King Ladislaus IV Vasa (1595-1648) in coronation robe by Bartholomeus Milwitz, ca. 1633, Royal Castle in Warsaw.
Portraits of Sigismund III Vasa and Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa by Gaspar de Crayer
In 2009 a portrait of Mechteld Lintermans (d. 1641) and her two children was put on an auction in New York (oil on canvas, 231.1 x 130.8 cm, Sotheby's, June 4, 2009, lot 15). This painting is considered to be a counterpart to one of the two known full-length portraits of Mechteld's husband Jan Bierens (1591-1641), artistic agent of Ladislaus IV Vasa (1595-1648), elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
One of these portraits of Bierens, in a breastplate, appeared with the portrait of his wife in the Sulley collection in London, until they were sold as separate lots in 1934. The other, now kept at the Arnot Art Museum in New York (oil on canvas, 235 x 135 cm), comes from the collection of Baron Maximilian van Erp in Rome. The effigies of Bierens and his wife have a very similar composition and dimensions. Mechteld's portrait has been attributed to various Flemish painters, such as Anthony van Dyck, circle of Pieter Claesz. Soutman and Cornelis de Vos. The companion piece, representing Bierens, is not as fine in quality as that of his wife, and has been attributed to another artist of lesser importance than de Vos. Erick Duverger, in his 1995 article on Bierens, suggests that Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1596-1675), the godfather of Maria Bierens, could be the likely author of Mechteld's portrait. "However, while Diepenbeeck was known to paint miniatures of the family, he was never known to have painted large format compositions such as the present canvas". The portrait of Bierens in New York is also attributed to Diepenbeeck, while the effigy of his wife was offered for sale with attribution to Gaspar de Crayer (1584-1669), due to his "ties to the Court, his patronage by the upper-class, and the predominance of formal full length portraits in his oeuvre" (after Catalogue Note by Amy Walsh). De Crayer was a prolific artist drawing inspiration from his various counterparts, including Rubens, van Dyck and Cornelis de Vos, as well as 16th-century Venetian masters, particularly Titian and Paolo Veronese. Like Rubens he also cooperated with painters specialized in certain fields, such as Peter Snayers, a painter known for his panoramic battle scenes (the landscape in portrait of Count-Duke of Olivares by de Crayer is attributed to Snayers). Although born in Antwerp, de Crayer lived and worked in Brussels for most of his life. From 1612 he was in the service of Archduke Albrecht VII of Austria and Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain and their successors - Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria (1609-1641) and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614-1662), relatives of Ladislaus IV. In 1641 he was appointed court painter to Ladislaus's cousin, King Philip IV of Spain. Furthermore, de Crayer created a large number of altarpieces for churches, monasteries and abbeys throughout his career. Similar to Jan Brueghel the Elder, de Crayer also engaged in activities of an artistic agent for his Habsburg patrons. In 1619 Brueghel, a painter of flower still lifes and cabinet pictures, was released from customs by Albert of Austria for paintings made for Sigismund III, including 9 portraits of European monarchs, which could be by de Crayer or Rubens. Between 1640 and 1645 Gaspar purchased works of art from the Rubens estate for Philip IV. He received many commissions and had a large studio, where he trained a large number of pupils, who retouched and partially completed de Crayer's works, including presumably Anselm van Hulle, Jan Boeckhorst, Nicolas de Liemaeckere, Antoon van den Heuvel, François Duchatel, Jacques d'Artois, Lodewijk de Vadder, Pieter Boel, Jan van Cleve (III), and François Monnaville. Although, according to known sources, he probably never left the Spanish Netherlands, a considerable number of effigies of people he probably never met in person are attributed to him. These include the portrait of Empress Anna of Tyrol (1585-1618), who was a candidate to marry King Sigismund III in 1603, painted around 1612 (Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, NM 408), King Philip IV with a dwarf, from about 1627-1632 (Palacio de Viana in Madrid) and in parade armor, from about 1628 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 45.128.14) and mentioned portrait of Don Gaspar de Guzmán (1587-1645), Count-Duke of Olivares on horseback, painted between 1627-1628 (The Weiss Gallery in 2018). Olivares was a royal favourite (valido) of Philip IV. Equestrian portraits are frequent in his oeuvre and he and his studio produced numerous versions and copies of these effigies. Around 1635-1640, he produced several versions of the equestrian portrait of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand. The portrait of King Philip IV on horseback from Neuburg Castle, painted around 1628, could come from the dowry of Ladislaus' sister, Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (Alte Pinakothek in Munich, 2529). At this time he also painted the equestrian portrait of Don Diego Felipez de Guzmán (1580-1655), 1st Marquess of Leganés (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, GG 9112), while Cornelis de Vos made a portrait of Sigismund III on horseback (Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, NMGrh 2012), both inspired by Rubens's portrait of the Duke of Lerma, painted in 1603 and the portrait of Don Rodrigo Calderón, Count of Oliva from around 1612-1615. Very similar in style and composition to Olivares' equestrian portrait is the portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (later Ladisalus IV) on horseback, which can be found today at Wawel Castle (oil on canvas, 262 x 188.5 cm, 6320). It was purchased in London by Julian Godlewski, residing in Lugano, and offered to the Wawel collections in 1977. From September 6 to October 14, 1624, the Prince, traveling incognito and accompanied by around forty people, stayed in Brussels, Antwerp, at the Breda camp and again in Brussels where he met Rubens. The preparatory drawings could be made during this visit, but they could also be borrowed from Rubens or sent from Poland-Lithuania. What is interesting about this portrait and the effigy of Prince's father by de Vos is that the painter also used the same set of study drawings as in the portrait of Archduke Albert VII of Austria with a view of Ostend. The original version, believed to be lost, is most likely the painting that Jan Brueghel the Elder documented in 1617 in an Allegory of Sight (Prado, P001394). While the original in Brueghel's painting appears rather proportionate, in the copies, probably made by the workshop of Gaspar de Crayer, the Archduke's head and hand have not been skillfully added and he has a grotesque appearance (sold at Dorotheum in Vienna, October 10, 2016, lot 87 and Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, GE 402). If all these paintings were originally created for the Coudenberg in Brussels, as some authors believe, the governors of the Spanish Netherlands had a rather peculiar collection of effigies of different monarchs where only a few details differed. Considering the enormous destruction of art in Poland during numerous wars and invasions, we cannot also exclude that an effigy of Sigismund III is the original and not that of Albert VII. The portrait of Bierens kept at the Arnot Art Museum is comparable in style to all the mentioned works of de Crayer. Its composition recalls another painting by him - portrait of the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand kept in the Prado Museum in Madrid, dated '1639' (P001472). A painting similar in style and composition (baroque twisted column, landscape, fabric) to the effigies of Bierens and his wife is the portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa from Neuburg Castle, now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (oil on canvas, 220.5 x 138.2 cm, 4576). It probably also comes from the dowry of Anna Catherine Constance, the king's daughter. Sigismund was depicted with Spanish-style ruff, armor and hose. Similar to the portrait of Sigismund, both in terms of technique and composition, is the portrait of Duke John II of Braganza (1604-1656), future John IV of Portugal, at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, deposited by the Ciechanowiecki Foundation (oil on canvas, 224 x 147 cm, ZKW-dep.FC/25). The portrait of the duke in turn closely resembles the style of Saint Benedict receiving Totila, King of the Ostrogoths in the church of Our Lady of St. Peter's in Ghent by Gaspar de Crayer. Ties between the Commonwealth and Spain at this time were strong, which was reflected in literature (e.g. La vida es sueño by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, premiered in 1635) and fashion. Poles in the royal court frequently wore Spanish clothing, while one of the popular types of hose in Spain during this era were the Polish-style hose (calzas a la polaca de rayas transversales) (after "Glosario de voces de armería" by Enrique de Leguina, p. 194). Even the "fashion" of court favorites (validos) was emulated, intentionally or not, in Poland-Lithuania. Philip III of Spain, brother-in-law of Sigismund III, had as valido the Duke of Lerma, who was succeeded by the Count-Duke of Olivares, under the reign of Philip IV. In the Commonwealth there was the "minister in skirt", influential mistress of Sigismund III, Urszula Mayerin, and later Adam Kazanowski under Ladislaus IV. It was the same for portraiture: if Rubens and de Crayer painted Spanish monarchs, they also worked for their relatives in Poland-Lithuania. A fact which may partly document de Crayer's contacts with the Commonwealth is that he included several figures in eastern costumes in some of his compositions. Among the canvases which could represent the nobles of Poland-Lithuania who visited his workshop, we can mention Saint Benedict receiving Totila, painted in 1633 (Art Gallery of Ontario, 95/140), with the central figure wearing a white-crimson cloak, the Beheading of John the Baptist, painted in 1658 (Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent), with the central figure wearing a crimson żupan kaftan and kolpak fur hat and the Martyrdom of Saint Dorothea (sold at Christie's London, auction 6708, April 9, 2003, lot 7), in which the figure of the pagan lawyer Theophilus on the right was most likely inspired by effigies of Emperor Matthias (1557-1619) in Hungarian-Bohemian costume or King Sigismund III Vasa in Polish-Lithuanian national costume. In all the Vasas' contacts with de Crayer and other painters, Bierens, "agent and servant of his Highness the Serene Prince Ladislaus Sigismund, Prince of Poland and Sweden" (agent et domesticque de son Alteze le Sérénissime Prince Wladislaus Sigismundus, Prince de Poloigne et de Suède), also called "agent of the Lord Prince of Poland" (agente del Signor Principe di Polonia), was undoubtedly an intermediary. This merchant-jeweller was the son of Lucas Bierens, a merchant from Eindhoven. He was probably born in 1591 because in 1637 he claimed to be 46 years old and died on July 25, 1641. Bierens owned a house in Antwerp in the Kerkhofstraat, and from the mid-1630s he occupied a spacious residence on the corner of Zwanestraat, made up of two previously separate houses (after "Annotations concernant ..." by Erik Duverger, p. 119-157). Between 1624 and 1627, he supervised the weaving of tapestries with the Story of Ulysses and verdure tapestries made in Brussels by Jacob Geubels the Younger for Ladislaus. In his collection he had "a large painting on canvas with the portrait of prince Ladislaus of Poland" (een groote schilderye op doeck wesende het conterfeytsel van prince Vladislaus van Polen), as well as two gold medals bearing the image of Ladislaus, when he was a prince and after his election as king of Poland.
Equestrian portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) by Cornelis de Vos, ca. 1625-1630, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.
Equestrian portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) by Gaspar de Crayer, ca. 1625-1630, Wawel Royal Castle.
Portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) by Gaspar de Crayer, ca. 1625-1630, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Portrait of Duke John II of Braganza (1604-1656) by Gaspar de Crayer, ca. 1630, Royal Castle in Warsaw.
Portrait of Jan Bierens (1591-1641), artistic agent of Ladislaus IV Vasa by Gaspar de Crayer, ca. 1625-1630, Arnot Art Museum.
Portraits of King Sigismund III Vasa by Peter Paul Rubens and workshop of Tommaso Dolabella
The portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) from the Heinz Kisters collection in Kreuzlingen in Switzerland (oil on canvas, 121 x 91 cm) is considered by experts to be the work of Peter Paul Rubens himself (attributed by Ludwig Burchard), but they also agree that the painter never visited the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (compare "Rubens w Polsce" by Juliusz A. Chrościcki, p. 135, 176). Any attempt to determine how the painter and the king met would be futile, as Sigismund did not leave the borders of the Commonwealth after his deposition in Sweden (1599).
The portrait must therefore have been made from another effigy of the king or from study drawings sent from Poland. The old age of the king makes it possible to date the work towards the end of his life, it is therefore possible that the author of the initial study was Pieter Claesz. Soutman who stayed in Poland-Lithuania between 1624 and 1628 and who in numerous letters sent from Haarlem between 1629 and 1645 calls himself in Italian: "Painter of His Majesty of Poland" (Pittore di Sua Maesta de Polonia) - for example letters dated December 19, 1644 and February 8, 1645 to Matthijs Musson (1593-1678) (in "Na Peter Pauwel Rubens" by Jean Denucé, p. 26-28). The painting of the Crucifixion with the similar signature of this painter at the foot of the cross (P. P. Soutman Pittore de sua de Polonia f.) is in the Franciscan convent in Seville (Convento de los Terceros Franciscanos) (after "Archivo hispalense ...", Volume 3, p. 385-386). What is also interesting about this painting is that it has long been considered the effigy of the doctor Théodore Turquet de Mayerne (1573-1655), who treated the kings of France and England, due to a certain resemblance to his portraits by Rubens. It was in 1953 that the portrait was reproduced by Horace Shipp in "The Flemish Masters" as an effigy of Sigismund III (after "Un Portrait de Sigismond III ..." by Karolina Lanckorońska, p. 175). If Rubens took drawings or a painting by Soutman as a model, they were sent to him from Brussels or Haarlem. It is also possible that they were made by other painters of the king's court, because a very similar full-length portrait of Sigismund at Wilanów Palace (oil on canvas, 207 x 127 cm, Wil.1164, earlier 572) is definitely not a work of Soutman, nor of Rubens or their workshops. This painting is first mentioned in the Wilanów collection in a catalog of paintings from the mid-19th century. Although the portrait of the king at Wilanów is not as well painted, the most comparable in style seems to be the famous portrait of Stanisław Tęczyński, a masterpiece attributed to the Venetian painter Tommaso Dolabella, active in the Commonwealth, created between 1633 and 1634 (National Museum in Warsaw, 128850, deposited at Wawel Castle). Works painted in the same way include Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski's presentation of the Shuysky brothers at the Warsaw Diet in 1611 at the Lviv Historical Museum and the Judgment of the Arians in 1638 from the Venetian-style ceiling in the Palace of the Kraków Bishops in Kielce, attributed to the workshop of Tommaso Dolabella. As we can see from the preserved photograph, the portrait of hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski from the Zamoyski Palace in Warsaw (lost during World War II), painted around 1606, was similar in style. When it comes to composition (pose, fabric, table), the most similar is the full-length portrait of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa in the Lviv Historical Museum, most likely created by the workshop of Pieter Claesz. Soutman. Artists from the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands were considered among the best in Europe in the first half of the 17th century. Painting and printing workshops developed there significantly and provided high quality, so that when in the 16th century customers from Poland-Lithuania preferred Venice, in the following century many books were published in the Netherlands and Flanders. As an example, we can cite Respublica Siue Status Regni Poloniæ, Lituaniæ, Prussiæ, Livoniæ, etc. diuersorum Autorum, published in Leiden in 1627 with a title page showing the coat of arms of Sigismund III Vasa, created by Pieter Serwouters, who had previously created the engraved effigy of the king's son. In 1632, Peter Paul Rubens designed the frontispiece of Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski's Lyricorvm libri IV (Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, MPM.V.IV.058), engraved by Cornelis Galle the Elder and published in Antwerp in 1632 (Pet. Paul. Rubens pinxit, Corn. Galle sculpsit., National Library of Poland, SD W.2.1241). An artist close to Peter Paul Rubens probably made the portrait of Sarbiewski, court preacher of King Ladislaus IV Vasa, considered the most eminent Latin poet of the 17th century (a drawing in the Plantin-Moretus Museum). So, despite the distance, regarding the works of Rubens, the artistic collections of Poland-Lithuania were undoubtedly comparable to those of Madrid or Munich, but today almost nothing is preserved in the former territories of the Commonwealth. In addition to the portrait of Sigismund III in Switzerland, among the works of the master himself (and not of the workshop or the followers) which were probably commissioned by the Polish-Lithuanian Vasas, we can cite the Madonna in a wreath of flowers by Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder (Alte Pinakothek in Munich, 331). This painting comes from the Düsseldorf gallery, like the portraits of Sigismund III and his wife in coronation robes (Neuburg State Gallery, 984 and 985). The letter from Juan de Arrazola Oñate, secretary of the Infanta Isabella of September 18, 1619, in which he addressed the general treasurer Monsieur Monfort to release from customs the paintings sent by Jan Brueghel the Elder to Poland, confirms the first known order of Sigismund III (6 landscapes, 9 portraits including portraits of Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella and other European monarchs, 3 large battalistic paintings). On October 29, 1621 Jan Brueghel the Elder wrote to his agent, the Milanese nobleman Ercole Bianchi, about sending a lot of paintings to the King Sigismund III Vasa (molti pitture al Re) and in a letter to cardinal Federico Borromeo, dated August 22, 1625 his son refers to a large garland with the image of Mary by Brueghel the Elder sold for 400 escudi to the prince of Poland, "who bought almost all of his works" (... la Madonna, ma è ordinato tutto in un altra maniera che quello delli fiori che tiene v. s. Ill.mo in la biblioteca, e larga tre palmi et alto qualro e medso incirca. El paro di questo fu venduto al sig. Prencipe di Pollonia, il quale compraua quasi tutti li sue opre, lo fu pagato 400 escudi, in "Giovanni Brueghel pittor fiammingo ..." by Giovanni Crivelli, p. 340). This painting could be a gift for the Electors of Bavaria, like the portrait of young Ladislaus Sigismund in a ruff by Rubens or workshop (Neuburg State Gallery, 342), identified by me, or the image of the Polish saint Stanislaus Kostka by circle of Rubens (Alte Pinakothek, 7520). In a letter dated June 8, 1632 from Antwerp to the art dealer Crisostomo van Immerseel, Jan Brueghel the Younger (1632, Amberes 8 Junio Juan Bruegel) refers to Garland of fruits with figures by Rubens, the most important work made by his father, which was sold to Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa for 1,600 florins (te weten den grooten Girlande van vruchten, de beelden van Rubens, het fraijste ent meeste werc dat vader syn leven gedaen heeft gelyc UI can considereren aen den prys twelc het verkocht is, te weten voor 1600 gul. aen den prins van Polen). This painting is sometimes considered as Nature and her followers in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, dating from around 1615 (oil on panel, 106.7 x 72.4 cm, inv. 609, compare "Rubens & Brueghel", edited by Anne T. Woollett, Ariane van Suchtelen, p. 157, 164-165). The March of Silenus depicted in the Art collection of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund, painted in Warsaw in 1626 (Royal Castle in Warsaw, ZKW 2123), was undoubtedly the work of Rubens. Some paintings mentioned in the inventory of the collection of the last Vasa on Polish throne - John II Casimir, sold in Paris in 1673, could be the works of Rubens, such as no. 107, Miracles of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, which might resemble the painting in the Dulwich Picture Gallery (inv. 148) or no. 439, Education of the Virgin, which might be similar to the painting in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (inv. 306). In the room of Count de Buy, king's chamberlain at Nevers, there was "a horizontal painting on canvas, representing nude Cupid arching his bow with two little children between his legs" (un tableau en hauteur, peint sur toile, représentant en nudité un Cupidon, qui bande son arc, avec deux petits enfants entre ses jambes), a copy of Cupid carving his bow by Parmigianino, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (after "Z dziejów polskiego mecenatu ..." by Władysław Tomkiewicz, p. 234). There is a painting by Rubens in Munich dated 1614, which is a copy of the painting by Parmigianino from Vienna whose oldest mention in the electoral gallery dates from 1748 (oil on canvas, 142.5 x 107 cm, 1304), so it is possible that it was acquired in Paris after the death by John Casimir, who managed to evacuate certain paintings from the royal collections to Silesia in 1655 during the Deluge. In Vienna, there is in turn a copy of the portrait of the mother of Sigismund III in white, based on the original by Titian (GG 531), identified by me. The painting which could come from the royal collections of Poland-Lithuania is very well painted portrait of Elisabeth of France (1602-1644), queen of Spain, painted after 1628 and attributed to the workshop of Rubens, now at Wawel Castle (oil on canvas, 58.5 x 46 cm, 6378). The painting comes from the private collection in Kraków (donated in 1978 to the State Collections) and there is no proven link with the royal collections, but this is very likely since many portraits were exchanged with Spain at the beginning of the 17th century. Another painting that could possibly originate from the royal or magnate collections of Poland-Lithuania is the Three Graces Holding a Basket of Flowers from the workshop of Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Younger, painted between 1620 and 1625, today in Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (NM 601). Nothing is known of its early history, except that it had already arrived in Sweden in the 17th century and was part of the collection of Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie (1622-1686), who, during the Deluge, plundered with his army a large part of the country. Important contacts contacts of clients from the Commonwealth with Rubens and Flemish painters are reflected in two other paintings from the early 1620s. They depict Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetae (also known as Queen of the Scythians), who led her armies to defend against an attack by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire, and defeated and killed him in 530 BC. One of these paintings is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (oil on canvas, 205.1 x 361 cm, 41.40) and most likely comes from the collection of Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (1566-1633), later, before 1662, in the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden in Rome. The other is in the Louvre in Paris (oil on canvas, 263 x 199 cm, INV 1768 ; MR 991) and comes from the collection of Everhard Jabach (1618-1695), who sold it to King Louis XIV in 1671. A drawing for an engraving (not made), attributed to Pieter Claesz. Soutman, similar to the painting in Paris, is today kept at the Plantin-Moretus Museum (PK.OT.00117). Although the two paintings mentioned, in Boston and Paris, are attributed to Rubens or his school, their style is closer to the works of Gaspar de Crayer, painter to the court of the Infanta, notably portraits of Sigismund III and Constance of Austria, attributed by me. Queen Tomyris ordered Cyrus' body brought to her, then decapitated him and dipped his head in a vessel of blood in a symbolic gesture of revenge for his bloodlust and the death of her son. The original painting by Rubens, engraved by Paulus Pontius in 1630 (Rijksmuseum, RP-P-OB-70.057), inscribed: "Satiate thyself with that blood which thou hast always thirsted for" (SATIA TE SANGVINE QVEM SEMPER SITISTI) and signed: Petrus Paulus Rubens pinxit. / Paulus Pontius sculpsit., differs in many details from the Boston painting. The original must therefore be considered lost. A reduced copy of Rubens' painting dating most likely from the 17th century was in the Kielce Cathedral, whose portal was founded by Cardinal John Albert Vasa in 1635. This painting is now in the Diocesan Museum in Kielce. It should be also noted that the queen in both paintings bears a close resemblance to the effigies of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, notably the portrait in the style of Gaspar de Crayer at the National Gallery in London (NG3819) and by Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder at the Prado Museum in Madrid (P001684). In both compositions, the Queen's soldiers wear traditional costumes of the nobles of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, another perfect illustration of the destroyed and forgotten Realm of Venus at the height of its wealth and power before the Deluge, and a powerful warning to all tyrants. Already around 1522, Andrzej Krzycki (1482-1537), secretary of Queen Bona Sforza, in an epitaph dedicated to Anna Radziwill (1476-1522), compared the Duchess of Masovia to Queen Tomyris (Qualis erat Tomyrisque suae Cleopatraque genti, / Qualis Amazonio Penthesilea solo, / Talis erat fecunda tibi, Masovia tellus, / Anna Radiviliae gloria magna domus).
Cupid carving his bow by Peter Paul Rubens after Parmigianino, 1614, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Nature and her followers by Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder, ca. 1615, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
Portrait of Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski (1547-1620) by workshop of Tommaso Dolabella, ca. 1606, Zamoyski Palace in Warsaw, lost during World War II.
Portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) by workshop of Tommaso Dolabella, ca. 1625-1632, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.
Portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) by Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1625-1632, Heinz Kisters collection in Kreuzlingen.
Portrait of Elisabeth of France (1602-1644), Queen of Spain by workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, after 1628, Wawel Royal Castle.
Queen Tomyris orders that Cyrus' head be lowered into a vessel of blood, with figures in traditional costumes of the nobles of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Gaspar de Crayer, 1620s, Louvre Museum.
Queen Tomyris orders that Cyrus' head be lowered into a vessel of blood, with figures in traditional costumes of the nobles of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Pieter Claesz. Soutman, 1620s, Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp.
Queen Tomyris orders that Cyrus' head be lowered into a vessel of blood, with figures in traditional costumes of the nobles of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Gaspar de Crayer, 1620s, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Queen Tomyris orders that Cyrus' head be lowered into a vessel of blood, with figures in traditional costumes of the nobles of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Paulus Pontius after Peter Paul Rubens, 1630, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Portrait of Zygmunt Kazanowski by Gaspar de Crayer
From September 6 to October 14, 1624, the young nobleman of the Grzymała coat of arms, Adam Kazanowski (ca. 1599-1649), friend and valet of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, stayed in Brussels and Antwerp with the prince and about forty people of his entourage.
The two-week stay in Brussels was a series of grand entertainments and parties in honor of the prince, organized by Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (1566-1633). In Antwerp, they visited the studios of various painters, including Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder, as well as the the gallery of Cornelis van der Geest. During this trip, Kazanowski kept an album Liber Amicorum in which the entries of the Habsburgs, such as Archduke Leopold V of Tyrol (no. 11), Archduke Leopold William (13) and her sister Cecilia Renata, future Queen of Poland (16), made in Vienna, and many Spanish diplomats appear. In Munich, we find the inscriptions of Maximilian I, elector of Bavaria and his wife (45-46), in Augsburg members of the Fugger family (48-51), in Brussels of the Infanta (54), Geneviève d'Urfé, Duchess de Croy (65) and the Spanish nobles. After a stay in Italy, they returned to Warsaw in May 1625. The following year, 1626, Kazanowski's album contains entries from Spanish diplomats in Poland-Lithuania - Jean de Croÿ, Count de Solre and Charles de Bonnières, Baron d'Auchy (no. 145-146), as well as Louis de Custine, seigneur de Villers-le-Rond, maître de camp of the Infanta (June 26, 1626, no. 147, all three came from the Spanish Netherlands), and other Spanish and French envoys (after "Biblioteka Warszawska", 1853, Volume 2). They show how important contacts with Spain and the Spanish Netherlands were for the young Kazanowski. Between 1627 and 1628 Adam studied in Padua. In the following years, and especially after the election of Ladislaus as new king, his wealth and influence increased considerably. As the new king's favourite, he replaced the influential "minister in a skirt" Urszula Meyerin (1570-1635), and his position can be compared, in some respects, even to that of Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, favourite (valido) of Philip IV of Spain, cousin of Ladislaus. In 1639-1642, Kazanowski attempted to force an anti-French military alliance with Spain and in the spring of 1639 he negotiated with Philip IV's envoy, D. Fernando de Monroy (d. 1656). From 1642 he was the Court Marshal of the Crown (mareschalus curiæ) whose usual powers included supervision of the royal court and being deputy to the Grand Marshal of the Crown. When he received a palace from Ladislaus in 1632, he enlarged and embellished it. This magnificent building was second only to the Royal Castle in size, but was larger than the palace of Chancellor Jerzy Ossoliński, the palace of the Grand Hetman of the Crown Stanisław Koniecpolski, and perhaps even larger than the Villa Regia (Royal Villa), as visible in a print by Nicolas Pérelle from 1696 representing Warsaw around 1655. This print was made after a drawing by a Swedish military engineer, Count Erik Dahlbergh. It is interesting to note that in comparison with a print made by Adam Pérelle after another drawing by Dahlbergh, showing the capital of the empire which wanted to destroy the Commonwealth (Treaty of Radnot) - Stockholm in 1669, we see a clear difference. Dahlbergh, who knew how to glorify the Swedish Empire, sometimes enlarged the buildings in his drawings and made them more grandiose. However, while in the panorama of Warsaw the structures are of comparable size, in the panorama of Stockholm the Royal Castle (Arx Regia, Tre Kronor) dominates the center of the composition and the entire urban landscape. In the Ossoliński Palace, between the portraits of the chancellor's ancestors, Roman emperors and historical paintings, there was a portrait of Ladislaus IV with the inscription "First among equals" (Primus inter pares) (after "Piękno ocalone ..." by Maria Lewicka, Barbara Szymanowska, p. 44). In republican Poland-Lithuania, magnates boldly competed with the king in many areas, including patronage. Like the king, Kazanowski most likely also acquired and commissioned works of art in the Netherlands and Italy, including his effigies, however nothing has been preserved in Poland. He also received from the king many valuable objects, such as a painting of the Lamentation of Christ by Rubens, painted on wood, which in 1840 belonged to Mr. Piotr Romanowicz, a lawyer in Lviv (after "Rzecz o obrazach ..." by Ludwik Zieliński, z. 3, Lwowianin, p. 63). He may also have received such objects from his Spanish and Belgian friends and, like them, commissioned the paintings from the same painters. In the "Polish Varieties" (Rozmaitości Polskie / Variétés polonaises) from around 1833, a collection of engravings by Antoni Oleszczyński (1794-1879), there is an interesting full-length effigy of Kazanowski. While in the effigies of Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (d. 1621) and Lew Sapieha (1557-1633), he created a neo-Gothic or a background with panoplies, in the image of Kazanowski he used a background similar to that visible in a portrait of Ladislaus IV's cousin - Anne of Austria (1601-1666), Queen of France, made by Rubens' workshop between 1620-1625 (Louvre Museum, INV 1794 ; MR 984). It was also used in a portrait of a woman seated in an interior by Gonzales Coques (private collection). However, if in the portrait of the queen and the woman the background is almost identical, in the engraving by Oleszczyński the niche behind Kazanowski is different and shows a scene with a dancing naked woman and a bear. Adam Jarzębski in his "The main road or a brief description of Warsaw" (Gościniec abo krótkie opisanie Warszawy) from 1643 mentions in the Marshal's Palace many paintings, including "Naked people above the table" (Nad stołem nagie osoby, verse 1097). If Oleszczyński copied the background of the original painting, the painting was probably created by Rubens' studio or by another Flemish painter. On August 13, 1634, Adam's father Zygmunt Kazanowski died in Warsaw. Together with his brother Stanisław Kazanowski (1601-1648), starost of Krasno, who was removed from the court by Sigismund III for promiscuity, Adam founded a magnificent marble tomb for his father. In 1843, the monument was transferred to Warsaw Cathedral from the demolished church of the Bernardine nuns, located near the royal castle. It was destroyed during a German bombing of the cathedral in 1944. The monument was made of multicolored marble, similar in shape to the altar. The base was carved from brown stone, on which were two pillars with white Corinthian capitals. In the middle, on a black slab, a white marble bas-relief depicted Kazanowski kneeling before the Virgin Mary (after "Katedra św. Jana w Warszawie ..." by Wiktor Czajewski, p. 99-100). Zygmunt was represented in national costume, as was the custom for funerary monuments, because at court the majority of people preferred foreign costume, so that an unknown poet before the Deluge exclaimed: "Nowadays, you can barely recognize Poles, there are Italians, French, in great number at the courts" (after "Jakuba Teodora Trembeckiego ..." by Aleksander Brückner, Volume I, poem 165). Although in everyday life or at court the people preferred foreign costume, in the official portraiture they always wanted to underline their attachment to the Commonwalth and its traditions with an appropriate costume. This monument is attributed to the sculptor Conrad Walther from Gdańsk and his workshop and, according to specialists, it was made mainly from imported limestone, mainly from Belgium - "Belgian black" from the province of Namur (Noir Belge, Noir de Namur) and very expensive English alabaster (after "Lapidarium warszawskie" by Michał Wardzyński, Hubert Kowalski, Piotr Jamski, p. 288). Zygmunt was chamberlain during the reign of kings Stephen Bathory and Sigismund III Vasa, then tutor and court marshal of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund. During the military expedition of 1617-1618, as advisor to the prince, he intrigued against Chodkiewicz, the supreme commander. Zygmunt's two sons, Adam and Stanisław, were raised at the royal court and were friends of Ladislaus Sigismund, exerting influence over the young prince. At the funerals of King Sigismund and Queen Constance, Zygmunt carried the royal insignia. In 1627 he handed over the villages of Grzymałów, Kazanów and Ciepielów to his sons. In 1607, Seweryn Bączalski dedicated a panegyric to Kazanowski: "The Polish crown, very sad, makes heartfelt requests ..." (Korona polska barzo smutna prośby serdeczne czyni), praising Zygmunt as a model of honesty, masculinity, chivalry, piety, courtly customs and reason, so that the king found him worthy and entrusted him with guardianship of his son. Others have compared Kazanowski to Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander the Great. Kazanowski's employment as the prince's tutor was a turning point in his life, and probably that of the entire family. He was considered a friend both by Catholics, such as Albert Stanislaus Radziwill, and by Protestants, such as Christopher Radziwill, Duke of Birzai. He owned several boats located on the Vistula, near Solec in Warsaw (after "Kariera rodu Kazanowskich ..." by Krzysztof Zemeła, p. 45, 47-48), and thus participated in river transport and Gdańsk's trade. In the National Gallery in London is a "Portrait of a Man" by the Flemish painter, previously attributed to Rubens and Jordaens (oil on canvas, 116.2 x 85.8 cm, NG1895). It was purchased from T. Humphrey Ward, Clarke Fund, in 1902. The pose of the model and the composition are directly inspired by the portrait of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund, produced by Rubens in 1624 and engraved by Paulus Pontius (Ex Archetypo Petri Pauli Rubenij Paulus Pontius fecit anno MDCXXIIII, National Library of Poland, G.10661/II). Similar to Ladislaus, the old man wears a Spanish-Flemish costume. The fact that the man in this portrait wanted to be depicted in a similar way to the Crown Prince of Poland-Lithuania indicates that he was someone close to him, which has led to interpretation that it is a portrait of Prince's father Sigismund III (compare "Rubens w Polsce" by Juliusz A. Chrościcki, p. 178). This was a common practice at that time, for example the equestrian portrait of Don Diego Felipez de Guzmán (1580-1655), 1st Marquis of Leganés, cousin of the powerful valido Count-Duke of Olivares, painted by Gaspar de Crayer between 1627-1628 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, GG 9112), is very similar in many respects to the portrait of Olivares on horseback, painted by de Crayer and Peter Snayers (landscape) at the same period (The Weiss Gallery in 2018). The man cannot be Sigismund III, because according to the original Latin inscription he was 63 years old in 1626 (ÆTATIS SVE / 63 1626), while the king at that time was 60 years old (born 1566) and the man does not wear the Order of the Golden Fleece, which should be included in the Spanish-Flemish style portrait. The London portrait also bears a coat of arms, which, however, was painted in a different style and was added later, because the inscription indicating the age, which should normally be skillfully placed under the emblem, is in this case moved to the right. The position of the inscription, close to the edge and almost cut off, indicates that the painting was probably cut when the coat of arms was added. The emblem is identified as belonging to the De Waha family, whose estates were close to Namur, from where the marbles for Kazanowski's tomb were acquired. In previous publications the model is called Baron Waha de Linter of Namur, but no connection with a concrete member of this family has ever been established. It is possible that they owned the portrait and when the sitter's identity was lost he was considered a member of the family, and perhaps around 1816, when they were given the title of baron, the coat of arms was added. The man in the portrait bears a great resemblance to Adam Kazanowski's father as shown in his funerary sculpture (ear shape, mustache, eyebrows) and is comparable to effigies of Adam - after a painting by Peter Danckerts de Rij and an engraving by Jeremias Falck Polonus. His age also matches perfectly with Zygmunt, the marshal of the princely court, who was 63 years old in 1626 when several Spanish-Flemish envoys arrived in Warsaw - he was 71 years old at the time of his death in 1634 according to the inscription on his tomb, therefore born in 1563 (placide vitam cum morte commutavit Varsaviæ die XIII Augusti anno Christi MDCXXXIV ætatis suæ 71 patri desideratissimo Adamus tituli paterni successor). The style of this painting is closest to the mentioned equestrian portraits of the Marquis of Leganés and the Count-Duke of Olivares, painted by Gaspar de Crayer, court painter to the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, and to the portrait of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund kept in the National Museum in Warsaw (M.Ob.2434 MNW), considered to be the 17th century copy after Rubens' original.
Portrait of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (1595-1648) by Paulus Pontius after Peter Paul Rubens, 1624, National Library of Poland.
Portrait of Zygmunt Kazanowski (1563-1634), marshal of the court of Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, aged 63, by Gaspar de Crayer, 1626, National Gallery in London.
Portrait of Adam Kazanowski (ca. 1599-1649), Court Marshal of the Crown by Antoni Oleszczyński after lost original by Gaspar de Crayer from about 1642 (?), ca. 1833, National Library of Poland.
Portrait of Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria by Justus Sustermans
"It was reported here that the Polish prince had left the kingdom to marry the daughter of the emperor [Ferdinand II] or the king of Spain [Philip III], which caused great suspicions in the [Turkish] empire", wrote the English ambassador in Istanbul in a letter to London about the journey of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa between 1624-1625. He also added that Queen Constance of Austria, his stepmother, tried to create a faction supporting her oldest son of John Casimir Vasa in his bid for the throne. English ambassador in distant Istanbul had good informants, because at the meeting of the Consejo de Estado in Madrid on November 1624, the letter of Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, written in Brussels, was discussed. The Infanta asked King Philip IV for permission to marry the Polish prince with infanta Maria Anna of Spain (1606-1646), the king's sister and cousin of Ladislaus Sigismund as the daughter of his mother's sister. One of the participants of this council commented as follows: "Marriage with a Polish prince is very good, but with a German prince it is more advantageous". Concerning the marriage with the emperor's daughters, there was the lack of consent of Pope Urban VIII to a possible dispensation for the marriage of the prince with a close relative Archduchess Maria Anna (1610-1665) or Cecilia Renata (1611-1644), who eventually became his first wife (after "Świat polskich Wazów: eseje", p. 48, 280-281, 311).
In order to prove to his son that the daughters of his uncle Emperor Ferdinand II were not affected by disabilities, unlike their mother Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574-1616), Sigismund III Vasa had them specially portrayed, as reported Bishop Giovanni Battista Lancellotti, papal nuncio in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in a letter dated March 17, 1627 to Cardinal Francesco Barberini (Scuoprì meco di nuovo SM l'intento suo desiderio d'accasarlo con una delle figliuole dell'imperadore per altro aborrite da SA asserendo ella questa esser derivata in quelle da certa natural indispositione della loro madre e mi disse SM d'haverne fatto venir qua i ritratti per certezza del contrario) (after "Das Leben am Hof ..." by Walter Leitsch, p. 2378). It is not known whether these effigies were good or faithful, perhaps as in the case of the portraits of Sigismund's aunt Anna Jagiellon or his two wives they were nude paintings, however, later in a letter written in Warsaw on October 31, 1644, Ladislaus requested from Cardinal Mazarini reliable portraits of candidates for his second wife. During his stay in Vienna on June 23, 1624, the prince had the opportunity to meet the emperor's two daughters. He also admired the emperor's artistic collections, including "a set of portraits of many emperors and other notable figures of the House of Austria". In Salzburg he saw "various paintings", in Munich the Antiquarium and in Augsburg the paintings of the Fugger family. Philipp Hainhofer, connoisseur and art agent from Augsburg, recounts in his diary that the prince gave him "unusual trinket made of yellow amber". In Nuremberg, Ladislaus Sigismund admired "the famous paintings by Dürer" and the ceiling paintings by Rubens. In the 1620s, two daughters of Emperor Ferdinand II were frequently depicted and their effigies were sent to various friendly courts in Europe, including that of Poland-Lithuania (all probably destroyed or lost during the wars). Most of them are close in style to the works of the Flemish painter Justus Sustermans, court painter of the Medici family, who between 1623 and 1624 worked in Vienna on commission from the emperor. In a painting from the Esterházy collection at Forchtenstein Castle, probably made by the Sustermans workshop, Maria Anna and Cecilia Renata are depicted together. The two sisters kneel together behind their mother Maria Anna of Bavaria and their stepmother Eleonora Gonzaga (1598-1655) in a votive painting of Emperor Ferdinand II by Matthias Mayer, painted in 1631 for St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. A few years later, around 1640, a painter close to Frans Luycx created similar effigies of the imperial family kneeling before Virgin in the Dominican church in Vienna, when Cecilia Renata, was already queen of Poland and her sister Maria Anna, electress of Bavaria (their likenesses were inspired by other portraits sent to Vienna). Among the portraits of Maria Anna made by Sustermans and his studio is a painting from Neuburg Castle (Alte Pinakothek in Munich, inventory number 2792). This is a copy of a painting from the Medici collection, now kept at the Medici Villa of Cerreto Guidi (inv. 1890 / 4275), which is considered to represent Princess Eleonora de' Medici (1591-1617), daughter of Ferdinando I de' Medici, as well as another similar portrait of Maria Anna's sister Cecilia Renata in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (inv. 1890/2297), however, both are "clearly identified as Emperor Ferdinand's daughters in the 1624 inventory of the Villa del Poggio Imperiale and as Emperor Ferdinand's sisters in the 1654-1655 inventory" (after "The Grand Duke's Portraitist ..." by Lisa Goldenberg Stoppato, p. 35). A copy of the mentioned effigy of Cecilia Renata from the Uffizi (inv. 1890 / 2297), is also in Munich (inv. 6958), but the model's face is damaged. It is believed to represent Archduchess Margaret of Austria and also comes from Neuburg Castle. The two archduchesses were also depicted in two similar portraits from the Wallenstein gallery, today at Hrádek u Nechanic Castle (after "The Wallenstein portrait gallery in the Cheb Museum", p. 71). In these effigies, Maria Anna (inv. 3318 / 3802) and Cecilia Renata (inv. 3320 / 3804) look very similar and wear identical Spanish costumes. One of them was also represented in a painting at the Royal Castle of Racconigi, which was the official residence of the Carignano line of the House of Savoy, attributed to the Flemish painter (oil on canvas, 64 x 49 cm, R 5576). The woman was formerly identified as Princess of the House of Savoy and now as Margaret of Austria (1584-1611), Queen of Spain and Portugal. Her face more closely resembles the effigy of Cecilia Renata from the Uffizi (inv. 1890 / 2297) and Hrádek u Nechanic (inv. 3320 / 3804). A very similar effigy of the Queen of Poland was reproduced in an anonymous etching made before 1700 (Leipzig University Library, 8/61) with an inscription in German: Cecilia Renata ErtzHerzogin zu Osterreich / Uladislas Königs in Pohlen Gemahlin. Comparison with later effigies of the two sisters - portraits of Maria Anna, Electress of Bavaria by the circle of Joachim von Sandrart, created around 1643, from Dachau Castle (Alte Pinakothek in Munich, 3093) and from the Medici collection, identified by me (Pitti Palace in Florence, inv. 1890 / 5261) and Cecilia Renata by Peter Danckerts de Rij also painted in 1643, at Gripsholm Castle, most likely looted during the Deluge (signed: Peter. Danckers fecit A:o 1643, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, NMGrh 299) and reduced version from the Marble Room at the Royal Castle in Warsaw (State Historical Museum in Moscow, И I 5922 / 74493), indicates that it is a portrait of the future Queen of Poland because the electress has a pointed nose. The style of this painting is particularly close to the portraits of Cecilia Renata's relatives at the Pitti Palace in Florence - her father Emperor Ferdinand II (Palatina 209), her stepmother Eleonora Gonzaga (Palatina 203) and her uncle Archduke Charles of Austria (1590-1624), prince-bishop of Wrocław as Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (Palatina 293). All these paintings were made by Justus Sustermans around 1623. Since this effigy is a version of a portrait at Hrádek u Nechanic, showing her around 1626-1627, it could be made on the occasion of the preparation of the likenesses for Sigismund III. The color of the dresses of the two archduchesses (white and red, used as the national colors of Poland-Lithuania in the so-called "Stockholm Roll" from about 1605, Royal Castle in Warsaw, ZKW/1528/1-39) in paintings in Hrádek u Nechanic and in a portrait in Racconigi could also indicate that one of them was considered a future queen of Poland in 1627.
Portrait of Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria (1611-1644), future Queen of Poland by Justus Sustermans, ca. 1626-1627, Royal Castle of Racconigi.
Portrait of Archduke Charles of Austria (1590-1624), Prince-Bishop of Wrocław by Justus Sustermans, ca. 1623, Pitti Palace in Florence.
Portraits of Sigismund III Vasa and Constance of Austria in coronation robes by Gaspar de Crayer
"A life-size portrait that shows the emperor in pontifical attire, with a crown on his head, with a scepter in his right hand and a royal orb in his left, this is the king of Poland" (No. 26/22) and "Portrait of the empress, dressed in silver cloth, with a scepter in her right hand and an orb in her left hand, his wife" (No. 27/23), this is how the inventory of the Coudenberg Palace in Brussels from 1659 describes the portraits of King Sigismund III Vasa and his second wife Constance of Austria in coronation dresses, known from the copies, today in the Neuburg State Gallery.
The Brussels paintings could be the paintings that Pieter Claesz. Soutman brought from Poland-Lithuania in 1628 for Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (1566-1633), governess of the Spanish Netherlands, but nothing is known of their author and the paintings were probably destroyed in an accidental fire which declared itself on the night of February 3, 1731. Three other portraits of Sigismund's son and successor Ladislaus IV were also included in the collection of the governors of the Spanish Netherlands - in full length when the prince in national costume with a hand on his sword (No. 40/36), in a hat by Peter Paul Rubens (No. 122/84) and in crimson costume, called Hungarian (No. 123/85) and another portrait of Sigismund with a hat and a fur-lined coat (No. 124/86) (compare "Rubens w Polsce" by Juliusz A. Chrościcki, p. 158, 162, 214). The Neuburg portraits have a similar composition (so-called pendants) and dimensions (oil on canvas, 220.5 x 131.8 cm, 984 and oil on canvas, 219 x 132.7 cm, 985). The two are believed to come from the dowry of the Infanta Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651), the daughter of Sigismund and Constance, and would therefore have been made shortly before her marriage in Warsaw in 1642. Both have also been attributed to Soutman (after "Portrety tzw. koronacyjne ..." by Jerzy Lileyko, p. 377). Portraits of monarchs were frequently produced in series and sometimes copied by different painters. It is possible that the originals were actually created by Soutman before 1628. However, although the attribution to this painter is now rejected, the portraits in Neuburg are clearly made by a painter trained in Flanders, as their style indicates. The king and his son organized the orders and transport of works of art through their agents including Jan Bierens (1591-1641), as well as another Antwerp merchant and financier Joris Descamps. He acted as an intermediary in transferring 1,000 and then 800 florins from a bank in Amsterdam to Rubens as an outstanding payment for paintings for Sigismund III. At the same time, Descamps agreed to transfer another 1,000 florins from an Amsterdam bank for the previously delivered paintings for Ladislaus Sigismund's collection. The letter of July 16, 1626 mentions two further creditors of the prince, namely the already mentioned Bierens (290 florins) and a certain Jacob Wijz or Weez (20 thalers). Among the prince's agents was also the Frenchman Mathieu Rouault, who was commissioned in September 1625 to deliver the objects purchased in Antwerp to Gdańsk. On one occasion, Spanish border guards at Dunkirk found and confiscated from his traveling trunks portraits of the French royal family, namely Henry IV and his wife Marie de Medici, Louis XIII and his wife Anne of Austria, Gaston, Duke of Orléans and Cardinal Richelieu, as well as effigies of King James I of England, Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia and her husband Archduke Albert of Austria, Archduke Ernest of Austria, Emperor Ferdinand II and Elisabeth of Lorraine, Electress of Bavaria (after "Świat polskich Wazów: eseje", p. 290-291). In many ways, including fashion and patronage, the elected monarchs of the Commonwealth emulated the rulers of the greatest empire of the time, Spain. Although there were many prominent painters in Spain, artists from other regions of the empire frequently worked for the Madrid-based court, the Spanish Habsburgs, their relatives and allies. This is how the painting collections of Florence (Uffizi, Pitti Palace), Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Hofburg), Munich (Alte Pinakothek, the Residence) are in many aspects comparable to those of Madrid (Prado, historical Alcazar), especially when it comes to the portraits exchanged between countries. Therefore the royal collections of the Commonwealth before 1655 should be comparable, unfortunately almost all perished in deliberate destruction by invaders, burning and looting. Several important portraits of Queen Constance's nephew, King Philip IV of Spain, were made by Gaspar de Crayer, court portraitist of his aunt the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia (like the equestrian portrait in the Prado Museum in Madrid, P001553), who probably never met the king in person. It is known that between 1621-1622 de Crayer painted the king and his wife Elisabeth of France for the Chamber of Accounts of Brabant, but these works have been lost. The portraits of Juan de Velasco and his brother José de Velasco, probably painted around 1620 during their stay in Brussels, are attributed to Gaspar, who even in his later works did not apply the loose brushwork of Rubens's painting, but continued to work in the traditional style with which he perhaps responded to a preference of his customers (after "Gaspar de Crayer ..." by Hans Vlieghe, Volume I, pp. 43, 213, 251-252). In his later works we can see more of the influences of Anthony van Dyck and Paolo Veronese, best seen in the signed painting depicting Saint Ambrose, created around 1655 (Prado, P005198, signed lower right: GAS. DE CRAYER FE.), as part of a series of the Holy Founders from the convent of Saint Francis in Burgos. As for the composition, the portrait of the King and Queen of Poland in Neuburg follows the same convention with a full-length representation and an open loggia in the background. In terms of style, the paintings more closely resemble the portrait of Mechteld Lintermans (d. 1641), wife of Jan Bierens (Sotheby's New York, June 4, 2009, lot 15), which is dated 1625-1630 and portrait of Juan de Velasco (1574-1621), secretary to King Philip III of Spain, brother-in-law of Queen Constance (private collection in Cantabria). Thus created before van Dyck's influences became more visible in his work from 1631 onwards. In the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, another similar effigy of Queen Constance from Neuburg Castle is preserved, therefore probably also from her daughter's dowry. This "portrait of a lady", attributed to the German School, is in a poor state of conservation (oil on canvas, 77 x 59 cm, 6807), however the style of de Crayer is noticeable as well as a similarity with the portrait of brother of Juan de Velasco - José (1571-1623) (private collection in Madrid). Regarding the Brussels paintings, around 30 years after their creation, the notion of who was represented was very vague. If it was not clearly stated that this is an effigy of the Polish king in the inventory, the entries could be considered to concern effigies of members of the Habsburg family - the emperor and his wife. The main document confirming de Crayer's contacts with clients from the Commonwealth is his letter to Matthijs Musson (1593-1678) in Antwerp, dated December 2, 1645 from Brussels, concerning the arrival of Krzysztof Opaliński (1609-1655), voivode of Poznań, envoy of King Ladislaus IV Vasa, and his entourage: "We were informed that the Poles would be here on Friday or perhaps Thursday. They have seen an Assumption of Our Lady at Lier that I made for the Jesuit Fathers and they desire a copy" (Wy hebben hier avies dat de Polacken zullen hier wesen vrydagh oft mogelyck donderdach. Zy hebben gesien een Hemelvaert van Onse live Vrouwe tot Lier die ick hebbe gemackt voor de paters van Jesuiten en hebben begeert eene copye) (after "Na Peter Pauwel Rubens ..." by Jean Denucé, p. 36). Opaliński visited the painter's workshop and ordered a copy of his Assumption. 19th-century copies of portraits of the king and queen in coronation robes can be found at Wawel Royal Castle (8555, 8556). The copies from the Przeździecki collection in Warsaw and the collection of Leopold Méyet, also in Warsaw, were most likely destroyed during the Second World War.
Portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) in coronation robes by Gaspar de Crayer, ca. 1630, Neuburg State Gallery.
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) in coronation robes by Gaspar de Crayer, ca. 1630, Neuburg State Gallery.
Portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) by Gaspar de Crayer or workshop, ca. 1630, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Portraits of Prince John Casimir Vasa by Rembrandt
Polish-Lithuanian kings and aristocrats owned many works by Rembrandt, his workshop or followers, he frequently painted people in costumes very similar to these known from effigies of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility, he began his career in the workshop of supplier of the King of Poland and married his relative, he lived in Amsterdam, where tons of Polish grain, large quantities of fur and other products were shipped every year in the 17th century, yet he allegedly painted no Pole known by name (concerning preserved effigies).
Due to the lack of written sources explicitly confirming it even the "Polish rider" or the "Polish nobleman" by Rembrandt or his school are questioned as possibly not representing Polish-Lithuanian people, the same with the "Queen of Poland" by Rembrandt's pupil Ferdinand Bol. This vast, multicultural country with incomprehensible languages, an elective monarchy, religious tolerance and the growing influence of papists and Habsburgs, represented all the evil of this planet for pious Protestants. They must have welcomed the fact that Calvinist Prince of Transylvania George II Rakoczi (1621-1660) joined other contries and invaded the Polish-Lithuanian Commonweath from the south during the Deluge (1655-1660). Joost Cortwiert published in 1657 in The Hague an eight-page Dutch-language pamphlet entitled "A manifesto by George Rakoczi, prince of Transylvania, containing the reasons why he is attacking the kingdom of Poland with his army" (Manifest van Georgius Ragotsky, prins van Transilvanien. Vervattende de redenen waer om hy metsyn chrijchs-macht int koninck-rijck Polen valt). Also around that time a portrait of this important ally was published, though due to the lack of a proper effigy, possibly by mistake, an earlier print by Jan van Vliet after a painting by Rembrandt was used. It was created in 1631 and represents an eastern prince, who however bear no resemblance to other effigies of George II Rakoczi (1621-1660) or his father George I (1593-1648) (compare "323 The Rákóczy identity" by Gary Schwartz). This likeness was also published as a portrait of Skanderbeg (1405-1468), Lord of Albania. The march of Rakoczi army towards Warsaw was marked by atrocities, destruction, and looting. Simultaneously, Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski's forces organized a revenge invasion of Transylvania. After the defeat and subsequent retreat of his Cossack allies, Rakoczi capitulated to Lubomirski, promising to break his alliance with Sweden and abandon the royal city of Kraków. Not only pople were killed, property looted, buildings destroyed, but foreign invasion triggered epidemic diseases, profound economic crisis and ethnic cleansing. People who survived the invasion were struggling to survive in destroyed country, like in Kazimierz Dolny on the Vistula River, the mannerist gem of the Commonwealth, which raised into prominence after 1561 thanks to grain trade as an important river port. The city was ransacked and burned in February 1656 by the troops of the Brigand of Europe (as he was called by Stefan Czarniecki), Charles X Gustav of Sweden, who invaded the country from the north, and again by Transilvanian troops in 1657. Before 1661 the troops of Stefan Czarniecki destroyed the local synagogue and killed many Jews, who were accused by the Catholics of supporting invaders. From one of the wealthies nations in Europe, Poland-Lithuania has become one of the poorest. The opulent magnate and royal residences were ransacked and burned. One preserved document - inventory of goods transported to Stockholm from Warsaw by March 9, 1657 lists "188 large and small paintings and portraits painted on panel and canvas" (188 St. stoora och små Skillerij och Conterfey på trää och lerfft måhlat), "One painting from the altar, painted on wood" (1 måhlat alltaretafla af trää duger intet) and "Oil paintings which were in coffered ceilings in Warsaw, from five rooms" (Schillerij som hafwer suttit under taket i Warschow till 5 Cambrer af Wattnferger) from the inventory of items taken from the Warsaw Castle in 1656 (after "Inwentarz przedmiotów wywiezionych z Warszawy ..." by Katarzyna Wagner). Venetian-style gilded frame ceilings in royal residences were filled with oil paintings, similar to these preserved in the Palace of the Kraków Bishops in Kielce, created by workshop of Tommaso Dolabella (1570-1650) in about 1642, or in the Koniecpolski Castle in Pidhirtsi (Podhorce) near Lviv in western Ukraine, also by workshop of Tommaso Dolabella and Dutch painter Jan de Baen (1633-1702), a pupil of Jacob Adriaensz Backer in Amsterdam (1640s and 1660s). Polish shipments of grain and other products to Amsterdam virtually ceased during the invasion, but Johann Köstner, a Gdańsk merchant, pointed out in 1660 that Holland had managed with grain from elsewhere. Curiously, however, the decline in Rembrandt's career coincided with the invasion of the Commonweath. On 24 November 1655 the 14-year-old Titus, the fourth and only surviving child of Rembrandt, made his last will and testament and named his father as his sole heir, including what he had inherited from his mother. The painter, who lived beyond his means, failed to pay off the loans. In 1656 he filed for bankruptcy and his property was sold. The monarch of the Commonweath at that time was John II Casimir Vasa, the eldest son of Sigismund III and his second wife Constance of Austria, elected by the Polish-Lithuanian Parliament to succeed his half-brother Ladislaus IV in 1648. During the Deluge he fled to Silesia taking some of the most valuable items from the royal collection. Already in 1626, during the Toruń Sejm, he was proposed by his mother's supporters and on her initiative as a candidate for the heir to the throne. Simultaneously, at the end of the 1620s, contacts between the Polish-Lithuanian royal court and the Dutch Republic intensified. Abraham van Booth secretary of the Dutch delegation that visited Poland between 1627-1628 with a mediation mission in the dispute that arose between Sigismund III Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, created some drawings, including of the Royal Castle in Warsaw and audience before Sigismund III in the Old Senate Chamber. The ultra-Catholic camp in the Commonwealth, by which Prince John Casimir was considered the leader, lost its importance after the sudden death of the queen in 1631. Between 1632 and 1635, Ladislaus IV sought to enhance his influence by negotiating John Casimir's marriage to Queen Christina of Sweden, his distant relative. John Casimir, a great patron of the arts like his father and brother, was probaly one of the first royal connoisseurs of Rembrandt's art. The king had in his collection a painting of "Diana bathing and Actaeon" by Rembrandt (Un tableau en hauteur, peint sur toile, qui est un bain de Diane avec Acteon) sold in 1673 in Paris to François Andrault de Buy de Langeron (item 88 of the inventory). His residence in Nieporęt near Warsaw, "a masterpiece of carpentry" according to Jean Le Laboureur who visited the palace on March 3, 1646, was richly decorated mainly with Flemish tapestries. Before 1643 Samuel von Sorgen paid to an unknown painter in Vienna, most probably Frans Luycx, "ad rationem altars to Nieporęt" and in 1651 a Dutch architect and a Mennonite Peeter Willer (or Willert) built a lock in Nieporęt on the Narew river, a "Dutch house" (a hunting manor) and a brewery, and in Warsaw a pavilion called "pleasure house" (lusthauz) for Queen's ladies at the Villa Regia Palace and a mill. Possibly after his accession to the throne around 1649 John Casimir's court painter, Daniel Schultz, created his portrait to the Marble Room at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Schultz was trained in the Netherlands and he studied in Leiden in 1643 (most likely he is mentioned as "Daniel Schultz Borussus"). The mentioned portrait from the Marble Room, very in Rembrandt's style, shows the king in a tall fur hat, a shirt and a chain very similar to the portrait of a man in profile with feathered cap and long wavy hair in private collection in Germany, monogrammed lower left 'RHL', exactly as a print by Jan van Vliet, signed in the plate 'RHL. v Rijn. jn. / 1631. / JG v. vliet fecit' (compare "323 The Rákóczy identity" by Gary Schwartz). This portrait, most probably one of a series, was undoubtedly a model to van Vliet's print. The same profile was also included in a study drawing or preliminary sketch by Rembrandt in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham. The young man with protruding lower lip resemble greatly other effigies of John Casimir (especially his marble bust by Giovanni Francesco Rossi), who was 22 years old in 1631 when the portraits were created and inherited the Habsburg (Masovian) jaw from his mother Constance of Austria. The same year Rembrandt moved from Leiden into the house of an art agent to King Sigismund III Vasa, Hendrick van Uylenburgh, in Amsterdam. Rembrandt became chief painter of the studio and in 1634 married Van Uylenburgh's relative Saskia. Also in 1631, two important Polish-Lithuanian magnates arrived to the Netherlands, Janusz Radziwill (1612-1655) to Leiden and Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667) to Louvain in the Spanish Netherlands (possibly also to Leiden that year).
A sheet of figure studies with a portrait of Prince John Casimir Vasa (1609-1672) by Rembrandt, 1630s, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts.
Portrait of Prince John Casimir Vasa (1609-1672) in a fur hat by Rembrandt or follower, ca. 1631, Private collection.
Portrait of Prince John Casimir Vasa (1609-1672) in a fur hat by Jan van Vliet after Rembrandt, 1631, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Portraits of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski by Rembrandt and Ferdinand Bol
In 1629, Jerzy Sebastian (1616-1667) and his older brother Aleksander Michał (1614-1677), sons of fabulously rich voivode of Ruthenia Prince Stanisław Lubomirski (1583-1649), set out to study abroad. Aleksander was 15, and Jerzy 13 years old. Jakub Piotrowicki, Catholic priest and professor of the Kraków Academy, became their guardian, they were also accompanied by steward Sebastian Kokwiński. The first destination was the Jesuit university in Ingolstadt (September 17, 1629). From there they went to Leuven/Louvain in the Spanish Netherlands in 1630, where there was also a Catholic university, very popular with the Polish nobility and magnates, and to Cologne in 1632. Then in April 1633 Jerzy Sebastian was in the Protestant Leiden to study military engineering and there he probably met Janusz Radziwill (1612-1655), a Calvinist, who was also studying there. Later he visited England, France, Spain and Italy. During these journeys, he learned the art of fortification, rhetoric, grammar, mathematics, languages, and he had the opportunity to meet foreign nobles and monarchs. He returned to Poland in 1636.
Between 1639-1641, a Flemish painter Mattheus Ingermann (Ingenraen) from Antwerp, who studied painting in Rome, worked as a court painter of Stanisław Lubomirski (Jerzy Sebastian's father), portraying his son Aleksander, which is confirmed by the preserved inventory of the Wiśnicz gallery. His "Annunciation" fom the chapel of the Wiśnicz Castle is today in the Saint Anne's Church in Warsaw-Wilanów. He also made large-format paintings for the Carmelite Church in Nowy Wiśnicz. After Stanisław's death in 1649 his three sons Jerzy Sebastian, Aleksander Michał and the youngest Konstanty Jacek (1620-1663) managed the estates including the opulent Wiśnicz Castle. During the Deluge (1655-1660) Aleksander Michał secured some rich furnishings of the Wiśnicz estate (Castle and Monastery), taking them to Spiš. Leaving Wiśnicz on September 19, 1656, the army of the Brigand of Europe, as he was called by Stefan Czarniecki, king Charles X Gustav of Sweden, plundered the most valuable things and reportedly took away as many as 150 wagons of precious loot and 35 cannons. The "Inventory of belongings spared from Swedes and escapes made on December 1, 1661 in Wiśnicz" in the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, lists some of the preserved paintings, mainly by Italian masters like Raphael, Titian, Veronese, Guido Reni, Guercino, Domenichino, from the Flemish names are only Paul Bril and Daniel Seghers, but next to them the inventory lists plenty of Flemish and Dutch paintings, "in general, much more than Italian paintings", according to Jerzy Mycielski (1856-1928) - meeting of the Commission for the Study of Art History in Poland on February 26, 1903, moreover, the portraits of the Lubomirski family, painted in Venice by Nicolas Régnier (Niccolò Renieri) and in Gdańsk by Daniel Schulz. In 1660 Jerzy Sebastian invited to Poland Tylman Gamerski (Tielman van Gameren, born in Utrecht), a Dutch architect and engineer, who was at that time working in Venice, reportedly as a painter of battle scenes. From 1674 Gamerski worked in the Royal Ujazdów Castle in Warsaw, devastated during the Deluge and sold to Jerzy Sebastian's son Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski (1642-1702). One of the earliest works of possibly most gifted pupil of Rembrandt, Carel Fabritius (1622-1654), the Raising of Lazarus in the National Museum in Warsaw painted in about 1643 (signed CAR.FABR.), comes from the Lubomirski estate in Ujazdów (before 1702 most probably in the St. Anne's Church in Ujazdów together with a a statue of dead Christ by Flemish sculptor Giusto Le Court). Some members of the Lubomirski family also owned paintings by Rembrandt or his circle. Before 1790 in the collection of Count Lubomirski in Lviv there was a Portrait of a young man (oil on canvas 71 x 59.7 cm), attributed to Barent Fabritius and later to Samuel van Hoogstraten (after "Rembrandt After Three Hundred Years ..." by Jay Richard Judson, Egbert Haverkamp Begemann, p. 74). The catalog of paintings from the collection of Countess Eleonora Teresa Jadwiga Lubomirska née Husarzewska (1866-1940), exhibited in Lviv in 1909 ("Katalog ilustrowany wystawy mistrzów dawnych ..." by Mieczysław Treter, item 52, p. 18), is the oldest surely documented provenance of the painting by Rembrandt or follower, today kept at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (2023.4). According to the catalog, the painting was signed and dated lower left: f. R. H. 1628 (year not visible today). It is considered one of the earliest of his self-portraits. The painting was probably evacuated from Poland during World War II (1939-1945) by its owners. The Countess also owned "Hagar's exile in the wilderness" by School of Rembrandt (oil on canvas, 75 x 52 cm, item 56, p. 19). Majority of preserved effigies of Jerzy Sebastian come from his later years and were created by Flemish artists, including a portrait by Jan de Herdt (Royal Castle in Warsaw), created in about 1664. Portrait of a young man with a sword by Ferdinand Bol in Dayton Art Institute (oil on canvas, 205.7 x 130.8 cm, 1962.18), depict a man in rich princely costume. His heavily embroidered velvet tunic, pose and oriental sabre are very similar to effigy of King Ladislaus IV Vasa from "Het Groot Balet" (Caricature of the peace negotiations after Battle of Lützen) in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, anonymous print created after 1632. Very similar leather shoes in Polish style, together with velvet arrow case and quiver were offered by John II Casimir Vasa, elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, to five year old king of Sweden Charles XI in about 1660. They are also visible in famous Polish Rider (Lisowczyk) by Rembrandt or his circle, which most probably depict Marcjan Aleksander Ogiński (1632-1690), colonel of the Polish-Lithuanian light cavalry. The latter painting, today in the Frick Collection in New York City, comes from the Polish royal collection (acquired in 1791 by king Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski). Ogiński was portraited by Bol at the time of his studies in the Netherlands. This effigy bearing the inscription MO / STR (bottom right), identified as "Marcjan Ogiński / Starost of Trakai", and showing him in a fur hat is in a private collection (after "O amerykańskich polonikach Rembrandta ..." by Zdzisław Żygulski, p. 49). Bol, who was the same age as Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski, both born in 1616, was brought as a child to Amsterdam. He must have entered Rembrandt's studio at an early age, probably when he was about sixteen (after Emile Michel "Rembrandt, His Life, His Work and His Time", Volume 1, p. 244). Described portrait is dated to about 1635-1640, therefore most probably when Lubomirski was no longer in the Netherlands, however, this does not exclude the possibility that it was made on the basis of drawings created earlier in the artist's atelier or sent from Poland. Jerzy Sebastian's oriental style sabre and horse tack are today in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków. The same man was depicted in two paintings by Rembrandt or his circle. One entitled Young man with a plumed hat, today in the Toledo Museum of Art (oil on panel, 81.3 x 66 cm, 1926.64), was created in 1631 when Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam from his native Leiden (monogrammed and dated lower left: RHL. 1631), to live in the house of the artistic agent of the King of Poland. The second, in the North Carolina Museum of Art (oil on canvas, 118.1 x 96.5 cm, GL.60.17.68), signed and dated '1633' in upper right corner, shows the man holding a heavy ancient sword, similar to Bronze Age swords found in Nowy Żmigród, south-eastern Poland, not far from Lubomirski estates in Łańcut and Nowy Wiśnicz, today in the Subcarpathian Museum in Krosno. He is not a simple soldier, he is a tremendously rich connoisseur, a descendant of the ancient belligerent Sarmatians (legendary ancestors of Polish nobility), trained in Leiden as a military engineer.
Portrait of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667) with a pumed hat by Rembrandt or circle, 1631, Toledo Museum of Art.
Portrait of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667) with an ancient sword by Rembrandt or circle, 1633, North Carolina Museum of Art.
Portrait of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667) with an oriental sabre by Ferdinand Bol, 1634-1640, Dayton Art Institute.
The Raising of Lazarus by Carel Fabritius, ca. 1643, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Prince Vladislav Dominik Zaslavsky-Ostrogsky by follower of Frans Hals
On June 12, 1633, a wealthy heir to the Zaslavsky and Ostrogsky fortunes, Prince Vladislav Dominik (d. 1656) married Zofia Pudencjana Ligęzianka (d. 1649), who was set to receive a dowry of 60,000 florins in cash and 10,000 in jewelry. At the age of about 15, the groom was the owner of huge estates in southern Poland and Ruthenia - 23 towns and about 400 villages and allodial estates consisting of 19 towns and about 160 villages. Shortly after the marriage, the young magnate was sent with the nobles Florian Zamoyski and Piotr Minocki on an educational trip, first to Padua and then to Bologna. He also visited Leiden, Paris, Lyon, Florence, Loreto, Rome, Naples and Pozzuoli. In November 1635 he returned to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by sea via Gdańsk, probably from the Netherlands, and the journey cost 26,053 zlotys (compare "Akademickie niestatki ..." by Jarosław Pietrzak, p. 17-18).
Most likely in Gdańsk, in 1635, Bartholomeus Strobel painted the magnificent portrait of the prince, depicted in a rich French costume, today in the Wilanów Palace (Wil. 1654) and soon after he or his entourage also painted a full-length version, now kept in the National Art Museum of Belarus (ЗЖ-106). Vladislav Dominik was born before June 22, 1618 because he is mentioned in a document of this date issued by his maternal grandfather Prince Janusz Ostrogski (1554-1620) regarding the inheritance of the Ostroh estates. From the earliest years, the prince's entire education was managed by a council of tutors headed by his mother, Euphrosyne Zaslavska née Ostrogska (d. 1628), as well as Bogusław Radoszewski, bishop of Lutsk and Marcin Szyszkowski, bishop of Kraków. Before going on an educational trip abroad, the prince studied at the Kraków Academy. The studies in Protestant Leiden were probably important to the tutors or to the prince himself, as his two younger brothers Constantine Alexander (1620-1642) and Janusz Isidore (1622-1649) also studied there. After studying in Padua (from October 1638), the Zaslavsky brothers and their tutor Jan Hieronim Rychłowski moved to the Netherlands in 1641, where they received 12,000 guilders from the the guardians to continue their studies. Janusz Isidore died suddenly at the age of 22 and his funeral took place in Leiden on July 15, 1642. The ceremony, postponed for several months, brought together many Poles from all over the Netherlands in Leiden. It was honored by a speech by the Dutch scholar Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn (1612-1653), linguist and professor at the University of Leiden, published in 1642 - Oratio in excessum illustrissimi et splendidissimi principis Constantini Alexandri, principis Ostrogiae, ducis Zasłaviae etc. Prince Zaslavsky-Ostrogsky was known for his lavish lifestyle. He spent enormous sums on his constant travels around the country, to organize entertainments, such as concerts by royal artists, performances by actors, hunting, and to maintain his own music orchestra. Fixed sums were spent on paintings, drawings and books. The inventory of his property from 1657 contains 415 paintings, mainly portraits, 887 books and a small number of drawings and graphics. The gallery of mainly Netherlandish paintings, founded by prince's father Alexander (d. 1629), was supplemented by other works brought from abroad and purchased later (after "Bartłomiej Strobel ..." by Jacek Tylicki, p. 185). In addition to portraits by Strobel, another painted portrait of Vladislav Dominik, full-length, in national costume is known, today kept in the Wilanów Palace (Wil.1167). It was previously believed to be the effigy of his great-grandfather Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), Prince of Ostroh, and it was correctly identified by me in 2014 by comparison with a lost drawing with Vladislav Dominik's portrait from the mid-17th century (National Museum in Warsaw, Rys.Pol.2500). His father, educated at the universities of Ingolstadt, Padua and Bologna, who according to Kasper Niesiecki (1682-1744), "did not spend much on his clothes", had warned him before leaving to study abroad "not to change the Polish costume" (after "Tłuścioch wilanowski ..." by Jacek Żukowski). The registers of the magnate's movable property from 1649 and 1656 list French-style costumes, purple doublets including one embroidered with silver, an alomont of green cloth, numerous sleeves, a pair of silk and cotton stockings, belts studded with precious stones and numerous jewels. Thus, not only during his journey and shortly afterwards, as evidenced by the portrait by Strobel, the prince wore foreign costumes. Later, an anonymous pamphlet ridiculed the education of Vladislav Dominik abroad: "He was not like his father and mother / raised carelessly and licentiously by his guardians [Catholic bishops] / Introduced to all kinds of pleasures in Kraków / Under the name of liberal arts. / A lazy, inactive, stupid heir and a luxury-loving young man / Who, rushing contemptuously abroad / learned nothing in Padua, indulging in pleasures". In the Anhalt Picture Gallery-Georgium in Dessau there is a portrait of a boy in a ruff-like collar, previously attributed to Frans Hals and now to a follower (oil on panel, 66 x 50 cm, inv. 62). It comes from the collection of Princess Henriette Amalie of Anhalt-Dessau (1720-1793), who purchased the majority of the paintings privately and at auction, notably during the auction of the estate of Caroline Louise of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1748-1782), Duchess of Courland in Frankfurt in January 1783 (after "Catalog der Gemälde-Sammlung der Fürstlichen Amalienstiftung zu Dessau", p. 3, 27). Courland was then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The boy looks very similar to Prince Zaslavsky-Ostrogsky from his mentioned portraits. According to the inscription at the top left, the portrait was created in 1634, when the prince was traveling and studying abroad, and the sitter's age is read as 15, but the last digit is indistinct (AETATIS SUAE. 1[5?] / FH A 1634) (compare "Die holländischen Gemälde ...", ed. Alexandra Nina Bauer, p. 63). The number could also be 16 or 18, which generally corresponds to Vladislav Dominik's age in 1634, considered to have been born between 1616 and 1618. Despite that no paintings by Hals are found today in public collections in Poland, several come from Polish historical collections, such as two portraits from the collection of the last elected monarch of the Commonwealth Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski (1732-1798), now in private collection (compare "Frans Hals" by Henricus Petrus Baard, p. 71-72) or two portraits from the collection of Count Maurycy Zamoyski (1871-1939) in Warsaw (Saint Louis Art Museum, 272:1955 and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 31-90). The man in the portrait, which comes from the collection of Counts Branicki in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 79.5 x 58.5 cm, Sotheby's London, December 4, 2013, lot 35), could be, like Vladislav Dominik, a visitor to the Netherlands from the Commonwealth.
Portrait of Prince Vladislav Dominik Zaslavsky-Ostrogsky (d. 1656) by follower of Frans Hals, 1634, Anhalt Picture Gallery-Georgium in Dessau.
Portrait of a man in black with lace collar from the Branicki collection in Warsaw by Frans Hals, 1635-1640, Private collection.
Portraits of Anna Kiszczanka by Rembrandt and Giacinto Campana
"May I have, honorable lady, according to your dignity, / A golden gift for your name day / And foreign countries subtle works" (Żebym miał, zacna pani, według twej godności / Na twoje imieniny upominek złoty / I krajów cudzoziemskich subtelne roboty), expressed his wishes on St. Anne's Day in 1633 in a poem dedicated to Anna Kiszczanka (1593-1644), Princess Radziwill, court poet Daniel Naborowski (after "Anna Kiszczanka Radziwiłłowa ..." by Mariola Jarczykowa, p. 95-97, 102-103).
It was written in a gloomy atmosphere of war with Moscow, when during the royal election after the death of Sigismund III Vasa, the Russian army, supported by Sweden, attacked the eastern border and besieged Smolensk. Naborowski praised Princess Anna's piety, which was confirmed in a letter from the Calvinist minister Baltazar Krośniewicz from Birzai (August 29, 1617). In 1631, with her husband Christopher Radziwill (1585-1640), she founded "a large brick church in the square of Kedainiai" and a Calvinist school. Moreover, they founded "a second brick church and a cemetery for evangelical funerals on the mountain near our manor house, on the square they call Januszów. There, in Januszów, we are building a hospital for the poor, the elderly, the infirm, the disabled and the sick" (after "Upamiętnienie Radziwiłłów ..." by Aliaksandr Prudnikau, p. 92-93). Kiszczanka's strong anti-Catholic sentiment best illustrates the document of June 8, 1644. This is an extract from the tribunal files containing the protest of Mikołaj Karol Białozor, the parish priest of Kedainiai, against Anna, for not allowing the Corpus Christi procession in Kedainiai. She arrived in town on the eve of the celebration, i.e. on May 25, 1644, and imposed penalties on all those who would go in the procession the next day. On the holiday itself, she ordered the bridge to be blocked, which prevented the procession from passing (after "Katolikom nabożeństwa zabroniła ...", Habemus Documentum, AGAD 1/354/0/10/707). Anna was the daughter of Stanislaus Kiszka and Elizabeth Sapieha and the heiress to huge estates, including Kedainiai. She married Christopher in 1606, when she was only 13 years old. Of their six children, two survived to adulthood, Janusz (1612-1655) and Catherine (1614-1674). Her son, Janusz, graduated from the Calvinist gymnasium in Slutsk and went to study abroad at the age of 16. He continued his studies in Leipzig, Altdorf and Leiden. In 1632, as Commonwealth ambassador, he visited France and England. A year later, in 1633, after having hired 1,000 infantrymen and 200 dragoons in the Netherlands, he returned to Poland-Lithuania and participated in the Smolensk war. In the summer of 1628, Boguslaus Radziwill (1620-1669), who lived in Germany with his mother, after her second marriage was entrusted to the care of his uncle and aunt and moved to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Boguslaus was educated, like earlier Janusz, by Protestant pastor Paweł Demitrowicz, who had previously been the rector of Calvinist schools in Vilnius and Slutsk. Shortly after becoming a courtier of King Ladislaus IV Vasa, he also went to study in the Netherlands in 1637, like his cousin Janusz. Among the best painted effigies of the two cousins are portraits created by Dutch painters - the portrait of Janusz by David Bailly (1584-1657), painted around 1632 in Leiden (National Museum in Wrocław, VIII-578) and the portrait of Boguslaus, attributed to Willem van Honthorst (1594-1666), painted around 1665 as his costume indicates (private collection), perhaps on the occasion of his marriage to his Catholic relative Anna Maria Radziwill (1640-1667). Due to connections of the Protestant branch of the Radziwill family in Europe, in 1633, during the Smolensk war, the bedridden Prince John Casimir Vasa proposed to marry Anna's daughter Catherine. Her father, however, undoubtedly involved in the two Protestant unions desired by the king - John Casimir was to marry Queen Christina of Sweden and Ladislaus wanted to marry her mother Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, politely refused. Catherine Radziwill lived with her sick mother - Princess Anna wrote to her husband from Birzai on October 9, 1628 that she had ulcers on her left ear. She drank thermal water and finally went to recover in 1632 in Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój, according to a letter from Dolatycze near Novogrudok to Janusz, dated July 9. In Kapyl, on the advice of doctors, the princess "took steam in the bathtub" (after "Zdrowie Władysława IV" by Rumbold z Połocka, p. 171-172). To commemorate their son and his cousin Anna and Christopher founded two towns named after them - Januszpol near Kedainiai and Bogusławpol near Minsk, which were to become important craft and trade centers. Due to the decline of the Protestant lineage of the Radziwill family after the Deluge, Januszpol and Bogusławpol lost their names. On August 17, 1643, the widow Anna Kiszczanka issued the privilege for Januszpol, also known as Januszów and Janopol, confirming that the majority of its inhabitants were foreigners, invited to settle in the new town by her husband. According to the document, "I was greeted by the famous inhabitants of my town, Januszów, people of foreign nations, recruited by various letters of his majesty the prince, voivode of Vilnius, grand hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, my husband". Responding to the request of the people of Januszpol, Anna ordered her governor of Kedainiai, Andrzej Przystanowski, sword-bearer of Samogitia, to measure the squares and distribute them to people "coming from foreign nations". The new residents were freed for 10 years from all monetary and customs charges to the princely treasury. The settlers of Januszpol and Kedainiai were mostly evangelical refugees from Scotland, England, the Netherlands and Germany. In a letter dated January 12, 1612 from Hamburg, Daniel Naborowski informed his patron Christopher Radziwill about the recruitment of Englishmen in the Netherlands (after "Korespondencja i literatura okolicznościowa ..." by Mariola Jarczykowa, p. 114). The architecture of Kedainiai before 1655, as shown in virtual reconstructions created for the Kedainiai Museum, resembles towns in the Netherlands, England and Germany more than towns founded by Catholic patrons, such as Zamość settled with Italians, Armenians, Jews and Greeks. The register of Anna Kiszczanka's expenses from 1641 for her estate in Zabłudów near Białystok indicates that most of her expenses went for personal purposes, food, renovation of manor rooms and the purchase of luxury goods, most of which were imported goods purchased in Gdańsk and Toruń. Expenses related to charitable or educational activities constituted a margin of income from Zabłudów estates (after "Rozchody i wydatki księżnej Anny Kiszczanki" by Antoni Mironowicz, p. 274). No painted effigy of Princess Anna is known, but there must have been many, probably by Dutch painters or by a royal court painter. Inventory of paintings from the collection of Anna's great-granddaughter (Boguslaus' daughter and Janusz's granddaughter) Louise Charlotte Radziwill (1667-1695), drawn up in 1671, lists two effigies of Anna Kiszczanka - item 78/8 and 106/5 (after "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska). The painters are not mentioned, but this collection undoubtedly included the paintings of the best European Old Masters. Some titles indicate that some of the paintings were created in the Netherlands, such as "A young Dutch woman" (314/23), "A Dutchman with a glass and a pipe" (337/13), "A Dutchman plays an instrument and laughs" (343/19), "A Dutchman plays the viol and sings" (345/21), "A Dutchman plays the pipe" (346/22), "Dutch art, drinking peasants" (429/17), "A Dutch painting" (446/6), "A Dutchman courtes a lady and she takes money from his pouch" (492/12), "A Dutch lady with a watering can" (696/9), "A Dutch lady is reading a book and a watering can is next to her" (730/43) and trompe-l'œil painting "A Dutchman painted on panel but on canvas" (797/13). Alongside portraits of Polish-Lithuanian monarchs, monarchs of France, electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, foreign and Polish-Lithuanian nobles like Leszczyński or Lubomirski, the inventory includes numerous effigies of members of the Radziwill family from both branches Catholic (Nesvizh-Olyka) and Calvinist (Birzai-Dubingiai). An effigy created around the time of Anna Kiszczanka's lifetime is confirmed. This is a drawing kept in the Hermitage Museum (ОР-45863), a study for an engraving from a series of effigies of family members (possibly created between 1646 and 1653). It is inscribed in Polish: Anna Kiszczanka Żona and shows her in a rich 1620s Spanish-style saya and a typical Polish-Lithuanian fur hat and coat. The series was probably not printed because of the Deluge, which also significantly affected and impoverished the Radziwill family. We can assume that the studies were created to be sent to a renowned engraver in Gdańsk, such as the Dutch Willem Hondius, or the Netherlands. This effigy (or very similar) was published more than a century later, in 1758, in the cycle Icones familiæ ducalis Radivilianæ, where Anna's face was slightly modified. The same goes for the image of Anna's son Janusz, which may have been modeled on his portrait by Daniel Schultz, now housed in the National Art Museum of Belarus. During the Deluge (1655-1660), invaders plundered almost everything that the inhabitants could not evacuate or protect in some way. Over the following centuries, the Radziwills had to evacuate their collections several times. Such activities as well as post-war chaos contributed to incorrect identifications of models in preserved effigies, which is why there are obvious errors in Icones familiæ ducalis Radivilianæ, such as the portrait of Anna Kiszczyna née Radziwill (1525-1600) in which the model resembles effigies from the end of the 17th century or early 18th century and not from the 16th century or another Anna Kiszczanka, who according to the inscription lived in the first quarter of the 16th century (born in 1513 and died in 1533) and the effigy depicts a lady in costume similar to the mentioned effigy of a wife of Christopher Radziwill, thus created in the first quarter of the 17th century. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York there is a portrait of a woman by Rembrandt, which comes from the Radziwill collection in their Nesvizh Castle (oil on wood, 67.9 x 50.2 cm, inventory number 14.40.625). Later in the collection of Cyprian Lachnicki (1824-1906) in Warsaw, the painting was sold in Paris on June 15, 1867 ("Catalogue de la collection de tableaux de M. Lachnicki", Hôtel Drouot, no. 24). In the Paris sale, it appeared after the portrait of Rembrandt, now at the National Museum in Warsaw (M.Ob.296, earlier 734). The work was signed and dated by the painter (lower left): Rembrandt f· / 1633·, although it is also considered the work of Rembrandt (face) and his collaborators (costume). The sitter's costume is typical of Dutch fashion of this era and can be seen in many portraits by different painters. Rembrandt's portrait of Aechje Claesdr. in the National Gallery in London (NG775) is very similar, both in terms of composition and the sitter's attire. Aechje was the widow of Rotterdam brewer Jan Pesser and one of the leading figures in the Remonstrant community of Rotterdam. The Remonstrants were Protestant, but their beliefs were slightly different from the Calvinist orthodoxy that dominated religion in Holland at the time. This painting was also signed and dated (Rembrandt.ft / 1634) and also indicates her age (Æ. SVE. 83). An effigy similar to that in New York was also reproduced in the Icones familiæ ducalis Radivilianæ. The woman's ruff indicates that it was painted around the same time as Rembrandt's painting, but according to the inscription it shows Anna Fiedkonis née Radziwill (d. 1492). What is very interesting is that in Lithuania a copy of Nesvizh's painting has been preserved, today at the National Museum of Art in Vilnius (oil on canvas, 72 x 51 cm, LNDM T 4153). It was obviously painted by another painter, so it is not associated with Rembrandt but, mainly because of the woman's costume, with the 17th century Dutch school. Although the woman wears the attire of a Protestant woman from the Netherlands, the style of this painting is more Italian than Dutch and can be compared to Giacinto Campana's Saint Mary Magdalene at the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (Wil.1732), attributed by me. Campana arrived in Warsaw in 1637 and in 1639 he worked in Vilnius so that he could copy a picture by Rembrandt or another painter from the Radziwill collection. The woman in both paintings resembles Anna Kiszczanka, Princess Radziwill from all the mentioned effigies, as well as the portraits of her son Janusz by Bailly, by Bartholomeus Strobel (National Art Museum of Belarus) and engraving by Hondius (Czartoryski Museum). The Nesvizh (New York) portrait or a series was therefore ordered from Rembrandt's workshop in 1633 on the occasion of Anna's name day. The Vilnius portrait has a pendant depicting another woman of similar age and costume (oil on canvas, 71.5 x 50 cm, LNDM T 3990). The two were depicted together because they were sisters or otherwise related. Assuming the first woman is Anna Kiszczanka, the other should be identified as her sister-in-law Christina Kiszczyna née Drutska-Sokolinska (d. 1640). Like her father, Michael Drutsky-Sokolinsky (d. 1621), voivode of Polotsk and Smolensk, she was most likely also a Calvinist. Christina's husband, Janusz Kiszka (ca. 1586-1654), Field Hetman of Lithuania and voivode of Polotsk, raised in Calvinism, converted to Catholicism around 1606. In 1624-1626 he studied in Padua, where on March 4, 1625 he met the Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa and accompanied him to Venice. Papal nuncio Honorato Visconti gave the following description of the voivode of Polotsk and Field Hetman of Lithuania (report to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, July 15, 1636 from Warsaw): "he is also a better soldier than senator. Catholic but only in name, impulsive, not very pious, he still has many heretical superstitions, in which his father remained" (after "Relacye nuncyuszów apostolskich" by Erazm Rykaczewski, Volume 2, p. 252). Janusz Kiszka married Christina, the widow of Sebastian Gnoiński, in 1608 or 1609. She enjoyed the great trust of her husband, as evidenced by the fact that during his stay abroad for several years, on April 20, 1624, he entrusted her with the management of all estates. Returning to the country in 1627, preoccupied with military service, he left his property under her full management until May 16, 1633. In 1629, Kiszczyna concluded a contract with Abraham Jonaszewicz, a burgher from Gdańsk, for the sale of the Czaśniki estate with the Smolany farm. Gdańsk merchants wanted to organize the export of forestry and agricultural products on a large scale, bypassing the Vitebsk chamber customs (after "Próba utworzenia gdańskiej faktorii handlowej ..." by Jarosław Zawadzki, p. 43, 46). Christina died in 1640 and in connection with her funeral, a mourning booklet entitled "Mourning Shadows After Bright Rays" (Cienie żałobne po jasnych promieniach) by Melchior Stanislav Savitsky was published in Vilnius. Another version or original of this portrait is now in the Kremer collection in Amsterdam (oil on panel, 45 x 35.5 cm). It comes from the collection of the Kielmansegg family in Vienna and was cut, perhaps from an oval shape. This painting is attributed to Rembrandt's follower Jacob Adriaensz Backer and dates from around 1634. Stanisław Koniecpolski (1591-1646), Grand Hetman of the Crown, may have received copies of the portraits of the two women, because two of such paintings are visible in a photograph by Edward Trzemeski taken around 1880 and showing the Eastern Antechamber of his palace in Pidhirtsi near Lviv in Ukraine. In a portrait of a family as donors by a Kraków painter, painted around 1620 (National Museum in Kraków), the sitters wear Italian (the man and boy next to him) and Dutch costumes (the other members of the family). The painting style is inspired by the Italian school, while the family kneeling before the resurrected Christ looks more like Dutch, Silesian or Gdańsk paintings. Although the nobility of Poland-Lithuania had favored different fashions since at least the second quarter of the 16th century, specific garments had important connotations and were expressions of political opinions and sympathies. In a painting created in 1665, in the Corpus Christi Church in Poznań, Queen Jadwiga (Hedwig of Anjou, 1373-1399) was depicted in a typical Spanish costume from the 1620s. This effigy was probably inspired by the portrait of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631) or other unpreserved effigies of Jadwiga commissioned by Catholics sympathetic to the Spanish Empire and the Habsburgs. It was natural that when the Catholics and Habsburgs asserted their position at the royal court in Warsaw and their supporters manifested it through Spanish, Italian or Flemish fashion, the Calvinist aristocrats were represented in the Dutch costumes. The portrait of Queen Bona Sforza d'Aragona (1494-1557) kept at the National Museum in Lublin (oil on canvas, 60.5 x 51 cm, S/Mal/609/ML), painted in a style comparable to the two paintings in Vilnius, shows the queen in the convention of bourgeois portraits of the 17th century, emphasized by all authors. Its style is more Italian, however, the costume is clearly Nordic and the painting is attributed to the Dutch school. Similar ones can be seen in numerous portraits made around 1640 and attributed to the Dutch school (such as portrait of Dorothea Berck, private collection), Willem van Honthorst (Museum of Fine Arts in Lille), circle of Bartholomeus van der Helst (private collection), several portraits attributed to the Flemish school (dated 1641 and 1646, private collection) or a portrait of a French lady, perhaps Huguenot, signed by the unknown painter Panuier and painted in 1641 (private collection). Unlike the royal court, her dress is modest and her hair is not dyed Venetian blonde. The inscription with a crown - REGINA BONA, appears to be original, therefore the painting was most likely created to remind some people that the Commonwealth was from the beginning a tolerant country with different people, customs and religions.
Portrait of Anna Kiszczanka (1593-1644), Princess Radziwill by Rembrandt, 1633, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Portrait of Christina Kiszczyna née Drutska-Sokolinska (d. 1640) by Jacob Adriaensz Backer, ca. 1634, Kremer collection in Amsterdam.
Portrait of Anna Kiszczanka (1593-1644), Princess Radziwill by Giacinto Campana, ca. 1639, National Museum of Art in Vilnius.
Portrait of Christina Kiszczyna née Drutska-Sokolinska (d. 1640) by Giacinto Campana, ca. 1639, National Museum of Art in Vilnius.
Portrait of Queen Bona Sforza d'Aragona (1494-1557) by Giacinto Campana or circle, ca. 1640, National Museum in Lublin.
Saint Mary Magdalene by Giacinto Campana, 1640s, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.
Portraits of Princess Catherine Radziwill by Rembrandt and workshop
The famous 17th century Dutch painter Rembrandt was probably so busy with this small number of paintings that experts agree to directly attribute to him, that he didn't even know what color his famous wife's eyes were. Likewise for the members of his workshop, who probably saw Rembrandt's wife every day. Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612-1642), the relative of the Polish king's artistic agent Hendrick van Uylenburgh (d. 1661), the muse and one of the greatest celebrities of 17th century Europe (although in fact very few people probably heard of her during her lifetime), has different eye color in similar pictures (from blue, blue-brown to brown).
Despite her average beauty, apparently many people wanted to have her likeness and paid a lot to obtain it, so many portraits had to be created. The painter, his workshop and many followers copied the effigy of Saskia. They depicted the wife of a painter of Dutch merchants as an oriental princess, wearing clothes of expensive fabrics and jewelry. The sarcasm is justified because it doesn't make sense. Although there is no reliable evidence from the epoch, many people still want to believe in this invention probably dating back to the 19th century, when Poland did not exist on the maps of Europe, that Rembrandt mainly painted himself, his wife and his family. Many Poles also believed in this concept, which is why portraits of unknown women from Rembrandt's cycle from old Polish collections are traditionally known as Saskia. The earliest known mention of Saskia by an independent biographer is a note by Arnold Houbraken, who wrote about Rembrandt in 1718: "he had as wife a little farm woman from Raarep, or Ransdorp in Waterland, rather small of person, but well made in appearance and a plump body" (Hy had ten Huisvrouw een Boerinnetje van Raarep, of Ransdorp in Waterlant, wat klein van persoon maar welgemaakt van wezen, en poezel van lichaam). Around 1633, when many alleged portraits of Rembrandt's wife were created, one of the richest brides in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was Princess Catherine Radziwill (1614-1674). In 1633, Rembrandt painted a portrait of the princess's mother - Anna Kiszczanka (1593-1644) (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 14.40.625), in 1635 the painter and his workshop created a portrait of her father Christopher Radziwill (1585-1640), Grand Hetman of Lithuania, wearing a feathered cap (Buckland Abbey, NT 810136) and around 1640 Govert Flinck, one of Rembrandt's best pupils, created his full-length portrait holding a cane (National Museum in Warsaw, M.Ob.2584 MNW), all identified by me. Catherine was born in Jasiunai near Vilnius in December 1614. Raised in the Evangelical faith, she received a home education at her mother's court appropriate to her social position. As can be seen from her own correspondence, she knew the Bible well, was interested in theological issues, and personally supervised her property affairs. Her father planned a marriage for her abroad (after "Testamenty ewangelików ..." by Urszula Augustyniak, p. 215). So potential candidates must have received her portraits. During the interregnum after the death of Sigismund III Vasa in 1632, rumors circulated of the intention to marry Catherine by the king's eldest son, Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, elected as Ladislaus IV (compare "Dynastia Wazów ..." by Stefania Ochmann-Staniszewska, p. 184). According to the papal nuncio Honorato Visconti (report to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, July 15, 1636 from Warsaw), Ladislaus "had a penchant for the daughter of Prince Christopher Radziwill - voivode of Vilnius, hetman of Lithuania, leader of the Calvinists" (after "Relacye nuncyuszów ..." by Jan Chrzciciel Albertrandy, p. 206). The princess could therefore have become the first Protestant queen of Poland, but the king married Cecilia Renata of Austria in 1637. On February 25, 1640, Catherine married the Catholic George Charles Hlyabovich (d. 1669), Hlebowicz in Polish, steward of Lithuania, who guaranteed her free exercise of her religion and allowed to raise their two daughters as Calvinists. The wedding was officiated by a Calvinist minister and was magnificently feasted with races and fireworks. The king sent the newlyweds a gift of 20,000 zlotys and a bed woven with gold. After her marriage, she continued to hold the title of princess. Catherine was involved in the affairs of the Evangelical Church of Lithuania. She was deeply affected by the trial over the Protestant church in Vilnius in 1640, as evidenced by her letters to her father. Her firstborn daughter Marcybella Anna (1641-1681) married Marcjan Aleksander Ogiński (1632-1690), whose portrait on horseback by Rembrandt is in the Frick Collection in New York (1910.1.98). She died on December 2, 1674. In her will, written on August 16 of the same year in Ros near Grodno (Belarus), she asked to be buried next to her parents, in the crypt of the Kedainiai church. No reliable portrait of the princess is known. The effigy from Icones familiae ducalis Radivilianae - CATHARINA PRINCEPS RADIVILIA / CHRISTOPHORI II Defuncti 1640 ..., shows a woman in early 17th century costume, so it cannot represent her as she was born in 1614. In the painted copy of this effigy made between 1733-1737 (National Museum in Warsaw, MP 4453 MNW), she has gray hair which was fashionable at the time this painting was made, but indicates that the author copied a simplified drawing representing a member of the Radziwill family. Although in general the effigies in this series are reliable, there are also many errors, as in the case of an effigy of the second wife of Catherine's brother - Maria Lupu of Moldavia (1625-1660). An engraving of her portrait with Janusz's first wife by Johann Schröter in the National Art Museum of Belarus (ЗЖ-125), or another version of it, has been wrongly described as Katarzyna Tomicka (ca. 1517-1551). The register of paintings belonging to Catherine's cousin Boguslaus Radziwill (1620-1669) from 1657 (AGAD 1/354/0/26/84), lists three portraits of her husband (P. Hlebowicz Sta Zmudzki, P. Hlebowicz młody, Chlebowicz Sta Zmudzki) and "The Entry of Mr. Hlyabovich into Smolensk" (Wiazd P. Hlebo do Smolenska), as well as two portraits of her mother (Anna Kiszczanka Wdzina Wilenska, Kiszczanka Radziwiłowa Wdzina Wilen) and a single one which probably depicted Mrs. Hlyabovich (Katarzyna Radziwiłowna) after which "A Dutch painting" (Obraz Holenderski) is mentioned. This small number of her effigies in this inventory is probably due to the fact that the voivodess Hlebowiczowa had property disputes with her cousin and then with the guardians of his daughter Louise Charlotte, and even attacked some of his estates with her private army. Rembrandt's oval "Portrait of Saskia", also known in the catalog of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam as "Young woman in fantasy costume" (oil on panel, 65 x 48 cm, SK-A-4057) is known from several contemporary copies by workshop or circle of the painter. This painting was produced in 1633 (signed and dated: Rembrandt ft. 1633). The earliest confirmed provenance of this painting is the private collection of Thomas Bruce (1766-1841), 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine. Her "fantasy costume" closely resembles that of Teodora Krystyna Sapieżyna née Tarnowska (1625-1652) from her 18th century portrait, a copy of original from the 1640s (Wawel Royal Castle, 8690) and the woman has a strong family resemblance with Anna Kiszczanka from her mentioned portrait by Rembrandt in the Met. A good copy of this painting in the style of Salomon Koninck (1609-1656), painter from Rembrandt's circle and the academy of Hendrick van Uylenburgh, was sold in 2014 in London with attribution to the 18th century copyist (oil on canvas, 65.2 x 53.6 cm, Bonhams, October 29, 2014, lot 165). It is not an exact copy because Koninck added a baroque brooch to her bust, similar to that visible in portrait of Maria Eleonora Stibichen (d. 1660), possibly by Tomasz Muszyński, in the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius (LNDM T 3940). Another good copy made by the painter's workshop in 1634 (signed: Rembrandt f. 1634) is in the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid (oil on canvas, 91 x 80.4 cm, 08452). It was part of the collection assembled by José Lázaro in Paris, probably acquired at the end of 1939 as an original by Rembrandt. In 1633, Govert Flinck, usually living in the house of Hendrick van Uylenburgh in Amsterdam, created another similar portrait of the same woman dressed as a shepherdess, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (oil on canvas, transferred from wood, 66.7 x 50.5 cm, 60.71.15). This painting was most likely in Paris in the 18th century. It was inscribed at the bottom right: Rembrandt f. / 1633. This signature was long considered original and the work as a painting by the master himself, which indicates that Rembrandt, working in 1633 on a large princely commission, signed a work by his student. His wealthy customers from the Commonwealth expected not only good quality, but also that the paintings be made by the master himself. However, in the case of large orders this was probably difficult to achieve. Another similar painting of the same woman by Flinck, also signed by Rembrandt (Rembrandt f / 1633), is in the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden (oil on panel, 72 x 48 cm, S1948-041). The painting probably comes from the collection of Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839) in Rome, sold in 1845. Who knows, perhaps this splendid princely "portrait of Saskia" was already sent to Rome in 1633. Another version of this portrait was probably in Paris in the 18th century because it was engraved by Antoine de Marcenay de Ghuy in 1768 under the title "The Lady with the Pearls" (La Dame aux Perles) or "The lady with the feather" (La dame a la plume) and inscription: Rembrant pinx. The same woman, in similar costume, also painted in 1633, was depicted in a painting now in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on panel, 60.4 x 49.6 cm, M.Ob.35, earlier 60). The painting is also attributed to Govert Flinck, although it also bears the same signature: Rembrandt / 1633 (center right). The painting was purchased in 1865 from the collection of Karol Jezierski. "Princess Saskia" wearing a diadem, pearl earrings, a pearl and coral necklace with a pendant, a double gold chain hanging around her body and two bracelets on her left arm, an expensive dress of crimson velvet and holding a pink in her right hand was also depicted in a painting kept in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden (oil on panel, 98.5 x 82.5 cm, Gal.-Nr. 1562). This painting signed lower left: [...]brandt. f 1641 was purchased in 1742 by De Brays from Araignon in Paris (price 1500 livres) for the collection of the elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Augustus III (1696-1763) in Dresden. The woman's gesture, holding a carnation, symbol of love, indicates that she is addressing her husband, probably represented on an unknown pendant painting. A good, possibly 17th or 18th century copy of this painting, coming from the Radziwill collection, is in the Nieborów Palace (pastel on paper, 64,5 x 54 cm, NB 791 MNW). The author could be Louis Marteau or Anna Rajecka, pastelists who worked for the Polish-Lithuanian aristocracy. In addition to several paintings by Rembrandt that were in the Nieborów Palace before 1835, the catalog of the Radziwill collection also lists a painting by Govert Flinck: "340. Portrait of a lady in a bonnet, white ruff and black clothes; she holds a white handkerchief in her hand. Painted on wood" (after "Katalog galeryi obrazow sławnych mistrzów ..." by Antoni Blank, p. 102). A very good studio copy of Rembrandt's self-portrait in a ruff, painted in 1632 (signed and dated: RHL van Rhyn / 1632), now in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow (35/600), can be found at the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on panel, 64 x 47.2 cm, M.Ob.296, earlier 734). This unsigned copy comes from the collection of Cyprian Lachnicki (1824-1906), who acquired numerous paintings from historical Polish-Lithuanian collections in former Commonwealth's territories or in Saint Petersburg where many paintings were moved after the partitions of Poland. At least two other old copies of this self-portrait preserved in Poland, one very probably from the 19th century, in the National Museum in Warsaw (211446 MNW) and the other octagonal in shape, very probably from the second half of the 18th century, in Łańcut Castle (S.1419MŁ). It is likely that many effigies of this type found their way to Poland-Lithuania as early as the 17th century, indicating that, through this tronie-like portrait, Rembrandt or Hendrick van Uylenburgh was advertising the painter's workshop in the Commonwealth or that customers from the country wanted to have an effigy of a painter who worked for them. The style of the portrait from the Lachnicki collection resembles the 1633 portrait of Catherine by Flinck in the National Museum in Warsaw, it was therefore very probably painted by this student of Rembrandt.
Portrait of Rembrandt in a ruff by Govert Flinck, after 1633, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Princess Catherine Radziwill (1614-1674) by Rembrandt, 1633, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Portrait of Princess Catherine Radziwill (1614-1674) by Salomon Koninck, ca. 1633, Private collection.
Portrait of Princess Catherine Radziwill (1614-1674) by workshop of Rembrandt, 1634, Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid.
Portrait of Princess Catherine Radziwill (1614-1674) as a shepherdess by Govert Flinck, 1633, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Portrait of Princess Catherine Radziwill (1614-1674) by Govert Flinck, 1633, Fries Museum in Leeuwarden.
Portrait of Princess Catherine Radziwill (1614-1674) by Govert Flinck, 1633, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Princess Catherine Radziwill (1614-1674), holding a carnation by Rembrandt, 1641, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.
Portrait of Princess Catherine Radziwill (1614-1674) after Rembrandt, after 1641, Nieborów Palace.
Portraits of Jan Zawadzki, Ambassador of the King of Poland by Rembrandt
"The next day, in fine weather and the most favorable wind, we came to Amsterdam. Beautiful are edifices of this city, canals crossing it, streets lined with linden trees, forests of ship masts, rich merchant warehouses. [...] The merchant market is beautiful and rich. Reformatory House, magnificent Indian Company buildings, full of the most expensive goods. On the 14th day, having sent the court and things to The Hague, we arrived alone in Leiden, on the day of Pentecost, we listened to mass in a private Catholic chapel. There we met with joy, the sons of Prince Wiśniowiecki, voivode of Ruthenia, who invited us to dinner; then we were visited from our other countrymen, that is from Gentlemen Żółkiewski, Zieliński, Kreitz and Korfa. On that day the envoy, the Council of the Bohemian Queen, informed about his arrival, who immediately invited him on the following day for an audience at three in the afternoon. [...] After 16 days of expensive stay on June 1, we left The Hague. [...] On June 22, near the village of Leith near Edinburgh, we dropped the anchor. He immediately sent an envoy to the Scottish Chancellor to announce his arrival", recalls the author of the manuscript from the collection of Count Józef Sierakowski about Jan Zawadzki (d. 1645), starost of Świecie and Chamberlain of the King, envoy of His Highness Ladislaus IV, king of Poland and Sweden to the German princes, to the Queens of Sweden and Bohemia, to the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and to the King of England in 1633.
On July 19 Zawadzki arrived to London. "We visited the house of the Duke of Buckingham, killed by a murderer four years ago. [...] In this palace, the rooms are beautifully painted by Vandyck. [...] We were also at the merchant market [...] Here, by the old custom, the envoy received gifts from the King, three large basins with ewers, six large cups, four smaller ones, a censer, cups for salt and sugar. The envoy gave to the bearers 50 Jacobs (2000 fl.). From London, we set off for the Netherlands again, [...] on August 10th we came to Amsterdam". The envoy also brought many valuable gifts: "to the Royal Undersecretary, I gave a gift of money so that he would be careful about our affairs. I gave the Master of Ceremonies a chain with diamonds, the Kitchen Master Cupbearer and other officials, expensive rings, or gifts in money". In 1636 he offered to the King of England, after a private audience, the horses, "dressed in tacks with broadswords and maces. Hussar pure breed horse with a horse tack set with turquoises, a leopard skin on it, on a bay, second tack in Arabic style - a bow, a quiver, a very beautiful tack. [...] Two soroks of sable for the Queen, with which they are very surprised, and estimate for a lot of money. He also gave the Prince, five tovaglia tablecloths, whose work is great in admiration" (after "Zbiór pamiętników o dawnej Polszcze" by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Volume 3, p. 105-133). During the solemn audience in 1636 before the King of England Zawadzki's servants were dressed in red velvet żupans, beige or scarlet delias, and having ostrich feathers on their hats. They were followed by fifteen other people dressed in Italian style and by Mr. Poręmbski and Mr. Wilczkowski holding golden maces, both dressed in red velvet żupans lined with lynx and sable. Then the son of Zawadzki in a robe of gold cloth, a hat with crane feathers and a diamond clasp and the envoy himself in a czamara coat lined with sable fur, ruby clasp and a chain. He was followed by servants in red delias and with three crane feathers on their caps, red, white and blue, and wearing azure delias. Ambassador's retinue numbered about 66 people. Zawadzki was a son of Jan of Rogala coat of arms, judge of Ciechanów and Swedish Izabela Guldenstern (de Gyllenstierna). Through his mother he was related to the royal house of the Vasas. He was probably born in 1580 and at the age of 18 he entered the Jesuit college in Braniewo and after graduation he went to Louvain to continue his education. At that time, he entered the service of Count Christopher of East Frisia (1569-1636), son of Edzard II, Count of East Frisia, and the Swedish princess Catherine Vasa (1539-1610). King Sigismund III maintained close contacts with this part of the family, and a special intimacy with Count Christopher is evidenced by the correspondence they exchanged. The Count sent Zawadzki as his envoy to Sigismund III. Zawadzki's cheerful and friendly disposition guaranteed him the king's sympathy and he performed various diplomatic missions for him. Before October 1617 he was also appointed a royal secretary and between 1624 and 1625 he was a member of the retinue accompanying Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (future Ladislaus IV) on his journeys to Western Europe (after "Misja Jana Zawadzkiego na dwory Europy Północnej ..." by Marta Szymańska). Willing to regain the Swedish throne, Ladislaus IV sent eight legations to various European countries between 1633-1634. In addition to the embassy of 1633, Jan Zawadzki was sent on a mission to England, The Hague and to Paris in 1636. Among objectives of these missions was also the King's marriage and possibly other family matters, however, these negotiations were kept secret. "After the hearing with the King of England, our envoy will go to the Queen Her Majesty and will ask her for a secret audience", instructed Zawadzki Bishop Jan Gębicki in 1636. At the beginning of 1634, Zawadzki stayed briefly in Hamburg (8 days, during which he was plagued by fever) to discuss with Hugo Grotius (Hugo de Groot, 1583-1645), a Dutch humanist, diplomat and lawyer, his possible employment by the King of Poland. Aside from his memoirs, Zawadzki is credited with being the author of a memorandum dated 1634, dealing with the campaign in Prussia against the Swedes. An etching by Rembrandt from 1634 depicting a man with a wart under the eye (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, inventory number RP-P-OB-42), despite bearing no resemblance whatsoever, is frequenly identified as his self-portrait. In the same year, the artist actually created his self-portrait in eastern costume holding an oriental sword. Both etchings are signed and dated: Rembrandt f. 1634. Rembrandt also created other version of the first mentioned etching in oval (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, RP-P-1961-990A), also signed and dated: Rembrandt f. 1634. In the larger version of the print the man is holding a heavy ancient sword, similar to Bronze Age swords found in Nowy Żmigród, south-eastern Poland, identical to that visible in a portrait of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667) in the North Carolina Museum of Art, created by Rembrandt or a follower in 1633. Also his pose is identical, like if the man ordered similar portrait from Rembrandt in the pose of an ancient Sarmatian (legendary ancestors of Polish nobility), after which the artist created the etching. This pose is similar to that visible in a portrait of Zawadzki's friend Crown Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (future Ladislaus IV), created by workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, as one of the series, during his visit to Brussels and Antwerp in 1624 (Wawel Royal Castle). Pieter Claesz Soutman, court painter of the King of Poland, was also depicted in similar pose in his portrait by Anthony van Dyck (Louvre Museum), while Boaz in his painting in the National Gallery of Denmark (Ruth in Boaz's field, attributed), wears the outfit of a Polish magnate and also has a hand on his hip. Finally, this pose is also visible in the famous Polish rider by Rembrandt (The Frick Collection in New York). The man wears a fur beret with a hat decoration (egreta) with feathers, similar to that visible in a portrait of a man in a fur coat and a feathered hat by Isaac de Joudreville, who worked in Rembrandt's workshop from November 1629 (oil on panel, 62 x 50 cm, sold at Christie's London, auction 15497, December 7, 2018, lot 155), from private collection in Germany. Similar hat was also depicted in an effigy of bearded Polish nobleman created in Rembrandt's style in 1644 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, RP-P-1882-A-6250) and several paintings of Polish-Lithuanian soldiers and nobles from book of friendship (album amicorum/Stammbuch) of Michael Heidenreich, created in Gdańsk in the 1600s by Anton Möller or Isaak van den Blocke (Kórnik Castle). Similar headdress can be found in many other images of Polish-Lithuanian nobles, like in the Allegory of Gdańsk trade by Isaak van den Blocke in the Red Hall of the Main Town Hall in Gdańsk, created in 1608, View of Gdańsk from the northwest (The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus) by Hans Krieg, created in about 1620 (National Museum in Gdańsk), or in a painting entitled Head of Cyrus brought to Queen Tomyris by Peter Paul Rubens, created between 1622-1623 (Museum of Fine Arts in Boston). He also wears a jerkin similar to czamara, a coat lined with fur similar to delia and a gold chain. This proud Sarmatian must therefore be Jan Zawadzki, envoy of His Highness Ladislaus IV. In 2016 a painting attributed to follower of Rembrandt from a private collection in the USA and similar to the oval print was sold at auction (oil on canvas, 70 x 58 cm, Doyle New York, Jan 27, 2016, lot 59). Stilistically this painting is close to Peter Danckers de Rij, especially portrait of Court Chamberlain Adam Kazanowski in the Wawel Royal Castle and even more to the paintings by Adolf Boy. The painting was sold together with a portrait of a lady (oil on canvas, 81.3 x 68.5 cm, lot 60), painted in similar style, however, slightly larger and with not matching composition. It it possible that effigies of these important courtiers of Ladislaus IV were sent to their friends or relatives in England or Scotland. At the beginning of the 17th century Scottish Eva Forbes, was a wet nurse of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund. An old copy, perhaps made for Stanisław Koniecpolski (1591-1646), Grand Hetman of the Crown, is now in the Lviv National Art Gallery. It was previously in the hetman's palace at Pidhirtsi near Lviv in Ukraine, hanging above the portal of the Yellow Chamber, as shown in a photograph by Edward Trzemeski taken around 1880.
Portrait of Jan Zawadzki (d. 1645), Ambassador of the King of Poland with an ancient sword by Rembrandt, 1634, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Portrait of Jan Zawadzki (d. 1645), Ambassador of the King of Poland in oval by Rembrandt, 1634, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Portrait of Jan Zawadzki (d. 1645), Ambassador of the King of Poland by follower of Rembrandt, possibly Adolf Boy, 1634-1645, Private collection.
Portrait of a lady in a fur coat by follower of Rembrandt, possibly Adolf Boy, 1634-1645, Private collection.
Portrait of Polish-Lithuanian noble in a fur coat and a feathered hat by Isaac de Joudreville, 1630s, Private collection.
Portrait of Prince Alexander Charles Vasa by Rembrandt
"He is all according to your customs and the Polish spirit: he is bold, agile and quick-witted - why shouldn't you elect him", noted the words of king Sigismund III Vasa who was appealing to the nobility in 1626 in favor of his youngest son Alexander Charles Vasa (1614-1634), the French diplomat Charles Ogier, who visited Poland between 1635-1636. Unlike his brothers, Alexander was very sociable, because of this he resembled his half-brother Ladislaus. He was considered as a possible successor to Ladislaus and as the most gifted of the royal brothers. Alexander was also artistically talented: like his father, he could draw, he also learned to sing. His singing teacher was the musician and Jesuit Szymon Berent, who accompanied the prince on his trip to Italy (July 1633 - July 1634).
During the 1632 election, he supported his older brother Ladislaus, who was crowned king of Poland on 6 February 1633. Soon after Alexander set off on a trip to Spain. The prince was warmly welcomed in Rome, where Cardinal Antonio Barberini organized a major equestrian event in Piazza Navona in his name. While in Italy he resigned from visiting the royal court in Madrid. Probably one of the reasons was the rejection by king Philip IV of his endeavors to marry beautiful Anna Carafa della Stadera (1607-1644), Princess Stigliano, one of the richest heiresses of the entire Kingdom of Naples at that time. After a month and a half in Rome, the prince went to Florence, where he met his relatives from the house of Medici who had hosted Ladislaus nine years earlier. Lorenzo Medici, brother of Cosimo II, escorted him to Livorno, from where the prince was to sail to Genoa. In Milan, at the end of March 1634, he met his cousin Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, brother of Philip IV, who was Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from November 1634. The prince also visited Vienna twice, where he spent over three months in total. In May 1634, just before leaving, he stayed with his uncle in Laxenburg for several days (after Ryszard Skowron's "Budowanie prestiżu królewskiego rodu", p. 72). Alexander returned to Poland in July 1634. He went to Lviv in today's Ukraine, where he was preparing for the Turkish expedition and in October 1634 he met with Prince John Casimir. There he probably contracted smallpox from his brother and died on November 19, 1634 on his way to Warsaw. From December 19, 1634 to January 2, 1635 king Ladislaus IV stayed in Gdańsk, where he commissioned a series of his portraits, created by Silesian painter Bartholomeus Strobel from Wrocław, who settled in Gdańsk in 1634. On this occasion the king also commssioned a series of maps commemorating the relief of Smolensk and surrender of Muscovite forces, who besieged the Polish garrison, in February 1634. One large map, created by Willem Hondius, a Dutch engraver from The Hague, who moved to Gdańsk in about 1636, is in the Skokloster Castle in Sweden (SKO 10693) and in the National Museum in Kraków (MNK III-ryc.-33883). Salomon Savery in Amsterdam created a print with king's effigy in Polish costume and Surrender of Mikhail Shein at Smolensk in the base after a painting by Pieter Claesz. Soutman (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, inventory number RP-P-OB-5592) and a print with the Relief of Smolensk (National Museum in Kraków, MNK III-ryc.-150 and The Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 722074.a), after a painting or a drawing by Ladislaus' court painter Adolf Boy, published by Willem Blaeu in Amsterdam in 1635. Additionally around that time a view of Kraków from the northwest by Nicolaes Visscher I after a drawing by Pieter Hendricksz. Schut was published in Amsterdam (MNK III-ryc.-29449). It is very possible that paintings have also been commissioned in Amsterdam in 1634. Some portraits from this period depicting Ladislaus (in the National Museum in Warsaw, 186555 and in the National Museum in Poznań, MNP Mo 2184) are attributed to the court painter of Sigismund III Vasa, Pieter Claesz Soutman, who from 1628 was active in nearby Haarlem, and who created the mentioned painting of Surrender of Mikhail Shein at Smolensk, engraved by Savery. The so-called Self-portrait with shaded eyes by Rembrandt comes from the collection of Christian Gottlob Frege (1715-1781), his son or grandson who bear the same name (according to two wax seals on the reverse). Frege was a Leipzig banker and merchant, who learned the exchange business in 1728 from a grocer in Dresden (then the informal capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as the main residence of the Saxon kings) and had trading partners in Warsaw, Wrocław and other cities. Saxon kings transferred from the royal collection in Warsaw some preserved paintings by Rembrandt or his circle, all in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, like Portrait of a man in the hat decorated with pearls (inventory number 1570), Portrait of a bearded man (1567) or Portrait of a man in a red kolpak (1568). In 1763 Dresden court appointed Frege electoral chamber councilor. In 2008 the work was acquired by the Leiden Collection in New York. The painting was signed and dated by the artist: Rembrandt. f. / 1634 and was overpainted relatively soon after its original execution. The man's oriental costume, removed from the 1950s to the 1980s, was similar to that visible in Rembrandt's Self-portrait with raised sabre dated '1634' (etching in the Print Room of the Warsaw University Library, inventory number Inw.zb.d. 2891) wearing a fur coat, similar to royal mantle and a tall Polish/Ruthenian-style hat, a so-called kolpak or kalpak, adorned with jewels, like in the portrait of unknown nobleman from the collection of Jan Popławski (1860-1935) in the National Museum in Warsaw (inventory number M.Ob.1639 MNW) or portrait of a bearded cleric by Helmich van Tweenhuysen (II) in the National Museum in Wrocław (inventory number VIII–489). The man however is much younger then in Rembrandt's Self-portrait with raised sabre. He has a slimmer nose and a bit protruding lower lip - the Habsburg (Masovian) jaw and resemble greatly Alexander Charles Vasa in his portrait in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, possibly by Peter Danckers de Rij, or his effigy as a child from about 1619 (1885 copy in the National Museum in Warsaw, Rys Pol.3269) as well as effigies of his brothers John Casimir and Charles Ferdinand Vasa.
Portrait of Prince Alexander Charles Vasa (1614-1634) by Rembrandt, 1634, The Leiden Collection (version with additions in about 1935).
Portrait of Prince Alexander Charles Vasa (1614-1634) by Rembrandt, 1634, The Leiden Collection.
Portraits of Anna Catherine Constance Vasa by Rembrandt
At the beginning of September 1634, young Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667), son of Stanisław, voivode of Ruthenia, who just finished his studies in Leiden, set off to Spain. The year 1634 was the time of intensification of contacts between Ladislaus IV and his cousin Philip IV of Spain. The king, using various methods, skillfully influenced the court in Madrid. In January, he defended the commercial interests of Jerzy Hewel (Höwel, Hövelius), a Gdańsk merchant and a Calvinist, who had his ship and goods seized in the Netherlands. Hewel was a relative of famous astronomer Johannes Hevelius, who in 1630 studied jurisprudence at Leiden. In 1634 on his ship "Fortuna" he delivered weapons to King Philip IV. At that time the king of Poland set up a naval commission and, with the help of Hewel, created a fleet (11 ships, including one galley) equipped with 200 guns and 600-700 crew.
Three months later Ladislaus asked the King of Spain: "We must wage war with the Swedes, enemies of Our Royal House after a six-year truce, we will need all sorts of talented and experienced people, such as can be found especially in the Belgian provinces of Your Ducal Highness. So for this purpose, we send someone there to first of all call the masters skilled in building trenches and bring them to us" (after Mirosław Nagielski's "Z dziejów stosunków Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów ze Szwecją w XVII wieku", pp. 47-49). Apart from politics, Polish-Lithuanian envoys in Spain also talked about personal matters. In 1633 the Scottish Wilhelm (William) Forbes, son of Alexander Forbes of Drumallachie (Drumlasie), sought salaries for the brothers of the Polish king. After the death of both parents, Ladislaus' younger siblings were left at the mercy of their brother, as the elective system of the Commonwealth did not provide for any due income or public functions for them. In June Philip IV promised to grant John Albert and Charles Ferdinand (his cousins) a salary for a period of two years, in 1634 he considered awarding the Order of the Golden Fleece to Prince John Casimir and in April 1636 his envoy proposed to the emperor to marry his daughter Cecilia Renata with Ladislaus IV. The mission of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski to Madrid must have been successful as in October 1634 he was grated the wealthy Spiš County in today's Slovakia, obtaining the consent of the king to change the Spiš estates from royal to private and hereditary. On March 7, 1632, Balthasar Charles (1629-1646), the only son of King Philip IV and his first wife, Elisabeth of France, was sworn before the nobility and the Cortes of Castile as "His Majesty's Heir". His father soon began diplomatic efforts to seek a bride. Balthasar Charles' cousin Mary, Princess Royal (1631-1660), was proposed as a potential bride, but he was betrothed in 1646 to another cousin Mariana of Austria, daughter of Philip IV's sister Empress Maria Anna of Spain (1606-1646). Mariana of Austria was born on 24 December 1634 and after death of Balthasar Charles, the 14-year-old girl married her widowed 44-year-old uncle Philip IV in October 1649. The increased contacts of the Polish-Lithuanian diplomacy in 1634 left a significant mark in Spanish literature (compare "Clorilene, her son Segismundo and other Polish Princes and Princesses in the Spanish Golden Age Theater at 1634: Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Antonio Coello, Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla with Lope de Vega in the Background" by Beata Baczyńska). It is higly possible that in 1634 Ladislaus IV considered a marriage of his only sister Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) with the heir to the Spanish throne. Later her marriage to 9 years younger Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria-Tyrol (1628-1662) was considered. Philip IV undoubtedly must have received a portrait of this important bride, his cousin, whose godmother was Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia (1566-1633), governor of the Spanish Netherlands, and the godfather Archduke Leopold V of Austria-Tyrol (1586-1632). Rembrandt was an eminent painter and his style infulenced generations of painters. Some 19th-century authors, when Poland did not exist on the maps of Europe, got us used to the idea that majority of the women he painted must be his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh: blonde, brown-haired, fat or slim, rich or poor. But was Saskia so exceptional that so many people were willing to pay for her effigy? On the other hand fabulously rich Princess Anna Catherina Constance Vasa, the only daughter of elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and hereditary king of Sweden Sigismund III Vasa, sister of his sucessor Ladislaus IV, cousin of the ruler of half the known world, king Philip IV of Spain, niece of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and a cousin of his successor Ferdinand III, descendant of the kings of Poland and Sweden, dukes of Milan and kings of Naples, could be, before my discoveries, identified on a handful of effigies. Rembrandt, supposedly met Saskia at the home of her relative, Hendrick van Uylenburgh, a painter and art dealer of King of Poland. Until she married Rembrandt, she assisted her brother-in-law, the Polish theology professor Jan Makowski (Johannes Maccovius, 1588-1644). Rembrandt and Saskia were married on 2 July 1634. The painting of Judith at the banquet of Holofernes (also known as Artemisia receiving Mausolus' ashes and Sophonisba receiving the poisoned cup) by Rembrandt in the Prado Museum in Madrid (oil on canvas, 143 x 154.7 cm, P002132) was possibly in the collection of Don Jerónimo de la Torre, secretary of state of Philip IV. Jerónimo died in Madrid in 1658, leaving his son Don Diego de la Torre as universal heir, and the work is probably tantamount to description in the appraisal of paintings of Don Diego made on September 3, 1662 by the painter Francisco Pérez Sierra: "The beautiful Judit, valued under the name of a Venetian woman, original, at four thousand reais" (La bella Judit, tasada devajo del nombre de una mujer veneciana, original, en quatro mill rreales) (after "¿Judit o Ester? El Rembrandt del Museo del Prado" by Juan María Cruz Yábar). The title of Venetian woman is most probably a reference to the woman's bleached hair. Blonde hair was valued as an association with youth and divinity and Venetian women of the 16th century created the famous 'Venetian Blondes' by exposing their hair to sunlight and applying bleaching mixtures (after "Being Beautiful: An inspiring anthology of wit and wisdom on what it means to be beautiful" by Helen Gordon, p. 81). In the inventory of the collection of King Charles III from 1772 the subject is also identified as Judith: "A painting showing Judith to whom some maids serve a goblet and on a round table an open book, figures of more than half length, an original by Rembrandt, seven quarters long and one and a half varas high" (Un quadro que representa a Judic, a quien unas doncellas sirven una copa, y en una mesa redonda tiene un libro abierto, figuras de más de medio cuerpo, original de Rembrandt, de siete quartas de largo y vara y media de caída). Biblical heroine Judith, exemplary in virtue and in guarding her chastity, unlike in the paintings showing Anna Catherina Constance's great-grandmother Bona Sforza by Lucas Cranach, is depicted after arriving at Holofernes's camp and before killing him. The artist signed and dated the painting which is clearly visible on the chair below the Judith's hand: Rembrant. /f 1634. In about 1634 Pieter Claesz Soutman and his workshop in nearby Haarlem created two effigies of King Ladislaus IV Vasa. One, in Spanish costume, is in Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, the other was published by Claes Jansz. Visscher in Amsterdam (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek). The same woman was also depicted in other paintings by Rembrandt. The earlierst of them shows her as Bellona, ancient Roman goddess of war. The work is signed and dated: Rembrandt f:/ 1633 and there is also inscription on the shield: BELLOON[A]. The woman is slightly younger than the Madrid version and her hair is not bleached. By 1797 this painting was in the collection of George Nugent Temple Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham in Stowe House, Buckinghamshire in England, today in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (oil on canvas, 127 x 97.5 cm, 32.100.23). In 1633 Jan Zawadzki (ca. 1580-1645), a courtier of king Ladislaus IV was send on a mission to the Netherlands and England to discuss the marriage of the king with Elisabeth of the Palatinate (1618-1680), the eldest daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine (who was briefly King of Bohemia), and Elizabeth Stuart. Chancellor Jakub Zadzik, in his letter from Warsaw, dated January 15, 1633, recommended Zawadzki to the care of a councilor from Amsterdam. That same year Zadzik commissioned in nearby Delft a series of heraldic portiere tapestries with his coat of arms in the workshop of Maximiliaan van der Gucht (created between 1633-1636, Cathedral Museum at Wawel Hill and Czartoryski Museum in Kraków). After his stay in The Hague in May 1633, Zawadzki went to Scotland and obtained an audience with Charles I of England on June 26 in Edinburgh. Then he traveled around Scotland and England, during which he met Thomas Roe (after "Misja Jana Zawadzkiego na dwory Europy Północnej w 1633 roku…" by Marta Szymańska, p. 93). Undeniably, he brought some diplomatic gifts with him and portraits of the members of the royal family. She was also depicted in a portrait wearing a pearl necklace, associated with purity, chastity and innocence. The painting, signed: Rembrandt f. 1634 and sold in Lucerne (Fischer, 5-9-1922), is today in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires (oil on canvas, 62.5 x 55.6 cm, 8622). Another painting by Rembrandt, in the National Gallery in London (oil on canvas, 123.5 x 97.5 cm, NG4930), shows her as Flora, the Roman goddess of fertility, flowers and vegetation. It was signed and dated by the artist Rem(b).a... / 1635 and before 1756 it was in the collection of Marie Joseph d'Hostun de La Baume-Tallard, duc d'Hostun, comte de Tallard in Paris. Its earlier history is unknown, therefore we cannot exclude the possibility that it was brought to Paris by John Casimir Vasa, Anna Catherina Constance's brother, after his abdication in 1668 or it was sent as a gift to Anna Catherina Constance's cousin Anne of Austria (1601-1666), Queen of France. A drawing in the British Museum (inventory number Oo,10.133), attributed to Ferdinand Bol, who worked as an apprentice in Rembrandt 's studio in Amsterdam, could be a preparatory drawing to the painting by Rembrandt. The same as in the painting representing the same woman as Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom, justice and victory, in her study. A drawing signed by Ferdinand Bol (F:bol.ft.) is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (RP-T-1975-85), while the painting from the collection of James, 13th Lord Somerville in Drum House, Gilmerton, signed by Rembrandt (Rembrandt. f. / 1635), is today in The Leiden Collection in New York (oil on canvas, 138 x 116.5 cm, RR-107). Apparently in 1635 Rembrandt and his pupils worked on some large commission, maybe conneted with another diplomatic mission of Jan Zawadzki, who was sent again to England, The Hague and also to Paris in 1636. The same sitter, with protruding lip of the Habsburgs and Masovian dukes clearly visible and wearing a crown, was depicted in the painting by Rembrandt from 1638 (signed and dated: Rembrandt. f. 1638.) showing the Wedding feast of Samson, today in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden (oil on canvas, 125.6 x 174.7 cm, 1560). It was acquired by Augustus II, elected King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, before 1722. On October 18, 1641 the painter Philips Angel commented on the painting in his speech to the painters of Leiden on St. Luke's Day. In 1654, the work was probably in the estate of Cathalijntje Bastiaens (1607-1654), widow of Cornelis Cornelisz. Cras (d. 1652), mentioned as "a wedding by Rembrandt" (een bruyloft van Rembrandt). Most probably in 1777, when he was working for Izabela Czartoryska in Voŭčyn (Wołczyn, Wolssin en Lithuanie), Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine created a drawing after this composition, today in the National Museum in Warsaw. It is possible that he saw it in Dresden, however since his drawing is not identical with the painting in Dresden, it is possible that another version was also in the Czartoryski collection. Norblin was a great admirer of Rembrandt's work and frequently created paintings, drawings and etchings in his style. It is also possible that he included in his portfolio a drawing by the master or his workshop. In this painting the biblical hero Samson poses a riddle to the guests at his wedding feast, dressed in oriental and Polish costumes. It is not Samson, however, who is in the center of the composition, but his Philistine bride, another biblical femme fatale who betrayed her husband. Therefore the painting could be a warning of what type of wife the woman should not be and it was most probably commissioned by the man in a turban, holding a flute and gazing at the viewer. It could be also a subtle allusion to politics, exaclty as Daniel and king Cyrus before Bel (Prophet Daniel exposing the fraud of the priests of Idol Baal) by Bartholomeus Strobel in the National Museum in Warsaw (M.Ob.1284), created between 1636 and 1637 and considered to be political allegory of the reign of Ladislaus IV Vasa. She was also represented in a small painting, wearing a large ruby pendant. This picture, painted on oak wood panel, comes most probably from the old collection of the Royal Palace on the Isle in Warsaw (oil on panel, 21.5 x 17 cm, M.Ob.2663 MNW, Dep 473). It is attributed to an 18th century imitator of Rembrandt and could a copy of a lost original from the 1630s. A very similar painting in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (oil on panel, 11.5 x 9 cm, B86.0906), is attributed to follower of Rembrandt and dated to the first half of the 1630s (1630-1635). It comes from the collection of French banker and art collector Ernest May (1845-1925) in Strasbourg and Paris. Among the paintings belonging to the "Victorious King" John III Sobieski (1629-1696), which could come from earlier royal collections and mentioned in the inventory of the Wilanów Palace from 1696, we find "The image of Pallas" (Obraz na ktorym Pallas, No. 243). The painting was brought to the Royal Marywil Palace in Warsaw from other royal residences after the king's death. This inventory included several paintings by Rembrandt (Rynbranta Malarza, No. 74, 75, 92, 93, 210) and other Dutch painters from the the king's collection. "A painting of Judith, in a carved and gilded frame" (Obraz Judyty, wramach rzniętych złocistych, No. 77), which is sometimes identified as a self-portrait of Lavinia Fontana disguised as Judith with the head of Holofernes (National Museum in Kraków, MNK XII-A-664), hung in the King's Bedroom among tronie-like portraits of artistic agent of the Polish-Lithuanian Vasas Hendrick van Uylenburgh (called the Portuguese rabbi) and his daughter Sara (the Jewish girl in a biret) by Rembrandt (No. 74, 75, now at the Royal Castle in Warsaw). The painting of Judith was valued at 200 thalers, while the mentioned paintings by Rembrandt at 150 and 190. The higher value indicates that this painting must have been comparable to the other two, or even better, and that it was perhaps also by Rembrandt or another Dutch painter. The descriptions contained in this register are generally quite detailed. For example regarding a painting of Herodias, worth 40 thalers, identified with the painting kept at the Wilanów Palace (Wil.1519), being a disguised portrait of Princess Elisabeth of Hesse (1502-1557), it is states "A painting of Herodias with the head of Saint John on a panel in a black frame" (Obraz Herodyady z głową Swiętego Iana na desce wramach czarnych, No. 217). "The head of Holofernes" is therefore missing in the description of Sobieski Judith, as in the Prado painting, was it therefore a copy of this work by Rembrandt or its reduced version? Maybe we'll never know. There is also a large image of Pallas (Athena/Minerva) in the Radziwill collection in the 17th century. The inventory of paintings from the collection of Princess Louise Charlotte Radziwill (1667-1695), drawn up in 1671, lists several portraits of Sigismund III and his successor Ladislaus IV, two portraits of Queen Cecilia Renata (61/1, 110/9), one of Prince Sigismund Casimir Vasa (52/2), one of Prince Alexander Charles Vasa (52/3), and one of Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga (307/16). Several effigies of other members of the Polish-Lithuanian royal family are missing. It is possible that their portraits were "disguised" and their true identity was lost after the Deluge. The inventory mentions "Two large similar paintings on tin plate in black frames, one of Pallas and the other of a battle" (Obrazów dwa wielkich jednakich na blasze w ramach czarnych, na jednym Pallas, a na drugim bitwa jakaś, 740-741) (compare "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska). Although no paintings by Rembrandt or his school painted on tin are known, especially in large format, this cannot be ruled out. This painting was certainly destroyed to reuse the material, either by invaders or due to the impoverishment of the family and the country. Princess Anna Catherina Constance, who died childless on October 8, 1651, aged 32, was forgotten shortly after her death. Before her marriage in 1642 the workshop of Maximilian van der Gucht in Delft, not far from Amsterdam, created a tapestry with her coat of arms and monogram A.C.C.P.P.S. (Anna Catharina Constantia Principissa Poloniae Sueciae), most likely one of the series, that she brought to Neuburg an der Donau (today in the Munich Residence). Chancellor Zadzik commissioned his tapestries in van der Gucht worshop as well as Mikołaj Wojciech Gniewosz, Bishop of Włocławek, secretary of Kings Sigismund III and Ladislaus IV (today in the Skokloster Castle in Sweden). The princess brought with her to Neuburg the most exquisite works of art created not only in Europe, but also in Persia (Safavid kilims with coat of arms of her father are in the Munich Residence and Wittelsbacher Ausglechsfonds in Munich) while her portraits were created by Rembrandt.
Portrait of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) as Bellona by Rembrandt, 1633, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Portrait of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) as Judith at the banquet of Holofernes by Rembrandt, 1634, Prado Museum in Madrid.
Portrait of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) wearing a pearl necklace by Rembrandt, 1634, National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires.
Modello or ricordo drawing for a portrait of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) as Flora by Ferdinand Bol, ca. 1635, British Museum.
Portrait of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) as Flora by Rembrandt, 1635, National Gallery in London.
Modello or ricordo drawing for a portrait of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) as Minerva in her study by Ferdinand Bol, ca. 1635, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Portrait of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) as Minerva in her study by Rembrandt, 1635, The Leiden Collection.
The Wedding feast of Samson with portrait of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) by Rembrandt, 1638, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.
The Wedding feast of Samson by Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine after Rembrandt or Rembrandt's pupil, 1777 (?), National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) with a ruby pendant by follower of Rembrandt, possibly Maerten van Couwenburgh, 18th century (?) after original from the 1630s, Palace on the Isle in Warsaw.
Portrait of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651) by follower of Rembrandt, 1630s, Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Portraits of Prince Christopher Radziwill wearing a feathered bonnet by Rembrandt and studio
The signed and dated portrait by Rembrandt kept at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris (RHL van Ryn 1632, inventory number 423) was long considered to be the effigy of his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh, relative of Hendrick van Uylenburgh, artistic agent of king Sigismund III Vasa. It was mentioned with this identification in numerous publications, such as "Treasures of Musee Jacquemart-Andre, Institute de France" (Issue 8, p. 2), published in 1956 or the postcards from the Museum by J.E. Bulloz, signed Portrait de Saskia. It was after restoration in 1965 that the painting was identified as being the pendant of the portrait of Frederick Henry (1584-1647), Prince of Orange, signed by Gerard van Honthorst (GHonthorst fe 1631), formerly at the Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague. The woman is now identified as Frederick Henry's wife, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels (1602-1675), Princess of Orange and this identification was confirmed in the inventory of the Stadtholders Quarters in The Hague drawn up in 1632, where "A likeness of Her Excellency in profile done by Rembrants" (Een contrefeytsel van Haere Excie in profijl bij Rembrants gedaen) is mentioned.
The woman in the painting resembles many women painted by Rembrandt and she looks more like a patrician lady than the wife of the stadtholder and his political advisor, so probably Rembrandt's portrait was replaced by the portrait painted by Gerard van Honthorst in which she was depicted in more aristocratic attire. She has lighter hair than in the other portraits and the resemblance is also very general. Nineteenth-century authors, when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth disappeared from the maps of Europe after numerous invasions ultimately divided by insatiable imperialist neighbors, led us to believe that Rembrandt made a living from painting himself and his family, which is obviously absurd. Although many of his works are in fact true self-portraits, at a time when there were no public or other subsidies for artists, Rembrandt created an impressive collection of his own effigies. Some of them could be tronies, so popular in the 17th century in the Commonwealth according to preserved inventories, an advertisement of his talent, as in the case of the self-portraits of Sofonisba Anguissola, sent to different patrons in Europe, or simply created for practice, but who was this mysterious benefactor, thanks to whom he could paint himself so often? Among the artist's major works between 1628 and 1656 are approximately 27 of his self-portraits and over 40 in his lifetime, which is an impressive number for a 17th-century painter. According to known historiography, Rembrandt was not a court painter of an important person. He painted the ambassador of the King of Poland, but he is not considered a painter of European monarchs, like Rubens who worked for Sigismund III and his son Ladislaus IV, painted the monarchs of Spain, France, England, the rulers of Flanders, Lorraine, Mantua and Genoa or Diego Velázquez, court painter to the King of Spain, sovereign of an immense empire. While Rubens and Velázquez only produced a few of their self-portraits, when compared with Rembrandt's works found in many different collections (in Rome, Austria, France, Poland and Sweden), we will have the impression that this painter of the Dutch patricians was a true Prince or even the king of the Baroque portrait painters. In some of Rembrandt's "Self-portraits", as in the case of likeness of Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, the resemblance to the painter is quite general. This is the case of a series of effigies wearing a feathered bonnet, created by Rembrandt and his followers in 1635. The "Prince of painters" was depicted in a truly princely pose and outfit. It is strange that so many experts want to believe that in the highly hierarchical Western Europe of the 17th century, Rembrandt allowed himself to be portrayed in this way in a series that appears to be official portraits. The portrait, now kept at Buckland Abbey in Devon (oil on panel, 91.2 x 71.9 cm, NT 810136), was signed and dated by the painter (bottom right: Rembran(..) / f ... 1635) and comes from the collection of the princes of Liechtenstein, first mentioned in the catalog of the Liechtenstein collection in Vienna in 1767 (Descrizzione completa di tutto ciò che ritrovasi nella galleria di pittura e scultura di sua altezza Giuseppe Wenceslao ... by Vincenzo Fanti). The "Prince of painters" apparently sent his portrait to the princes of Liechtenstein or even to the emperor in Vienna. A good copy of the portrait, probably painted by Rembrandt's circle, is in the Palazzo Corsini in Rome (oil on panel, 82 x 71.5 cm, inventory number 887). This palace was built at the end of the 15th century by the Riario family, nephews of Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere and in the 17th century the palace was inhabited by Queen Christina of Sweden, so the portrait was probably offered to the Pope, the cardinals or the Queen of Sweden. In the same collection there is also the portrait of Prince John Casimir Vasa (1609-1672) in a fur hat by follower of Rembrandt (inventory number 305), identified by me. Another very good workshop copy, restored by Marina Aarts in Amsterdam in 2020, was sold in 2017 in Sweden (oil on panel, 77 x 63 cm, sold at Uppsala Auktions Kammare, June 7 - 10, 2017, lot 1105). The painting comes from Viderup Castle in Scania, which become the Swedish province in 1658. An old copy from the Wiesbaden Museum is mentioned in Iconographia Batavia by Ernst Wilhelm Moes, Volume 2 (item 34, p. 313) and another is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. Interestingly, along with the Wiesbaden portrait, Moes mentions two portraits by Rembrandt wearing a Polish coat (op en Poolschen mantel aan, items 35 and 36) - self-portrait in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and portrait of a man from Me Lellan collection in Glasgow. In a series of portraits of a man in a fur hat, also identified as Rembrandt's self-portraits, his costume is also very eastern, not to say Polish-Lithuanian or Ruthenian (e.g. from the collection of Michiel Onnes van Nijenrode, Kasteel Nijenrode). In 1914, a copy of Rembrandt's portrait from the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein in Vienna was in the Cook Collection, Doughty House, Richmond (oil on canvas, 87 x 66 cm). The same collection also included a portrait of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, future Ladislaus IV, on horseback by the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens (after "A catalogue of the paintings at Doughty House ...", items 321 and 344, p. 79, 91), today at the Wawel Royal Castle (inventory number 6320). In 2017, a miniature attributed to the German miniaturist Joseph Kaltner (born ca. 1758 - died after 1824), probably based on a painting formerly in the Liechtenstein collection, was sold in Vienna (oil on paper, mounted on metal, 18.2 x 14.8 cm, sold at Dorotheum, September 13, 2017, lot 33). In the 17th century, as in previous era, many elements of portraits had important symbolic meaning. The man in the mentioned series by Rembrandt and his followers, created in 1635, wears a parade gorget and the decoration of his hat resembles the eastern szkofia or aigrette, popular in Poland-Lithuania and Hungary. A somewhat similar szkofia can be seen in a portrait of Prince Christopher II Radziwill (1585-1640), husband of Anna Kiszczanka (1593-1644), kept in the National Art Museum of Belarus in Minsk. The feathers on his hat also had a symbolic meaning: one is white and the other orange or brown. However, the Vanitas still life, attributed to Abraham Susenier, indicates that its true color should be red. This painting, now at Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston (oil on canvas, 59.7 x 73.7 cm, 57-001.32), is variably dated between 1635-1668 or 1669/1672. In 1932 it was in the private collection of B. Zimmermann in Switzerland. If this collector was Bernard Zimmermann (1885-1931) - Polish architect of Jewish origin, active in Kraków, this painting could come from a Polish aristocratic collection. In this still life with a statuette, a skull, an overturned roemer and a portfolio of drawings, the two feathers, white and red placed on the skull, most likely symbolize the death of an important person. This man must be identified as the man from paintings created in 1635 by Rembrandt and studio, because a study drawing with the same image lies on the table. The gorget in the portraits indicates that the man is a soldier, his rich outfit and pose that he is a prince, szkofia-like hat decoration that he comes from Eastern Europe and the colors of feathers that he is an important official of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Although today these colors are mainly associated with Poland and not Lithuania, in the 17th century they were the colors of Sarmatia, that is, the Commonwealth of Poland, Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, etc., as evidenced by the so-called Stockholm Roll at the Royal Castle in Warsaw (ZKW/1528/1-39), showing the entry of the wedding procession of Sigismund III Vasa into Kraków in 1605. Many dignitaries, as well as guards, wear white and red (crimson) clothing. The horses are also painted white and red. The man is therefore Prince Christopher II Radziwill (1585-1640), whose wife's portrait by Rembrandt or studio is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (14.40.625) and he commissioned this series of his splendid effigies on the occasion of receiving the important and long-awaited position of Grand Hetman of Lithuania, the highest-ranking military officer of the Grand Duchy, in early 1635. King Ladislaus IV Vasa, in the Grand Hetman's Privilege issued on January 1, 1635 in Gdańsk, stated that the Grand Hetman is the commander of the entire army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the later privilege issued in Toruń, he named Christopher's brother-in-law Janusz Kiszka (1586-1654), Field Hetman of Lithuania (after "Rzeczpospolita Wazów II ... " by Henryk Wisner, p. 28). The studies for the portraits were therefore most likely made in Gdańsk. As mentioned above, the resemblance to Rembrandt's features is very general, the man has a smaller nose and flatter cheeks than the artist in his self-portrait in a gorget from around 1629 (Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg), mentioned effigy in a Polish coat in Pasadena and self-portrait at the age of 34, painted in 1640 (National Gallery, London). His facial features resemble those in the portrait of the Grand Hetman of Lithuania, such as the portrait in Minsk at the age of 51, painted in 1635 (CHRISTOPHORVS RADZI/WIL DVX [...] ANNO. 1635. / ÆTATIS 51.), engraving by Willem Jacobsz Delff after a painting by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, "Which portrait was painted and modified by Michaele Johan Miereveldio based on the model sent from Poland" (Quam effigiem a Michaele Johan Miereveldio iusta exemplar e Polonia transmissum depictam et reformatam ...), created in 1639 and a drawing preserved in the State Hermitage Museum (ОР-45862), made between 1646 and 1653. The prince, who in Mierevelt's portrait is bald, probably like King Ladislaus IV wore wigs with more courtly attire (Ladislaus in his portrait at Kórnik Castle from around 1625 is almost bald, while in his coronation portrait at the National Museum in Warsaw from around 1633 he has lush hair). After Sigismund III Vasa's second marriage in 1605 to Constance of Austria (1588-1631), the influence of sometimes fanatical Catholics increased significantly at the royal court and difficult times began for people of other religions. Christopher's commitment to Calvinism was the reason Sigismund III blocked his nomination to the Senate for years. He took several thousand armed soldiers with him to the election after his death (1632) and appealed for help from the Elector of Brandenburg to ensure the protection of his co-religionists. He studied at the universities of Leipzig and Heidelberg. On December 20, 1602 in Heidelberg, it was proposed to elect him rector, but this idea was rejected (after "Studia z dziejów epoki Renesansu" by Henryk Zins, p. 44). He traveled to Switzerland, France, England and the Netherlands. In 1603, he stayed at the camp of Maurice of Orange (1567-1625) at 's-Hertogenbosch, learning the art of war and fortification. To increase the profitability of his estates, he brought settlers from the Netherlands and England, imported cattle from the Netherlands, established fish ponds and horse farms. He inherited the leadership of the Lithuanian Calvinists from his father Christopher Nicolaus Radziwill (1547-1603). As a tolerant person, he counted among his friends Eustachy Wollowicz (Eustachijus Valavičius; 1572-1630), Catholic bishop of Vilnius. Christopher had his portraits, mentioned in certain preserved inventories. Wollowicz was a great patron of the arts and had several of his effigies made by Lucas Kilian, a German engraver active in Augsburg, in 1604, 1618, 1621. Kilian also made an engraving (in 1604), perhaps based on a painting by Michelangelo, and representing Pietà with the Wollowicz coat of arms (British Museum, V,2.41). Henryk Wisner, in his monographic work, writes that "the prince was a connoisseur of painting, his assessments being much ahead of his time" (after "Książka i literatura w kręgu Radziwiłłów birżańskich ..." by Mariola Jarczykowa, p. 23). Before 1629, the Hetman purchased paintings in Utrecht from Hendrick ter Brugghen, one of the most prominent representatives of Caravaggionism in the Netherlands. Perhaps the large painting of the Battle of Nieuwpoort painted by Adriaen van de Venne, active in The Hague, for a Polish prince was associated with the hetman (after "Galerie obrazów i "Gabinety Sztuki" Radziwiłłów w XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska, p. 88). The inventory of Radziwill Castle in Lubcha in Belarus (Central Archive of Historical Archives in Warsaw, 1/354/0/26/45) lists many valuable items from the prince's collection. It also mentions several of his garments which could be depicted in the paintings, like hat decorations and feathers (Kity y Piora), including: "Indian broad spotted feather", "Four red parrot feathers, Eight better white crane feathers", "Three wonderful black crane feathers" (Pioro Indyiskie szerokie Pstre, [...] Pior Papuzych Czerwonych Cztery, Pior żorawich Białych Przednieyszych osm [...], Pior Czarnych żorawich Cudnych trzy), 10 magierka caps, incluing 3 black "hairy" (kosmate - velvet?) and 4 "smooth" (gładkie - silk?) or 19 different kurta (a jacket or a short kaftan), like "yellow satin kurta with stitching" or "perfumed leather kurta" (Kurta Atłasowa żótła Przeszywana [...] Kurta skurzana Perfomowana). Christopher strongly supported Ladislaus IV's plans for a Protestant marriage to Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia (1618-1680), the eldest daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine (who was briefly King of Bohemia) and Elizabeth Stuart. Effigies of the princess are mentioned in several inventories of the Radziwill collections. However, the king, feeling deceived during the peace negotiations with the Swedes in 1635 by the Protestant magnates, changed his mind and decided to seek the support of the Catholic camp, notably the Habsburgs, to regain the Swedish crown. In the spring of 1636, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II proposed a marriage between Ladislaus and Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria. The emperor offered a substantial dowry, financial support to regain the Swedish throne, as well as salaries and titles for the royal brothers (after "Projekt kalwińskiego małżeństwa ..." by Zofia Trawicka, p. 98-99). In 1636, Rembrandt placed the man with two feathers in his famous print Ecce Homo (British Museum, F,4.182). The etching bears the signature: Rembrandt f. 1636 cum privile and it is considered a joint work with a Leiden engraver, Jan Gillisz. van Vliet (died 1668). The painting Ecce Homo in grisaille kept at the National Gallery in London (NG1400), signed and dated: Rembrandt.f./1634, is often considered to be the original composition. The artist modified and added several elements, including the man. "According to the Gospel of John (19:5), Pontius Pilate showed Jesus to the crowds during the trial with the words "Ecce homo" (Behold the man). However, the picture of Rembrandt seems to be dominated by the diagonally displayed knobbly staff. One could obviously think of a judge's staff" (after "The Road to Justice: The Bible and the law ...", p. 109). The notion of divine justice seems to be the most important message of this work of art. The bust on a high pedestal on the left is considered to be the effigy of the Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar. Rembrandt's drawing depicting the bust of Emperor Galba (Berlin Museum of Prints and Drawings) and other similar studies (Albertina in Vienna and Royal Library of Turin) prove that he knew what a Roman emperor should look like. However, his Tiberius Caesar with the bushy mustache looks more like a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman than a Roman emperor and resembles several effigies of King Ladislaus IV - in Roman costume on horseback in Friedrich Getkant's Topografia practica (1638), as a sculpted bust in Paweł Szczerbicz's Speculum Saxonum (1646), with laurel wreath in Triumphal arch by Jeremias Falck Polonus (1646) or, also in the form of a sculpted bust, in Apotheosis of John II Casimir Vasa by Cornelis Bloemaert after Lazzaro Baldi (ca. 1648). A good painting dated 1647 kept in the National Museum in Gdańsk, attributed to the Dutch painter active in Gdańsk Helmich van Tweenhuysen (II) or Johann Aken, is one of the oldest inspirations by Rembrandt's print and proves its popularity in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The painting was founded by Adrian von der Linde (1610-1682), mayor of Gdańsk and a zealous Lutheran, who, nota bene, opposed the growing Calvinist influence in the city. The German inscription on the panel also refers to the concept of justice – the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). An old painted transposition of the print, created between 1640 and 1715, can be found in Kołobrzeg Cathedral. According to inscription in Latin it was painted on April 3, 1640 (IOACHIMUS. KNOCHENHOWERUS. pinxit. ANNO. 1640. / D: 3. APRIL.) and renovated in 1715 by the grandson Aegidius Knochenhauer. The man in the print ostentatiously hold a large mace known as morning star (Morgenstern in German), which was in common use from the 14th to the 17th century, mainly in plebeian and peasant units (especially popular among the Hussites and German peasant insurgents of the 16th century). They were also popular in Poland-Lithuania in the 17th century (called nasiek, nasieka, nasiekaniec, siekaniec, siekanka, kropacz, palica, wekiera or morgensztern), so that "peasants were forbidden to go to the market with nasiek, sticks or clubs" (after "Encyklopedja staropolska ..." by Zygmunt Gloger, Volume 3, p. 255). The morning star is most often used as the name for the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise, while in classical mythology the name of the planet Venus as the morning star is Lucifer ("light-bringer" in Latin). Interpretations could vary, however, the composition can be compared to the masterfully painted Daniel and King Cyrus before the Idol Bel by Bartholomeus Strobel in the National Museum in Warsaw (M.Ob.1284 MNW), painted around the same time (1636 and 1637). The painting by Strobel is frequently interpreted as a political allegory for the reign of Ladislaus IV, when the Protestant party was deeply disappointed by the king's failure to seek the hand of Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia. The direct and explicit link between the paintings and prints and the Radziwills may never be established, but given all the information presented as well as the amount of work by Rembrandt and his students which, despite enormous destruction, looting, confiscations and evacuations, can be linked to Poland-Lithuania, the man can inevitably be identified as a splendid patron Christopher Radziwill.
Portrait of Prince Christopher Radziwill (1585-1640), Grand Hetman of Lithuania, wearing a feathered bonnet by Rembrandt and studio, 1635, Buckland Abbey.
Portrait of Prince Christopher Radziwill (1585-1640), Grand Hetman of Lithuania, wearing a feathered bonnet by follower of Rembrandt, ca. 1635, Palazzo Corsini in Rome.
Portrait of Prince Christopher Radziwill (1585-1640), Grand Hetman of Lithuania, wearing a feathered bonnet by follower of Rembrandt, ca. 1635, Private collection.
Portrait of Prince Christopher Radziwill (1585-1640), Grand Hetman of Lithuania, wearing a feathered bonnet by follower of Rembrandt, ca. 1635, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.
Portrait of Prince Christopher Radziwill (1585-1640), Grand Hetman of Lithuania, wearing a feathered bonnet by Joseph Kaltner after Rembrandt, ca. 1806, Private collection.
Ecce Homo with portrait of Prince Christopher Radziwill (1585-1640), Grand Hetman of Lithuania by Rembrandt and Jan Gillisz. van Vliet, 1636, British Museum.
Vanitas still life with art collection of Prince Christopher Radziwill (1585-1640), Grand Hetman of Lithuania by Abraham Susenier, ca. 1640, Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston.
Portraits of Elżbieta Kazanowska by circle of Rembrandt and Adolf Boy
In spring of 1633, Adam Kazanowski, thanks to the support of King Ladislaus IV, married the then 14-year-old Elżbieta (Halszka) Słuszczanka (1619-1671). For Kazanowski, the marriage meant not only a substantial dowry (50,000 zlotys), numerous movable and immovable property, but also valuable connections. On the occasion of the wedding, Halszka received a pure gold mug and 20,000 zlotys from the king, the value of other gifts amounted to 40,000 zlotys.
Earlier that year, on March 2, 1633 Elżbieta's father Aleksander Słuszka or Słuszko (1580-1647) become the voivode of Minsk. He was brought up as a Calvinist, but later, in about 1621, he converted to Catholicism together with his wife Zofia Konstancja Zenowicz. For his favourite, Adam Kazanowski, who already recived a magificent palace in Warsaw, later known as Kazanowski (or Radziejowski) Palace, the king restored the office of the Crown Steward in 1633, and soon after that, he become the Pantler of the Crown and recieved other offices. In 1634 he most probably accompanied the king to Gdańsk and on June 1635, he came with him to Toruń. In 1635, he conducted a successful purchase of a fleet of ships for Ladislaus IV in Gdańsk (12 ships for 379,500 zlotys). Kazanowski also participated in the Vistula grain trade and one of the largest granaries in Warsaw's Skaryszew belonged to him. Słuszczanka and her husband accompanied the king in 1638 on a trip to Baden near Vienna, and in the Imperial capital she won in women's rifle shooting competition, for which she received "a nice jewel". The Lithuanian (Litewka), as Łukasz Opaliński called her, was famous for her frivolous sexual conduct, just like her husband. Years passed and she did not get pregnant. Perhaps she contracted syphilis from Kazanowski, who according to rumors, gained property and offices because he kept a harem of lovers for the ruler (after "Jak romans doprowadził do jednej z największych tragedii w dziejach Polski" by Jerzy Besala). Educated in Braniewo, Würzburg, Leiden and Padua (after Marcin Broniarczyk "Wykształcenie świeckich senatorów w Koronie za Władysława IV", p. 280), Kazanowski was a patron of arts. According to Adam Jarzębski's "Short Description of Warsaw" in his palace there was a workshop of Dutch painters (lines 1605-1608, Olandrowie, Nie Polacy). His portrait at the age of 44 as a Court Chamberlain (Wawel Royal Castle), was created by Dutch painter Peter Danckers de Rij, born in Amsterdam (signed: P Donckers fecit / AETATI[S) SVAE 44). Other preserved effigies of Kazanowski were created by another Dutchman Willem Hondius: engraving with a portrait against the Vistula River and his estates in Praga and Skaryszew, created in 1646, and two other created in 1648 after paintings by Maerten van Couwenburgh, most probably a relative of Christiaen van Couwenbergh from Delft. Other effigy from the 1640s (Royal Castle in Warsaw) is attributed to engraver Jeremias Falck Polonus from Gdańsk. In 1645 Hondius also created a series of views of the Wieliczka salt mine, sponsored by Kazanowski, who was a żupnik (manager of a mining district) from 1642. "Never has Poland seen and will never see so much wealth in the hands of a single man", wrote about the Court Chamberlain Wawrzyniec Jan Rudawski (1617-1674). Kazanowski died childless on December 25, 1649 and his beautiful wife Halszka become heiress to a large fortune. Just few monts later, in May 1650, she married another royal courtier Hieronim Radziejowski (1612-1667). This marriage was reportedly arranged by her lover, the new king John II Casimir Vasa (half brother of Ladislaus IV). Soon, however, disagreements began. The reason was supposed to be the portrait of the deceased Kazanowski, which the lady did not want to remove from her room, others said that it was not the portrait, but the young Jan Tyzenhaus, a handsome royal valet, who had quarreled the couple. Violent Radziejowski became very angry when his wife's affair with the king was revealed in the late spring of 1651. Elżbieta left the military camp near Sokal and took refuge in the convent. She also filed a lawsuit for annulment of the marriage. Despite repeated attempts, Radziejowski did not manage to break into the Kazanowski Palace, defended by Elżbieta's brother Bogusław Słuszka. At the time, John Casimir and pregnant Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga were staying in the nearby Royal Castle. At the Sejm session Radziejowski was accused of offending the majesty and violating the security of the royal residence and sentenced to banishment and infamy. Słuszczanka and her brother Bogusław received much lighter sentences - a fine of 4,000 zlotys and a year and six weeks of hard imprisonment in the tower. Halszka drove to the prison at the Castle in the carriage drawn by six horses. After twelve weeks, she was forgiven and her brother left the prison earlier (after "Życie codzienne w Warszawie za Wazów" by Jerzy Lileyko, p. 270). Portrait of a lady holding a fan from the Jan Popławski collection was offered to the National Museum in Warsaw in 1935 (inventory number 34661), most probably lost during World War II. This small painting (28 x 22 cm) was painted on a wood panel and attributed to a imitator of Dutch painting from the 18th century (after "Katalog wystawy obrazów ze zbiorów dr. Jana Popławskiego" by Jan Żarnowski, number 97, p. 53). The pose of a woman with her right hand on a table and holding a fan in her left hand is very similar to portraits representing the king's sister Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (Ambras Castle, GG 5611) and Queen Cecilia Renata of Austria (Nationalmuseum in Stockholm/Gripsholm Castle, NMGrh 1417), both holding fans and painted by Adolf Boy, court painter of Ladislaus IV, in the late 1630s or early 1640s, as the style indicate. Also the woman's hand is very similar to the hand of Anna Catherine Constance in Ambras painting. If not the material and dimensions, this portrait could be considered as a pendant to mentioned portrait of Kazanowski by Danckers de Rij (oil on canvas, 119.5 x 94.5 cm), as the composition match perfectly. Since the portraits of such notables were created in series, in different dimensions and by different court painters (such as other versions of portrait of Ladislaus IV by Boy from the Royal Castle in Warsaw, ZKW 559 dep.), this cannot be excluded. Maybe a reduced portrait of Kazanowski painted on panel by Boy was also created at that time. The Wawel painting was acquired the as a gift from Julian Godlewski from Switzerland in 1970. Consequently the portrait of a woman from Popławski collection can be dated to about 1643, like the Kazanowski portrait. She wears a strange wide-brimmed hat with a hole cut through the crown with her blonde hair spread over the broad brim. The woman is bleaching her hair like Venetian women in engravings by Cesare Vecellio or Pietro Bertelli from the late 16th century or in the Album Amicorum of Burchard Grossmann, created between 1624-1645, and other albums of foreign travellers in Venice. Venetian women bleached their hair using a solana (a wide brim hat with a hole in the centre) and sitting in the sun. The hair, soaked in a concoction of lemon juice and urine, was thrown out of the crown space and spread over the brim, which shaded the person from the sun (after "Venice: the Queen of the Adriatic" by Clara Erskine Clement Waters, p. 224). Venetians, who settled in great number in Poland-Lithuania from the beginning of the 16th century, undoubtedly introduced this technique there. Her coat, lined with fur, is very similar to the coat visible in an engraving showing a Polish noblewoman (FOEMINA NOBILIS POLONICA), illustration to Hans Weigel's "Habitus Praecipuorum Populorum", published in 1577. The same woman, with identical earring in her left ear, was depicted in a series of paintings by circle of Rembrandt. One signed and dated (upper right: Rembrandt f. 1635 or 1638, oil on canvas, 99.5 x 71 cm) was before 1794 in the collection of Louis-Marie Lebas de Courmont, Marquis de Pomponne in Paris. In 1669 king John II Casimir Vasa brought many paintings from Polish royal collection to Paris after his abdication. A pastel after this version, or other not preserved painting, most probably by an 18th century French pastelist, was sold on 11 June 2020 in Amsterdam. Other version (oil on canvas, 100.5 × 81 cm) was first mentioned in 1854, when hung in the collection of the Earl of Listowel, lost. Another, smaller picture (oil on canvas, 77 x 63 cm) was sold in New York (Doyle, 2016-01-27, lot 56). The style of this painting can be compared with the Lovers by Christiaen van Couwenbergh in the Kunsthalle Bremen, painted in 1632. It is possible that this copy after original by Rembrandt was made by Maerten van Couwenburgh. Other, more simplified versions are in Kunstmuseum Basel (oil on canvas, 33 x 29.5 cm, inventory number 501), acquired in 1859 from the Birmann collection and in private collection (oil on canvas, 56 x 46 cm), sold on November 18, 2020. The "fanciful custume" of a woman is similar to those visible in the Feast of Herod by Bartholomeus Strobel, court painter of Ladislaus IV, created in the 1630s (Prado Museum in Madrid) and to the costume of Queen of Sheba from the copper-silver sarcophagus of Queen Cecilia Renata of Austria (scene of Queen of Sheba before Solomon), created by Johann Christian Bierpfaff before 1648 (Wawel Cathedral). In the portrait of a lady with forget-me-nots in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 69 x 61 cm, M.Ob.2510), painted in the style of Adolf Boy, the woman resemble closely the woman wearing a solana hat from the Popławski collection. Her black dress, most likely a mourning dress, is evidently Central European of the epoch and similar to that visible in a portrait of a lady aged 26, created in 1645 (National Museum in Kraków, inventory number MNK I-689), in epitaph portrait of Zofia Kochańska née Świerczewska, created in mid-17th century (Saint James church in Sanka), or in a portrait of a lady, said to be a member of the Węsierski family, painted by Danckers de Rij in about 1640 (National Museum in Gdańsk). As a consequence, the portrait depict Kazanowska in mourning after death of her first husband (1649) or imprisonment in the tower (1652) and was most probably adressed to her former lover, king John Casimir Vasa. This painting comes from the collection of the Krosnowski family in Saint Petersburg (formed in the years 1888-1917), donated to the Polish state and transported to Poland under the regulations of the Treaty of Riga (1921). The woman from all mentioned portraits bear a resemblance to a man depicted in a portrait, today in the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius, which according to inscription depict Aleksander Słuszka, voivode of Minsk and father of Elżbieta. The portrait of Słuszka in Vilnius is similar to full-length portrait of Józef Bogusław Słuszka (1652-1701), Lithuanian Field Hetman, which was in the collection of the Radziwill family in Niasvizh, lost. The costume is almost identical and more typical of the end of the 17th century, the man is holding a bulava mace (a sort of military baton), typical for Field Hetmans and other effigies of Józef Bogusław, therefore both depict Aleksander Słuszka's descendant (a grandson), however, some family resemblance to described female portraits is still visible. A man with a mustache in an oriental costume, very similar to the woman in the mentioned portraits, was depicted in another painting in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on panel, 23.5 x 18.5 cm, inventory number 131229 MNW). It was transferred by the Central Board of Museums and Monuments Preservation in 1949 (after "Early Netherlandish, Dutch, Flemish and Belgian Paintings 1494–1983" by Hanna Benesz and Maria Kluk, Vol. 2, item 923). The style of this small effigy is similar to that of the portraits which could be attributed to Maerten van Couwenburgh. Consequently the man should be identified as Elżbieta's brother Bogusław Jerzy Słuszka, who died after January 9, 1658. Together with his brother Eustachy Adam, who at a very young age became a courtier of Ladislaus IV, he went to study abroad. In 1637 he was matriculated at the University of Ingolstadt, and after return he become the starost of Rechytsa (1639), Lithuanian Pantler (1643) and Lithuanian Court Treasurer (1645). Beautiful marble epithaph of Eustachy Adam Słuszka (1615-1639), the brother of Elżbieta and Bogusław Jerzy, in the Church of Saint Stanislaus of the Poles (Santo Stanislao dei Polacchi) in Rome, is the only preserved and hitherto known example of splendid patronage of the family in the late 1630s and early 1640s. Eustachy Adam was a courtier of King Ladislaus IV and he died in Rome on August 27, 1639 at the age of 24. The monument was founded by Bogusław Jerzy and created after 1639 by Giovanni Francesco de Rossi or workshop of Giuliano Finelli.
Portrait of Elżbieta (Halszka) Kazanowska née Słuszczanka (1619-1671) from the Marquis de Pomponne collection in Paris by circle of Rembrandt, 1635-1638, Private collection.
Pastel portrait of Elżbieta (Halszka) Kazanowska née Słuszczanka (1619-1671) by French pastelist after original by circle of Rembrandt, 18th century, Private collection.
Portrait of Elżbieta (Halszka) Kazanowska née Słuszczanka (1619-1671) from the Earl of Listowel collection by circle of Rembrandt, 1635-1638, Private collection.
Portrait of Elżbieta (Halszka) Kazanowska née Słuszczanka (1619-1671) by Dutch painter, possibly Maerten van Couwenburgh, 1635-1638, Private collection.
Portrait of Elżbieta (Halszka) Kazanowska née Słuszczanka (1619-1671) by Dutch painter, possibly Maerten van Couwenburgh, 1635-1638, Kunstmuseum Basel.
Portrait of Elżbieta (Halszka) Kazanowska née Słuszczanka (1619-1671) by Dutch painter, possibly Maerten van Couwenburgh, 1635-1638, Private collection.
Portrait of Elżbieta (Halszka) Kazanowska née Słuszczanka (1619-1671) in solana hat by Adolf Boy, ca. 1643, National Museum in Warsaw, lost.
Portrait of Elżbieta (Halszka) Kazanowska née Słuszczanka (1619-1671) with forget-me-nots by Adolf Boy, 1649-1652, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Bogusław Jerzy Słuszka by Dutch painter, possibly Maerten van Couwenburgh, 1640s, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Martin Opitz by Harmen Hals
In 1636, thanks to the recommendation of Gerard Denhoff (1589-1648), Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (1597-1639), considered the "Father of German poetry", began his career at the court of the elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - Ladislaus IV Vasa as royal agent and secretarius iuratus. He met the king during his stay in Toruń in January 1636 and Ladislaus ordered Opitz to accompany him to Gdańsk. It was then that Opitz personally handed the king his panegyric in German - "To the Royal Majesty of Poland and Sweden" (An die Königliche Majestät zu Polen und Schweden), published in Frankfurt am Main in Weltliche Poemata in 1644. In this poem he praises the king as a peaceful monarch - "Oh hero! Who values peace more highly than something in the world that perishes with the world" (O Held! Den Frieden höher schätzt, als etwas in der Welt, Das mit der Welt vergeht), while dedication in Latin is designed like that to a Roman emperor: "Most Serene and powerful King of Poland and Sweden Ladislaus IV, tamer of barbarian peoples, initiator of public security ..." (SERENISSIMO POTENTISSIMOQVE / Polonia & Suecorum Regi / VLADISLAO IV. / DOMITORI GENTIVM / BARBARARVM: SEGVRITATIS / PVBLICÆ AVCTORI ...).
In 1636 he also published in Toruń his Panegyricvs serenissimae Suecorum ..., dedicated to king's aunt, Lutheran Princess-Infanta Anna Vasa (1568-1625) and poems dedicated to notable Calvinists of the Commonwealth - Rafał Leszczyński (1579-1636), voivode of Belz - Panegyricvs inscriptus honori et memoriae [...] Domini Raphaelis comitis Lesnensis ..., and Fabian Czema (d. 1636), castellan of Chełmno - Laudatio funebris illustrissimi domini Fabiani Lib. Baronis a Cema ... Opitz was well aware that he would gain powerful patrons with flattery, and he actually achieved this, so that Ladislaus IV appointed him as his historiographer and secretary with an annual salary of 1,000 thalers. On June 24, 1637 he received an official nomination for this position, approved by the Sejm (after "Zasłużeni ludzie Pomorza Nadwiślańskiego XVII wieku: szkice biograficzne", p. 160). It was probably on this occasion that he commissioned his magnificent portrait, now kept in the Gdańsk library of the Polish Academy of Sciences (inv. EM 2). It was painted by Ladislaus IV's court painter and Martin's friend Bartholomeus Strobel. His pose, fashionable French costume and wig resemble those in a masterpiece signed by Strobel, portrait of Prince Vladislav Dominik Zaslavsky-Ostrogsky (d. 1656), also known as Władysław Dominik Zasławski-Ostrogski in Polish, in Wilanów Palace (oil on canvas, 112 x 84 cm, Wil.1654, signed and dated: B. Strobell / 1635), as well as that of the king by the Gdańsk painter Adolf Boy (Royal Castle in Warsaw, ZKW 559 dep.). Interestingly, the identity of the model for Wilanów's portrait was unknown for a long time, and this fabulously wealthy Ruthenian prince was correctly identified by Elena Kamieniecka in her 1971 publication ("W sprawie portretu nieznanego magnata Bartłomieja Strobla") after probably several centuries of oblivion. In 1637 in Gdańsk, the poet published his Variarvm Lectionvm Liber: In quo præcipue Sarmatica, dedicated to Chancellor Tomasz Zamoyski (1594-1638). On the occasion of the marriage of the king and the Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria in 1637, he created a Latin poem Felicitati augustae honorique nuptiar ... Like Strobel, Opitz came from Silesia, he was born in Bolesławiec (Bunzlau) as son of a butcher. Although he advocated the use of the German language in poetry, he frequently wrote in Latin and his 1635 drama "Judith" was based on the Italian opera libretto by Andrea Salvadori, while his "Antigone", dedicated to Gerard Denhoff, was based on one of the eight Greek texts by Demetrius Triclinius. He went to the Netherlands in 1620 and in 1622 to Transylvania to teach philosophy in Alba Iulia. After returning to Silesia, in 1624 he was appointed advisor to the Duke of Legnica and Brzeg and in 1630 he went to Paris. He moved to Toruń in 1635 with the duke. As secretary, Opitz was probably responsible for handling foreign correspondence. He was entrusted with numerous state affairs, which had to be settled with the kings of France, England and Denmark. Ladislaus also intended to send Opitz to Stockholm. Due to his ambiguous contacts with the Chancellor of Sweden Axel Oxenstierna (1583-1654), he is suspected of disloyalty towards the King of Poland. He died in 1639 in Gdańsk. The portraits of such an important poet and state official also had to be in the Commonwealth's residences in Warsaw, Kraków and Vilnius. Since the German-speaking community was large in many cities and regions of the country, it was also necessary to underline their importance and to remind its members that they owe their prosperity to the wise reign of Ladislas IV who employs the best. The mentioned portrait by Strobel in Gdańsk is considered to belong to the poet, but it is also possible that it came from the royal collection in the city, where the main representative residence was the Green Gate. It was offered to the Library of the Gdańsk City Council before 1701. This portrait was reproduced in an engraving by Johann Christoph Sysang made around 1739 confirming both the identity of the model and the author of the painting (OPITIVM [...] Hac manus in tabula Se Lips STROBELIANA dedit ...). Other portrait paintings of Opitz are unknown. However, they must have been numerous given the number of different engravings with his image that preserved. In the National Museum in Warsaw, there is a portrait of a man holding his hand on a table (oil on panel, 106 x 80.5 cm, M.Ob.217, earlier 494). On the table next to him are writing utensils, red sealing wax to seal letters, indicating that the man is a secretary or a diplomat. The painting comes from the collection of Wojciech Kolasiński, acquired on November 23, 1881 for 125 rubles by the Museum of Fine Arts in Warsaw, the previous provenance is not known. Due to its style and the artist's monogram in ligature FH, the painting was considered the work of Frans Hals (after "Wojciech Kolasiński (1852-1916)" by Maria Kluk, p. 107-108) and now as a work of his follower. Although the influence of Hals' style with loose brushstrokes and strong illumination is undeniable, it does indeed differ from the artist's other works, which appear softer and more lightly painted and the most similar painting is A Merry Couple, now in the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. The painting in Haarlem is signed and dated: H / 1648, therefore considered to be the work of Frans's son, Harmen (1611-1669), who with his brothers, also painters, worked in his father's workshop. The fact that the Warsaw painting was signed with a monogram indicating that his father was the author, indicates in turn that it may have been part of a large painting commission and that they do not want to fully reveal to customers that the painting was made by the master's assistants and not himself. Moreover, the composition is not typical for Hals and his circle and looks more like a copy of another official portrait and bears a striking similarity to the portrait of Prince Zaslavsky-Ostrogsky in Wilanów. It also resembles other portraits of people close to the court of Ladislaus IV, such as the portrait of Lieutenant Mikołaj Konstanty Giza (Nikolaus Konstantin Giese, d. 1663) by Franz Kessler or the portrait of Guglielmo Orsetti of Lucca (d. 1659) by Strobel, all two preserved in the National Museum in Warsaw. In this case, it is most likely that Hals's studio received paintings or study drawings from Strobel to copy. The model has a different eye color than Strobel's painting (brown and blue respectively), which is another indication that this is a copy of another work, because cheaper dyes were used to prepare copies, as in the case of portraits of Emperor Charles V, who in some portraits has blue eyes and in others brown. Another portrait painted in the same way is also in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 86 x 50.5 cm, M.Ob.1645 MNW). This portrait of a man in a ruff bears a false inscription: Rembrand fe. / 1660 and it is a version, mirror view of a painting representing the furniture and frame-maker Herman Doomer (d. 1650), active in Amsterdam, painted by Rembrandt in 1640 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 29.100.1). As a furniture maker, Doomer must have relied heavily on wood supplies from the Commonwealth, so his portrait made in Hals' workshop in Haarlem as well as his furniture probably arrived in Poland already in the 17th century. According to the inscription in the upper left corner, the man in the portrait from the Kolasiński collection was 39 years old in 1636 (Aetatis 39 / FH fecit A: 1636), just like Martin Opitz when he entered the service of Ladislaus IV and he closely resembles the poet according to his portrait by Strobel as well as the engravings by Jacob van der Heyden, Peter Aubry II and Georg Walch.
Portrait of Prince Vladislav Dominik Zaslavsky-Ostrogsky (d. 1656) by Bartholomeus Strobel, 1635, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.
Portrait of Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (1597-1639), secretary of Ladislaus IV Vasa, aged 39 by Harmen Hals, 1636, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Herman Doomer (d. 1650), furniture and frame-maker, by circle of Frans Hals, 1640s, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski by workshop of Frans Hals
Travelers from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth who visited the countries of Western Europe frequently brought to their homeland many beautiful works of art and their effigies that they had acquired or commissioned during the visit. The best-known proof of this practice is a painting created, according to the painter's signature, in Warsaw in 1626 (Here. fecit / Warsa[...] 1626, in the center in the engraving) and attributed to Étienne de La Hire, Willem van Haecht or Jan Brueghel the Younger (Royal Castle in Warsaw, oil on panel, 72.5 x 104 cm, ZKW/2123/ab). It shows the art collection of Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, future king (elected as Ladislaus IV), who most likely acquired most of the objects depicted in this painting during his visit to the Spanish Netherlands, Italy, Austria and in Bohemia between 1624 and 1625, including two effigies of the prince - one painted and the other a gold medal with his profile, probably made by Alessandro Abondio.
This painting was long forgotten and after resurface on the art market in New York in 1940 (art dealer Mortimer Brandt), it was purchased in London in 1988 by the State Collections for the newly reconstructed Royal Castle (destroyed by Nazi German invaders during World War II). Aristocrats who traveled abroad also brought their effigies, fashionable costumes, paintings and other works of art. In 1564 Nicolaus Christopher the Orphan Radziwill (1549-1616) sent from Strasbourg to his father Nicolaus Radziwill the Black (1515-1565) in Lithuania, his portrait painted during his studies there (after "Tylem się w Strazburku nauczył ... " by Zdzisław Pietrzyk, p. 164). More than half a century later, around 1632, Janusz Radziwill (1612-1655), was painted in Leiden by David Bailly (National Museum in Wrocław, VIII-578) and the 1633 inventory of Radziwill Castle in Lubcha in Belarus (Central Archives of Historical Archives in Warsaw, AGAD 1/354/0/26/45) lists under number 27: "Full-length portrait of Prince His Lordship Mr Chamberlain, old, in green clothes, painted in Leipzig" (Obraz Cały X: Je m Pana Podkomorzego Dawnieyszy w Ubierze zielonym w Lipsku Malowany), thus painted during Janusz's studies there around 1630. The 1661 inventory of paintings belonging to Aleksander Michał Lubomirski (1614-1677), brother of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667), that survived the Deluge, includes paintings by Parmigianino, Jusepe de Ribera, Francesco Albani, Venetian landscapes and two of his portraits taken in Venice by Nicolas Régnier (AGAD 1/357/0/-/7/12). They were probably acquired in Italy during his stay there and paintings by Ribera indicate that Aleksander Michał visited Naples, as the Spanish painter settled there in 1616. Among his paintings there was also "Image of Our Lady with the Lord Jesus whom she gave birth to. From Prague" (Obraz Nasw Panny z Panem Jezusem powitym. sPragi), most likely acquired in Czechia. Among the paintings owned by his father Stanisław (1583-1649) was "A picture of two women dressed in the Netherlandish style, holding a basket full of meat" (Obraz dwie białogłowie po Inderlansku ubrane koszyk zmięsem trzymaiące). Aleksander Michał's father-in-law Jerzy Ossoliński owned paintings by Ribera, Raphael, Titian, Paolo Veronese, Bassano, Guido Reni, Guercino, Daniel Seghers and Albrecht Dürer and his mother-in-law Izabela Daniłowicz had "Two Moscow pictures" (Dwa obrazki Moskiewskie) and "Three unicorn pictures, carved in Moscow" (Trzy obrazki ziednorozca rzezane moskiewskie). Many Ruthenian and Russian icons are also mentioned in other inventories, such as in the 1671 inventory of paintings of the Calvinist princess Louise Charlotte Radziwill (items 358/7, 365/14, 651/22 - 655/26, 660/31 - 661/32, 783/4, 801/3, 868/48, 966, compare "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska). Jerzy Sebastian must also have brought many exquisite paintings from his numerous travels between 1629 and 1636. In 1629 he was in Ingolstadt in Bavaria, in 1631 in Leuven, in 1633 in Leiden, in 1634 he visited Spain as an envoy of the king. In Italy he visited the library of the University of Bologna and the Laurentian Library in Florence as well as numerous picture galleries and most probably went to France and England, but the precise itinerary is not known. If he traveled to England from Italy, he most likely returned to the Netherlands. Shortly after his return to Poland-Lithuania, in September 1636, the young Lubomirski, aged barely 20, began his political career by being elected marshal of the parliamentary assembly and in December of the same year he was elected member of parliament (Sejm). Among the paintings that could come from his collection are two masterpieces of Spanish painting preserved in former territories of the Commonwealth. One is the Ecstasy of Saint Francis of Assisi by El Greco, now kept in the Diocesan Museum in Siedlce (oil on canvas, 106 x 79 cm, signed: Domenikos Theotokop ...). According to Izabella Galicka and Hanna Sygietyńska, who discovered the painting in 1964 in the parish church of Kosów Lacki, this painting could come from the Lubomirski collection, possibly from the collection of Eugeniusz Lubomirski (1825-1911) in Kruszyna. The other is Penitent Saint Mary Magdalene by Francisco Jiménez (Ximénez) Maza kept at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius (oil on canvas, 150 x 116 cm, LNDM T 4010). It was donated to the Museum of the Society of Friends of Science in Vilnius in 1907 by Count Władysław Tyszkiewicz (1865-1936) (compare "Vilniaus senovės ir mokslo ..." by Henryka Ilgiewicz, p. 115). Tyszkiewicz was married to Krystyna Maria Aleksandra Lubomirska (1871-1958), daughter of the mentioned Eugeniusz Lubomirski, whose ancestor was Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski. Due to the lack of documentation, the exact provenance of these paintings will probably never be established with certainty, however there are some elements in the paintings themselves which indicate that they were probably purchased in the 17th century by customers from Poland-Lithuania, perhaps Lubomirski. El Greco, a Greek-Spanish painter from Crete, received his initial training as an icon painter of the Cretan school, then continued his career in Venice, where he probably worked in Titian's workshop. Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Bassano also worked in the city and it seems that El Greco studied the work of each of them. Traditional icon painting as well as that of the Venetian school, both very popular in the Commonwealth, had a great influence on his style, which is also visible in the Ecstasy of Saint Francis of Assisi. Therefore, such a painting would undoubtedly be to the taste of any traveler from the Commonwealth. The penitent Saint Mary Magdalene is also unusual for the Spanish school, mainly due to the erotic nature of the painting. In Spanish painting of the Mannerist and Baroque era, including paintings by El Greco, she is in the majority of cases fully clothed and shows no signs of eroticism (compare paintings in the Prado: P000608, P001309, P001103, P007621, P001008, P007736). In the Vilnius painting, most likely inspired by Italian paintings or at the client's request, Mary Magdalene is half-naked. As owners of estates in Slovakia, including Stara Lubovna Castle which was then part of the Kingdom of Hungary, the Lubomirskis were also engaged in the affairs of the Hungarian and Bohemian kings of the Habsburg dynasty. At the end of 1621, Jerzy Sebastian's father, Stanisław Lubomirski (1583-1649), attempted to enter the service of the emperor and until 1635 he took a pro-Austrian position. He established contacts with the supreme commander of the imperial army Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583-1634), and a little later, in August 1632, with the emperor himself, to whom he offered his participation in the war against Rakoczi in Hungary or with the Swedes in Germany (after "Mecenat kulturalny i dwór Stanisława Lubomirskiego ..." by Józef Długosz, p. 39, 127). The Italian architect Andrea Spezza (died 1628), who designed the famous Wallenstein Palace in Prague, also worked for the Lubomirskis. It is interesting to note that Anthony van Dyck, active at this time mainly in Antwerp and London, painted a portrait of Wallenstein between 1629 and 1634, although, according to known sources, they did not have the opportunity to meet in person. The original portrait was engraved by Pieter de Jode the Younger after 1628 (signed: Pet. de Iode sculp. / Ant. Van Dÿck pinxit) and a workshop copy is in the National Gallery in Neuburg (inv. 84). Likewise for the effigy of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), engraved by Paulus Pontius around 1655 (signed: Paul. Pontius sculp. / Ant. van Dÿck pinxit.) and the workshop copy is also in Neuburg (inv. 86). In both cases they were undoubtedly based on other effigies. Given the above, portraits of members of the Lubomirski family must also have been in the imperial collections as well as those of members of the Bohemian nobility. In the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden there is a "Portrait of a young man in a black doublet" (Bildnis eines jungen Mannes in schwarzem Rock), attributed to the circle of Frans Hals (oil on panel, 24.5 x 20 cm, Gal.-Nr. 1359). The painting comes from the Wallenstein collection in Duchcov Castle, owned by Albrecht's heir Maximilian von Wallenstein (1598-1655) from 1642, and was purchased in 1741 with 267 other paintings for the collection of the elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and elector of Saxony Augustus III in Dresden for a price of 22,000 guilders. The painting is generally dated to around 1633, but a similar costume is visible in the portrait of Cornelis de Graeff (1599-1664) by Nicolaes Pickenoy, painted in 1636 (Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, 753A). The man in the Dresden portrait bears a striking resemblance to Jerzy Sebastian based on his portraits by Rembrandt and Ferdinand Bol, identified by me, and his engraved effigy by Johann Franck made around 1670 (National Museum in Kraków, MNK III-ryc.-57315). An old copy of this or another version of this painting was sold in Cologne in 2004 (oil on panel, 23.5 x 19 cm, Van Ham Kunstauktionen, July 3, 2004, lot 1112). Another old version with some differences from the Dresden painting is in the Siauliu Ausros Museum in Siauliai, Lithuania (oil on canvas, 27 x 23 cm, ŠAM D–T 473).
Portrait of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667) by workshop of Frans Hals, ca. 1636, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.
Portrait of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667) by follower of Frans Hals, after 1636 (18th century?), Private collection.
Portrait of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (1616-1667) by follower of Frans Hals, after 1636 (19th century?), Siauliu Ausros Museum.
Ecstasy of Saint Francis of Assisi by El Greco, ca. 1580, Diocesan Museum in Siedlce.
Penitent Saint Mary Magdalene by Francisco Jiménez (Ximénez) Maza, second quarter of the 17th century, Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius.
Portrait of the "Last Jagiellon" bearing the features of Ladislaus IV Vasa by Bartholomeus Strobel or workshop
"Sigismund Augustus, last king of Poland of the Jagiellonian dynasty" (SIGISM. AUGUSTUS REX / POLONIÆ IAGELLONIDARUM / ULTIMUS) is the Latin inscription on a painting now kept in the National Museum in Kraków (oil on copper, 62, 5 x 52.5 cm, inventory number MNK I-21). It is very meaningful that this effigy of the last male Jagiellon was acquired in Sweden. The history of the painting, perhaps looted during the Deluge and purchased by Henryk Bukowski (1839-1900), most probably in Stockholm, perfectly illustrates the fate of the portrait collections of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Bukowski, who emigrated to Sweden in 1864 after the collapse of the January Uprising (1863-1864), which aimed to end Russian occupation of part of the former Commonwealth, donated the painting to the Kraków Museum in 1885.
During the reign of Sigismund Augustus, the Union of Lublin was signed on July 1, 1569, creating a single state, the Commonwealth, as a merger of the two states, headed by a single elected monarch and governed by a common parliament, although each retained substantial autonomy, with their own army, treasury, laws and administration. The legacy of the Jagiellonian state was also the Warsaw Confederation of 1573, which officially recognized complete freedom of religion in the Commonwealth, granted dissidents state protection and equal rights with Catholics, and prohibited secular authorities from supporting clergy in religious persecution. Although the patronage of the last male Jagiellon was comparable to that of Italian and German princes, kings of France, Spain, England, emperors and popes, due to wars and destruction until the end of the 18th century, very few of his effigies have been preserved. Moreover, some of them were considered to be the effigy of his ancestor Jogaila of Lithuania, such as the painting by Marcello Bacciarelli in the Royal Castle in Warsaw (ZKW/2713/ab), while the portrait of the maternal grandfather of Ladislaus IV Vasa - Archduke Charles II of Austria, from the same series of Polish monarchs painted between 1768 and 1771, was considered the effigy of Sigismund Augustus (ZKW/2719/ab). The most popular effigy of the monarch, the miniature portrait by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger in the Czartoryski Museum (MNK XII-538), was purchased in the mid-19th century in London by Adolf Cichowski. The style of the portrait of the "Last Jagiellon" as well as the material on which it was painted (copper) indicate that the painting was created in the first half of the 17th century. Although it is obviously based on the same effigy of the king as the mentioned miniature by Cranach, the facial features are slightly different, the painter has rounded the nose and made the lower lip protrude. This is also better visible in comparison with other inscribed effigies of the king, such as the miniature from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (GG 4697) or the miniature by workshop of Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn in Kraków (MNK XII-146). In this way, the "Last Jagiellon" more closely resembles the descendant of the Jagiellons - Ladislaus IV Vasa, especially his portrait by Pieter Claesz. Soutman at Wilanów Palace (Wil.1134) as well as an engraving by Jonas Suyderhoef after a drawing by Claesz. Soutman at the National Museum in Warsaw (79212 MNW). Ladislaus, the new Augustus, the monarch who will revive the spirit of tolerance of the last male Jagiellon, is what many people, especially Protestants, expected from the newly elected king (November 1632), after many years of reign of his father Sigismund III, who leaned towards Spanish-style Catholicism. However, when Ladislaus abandoned his plans to marry a Protestant princess and allied with his Habsburg relatives, many of them felt deceived. Beautifully painted Daniel and Cyrus before the Idol Bel, attributed to the court painter of Ladislaus - Bartholomeus Strobel, in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on copper, 39.5 × 30 cm, M.Ob.1284), is considered a political allegory of the reign of Ladislaus under a "biblical disguise". This story derives from the apocryphal portion of the Book of Daniel and the painting represents the Prophet exposing the fraud of the Babylonian priests of Idol Bel (Baal) to King Cyrus of Persia. It was most likely commissioned by the country's Protestant elites, perhaps Gerard Denhoff (1589/90-1648), voivode of Pomerania or his wife Sibylla Margaret of Legnica-Brzeg (1620-1657), a native of Silesia like Strobel. If the portrait of the "Last Jagiellon" was commissioned by the king, we should assume that he wanted to convince his subjects, especially non-Catholics, that he will be a tolerant ruler, or if like Daniel and Cyrus by the Protestants, this could be a message to the king to which of his predecessors he must refer and which he should take as an example. Not only is the theme of the two paintings described linked, but also their style. The face of King Cyrus is particularly similar in both model characteristics and painting style. It resembles the signed work of Strobel (Bartholo. / Strobel. / Pinxit:) - Our Lady of the Rosary with Saint Dominic and Saint Nicholas in the Church in Grodzisk Wielkopolski, painted between 1634 and 1635, and some of the attributed or workshop paintings such as the half-length portrait of Jerzy Ossoliński (1595-1650) in the National Museum in Warsaw (deposited in Wilanów Palace, 182280, 3020 Tc/72).
Portrait of Jerzy Ossoliński (1595-1650) by Bartholomeus Strobel or workshop, ca. 1635, National Museum in Warsaw.
Portrait of the "Last Jagiellon" Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572), bearing the features of Ladislaus IV Vasa (1595-1648) by Bartholomeus Strobel or workshop, ca. 1636-1637, National Museum in Kraków.
Daniel and Cyrus before the Idol Bel - Allegory of the reign of Ladislaus IV Vasa (1595-1648) by Bartholomeus Strobel, ca. 1636-1637, National Museum in Warsaw.
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