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Adoration of the Magi with portraits of Elizabeth of Austria, Casimir IV Jagiellon and Jogaila of Lithuania by Stanisław Durink

The portrait of King Ladislaus II Jagiello (Jogaila of Lithuania) as one of the Biblical Magi, venerated as saints in the Catholic Church, in the scene of the Adoration of the Magi is one of the oldest effigies of the first monarch of the united Poland-Lithuania. The painting is a section of the Our Lady of Sorrows Triptych in the Holy Cross Chapel (also known as the Jagiellon Chapel) at the Wawel Cathedral, which was built between 1467-1477 as a burial chapel for King Casimir IV Jagiellon (1427-1492) and his wife Elizabeth of Austria (1436-1505) - lower section, reverse of the right wing. 

The triptych is considered the foundation of Queen Elizabeth mourning the death of her son Casimir Jagiellon (1458-1484), future Saint - her coat of arms, of the Habsburg family, as well as the Polish eagle and Lithuanian knight are in the lower part of the frame. The text of the Stabat Mater anthem on the frame could also indicate this (after "Malarstwo polskie: Gotyk, renesans, wczesny manieryzm" by Michał Walicki, p. 313). It is because of the great and unmistakable resemblance to the king's effigy on his tombstone in the same cathedral, the context and European tradition that one of the Magi is identified as a portrait of Jogaila. He was also depicted as one of the scholars in the scene of the Christ among the doctors in the same triptych. Consequently, the other two Magi are identified as effigies of other Polish rulers - Casimir the Great and Louis of Hungary. The other men in the background could be courtiers, including the painter's self-portrait (the man in the center, looking at the viewer), according to the well-known European tradition. 

Paintings in this triptych are attributed to Stanisław Durink (Durynk, Doring, Durniik, Durnijk, During, Dozinlk, Durimk), "painter and illuminator of king Casimir of Poland" (pictor et, illuminaitor Casimiri regnis Poloniae), as he is called in the documents of 1451, 1462 and 1463, born in Kraków (Stanislai Durimk de Cracovia). Durink was a son of Petrus Gleywiczer alias Olsleger, an oil merchant from Gliwice in Silesia. He died childless before 26 January 1492.

If the majority of these effigies are disguised portraits of real people, why not the Madonna? This effigy seems too general, however, there are two important features that are not visible at first glance - the protruding lower lip of the Habsburgs and Dukes of Masovia and the depiction of the eyes, similar to the portrait of Queen Elizabeth, presumed founder of the triptych, in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 4648). Therefore Melchior, the oldest member of the Magi, traditionally called the King of Persia, who brought the gift of gold to Jesus, is not Casimir the Great, but Casimir IV Jagiellon, Elizabeth's husband and the son of Jogaila. His effigy can also be compared to the counterpart of the portrait of Elizabeth in Vienna (GG 4649), which, like the Queen's portrait, was based on the depiction of the couple from the Family Tree of Emperor Maximilian I by Konrad Doll, painted in 1497 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, reproduced in a lithograph by Joseph Lanzedelly from 1820). Casimir IV was depicted with a longer beard in a print in Theatrum virorum eruditione singulari clarorum by Paul Freher (Berlin State Library), published in 1688 in Nuremberg. The last monarch (Louis of Hungary on the right) was depicted from behind, so it is less likely to be a "disguised portrait".

The purpose of these informal portraits was ideological - to legitimize the dynastic rule of the Jagiellons in the elective monarchy, a reminder that despite their rule is dependent on the will of the magnates, their power was bestowed on them by God. The Roman Catholic Chapel of the Holy Cross was decorated with Russo-Bizantine frescoes created by Pskov painters in 1470, so its ideological program was dressed for followers of the two main religions of Poland-Lithuania: Greek and Roman. Byzantine Patriarchal cross became the symbol of Jagiellonian dynasty (Cross of Jagiellons) and reliquary of the True Cross (Vera Crux) of Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1118-1180), given to Jogaila in 1420 by emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1350-1425), was a coronation cross of the Polish monarchs (today in the Notre-Dame de Paris - Croix Palatine).

Adoration of the Magi with portraits of Elizabeth of Austria as Madonna and Casimir IV Jagiellon and Jogaila of Lithuania as the Magi by Stanisław Durink, ca. 1484, Wawel Cathedral.

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth of Austria by Giovanni Bellini

"A large painting from His Majesty King Casimir in a box. Sub letter R. This image is of the Blessed Virgin, the Lord Jesus standing in front of her on a table covered with a carpet, there is a jug with flowers and behind him a beautiful landscape" (Obraz niemały od Krola Je° Mći Kazimierza w Puzdrze. Sub litera R. Ten Obraz iest Nayswiętsza Panna Pan Jezus przed nią stoi na stole Kobiercem przykrytym, y Dzban z Kwiatami i zanim pękny Lanszawt), this is how the inventory of the collection of paintings belonging to the influential Helena Tekla Lubomirska née Ossolińska (1622-1687), written in Wiśnicz on January 28, 1678 after the death of her husband, describes the painting which was offered to her by the last Vasa on the Polish-Lithuanian throne John II Casimir (1609-1672), descendant of the Jagiellons (National Archives in Kraków, Sanguszko Archive, WAP nr 201, p. 28). Helena Tekla put her signature under this entry, indicating that the painting may have been given to her directly by the king, perhaps shortly after his abdication and before departure for France in 1668. The king took many of his possessions, including those he had inherited from his ancestors and which he managed to evacuate during the Deluge (1655-1660). Many of these belongings were later sold in Paris in 1673. He also offered paintings to different monasteries (several paintings were given to the Visitandines Monastery in Warsaw) and friends. The Lubomirska's painting was probably destroyed during the Great Northern War (1700-1721) or during the great fire of Wiśnicz Castle in 1831.

Nothing more is known about this painting, but the description indicates that it was an Italian painting from the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, since such depictions with a standing Child are the most typical of Italian Renaissance painting. A somewhat similar composition was painted by Pinturicchio in the late 15th century, now in the National Gallery, London (tempera on panel, 53.5 x 35.5 cm, NG703), decorated with the coats of arms of the patrons, but this painting is rather small. At that time, larger Madonnas were "produced" in Venice. For example, the Virgin and Child enthroned with an oriental carpet, made by Gentile Bellini around 1475-85, in the same collection, is much larger (oil on panel, 121.9 x 82.6 cm, NG3911), as well as the Madonna and Child blessing, painted in 1510 by his brother Giovanni, today at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan (oil on panel, 85 x 115 cm, inv. 298, signed lower left: IOANNES / BELLINVS / M D X). Given Poland-Lithuania's contacts with Venice during the Renaissance, as well as those with the Bellini workshops, it is quite possible that the painting offered by John Casimir was created in their workshop.

When I saw for the first time in November 2023 the painting by Giovanni Bellini, acquired by Wawel Castle, Virgin and Child in front of a green curtain and a landscape (oil on panel, 74.6 x 57.3 cm, ZKnW-PZS 10475, signed lower center: IOANNES BELLINVS P), I was struck by the great resemblance of the woman represented as the Virgin to Queen Elizabeth of Austria (1436/7-1505), wife of Casimir IV Jagiellon (1427-1492). In the effigy we can see a similar shape of the nose and protruding lower lip as in the later copy of the queen's effigy in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (GG 4648) and in the portrait of her son Sigismund I in Gołuchów Castle (Mo 2185).

The painting was also exhibited at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius in 2024. What a coincidence that one of the most important female monarchs of Central Europe returned to Poland and Lithuania after several centuries of oblivion. This painting has probably never been here before, although we cannot exclude that other versions were in Poland-Lithuania. The sad thing about all this is that I seem to be the only one who noticed it. It is difficult, though, to believe in resemblance and an intuition, when it is not explicitly confirmed in the sources or in the painting itself (inscription, coat of arms) and experts say that it is not a portrait.

It should be noted, however, that the general context and symbols are enough to identify the models in the paintings, but when it comes to Poland-Lithuania, it seems that many researchers want to believe that it was an artistic desert, especially before 1655-1660 and as regards the royal heritage. In recent years, research has revealed that the National Gallery of Victoria's "Portrait of a young man" (inv. 1587-5), attributed to Dosso Dossi or his younger brother Battista, is not a man at all but Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519), daughter of Pope Alexander VI, called by a Venetian chronicler Girolamo Priuli (1476-1547) "the greatest courtesan of Rome" (Lucrezia la piú gran cortigiana che fosse in Roma, after "Lucrezia Borgia: La sua vita e i suoi tempi" by Maria Bellonci, p. 124). It contains symbolic references to Venus and the ancient Roman heroine Lucretia.

The oldest known provenience of the Wawel painting is the collection of Henry Woods (1822-1882) or his son William at Warnford Park, Hampshire (compare "De la propriété de la Fondation collection Château de Rohoncz", p. 14) or the Moroni collection in Milan (a copy?), reported in 1934 (Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 28285) and although it is not confirmed, such a splendid painting was most likely owned by important patrons, such as the Tudor dynasty in England or the Sforza family that ruled Milan when the painting was executed in the late 15th or early 16th century. 

Portraits were part of diplomacy since the beginnings of portraiture as a distinct domain (portraits sent to allies, potential brides or grooms, influential family members abroad etc.) and the contacts of Poland-Lithuania with the Kingdom of England and with the Duchy of Milan are very old. In 1469, Alexander Soltan, son of the Ruthenian Orthodox boyar from Lithuania, visited England. He was sent there as an envoy of Casimir IV. The purpose of his trip was political negotiations and King Edward IV presented him with a gold chain. In December 1468, before arriving in England, Soltan was at the court of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, who recommended him to other rulers in a special document. Nearly two decades earlier, on August 4, 1450, the English King Henry VI had granted Casimir the Order of the Garter. Nicolaus von Popplau (Mikołaj z Popielowa), described as a Silesian born in Wrocław, who visited England in 1484, as well as several other European countries in the years 1483-1485, stated that "the English also do not regret spending a lot on feasts and a comfortable life, but they are not equal in this respect to the Poles" (after "Mikołaj z Popielowa" by Xawery Liske, p. 6), which gives an idea of ​​the material status of Poland-Lithuania at the end of the 15th century. While in England it is not difficult to find traces of the country's wealth, such as numerous portraits of the queens of England - Elizabeth Woodville (d. 1492) or Elizabeth of York (1466-1503), what happened to the heritage of Poland-Lithuania?

The painting is compared to very similar composition painted by Giovanni Bellini in 1487 - Madonna of the Small Trees (Madonna degli alberetti), which takes its name from the two poplar trees standing symmetrically on the sides of the green curtain which forms the backdrop to the group of the Virgin and Child, now kept in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice (oil on panel, 71 x 58 cm, inv. 596, signed lower center: IOANNES BELLI ... / 1487). The Madonna of the Small Trees was gifted with other works by the aristocrat Girolamo Contarini, a member of one of Venice's founding families, in 1838, so it had probably been in the city since its creation and perhaps represents a member of the Contarini family. Another Contarini - Ambrogio (1429-1499), left a description of the court of Casimir IV during his visit to Poland-Lithuania in 1474 and 1477.

The painter used the same set of study drawings for both compositions (Madonna of the Small Trees and the Wawel painting), changing only a few elements. Besides the trees in the background - poplar in the Madonna of the Small Trees and perhaps a chestnut tree or an oak at the beginning of winter in the Wawel painting, which undoubtedly has an important symbolic meaning, color of the child's hair, he notably changed the face of the Madonna. The lips, nose and eyebrows are different - she's definitely a different woman. If the Madonna was not a portrait, why did the painter change the face of a woman? Especially to the image with less classic features? He already had a beautiful model for his Madonna of the Small Trees, why look for another?, especially for a painting which probably left Venice shortly after its creation (possibly sent as a diplomatic gift).

Each Madonna should be unique and the majority of Bellini's Madonnas are unique. Patrons paid to have a unique image, which is another indication that Wawel painting was not intended for Venetian customers, otherwise two Venetian noble families would have very similar paintings representing two different women. The Bellini workshop was very popular, so the artist and his students had to work quickly to meet the number of orders. This, however, means that they must rely on the reuse of other compositions. In the Madonna and Child with Saint Paul and Saint George in the same gallery (Gallerie dell'Accademia, inv. 610), which comes from the collection of Count Bernardino Renier, member of another old Venetian family, offered in 1850, they borrowed some elements from the Madonna of the Small Trees, notably the woman's face.

In the 16th century, Italian paintings reached as far as China, as evidenced by the Chinese Salus Populi Romani - The Madonna Scroll by Tang Yin (1470-1524), now in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (inv. 116027). In the context of disguised portraits, it is possible that this fashion also reached China with other Christian images, so the Madonna Scroll could in fact be a portrait of a member of the imperial family or an aristocrat disguised as a Madonna or Guanyin. 

Disguised portraits or cryptoportraits (kryptoportrety), from the Greek word kryptós meaning hidden, concealed, have been known in Polish literature on the subject since at least the mid-20th century and among the best known is the portrait of Jogaila of Lithuania (King Ladislaus II Jagiello) as one of the Biblical Magi in the triptych of Our Lady of Sorrows (Wawel Cathedral), the portrait of his descendant King Sigismund I as one of the Three Kings in the prayer book of the Chancellor of Lithuania Albertus Gastold/Vaitiekus Gostautas (University Library in Munich) or the Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine with the disguised portrait of Katarzyna Franciszka Denhoffowa née von Bessen (d. 1695), mistress of King John II Casimir Vasa, represented as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (compare "Dzieje sztuki polskiej ..." by Janusz Kębłowski, p. 143). Such representations have origins in ancient times (e.g. the sculptural self-portrait of Phidias on the shield of Athena Parthenos, as described by Plutarch, which depicts him naked in battle against the Amazons) and they often had additional meaning.

One of Giovanni Bellini's best-known portraits - the portrait of Fra Teodoro of Urbino in the National Gallery, London (on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum, L1115), painted in 1515 (M D XV), is in fact a disguised portrait. It represents the monk of the Dominican monastery of San Zanipolo, located not far from Bellini's workshop, with the attributes of Saint Dominic. The painting from Giovanni Bellini's workshop, now in the Khanenko Museum in Kyiv (panel, 93.5 x 77 cm), described in the "Introduction", is most likely a copy of a painting made in 1469 depicting the Byzantine princess living in Rome Sophia Palaiologina (d. 1503), mother of Helena of Moscow (1476-1513), Grand Duchess of Lithuania and Queen of Poland. The original painting was brought to Moscow by the Venetian merchant Giambattista della Volpe (alias Ivan Fryazin), who, accompanied by a certain Pole, stopped off in Venice on his journey from Russia to Rome. The theory that della Volpe was also accompanied by a member of Bellini's workshop on his trip to Rome and took with him drawings of the Byzantine princess, which were transformed into paintings in Venice, is very likely in this case - one painting was taken to Moscow and copies may have been sent to the Pope, to Sophia's family or to other important courts in Europe. According to sources, Sophia's effigy "was written [painted] on the icon". It is also possible that the princess's "face" was "pasted" into a previously painted painting or a painting ​created while waiting for the drawings of her face from Rome, as in the case of a later painting by Cranach of the daughter of Elizabeth of Austria, Elizabeth Jagiellon (1482-1517), now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (inv. 4328), also identified by me.

More and more disguised portraits, many of which have been forgotten since the time of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which indirectly prohibited such representations ("there be nothing seen that is disorderly, or that is unbecomingly or confusedly arranged, nothing that is profane, nothing indecorous", after "The Canons and Decrees ..." by James Waterworth, p. 236), are currently being rediscovered, such as the portrait of a lady as Saint Lucy by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, painted around 1509 (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, inv. 52 (1934.44)), portrait of a young woman as Saint Agatha by Giovanni Busi Cariani, painted between 1516-1517 (National Galleries Scotland, NG 2494) or portrait of a lady as Saint Agatha (probably Giulia Gonzaga), painted by Sebastiano del Piombo in Rome in the early 1530s (National Gallery, London, NG24), although the exact identity of many of these effigies still remains a mystery. "This painting, then, is not only a religious painting but also a portrait, bringing together in one canvas two categories of early modern image making that have long been understood as not only distinct but binarily opposed to each other", comments Adam Jasienski on the portrait of a woman in the guise of Saint Barbara from the first half of the 17th century (after "Praying to Portraits", p. 1-2). Church reformers could not openly prohibit such depictions, as this tradition largely concerned Europe's most powerful ruling dynasties, such as the Habsburgs and Medici. The woman with the jewelled headband, depicted as Madonna and Child, painted by Ercole de' Roberti, court painter of the Este family in Ferrara, between 1490-1496 (The Art Institute of Chicago, 1947.90), bears a strong resemblance to the effigies of Beatrice d Este (1475-1497), Duchess of Bari and Milan, who, on January 18, 1491, in Pavia, married Ludovico il Moro (1452-1508), regent of Milan. Some popes and other church officials also lent their features to images of saints (Pope Leo X as Saint Pope Leo I in the Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila by Raphael or the Supper of Saint Gregory the Great with portrait of Pope Clement VII by Giorgio Vasari).

Many of these rediscovered disguised portraits can still be found in the temples for which they were painted or offered, such as Descent of Christ into Limbo with many contemporary portraits (Alessandro Allori as Isaac, Costanza da Sommaia as Judith), painted by Bronzino in 1552 (Medici Chapel at the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence), Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine with the disguised portraits of counts of Silvano Pietra, painted by Lucrezia Quistelli della Mirandola in 1576 (Chiesa Santa Maria e San Pietro in Silvano Pietra, compare "In mostra a Milano la pala di Silvano Pietra" by Maurizio Ceriani), Adoration of the Magi with portraits of King Sigismund III Vasa, his son Prince Ladislaus Sigismund and their courtiers from the second quarter of the 17th century (Church of St. Nicholas and St. Lawrence in Dłużec near Olkusz, compare "W asystencji, w przebraniu ..." by Jacek Żukowski, p. 21) or mentioned triptych of Our Lady of Sorrows (Holy Cross Chapel at the Wawel Cathedral).

Certain works by Giovanni Bellini, his workshop, his entourage or followers are present in different collections of the former Poland-Lithuania. A painting by Bellini is also linked to the Jagiellons - Lamentation of Christ, painted after 1475, which was located before the Second World War in the Kaunas Cathedral (oil? on wood, 90 x 74 cm). This painting was probably donated by King Alexander Jagiellon (1461-1506), son of Elizabeth of Austria, in 1503, and mentioned in the 1522 inventory of the Kaunas parish church made by Canon Joannes Albinus (Imago Depositionis de Cruce Domini Jesu Christi in assere, erecta a quo et quamdiu in hac ecclesia est, non constat, solum varij sexus hominum linguis et testimonijs fertur ab 80 plus minus annis in liac parochiali ecclesia existere ..., after "Viešpaties Jėzaus Kristaus apraudojimo ..." by Laima Šinkūnaitė, p. 156-158). While it should be noted that the Kaunas painting was a version of a painting generally attributed to the Florentine school (Davide Ghirlandaio and Bastiano Mainardi), the compositions were nevertheless frequently copied at that time by different painters, especially if they contained disguised portraits.

​In Kaunas there is also the Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist by the circle of Giovanni Bellini from the beginning of the 16th century (National Museum of Art, ČDM MŽ 1549) and in Kraków there is the Virgin with the Blessing Child by Giovanni Bellini from around 1480 (Czartoryski Museum, MNK XII-202). The latter painting comes from the Czartoryski collection and was mentioned in a register of paintings from their collection published in 1914 (compare "Galerja obrazów: katalog tymczasowy" by Henryk Ochenkowski, p. 37, item 158). The paiting was attributed to pupil of Giovanni Bellini, Niccolò Rondinelli (d. 1520), active mainly in Ravenna, similar to his composition in the Indianapolis Museum of Art (24.6) and repeating the Bellini's composition from Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Anne or St. Elizabeth in Städel Museum (inv. 853) and another version from Fonte Avellana Monastery, now in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche (inv. 643). Two similar Madonnas are in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (inv. III.126 and B.12). Earlier provenance has not been established, so an acquisition in the late 15th century and a provenance from the royal collection of Polish-Lithuania can be considered.

The Holy Family from the collection of the architect Stanisław Zawadzki (1743-1806), today kept in the Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Rzeczyca, is attributed to the circle of Giovanni Bellini (compare "Nieznane aspekty biografii architekta Stanisława Zawadzkiego" by Ryszard Mączyński, p. 72-73), but it is another version of a painting attributed to Francesco Bissolo, a student of Bellini, now kept in the Crema Cathedral.

Aleksander Przezdziecki (1814-1871) provides some information on Queen Elizabeth's Italian connections in his article on the queen published in 1852. According to this author, Juan Andrés y Morell (1740-1817), director of the Royal Library of Naples, had a manuscript with the following title: Elisabeth Alberti secundi Imperatoris filia nupta Casimiro IV Poloniae Regi, Hungariae et Bohemiae haeres nata A. D. 1439, denata 1505, hanc institutionem conscripsit filio suo Wladislao Hungariae, Bohemiaeque Regi clarissimo ("Elizabeth, daughter of Albert the Second Emperor, married to Casimir IV, King of Poland, heiress of Hungary and Bohemia, born A. D. 1439, died in 1505, wrote this document to her son Wladislaus, the most serene king of Hungary and Bohemia"). The manuscript, written in beautiful and elegant Latin, had 140 pages and was acquired from the library of Pope Pius VI (1717-1799) by a citizen of Naples.

In the former Habsburg collections in Vienna there is another manuscript under the title Helisabetha Poloniae Regina Wladislao Pannoniae, Воhemiaeque Regi, filio Carissimo S. P. D. De Institutione Regii Pueri, written by the queen (Austrian National Library, Cod. 10573). This small manuscript of 138 pages is decorated with a double coat of arms of Bohemia and Hungary on the first page and the crowned letters W and A (Wladislaus, Anna), undoubtedly belonging to Elizabeth's son King Vladislaus II Jagiellon (1456-1516), king of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. In this manuscript, written after September 1502 and before July 1503, before the expected childbirth of her daughter-in-law, Vladislas's second wife, Anne of Foix-Candale (1484-1506), Queen Elizabeth sends her son advice on the upbringing of the child, whom she calls a son and calls by her favorite name - Casimir. However, her premonition was wrong, because instead of a son, a daughter, Anna Jagiellonica, was born (July 23, 1503).

The queen advises her eldest son: "Casimir, your father, congratulated himself and considered it a blessing that he had with him Callimachus [Filippo Buonaccorsi], the Italian poet, who taught you and your other brothers Latin literature" and "Casimir, your father, praised the custom of the Italians, who used to eat three or at most four kinds of dishes and add water to their wine; and he did not attribute this moderation in life to stinginess, as many people understand, but to temperance, the most beautiful virtue and care for health". She also adds that "Alexander, also your brother and the invincible King of Poland, who recently gave a certain young man as many pieces of gold and a beautiful horse for twenty-four poems published in his praise, shines with a similar generosity" and that "Often, in my presence, Callimachus told of a cardinal who was killed in the night by his bedchamber servant, simply because he never looked at him with a cheerful eye". "If Casimir and Albert [King John I Albert (1459-1501)] had not treated Callimachus generously and graciously, I don't think any memory of them would have come down to posterity. And you, if you despise the wisdom of scholars, consider what will happen to you after death!", she further praises the court poet (who commissioned portraits in Venice) basing the fame of her husband and son on his activities. She also mentions the Venetian diplomat Sebastiano Giustiniani (1460-1543), who was ambassador to the court of Vladislas for three years: "a learned and prudent man, I heard that he praises your seriousness in a strange way" and advises that the boy should learn Italian and German, in addition to Polish, French and Hungarian. The predominance of Italian and Venetian influences in this single document is astonishing.

The queen also references ancient mythology, heroes and poets, such as Venus and her son Cupid, Artemis (Diana), Aeneas, Alexander the Great and Homer (p. 15 and 18 of the original manuscript), among others.

Przezdziecki, praising the style of the manuscript and its "foreign elegance", speculates that it was not the queen herself who was the author, but her courtiers, supposedly one of the Florentines or other Italians, companions of Callimachus, many of whom were at the court of the Polish kings of the time, such as Arnolfo Tedaldi, to whom Callimachus dedicated his "Elegies of Love", Collenuccio da Pesaro, Ottaviano Calvani di Gucci, who wrote a letter in Italian on the death of Callimachus and Bernardino Galli, author of verses on Callimachus' tombstone. He also describes the wealth of the court of Casimir IV Jagiellon and the richness of the costumes, that in 1487 Elizabeth had a satin dress embroidered with pearls (Vestem ex athlassio et margaritis) and that Jakub Dembiński (1427-1490), chancellor in 1469, ordered from Florence silk fabrics for King Casimir, woven with gold, as evidenced by his letter to Lorenzo de' Medici, preserved in the Medici archives in Florence (after "O królowej Elżbiecie żonie Kazimierza Jagiellończyka ...", p. 524-527, 536, 543-547). 

Elizabeth was born in Vienna in 1436 or 1437 as the daughter of Duke Albert V of Austria (1397-1439), later king of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia and king of the Romans from his union with Elizabeth of Luxembourg (1409-1442), the daughter of Emperor Sigismund (1368-1437). After death of their parents Elizabeth and her brother Ladislaus the Posthumous (1440-1457) were raised in the court of Frederick III (1415-1493), son of Cymburgis of Masovia (d. 1429). Frederick's secretary, Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405-1464), future Pope Pius II, had an impact on their education and mentioned Juvenal, a Roman poet and author of the collection of satirical poems, as one of the authors for the young Ladislaus to study.

Her marriage to Casimir was happy, although when he first saw Elizabeth he did not want to marry her. The queen also exercised some political influence. She gave birth to 13 children to her husband and thus she is known as the Mother of the Jagiellons and the Mother of Kings (Elizabeth regina Polonia mater plurium regum), because four of her sons became kings and Elizabeth's daughters, through their marriages, were associated with important ruling dynasties.

Among the few artistic foundations of Queen Elizabeth that have been preserved, we can count the finest examples of late 15th and early 16th century art, such as the late Gothic tombstone of Casimir IV Jagiellon by Veit Stoss and Jörg Huber, made between 1492-1496, and the gold reliquary for the head of Saint Stanislaus by Marcin Marciniec, made in 1504, as well as the tombstone of King John Albert, created by Jörg Huber around 1502 and the niche sculpted by Francesco Fiorentino between 1502 and 1505, considered the first fully Renaissance work in Poland, all in Wawel Cathedral. In January 1504, Wojciech Krypa from Szamotuły (d. 1507), who had obtained his doctorate in Padua a year earlier, was appointed by King Alexander as his mother's physician (Albertus de Schamothuli, physicus regine Polonie Elizabeth).

Based on examination of her skeleton discovered in 1972, scientists concluded that the queen suffered from a spinal abnormality, as well as a deformed skull and protruding teeth. Her known effigies confirm that an important feature of her face was prognathism, visible in the miniature in Vienna, in a woodcut from the so-called Łaski's Statute (Commune incliti Poloniae Regni privilegium ...), published in Kraków in 1506 and showing her as a progenitor of the Jagiellons, engraving with her portrait (Elisabetha, Imperatoris Alberti II filia, Casimiri Jagellonidis Uxor), made by the Flemish engraver Gilliam van der Gouwen in 1684 after an original from the second half of the 15th century (National Library of Poland, G.9796), representing her in a costume typical of European fashion of the time, and in a portrait taken from the family tree of Emperor Maximilian I, lithograph from 1820 by Joseph Lanzedelly after the original painting from 1497 by Konrad Doll (Austrian National Library). Protruding lower lip is also a feature visible in effigies of Elizabeth's father, Albert V.

The queen undoubtedly gave her features to the Madonna in the scene of the Adoration of the Magi from the triptych of Our Lady of Sorrows in the Holy Cross Chapel (Wawel Cathedral), painted by Stanisław Durink around 1484. Facial expression with partially closed eyes looking down, resembles Bellini's painting. The Virgin from the Annunciation scene in the mentioned triptych is also strikingly similar. It is also worth noting a great resemblance to the features of Elizabeth's mother in a miniature from the same series in Vienna.

The conclusion of a Latin poem written in her honor by an Italian poet, included by Elizabeth in her De Institutione Regii Pueri, also fits perfectly as a conclusion and summary for the description of this disguised portrait: "No mortal person receives such fame, such honors, You must be a Goddess!" (Non capit has laudes, non tot mortalis honores, / De superis aliquam te decet esse Deam!). Certainly, it was not only in poems that the great queen was a divine being.

​Annunciation with disguised portrait of Queen Elizabeth of Austria (1436/7-1505) by Stanisław Durink, ca. 1484, Wawel Cathedral.

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth of Austria (1436/7-1505), the "Mother of Kings" (Mater Regum), as Madonna and Child in front of a green curtain and a landscape by Giovanni Bellini, after 1487, Wawel Royal Castle.

​Portrait of the Byzantine princess Sophia Palaiologina (died 1503) as Madonna and Child with a view of Rome by workshop of Giovanni Bellini, ca. 1469 or after, Khanenko Museum in Kyiv.

Family of Nicolaus Copernicus as donors by Michel Sittow

In 1484 Michel Sittow (ca. 1469-1525), a painter born in the Hanseatic city of Reval in Livonia (now Tallinn in Estonia) moved to Bruges in the Low Countries, at that time a leading economic center of Europe where painting workshops flourished. It is thought that he worked as an apprentice in the workshop of Hans Memling till 1488 and that he traveled to Italy. When in Bruges Sittow undoubtedly had the opportunity to meet Mikołaj Polak (Claeys Polains), a painter from Poland, who in 1485 was sued by the Bruges Guild of Saint Luke for using inferior Polish lazurite. 

From 1492 Sittow worked in Toledo for Queen Isabella I of Castile as a court painter. He left Spain in 1502 and was presumably working in Flanders for Joanna of Castile and her husband Philip the Handsome. Michel probably visited London between 1503-1505, although this trip is not documented. Several portraits of English monarchs attributed to him could also have been made in Flanders on the basis of drawings sent from London. In 1506 the painter returned to Reval, where he joined the local guild of painters in 1507, and married in 1508. In 1514 he was called to Copenhagen to portray Christian II of Denmark. The portrait was intended to be a gift to Christian's fiancée, Isabella of Austria, a granddaughter of Isabella of Castile. From Denmark he traveled to Flanders, where he entered the service of Margaret of Austria, then regent of the Netherlands, and from there to Spain, where he returned to the service of Ferdinand II of Aragon, husband of Queen Isabella. When Ferdinand died in 1516, Sittow continued as court painter for his grandson Charles I, future Emperor Charles V. On an unknown date (between 1516 and 1518) Michel Sittow returned to Reval, where he married Dorothie, daughter of a merchant named Allunsze. In 1523, Sittow held the position of Aldermann (guild leader) and he died of plague in his hometown between December 20, 1525 and January 20, 1526.

It is possible that between 1488-1492 Sittow returned to Tallinn. If he traveled by sea to or from Bruges or Spain, his possible stop was one of the largest seaports on the Baltic Sea - Gdańsk in Polish Prussia, the main port of Poland-Lithuania. If he traveled by land, he undoubtedly traveled through Polish Prussia and one of the biggest cities on the route from Bruges to Livonia - Toruń, where king Jagiello built a castle between 1424 and 1428 (Dybów Castle). 

One of the major works from this period in Toruń is a late Gothic painting depicting the Descent from the Cross with donors, today in the Diocesan Museum in Pelplin (tempera on oak panel, 214 x 146 cm, inventory number MDP/32/M, earlier 184984). It was earlier in the Toruń Cathedral and originally, probably, in the demolished church of St. Lawrence in Toruń or as the property of the Brotherhood of Corpus Christi at the Cathedral.

The work was showcased during an international exhibition at the National Museum in Warsaw and the Royal Castle in Warsaw - "Europa Jagellonica 1386-1572" in 2012/2013, devoted to the period in which the "Jagiellonian dynasty was the dominant political and cultural force in this part of Europe". Many authors underline inspirations and influences of Netherlandish painting in this panel, especially by Rogier van der Weyden (after "Sztuka gotycka w Toruniu" by Juliusz Raczkowski, ‎Krzysztof Budzowski, p. 58), the master of Memling, who had served his apprenticeship in his Brussels workshop. The landscape and technique can even bring to mind works by Giovanni Bellini (d. 1516), like Deposition (Gallerie dell'Accademia) and colors the works by Spanish masters of the late 15th century.

It is known that in 1494 a Dutch painter named Johannes of Zeerug stayed at the court of king John I Albert. He could be the possible author of Sacra Conversazione with Saint Barbara and Saint Catherine and donors from Przyczyna Górna, created in 1496 (Archdiocesan Museum in Poznań). This painting was founded to the Parish church in Dębno near Nowe Miasto nad Wartą by Ambroży Pampowski of Poronia coat of arms (ca. 1444-1510), Starost General of Greater Poland, an important official close to the royal court, who was depicted as donor with his first wife Zofia Kot of Doliwa coat of arms (d. 1493). The style of the painting in Pelplin is different and resembles the works attributed to Michel Sittow - Portrait of a man with a pink - Callimachus (Getty Center), Portrait of King Christian II of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst), Madonna and Child (Gemäldegalerie in Berlin) and Portrait of Diego de Guevara (National Gallery of Art in Washington). He was also the only known artist of this level from this part of Europe, educated in the Netherlands, to whom the work can be attributed.

The Descent from the Cross in Pelplin was a part of a triptych. However, the two other panels were created much later in different workshops. Basing on style and costumes these two other paintings are attributed to local workshop under Netherlandish and Westphalian influences and dated to around 1500. All three paintings were transferred to the Museum in Pelplin in 1928 and the central panel showing the Christ crowned with thorns was lost during World War II. The left wing representing Flagellation of Christ is now back in the Toruń Cathedral. This painting has almost identical dimensions as the Descent from the Cross (tempera on oak panel, 213 x 147 cm) and one of the soldiers tormenting Jesus has a royal monogram under crown embroidered with pearls on his chest. This intertwined monogram can be read as IARP (Ioannes Albertus Rex Poloniae), i.e. John I Albert, King of Poland from 1492 to his death in 1501. The founder of this painting depicted as kneeling donor in the right corner of the panel was therefore closely connected with the royal court. This man bears a striking resemblance to known likenesses of the most famous man from Toruń - Nicolaus Copernicus (born on 19 February 1473), who was baptized in the Toruń Cathedral. Some authors consider it to be an authentic image of the astronomer (after "Utworzenie Kociewskiego Centrum Kultury", 29.06.2022) founded by him in his lifetime. 

If the donor from the Flagellation painting is Copernicus, therefore the donors from the earlier Descent from the Cross should be his parents and siblings. Nicolaus' father, also Nicolaus was a wealthy merchant from Kraków, son of John. He was born around 1420. There is much debate as to whether he was German or Polish, perhaps he was just a typical representative of the Jagiellonian multiculturalism. He moved to Toruń before 1458 and before 1448 he traded in Slovak copper, which was transported by the Vistula to Gdańsk and then exported to other countries. In 1461, he granted a loan to the city of Toruń to fight against the Teutonic Order. 

Copernicus the Elder married Barbara Watzenrode, sister of Lucas Watzenrode (1447-1512), Prince-Bishop of Warmia, who studied in Kraków, Cologne and Bologna. The couple had four children, Andreas, Barbara, Catharina and Nicolaus. Copernicus the father died in 1483 and his wife, who died after 1495, founded him a portrait epitaph, known today only from a copy, on which we can see a man with a mustache, with folded hands in prayer, with similar features to his son. This copy was commissioned in about 1618 by astronomer Jan Brożek (Ioannes Broscius) for the Kraków Academy and it was repainted around 1873 (Jagiellonian University Museum, oil on canvas, 60 x 47 cm). The father of astronomer died at the age of about 63, while depicted man in much younger, therefore the original epithaph was probably based on some earlier effigy. The facial features of a man from the Descent from the Cross are very similar. Elongated face with wider cheekbones of the woman from the painting is similar to effigies of Barbara Watzenrode's brother Lucas and her famous son. 

As it was said Nicolaus the Elder died in 1483, while Sittow moved to the Netherlands in about 1484. Such a wealthy merchant or his widow could afford to order a painting from the artist, who at that time was possibly in Gdańsk or Toruń or even created in Bruges, when he settled there, and sent to Toruń. The appearance of younger of boys match the age of future astronomer, who was 10 when his father died. Barbara and Nicolaus had two daughters Barbara and Catharine, while on the painting there is only one. The elder Barbara, entered the convent in Chełmno, where she later became an abbess and died in 1517. It is generally believed that it was she who was mentioned in the list of nuns under the year 1450 there (after "Cystersi w społeczeństwie Europy Środkowej" by Andrzej Marek Wyrwa, Józef Dobosz, p. 114 and "Leksykon zakonnic polskich epoki przedrozbiorowej" by Małgorzata Borkowska, p. 287), therefore she "left" her family over 20 years before Nicolaus the astronomer was born. 

Apart from costly Polish azurite, painters in Bruges and other locations needed Copernicus' copper, which although is naturally green, "with the addition of ammonia (easily obtained from urine), it turns blue. The color became chemically stable if lime was added, and this chemistry process produced a cheap, bright blue that became an allpurpose paint for walls, wood, and books" (after "All Things Medieval" by Ruth A. Johnston, p. 551). In Gdańsk English and Dutch merchants purchased cenere azzurre, a blue pigment prepared from carbonate of copper (after "Original treatises dating from the XIIth to XVIIIth centuries on the arts of painting in oil ... ", p. cc - cci), similar to that visible in the Descent from the Cross in Pelplin.

Portrait of merchant Nicolaus Copernicus the Elder (d. 1483) and his two sons as donors from the Descent from the Cross by Michel Sittow, ca. 1483-1492, Diocesan Museum in Pelplin. 

Portrait of Barbara Watzenrode and her daughter as donors from the Descent from the Cross by Michel Sittow, ca. 1483-1492, Diocesan Museum in Pelplin. 

Descent from the Cross with family of Nicolaus Copernicus as donors by Michel Sittow, ca. 1483-1492, Diocesan Museum in Pelplin. 

Portraits of Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus by Michel Sittow and workshop of Giovanni Bellini

"A face brighter than Venus' and the hair of Phoebus Apollo ... [more striking] than the stone polished by Phidias or the paintings of Apelles", this is how Philippus Callimachus Experiens (1437-1496) describes in his poem the beauty of the young clergyman Lucio Fazini Maffei Fosforo (Lucidus Fosforus, d. 1503), who became bishop of Segni near Rome in 1481. He advises elsewhere an elderly man: "Although the reverence of a wrinkled brow with white hair is esteemed ... Quintilius should prefer to be effeminate, so that he might always be ready for the prostitutes and the boys" (after "A Sudden Terror: The Plot to Murder the Pope in Renaissance Rome" by Anthony F. D'Elia, p. 96, 98).

Callimachus, humanist, writer and diplomat, was born Filippo Buonaccorsi de Tebadis Experiens in San Gimignano in Tuscany, in Italy. He moved to Rome in 1462 and he become a member of the Roman Academy of Giulio Pomponio Leto (Julius Pomponius Laetus, 1428-1498), who was later charged with sodomy, conspiracy against Pope Paul II and heresy. Filippo was accused of participating in the assassination attempt on the pope in 1468 and fled through southern Italy (Apulia-Sicily) to Greece (Crete-Cyprus-Chios) and Turkey, and then to Poland (1469/1470). The homo-erotic verses were discovered among his papers, including one dedicated to Fazini. 

The punishment for love between two men in Poland-Lithuania was similar as probably in most of the countries of Medieval/Renaissance Europe, nevertheless in Poland-Lithuania, like Rheticus almost a century later, he easly found powerful protectors, who undobtedly perfectly knew about his "inclinations". First he found work with the Bishop of Lviv, Gregory of Sanok (d. 1477), a professor at the Kraków Academy. Later he became tutor to the sons of the King of Poland Casimir IV Jagiellon and carried out various diplomatic missions. In 1474 he was appointed royal secretary, in 1476 he became ambassador to Constantinople and in 1486 he was the king's representative in Venice. With the accession to the throne of his former pupil John Albert, his power and influence reached its maximum.

​The envoy of the Republic of Venice, Signor Ambrogio Contarini (1429-1499), confirms the influences of Callimachus at the Polish-Lithuanian court: "On the 10th day (April 1474) I arrived in the land called Lublin. It is quite arable and has a decent castle where four of the king's sons stayed. [...] And they lived there in a castle with a very enlightened teacher who raised them. [...] One of them welcomed me with a short speech, as honorable and reasonable as one could ask for, and they showed extraordinary respect for their master". On his return from Persia, three years later, Contarini was again lavishly received by the king at Trakai in Lithuania and during the farewell, "the king charged me with greeting the most illustrious Signoria of Venice from His Majesty, and he added many kind words, and bade his sons speak to me in the same way" (after "Matka Jagiellonów" by Karol Szajnocha, p. 21, 23).

In his writings, Buonaccorsi advocated the reinforcement of royal power. He also wrote poems and prose in Latin, although he is best known for his biographies of Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Bishop Gregory of Sanok, and King Ladislaus III Jagiellon.

When in Poland, he also wrote love poems, many of which were addressed to his benefactress in Lviv with the name of Fannia Sventoka (Ad Fanniam Sventokam elegiacon carmen, In coronam sibi per Fanniam datam, In eum qui nive concreta collum Fanniae percusserat, De passere Fanniae, Narratio ad Fanniam de ejus errore, De gremio Fanniae, In picturam Fanniae, In reuma pro Fannia dolente oculos). This name is sometimes considered to be a pseudonym of Anna Ligęzina, daughter of Jan Feliks Tarnowski, or interpreted as Świętochna or Świętoszka (prude in Polish). The word Sventoka is also similar to Polish świntucha (rake, debauchee). Nevertheless, taking into consideration that some gay guys and transvestites like to use female nicknames, we cannot even be sure the "she" was indeed a woman. After the scandal in Rome, the poet had to be careful, fanatics could be anywhere. Almost two centries later, in 1647, transgender people were at the court of Crown Court Marshall Adam Kazanowski and Chancellor Jerzy Ossoliński. They were probably also at the royal court earlier.

As a diplomat, Callimachus traveled a lot. His first stay in the royal city of Toruń is confirmed by his letter from this city to the Florentine merchant and banker Tommaso Portinari, dated June 4, 1474, regarding Hans Memling's altar "The Last Judgment", today in Gdańsk. In 1488 he settled for a few months, or maybe even longer, in the residence of bishop Piotr of Bnin, in Wolbórz near Piotrków and Łódź. That same year he went to Turkey and he took with him his young servant or secretary Nicholo (or Nicholaus), whom he calls "Nicholaus, my inmate", possibly Nicolaus Copernicus. Callimachus was on July 3, 1490 in Toruń and he lived there between 1494-1496, although in 1495 he left for Vilnius, Lublin, and finally to Kraków, where he died on September 1, 1496. Shortly before his death, on February 5, 1496, he purchased two houses in Toruń from Henryk Snellenberg, one was adjacent to the house of Lucas Watzenrode the Elder, maternal grandfather of Nicolaus Copernicus (after "Urania nr 1/2014", Janusz Małłek, p. 51-52). 

During his extended stay in Venice in 1477 and 1486, Callimachus established relations with the most eminent politicians, scholars and artists, like Gentile Bellini (d. 1507) and his younger brother Giovanni (d. 1516), a highly sought-after portraitist, who most probably created his portrait (after "Studia renesansowe", Volume 1, p. 135). 

In Getty Center in Los Angeles there is a "Portrait of a man with a pink", attributed to Michel Sittow (oil on panel, 23.5 cm x 17.4 cm, inventory number 69.PB.9). This painting was before 1938 in different collections in Paris, France and it was formerly attributed to Hans Memling. The man is holding a red carnation, a symbol of pure love (after "Signs & Symbols in Christian Art" by George Ferguson, p. 29). Clear inspiration of Venetian painting is visible in composition, especially by works of Giovanni Bellini (blue background, wooden parapet). The man's black costume, cap and hairstyle are also very Venetian, similar to that visible in Giovanni's self-portrait in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. The self-portrait shows Giovanni as a young man, hence it should be dated to about 1460, as it is generally belived that he was born in about 1430. The costume and apperence of a man from the portrait in Los Angeles also resemble that in bronze epitaph of Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus, created after 1496 by workshop of Hermann Vischer the Younger in Nuremberg to design by Veit Stoss (Basilica of Holy Trinity in Kraków). An exact copy of the Los Angeles portrait, attributed to Hans Memling or follower, is in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków (oil on panel, 24.5 x 19 cm, inventory number V. 192). It was mentioned in a catalogue of the Museum from 1914 by Henryk Ochenkowski (Galerja obrazów: katalog tymczasowy) under the number 110 among other paintings by Italian school and a portrait of a man by school of Giovanni Bellini (oil on panel, 41 x 26.5 cm, item 4). The same catalogue catalogue also lists under number 158 a painting of Madonna and Child sitting before a curtain, which today is attributed to follower of Giovanni Bellini, and dated to about 1480 (Czartoryski Museum, inventory number MNK XII-202).

The Kraków copy is also considered to be a work by a 17th-century Flemish painter. It was probably framed in the first half of the 19th century in a neoclassical frame and covered with a glossy varnish, which makes correct attribution difficult. It is exhibited in the museum together with other notable copies from the Czartoryski collection, such as the copy of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne by Albrecht Dürer (original in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 14.40.633) and a copy or rather a version, due to some differences, of the Portrait of a lady by Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis (original in the Ambrosiana, inv. 100), which according to the most recent research could be the effigy of Anna Maria Sforza (1476-1497), wife of Alfonso d'Este (1476-1534), aunt of Queen Bona Sforza.
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The same man, although younger, was depicted in a painting attributed to Italian school, sold in Rudolstadt in Germany (oil on panel, 36 x 29 cm, Auktionshaus Wendl, October 29, 2022). His outfit, cap and hairstyle closely resemble those seen on the bronze medal with bust of Giovanni Bellini, created by Vittore Gambello and dated to about 1470/1480. The man stands in front of a curtain, which gives a view of a mountainous landscape. Inscription in English on verso on old adhesive label "The Portrait of Antonio Lanfranco ... at Palermo by J. Bellini", seems unreliable, because Jacopo Bellini, the father of Bellini brothers, died in about 1470 and no such inhabitant of Palermo who might have commissioned his portrait in Venice is mentioned in the sources. The style of this painting is close to workshop of Giovanni Bellini.

It is highly possible that portrait of King John I Albert, Callimachus' pupil, commissioned by Toruń City Council to the Royal Chamber of the City Hall around 1645, which follows the same Venetian/Netherlandish pattern, was based on a lost original by Giovanni Bellini or Michel Sittow, created around 1492.

If the author of inscription in English acquired the painting in Palermo, Sicily, then the mountin depicted in the background could be Mount Etna (Mongibello), an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily between the cities of Messina and Catania. In Quattrocento verse the hellishly boiling Mongibello was symbol of the vain torments of love and the insane fires of passion (after "Strong Words ..." by Lauro Martines, p. 135). The man's costume is also very similar to that seen in the portraits by Antonello da Messina (d. 1479), a painter from Messina, from the 1470s (Louvre Museum, MI 693 and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, 18 (1964.7)). 

"I said: It's a joke, he pretends to love [...] I believe that you burn not only with the dim, weak, gentle flame of love. But as much violent fire Has ever accumulated on earth, So much of it burns in you with all its might, Or how many islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea and Sicily, famous for their volcanoes Exploding fire, brought here From the depths and locked in you" (Dicebam: Iocus est, amare fingit [...] Flammis et placido tepere amore / Credam, sed rapidi quod ignis usquam / In terris fuerat simul cohactum / In te viribus extuare cunctis / Aut incendivomo inclitas camino / Tyreni ac Siculi insulas profundi), writes Callimachus about his torments in his poem "To Gregory of Sanok" (Ad Gregorium Sanoceum, ad eundem) (after "Antologia poezji polsko-łacińskiej: 1470-1543", Antonina Jelicz, Kazimiera Jeżewska, p. 59).

Portrait of Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus (1437-1496) by workshop of Giovanni Bellini, ca. 1477 or after, Private collection.

Portrait of Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus (1437-1496) holding a red carnation by Michel Sittow, ca. 1488-1492, Getty Center.

Portrait of Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus (1437-1496) holding a red carnation by workshop or follower of Michel Sittow, after 1488, Czartoryski Museum.

Portrait of John I Albert, King of Poland (1492-1501) in coronation robes by Toruń workshop, ca. 1645, Old Town City Hall in Toruń.

Portraits of John I Albert Jagiellon and Charles VIII of France as donors by Italian painters

​The inventory of the sale of the possessions of King John II Casimir Vasa (1609-1672), great-grandson of Queen Bona Sforza (1494-1557), on February 15, 1673  in Paris, mentions "A painting representing a Virgin in glory, with a king below who adores her, and a Saint John, original" (after "Vente du mobilier de Jean-Casimir en 1673" by Ryszard Szmydki, item 458). This painting was probably destroyed during the French Revolution.

Such depictions were typical of Renaissance painting, and a somewhat similar painting with an adoring donor, attributed to the Florentine painter Raffaellino del Garbo (1466-1524), was in the Potocki collection before World War II, most likely in Łańcut Castle, evacuated to the United States around 1939 ("For Peace and Freedom. Old masters: a collection of Polish-owned works of art ...", item 29, National Library of Poland, DŻS XIXA 3a). The painting from the Potocki collection depicted the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saint James the Great, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint Francis of Assisi and donor and was auctioned in New York in 1981 (tempera on panel, 179 x 155 cm, Christie's, June 12, 1981, lot 108). Federico Zeri (1921-1998) attributed this painting to Michele Ciampanti, an Italian painter active mainly in Lucca between 1463 and 1510 (Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 15488). 

Interestingly, the kneeling donor from Potocki painting resembles the well-known portraits of Charles VIII (1470-1498), King of France between 1483-1498, who invaded Italy with his army in 1494. The facial features and costume are reminiscent of the portraits of the French monarch preserved in the Condé Museum (inv. PE 576) and the Palace of Versailles (inv. MV 3101), as well as the miniatures: Saint Michael appearing to Charles VIII (Bibliothèque nationale de France - BnF, Français 14363, folio 3 recto) or Charles VIII presented by Charlemagne and Saint Louis to the celestial assembly (BnF, Vélins 689, folio 1 recto). Charles VIII was frequently depicted wearing the golden collar of the Order of Saint Michael, composed of scallop shells, also known as shells of Saint James (the insignia of pilgrims, particularly those to Santiago de Compostela), linked with double knots. These knots are visible on the hat of the donor in Potocki painting. The latter is presented to the Virgin and the other saints by Saint James the Great, carrying a banner adorned with a scallop shell.

The previous provenance of the painting from the Potocki collection is unknown, so the painting could be related to the royal collection of Sarmatia and constitute a diplomatic gift to King John I Albert (1459-1501), who succeeded his father as King of Poland in 1492.

Taking into account the described contexts, the painting sold in Paris in 1673 could depict King John I Albert, whose patron was Saint John, and its probable author was the workshop of the Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini (d. 1516).

​Hypothetical reconstruction of a painting depicting the Virgin in glory with Saint John the Baptist and King John I Albert Jagiellon (1459-1501) as donor by workshop of Giovanni Bellini, ca. 1492-1501, lost. AI-generated image with my corrections, © Marcin Latka

​Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saint James the Great, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint Francis of Assisi and King Charles VIII of France (1470-1498) as donor from the Potocki collection by Raffaellino del Garbo or Michele Ciampanti, ca. 1494-1499, Private collection. 

Crypto-portraits of Beatrice d'Aragona of Naples and Stephen III of Moldavia 

Stephen III (ca. 1433-1504), the longest-reigning and most prominent ruler of medieval Moldavia, ruled in very difficult times, fighting and maneuvering various powers in the region. In 1459, after an unsuccessful campaign against Poland, he signed a treaty recognizing the suzerainty of Casimir IV Jagiellon.
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When King Matthias Corvinus died unexpectedly on 6 April 1490, Casimir's sons Vladislaus and John Albert and Maximilian I, King of the Romans vied for the Hungarian and Croatian crown. Stephen sided with Maximilian and remained loyal to him even after Vladislaus' election (July 15, 1490). Vladislaus was able to gain the throne with the financial support of Matthias Corvinus' ambitious widow, Beatrice d'Aragona of Naples (1457-1508), who initially wanted to take power for herself, but, realising her unpopularity, supported Vladislaus to rule the country in place of Matthias's illegitimate son, John Corvinus. In October 1490, Vladislaus secretly married her, but the ceremony was deliberately accompanied by several formal errors, so after consolidating his power, Vladislaus divorced her. After the union was made public, it caused a scandal because the new king was already formally married to Barbara of Brandenburg (1464-1515). After a long procedure, Pope Alexander VI Borgia finally dissolved and annulled both of Vladislaus' marriages on April 7, 1500.

With the support of Beatrice, as well as the Hungarian lords, Vladislaus (King of Bohemia since 1471), was crowned king on September 21, forcing Maximilian to withdraw from Hungary. It was only after the Peace of Bratislava, concluded by Maximilian with Vladislaus (November 7, 1491), that Stephen recognised the new king of Hungary and Croatia, who ceded him two castles in Transylvania in 1492.

In the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna there is an interesting painting from the late Gothic and early Renaissance periods (oil on panel, 97 x 59 cm, inv. 4870). It was purchased in 1916 by the Austrian State Gallery in Vienna and was previously in Berlin in the collection of Friedrich Lippmann (1838-1903), a German art historian born and raised in Prague, capital of Bohemia. The painting depicts the scene of the Adoration of the Magi with Mary and the infant Jesus venerated by the Three Wise Men from the East. One of the biblical Wise Men, the crowned man on the right, has the features of Maximilian I Habsburg. His crown is not an imperial corona clausa but an open royal crown, so this effigy was created before his election as emperor in 1508. This effigy is very similar to many of his portraits created by Bernhard Strigel, and Maximilian also wears the collar of the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece. Behind the King of Rome is his father, Emperor Frederick III (1415-1493). Both were depicted as Saints Melchior and Caspar in a similar scene of the Epiphany by the Master of Frankfurt (The Phoebus Foundation). Although Frederick's effigy may be part of his son's campaign before his imperial election, which is why the painting is dated to around 1505-1508, it is also possible that it was created during Frederick's lifetime, i.e. before 1493. The inclusion of these two obvious cryptoportraits indicates that the scene has additional meaning.

Such "disguise", intended to convey additional meaning to those familiar with the context and symbolism, was popular at the time and is best illustrated by the splendid diptych of the Judgement of Cambyses by the Early Netherlandish painter Gerard David, commissioned in 1488 and completed in 1498 (Groeningemuseum in Bruges, inv. 0000.GRO0040.I-0041.I). It depicts the arrest and flaying of the corrupt Persian judge Sisamnes on Cambyses' orders, based on Herodotus' "Histories". The corrupt judge bears the likeness of the deposed mayor Pieter Lanchals, who betrayed the city of Bruges to Maximilian I and was executed as a conspirator (after "Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography ..." ed. edited by Helene E. Roberts, p. 457).

The author of the Vienna painting, whose name is unknown, is considered to be from North Tyrol, but some similarities can nevertheless be found in late Gothic painting from the territories of present-day Slovakia and Hungary, such as the painting of the Adoration of the Child from the Spisska Kapitula in Slovakia from the 1480s (Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, inv. 55.917.2). It is also generally accepted that his works show strong influences from contemporary trends in Netherlandish painting and that he was active between 1490 and 1520. Because of the painting depicting disguised portraits of Habsburg rulers, this painter is known as the Master of the Habsburgs (Meister der Habsburger) and apart from the Adoration, the Madonna and Child, also in the Belvedere in Vienna, can be attributed to him with certainty. Other works are in the Staatsgalerie Burghausen in Bavaria (Saints Christopher and Sebastian, inv. 10401), two religious paintings in the Tyrolean State Museum, the Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck (inv. Gem 1058 and Gem 1516) and another Madonna and Child attributed to the same master is in the Museo Correr in Venice (inv. CL.M.0237). The painter could therefore be an itinerant painter who worked for some time at the Innsbruck court of Maximilian I, so that neither his stay in Buda nor even his Hungarian origins can be excluded.

The Madonna and Child in the Belvedere (panel, 55 x 43.5 cm, inv. 4954), comes from the collection of Baron di Pauli in Brixen and closely resembles the effigy of the Virgin from the Adoration of the Habsburgs and it is the Virgin and the old man kneeling before her who are the main protagonists of this scene. The Madonna is dated around 1490. Two other protagonists are missing from the Adoration of the Habsburgs - Saint Joseph on the left and the third of the Magi on the right. They were cut either because of the poor condition of these parts of the painting or for some other reason, such as the desire to destroy the controversial image, which is very possible in this case. If these effigies represented Maximilian's "adversaries" around 1490, Vladislaus II Jagiellon was most likely one of the Three Kings on the right and Matthias Corvinus was Saint Joseph, so the Virgin Mary is the effigy of Beatrice of Naples. She wears a similar thin black headband in her hair in her crypto-portrait by Cranach in Opatów. Maximilian looks at "Vladislaus" and points to Corvinus' widow as if he approves of the new king of Hungary and his marriage to Beatrice. 

One of the biblical Magi, Saint Balthazar, traditionally referred to as the King of Arabia, is often, but not always, depicted as a black man, sometimes associated with Muslims in Gothic and Renaissance art of this period (compare the paintings in the National Museum in Warsaw, Śr.254 MNW and Śr.94 MNW). Was the Hungarian king therefore depicted as the enemy of the Habsburg Empire and Christianity? If the painting was commissioned by the Habsburgs and this part of the painting was cut not because it was damaged, this would be a logical explanation.

The old man kneeling before the Queen of Hungary is therefore the prince (or voivode) of Moldavia Stephen III, who was almost 60 years old if we assume that he was born in 1433 and the painting was painted in 1492. The man is wearing a rich princely costume in eastern style and his hat is decorated with a princely crown. On his hat there is also a beautiful brooch with a white bird, perhaps an eagle and perhaps a reference to the sovereignty of Poland.

The same old man can be identified in another painting now preserved in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum, panel, 58.5 x 45 cm, inv. GG 6905). It represents the Crucifixion and was painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder at the beginning of the 16th century, when the 30-year-old painter was staying in the capital of Austria. In the foreground on the right, three horsemen can be seen in the place traditionally reserved for unbelievers in medieval paintings. One of them wears a large, typically Ottoman turban. The old man, thus Stephen III, raises his hand as if making a gesture of approval of the crucifixion of Christ. His costume was identified as typically Polish of the time by Fedja Anzelewsky, who also concluded that Cranach must have been in Kraków before coming to Vienna (after "Studien zur Frühzeit Lukas Cranachs d.Ä.", p. 125). 

The earliest confirmed provenance of this painting is the inventory of the Scottish monastery in Vienna from 1800, where it is listed as a work by Lucas van Leyden. The painting may have originally belonged to the Habsburgs or people in their circle, the main patrons of the relatively young Cranach in Vienna. Corpses of people lie beneath the riders and a hyena gnaws at bones. The sex-changing and corpse-eating hyena has mainly pejorative connotations in medieval art, as a symbol of greed and malice and sexual aberration (after "Marks of Distinctions: Christian Perceptions of Jews in the High Middle Ages" by Irven M. Resnick, p. 50-51). The commissioner of the painting clearly wanted to portray the Moldavian voivode negatively, and the events of 1503, when Cranach was probably still in Vienna (he moved to Wittenberg in 1504), provide an explanation. That year, the general peace between the Sultan and Christendom was concluded in Buda, which officially recognized Moldavia's vassal status, and Stephen III agreed to pay an annual tribute of 4,000 gold ducats to the Porte. In this context, the third horseman in Cranach's painting - the man in the yellow hat and red cloak - could be the effigy of the Hungarian King Vladislaus II Jagiellon.

Such negative portrayals of Eastern rulers were nothing new in Habsburg circles. The best example are the crypto-portraits of Vlad III the Impaler or Vlad Dracula (1428/31-1476/77), voivode of Wallachia, regardless of his reputation, made by various painters active in Austria in the 1460s and 1470s. Vlad Tepes, with his characteristic long hair, moustache and pearl cap, was depicted as an unbeliever in the Crucifixion of Christ from around 1460 (Maria am Gestade Church in Vienna), as Pontius Pilate in the scene of Christ before Pilate by the Master of the Velenje Panels from around 1460 (National Gallery of Slovenia in Ljubljana, inv. NG S 1176), as the proconsul Aegeus who ordered the crucifixion of Saint Andrew in a painting of the Martyrdom of Saint Andrew by the Styrian painter from around 1470 (Belvedere Gallery in Vienna, inv. 4974) and as a Roman soldier in the group of Christ's enemies in the Crucifixion of Christ from the circle of the Master of the Schotten Altarpiece from around 1475 (Belvedere Gallery in Vienna, inv. 4975) (compare "Dracula in Hermannstadt?" by Thomas Schares, p. 68-69). Most of the "standard" portraits of Tepes were made well after his death in the 16th and 17th centuries – for example the paintings in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 8285) and in Forchtenstein Castle (inv. B 523).

There are no known effigies of Stephen III in Western European painting. Most of his portraits are idealized images inspired by Byzantine painting, such as the one in the Dobrovat Monastery founded in 1503 and completed the following year, in which he is depicted as a young man in traditional costume. A gilded silver censer donated by Stephen to the Putna Monastery and dated April 12, 6978 (1470) is decorated with Gothic motifs. The inscription around this censer in the local language indicates that it was most likely made by a local craftsman inspired by Western European motifs. It may also have been commissioned in Transylvania or in Lviv. As a vassal of Poland, he undoubtedly also dressed in the Polish style, as in the painting by Cranach. A late 19th century imaginative drawing by Sava Hentia (1848-1904), depicting the death of Stephen III, shows a very similar bearded old man.

​Portrait of Beatrice d'Aragona of Naples (1457-1508) as Madonna and Child by Central European painter, ca. 1490-1492, Belvedere Gallery in Vienna.

​Adoration of the Magi with crypto-portraits of Beatrice d'Aragona of Naples (1457-1508) and Stephen III (ca. 1433-1504), Prince of Moldavia by Central European painter, ca. 1492, Belvedere Gallery in Vienna.

​Crucifixion with crypto-portrait of Stephen III (ca. 1433-1504), Prince of Moldavia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1503, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Pope Alexander VI Borgia by the Vergós group and disguised portraits of Giulia Farnese by Pinturicchio

"Over the door of an apartment in the said palace he portrayed the Signora Giulia Farnese in the countenance of a Madonna, and, in the same picture, the head of Pope Alexander in a figure that is adoring her" (In detto palazzo ritrasse, sopra la porta d'una camera, la signora Giulia Farnese nel volto d'una Nostra Donna; e nel medesimo quadro, la testa d'esso papa Alessandro che l'adora), describes the fresco titled "The Divine Investiture" by Pinturicchio Giorgio Vasari (compare "Regesto dei documenti di Giulia Farnese" by Danilo Romei, Patrizia Rosini, p. 357 and "Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti" by Giorgio Vasari, Volume 5, National Library of Poland, 50.750, p. 269). 

According to this description, published in 1568, this controversial fresco represented Giulia Farnese (1474-1524), mistress of Pope Alexander VI Borgia (1431-1503) and sister of Pope Pope Paul III Farnese (1468-1549), in the guise of the Madonna, in the scene of a intimate encounter of Pope Alexander and the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus. The Pope, kneeling before them, held the foot of the Child in his left hand, and little Jesus, holding a globus cruciger (cross-bearing orb), confirmed Alexander's authority in a gesture of blessing. Like other frescoes in the so-called Borgia Apartments of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, this one was also painted by Pinturicchio, painter active at the Vatican court under five popes, between 1491 and 1494 and the effigy of Borgia resembled his portrait in prayer in the fresco in the Room of the Mysteries of Faith (The Resurrection), kneeling at the feet of Christ.

The pope wanted this family picture right in front of his bed where he could see it well, above the door that led to the dressing room. Upon his death, Julius II, does not want to sleep in the same bedroom with the work considered scandalous in front of his eyes. The new pope then commissioned Raphael to paint the upper rooms where he went to reside. The Borgia apartments were closed, no one could enter there except a very few absolutely trustworthy.

Around 1612 the Duke of Mantua, Francesco IV Gonzaga (1586-1612), receives the news from his ambassador that the legendary fresco really exists and is hidden in the Vatican. After bribing a guardarobiere valet with a pair of silk stockings, his ambassador Aurelio Recordati manages to have the fresco, hidden with a piece of cloth, revealed and Pietro Facchetti, the painter and copyist, then makes a copy on canvas and sends it to Mantua. The Duke thus finds himself in the hands of a rather inconvenient testimony for the rival Farnese family, Dukes of Parma and Piacenza. 

Pope Alexander VII (1599-1667), after his inauguration, wanted to erase all traces of the infamous Borgia, in particular the much incriminated fresco, but his nephew prevented him from doing so. Rather than being destroyed, the work is removed by detaching the entire portion of the wall. The scene was divided into 3 parts, while the effigy of Alexander VI was certainly destroyed. The two parts, one with the Child Jesus and that of the Madonna, Chigi takes home to his personal collection at Palazzo Chigi, separated from each other by other works to disguise the recognition. And so it was for centuries, until in 1940 they were rediscovered in the Chigi collection and again after 2004 (compare "Il Bambin Gesù delle mani del Pinturicchio" by Isabella Ceccarelli).

Giulia, a symbol of Renaissance beauty, that the populace called "the pope's concubine" (concubina papæ) or "the bride of Christ" (sponsa Christi) because of her well-known relationship with the pontiff, was married to Orsino Orsini, a relative of Alexander VI, on May 20, 1489, at the age of fifteen, in the palace of then Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia. The relationship between Giulia and Alexander VI could have been instrumental in the cardinal appointment for her brother, who later became pope under the name Paul III.

The fresco in Borgia's bedroom was surely not the only effigy of Madonna Giulia Farnese (old Italian phrase ma donna means "my lady"). Researchers identify her effigies, or Vannozza Cattanei (1442-1518), chief mistress of Cardinal Borgia before he became pope, among the images of the Virgin in the Borgia Apartments, such as a tondo with the Virgin and Child with cherubim, scenes of Annunciation and Visitation. The effigy of Saint Catherine of Alexandria in the scene of the Dispute of Saint Catherine (Hall of the Saints) is considered to represent Pope Alexander VI's daughter Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519), while the Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine in the Vatican Museums (MV.40314.0.0) is most likely another disguised portrait of the pope's daughter as Saint Catherine and his mistress as the Virgin.

Our Lady of the Fevers (Mare de Déu de les Febres) by Pinturicchio kept at the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia (inv. 273), painted around 1495, should also be considered as Giulia's cryptoportrait. The painting was commissioned by Francisco de Borja (1441-1511), a relative of the pope, depicted as a donor kneeling before the Virgin and Child, to send to the family chapel of the collegiate church of Xativa in Spain, perhaps to celebrate his appointment as Bishop of Teano (Campania) in 1495. It includes the Borja/Borgia coat of arms with the typical bull (on a stool on which the Child stands), which is also a dominant motif of the Borgia Apartments. The painting was sent to Spain between 1497 and 1499 from Rome.

Such disguised effigies, originating in antiquity, were certainly not a novelty in the Vatican. Many frescoes in the Borgia Apartments are directly inspired by the Roman statuary and one of the oldest mosaics from the St. Peter's Basilica - Mater Misericordie (Our Lady of Mercy) is most likely a disguised portrait of the Byzantine empress and wife of Emperor Justinian - Theodora (d. 548), a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, allegedly a former prostitute, known for her promiscuity. The mosaic comes from the Oratory of the Holy Door, built in 703 by Pope John VI, a Greek from Ephesus who reigned during the Byzantine Papacy (VETVSTA HÆC DEI GENITRICIS IMAGO, IN VATICANA BASILICA SVPRA PORTAM SCAM / ORATORIO OLIM A IOHANNE VII PONT-MAX SAL ANNO DCCIII CONSTRUCTO DIV SERVATA / ATQ. AD HVNC DIEM RELIGIOSISSIME CVLTA ...). It was removed in 1606, today in the Church of San Marco in Florence. The Madonna della Clemenza (Our Lady of Clemency), an encaustic painting on panel, in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, possibly commissioned by the Greek-born Pope John VII, is another similar effigy.

Pope Alexander VI was very active in European international relations. In a bull Inter cætera published on May 4, 1493, he divided the world outside Europe between Spain and Portugal by drawing a vertical line between the north and south poles. He encouraged the King of France in his plan to conquer Naples and even attempted to ally himself with the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid II. In Poland-Lithuania, the pope, known for his extremely promiscuous lifestyle and illegitimate children, ordered King Alexander Jagiellon (1461-1506) to confiscate the dowry and belongings of his wife Helena of Moscow (1476-1513), who refused to convert to Catholicism, and even "exclude her from the bed, home and any marital community" (compare "Jagiellonowie: leksykon biograficzny" by Małgorzata Duczmal, p. 254). Fortunately for the ruler, Erazm Ciołek obtained a rescission of Pope Alexander's orders to convert her from the next pope, Julius II, in August 1505. 

Such extensive international relations were undoubtedly accompanied by portraits. The counterparts were not only interested in the effigy of the pope, but also in the effigies of his family. Rodrigo Borgia undoubtedly had an interest in ensuring that the effigies were well distributed to his allies in Europe and Rome, as well as to members of his family and his entourage. A well-known portrait of Alexander VI in the Vatican Museums (oil and gold on panel, 40 x 29 cm, MV.40463.0.0) is a good example. The painting comes from the collection of Cardinal Stefano Borgia (1731-1804), member of the collateral branch of the House of Borgia of Velletri, so it was probably a family heirloom (since 1805 in the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, n. 185). The style of this painting is clearly Spanish for the second half of the 15th century, it is thus conditionally attributed to a Spanish painter, whose stay in Italy is highly possible (and therefore the meeting with the pope) - Pedro Berruguete (d. 1504) or the Valencian School, as the pope was also Valencian (Valentinus - his epithet indicating his birth in the Kingdom of Valencia). It is speculated that Berruguete, a painter from the Kingdom of Castile, travelled to Italy in 1480 and worked in the court of Federico III da Montefeltro in Urbino, however he appears documented in Toledo in 1483, while the portrait of the pope can be dated between August 11, 1492 and August 18, 1503, the period of his pontificate.

The style of the painting, with stucco reliefs and gold leaf in the background, is very similar to the painting kept in the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona depicting the Consecration of Saint Augustine, painted around 1463-1470/ 1475 (inv. 024140-000). This large painting, undoubtedly filled with several cryptoportraits of the local clergy, is attributed to the Catalan painter Jaume Huguet, who died between February 14, 1492, the date on which he made his will, and the month of May of the same year, when his wife is listed as a widow. The Consecration of Saint Augustine comes from the altarpiece of Saint Augustine, commissioned by the Guild of Tanners in 1463 from Jaume Huguet, but it was completed in 1486 and required the participation of several members of the Huguet workshop, as well as members of the Vergós group, to which another similar painting from this cycle is attributed - Saint Augustine disputing with the heretics (inv. 024141-000).

Although it cannot be excluded that members of the Vergós group, such as Pau Vergós (died 1495), Rafael Vergós (died 1500) or Jaume Vergós (II) (died 1503), traveled to Italy during the pontificate of Alexander VI, it is more likely that they created the portrait in Barcelona based on other effigies, most likely by Pinturicchio. Battista Dossi or his circle (painted between 1535-1545, private collection) and Cristofano dell'Altissimo (second half of the 16th century, Uffizi Gallery, inv. 2989 - 1890), probably also based on the paintings of the Perugian painter creating their portraits of the pope. The question remains open as to why, having in his service a painter such as Pinturicchio, Borgia ordered his portrait (or portraits) abroad. Perhaps it was a gift from Barcelona, ​​an advertisement of the Vergós workshop, or their fame prompted the Pope to order something in a different style, something more unusual or something from the country of his youth (in 1448 Rodrigo Borgia became canon of the cathedral chapters of Valencia, Barcelona and Segorbe, thanks to the influence of his uncle in Rome) and closer to his taste (glitter and abundance of gold in the decorations of the Borgia Apartments are attributed to the Hispano-Moorish taste of the Pope, compare "Pittori del Rinascimento: Pintoricchio" by Cristina Acidini, p. 192).

Despite that, Pinturicchio and his workshop could not complain about the lack of work. In particular, they created numerous effigies of the Madonna, many of which closely resemble the "bride of Christ" from "The Divine Investiture", as if they were intentionally reusing the same face in different compositions. Some may argue that these compositions were not intended to depict Giulia, but the use of her features from the famous fresco indicates that they were in fact her cryptoportraits. We must keep in mind that since the time of Pope Julius II, effigies of Borgia and his family were subject to damnatio memoriæ and that many of these sometimes controversial effigies survived because people simply forgot that they were disguised portraits. While effigies of Alexander VI were easy to identify (and destroy) due to his characteristic features, the beautiful Madonna is only an effigy of the Virgin.

We can identify the reuse of the same effigy in the Pinturicchio's Madonnas at the National Museum in Warsaw (tempera on panel, 45.5 x 37 cm, inv. M.Ob.4, earlier 5), Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (inv. 1481), Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. 1944.89), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (P15w35), Ashmolean Museum (WA1899.CDEF.P10), Fitzwilliam Museum (inv. 119) and others.

The Warsaw Madonna is generally dated to around 1495 and is one of the first acquisitions of the Warsaw Museum of Fine Arts, purchased from the collection of Johann Peter Weyer (1794-1864) in Cologne in 1862, the year in which the museum was established (Partitioned Poland). Weyer, the city of Cologne's most notable architect, collected mainly paintings from the Germanic schools, which he undoubtedly acquired locally. Pinturicchio's painting could therefore come from the collection of Hermann IV of Hesse (1442-1508), archbishop-elector of Cologne from 1480 to 1508, who allied himself with Pope Alexander VI and thanks to whom he was elected bishop of Paderborn on March 7, 1498.

​Portrait of Pope Alexander VI Borgia (1431-1503) by the Vergós group, ca. 1492, Paintings Gallery of the Vatican Museums.

​Madonna bearing the features of Giulia Farnese (1474-1524), known as "the pope's concubine" (concubina papæ) or "the bride of Christ" (sponsa Christi), by Pinturicchio, ca. 1495, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus by Matthias Gerung after original by Giovanni Bellini or circle

Szto piszesz do nas o tot wschod, kotoryi esmo tam tobe u Wilni s palacu naszoho do sadu urobiti roskazali, comments in Belarusian (Old Ruthenian) the Italian-born Queen Bona Sforza on the alterations in the renaissance palace loggia in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, to be made by Italian architect and sculptor Bernardo Zanobi de Gianottis, called Romanus in a letter of August 25, 1539 from Kraków in Poland (after "Królowa Bona ..." by Władysław Pociecha, p. 185). It is a perfect example of Polish-Lithuanian diversity in the 15th and 16th centuries. 

Many material traces of this diversity and Polish-Italian connetions were lost. When the monarchs of Poland-Lithuania spoke and maintained chancelleries in different languages since the Middle Ages, the countries that partitioned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th century, during the "Age of Enlightenment", tried to eradicate its culture and languages and all traces of its glorious past. Even today it is sometimes hard to believe that the great European artists and scientists could have had anything to do with poor and devastated Poland. Following Cicero's famous dictum "History is life's teacher" (Historia est magistra vitae) it is worth remembering controversial and painful facts, perhaps thanks to this they will not be repeated.  

According to some researchers, it was probably the young Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) who accompanied Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus, tutor of king's sons and diplomat, on his mission to Turkey in 1488. He also sent him to Venice. Callimachus calls this boy "Nicholaus, my inmate" in a letter of May 15, 1488 from Piotrków to Lactantius Thedaldus (after "Urania nr 1/2014", Janusz Małłek, p. 51). From 1491 to 1494, Copernicus attended the University of Kraków with his brother Andreas and between 1496 and 1503 he studied in Italy, first in Bologna and from 1501 in Padua in the Venetian Republic. According to Jeremi Wasiutyński (1907-2005) it was him who was depicted in a portrait of a young man by Giorgione (Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, inventory number 12A). 

Nicolaus also travelled to other cities in Italy and Poland. In 1500 he left Bologna and spent some time in Rome on the occasion of the Holy Year, before returning to Frombork in 1501. He requested permission to extend his studies in Italy and that same year began studying medicine at the University of Padua. At the same time, he continued his law studies. During this time Copernicus was given the office of scholastic of the Church of the Holy Cross in Wrocław in Silesia, which he did not hold personally and he relinquished the sinecure in 1538. Copernicus and his brother Andreas, who had also received a study permit, also temporarily stayed with the curia in Rome as representatives of the Frombork cathedral chapter, it is however unclear whether Nicolaus was ever ordained a priest. Copernicus received his doctorate on May 31, 1503 at the University of Ferrara to become a Doctor of Canon Law (Doctor iuris canonici).

Copernicus never married and is not known to have had children. Anna Schilling, a live-in housekeeper, is sometimes mentioned as his mistress, however, according to Copernicus' letter of December 2, 1538, she was "a related and honest housekeeper", i.e. his niece named Anna von den Schellings née Krüger (after "Anna Schilling nie była kochanką Mikołaja Kopernika" by Krzysztof Mikulski). It was most likely the young astronomer, who between 1492-1501 founded the painting of Flagellation of Christ, today in the Toruń Cathedral, where he was depicted as a kneeling donor. A soldier showing off his tight panties and buttocks just above his head, could be an allusion to his real "preferences". In 1554 Georg Joachim de Porris (1514-1574), also known as Rheticus, Nicolaus Copernicus's sole pupil, who was found guilty in his trial in absentia and consequently exiled from Leipzig for 101 years following the alleged drunken homosexual assault, relocated to Poland, where he continued his work within mathematics and astronomy, further compiling his calculations of trigonomic functions. Nicolaus undoubtedly also knew personally Callimachus, who wrote poetry with homosexual themes. 

The astronomer died at age 70 on 24 May 1543 in Frombork. Around 1580 the town physician and humanist, Melchior Pirnesius (1526-1589), who came to Toruń from Kraków founded an epitaph of Copernicus in the Toruń Cathedral. Later a portrait of King John I Albert was added to the epitaph in the form of a semi-circular element crowning it. Copernicus' epitaph in Frombork Cathedral was created in 1735. The earlier from 1580, founded by Bishop Marcin Kromer, was destroyed in 1626 by Swedish soldiers.

People often require written confirmation that a particular painter painted a particular person, but there are many inaccuracies in the documents and, as with many works of art, many documents have been lost or destroyed. Princess Izabela Czartoryska saved many items from the royal collections in keeping with her motto: "The Past to the Future". She founded the museum in Puławy to preserve Polish heritage - Temple of the Sibyl, also known as the Temple of Memory, opened in 1801.

Similar to the 1914 catalogue of the Czartoryski collection by Henryk Ochenkowski, the 1929 catalogue by Stefan Saturnin Komornicki (Muzeum Książąt Czartoryskich w Krakowie) also list two important portrait paintings from the collection, both created in the late 15th century. In this publication they were also reproduced - one is a portrait of Callimachus holding a red carnation, a symbol of pure love, by Michel Sittow (V. 192), attributed there to Hans Memling (item 67), the other is a portrait of a man by school of Giovanni Bellini (oil on panel, 41 x 26.5 cm, inventory number MNK XII-210), attributed in the 1929 catalogue to Filippo Mazzola (1460-1505), item 50: "School of Cremona; educated on the influences of Giovanni Bellini - Portrait of a young man, bust-length; a dark red cap on chestnut hair; an olive green caftan and a black cloak. Gray-brown background". This attribution was later rejected (after "Malarstwo weneckie ..." by Agnes Czobor, p. 51, and "Wystawa malarstwa Trecenta i Quattrocenta" by Marek Rostworowski, p. 100). All authors, however, emphasize the undeniable influence of Giovanni Bellini.

Two paintings from old Polish collections are attributed to circle or workshop of Giovanni Bellini - The Holy Family (Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist and his parents Elizabeth and Zacharias) from the collection of Stanisław Zawadzki (1743-1806), today in the Saint Catherine of Alexandria church in Rzeczyca and Madonna and Child with Saints and a donor from the Potocki collection in Łańcut Castle, exhibited in 1940 in New York, lost. 

The young man is dressed in typical costume known from many Venetian portraits from the turn of the 15th and 16th century. His elongated face with wider cheekbones resemble greatly the features known from the portraits of Copernicus, especially the Gołuchów portrait by Crispin Herrant (inscription in Latin: R · D · NICOLAO COPERNICO), which was most probably commissioned by Jan Dantyszek (1485-1548) in about 1533 (collection of Izabella Działyńska née Czartoryska in the Gołuchów Castle, lost during World War II). A great resemblance to a portrait from the Town Hall in Toruń, created in 1580, can also be indicated, as well as to mentioned effigy as donor from the painting of Flagellation, today in the Toruń Cathedral. This latter painting reveals some similarities with works from Wrocław workshops from the end of the 15th century, notably paintings by Leonhart Hörlen. When he returned to Frombork in 1501 Copernicus possibly travelled via Wrocław and according to Aleksander Birkenmajer, he received the Wrocław sinecure already in 1501 through the intercession of his uncle, Lucas Watzenrode, Bishop of Warmia, who wanted to secure his nephew's Italian studies with the income from this benefice. On this occasion, Copernicus could have ordered a painting from local workshops. 

​During the recent conservation of the painting from the Czartoryski Museum, some repaintings have been removed, which distances the work from Bellini's style and the man now has red hair and black eyebrows (it is possible that he dyed his hair which was popular in Venice), but the resemblance to the mentioned effigies of Copernicus, including that at early age by Sittow (Pelplin) is still unmistakable.

As in the case of King Ladislaus IV Vasa and Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg, who have different hair colors (including mustache) in some of their portraits or Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), who has brown eyes in portrait by Cranach and blue in later portrait by Kober, hair and eye color cannot be decisive for considering (or rejecting) the portrait as the effigy of Copernicus. Portraits of Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519), produced by the circle of Bernhard Strigel, possibly entourage of the Master of Messkirch and Jörg Kölderer (Kunstmuseum Basel, inv. 2276, and Dorotheum in Vienna, June 8, 2021, lot 4), closer to the time of the execution of the Kraków portrait, are another perfect example. In both mentioned portraits, the emperor has dark facial hair and blonde hair, indicating that he dyed his hair or wore wigs. Additionally, Maximilian has different hair colors, from dark brown, red to blonde in many of his other portraits, such as in the paintings in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (inv. 2110, 2111) or in two very similar paintings in the Upton House, Warwickshire (NT 446803) and the Louvre Museum (INV 2073; C 325). His eye color also differs in these paintings, ranging from shades of brown to gray-blue.
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The fashion for hair dyeing was probably introduced to the emperor's court by his third wife Bianca Maria Sforza (1472-1510), whose stepsister Caterina Sforza (1463-1509), Countess of Forlì and lady of Imola, was the author of a treatise Experimenti, in which she explained the most renowned methods of her time in beauty care and hair dyeing, including various means by which the beard can be made black. Caterina also shared many of her alchemical secrets with the emperor (compare "Twenty-Five Women Who Shaped the Italian Renaissance" by Meredith K. Ray, p. 1480). 

Hair dyeing among men was popular in the second half of the 15th century, as confirmed by Janus Pannonius (1434-1472), Croatian-Hungarian Latinist, poet, diplomat and bishop of Pécs, in his poem Ad Galeottum addressed to the Italian poet, writer and physician Galeotto Marzio (Galeottus Martius Narniensis, ca. 1427-1497), who between 1460 and 1486 often traveled to Hungary: "You teach the boys the basics, Galeotto; If you taught them how to dye their hair, you would earn more" (Qui pueros elementa doces, rutilare capillum Si doceas, facias plus, Galeotte, lucri). The dark-haired Galeotto apparently lightened his hair, as evidenced by the word rutilare "to dye gold, to give the color of gold" or "to shine like gold" (aurum rutilat), and he frequently changed his hair color, because in the next poem Ad eundem Pannonius continues "What until recently was blacker than pitch, Galeotto's head suddenly turned yellowish-red?" (Unde tibi, ut, nuper quod erat pice nigrius atra, Tam subito rutilum sit, Galeotte caput? compare "Nauczyciele, uczeni i poeci ..." by Agata Łuka, p. 126). 

Regarding the authorship of the painting after restoration, an option now seems more likely, which had not been considered before, namely that it is not the Italian school but the German school of painting. The composition and costume of the sitter are clearly Italian from the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the style of the painting is very similar to that of Portrait of a lady holding a book, signed and dated by Matthias Gerung (oil on panel, 60 x 42.3 cm, Sotheby's London, July 7, 2016, lot 107, monogram and date top left: ·1·5·2·5· / MG), which also more closely resembles works of the Italian school. Gerung, in older literature also Mathias Geron (d. 1570), painter and engraver from Nördlingen in Bavaria, was perhaps the apprentice of Hans Leonhard Schäufelein (d. 1540). In 1525 he moved to Lauingen and from 1530/31 he worked for Count Otto-Henry of Palatine (1502-1559), grandson of Hedwig Jagiellon (1457-1502), Duchess of Bavaria, who visited Kraków in 1536. If the German painter received a general painting or drawing by Bellini to copy, this would explain the difference in eye color, which was later corrected and removed during the recent conservation of the Copernicus portrait (the more expensive blue color was used less frequently in copies).

The lady in the mentioned portrait sold in London wears a costume typical for Italy in the 1520s. Her dress is black and she is firmly holding a small prayer book, which indicates that she is in mourning, however her décolletage indicates she is probably not a widow. The lady could be of Spanish origin as a similar outfit in Habiti Antichi Et Moderni di tutto il Mondo ... by Cesare Vecellio, published in Venice in 1598 (National Library of Poland, 2434 I Cim) is described as Donna antica di Spagna. Around 1525, at the time of the painting's creation, Queen Bona Sforza (1494-1557) was mourning the death of her mother Isabella of Aragon (1470-1524), suo jure Duchess of Bari, who died in February 1524. On July 5, 1525, John of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1493-1525), viceroy of Valencia, cousin of King Sigismund I (as son of Sophia Jagiellon), died in Valencia. During her widowhood, the queen wore no jewelry and very modest clothing, as evidenced by her famous portrait painted by Lucas Cranach the Younger (Czartoryski Museum, MNK XII-537). The portrait also resembles the effigy of her mother created by an anonymous engraver (Austrian National Library in Vienna, inv. 00041426, inscription: ISABELLA ARAGONIA ALPHONSI REG · FILL · IO · GALEATII MA · VX), the cameo by Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio with the queen's bust (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 17.190.869) and medal by Pastorino dei Pastorini (National Museum in Kraków, MNK VII-Md-70).

Both in terms of composition and the model's costume, the work also resembles two portraits of unknown women attributed to Piero di Cosimo, both in Florence - Portrait of a pregnant woman (Casa Martelli Museum in Florence, inv. Martelli 45) and Portrait of a woman in profile (Pitti Palace in Florence, inv. 1890, 604), being identified as Bona's aunt, Caterina Sforza, Countess of Forlì and Lady of Imola.

If Gerung frequently worked for Polish-Lithuanian clients, many of his works were undoubtedly destroyed or are awaiting rediscovery hidden under the label "Italian school".

"It is also heard that with our Poland, the Hospodar seeks agreement under certain conditions, whether they will be accepted we do not know. Therefore, after reporting all that is important in the letters, I recommend my services and myself to Your Grace", ends his letter, written around 1536 to Jan Dantyszek, the astronomer, who was active in the diplomacy of Poland-Lithuania (after "Zbiór pamiętników historycznych o dawnej Polszcze ..." by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Volume 4, p. 55). This letter was in 1839 in the Czartoryski collection at the Temple of the Sibyl.

​Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) as donor in the scene of Flagellation of Christ by workshop of Toruń or Wrocław, ca. 1501, Toruń Cathedral.

Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) by Matthias Gerung after original by Giovanni Bellini or circle, ca. 1525 after original from 1496-1503, Czartoryski Museum (before restoration).

Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) by Matthias Gerung after original by Giovanni Bellini or circle, ca. 1525 after original from 1496-1503, Czartoryski Museum (after restoration). Original photo: Archiwum Fotograficzne Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie.

​Portrait of a lady in mourning, probably Queen Bona Sforza (1494-1557) by Matthias Gerung, 1525, Private collection. 

Crucifixion from the Kraków Missal by Lucas Cranach the Elder

"The influence of Cranach the Elder on the formation and development of the artistic form of the Polish illustrated book began very early, before 1500," Anna Lewicka-Kamińska states in her article published in 1973 ("Na marginesie „Polskich Cranachianów”", p. 146). The author refers first of all to the beautiful woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder, printed on parchment and hand-coloured, first used in the undated Kraków Missal (Missale Cracoviense), printed by Georg Stuchs (d. 1520) in Nuremberg around 1500 (Jagiellonian Library, 21.4 x 15.2 cm, BJ St. Dr. Inc. 2850, leaf 178). The printing was commissioned by Johann Haller (d. 1525), a German merchant, printer and publisher, owner of a printing house in Kraków and citizen of the royal city (Johannes Haller, civis cracoviensis), who secured the privilege of Cardinal Frederick Jagiellon (1468-1503) and the protection of his copyright: "The most illustrious Prince Frederick [...] has firmly sanctioned that none of his dioceses would dare to print this Kraków missal to the detriment of the aforesaid Johannes Haller under a certain penalty" (Illustrissimus princeps Fridericus [...], firmiter sanxit, quas non alter suarum dyecesium quispiam de novo in præfati Johannis Haller detrimentum hoc missale cracoviensis rubrice imprimere audebit sub certa indicta pena). Interestingly, Cranach does not seem to care about his authorship and copyright in this case. Perhaps he was too young (about 28 at the time) and inexperienced, or perhaps there were other reasons. Lewicka-Kamińska speculated that Haller, a native of Rothenburg in Bavaria, could have received or purchased the block with the woodcut of the Crucifixion directly from Cranach as his countryman, or indirectly from Stuchs, who after engraving the Kraków Missal left Haller the woodcut block to use in the Kraków printing house, since this engraving is not found in Stuchs' later missals.

Another hypothesis, however, seems more likely. Around 1500, in search of wealthy patrons, the young Franconian painter settled in Vienna (compare "Cranach the Untamed. The Early Years in Vienna"). He produced his earliest extant works in the Austrian capital and it was there that he took the name Lucas Cranach after his birthplace and began to use the initials "LC". His close association with a circle of humanist writers, in particular Johannes Cuspinian (1473-1529), a poet and diplomat in the service of the Habsburgs, proved very formative. Around 1502, in Vienna, he painted splendid portraits of Cuspinian and his wife. The poet was later active in the Habsburgs' relations with the Jagiellons and in January 1518 he accompanied Bona Sforza on her journey to Kraków. Earlier, around 1500, Cranach had painted the scene of the Crucifixion of Christ, which comes from the Scottish monastery in Vienna, now preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 6905). In 1999, Fedja Anzelewsky concluded that the costume of one of the horsemen is Polish and that before going to Vienna, Cranach must have been in Kraków between 1498 and 1502 ("Studien zur Frühzeit Lukas Cranachs d.Ä.", p. 125). Cranach's works from this early period are considered to be strongly influenced by the style of Jan Polack (Joannes Alasco Polonus, d. 1519), a Polish painter, who was the most important painter in Munich at the time.

The artist could create the woodcut for the Missal in Kraków and offer it to Cardinal Frederick Jagiellon, whose patronage he could have solicited at that time. Frederick, the youngest son of King Casimir IV Jagiellon and his wife Elizabeth of Austria, could also recommend the painter to his Habsburg relatives. If such a stay of Cranach in Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia would be confirmed in written sources, the young artist experienced a difficult situation in Kraków, faced with the monopoly of local workshops and the increasing presence of agents of foreign workshops, particularly Italian and Netherlandish. This stay would also explain the later popularity of his art in the territories of the former Poland-Lithuania, thanks to valuable connections he gained in the capital. 

Cardinal Frederick attended the Jagiellonian Congress in Levoča, Slovakia, held between April and May 1494, where he appeared with an extremely impressive retinue, thus testifying to his high position and wealth. In 1499 he went to Hungary and in December he participated in the Congress of Bratislava, where he met his brothers Vladislaus II and Prince Sigismund to discuss the dynasty's policy towards Turkey and the Habsburgs. In March 1500, in Kraków, the primate participated in a congress of senators, where financial issues related to the country's defense were discussed. In 1500 he also decided to pay the royal treasury the jubilee sums collected for Rome (after "Zaangażowanie polityczne królewicza ..." by Grzegorz Grąbczewski, p. 138, 140).
 
The cardinal was depicted as a donor, kneeling before Saint Stanislaus resurrecting the knight Piotrawin, in a woodcut by the Nuremberg engraver, placed just after Haller's privilege. This woodcut is similar to another, published in 1493 also in Nuremberg by Haller and Stuchs (Jagiellonian Library, BJ St. Dr. Inc. 2861). In both cases, the engraver must have used other effigies of the cardinal and the Polish saint or drawings were sent from Kraków to Nuremberg. The woodcut of 1493, now in Kraków, was painted and decorated with floral decoration by a local illuminator.

The Kraków Missal with Crucifixion by Cranach was owned before 1504 by a nobleman of Juńczuk coat of arms and later by Marcin Bałza (1477-1542). The Crucifixion was also colorized, possibly in Kraków, but in this context, Cranach's authorship of the colouring cannot be excluded. The best-known coloured imprint of this woodcut is in the Kupferstich-Kabinett in Dresden (inv. A 1888-74). Later, around 1502, Cranach created another version of the woodcut from the Kraków Missal, changing the landscape in the background. It was used in the Olomouc Missal (Missale Olomucense), printed by Johann Winterburger in Vienna in 1505. The Olomouc Missal was dedicated to Stanislaus Thurzo (1470-1540), the Kraków-born Bishop of Olomouc.

​Hand-colored woodcut with Cardinal Frederick Jagiellon (1468-1503) kneeling before Saint Stanislaus from the Kraków Missal, printed by Georg Stuchs in Nuremberg, ca. 1493, Jagiellonian Library. 

​Woodcut with Cardinal Frederick Jagiellon (1468-1503) kneeling before Saint Stanislaus from the Kraków Missal, printed by Georg Stuchs in Nuremberg, ca. 1500, Jagiellonian Library. 

​Hand-colored woodcut with Christ on the Cross between the Virgin and Saint John, from the Kraków Missal, by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1500, Jagiellonian Library. 

Portrait of Crown Prince Sigismund Jagiellon by Niklas Reiser

Like his Habsburg relatives, Crown Prince Sigismund Jagiellon (1467-1548), future king under the name Sigismund I, was a true Renaissance prince. The son of King Casimir IV (1427-1492) and Elizabeth of Austria (1436/7-1505) was Duke of Głogów from 1499, Duke of Opava from 1501 and governor of Silesia from 1504 in the name of his brother Vladislaus II (1456-1516), king of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia.
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During his stay in Buda, capital of Hungary, Vladislaus allocated many rooms to his brother, however, Sigismund was content with only a few of the most necessary ones for himself and his servants. He brought some of his household equipment from Kraków. He slept on a bed covered with a dark damask duvet, and the pillows were stuffed with light moss. In spring and summer there were always flowers scattered on the bedding. Right next to the bed was a large sword in a scabbard with an expensive hilt. Next to the sword, there was a Turkish saber, a heavy crossbow and a quiver full of arrows. In his room there was also a decorative Latin prayer book, made by a Hungarian illuminator, beautifully bound in leather and always kept in a suede bag to prevent damage. In addition, Sigismund had special correspondence boxes, one for private matters, the other for public affairs.

In these years, Sigismund was always accompanied by his favorite little dog, called "Whitey" (Bielik). He liked to relax in the bathhouse, where he always took his dog with him, which was washed and bathed by the servants. The prince liked a certain luxury in clothing and dressed fashionably. Instead of armor he wore soft, sometimes silk robes. He usually put a velvet cap on his head and wore wreaths of roses, violets or other fragrant flowers. He didn't have much armor, but his treasury contained plenty of robes, bed and table linens, and anything that served the comforts of daily life, such as a beautifully polished steel mirror, in front of which the court barber rubbed the prince's long hair with egg yolk to make it stick better. Right next to the mirror there was also a special gold-framed toothbrushing device, an ordinary bone comb and a box in which scented oils were stored, as well as a tiny box where Sigismund kept small jewels, including a commemorative diamond ring, which was a gift from his mother (after "Zygmunt Stary w Głogowie" by Zygmunt Boras, p. 21-22).

Prince Sigismund spent considerable amounts of money on the purchase of jewels. When he was prince of Głogów and Opava, he collected them in his apartments. From the preserved records, it is known that in the years 1500-1507, everyday items made of silver and gold as well as jewelry such as chains, belts and rings were purchased. In 1502, the goldsmith Marcin Marcinek worked for Prince Sigismund, making a gold chain for him (catena aurea domini principis) and also making and repairing many vessels (after "Klejnoty w Polsce" by Ewa Letkiewicz, p. 37). 

One of the earliest painted effigies of Sigismund, now kept at Wawel Castle in Kraków (oil on paper, mounted on panel, 49.5 x 34.1 cm, ZKnW-PZS 7029), confirms this information. It depicts Sigismund at a relatively young age, perhaps around 1499, when he became Duke of Głogów or around 1504, when he became governor of Silesia. He wears fashionable clothes, a jeweled gold chain with a pendant with Madonna on a crescent moon and a hat decorated with large pearls. Men with pearls or flowers in their hair, all of this seems unnatural today, like memories of a destroyed and long-forgotten civilization.

The painting comes from the collection of Count Leon Jan Piniński (1857-1938) in Lviv and was offered together with a somewhat similar portrait of king's nephew Louis II Jagiellon (1506-1526), ​​son of his brother Vladislaus (oil on paper, mounted on panel, 42 x 31.5 cm, ZKnW-PZS 7028), in 1935. Both paintings were previously thought to be 19th century copies, but the 2023 examination revealed that they were made in the 16th century (pigment analysis, after "Dziedzictwo zachowane i na nowo odkryte" by Oliwia Buchwald-Zięcina, p. 138). The inscription at the bottom of Sigismund's portrait was painted on a strip of paper and was probably added later. It titles Sigismund king of Poland and brother of his predecessor Alexander Jagiellon (SIGISMVNDVS POLONIAE REX / ALEXANDRI POL. REGIS FRATER.), so it was added in 1506 (Sigismund was elected king on December 8 of that year) or later.

The two portraits were obviously made by different painters, which is visible not only in the composition but also in the style of the painting. The effigy of Louis, although heavily restored, resembles portraits of Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519), made by circle of Bernhard Strigel (d. 1528), court painter of the emperor (Kunstmuseum Basel, inv. 2276, and Dorotheum in Vienna, June 8, 2021, lot 4). He was depicted by Strigel in the famous family portrait of Maximilian and in a separate portrait, both in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (GG 832, GG 827). The earliest known portrait of young Louis, in the scene of Saint Ladislaus requesting the patronage of the Virgin Mary, is also attributed to Strigel (Budapest Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 7502). A portrait of him is also attributed to the Habsburg court painter in Brussels - Bernard van Orley (Budapest Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 77.6), who did not have the opportunity to meet the king in person. Therefore Orley or his workshop based on other effigies.

A similar portrait by Bernard van Orley, clearly depicting the same man, is in the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid (oil on panel, 26.5 x 37 cm, inv. 02710). The man's pose, costume and jewelry are truly regal, which is why this "Portrait of a gentleman" (Retrato de caballero) was identified earlier as depicting Christian II of Denmark (1481-1559), however "this identification seems unfounded when compared with the portraits of the sovereign made in 1515 (Sittow) and 1523 (Cranach)" (esta identificación parece desprovista de fundamento al confrontarlo con los retratos del soberano realizados en 1515 (Sittow) y 1523 (Cranach), according to the catalog note). On the reverse is a Latin inscription: A . FRVCTIBVS. EORVM./. COGNOSCETIS. EOS ("You will know them by their fruits", Matthew, 7:15-20). The painting was acquired, through Luis Tristan, from the Duke of Ánsola in 1934, so an earlier provenance from the Spanish royal collection is possible.

Through his marriage to Mary of Austria (1505-1558), also known as Mary of Hungary (later governor of the Habsburg Netherlands), Louis was a brother-in-law of Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), who frequently resided in Spain. Besides the mentioned portrait by Orley or circle in Budapest, in the Hungarian capital there are also two other portraits of Louis, apparently made by Netherlandish painters, both kept in the Hungarian National Museum (inv. MNB-letét 1, inv. 1391). One of them is dated "1526" (M D / XXVI), the other is undated, but it resembles the full-length portrait of Louis in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, which, according to the inscription, was made according to the original from 1525 (LVDOVICVS REX HUNGARIÆ / ET BOHEMIÆ. ÆTATIS. 20. / ANNO 1525, NMGrh 596). In the Stockholm portrait, like his uncle Sigismund I from the same series (NMGrh 570) and unlike the effigy of his brother-in-law Ferdinand I (NMGrh 598), he does not wear any order of the Golden Fleece.

The style of Sigismund's portrait greatly resembles the profile portraits of Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482), first wife of Emperor Maximilian I, both kept at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (GG 4400, GG 4402). These paintings are attributed to Niklas Reiser, an Austrian painter, active between 1498 and 1512 in Schwaz near Innsbruck. The portraits of Mary are dated around 1500, almost twenty years after her death. Stylistically close is also the profile portrait of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (1503-1564), attributed to the South German school (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 6914), which, according to the inscription (top in the center: REX.PHILIPVS), depicts Philip the Handsome (1478-1506), Duke of Burgundy and King of Castile (son of Mary of Burgundy). 

The Wawel portrait is very unique for Sigismund's iconography, and does not resemble any other known effigy of the Jagiellon. Fortunately, the inscription was added, otherwise the model would be considered a man from Austria or Germany. For many art historians, the equation is simple: Germanic painter, therefore the model must also be Germanic. This is another factor contributing to the fact that fewer effigies of monarchs and aristocrats from Central Europe, particularly multicultural Poland-Lithuania, are known today.

​Portrait of Crown Prince Sigismund Jagiellon (1467-1548), Duke of Głogów by Niklas Reiser, ca. 1499-1506, Wawel Royal Castle.

​Portrait of Louis II Jagiellon (1506-1526), King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia by circle of Bernhard Strigel, ca. 1525, Wawel Royal Castle.

​Portrait of Louis II Jagiellon (1506-1526), King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia by Bernard van Orley, ca. 1525, Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid. 

Disguised portraits of Casimir of Brandenburg-Kulmbach by Jacopo de' Barbari

"The person depicted does not appear as an ideal heavenly figure, but like a human being of flesh and blood" (Der Porträtierte wirkt nicht wie eine himmlische Idealfigur, sondern wie ein Mensch aus Fleisch und Blut), comments the author of the catalog note for a small painting by Jacopo de' Barbari representing Christ, now kept at the Klassik Stiftung Weimar (panel, 32.3 x 25.4 cm, inv. G2, signed with a caduceus and monogram I A [D B]). The painter, described as Venetian by his contemporaries, including Albrecht Dürer (einen man Jacobus genent, van Venedig geporn, ein liblicher moler), captured the specific facial features of a model, which was often the case in Renaissance painting.

The painting comes from the collection of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1786-1859), donated in 1838, who acquired it in Germany or Russia. It is also considered to come from the collection of the merchant Paulus II Praun (1548-1616), who died in Bologna, later transferred to Nuremberg (compare "Catalog des Grossh. Museums zu Weimar", p. 21). It is interesting to note that the painter or his workshop created a copy of this painting, which was however painted with cheaper pigments, notably with very less blue color (tempera on panel, 34 x 25.5 cm, Dorotheum in Salzburg, March 27, 2018, lot 3).

Barbari, who moved to Germany in 1500, used the same model in another similar painting of Blessing Christ, now in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden (oil, transferred from panel to canvas, 61 x 48 cm, inv. Gal.-Nr. 57), which comes from the Elector's Art Chamber in Dresden (added around 1588), and half a century later, in 1553, Lucas Cranach the Elder (ca. 1472-1553) or his son Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515-1586), copied the painting (or a copy of it) in a woodcut describing it as "Effigy of Our Savior Jesus Christ painted fifty years ago by the most excellent artist Iacobo de Barbaris Italo, recently copied, Wittenberg 1553" (Effigies Salvatoris Nostri lesv / Christi ante L. Annos Picta a Praestantissimo Artifice / Iacobo de Barbaris Italo, recens de exemplo illo foeliciter expressa / Vuitenbergae Anno 1553, British Museum, 1864,1210.489), signed with the winged serpent within the image. 

All these elements (specific facial features of the model, copies, as well as provenance from aristocratic collections), indicate that the effigies are portraits disguised as Christ rather than purely religious paintings.

At first, Jacopo was employed as a "portrait painter and miniaturist" (Contrafeter und Illuminist) from April 8, 1500 in Nuremberg by king (and later emperor) Maximilian I. There he met Albrecht Dürer, who later reported that Jacopo de' Barbari had introduced him to the theory of proportion in painting. Barbari is also considered as a teacher of Hans von Kulmbach and Matthias Grünewald. From 1503 to 1505, he worked as court painter to Frederick the Wise (1463-1525), elector of Saxony.

The man in the paintings bears a striking resemblance to Casimir of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1481-1527), based on his portrait by Hans von Kulmbach in the Alte Pinakothek (inv. 9482, signed and dated: MARGGRAVE • CASIMIR • HET • DISE • GESTALT • ALS • ER • WAS • / DREISSICK • IAR • ALT • C • 1511 / HK). The eldest son of Sophia Jagiellon (1464-1512), received his first name in honor of his maternal grandfather, King Casimir IV Jagiellon (1427-1492). In 1498 Casimir's father Frederick I granted him the position of stadtholder of the margraviate and from 1502 he was involved in disputes with the imperial city of Nuremberg. Earlier, in May 1494, even Sophia's brothers, Vladislaus II (1456-1516), king of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, and John I Albert (1459-1501), king of Poland, had intervened in Frederick's disputes with Nuremberg. As a vassal of Emperor Maximilian I, who later married the emperor's niece, Susanna of Bavaria (1502-1543), Casimir was undoubtedly a frequent guest at Maximilian's court. His portrait by Kulmbach was painted either in Kraków, where the painter arrived in 1509, or in Nuremberg.

Another portrait-like effigy of a Christian saint, made by Barbari, is in the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava, Castle Betliar (oil on panel, 51.4 x 40 cm, inv. VU 316). It represents the Anglo-Saxon king Oswald of Northumbria, venerated as a saint of whom there was a particular cult in the Middle Ages. Saint Oswald was often portrayed with a pet raven which carried his ring to the Wessex princess he intended to marry. The painting is signed with a caduceus and the number [5]00 on the left probably refers to the date of creation - 1500. It comes from the collection of the Hungarian noble Andrássy family. From the mid-19th century, the painting has long been considered as an effigy of a woman - Elizabeth Szilágyi (d. 1483), mother of King Matthias Corvinus (1443-1490) and was even published as such in 1857 in "The Hunyadi Era in Hungary" (Hunyadiak kora Magyarországon, XII) by József Teleki. The identification was linked to the coat of arms of the Hunyadis, which represents a raven (corvus in Latin) with a gold ring in its beak.

In 1500, on the death of Leonard (Leonhard von Görz, 1444-1500), the last descendant of the junior branch of the counts of Gorica/Gorizia, Maximilian I succeeded to Gorizia, Gradiska, Pazin (Mitterburg), and the Puster Valley. Shortly after the death of his second wife Paola Gonzaga (1464-1496), daughter of Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, Count Leonard concluded an inheritance contract with Maximilian regarding the county (February 27, 1497). In the event of Leonard's death without children, the county was to be incorporated into the Habsburg domains. It appears that the fifty-three-year-old count was hoping for a third marriage. After his death Maximilian sent troops to occupy Gorizia to prevent Venice from claiming his newly inherited lands.

The facial features of Saint Oswald resemble those of Count of Gorica from his votive statue by Master of the Sonnenberg-Künigl Altar, created around 1470 (Tyrolean State Museum "Ferdinandeum" in Innsbruck). The Count of Gorica was represented in a splendid costume embroidered with pearls, kneeling as a donor in the scene of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, painted by Simon von Taisten around 1495 (Chapel of Bruck Castle in Lienz).

​Portrait of a man as Saint Oswald, most probably Count Leonard of Gorica (1444-1500), by Jacopo de' Barbari, ca. 1500, Slovak National Museum. 

​Christ bearing the features of Casimir of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1481-1527) by Jacopo de' Barbari, ca. 1503, Klassik Stiftung Weimar. 

​Christ bearing the features of Casimir of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1481-1527) by workshop of Jacopo de' Barbari, ca. 1503, Private collection. 

​Christ bearing the features of Casimir of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1481-1527) by Jacopo de' Barbari, ca. 1503, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. 

Christ bearing the features of Casimir of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1481-1527) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger after Jacopo de' Barbari, 1553, British Museum. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Venetian portraits by Albrecht Dürer and portraits of Bishop Erazm Ciołek and Agnieszka Ciołkowa ​

In 1923, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna acquired a portrait of a young "Venetian woman" by Albrecht Dürer from the collection of Witold Klemens Wańkowicz (1888-1948) in Warsaw, signed with a monogram and dated '1505'. Earlier it was most probably in the Potocki collection and in second half of the 18th century the portrait was owned by Gottfried Schwartz (1716-1777), Mayor of Gdańsk, then the main port of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It is possible that the "Venetian woman" arrived to Poland already in the 16th century. 

Dürer, famous painter and printmaker, arrived in Venice in the late autumn of 1505. As a son of a goldsmith, also Albrecht or Adalbert, who was born around 1427 in Ajtós, near Gyula in Hungary, he undoubtedly had some links with the Jagiellonian elective monarchies. Elder brother of king Sigismund I, Vladislaus II, ruled in Hungary from 1490.

The reason for the trip to Venice is unknown. Perhaps Dürer wanted not only to make money, but was also going to solve the dispute over reprints and copies of his engravings by the artist Marcantonio Raimondi. He also received a commission from the German merchants based at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi to make a painting for their parish church - the Feast of the Rosary, now in the National Gallery in Prague.

By the beginning of the 16th century, Venice become one of the main printing and publishing centers in Europe. Although the first printing house was probably established in Kraków as early as 1465, in the less densely populated Poland-Lithuania printing was still developing at that time, therefore many important publications were published in Venice. The printing shops there offered better quality and were undoubtedly much more competitive. In 1501 Sebastian Hyber, a citizen of Kraków (impensis Sebastiani Hyber Co[n]civis Kracovie[n]sis), publishes Viaticum Wratislaviense in Venice for the diocese of Wrocław. Four years later, in 1505, the same Hyber, together with Jan Haller from Rothenburg, undertakes to publish a missal for the Wrocław diocese (Missale Wratislavien[se]) in Kraków. The privilege for the sale of the missal granted by John V Thurzo, Bishop of Wrocław (and a son of a Hungarian nobleman), together with his coat of arms and effigy of Saint Stanislaus was included in the missal. In 1505 Haller obtained from the Kraków chapter the privilege for the exclusive sale of breviaries imported from Venice and on September 30, that year, Haller's publishing house was granted a royal privilege for the exclusive printing of state printed matter (after "Drukarze dawnej Polski od XV do XVIII wieku" by Alodia Kawecka-Gryczowa, Volume 1, Issue 1, p. 330). Both Haller and Hyber were undoubtedly interested in the work of a well-known graphic artist active in Venice at the time - Albrecht Dürer.

Jan Haller become a citizen of Kraków in 1491 and married Barbara Kunosch, the daughter of a wealthy Kraków furrier and he made a fortune on trading wine and Hungarian copper. Of Hyber, also Hübner or Hybner, very little is known. Judging by his name, he belonged to the German-speaking community in the capital of Poland. Both undoubtedly traveled frequently to Venice. In the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, a city once in the Republic of Venice, there is a portrait of a red-headed man by Albrecht Dürer or his workshop, created in about 1505. It was acquired in 1866 from Guglielmo Lochis' collection. The man in the picture is holding arrows and according to the inscription in a golden halo around his head - SANCTVS SEBASTIANVS MARTYR, he was depicted as Saint Sebastian.

Among Venetian artists active at that time in Poland-Lithuania were goldsmith and jeweler of king Alexander Jagiellon (1461-1506), Hieronim Loncza or Leoncza (Hieronimus Leoncza aurifer), confirmed in Kraków in 1504 and in 1505, and his son Angelo. The Venetian glass workshops in Murano were the main suppliers of high-quality glass to the Polish-Lithuanian royal court. A Venetian goblet belonging to Alexander Jagiellon with the heraldic symbols of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, created between 1501-1502, is in the Jagiellonian University Museum in Kraków and Bishop Erazm Ciołek ordered a whole service in Venice for Alexander (after "Z kręgu badań nad związkami polsko-weneckimi w czasach jagiellońskich" by Ewelina Lilia Polańska).

Also other works of art were commissioned in Venice since the Middle Ages. Marble tomb monument of King Ladislaus II Jagiello (Jogaila of Lithuania) in the Wawel Cathedral, carved in about 1421, is attributed to an artist from Northern Italy, and, according to the hypothesis of Juliusz Chrościcki, Venetian painter Jacopo Bellini created around 1444 the design for the tomb of his son Ladislaus of Varna. The royal secretary and tutor to the sons of King Casimir IV Jagiellon, including mentioned Alexander and Sigismund I, Callimachus (Filippo Buonaccorsi, a Venetian after his father), eminently known as a homoerotic poet and a diplomat, is said to have returned from his mission to Venice in 1486 with his portrait probably made by Giovanni Bellini.

In 1505, a young royal scribe Jan Dantyszek (1485-1548) from Gdańsk, who received a scholarship from the king, went to Italy to deepen humanistic studies. Having reached Venice, he boarded a ship and went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (after "Polacy na morzach i oceanach: Do roku 1795" by Jerzy Pertek, p. 79). That same year also Erazm Ciołek (1474-1522), known as Vitellius, Bishop of Płock, diplomat and patron of arts who amassed a large collection of books, visited Venice on his way to Rome. Some minatures in his beautiful missal (Missale Polonicum), created in about 1515 (National Library of Poland, Rps 3306 III), were inspired by Dürer's engravings. 

The popularity of Dürer's prints in Poland-Lithuania is perfectly illustrated by the case of the Prayer Books of Sigismund I the Old and his second wife Bona Sforza by Stanisław Samostrzelnik (British Library and Bodleian Library) in which also many scenes were inspired by his works. Another example is the so-called Trilogy of Piotr Wedelicki in the Museum of the Warsaw Archdiocese, a collection of Dürer's woodcuts: the Apocalypse (1498) - 15 woodcuts, Large Passion (1498-1510) - 11 woodcuts, the life of the Virgin (1501-1511) - 20 woodcuts, created for Piotr Wedelicki (1483-1544) from Oborniki near Poznań, a physician at the court of Sigismund I and Bona Sforza and a rector of the Kraków Academy.

On Ciołek's initiative the Synod of 1506 decided that not only missals and breviaries should be printed, but also synodal statutes and agendas of the Diocese of Płock. It was probably he who commissioned the printing of the Płock Breviary (Breviarium Plocense) in Venice in 1506 (a unique copy from the National Library in Warsaw burned down during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944). In 1520 another Płock Breviary was printed in Venice and almost simultaneously in Kraków a missal for the Płock diocese. After the death of Bishop Ciołek in 1522, his magnificent collection of books, including many incunabula, mainly Venetian, became the property of the Collegiate Church in Pułtusk (after "Miejsce Płocka w kulturze średniowiecznej Polski" by Stefan Krzysztof Kuczyński, p. 25). 

One of the most sublime examples of his patronage is the Kraków Pontifical (Pontificale Cracoviense), created between 1506-1518 by anonymous master called the Master of the Bright Mountain Missal (considered sometimes to be Maciej Ryczyński), today in the Czartoryski Library (1212 V Rkps), with the scene of the Crucifixion being particularly beautiful and comparable to the works of Dürer (possibly created by young Samostrzelnik, as stylistically different from the others). Most of the miniatures in the Pontifical depict various activities of the bishop, like pontifical blessing or blessing of the image of the Virgin, the life of the Virgin, and the coronation and enthronement of the king, two, however, are particularly intriguing. One is a visitation of the construction of the church by the founder, the other is portrait-like miniature of Saint Agnes, the only female saint in the Pontifical. If we consider all miniatures as the accurate observation of real people and events from Ciołek's life including Coronation of the King of Poland (Accipe coronam Regni) as depicting the coronation of Alexander Jagiellon in 1501 or Sigismund I in 1507, also these two miniatures are closely related to him. Ciołek was the founder of many new churches, so the visitation of the construction of the church depicts him in princely attire in the company of his courtiers. The woman in guise of Saint Agnes was apparently very close to him, so that he ordered to put her image in the Pontifical. This effigy can be compared to Young woman with unicorn by Raphael (Galleria Borghese in Rome), created in about 1505-1506, and considered to be the effigy of Giulia Farnese (1474-1524), a mistress to Pope Alexander VI. Erazm was in Rome when this painting was created and his mother as well as his relative's wife, both were named Agnieszka, that is Agnes. The woman from the miniature is too young to be his mother and elderly women at the time, especially widows, wore bonnets, so she should be identified as Agnieszka Ciołkowa née Zasańska (Vitreator), who died in 1518. Agnieszka was a wife of a Kraków burgher, Maciej Ciołek, who made soap. She was a mother of three sons: Erazm Ciołek, born around 1492, abbot of Mogiła Abbey and suffragan of Kraków, Stanisław, canon of Pułtusk and Płock and Jan, a doctor in Kraków. So was Agnieszka a mistress to the Bishop of Płock and her son or sons, were his sons, as was almost customary at the time? While in Rome, Erazm probably had the opportunity to admire the beautiful decorations of the Borgia Apartments, commissioned by Pope Alexander VI, where a fresco in the Hall of the Saints, created by Pinturicchio between 1491-1494, shows the pope's son Cardinal Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) in guise of Roman Emperor Maxentius and his daughter Lucrezia (1480-1519) as Saint Catherine of Alexandria in the scene of Dispute of Saint Catherine. 

The young woman from Dürer's painting is dressed in an Italian outfit and her hair is bleached in the Venetian style. She may have been the wife of a wealthy merchant or printer, like Haller or Hyber, or to be a Venetian noblewoman or courtesan who caught the eye of a famous humanist, like Dantyszek or Ciołek, the last option with the rich bishop being the most likely.

Portrait of a young Venetian woman from the Wańkowicz collection by Albrecht Dürer, 1505, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of a man as Saint Sebastian, possibly Sebastian Hyber from Kraków by Albrecht Dürer or workshop, ca. 1505, Accademia Carrara. ​

Miniature portrait of Erazm Ciołek (1474-1522), Bishop of Płock in the scene of visitation of the construction of the church from the Kraków Pontifical by Master of the Bright Mountain Missal, 1506-1518, Czartoryski Library.

Miniature portrait of Agnieszka Ciołkowa née Zasańska (d. 1518) as Saint Agnes in the Kraków Pontifical by Master of the Bright Mountain Missal, 1506-1518, Czartoryski Library.

Crucifixion of Christ from Pontifical of Erazm Ciołek by Stanisław Samostrzelnik, 1506-1518, Czartoryski Library.

Portraits of Henrique Alemão and monarchs of Portugal by Netherlandish painters

On August 4, 1444 Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini (1398-1444), who insisted that Ladislaus III Jagiellon, King of Poland, Hungary and Croatia should break the treaty with the Turks, absolved the king of his oath given to the infidels with the power bestowed upon him by the pope. Cesarini did so after confirming that a fleet of Venetian galleys had set out for the Bosphorus to prevent the sultan from bringing in reinforcements by sea. Although Ladislaus and the majority of the War Council were in favor of peace, they wanted to comply with the papal will (after "Der Raub der Stephanskrone" by Franz Theuer, pp. 149-153). The decisive Battle of Varna took place on November 10, 1444 in present-day Bulgaria. Ladislaus led an outnumbered army against the Ottomans to attack. The battle ended in a crushing defeat of the Polish-Hungarian coalition and the king himself fell on the battlefield at the age of 20, his body was never found. 

According to Turkish chronicles, Ladislaus' head was cut off and "to keep it from corruption, the king's head was immersed in honey". An envoy was sent from Venice, who was shown a preserved male head in Istanbul, however, it had bright curls, and the king was dark-haired (after "Odyseja ..." by Leopold Kielanowski, p. 19). Due to rumors that Ladislaus survived the battle, the interregnum after his death lasted three years and in 1447 his younger brother, Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV Jagiellon, was elected and crowned. Around that time, the king's sarcophagus was also ordered in Venice, but probably due to the unsuccessful search for his body, it was not created. A drawing by the Venetian painter Jacopo Bellini showing the death of the king was most likely a design for one of the scenes to be placed on the royal tomb in the Wawel Cathedral (after "La vie et la mort de Ladislas III Jagellon ..." by Juliusz Chrościcki, p. 245-264). 

Ladislaus III was the eldest son of Ladislaus II Jagiello (Jogaila of Lithuania), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and princess Sophia of Halshany. He had no children and did not marry. The chronicler Jan Długosz alleged that "Ladislaus, King of Hungary and Poland, who was too inclined to the lust of men, himself was the principal author of the downfall of his whole army in his first and in that second campaign against the Turks, which he then continued, his incestuous and abominable pleasures" (ipsum Wladislaum Hungariae et Poloniae Regem suae et totius sui exercitus ruinae principalem auctorem fuisse, qui in marium libidinem proclivus, nec in priori sua contra Turcos, nec in ea secunda, quam tunc gerebat, expeditione incestus suos et abominabiles voluptates, in: "Joannis Długossii seu longini canonici ..." by Żegota Pauli, p. 729). This fragment is interpreted that the king was a homosexual (or bisexual).

A letter found in the archives of the Teutonic Knights in the 20th century, dated 1452 (or 1472) and written from Lisbon by the Monk of the Predicant Order, Nicolau Floris to the Grand Master of the Order, indicates that King Ladislaus III managed to escape after the Battle of Varna and settled on a Portuguese island (vivit in insulis regni Portugaliae): "I personally heard from the owner of this letter, John the Pole, that you are a special friend of King Ladislaus, in another time honorable Sovereign and Lord, by the Grace of God, of the kingdoms of Poland and Hungary. I wish to reveal the miraculous news that king Ladislaus actually lives on the islands of the Kingdom of Portugal and I am his companion and comrade hermit" (after "Nieznana saga ..." by Jordan Michov, p. 36). 

This led to the identification of the king with a certain Henrique Alemão (Henry the German), one of the first settlers of Portuguese island of Madeira. Many Jagiellonian kings were fluent in German, as it was one of the languages of multicultural Poland-Lithuania and of Central Europe in general, which could be a possible explanation for this pseudonym. Henrique was also known as "Knight of Saint Catherine of Mount Sinai" (cavaleiro de Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai), which indicate that he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and there he become a member of dynastic knightly order of the de Lusignan family, which has existed since the 12th century. The Knights of this Order protected the roads and ensured the safety of pilgrims traveling to Mount Sinai. Madeiran nobles referred to Henrique as príncipe polónio or prince of the nação polónia, i.e. Polish nation (after "Uma nuvem num pote de barro" by Miguel Castro Henriques, p. 13). Little is known about him apart from that in 1457 a land was assigned to him under a sesmaria regime by João Gonçalves Zarco and confirmed in a letter by Prince Henry the Navigator and by King Afonso V of Portugal, that same year. He married a woman from Algarve called Senhorinha Anes de Sá. The couple had two children, Segismundo (Sigismund) Henriques (the true identity of Christopher Columbus, according to Portuguese historian Manuel da Silva Rosa), who was lost at sea on his way to Lisbon, and Bárbara Henriques, who married Afonso Anes do Fraguedo. Called to the court by the king, Henrique died in a landslide, in the Cabo Girão area, when he was returning from Algarve. Senhorinha Anes later married João Rodrigues. 

Henrique ordered the construction of the first chapel in Madalena do Mar between 1454-1457. A small painting from the church in Madalena do Mar, today in the Museu de Arte Sacra do Funchal, is believed to represent the founder of the first temple - Henrique Alemão and his wife Anes de Sá in guise of biblical parents of the Virgin Mary - Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, in a popular scene of Meeting at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, upon learning that she will bear a child (oil on panel, 51 x 39 cm, inventory number MASF26). The rich costume of Saint Joachim and the portrait like depiction of their faces reinforce this interpretation. This work is generally dated to the last decade of the 15th century or early 16th century and representation as parents of the Virgin suggest that it was probably the children of the couple that founded the painting. Henrique was also depicted in the background in the scene of the Annunciation of the Angel to Saint Joachim. The man bears a striking resemblance to the alleged father of Henrique Alemão - Jogaila of Lithuania from his tomb in the Wawel Cathedral, possibly by circle of Donatello, created in about 1421, and painted effigies in the scenes of Adoration of the Magi (as one of the Magi) and Christ among the doctors (as one of the scholars) by Stanisław Durink, also in the Wawel Cathedral, created between 1475-1485 (Triptych of Our Lady of Sorrows). The shape of the nose and the downward-pointing mouth are almost identical. It is often said that children resemble their parents.
 
The prayer book of King Ladislaus III Jagiellon (of Varna) dealing with divination by means of a crystal (crystallomancy), created in Kraków between 1434-1440 (Bodleian Library), is filled with effigies of the owner in different poses. In most of the prayers Ladislaus, the unworthy sinner and servant of God, prays for the angels to clarify and illuminate the crystal in order that he may learn all the secrets of the world (after "Angels around the Crystal: the Prayer Book of King Wladislas ..." by Benedek Lang, p. 5). It is another mysterious aspect of the king's life and patronage.

What is also intriguing about the painting from Madalena do Mar is that it is attributed to the so-called Master of Adoration of Machico, anonymous painter, active in Antwerp in the last decades of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th century, and his works show the influence of Joos van Cleve, as well as the Master of 1518 (after "Arte Flamenga, Museu de Arte Sacra do Funchal", Luiza Clode, Fernando António Baptista Pereira, p. 56). So the painting is an import to Madeira, like the Adoration of the Magi with a donor of Odrowąż coat of arms by Master of 1518 was an import to Poland (National Museum in Warsaw).
 
There are two other important paintings by Master of the Adoration of Machico in the same museum - Adoration of the Magi and Saint Nicholas. The first is the central panel of what was probably a triptych ordered for the Chapel of the Magi at the Parish Church of Machico, founded by Branca Teixeira, daughter of the first donatory captain of Machico (most likely disguised portraits of Branca's family, including her father Tristão Vaz Teixeira). The other comes from the House of Mercy in Funchal (possibly a disguised portrait of Diogo Pinheiro Lobo, first bishop of Funchal). The style of all these paintings can be compared with works attributed to Jan Joest van Calcar (d. 1519), a Dutch painter born around 1455 in Kalkar or Wesel in the Duchy of Cleves, who visited Genoa and Naples, among other places, especially the wings of the high altar in the St. Nicholas' Church in Kalkar.

The mentioned museum in Funchal (Museu de Arte Sacra) is a veritable treasure trove of early Netherlandish paintings. Large triptychs and other works by painters such as Dieric Bouts (Saint James from the former Chapel of Santiago at Funchal Cathedral), Jan Provoost (panels with Annunciation scene from the Matriz da Calheta church), Joos van Cleve (triptych of the Incarnation from the Church of Nossa Senhora da Encaração in Funchal, Annunciation from the Church of Bom Jesus da Ribeira in Funchal and triptych of Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, commissioned by Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, Funchal's third captain-major) and follower of Jan Gossaert (Virgin of Amparo from the chapel of Nossa Senhora do Amparo in the Funchal Cathedral) are on display. Commissioning artworks from Flanders was widely practised among Madeiran merchants throughout the 15th and 16th centuries and some of these works could be disguised portraits, while in others the effigy of a patron was included in the sacred scene in the popular form of a donor. Triptych of the Descent from the Cross with portrait of Jorge Lomelino, the only son of Giovan Batista Lomellini from Genoa, and his wife Maria Adão Ferreira by Gerard David or workshop and triptych of Saint James the Minor and Saint Philip with portraits of D. Isabel Silva and her husband Simão Gonçalves da Câmara and members of their family as a donors by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, are the best examples. 

Art historians outside of Madeira often forget that the successful painting workshops of the 16th century were above all well-functioning businesses which, in order to gain a customer and money, could not look only locally. These portraits in religious scenes were therefore based on drawings sent from Madeira, made by a local painter or a member of the workshop sent from Flanders to the island, because it is difficult to imagine that the whole workshop would move from Flanders or the whole family from Madeira will travel to the Netherlands just to pose for a painting.

Other exquisite Flemish orders from Madeira were presented during an exhibition on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the discovery of Madeira and Porto Santo in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon - "The islands of the White Gold. Art Commissions in Madeira: 15th-16th Centuries" (November 16, 2017 to March 31, 2018). "The introduction of sugar cane farming into the archipelago of Madeira towards the end of the first half of the fifteenth century, coupled with the subsequent large-scale development of its production, meant that sugar could be exported, at first through Lisbon and then directly, to the ports of Flanders. [...] The newly-formed local elites cemented their status by commissioning works of art - paintings, sculptures and silverware - from Flanders, the Portuguese mainland, and even from the Orient" (description by curators Fernando António Baptista Pereira, Francisco Clode de Sousa). Flourishing sugar industry and export attracted foreigners, Flemings and Italians, such as Lomelino from Genoa and Acciaiuoli from Florence. 

One of such Madeiran commissions not in Funchal, displayed during the exhibition in Lisbon, is the triptych of Adoration of the Magi with portrait of a nobleman Francisco Homem de Gouveia and his wife Isabel Afonso de Azevedo as donors by circle of Pieter Coecke van Aelst, created in the 1520s (Reis Magos Chapel in Estreito da Calheta). The other is a large triptych of Our Lady of Mercy in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon, created by Jan Provoost, who run two workshops, one in Bruges, where he was made a burgher in 1494, the other simultaneously in Antwerp (oil on panel, 155 x 145 cm - central panel, inventory number 697 Pint). It comes from the church of Saint John Lateran (igreja de S. João de Latrão) in Gaula and was purchased in 1876 from Agostinho de Ornellas from Madeira. The triptych is most likely tantamount to the painting mentioned in the will of the wealthy merchant and sugar producer, Nuno Fernandes Cardoso and his wife, Leonor Dias, who ordered the building of the church of Saint John Lateran, in 1511, in the their lands of Gaula. It is dated to around 1515. 

The figures kneeling in veneration in the lower part of the painting are identified as Pope Leo X (1475-1521) and King Manuel I of Portugal (1469-1521), based on attributes (crowns) and traditional iconography. Similar effigy of the king was included in another large painting ordered in Flanders - the Fons Vitae (Fountain of Life), attributed to Colijn de Coter and dated to around 1515-1517 (oil on panel, 267 x 210 cm, Museu da Misericórdia do Porto). He is accompanied by his second wife Maria of Aragon (1482-1517), followed by king's daughters from the first marriage Isabella of Portugal (1503-1539), future empress, and Beatrice of Portugal (1504-1538), future Duchess of Savoy. Consequently the women behind the king in the Lisbon triptych by Jan Provoost are his wife, two daughters and his sister, the widowed queen Eleanor of Viseu (1458-1525). The young age of the king's wife, in green dress, indicates that it was based on an earlier effigy and unlike other women, she wears no headdress, indicating that this is her "heavenly effigy". This woman bear a great resemblance to effigies of Manuel's first wife (and elder sister of the second) Isabella of Aragon (1470-1498), especially in the painting of Virgin of Mercy with the Catholic Kings and their family by Diego de la Cruz (Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas near Burgos). If the first wife was depicted as a donor near the king and her daughters, the second, Maria of Aragon, is depicted as the Virgin Mary. On October 7, 1515 Maria gave bith to her son Duarte (d. 1540), Duke of Guimarães. Later Duarte and his elder brother, Louis of Portugal (1506-1555), Duke of Beja, were depicted in guise of Christian saints - Saint Edward the Confessor and Saint Louis, King of France in paintings by Portuguese painter, today in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (431 Pint, 188 Pint). The family resemblance of two women - Madonna and the first wife of king Manuel, to mother of the two queens, Isabella I of Castile (1451-1504), is undeniable. The shape of their nose and lower lip as well as the hair color is very similar to that seen in Isabella's portrait by Juan de Flandes (Royal Palace of Madrid).

Like in the Fons Vitae by Colijn de Coter, Isabella of Portugal, future empress, the first daughter of king Manuel and Isabella of Aragon, in dark dress, was represented first, closer to her mother and father. The same woman, in similar costume, was depicted in another painting attributed to Jan Provoost - a portrait, traditionally identified as Queen Isabella of Castile, today in the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven (oil on panel, 33.3 x 23.5 cm, 2020.37.4). It comes from the collection of German Emperor and King of Prussia Frederick III (1831-1888) and his wife Victoria, Princess Royal (1840-1901) in Schloss Friedrichshof (Friedrichshof Castle) in Kronberg im Taunus. Her attire is also similar to that visible in the Fons Vitae and facial features to the portrait of the empress by a follower of Titian from the English Royal collection, today in the Charlecote Park, Warwickshire (NT 533873, Charles II's inventory in Whitehall, number 223).

Another interesting Flemish painting in the Museu de Arte Sacra in Funchal is very portrait like Saint Mary Magdalene, attributed to Jan Provoost (oil on panel, 216 x 120 cm, MASF29). It comes from the same church as effigy of Henrique Alemão and his wife - Church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Madalena do Mar, founded by Henrique. This large panel was commissioned by Isabel Lopes, according to her will dated 1524, intended for the high altar of the Church in Madalena do Mar. According to the terms of her will, the commission for the painting was to be completed within a maximum of two years of her death. 

Isabel Lopes was the maid of Dona Maria de Noronha, wife of Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, captain-major of Funchal. She was married to João Rodrigues de Freitas, a native of the Algarve and widower of Senhorinha Anes who, in turn, was the widow of Henrique Alemão. Exactly as in the triptych of Our Lady of Mercy by Provoost, it is also an effigy of a royal, and the face of the woman bears a strong resemblance to the portraits of Eleanor of Austria (1498-1558), third wife of king Manuel, by Joos van Cleve and his workshop (Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga - 1981 Pint, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna - GG 6079 and Musée Condé - PE 98). She became a widow in 1521. As Queen Dowager of Portugal, she went to Xabregas (or Enxobregas), where she lived almost like a nun and left Portugal in May 1530 to marry King Francis I of France. Around that time, Eleanor's younger sister, Catherine of Austria (1507-1578), who married her cousin, King John III of Portugal (son of King Manuel I) in February 1525, was represented as Saint Catherine of Alexandria in a painting by the Portuguese painter Domingo Carvalho, which was sent to her relatives in Spain (Prado Museum in Madrid, P001320).

Eleanor's husband, King Manuel I was also depicted in several religious scenes by Portuguese painters, most notably in the scene of Blessing of Saint Aukta by Pope Siricius from the St. Auta Altarpiece (Retábulo de Santa Auta) by Master of Santa Auta, possibly Cristóvão de Figueiredo, Gregório Lopes, Garcia Fernandes or several painters, painted between 1518-1525, founded by Queen Eleanor of Viseu (1458-1525), sister of King Manuel, as biblical King David in the Holy Trinity from the Monastery of the Trinity in Lisbon by Garcia Fernandes, painted in 1537, as one of the Magi in the Adoration of the Magi from the Monastery of Santos-o-Novo in Lisbon by Gregório Lopes, painted between 1540-1545, most probably commissioned by Jorge de Lencastre (1481-1550), Duke of Coimbra, cousin of King Manuel I, all three in the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon, and finally as Saint Alexis in the scene of Wedding of Saint Alexis from the Holy House of Mercy in Lisbon by Garcia Fernandes, created in 1541, today in the Museu de São Roque in Lisbon. For a long time the latter painting was identified as depicting the third marriage of King Manuel I to Eleanor of Austria and is now believed to depict only a religious scene. Both interpretations are disputed by historians, however, no one takes into account that both are correct.

Like in the disguised portrait of Alemão, also here there is a secondary scene of penitent Mary Magdalene, praying naked in front of a cave. Such naked effigies were known since the ancient times. "During the Republican period nudity and other divine guises as well as the cuirass were worn by generals and politicians as signs of outstanding, even super-human achievements, but during the imperial period, when displayed in public spaces, these costumes were reserved for members of the imperial family and very few high officials. In people's houses, villas, and tombs, other rules applied and freedmen typically preferred the divine guise for their tomb statues" (after "A Companion to Roman Art. Roman Portraits" by Jane Feifer, p. 245). 

Following death of his handsome favourite and lover Antinous (ca. 111-ca. 130 AD), the Roman emperor Hadrian (76-138) deified him and founded an organised cult devoted to his worship that spread throughout the Empire. The worship of Antinous proved to be one of the most enduring and popular of cults of deified humans in the Roman empire, and events continued to be founded in his honour long after Hadrian's death - "we have more portrait statues of Antinous than of anyone else in antiquity except Augustus and Hadrian himself" (after "Mark Golden on Caroline Vout, Power and Eroticism", pp. 64-66). Naked and disguised sculptures of this divine gay youth can be found in major museums around the world, including the National Museum in Warsaw (inventory number 148819 MNW). The renaissance "rediscovered" many forgotten aspects of Roman culture, such as the concept of "divine nakedness" or disguised portraits. Leonardo da Vinci used the effigy of his lover and lifelong companion Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno (1480-1524), better known as Salaì, as the model for his Saint John the Baptist, Bacchus and Angelo incarnato (after "Leonardo da Vinci : l'Angelo incarnato & Salai ..." by Carlo Pedretti, Margherita Melani, Daniel Arasse, p. 201). Salaì, which means "little dirty one" or "little devil" and comes from Arabic (after "The Renaissance in Italy: A History" by Kenneth Bartlett, p. 138), portrayed himself as Monna Vanna (nude Mona Lisa, Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci), almost like a reminiscence of bust of Antinous Mondragone, similar to the Lemnian Athena (Louvre Museum). He also depicted himself as Christ the Redeemer and Saint John the Baptist in two paintings, now at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan (inventory number 2686 and 98).

According to Derek Bair's theory (Discovering da Vinci), Leonardo's famous Mona Lisa is an anagram of Mon Salai ("My Salai" in French) - "Leonardo was known for word and title games and the Mona Lisa is no different. [...] Since they were two men and could not have a child together they, instead, painted one". Other researchers also claim that the image was primarily based on a young man who was Leonardo's apprentice and lover (after "Was the 'Mona Lisa' Based on Leonardo's Male Lover?" by Sarah Cascone).

Yet the renaissance was also a time when the majority of people unreservedly believed in traditional canons, so Copernicus with his theory that the sun, not the earth, is the center of the universe (Copernican heliocentrism) was considered a fool. Martin Luther referred to Copernicus as that fool who wished "to reverse the entire science of astronomy" (Der Narr will die ganze Kunst Astronomiae umkehren, 1539) and he was seconded by Philip Melanchthon, who cited the Bible at length on behalf of the traditional world view (1549). In 1616 the Holy Office branded the heliocentric theory as "foolish and absurd philosophically, and formally heretical" (after "Man and Nature in the Renaissance" by Allen G. Debus, p. 98). 

Many valuable works of art in Portugal were destroyed in horrific earthquakes (in 1531, 1755, 1761 in Lisbon and in 1748 in Madeira), but many have also been preserved. In Poland, wars, invasions and the subsequent impoverishment of the country, when many paintings that survived were sold, were much more effective in stripping it of the paintings of the so-called European Old Masters, so now very few original works ordered by the clienst from Poland-Lithuania can be seen. Among the few surviving orders from the territories of today's Poland to the Netherlands are the Pruszcz Polyptych by Colijn de Coter and Saint Reinhold Altar by Joos van Cleve (both in the National Museum in Warsaw), as well as pentaptych with Passion of Christ by workshop Jan de Molder (Church of the Assumption in Żukowo). ​The Baptism of Christ group by Dutch sculptor Nikolaus Gerhaert van Leyden in St. Florian's Collegiate Church in Kraków was most likely also an import as his stay in Poland is unconfirmed.

Eleanor of Austria mentioned, before marrying King Manuel and becoming Queen of Portugal, was a candidate to marry widowed King Sigismund I. Her grandfather, Emperor Maximilian I, through Brzetysław Świchowski, urged Sigismund to marry Eleanor or Bona, the niece of his second wife Bianca Maria Sforza, and to meet in Vienna or elsewhere about it, where Sigismund could get to know the two princesses and decide on his choice. The emperor would also like the wedding to take place in his presence, but in the meantime he asks Sigismund for a decision before St. Martin (November 11), as there are many competitors for the hands of the aforementioned princesses.

The king wrote letters to the most important senators, and among them to Krzysztof Szydłowiecki, officially communicating the imperial proposals and asking for their opinion. Meanwhile, Jan Boner, the Wieliczka żupnik, had already arranged for a portrait of Eleanor. The effigy pleases the king enough, but he doubted that it was painted "fairly and honestly". So the king asks Szydłowiecki to send him another portrait of the princess, to compare both and thus form a better, more truthful opinion. As the princess was living in the Netherlands at the time (at her aunt's court in Mechelen), both must have been made by Netherlandish painters, although it cannot be ruled out that Szydłowiecki arranged another painter, from the German or Italian school or sent a painter from Poland.

The king decided to choose Princess Eleanor and to inform the emperor about it through his envoy Rafal Leszczyński. He also declared to Maximilian that due to the war with Moscow the wedding could not take place in the summer of 1517. Nevertheless, due to "unforeseen obstacles" on the side of the Habsburgs, this marriage was not contracted, so Sigismund decided to marry Bona Sforza, niece of Empress Bianca Maria. If Eleanor's portrait pleased Sigismund only "enough", then the king writes to the chancellor about Bona's portrait that he liked it very much (bene nobis placet). Nevertheless, in the country there were many people who were reluctant to Sigismund's marriage project. The most influential of them was Archbishop Jan Łaski (1456-1531), who would gladly have married the king to Princess Anna of Masovia. He allegedly received as a gift 1,000 ducats for supporting this candidature from Princess' mother Duchess Anna Radziwill (1476-1522). Already in 1504, as a prince, when he was in Kraków, Sigismund "had his portrait painted and ... sent it to Anna, Duchess of Masovia" (after "Kanclerz Krzysztof Szydłowiecki ..." by Jerzy Kieszkowski, Volume 1, pp. 211-214, 715). He undoubtedly received the likenesses of the Duchess and her daughters. Such effigies were frequently exchanged, unfortunately almost all of them from the Jagiellonian epoch in Poland-Lithuania have been lost or forgotten.

Portrait of Henrique Alemão (probably Ladislaus III Jagiellon) and his wife Anes de Sá as Saint Joachim and Saint Anne by Master of the Adoration of Machico, possibly Jan Joest van Calcar, 1490s or early 16th century, Museu de Arte Sacra in Funchal.

Central panel of triptych of Our Lady of Mercy with Queen Maria of Aragon (1482-1517) as Madonna and King Manuel I of Portugal (1469-1521) and members of his family as donors by Jan Provoost, ca. 1515, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon.

Portrait of Infanta Isabella of Portugal (1503-1539) by Jan Provoost, ca. 1515-1517, Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven.

Portrait of Eleanor of Austria (1498-1558) as Saint Mary Magdalene by Jan Provoost, ca. 1524-1526, Museu de Arte Sacra in Funchal.

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Portraits of Hedwig Jagiellon and Anna Jagellonica by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Despite numerous suitors for her hand, the Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon remained unmarried at the age of 17. In 1529, Krzysztof Szydłowiecki and Jan Tarnowski proposed to Damião de Góis, envoy of John III, king of Portugal, to marry Hedwig to king's brother Infante Louis of Portugal, Duke of Beja. At the same time negotiations were carried to marry her to Louis X, Duke of Bavaria and Habsburgs, on April 18, 1531 proposed Frederick, brother of Louis V, Count Palatine of the Rhine. 

To attract suitable marriage proposal, Hedwig's father continued to amass a considerable dowry for her. He commissioned the most luxurious items in Poland and abroad, like the casket, created by Jacob Baur and Peter Flötner in Nuremberg in 1533, adorned with jewels from Jagiellon collection (Hermitage Museum). He also charged his banker Seweryn Boner with the acquisition in Venice of some lengths of silk, several hundred ells of satin, five cloth of gold bales, thirty bales of fine Swabian and Flemish linen as well as pearls for 1,000 florins. In her letter of 19 April 1535 the Princess asked her father for a larger amount of cloth of gold. 

The marriage was a political contract, and Princess' role was to seal the alliance between countries by producing offspring. Thanks to this she could also have some power in her new country and Hedwig's stepmother, Bona Sforza, knew perfectly about it. It was she who probably took care of providing some erotic items in Hedwig's dowry. 

In 1534 it was finally decided, in secret from Bona, who was unfavorable to the Hohenzollerns, that Hedwig will marry Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg and the marriage contract was signed on 21 March 1535. Sigismund commissioned some portraits of Hedwig from court painter Antonius (most probably Antoni of Wrocław), which were sent to Joachim.

The groom arrived to Kraków with a retinue of 1000 courtiers and 856 horses and Sigismund's nephew Albert, Duke of Prussia with his wife Dorothea of Denmark and 400 people. Apart from 32,000 red zlotys in cash Hedwig also received from her father robes, silverware, "other indispensable utensils", money for personal use, as well as a rich bed with canopy (canopia alias namiothy), which she took with her to Berlin (compare "Dzieje wnętrz wawelskich" by Tadeusz Mańkowski, p. 23). The manuscript of Seweryn Boner's expenses from 1535, containing the list of Princess Hedwig's trousseau, was unfortunately burned during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 (after "Królewna Jadwiga i jej książeczka do spowiedzi" by Urszula Borkowska, p. 88).  
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A large painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder from about 1530 in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (oil on panel, 166.9 x 61.4 cm, inv. 594), which was transferred from the Royal Prussian Castles in 1829/1830, shows Hedwig as Venus and Cupid. The sitter's resemblance to the princess from her earlier portraits by Cranach, which I have identified, is undeniable - paintings in Veste Coburg (M.163) and Prague Castle (HS 242). This erotic painting was undeniably part of her dowry.

A portrait from the same collection, which depicts Hedwig as Judith with the Head of Holofernes and dated 1531, was acquired from Suermondt collection in Aachen (oil on panel, 72 x 56 cm, inv. 636A). As the portraits of her stepmother, it most probably also has a political meaning, or the Princess just wanted to be depicted as her beautiful stepmother. 

Aachen was an Imperial City, where coronations of emperors were held till 1562 and in 1815, control of the town was passed to the Kingdom of Prussia. Already in 1523 Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg wanted Hedwig's hand for one of his sons. It is possible that her portrait as Judith was sent to the Hohenzollerns or to the Habsburgs already in 1531 to underline that the Jagiellons would not permit them to take their crown. 

A similar painting to that of Hedwig's, depicting Venus with Cupid stealing honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder and dated 1531, is in the Borghese Gallery in Rome (oil on panel, 169 x 67 cm, inv. 326). It was aquired in 1611 and bears the same inscription as effigy of Katarzyna Telniczanka as Venus. The woman has features of Hedwig's cousin Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), Queen of Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary. Anna was a daughter of Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, elder brother of Sigismund I, and his third wife, Anne of Foix-Candale. On 26 May 1521 she married Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, grandson of Emperor Maximilan I, who was elevated to the title King of the Romans by his brother Emperor Charles V in 1531. 

On her golden hairnet embroidered with pearls there is a monogram W.A.F.I. or W.A.F. which can be interpreted as Wladislaus et Anna (parents), Ferdinandus I (husband), Wladislaus et Anna Filia (daughter of Vladislaus and Anne) or Wladislaus et Anna de Fuxio (Vladislaus and Anne of Foix). Similar monogram of her parents WA is visible on a golden pendant at her hat in her portrait at the age of 16 by Hans Maler, created in 1520 (private collection). 

A portrait of Anna's husband, painted by Cranach in 1548, so after her death, is in Güstrow Palace (G 2486). The register of paintings of Boguslaus Radziwill (1620-1669) from 1657 (AGAD 1/354/0/26/84), which included several paintings by Cranach, lists: "Image of the Three Cupids", "Image of the Three Goddesses", "A picture of the Emperor's face on one side and Adam and Eve on the other by Lucas Cranach", "Judith" and "Lucas Cranach's art with Venus and Cupid". 

In his "Thoughts on painting" (Considerazioni sulla pittura), written between 1617 and 1621 in Rome, Italian physician and art collector Giulio Mancini (1559-1630), claimed that "lascivious paintings in similar places where a man stays with his wife are appropriate, because such a view is very beneficial for excitement and for making beautiful, healthy and vigorous sons" (pitture lascive in simil luoghi dove si trattenga con sua consorte sono a proposito, perché simil veduta giova assai all’eccitamento et al far figli belli, sani e gagliardi) (partially after "Ksiądz Stanisław Orzechowski i swawolne dziewczęta" by Marcin Fabiański, p. 60). 

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Venus and Cupid by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Judith with the Head of Holofernes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1531, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

Portrait of Queen Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547) as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1531, Borghese Gallery in Rome.

Portraits of Zofia Szydłowiecka by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop

On April 4, 1528, John Zapolya, elected King of Hungary, came to Tarnów in the company of Grand Crown Hetman and voivode of Ruthenia, Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561). As a result of the double election and the lost battle with Archduke Ferdinand I near Tokaj, Zapolya sought a safe haven - first in Transylvania and then in Poland. 

For the duration of his stay, Hetman Tarnowski made the entire castle and the city of Tarnów at his disposal, for which, he was severely reprimanded by Ferdinand I. To this, in a letter dated in Sandomierz on 25 July 1528, he was to reply that the holy laws of friendship did not allow him to refuse hospitality. From April to September 1528, the city became, under the patronage of Queen Bona, the seat of the Hungarian king and the center of activities aimed at restoring his throne. The Queen did it secretly so as not to reveal her role to the Habsburg agents.  

Zapolya sent ambassadors to Bavaria, King Francis I of France, the Pope and a number of other states. Finally he approached the Ottoman Porte and returned to Hungary on October 2, 1528. He expressed his gratitude for the hospitality of the people of Tarnów by granting a trade privilege and founding a beautiful altar for the collegiate church, not preserved. To the Hetman he offered a mace and a golden shield, estimated at 40,000 Hungarian red zlotys (after Andrzej Niedojadło's "Goście zamku tarnowskiego" and Przemysław Mazur's "Król Jan Zápolya w Tarnowie - Tarnów 'stolicą' Węgier").

On May 8, 1530 in the royal Wawel Cathedral, in the presence of the king and queen, the bishop of Kraków, Piotr Tomicki, celebrated the wedding of sixteen-year-old Zofia Szydłowiecka and forty-two-year-old (which was then considered an advanced age) Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski. Zofia, born in about 1514, was the eldest daughter of Krzysztof Szydłowiecki (1467-1532), Great Chancellor of the Crown and Zofia Targowicka (ca. 1490-1556) of Tarnawa coat of arms. They had 9 children, but only three daughters reached adulthood. 

Szydłowiecki was a political opponent of Queen Bona and supporter of the Habsburgs - in 1527 he reported to his friend Albert of Prussia, that the Queen extended her influence to almost all spheres of political life. In addition to a luxurious lifestyle, for which he earned the name of the Polish Lucullus among his contemporaries, he was a patron of art and science and collected illuminated codices. Erasmus of Rotterdam dedicated his work "Lingua" to him, published in Basel in 1525. In 1530 the Crown Chancellor thanked to Jan Dantyszek for the portrait of Hernán Cortés that he sent to him, adding that the man's deeds are known to him ex libro notationum received as a gift from Ferdinand of Austria. After his death in 1532, Jan Amor Tarnowski, become the guardian of his younger daughters.

In 1519, when his second daughter Krystyna Katarzyna, future duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica was born, Krzysztof Szydłowiecki commissioned a votive painting, most likely, for the Collegiate Church of St. Martin in Opatów, where he also offered a portrait of Beatrice of Naples as Madonna and Child by Timoteo Viti or Lucas Cranach the Elder. This painting, attributed to Master Georgius, a painter apparently of Bohemian origin, was later in the collection of count Zdzisław Tarnowski in Kraków, now in the National Museum in Kraków (tempera and gold on wood, 60.5 x 50 cm, MNK I-986). It shows the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and the founder kneeling and looking at the Virgin. His effigy, armour and attire are very similar to these visible in the miniature from the Liber geneseos illustris familiae Schidloviciae (The genealogical book of the Szydłowieckis) in the Kórnik Library, created by Stanisław Samostrzelnik in 1532. The effigy of Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, the protector of pregnant women and patron saint of families and children, on the right is very similar to the portrait of Zofia Szydłowiecka née Goździkowska of Łabędź (Swan) coat of arms, mother of Krzysztof in the same Liber geneseos illustris familiae Schidloviciae. Also face features of Saint Anne are very similar to effigies of sons of Zofia Goździkowska - from the bronze tomb monument of Krzysztof Szydłowiecki in the Collegiate Church in Opatów, attributed to Bernardino Zanobi de Gianotis and marble tombstone of Mikołaj Stanisław Szydłowiecki (1480-1532) in Szydłowiec, created by Bartolommeo Berrecci or workshop, both from about 1532. Consequently the woman depicted as the Virgin must be Zofia Targowicka, wife of Krzysztof Szydłowiecki. 

A similar woman to the effigy of the Virgin from Szydłowiecki's votive painting was depicted as Madonna and as Venus in two small paintings, both by Lucas Cranach, his son or workshop. The image of Venus, today in private collection (wood, 42 x 27 cm), had been in the collection of Munich art dealer A.S. Drey, before being acquired by the Mogmar Art Foundation in New York in 1936. It is similar to effigies of Beata Kościelecka and Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577), Duchess of Pomerania as Venus, therefore should be dated to around 1530, when Zofia Szydłowiecka, the eldest daughter of Krzysztof was about to get married. The Madonna with similar face was purchased from Monsignor J. Shine on April 1954 by the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin (transferred to linen, attached to plywood, 72.3 x 49.5 cm, NGI.1278). 

​A miniature tondo from the collection of Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon de Fabregoules (1746-1836), offered to the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence by his sons in 1860 (wood, 14 cm, inv. 343), shows her in a dress and pose similar to that of Queen Bona in a miniature sold at Hôtel Drouot in Paris on October 30, 1942. This miniature was stolen in 1963, while according to the 1900 guide her hat and dress were red ("Musée d'Aix, Bouches-du-Rhône: le musée Granet" by Henri Pontier, p. 109), a typical colour of the Polish nobility. 

The same woman was also depicted as Judith with the head of Holofernes in a painting by workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder, similar to the portrait of Queen Bona in Vienna and in Stuttgart. This painting was acquired by William Delafield in 1857 and was sold in London in 1870 (wood, 39.7 x 26.7 cm). Her face is very similar to the portrait of Krzysztof Szydłowiecki in the Liber geneseos illustris familiae Schidloviciae. If the portrait as Judith was a political statement of support of the Queen's policies and not a whim of a young girl willing to emulate the Queen, this will add a further explanation to a series of caricature portraits of this girl in the arms of an ugly, old man.

One of the best of these caricature portraits is in the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf (wood, 38.8 x 25.7, M 2248). Before 1860 it was in the collection of Count August von Spee (1813-1882) from an old Rhenish noble family from the Archdiocese of Cologne, while the Archbishop of Cologne was one of the Electors of the Holy Roman Empire. On 5 January 1531 Ferdinand of Austria had been elected the King of the Romans and so the legitimate successor of the reigning Emperor, Charles V, who was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor in 1530. A workshop copy of this painting from the collection of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal (1721-1803), a personal advisor of Empress Maria Theresa, is in the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu, Transylvania (wood, 37.4 x 27.6 cm, inv. 218). Brukenthal came from Transylvanian Saxon lesser nobility, while the Saxons were partisans of Ferdinand of Austria and supported the House of Habsburg against John Zapolya. Several other copies of this composition exist. The girl was also depicted in another version of the scene, kissing the old man, in the National Gallery in Prague (wood, 38.1 x 25.1 cm, O 455). It was bequeathed by Dr. Jan Kanka in 1866 and its earlier history is unknown. This work of fairly high standard, may have been produced by the master himself. On 24 October 1526 the Bohemian Diet elected Ferdinand King of Bohemia under conditions of confirming traditional privileges of the estates and also moving the Habsburg court to Prague. 

We can assume with high probability that the paintings were commissioned by partisans of Ferdinand I or even by himself, dissatisfied that the eldest daughter of Szydłowiecki joined the camp of his opponent, "a great enemy of the king of Rome" Queen Bona (as later reported an anonymous Habsburg agent at the Polish court in an encrypted message). It is possible that the painting "A woman courted by the old man", mentioned in the register of paintings of Boguslaus Radziwill (1620-1669) from 1657 (AGAD 1/354/0/26/84), where there were several paintings by Cranach, was another version or a copy of one of these two compositions.

She was also depicted in another painting by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder from the early 1530s, in guise of Lucretia, legendary heroine of ancient Rome, just before she commits suicide, now in the Historical Museum in Regensburg (wood, 62 x 41 cm, LG 14). The painting was purchased from the Swiss art market by Hermann Göring in 1942. Seized by the Allies after the World War II, it was acquired by the Federal Republic of Germany.

Her splendid gown, open at the front and revealing her naked chest, is similar to those visible in the miniatures of Barbara Tarnowska née Szydłowiecka and Anna Szydłowiecka née Tęczyńska from the mentioned Liber geneseos. The castle behind on a fantastic rock is undoubtedly one of the Tarnowski mansions in mythical disguise, possibly the favorite residence of Jan Amor Tarnowski in Wiewiórka near Dębica, who died there in 1561. This cannot be confirmed with certainty because the opulent residence in Wiewiórka was almost completely destroyed and no confirmed view of the castle preserved. This defensive manor on a hill surrounded by a moat, had at least one tower and a drawbridge, as well as barrel vaulted cellars, which preserved.

Many important political and cultural figures of 16th-century Poland visited the court in Wiewiórka, and in 1556 a meeting of the hetman's supporters was held there, during which postulates of religious reforms for the next Sejm were drafted, including, among others, the marriage of priests. 

​Very little is known about Tarnowski's artistic patronage in the field of painting, as well as his painted effigies created during his lifetime. He was undoubtedly represented in the painting depicting the Battle of Orsha (1514), now in the National Museum in Warsaw (inv. MP 2475), in which he participated. According to Zdzisław Żygulski (1921-2015), he was probably depicted among the officers of the heavy armoured cavalry reaching dry land - the knight on the left, wearing a purple toque over a red bonnet (after "The Battle of Orsha: An Explication of the Arms ...", p. 120). This painting is currently attributed to Hans Krell and shows strong influences from Cranach's style. It is considered to have been painted at least ten years after the event, so the painter must have based the effigy of Tarnowski on his earlier portraits, probably also created by Cranach, his workshop or a follower.

Virgin and Child with Saint Anne with portraits of Krzysztof Szydłowiecki, his wife Zofia Targowicka and mother Zofia Goździkowska by Master Georgius, 1519, National Museum in Kraków.

Portrait of Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551) as Venus and Cupid by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Lucas Cranach the Younger or workshop, ca. 1530, Private collection.

Portrait of Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551) as Madonna and Child with Infant John the Baptist and angels by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Lucas Cranach the Younger or workshop, ca. 1530 or after, National Gallery of Ireland.

Miniature portrait of Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence​, stolen. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Private collection.

Ill-Matched Couple, caricature of Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551) and her husband by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1530, Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf.

Ill-Matched Couple, caricature of Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551) and her husband by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu.

Ill-Matched Couple, caricature of Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551) and her husband by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1530, National Gallery in Prague.

​Portrait of Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551) as Lucretia by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1532, Historical Museum in Regensburg.

​Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) among the officers of the heavy armoured cavalry reaching dry land, fragment of the Battle of Orsha (1514), by workshop or follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder (Hans Krell?), ca. 1525-1535, National Museum in Warsaw. 

Portrait of Krzysztof Szydłowiecki, Great Chancellor of the Crown by Titian

"I am a great admirer of beautiful and artistic paintings" (Ego multum delector in pulcra et artificiosa pictura), wrote Krzysztof Szydłowiecki (1467-1532), Vice-Chancellor of the Crown, in a letter of May 17, 1512 from Toruń to Fabian Luzjański, Bishop of Warmia. He asked for help in obtaining from Flanders via Gdańsk the painting of the Madonna Monstra te esse Matrem ("Show thyself a mother"). 

From 1496 Szydłowiecki was a courtier of Prince Sigismund and from 1505 he was a marshal of the prince's court. From the moment of the coronation of Sigismund I, Krzysztof occupied various important positions and he become the Great Chancellor of the Crown in 1515. He managed Polish foreign policy during the reign of Sigismund I. In 1515, together with Bishop Piotr Tomicki, he developed an agreement with the Habsburgs, which was signed during the Congress of Vienna and Emperor Maximilian I, as a sign of respect and gratitude, granted Krzysztof the title of baron of the Holy Roman Empire (he rejected the princely title offered to him by the emperor). 

Thanks to numerous grants, as well as bribes (from Emperor Maximilian alone, he accepted 80,000 ducats for supporting Austria at the congress of monarchs in Vienna, and also took money from the monarch of Hungary, John Zapolya, and Francis I of France; the city of Gdańsk also paid for the protection), he made a huge fortune. The chancellor died on December 30 , 1532 in Kraków, and was buried in the collegiate church in Opatów. His tombstone, decorated with a bronze bas-relief, was made in the workshop of Bartolommeo Berrecci and Giovanni Cini in Kraków. He ordered the tombstone for himself during his lifetime and after his death, in about 1536, on the initiative of his son-in-law Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561), it was enlarged by adding a bas-relief depicting relatives and friends moved by the news of the chancellor's death, on the pedestal of the monument (so-called Opatów Lamentation).

Szydłowiecki imitated the luxurious lifestyle of Prince Sigismund, who in 1501 ordered several illuminated prayer books (or one book adorned by several illuminators), and the following year bought paintings with views of different buildings from Italian merchant (Ilalo qui picturas edificiorum dno principi dedit 1/2 fl.). Despite being a political opponent of Queen Bona, he followed the example of the queen, who at her court employed Italian painters and imported paintings from Italy for her vast collection (after "Bona Sforza" by Maria Bogucka, p. 105). His splendid castle on the island in Ćmielów, rebuilt in renaissance style between 1519-1531, was destroyed in 1657 by Swedish and Transylvanian forces, which also massacred many noble families who had taken refuge there (after "Encyklopedia powszechna", Volume 5, p. 755). This veritable Apocalypse, known as the Deluge (1655-1660), as well as other invasions and wars, left very little trace of the chancellor's patronage.

Before 1509, Krzysztof's brother Jakub Szydłowiecki, Grand Treasurer of the Crown, brought from Flanders a "masterly made" painting of the Madonna (after "Złoty widnokrąg" by Michał Walicki, p. 108). In 1515 the chancellor offered to the Collegiate Church in Opatów a painting of Madonna and Child (disguised portrait of Beatrice of Naples, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia) by Timoteo Viti or Lucas Cranach the Elder, and in 1519 Master Georgius created a portrait of Krzysztof as a donor (National Museum in Kraków, MNK I-986). More than a decade later, in 1530, the chancellor received from Jan Dantyszek the portrait of Hernán Cortés, most likely by Titian, and a portrait of the chancellor was mentioned in the vault of the Nesvizh Castle in the 17th century. Most likely in Venice, in 1515 or after, Krzysztof acquired Legenda aurea sive Flores sanctorum by Jacobus de Voragine for his library (a printed bookplate with his coat of arms is on the back of the front cover), today in the National Library of Poland (Rps BOZ 11). It was created in the 1480s for Francesco Vendramini from Venice and illuminated by miniaturists active in Padua and Venice. 

In 1511, one of Poland's finest Renaissance painters and miniaturists, Stanisław Samostrzelnik, who also worked for the royal court, became his court painter (pictori nostro) and chaplain, and in this capacity he accompanied Szydłowiecki on his travels. Stanisław probably stayed with his patron in 1514 in Buda, where he became familiar with the Italian Renaissance. He decorated documents issued by the chancellor, such as the privilege of Opatów of August 26, 1519, with the portrait of the chancellor as a kneeling donor, wearing a fine gold-engraved armor and a crimson tunic. Shortly before the chancellor's death, he began working on a series of miniature portraits of members of the Szydłowiecki family, known as Liber geneseos illustris familiae Schidloviciae (1531-1532, Kórnik Library), including the effigy of the chancellor in another beautiful armour decorated with gold and crimson tunic.

Earlier, in 1524, Samostrzelnik illuminated the Prayer Book of Szydłowiecki, adorned with chancellor's coat of arms in many miniatures. It is dated (Anno Do. MDXXIIII) and has a painted bookplate. The manuscript was disassembled at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Probably a Milanese antiquarian cut out miniatures from it, some of which, in the number of ten, were acquired by Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan (F 277 inf. no 1-10), while the manuscript, divided into two parts and acquired by the City of Milan from the library of the princes of Trivulzio, is kept in the Archivio Storico Civico (Cod. no 459, Cod. no 460).

One miniature, the Flight into Egypt, is largely inspired by a painting by Hans Suess von Kulmbach, created in 1511 for the Skałka Monastery in Kraków. The others could derive from paintings in the Szydłowiecki collection or the royal collection - the Massacre of the Innocents, reminiscent of Flemish paintings and the Madonna and Child, in a manner that brings to mind the Italian paintings. The prayer book is one of the two important polonica of the Jagiellonian period in Milan. The other is also in Ambrosiana, in a part dedicated to art collection - Pinacoteca. It is a sapphire intaglio with bust of Queen Bona Sforza, attributed to Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio (inventory number 284). If not for the Latin inscription on her dress (BONA SPHOR • REG • POLO •), it would be considered to represent an Italian princess, which is generally correct. The exact provenance of these two works of art is unknown, so we cannot rule out the possibility that they were diplomatic gifts to Francesco II Sforza (1495-1535), the last member of the Sforza family to rule Milan, and Bona's relative. The ruling houses of Europe exchanged such gifts and effigies at that time, including the portraits of important notables.

In the same Ambrosiana in Milan there is also a portrait of an old man in armour by Titian (oil on canvas, 65 x 58 cm, inventory number 284). It is dated around 1530, the time when Chancellor Szydłowiecki received a portrait of the Spanish conquistador, most likely by Titian. The work arrives in Ambrosiana together with the nucleus donated in 1618 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo who in the Musaeum reports that "Titian would have liked to paint his father like this, in armour, to jokingly celebrate the nobility he said he had achieved with such an offspring" (Tiziano avrebbe voluto dipingere suo padre così corazzato, per celebrare scherzosamente la nobiltà che egli diceva di aver conseguito con una tale prole). "Jokingly", because the old man's truly lordly attire and pose do not suit the simple clerk that was Titian's father, Gregorio Vecellio. He held various minor posts in Cadore from 1495 to 1527, including that of an officer in the local militia and, from 1525, superintendent of mines. We should doubt that anyone really wanted to joke around with their father like that, especially a respected painter such as Titian, thus this suggestion has not convinced art historians of the identity of the model.

The man in the portrait wears costly armour etched with gold and a crimson velvet tunic, known as a brigandine, a garment usually made of thick fabric, lined inside with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric. Very similar velvet brigandine in the Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren) in Stockholm (LRK 22285/LRK 22286), is considered as a war booty from Warsaw (1655), just like another, larger (23167 LRK). Szydłowiecki's son-in-law, Jan Amor Tarnowski, was depicted in armour with crimson brigandine and holding a baton in a painting by circle of Jacopo Tintoretto (Private collection). The sitter in Ambrosiana painting is also holding a miltary baton, that is traditionally the sign of a field marshal or a similar high-ranking military officer. Chancellor Szydłowiecki is generally not considered an important military commander, like Tarnowski, but he held several military positions, such as the castellan of Kraków (1527-1532), who commanded the nobility of his county during a military campaign (after "Ksie̜ga rzeczy polskich" by Zygmunt Gloger, p. 153-154), and in all mentioned effigies by Samostrzelnik, as well as in his tombstone, he was portrayed like an important military officer. The age of the sitter also matches the age of the chancellor, who was 64 in 1530.

Finally, the man in the portrait bears a strong resemblance to Szydłowiecki as represented in a medal by Hans Schwarz from 1526 (The State Hermitage Museum, ИМ-13497). The Chancellor's characteristic facial features, a pointed nose and protruding lower lip, are similar to those of his tombstone effigy, his portraits by Master Georgius and Samostrzelnik (Liber geneseos ...), as well as in the marble tombstone of his brother Mikołaj Stanisław (1480-1532) by Bartolommeo Berrecci or workshop, founded by Krzysztof (Saint Sigismund's church in Szydłowiec). It is not without reason that Szydłowiecki was known as the Polish Lucullus, in memory of a Roman general and statesman famous for his lavish lifestyle.

One of the few paintings by Titian and his workshop that have survived in the former territories of Renaissance Sarmatia is today in Wawel Castle in Kraków, the former royal residence (oil on canvas, 74 x 115 cm, inv. ZKnW-PZS 7). It comes from the collection of Count Leon Jan Piniński (1857-1938) in Lviv, donated in 1931 and represents the Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Cecilia. Its earlier history is unknown, but Piniński, who, in addition to paintings of the Italian and especially Venetian school, also collected polonica, such as portraits of the Jagiellons now in Wawel, probably acquired them in Lviv, where many paintings from the historical collections of former Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia have survived the turbulent history. This painting is considered to be a workshop copy of a lost original, another version of which is in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan (inv. 200). Like the portrait of the "Titian's father", the Milanese copy comes from the collection of Cardinal Federico Borromeo and was acquired before 1607. The Milanese painting is dated between 1540 and 1560 and Titian (and eventually his workshop) borrowed elements from an earlier composition preserved in the Louvre (INV 742; MR 514), namely the Madonna and the pose of Saint John the Baptist. The Louvre painting is dated between around 1510 and 1525 and belonged before 1598 to the Dukes d'Este in Ferrara, relatives of Queen Bona Sforza.

"In the very year of the liberation of Wawel, in 1905, Professor L. Count Piniński came up with the idea of ​​creating a 'treasury of works of art and a reliquary of historical memorabilia, in an ancient castle, which was, in the most glorious times of our culture, the heart of all Poland'", wrote Stanisław Świerz (1886-1951), curator of Wawel, in a 1935 publication on the collections of Wawel Castle. The author adds that Piniński donated to Wawel the collection that was "the result of the lifelong efforts and sacrifices of the great donor, a collection gathered since his youth with the intention of decorating the renovated interiors of Wawel" (after "Zbiory zamku królewskiego na Wawelu w Krakowie", p. 5-6, 8). 

Portrait of Krzysztof Szydłowiecki (1467-1532), Great Chancellor of the Crown in armour with crimson brigandine and holding a baton by Titian, ca. 1530, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan.

Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Cecilia by workshop of Titian, after 1525, Wawel Royal Castle. 

Portraits of Princes of Ostroh by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop

Soon after death of Constantine, Prince of Ostroh king Sigismund had to deal with the quarrel between his son and his stepmother over the fabulous inheritance. Prince Ilia took the body of his father to Kiev, where he was buried in the Chapel of Saint Stephen of the Pechersk Lavra with great splendor. Already in 1522 his father assured him the succession to the starost of Bratslav and Vinnytsia, confirmed by the privilege of the king Sigismund issued at Grodno Sejm, "on Friday before Laetare Sunday 1522".

Then Prince Ilia sent from Kiev one hundred horsemen to the Turov Castle, on which a dower of his stepmother was secured. They took the castle by force, they sealed all things in the treasury, as well as privileges and even the testament of the deceased prince, handing them over to Turov governor. Alexandra's brother, Prince Yuri Olelkovich-Slutsky (ca. 1492-1542), intervened with the king, who sent his courtier to Prince Ilia, ordering him to return the castle and to pay a dowry of his sister Sophia: "As for Princess Alexandra's daughter, she [mother] is not to give her the third part of the dowry or the trousseau; but her brothers, Prince Ilia and the son of Princess Alexandra, Prince Vasily, her daughter, and their sister to equip and pay her dowry" (royal decree issued on August 5, 1531 in Kraków).

In 1523, when he was twelve years of age, Ilia's father enaged him to a five-year-old daughter of his friend George Hercules Radziwill, Anna Elizabeth (1518-1558). George Hercules obtained a dispensation from Pope Clement VII as the groom was baptized and brought up in the "Greek rite".

After death of his father the young prince lived in Kraków at the royal court, where he studied Latin and Polish. In 1530, 1531 and 1533 he fought with the Tatars and between 1534-1536 he took part in the Muscovite-Lithuanian war where he commanded his own armed forces.
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In 1536 Radziwill demanded that Ilia fulfill the contract, he however refused to marry Anna Elizabeth or her sister Barbara, citing the lack of his own consent and because he fell in love with Beata Kościelecka, a daughter of king's mistress. In a document issued on December 20, 1537 in Kraków king Sigismund released him from this obligation. 

"Prince Ilia falls from one mud to another", wrote to Albert of Prussia, royal courtier Mikołaj Nipszyc (Nikolaus Nibschitz), who also very negatively characterized liberated daughters of George Hercules Radziwill, about the planned marriage of Ilia with Kościelecka.

The engagement with Beata was sealed with the royal blessing on January 1, 1539, and the wedding, on February 3 of the same year, was held at the Wawel Castle, one day after the wedding of Isabella Jagiellon and John Zapolya, King of Hungary. After the wedding ceremony, a jousting tournament was organized, in which Ilia took part. The prince wore silver armor lined with black velvet, a Tatar belt and leather shoes with spurs and silver sheets. During a duel with young king Sigismund Augustus, Ilia fell from his horse and suffered severe injuries. On August 16, 1539 in Ostroh, he signed his last will in which he left his possessions to the unborn child of Beata, a daughter born three months later.

By virtue of the judgment of August 1531 Princess Alexandra was granted the towns of Turov and Tarasovo in today's Belarus and Slovensko, near Vilnius. As a wealthy widow in her late 20s, she most probably lived with her stepson in Kraków and in Turov. 

A painting by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder dated '1531' below inscription in Latin, most probably the first approach to this subject by Cranach, shows a courtly scene of Hercules and Omphale. A young man in guise of mythical hero is flanked by two noblewomen as Omphale's ladies. Partridges, a symbol of sexual desire hangs over the heads of the women. In the myths Omphale and Hercules became lovers and they had a son. The painting is known from several versions, all by Cranach's workshop as original, likely to be by the master's hand, is considered lost. 

One copy was reported before 1891 in the Wiederau Castle, built between 1697 and 1705 in a village south of Leipzig by David von Fletscher, a merchant of Scotish origin, royal Polish and electoral-Saxon privy and commercial councilor. The other was owned by the Minnesota Museum of Art until 1976 (panel, 78 x 118 cm, Sotheby's New York, June 16, 1976, lot 99), and another was sold in Cologne in 1966 (panel, 80 x 119 cm, Lempertz, November, 1966, lot 27). There is also a version which was sold in June 1917 in Berlin together with a large collection of Wojciech Kolasiński (1852-1916), a minor Polish painter better known as an art restorer, collector, and antiquarian of Warsaw (Sammlung des verstorbenen herrn A. von Kolasinski - Warschau, Volume 2, item 25, pic. 31, panel, 81.3 x 118.1 cm, Sotheby's New York, January 24, 2008, lot 29​). 

The audacious woman on the left has just put a woman's cap on the head of a god of strength dressed in a lion's skin. Her bold pose is very similar to that visible in a portrait of Beata Kościelecka, created by Bernardino Licinio just a year later. Also her face features resemble greatly other effigies of Beata. The woman on the right bears the features of Princess Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska, the young man is therefore Prince Ilia, who just returned from a glorious expedition against Tatars.

Princess Alexandra, a beautiful young woman, like Queen Bona and Beata Kościelecka, also deserved to be represented in "guise" of the goddess of love - Venus. A small painting of a nude woman by Lucas Cranach the Elder, acquired by Liechtenstein collection in 2013, and sometimes considered a fake, is dated "1531" (oil on panel, 38.7 x 24.5 cm, inv. GE 2497) and the woman resemble greatly Princess Alexandra. This work predates by one year a very similar Venus in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt (panel, 37.7 x 24.5 m, inv. 1125), which was donated in 1878 by the businessman and art collector Moritz von Gontard (1826-1886) and was previously probably in the Schleinitz collection in Dresden.

​Hercules at the court of Omphale with portrait of Beata Kościelecka, Ilia, Prince of Ostroh and Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska, ​from the Kolasiński collection, by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1531, Private collection.

​Hercules at the court of Omphale with portrait of Beata Kościelecka, Ilia, Prince of Ostroh and Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska, from Cologne, by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1531, Private collection. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Hercules at the court of Omphale with portrait of Beata Kościelecka, Ilia, Prince of Ostroh and Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska, from Minnesota Museum of Art, by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1531, Private collection.

Portrait of Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska, Princess of Ostroh nude (Venus) by Lucas Cranach the Elder or workshop, 1531, Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska, Princess of Ostroh nude (Venus) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1532, Städel Museum in Frankfurt.

Portrait of Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska by Bernardino Licinio

The number of portraits by Licinio that can be associated with Poland and Lithuania allows us to conclude that he became the favorite painter of the Polish-Lithuanian royal court in Venice in the 1530s, especially of Queen Bona, Duchess of Bari and Rossano by her own right. It seems also that portraits were commissioned in Licinio's and Cranach's workshops at the same time as some of them bear the same date (like the effigies of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski). Fashion in the 16th century was an instrument of politics, so in portraits for German "allies" the model was depicted dressed more in German style and for Italian "allies" in Italian style, with exceptions like the portrait of Queen Bona by Cranach in Florence (Villa di Poggio Imperiale) or her portrait by Giovanni Cariani in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum).
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After death of his father in 1530 Prince of Ostroh, Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), the younger son of Grand Hetman of Lithuania, was brought up in Turov by his mother Princess Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska, who administered the lands on behalf of her minor son. On January 15, 1532, the king ordered Fyodor Sangushko (d. 1547), starost of Volodymyr and Ivan Mykhailovych Khorevitch, starost of Queen Bona in Pinsk, to be commissioners for the implementation of the agreements reached between Ilia, Constantine Vasily's elder brother, and Alexandra. In 1537 a royal privilege to trade in Tarasov was issued in her name. Unlike other children of wealthy magnates Constantine Vasily did not travel to Europe and did not study in European universities. It is believed that his education was entirely at home. In particular, Constantine Vasily was taught by a tutor well versed in Latin and his home education was quite thorough, as evidenced by his subsequent great cultural and educational activity and knowledge of other languages (apart from Ruthenian, he knew Polish and Latin). At that time, it was much more important for the sons of magnates to acquire military knowledge and skills than to master languages and arts of discourse, especially this concerned the families of border officials, whose possessions constantly suffered from Tatar attacks. As important landowners Alexandra and her son were undoubtedly frequent guests at the multicultural, itinerant royal court in Lviv, Kraków, Grodno or Vilnius, where they could also meet many Italians, like the royal architect and sculptor Bernardo Zanobi de Gianottis, called Romanus. In a letter written in Belarusian on August 25, 1539, to a trusted servant in Vilnius, Szymek Mackiewicz (Mackevičius), Queen Bona commented on the alterations in the palace's loggia to be made by master Bernardo (after "Spółka architektoniczno-rzeźbiarska Bernardina de Gianotis i Jana Cini" by Helena Kozakiewiczowa, p. 161). This would explain later contacts of Constantine Vasily with Venice. Also the ancestral nest of the family - Ostroh was a multicultural city, where, apart from orthodox Ruthenians, many Jews, Catholics and Muslim Tatars also lived (after "Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski wobec katolicyzmu i wyznań protestanckich" by Tomasz Kempa, p. 18). 

In 1539, the struggle for the inheritance gained a new intensity after the death of Ilia and his wife Beata Kościelecka's entry into management of all estates. The protegee of Sigismund and Bona once accused Alexandra and her son of intending to seize all estates by force and she obtained from Sigismund a relevant decree to prevent it. In 1548 Princess Alexandra was mentioned in a letter regarding the appointment of the Kobryn archimandrite. Seven year later, in 1555, "Duchess Constantinova Ivanovitch Ostrozka, Voivodess of Trakai, Hetmaness Supreme of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Princess Alexandra Semenovna" had a case with Prince Semyon Yurievich Olshanski about mutual wrongs in the neighboring estates of Turov and Ryczowice and in 1556 she was granted the privilege to found a town on her estate of Sliedy. From February to June 1562, she conducted her own property and court affairs. She was still living in 1563 as on August 30, Duke Albert of Prussia addressed a letter to her, but on June 3, 1564, she was mentioned in the royal letter as deceased. Some researchers tend to think that it was Alexandra that was buried in Pechersk Lavra in Kiev next to her husband (after "Prince Vasyl-Kostyantyn Ostrozki ..." by Vasiliy Ulianovsky).

The proud and fabulously rich Ruthenian princess, a descendant of Grand Princes of Kiev and Grand Dukes of Lithuania, could afford the splendor worthy of the Italian queen Bona and to be painted by the same painter as the queen. 

The young woman from a portrait by Bernardino Licinio in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (oil on panel, 69.5 x 55.9 cm, inv. Cat. 203) bear a striking resemblance to effigies of Alexandra by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, indentified by me, especially her portrait as Venus (Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna) and in the scene of Hercules and Omphale from the Kolasiński collection, both dated "1531". This portrait is dated to about 1530 and comes from the collection of an American corporate lawyer and art collector John Graver Johnson (1841-1917). The lady in a brown dress and an expensive necklace with a cross in Italian style around her neck, holds gloves in her right hand, accessories of a rich noblewoman.

Portrait of Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska, Princess of Ostroh holding gloves by Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1531, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Portraits of Beata Kościelecka by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Bernardino Licinio

"O Beata, adorned so rich in rare charms, You have a virtuous and honest speech, The worthy and unworthy of you still adore you, The gray-haired, though prudent, they go crazy for you" (O Beata decorata rara forma, moribus / O honesta ac modesta vultu, verbis, gestibus! / Digni simul et indigni te semper suspiciunt / Et grandaevi ac prudentes propter te desipiunt), wrote in his panegyric modeled on the hymn in honor of the Virgin Mary, entitled Prosa de Beata Kościelecka virgine in gynaeceo Bonae reginae Poloniae (On Beata Kościelecka a maiden in the household of Bona, Queen of Poland, II, XLVII), Andrzej Krzycki (1482-1537), Bishop of Płock and secretary of Queen Bona. 

In 1509 when king Sigismund I was obliged to marry by the Piotrków Diet, his mistress Katarzyna Telniczanka was married to his associate Andrzej Kościelecki. The king secured her in the form of an annual salary and made Kościelecki Grand Treasurer of the Crown and starost of Oświęcim. Kościelecki, who was Polish-Lithuanian envoy in Buda between 1501-1503, was a talented and dedicated manager of royal treasury. When in 1510 a huge fire broke out in royal salt mines in Wieliczka, he and Seweryn Bethman descent into the shaft to put out the fire. 

Marriage with king's mistress caused a great indignation of Kościelecki's relatives, who were leaving the Senate when the treasurer appeared there.

Kościelecki died in Kraków on September 6, 1515 and on October 2, 1515, after a long illness, died Queen Barbara Zapolya, first wife of Sigismund. When just few weeks after Kościelecki's death Telniczanka gave birth to her daughter Beata, meaning "blessed" (between September 6 and October 20), everybody at the court gossiped that her real father was Sigismund.

Beata was raised in the royal court together with other children of the king. In 1528 when Beata was 13, Anna, Zuzanna and Katarzyna three daughters of Regina Szafraniec, eldest daughter of Telniczanka, brought a claim against Beata before the royal court concerning a house in Kraków bought by Telniczanka after 1509, a carriage, four horses and a toque embroidered with large pearls valued at 600 zlotys. Two years later Kościelecki's testament was brought before the royal court by Andrzej Tęczyński, voivode of Kraków in a dispute with Kościelecka. 

The painting of Venus with Cupid stealing honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder from the National Gallery of Denmark (panel, 58 x 38 cm, inv. KMSsp719, transferred in 1759 to the Danish royal collection from the Gottorp Castle) is very similar in composition to the portrait of Katarzyna Telniczanka as Venus from the Branicki Palace in Warsaw, lost during World War II. Also the woman depicted is very much alike. It bears the date 1530 on a stone in lower right corner of the painting. As Telniczanka died in 1528, it cannot be her. The same woman is also in the two other paintings by Cranach. One similar to other portraits of Telniczanka's daughters from the 1520s is in the Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki (panel, 41 x 27 cm, inv. A I 316, acquired in 1851 from the collection of future Tsar Alexander II). According to sources it is dated 1525, however the date is today almost invisible and could be also 1527 when Beata reached her legal age of 12 and could be married. The other, in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (oil on canvas, 176 x 80 cm, inv. 4759, donated in 1928 by Leon Cassel), also as Venus and Cupid, is dated 1531 on the tree trunk. It is very similar to portrait of Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) and Queen Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547) as Venus from the same period.

Multiple copies of this painting exist, several of which were created by Cranach's workshop, such as the painting from the Bayreuth Castle, transferred in 1812 to the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (oil on panel, 174 x 74 cm, inv. 5466). George Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1539-1603), grandson of Sophia Jagiellon (1464-1512), who resided in Kulmbach, built the first castle in Bayreuth. The other comes from the Granitz hunting lodge on Rügen, built between 1837 and 1846 for Wilhelm Malte von Putbus, Governor-general of Swedish Pomerania (transferred from wood to canvas, 170.5 x 68 cm). Another copy in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich was painted on canvas, possibly by Polish or Italian copist in the first quarter of the 17th century (176.9 x 70.5 cm, inv. 13261). The picture was secured after the World War II in Hermann Göring's collection and transferred to the Bavarian State Painting Collections in 1961. Version in the Museum of Art and History in Geneva (oil on panel, 68 x 57 cm, inv. 1874-0012), acquired in 1874 from unknown collection was cut from larger painting, which was probably damaged, as well as the painting from private collection in Vienna, sold in Prague in 2022 (oil on panel, 45 x 47.5 cm, Fine Antiques Prague, October 8, 2022, lot 4).

Fragments with Cupid are in the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (dated "1531", oil on panel, 76.5 x 27.6 cm, inv. 811), from the collection of the Margraves of Baden in Rastatt Castle, and in private collection (oil on panel, 80 x 33 cm), confiscated by the Nazis from Jacques Goudstikker in Amsterdam in 1940. Different version of this Venus with Beata's face, dated "1533", is in private collection (oil on panel, 170.8 x 69.9 cm, Christie's New York, April 19, 2007, lot 21). It also comes from Goudstikker's collection, earlier in Charles Albert de Burlet's collection in Basel. In this respect, Beata was like a 16th-century celebrity spreading her effigy throughout Renaissance Europe. Today, Photoshop and Instagram, then "mythological disguise" and Cranach's workshop, times change, but people are quite similar.

The same woman is also depiced in the portrait by Bernardino Licinio from 1532 in private collection (oil on canvas, 98.1 x 82.5 cm, Christie's London, Auction 5823, July 4, 1997, lot 86), signed and dated by the artist on a postument (M·DXXXII B·LVCINII· OPVS). She is holding gloves and keeping her hand on a postument. This portrait is very similar to the effigy of royal mistress Diana di Cordona by Licinio in Dresden (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, inv. Gal.-Nr. 200). It is almost like a pendant, their poses and costumes are identical. The woman's headdress or a toque, called balzo, embroidered with gold is adorned with flowers very similar to clematis Beata. The painting comes from the Brandegee Collection in Boston (by 1918). 

From the 1530s noble ladies throughout Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine wanted to be depicted in the pose of a Roman lady or a courtesan from the Flavian period in their tomb monuments (e.g. monument to Barbara Tarnowska née Tęczyńska by Giovanni Maria Padovano from about 1536 in the Tarnów Cathedral), a pose similar to that known from the Venus of Urbino (portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon). In their portrait paintings, all wanted to be a goddess of love. 

Portrait of Beata Kościelecka (1515-1576) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1527, Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki. 

Portrait of Beata Kościelecka (1515-1576) as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530, National Gallery of Denmark. 

Portrait of Beata Kościelecka (1515-1576) as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1531, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. 

​Portrait of Beata Kościelecka (1515-1576), fragment of Venus with Cupid stealing honey by follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1531, Museum of Art and History in Geneva.

​Portrait of Beata Kościelecka (1515-1576), fragment of Venus with Cupid stealing honey by follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1531, Private collection.

​Cupid, fragment of portrait of Beata Kościelecka (1515-1576) as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1531, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

​Portrait of Beata Kościelecka (1515-1576) as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1533, Private collection.

Portrait of Beata Kościelecka (1515-1576) by Bernardino Licinio, 1532, Private collection. 

Portraits of Bona Sforza by Bernardino Licinio

"From you Poles learned elegant clothes, noble courtesy and respect for politeness, and above all, your example of sobriety freed them from drunkenness", wrote in a letter of 1539 to Queen Bona Sforza an Italian poet Pietro Aretino (1492-1556), who in 1527 settled permanently in Venice, "the seat of all vices", as he noted. His correspondence with Bona dates back at least to April 9, 1537, when the poet sent his book to the queen, commending himself to the monarch's gracious favor (after "Caraglio w Polsce" by Jerzy Wojciechowski, p. 26). The portrait of Aretino, considered to be the original by Giorgione, was purchased in December 1793 by King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski from Stanisław Kostka Potocki for his collection in the Palace on the Isle (inventory number 402, lost). It cannot be excluded that it was sent to Poland already in the 16th century. This portrait, or another, later became part of the Potocki collection, evacuated from Poland at the beginning of World War II and exhibited in 1940 by the European Art Galleries, Inc. in New York ("For Peace and Freedom. Old masters: a collection of Polish-owned works of art ...", item 19, National Library of Poland, DŻS XIXA 3a). The painting evacuated to New York was considered a work by Titian and was a copy of Aretino's best-known portrait, now in the Pitti Palace in Florence (inv. 1912, Palatina 54). It was Aretino himself who sent the painting from Venice as a gift to Duke Cosimo I in Florence. He described it in detail in a letter addressed to Paolo Giovio (the original of the letter was sold at Sotheby's on March 16, 1971, lot 549) and in others addressed to the same duke. Was the painting from the Potocki collection a gift to Bona or to a Sarmatian educated in Venice? We will probably never know.

In 2016, a portrait of a lady holding a book attributed to Bernardino Licinio was put up for sale in Munich, where many objects from the historical royal collections of Poland-Lithuania are kept in the Ducal Residence (oil on canvas, 107 x 90 cm, Hampel Fine Art Auctions, December 7, 2016, lot 1242). According to the catalog note, the "painting is similar to many other female portraits by Licinio that he painted between 1530 and 1540". The lady holds her book in a way indicating that she is a well-educated woman and the book is clearly not a prayer book but rather a volume of poetry. Her rich costume and jewelry indicate that she is a very wealthy woman, undoubtedly a member of the ruling class.

A copy, or rather another version of this painting, because the woman has positioned her head differently, is in the British Government Art Collection (oil on canvas, 108 x 91 cm, inv. 2280). The portrait was offered in 1953 by Helen Vincent (1866-1954), Viscountess d'Abernon, who probably bought it in Venice during an extended visit in 1904. The Polish provenance of the painting is also possible since the husband of the viscountess was part of the Interallied Mission to Poland in July 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War. The different color of the eyes of the model than in the Munich painting (brown in the d'Abernon painting) also indicates that it is a copy, because cheaper dyes were used to create them, as in the case of the portraits of the Emperor Charles V or portraits of Bona's daughter, Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) by the workshop of Cranach and Martin Kober.

​Bona's tutor Crisostomo Colonna (1460-1528), a member of the Pontano Academy, a poet from the Petrarch school, taught her Latin, history, theology, law, geography, botany, philosophy and mathematics. She in turn, who was considered a lover of Virgil and Petrarch, was the first teacher of her son Sigismund Augustus, born in 1520, hence the book. 

Two leopards on her bodice, denoted as symbols of strength, intelligence, bravery, justice, and valor, holding stylized S, are clearly an allusion to her family name: Sforza (from sforzare, to force), a nickname given to Muzio Attendolo in the 1380s for his strength and determination and his abilities to suddenly reverse the fortunes of battles. The whole pattern can be compared with that visible on a fountain in the Dukes' Courtyard of Castello Sforzesco in Milan, dating from the end of the 15th century. 

Although this costume appears to be more typical of the 1520s in Italian fashion and somewhat similar, we can see in the central female figure of the family portrait by Licinio in the British Royal Collection (inv. RCIN 402586), dated "1524" in the upper left corner (M.D.XXIII), two bands of gold fabric on her bodice and the embroidered central part are clearly inspired by German fashion of the period and recall the costume of Queen Bona in two paintings from Cranach's workshop (Villa del Poggio Imperiale and Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck), identified by me. Salome's green dress in the centre of Cranach's painting "The Banquet of Herod", dated "1533" in the upper right corner (Städel Museum, inv. 1193), as well as the portrait of a lady in a green dress and a large balzo by Bartolomeo Veneto, dated "1530" in the upper left corner (Timken Museum of Art, inv. 1979:003), prove that such a fashion was still very much in vogue in the early 1530s.

Queen Bona's ties to the Republic of Venice are so manifold on many levels, from art, music, architecture, commerce to finance, that it would be difficult to list them in a single paragraph. Notables of the Republic must have received several portraits of such an important ruler, who also visited Venice in 1556. However, today no portrait of Bona Sforza can be found in Venice. All have probably been long forgotten, sold or perhaps even destroyed.

Besides the great resemblance to the well-known effigies of the queen from her later life, in particular the famous miniature from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger made in Wittenberg (Czartoryski Museum, XII-537), also the family resemblance with the effigies of notable duchesses of Milan, ancestors of the queen, like Bianca Maria Visconti (1425-1468) from her marble profile by circle of Gian Cristoforo Romano and Bona Maria of Savoy (1449-1503) from her portrait of the Lombard painter (both at the Sforzesco Castle in Milan), should be noted.

Portrait of a seated old woman, which was before 1917 in the collection of Wojciech Kolasiński in Warsaw, was attributed to Lorenzo Lotto (oil on canvas, 107 x 82 cm, sold in June 1917 in Berlin, "Sammlung des verstorbenen herrn A. von Kolasinski - Warschau", Volume 2, item 185). The style of this painting is nevertheless very similar to the effigy of Stanisław Oleśnicki (York Art Gallery, YORAG : 738), identified by me, and portrait of a woman in a black dress (Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, inv. 303), both by Bernardino Licinio. Prior history of this painting is unfortunately unknown. If Kolasiński acquired the painting in Poland, which is very likely, the old woman holding a book was most probably a member of the court of Queen Bona.

It is also worth mentioning that two splendid portraits of two Italian poets, considered the founders of Italian literature: Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) and Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), are now in Kraków. The oldest confirmed provenance of these two paintings is the Temple of the Sibyl in Puławy, also known as the Temple of Memory, opened in 1801, a museum created by Izabela Czartoryska (1746-1835). They are mentioned in the 1828 catalogue of the Czartoryski collection (Poczet pamiątek zachowanych w Domu Gotyckim w Puławach), under the numbers 424 and 426.

The portrait of Dante is close to the style of Andrea del Sarto, a Florentine painter, as is the portrait of a lady in French costume, perhaps Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne (1498-1519), Duchess of Urbino, painted around 1518 (Cleveland Museum of Art, inv. 1944.92) or the Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist in the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (Wil.1537). It also resembles the portrait of a halberdier (Francesco Guardi?) by Pontormo, Andrea's pupil, who initially followed his style (Getty Center, 89.PA.49). The National Art Gallery in Lviv houses a portrait of a lady with a book of verses by Petrarch (petrarchino), which probably comes from the Potocki collection (oil on canvas, 52.5 x 39.3, inv. Ж-118). It is perhaps a studio copy of a painting currently in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (inv. 1890 / 783), painted around 1528 by Andrea del Sarto. 

The original of the portrait of Petrarch was probably also created in Florence and a similar portrait was sold with attribution to the 16th-century Florentine school (Sotheby's New York, June 11, 2020, lot 21), however the style more closely resembles that of Bernardino Licinio, in particular the portrait of Elisabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh (Halszka Ostrogska) and her suitor, identified by me (Belgravia Auction Gallery in Mosta, December 9, 2023, lot 512), also thought to be the work of a 17th-century copyist.

Both paintings of Italian poets do not have original frames and were framed in the late 18th or early 19th century, indicating that the original frames were removed at some point, for example to facilitate transportation. This indicates that the paintings were probably evacuated from their original location to preserve them from destruction and looting during the Deluge or the Great Northern War, or that more valuable frames (concerning the material, usually gilded wood) were looted or sold, while the paintings were preserved.

​They testify to the admiration for Italian poetry, even when Sarmatia ceased to exist. Since Czartoryskis acquired many valuable souvenirs from destroyed Poland-Lithuania, it is quite possible that the portraits originally belonged to a magnate or even to the royal collection and were commissioned in Italy and transported to Poland-Lithuania already in the 16th century.

Portrait of Bona Sforza d'Aragona (1494-1557), Queen of Poland holding a book by Bernardino Licinio, 1530s, Private collection.

Portrait of Bona Sforza d'Aragona (1494-1557), Queen of Poland holding a book by Bernardino Licinio, 1530s, Government Art Collection, UK.

Portrait of a seated old woman from the Kolasiński collection by Bernardino Licinio, second quarter of the 16th century, Private collection, lost.

​Portrait of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) by Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo or circle, 1520s, Czartoryski Museum. 

​Portrait of Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) by workshop or follower of Bernardino Licinio, second quarter of the 16th century, Czartoryski Museum. 

​Portrait of a lady with a book of Petrarch's rhyme by circle or follower of Andrea del Sarto, ca. 1528, Lviv National Art Gallery. 

​Portrait of Pietro Aretino (1492-1556) from the Potocki collection by Titian or workshop, ca. 1545, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Portraits of Bona Sforza by Giovanni Cariani

"The Queen had a special affinity for music, jewelry and textiles. To satisfy her tastes, she brought artists from Italy. The possibilities of Bona's patronage are well illustrated by the example of her boys' choir, which was regularly renewed with boys from Italy not affected by the mutation" (after "Caraglio w Polsce" by Jerzy Wojciechowski, p. 26). She also sent boys from Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia to train in Italy. In February 1541, the Polish ambassador Jan Ocieski (1501-1563), visiting the castle in Bari, noted the progress made by some "Polish boys" who had been sent by Queen Bona to her duchy to learn to sing and play the lute (Pueri Poloni videntur musicae operam dare, nam et cantu et cithararum pulsatione bene profecisse indicantur, after "A Companion to the Renaissance in Southern Italy (1350-1600)", edited by Bianca de Divitiis, p. 631).

​From 1524, after death of her mother, Bona was also Duchess of Bari and Rossano by her own right. Throughout her life she dressed in Italian style and purchased in Italy pearl embroidered velvets, thin Florentine cloths, intricate Venetian chains and ornaments. She also received garments from Italian Princes, like in 1523, when Isabella d'Este (1474-1539), Marchioness of Mantua and a leader of fashion at that time, sent to Bona silk and golden caps in return for sable skins. Two years later, the Marchioness also sent six caps and four pairs of fashionable stockings. In a letter from Kraków of July 20, 1527 Bona expressed her gratitude to Isabella's daughter Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino for beautiful caps she has sent her. Jewish merchant from Kraków, Aleksander Levi sold sable skins to Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, in return for which he collected gold cloth, fabrics woven with silver and silk from Venice. The queen received some of these expensive materials as a gift from the duke. Valuable beaver skins, horses, falcons and hunting dogs, sought after abroad, were delivered to Italy from Poland, and once even two camels from the royal zoo were sent as a gift to Cardinal Ippolito I d'Este (after "Królowa Bona ..." by Władysław Pociecha, p. 294).

In the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna there is a portrait of a woman in a striped dress holding a fan, dated around 1530-1535 and attributed to Giovanni Cariani (oil on canvas, 96 x 77 cm, GG 355). The painting was added to the gallery in 1864 from the storage in the Upper Belvedere, where it was considered a work by Palma Vecchio (E. 322). The Imperial Picture Gallery was transferred from the Imperial Stables to the Belvedere in 1776, so the painting most likely comes from the old collections of the Habsburgs, relatives of Sigismund I, who received and collected the effigies of notable contemporary and former rulers of Europe.

Another version of this painting, also attributed to Cariani, is in the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris (oil on canvas, 73 x 57 cm, inv. 670). The damaged lower part of this painting was repaired by adding a piece from another painting depicting a cushion on a carpet. Around that time (i.e. early 1530s) Cariani also created a series of portraits of another important Italian, but not Venetian, Renaissance woman - Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589), the so-called Violante portraits with letter V, including two at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (inv. 84 and 109), all identified by me. The Queen of France undoubtedly received effigies of her Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian counterpart of Italian origin. Probably a 19th century copy of the Vienna painting was offered for sale in New York (oil on canvas, 114.3 x 96.5 cm, Newel, SKU 013551). 

Although the style of the costume is generally Italian, the lower part of her dress reveals Spanish inspiration - late 15th century verdugado, a hoop skirt depicted in Herod's Banquet by Pedro García de Benabarre and his workshop (National Museum of Art of Catalonia, 064060-000). Queen Bona was proud of her Aragonese origins, which were highlighted on many objects linked to the queen bearing her name, such as woodcuts, medals or an antependium (veste d'altare) of green and gold silk, which was in the St. Nicholas Basilica in Bari, on the front of which was written in large silver letters: Bona Sfortia Aragonia Regina Poloniae (after "Della storia di Bari dagli antichi tempi sino all'anno 1856" by Giulio Petroni, Volume I, p. 621).

In May 1543 during entry to Kraków for coronation of Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545), the lords and knights of the Kingdom were dressed in all sorts of costumes: Polish, German, Italian, French, Hungarian, Turkish, Tatar, Spanish, Muscovy, Cossack and Venetian. The young king Sigismund Augustus was dressed in German style, probably as a courtesy for Elizabeth. Bona started to wear her distinctive outfit of a widowed elder lady most probably around 1548, after death of Sigismund I, a medal from 1546 shows her with a large décolletage.

Before 1862 in the Sibyl's Temple at Puławy, which memorialized Polish history and culture, there was a "fan of Queen Bona" and inventory of Bona's belongings in Bari includes a wonderful chronometer hidden inside a fan made of bird feathers and set with jewels.

The resemblance of the woman in the portraits to the Queen of Poland from her portrait by Francesco Bissolo (National Gallery in London, NG631), identified by me, from the cameo with her bust by Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 17.190.869), as well as a miniature with a portrait of the queen at an older age, perhaps from the series of Anton Boys in Vienna (Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, XII-141), is undeniable.
​
Although in the 19th century no reliable painted effigy of Queen Bona made before her widowhood (1548) was known, painters of historical scenes studied texts and other effigies, as well as preserved objects from the period. In 1874, Jan Matejko created his large composition showing the Hanging of the Sigismund bell at the Cathedral Tower in 1521 in Kraków (National Museum in Warsaw, MP 441). For the queen's costume he took inspiration from a 1524 woodcut with her portrait, the blond hair and dark eyebrows were based on the description of Bona's features. The queen holds her hand on the arm of her eldest daughter Isabella, who is holding her fan, most likely the Puławy fan, which resembles the one in the portrait by Cariani. 

Portrait of Bona Sforza d'Aragona (1494-1557), Queen of Poland holding a fan by Giovanni Cariani, 1530s, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Bona Sforza d'Aragona (1494-1557), Queen of Poland in a striped dress by Giovanni Cariani, 1530s, Musée Jacquemart-André. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka​

Portraits of Stanisław Lubomirski and Laura Effrem by Venetian painters 

"For Peace and Freedom. Old masters: a collection of Polish-owned works of art, arranged by the European Art Galleries, Inc., to help to maintain the exhibit of Poland at the World's Fair, New York, 1940" (National Library of Poland, DŻS XIXA 3a). This is the title of official catalogue of 77 paintings, mostly from the Łańcut Castle, displayed in the Polish Pavilion during the New York World's Fair opened on April 30, 1939. On September 1 and September 17, 1939, the Second Polish Republic was again invaded and partitioned by its neighbours. World War II begun and paintings never returned to Łańcut.

Among them were a portrait of a green-eyed nobleman attributed to Lorenzo Lotto and a portrait of a lady attributed to Paris Bordone, both holding gloves (items 20 and 23). The portraits, now in private collections, have similar dimensions and compostion, they are almost like pendants. The woman is now holding a little dog (not visible on older reproductions of the painting and probably discovered during conservation). The effigy of a man bears inscription DOMINICHO / RADISE, which was not visible before. It was most probably added after 1940 to make him close to the Radise family living in New York since about 1920, as no Dominicho or Domenico Radise is reported in sources. At the 2019 auction in New York, the portrait of the nobleman was sold with an attribution to Giovanni Cariani, also known as Giovanni Busi or Il Cariani (oil on canvas, 99.4 x 74.9 cm, Sotheby's, May 29, 2019, lot 224), while at the 2017 auction in Vienna, the painting was offered for sale with an attribution to the School of Verona (Dorotheum, December 17, 2017, lot 31). The portrait of a lady was also attributed to the School of Palma Vecchio (oil on canvas, 88 x 74.5 cm, Christie's New York, Auction 8215, June 16, 1999, lot 51) and now again to Bordone. 

The woman was also depicted in two other paintings from the same period, one attributed to Palma Vecchio in Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden and the other, most probably a modello or a ricordo to previous, attributed to circle of Bernardino Licinio in private collection (oil on canvas, 32.3 x 25.4 cm, Christie's London, Auction 9441, October 1, 2013, lot 516). The painting in Dresden, entitled Resting Venus, was most probably acquired for the collection of Augustus II, King of Poland (oil on canvas, 112 x 186 cm, inv. Gal.-Nr. 190). 

According to a bill of the picture, it was bought through the dealers Lorenzo Rossi and Andreas Philipp Kindermann in 1728 in Venice for 2000 Taleri, however since the painting is also described in inventory from 1722 it could be that it was confused with another painting of Venus attributed to Sassoferrato. The frame is adorned with king's monogram AR (Augustus Rex) and the Eagle of Poland. It cannot be excluded that it was offered to the king during his visit to the Łańcut castle in 1704 or later by members of the Lubomirski family. The version attributed to Licinio comes from the Heinemann Gallery in Munich. 

Renaissance-baroque Łańcut Castle was built between 1629-1641 as palazzo in fortezza (fortress palace) for Stanisław Lubomirski (1583-1649), voivode of Kraków by Italian architect Matteo Trapola on the site of previous, most probably wooden castle of the Pilecki family. Stanisław's grandfather was another Stanisław (d. 1585), son of Feliks Lubomirski, owner of the Sławkowice and Zabłocie estates.

In May 1537 he married a Queen's lady-in-waiting Laura Effrem (Laura de Effremis), coming from an old family noble from Bari, related to the Carducci, Dottula, Alifio, Piscicelli and Arcamone families, belonging to the immediate circle of Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan and her daughter Bona. Laura received from the queen a dowry of 1,200 zlotys and jewels worth 350 zlotys, as well as twenty cubits of damask.

According to letter of Queen's secretary Stanisław Górski to a poet Klemens Janicki dated 10 June 1538 in Kraków "Italian Laura, who had married [Stanisław] Lubomirski a year ago, having come here at the Queen's request after Easter, in the house where the maids and matrons are staying, gave birth to a son" (after "Królowa Bona ..." by Władysław Pociecha, p. 89). The son died in infancy, Laura most probably died four years later in 1542 and Stanisław married Barbara Hruszowska with whom he had three children. 

Portrait of Laura Effrem with pearls in her hair by Bernardino Licinio, 1530s, Private collection.

Portrait of Laura Effrem as Resting Venus by Bernardino Licinio, 1530s, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.

Portrait of Laura Effrem from the Potocki collection​ by Paris Bordone, 1530s, The Schorr Collection.

Portrait of Stanisław Lubomirski (d. 1585) from the Potocki collection​ by Giovanni Cariani, 1530s, Private collection.

Portraits of Sigismund Augustus as a boy by circle of Titian 

Hereditary and absolute monarchs of Europe had no interest whatever in preserving the memory of elective rulers of Poland-Lithuania, especially after decline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a leading European power following the destructive Deluge (1655-1660) and its dissolution following the partitions in the late 18th century. That is why the identity of the Jagiellons, Vasas and even of king Wiśniowiecki or members of the Sobieski family in their portraits sent to European courts was lost in oblivion. 
​
In 1529, through the intercession of queen Bona, a courtier with a stormy and dissolute life, Giovanni Silvio de Mathio (Joannes Silvius Amatus) from Palermo, called Siculus was appointed the tutor of nine years old Sigismund Augustus. He also obtained the Vitebsk parish and the Vilnius canon with Bona's support. Siculus was a doctor of both laws and lecturer of Greek at the Kraków Academy. He died at 90 years of age in about 1537. 

Siculus left Padua, under the rule of the Republic of Venice, for Vienna in 1497 and Kraków in about 1500. When in Poland, he frequently ordered copies of Greek texts from Aldo Manuzio (Aldus Manutius) in Venice. The first edition of the controversial work by Philostratus "Life of Apollonius of Tyana", printed in Venice between 1501 and 1504 by Manuzio, was in a private library of king Sigismund Augustus, now in Saint Petersburg (after Alodia Kawecka-Gryczowa, Biblioteka ostatniego Jagiellona, 1988, pp. 291-292). It tells the story of the first century philosopher and magician and concerns pagan magic and secret sciences.

As an ardent follower of Neoplatonic ideas at the Sigismund's court and opponent of Erasmus of Rotterdam, Siculus spread rumors in Kraków that Erasmus had been put under a church curse. 

Platonism affirms the existence of abstract objects that the physical world is not as real or true as timeless, absolute, unchangeable ideas, as in a quote from Plato's Timaeus, which reads "this world is indeed a living being endowed with soul and intelligence." For Plato, the term ''Anima Mundi'' meant ''the animating principle of matter.''

The painting from the collection of Cardinal Mazarin, possibly originally from the French royal collection, recorded in the inventory of 1661 as a work of Titian (no. 912), shows a little boy and his tutor holding hands on a globe with figures which looks like floating souls and similar to the print Integra naturae speculum artisque imago, published in Robert Fludd's Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet ... from 1617-1618. The painting, now in the Louvre (oil on canvas, 115 x 83.3 cm, INV 127; MR 75), was seized during the Revolution from the collection of Duke Louis Hercule Timoléon de Cossé-Brissac (1734-1792).

The portrait of a boy in costume and, more northern, hairstyle, typical for 1530s is mentioned for the first time in 1646 by Balthasar de Monconys as placed in the Tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (oil on panel, 58 x 44 cm, Inv. 1890, 896), where the most important antiquities and paintings from the Medici collection were displayed, and with attribution to Titian. the boy's features are very similar to those on a series of portraits from about 1521 showing Sigismund Augustus as a child, while the costume to the medal by Giovanni Padovano from 1532.

​Both paintings were undoubtedly commissioned by queen Bona to be sent to major European courts. 

​The young king received a humanist education, influenced by his mother, many aspects of which were sharply criticized by the queen's opponents and the conservatives at court. They complained about the softness in directing his youth and, in addition to Amatus, attacked the young king's court chamberlain Piotr Opaliński (ca. 1480-1551), a diplomat educated in Bologna, who taught German to Sigismund Augustus and his sister Isabella. Opaliński, who, according to Giovanni Marsupino's letter to Ferdinand I dated July 29, 1543 from Kraków, was "the worst of all", restrained the young king from hunting, because it could awaken in him a tendency to cruelty, so widespread in many European countries at that time, and harden his heart. Another Habsburg supporter, priest Stanisław Górski, added in a letter to Dantyszek in 1544: "Our young king, raised by women and Italians more fearful than women themselves, does not like camps" (after "Z dworu Zygmunta Starego. (Dokończenie)" by Kazimierz Morawski, p. 547).

Portrait of Sigismund Augustus as a boy with his tutor Giovanni Silvio de Mathio by circle of Titian, ca. 1529, Louvre Museum. 

Portrait of Sigismund Augustus as a boy by circle of Titian, ca. 1532, Uffizi Gallery.

Portraits of Sigismund I the Old and Bona Sforza by Titian

In 1808 Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840), younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, acquired the "Portrait of the Duchess Sforza" along with 26 other paintings from the Riccardi collection in Florence (oil on canvas, 88.9 x 75.5 cm, Sotheby's New York, January 25, 2017, lot 34). This painting was sold in London on May 1816. Also the inventory of the collection in Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence from the end of the 17th century lists the painting as Titian in the quarta stanza (fourth room) and as Ritratto d'una Duchessa Sforza (Portrait of a Duchess Sforza, Carte Riccardi, Archivio di Stato, Florence, fil. 267, c. 256 r.). The 15th century Palazzo Medici-Riccardi remained the principal residence of the Medici family until 1540 when Cosimo I moved his principal residence to the Palazzo Vecchio.

The woman is dressed in a fashionable, damask, fur-lined gown and green cap, called a balzo embroidered with gold, typical for the 1530s fashion in Italy. She wears the heavy gold paternoster girdle and a long string of pearls, which were very costly. 

This cannot be Christina of Denmark, who in 1534 at the age of 12 became Duchess of Milan as a wife Francesco II Sforza, as her face features do not match the painting by Titian, the sitter is older and Christina was not a Sforza. The sitter's face is very similar to other known effigies of Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland, Grand Duchess of Lithuania and also Duchess of Bari and Rossano by her own right, Duchess Sforza. She particularly resembles Queen Bona from her portrait in a pink dress, probably by Francesco Bissolo (National Gallery, London, inv. NG631), identified by me.

A portrait of an old man in a dark tunic by Titian in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna has identical dimensions as portrait of Duchess Sforza (oil on canvas, 88 x 75 cm, inv. GG 94) and similar composition, just as later portraits of Sigismund II Augustus and his third wife Catherine of Austria. Both are painted on canvas.

The man holds his left hand on a band of the coat, showing two rings that certify the high social status. The portrait was in the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria in Brussels and was included in the Theatrum pictorium (Theatre of Painting), a catalog of 243 Italian paintings in the Archduke's collection, under number 57, one number after portrait of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski by Bernardino Licinio (56). Both portraits entered therefore the Archduke's collection at the same time. 

In reference to the description of a portrait painted by Titian, published in 1648 by Carlo Ridolfi, the likeness is identified as representing the physician Gian Giacomo Bartolotti da Parma (ca. 1465-1530). Ridolfi recalls that Titian "made another [portrait] of his physician, called 'the Parma', clean-shaven in the face, with gray hair reaching half an ear" (Altrone fece del Medico suo detto il Parma, di faccia rasa, con chioma canuta à mezza orecchia, "Le maraviglie dell'arte ...", p. 152), but in the Viennese portrait the man has longer hair covering his ears. Probably in the 18th century, the painting was enlarged by adding strips of canvas on the sides and bottom, which are visible in old photographs of the painting. These changes were removed after 1888. 

Titian's Portrait of an Old Man in the Lviv National Art Gallery, Ukraine (oil on canvas, 94.4 x 79.8, inv. Ж-756), is stylistically very similar to the Vienna portrait, so both were probably made at the same time. This portrait fits Ridolfi's description even better because the man in the portrait has shorter hair. The Lviv portrait was donated by Professor Florian Singer in 1858 and was signed in the upper right corner: Titianus P[inxit] (after Edward Chwalewik's "Zbiory polskie ...", p. 403), which is no longer visible today. The painting is identified as an effigy of Antonio Grimani (1434-1523), Doge of Venice from 1521 to 1523, who previously served as commander of the Venetian navy. The man in the portrait does indeed resemble Grimani from his posthumous portraits by Venetian painters (compare the portrait in Attingham Park, Shropshire, inv. NT 608980 or the tondo in Palazzo Grimani di Santa Maria Formosa in Venice), however, as in the Vienna portrait, the costume does not indicate the status of the sitter - leader of the Venetian Republic, in this case. If the elected ruler of Venice could be represented in such a modest costume, the same could apply to the elected monarch of Poland-Lithuania, which in many ways resembled the Venetian Serenissima. 

The earliest provenance of the Lviv painting is not known, so it cannot be excluded that it came from the royal collection of Sigismund I and was a gift to the king or that he commissioned this portrait of the Venetian doge (this painting has similar dimensions and composition to the portrait of the "Duchess Sforza" and the Vienna painting).

David Teniers the Younger copied the portrait in the 1650s. This miniature, painted on panel, is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (oil on panel, 17.1 x 12.1 cm, inv. 66.266). The painting is one of a group of oil copies made by Teniers after paintings in the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. John Churchill (1650-1722), 1st Duke of Marlborough, who began collecting for Blenheim Palace in the first decade of the 18th century, purchased 120 of these copies, which remained together at Blenheim until 1886. The sitter's face is very similar to other known effigies of King Sigismund I the Old from the 1530s, ​such as his funerary statue by Bartolomeo Berrecci, made between 1529-1531, or his portrait on the silver altarpiece, made in Nuremberg between 1531-1538 (Sigismund's Chapel of Wawel Cathedral).

Although no originals by Titian are preserved in Poland, several old inventories mention his works. The catalogue of the Wilanów Gallery from 1834 mentions two paintings by the Venetian master: "Roman Emperor in armor, a painting of very beautiful colors. Titian" (Cesarz Rzymski w zbroi, obraz bardzo pięknego kolorytu. Tycyan) and "Portrait of the Duke of Florence in black attire and Spanish beret, small round picture. Titian" (Portret Xięcia Florenckiego w czarnym stroiu i berecie Hiszpańskim, mały okrągły obrazek. Tycyan, compare "Spis obrazów znaidujących się w galeryi i pokojach Pałacu Willanowskiego ...", p. 7, 31, items 60, 344). In 1835, Michał Hieronim Radziwiłł (1744-1831) owned in Nieborów a copy of Titian's Venus of Urbino (Portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon nude), two landscapes with figures and a portrait of a lady in a dark green dress (compare "Katalog galerii obrazów sławnych mistrzów z różnych szkół zebranych ..." by Antoni Blank, p. 13, 64, 83, 123, items 33, 213, 273, 439).

Many of these paintings were lost in the wars and evacuations, so it is difficult to determine whether they were actually painted by Titian, but the descriptions and attributions were generally more or less accurate, as in the case of Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi mentioned in the 1834 catalogue of the Wilanów Gallery (item 91, p. 11), which is today considered to be a copy by Cesare da Sesto (1477-1523), a painter from Leonardo's circle in Milan (inv. Wil.1016). 

Very interesting is the mention of the portrait of the "Duke of Florence" in Spanish costume, which indicates that Titian probably painted in Venice the effigy of Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-1574), the second and last Duke of Florence from 1537 to 1569.

Bishop Paolo Giovio (1483-1552), an art collector and historian who owned several portraits painted by Titian and who had lived at the court of Cosimo since 1549, praised the monarch of Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia in the following words: "we will have great help not only from all the cavalry and infantry of France, but also from King Sigismund of Poland, because of his religion and virtue, for he is accustomed to fighting successfully against the infidels, and he will lead his very strong armies into the field without any delay; so that there is no reason to doubt that victory is now almost certain" (... hauremo grandissimi aiuti non pure di tutta la caualleria & fanteria di Francia, ma anchora Gismondo re di Polonia per conto di religione & di virtu, essendo egli auezzo a combattere felicemente cótra glinfedeli, senza alcuna dimora menerà in campo i suoi fortifsimi esserciti; talche non s'ha da dubitar punto della vittoria gia quasi che certa, after "La seconda parte dell'historie del suo tempo ...", published in Florence in 1553, p. 756). 

"[The King of Poland] considers himself very old, but every night he sleeps with his wife. He is too robust for his age", a Venetian diplomat wrote to his superiors in 1532 (after "Sypialnia królowej Bony na Wawelu ..." by Kamil Janicki). 

Portrait of King Sigismund I the Old (1467-1548) by Titian, 1532-1538, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Queen Bona Sforza (1494-1557) by Titian, 1532-1538, Private collection.

Portrait of King Sigismund I the Old (1467-1548) by David Teniers the Younger after Titian, 1650s, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Portrait of King Sigismund I the Old (1467-1548) from the Theatrum Pictorium (57) by Jan van Troyen after Titian, 1660, Princely Court Library in Waldeck.

​Portrait of Antonio Grimani (1434-1523), Doge of Venice by Titian, after 1521, Lviv National Art Gallery.

Portraits of Hedwig Jagiellon by Titian and Giovanni Cariani

"In Poland there are mountains in which the salt goes down very deep, particularly at Wieliczka and Bochnia. Here on the fifth of January, 1528, I climbed down fifty ladders in order to see for myself and there in the depths observed workers, naked because of the heat, using iron tools to dig out a most valuable hoard of salt from these inexhaustible mines, as if it had been gold and silver. I also saw, and talked with, the very beautiful, wise maiden, Hedwig, daughter of the good King Sigismund the First. She was finer than all the riches I have just mentioned, and worthy of a glorious realm", wrote in his work Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (A Description of the Northern Peoples), printed in Rome 1555, the Swedish scholar and prelate, Olaus Magnus (1490-1557), last Catholic archbishop of Uppsala, who lived the latter half of his life in exile.

On the Wawel Hill, Princess Hedwig and her court, which was almost unchanged until her departure in 1535, lived in a house, which does not exist today, built opposite the southern entrance to the cathedral, in front of the gate leading to the castle courtyard. The chamberlian of her court was Mikołaj Piotrowski, brother of Jan, the Abbot of Tyniec, the superintendent of the kitchen (praefectus culinae) was Jan Guth, called Grot, of Radwan coat of arms from Pliszczyn, the stewards were Orlik, Żegota Morski, Hincza Borowski, Andrzejek and Szczęsny and the Princess' ladies-in-waiting were: Ożarowska and Ossolińska, Anna Zopska, Morawianka, who came to Poland with Hedwig's mother, Elżbieta Długojowska, Stadnicka and Lasocka, female dwarf Dorota and Dorota the laundress and the priest, Father Aleksy. According to Jan Boner's accounts, the Princess' court cost from about 3 to 5 thousand florins annually.

Hedwig, "much loved by the king of Hungary" (molto amata dal re d'Ungharia), as wrote Ercole Daissoli in 1535, frequently received gifts from her uncle John Zapolya, like in February 1527, when his envoy Joannes Statilius, brought her a cross set with diamonds, emeralds, rubies and pearls and wonderful cups for the king and the queen. 

When on November 1526, Zapolya was proclaimed king of Hungary, she took part in the thanksgiving Te Deum laudamus service in the Wawel cathedral. When she passed the news of the victory of her uncle over the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria to the Kraków nuns, "overcome with the frenzy of joy, they laughed and danced", reported the envoy of the Viennese court, Georg Logschau, clearly embittered. Earlier in the year, on October 10, 1526, dressed in mourning clothes, she sat in the choir stalls of Wawel Cathedral, covered with black cloth, during the exequies for the soul of the late King Louis Jagiellon, who had died in Mohacs, and in June 1532, she participated, alongside Bona and her half-sisters, in a votive mass of thanksgiving celebrated at Wawel after Sigismund I had recovered from an illness that had been plaguing him for some time (after "Królewna Jadwiga i jej książeczka do spowiedzi" by Urszula Borkowska, p. 87). At that time, the princess undoubtedly also dressed in the Italian style. Her stepmother's Italian tailor Pietro Patriarcha (Patriarca) from Bari, active at the Polish-Lithuanian court from around 1524, also worked for Hedwig (after "Działalność Włochów w Polsce ..." by Danuta Quirini-Popławska, p. 58-59).

In April 1533, when Sigismund and Bona, with the young king Sigismund Augustus and their daughter Isabella Jagiellon left for Lithuania, Hedwig remained in Kraków with younger sisters Sophia, Anna and Catherine under the custody of a bishop Piotr Tomicki.

During this time the new marriage projects related to the eldest daughter of the king, in which Queen Bona, the Habsburgs, her uncle king of Hungary and Duke Albert of Prussia participated vividly, grew more intense. Among the candidates were Frederick of the Palatinate (1482-1556) and Louis of Bavaria (1495-1545), supported by the Habsburgs. Both Johannes Dantiscus and Piotr Tomicki, who were engaged in marriage negotiations, thought about the latter with reluctance, believing that it is not right to wed a beautiful and healthy girl to a sick man and Frederick was ready to marry the Polish princess only for her dowry. The princess did not learn German, which may indicate that her stepmother was planning for her more distant, most probably Italian marriage. 

On June 13, 1533 Hedwig's mother, Queen Barbara Zapolya, the first wife of Sigismund was reburied in the recently completed Sigismund Chapel built by Italian architects and sculptors. The king, who earlier commissioned a silver altarpiece for the chapel from the best artists in Nuremberg, also commissioned a jewelled casket for his daughter (Hermitage Museum).

A portrait attributed to Giovanni Cariani or Bernardino Licinio in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice (oil on canvas, 83 x 76 cm, inv. 0304/ E16), shows a young woman in a black, most probably mourning dress, from the 1530s (dated to 1533 by Federico Zeri). The woman's face is astonishingly similar to effigies of Hedwig Jagiellon, especially her portrais by Lucas Cranach the Elder as Madonna (Detroit Institute of Arts) and as Venus (Gemäldegalerie in Berlin). It was therefore a modello for a series of paintings that remained in Venice, a gift for a potential suitor in Italy or a painting that returned to the place of its origin with one of the notable Polish-Lithuanian royal guests in Venice - Queen Bona Sforza in 1556, Queen Marie Casimire in 1699 or her daughter Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska, Electress of Bavaria, who spent ten years in exile in Venice between 1705 and 1715.

The painting is considered a probable counterpart to the portrait of a man in a fur from the same museum (inv. 0300/ E15, compare Codice di catalogo nazionale: 0500440177), which according to my identification represents Jan Janusz Kościelecki (1490-1545), castellan of Łęczyca. Both paintings have similar dimensions, however the composition does not match because the woman stands closer and fills almost the entire canvas. Moreover, Kościelecki's portrait is dated "1526", while the woman's black dress and hairstyle indicate the early 1530s.

The same woman, in the same, although more disarranged attire, is depicted in the painting which was attributed to Palma Vecchio, then to Giovanni Cariani and now to Titian, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on panel, 59.5 x 44.5 cm, inv. GG 68). It is verifiable in the Imperial gallery Vienna as far as 1720, thus it was a gift for the Habsburgs, so engaged in Princess' marriage projects. ​In another version, attributed to Titian, she has a pose and dress similar to those in Cariani's painting, but a brighter brown dress. ​This painting is also attributed to Bernardino Licinio (compare Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 39425). ​A closer look at the style of this painting indicates that the author was not Italian, as the painting closely resemble the works of the Flemish painter Gonzales Coques (1614/18-1684), who probably copied the original by Titian or Cariani. According to my identifications, Coques often worked for the Polish-Lithuanian monarchs.

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) in a black dress by Giovanni Cariani, ca. 1533, Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) in a black dress by Titian, ca. 1533, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) in a brown dress by Gonzales Coques, second half of the 17th century after the original from about 1533, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portraits of Diana di Cordona by Bernardino Licinio and Lucas Cranach the Elder

The portrait of an Italian lady in crimson robe by Bernardino Licinio was first recorded in the inventory of Dresden collection in 1722 (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, oil on canvas, 99 x 83 cm, inv. Gal.-Nr. 200). It is highly probable, that just as other paintings from the royal collection it was taken from Warsaw in 1720 by Augustus II the Strong. It shows a woman in her thirties wearing an elaborate costume of a noble. Her bonnet is embroidered with gold thread and adorned with flowers of gold and enamel or precious stones. The pattern on the bonnet is very much like a gentian, called Diana (Gentiana Diana), which owes its name to Roman goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, childbirth and the Moon. Diana was also one of the goddesses of night, therefore dark blue was her color. The pattern with some violet flowers and three main plants is also very similar to flowering cardoon (cardo in Italian and Spanish), exactly as in the coat of arms of the Sicilian noble family of Spanish-Catalan origin, Cardona. The motif is threfore a reference to sitter's name Diana de Cardona, better known under Italianized version of her name Diana di Cordona.

The portrait is signed and dated (M.DXXXIII / B. LYCINII. P) on the niche behind the figure and in an underlying layer of paint (P [or B]. LICINI. F [or P] / MDXXX [?]), both partly obliterated. 

In 1533 Sigismund I ordered his banker, Seweryn Boner, to order in Bruges for himself and his wife Bona 60 tapestries with the coats of arms of Poland, Milan and Lithuania, 26 pieces without coats of arms and 6 very expensive "figural" tapestries. It is highly possible that around that time some paintings and portraits were also commissioned. 

Also in the same year Queen Bona wanted to change her hereditary Rossano principality into the estate of Pietro Antonio Sanseverino, Prince of Bisignano. As a daughter of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan her Italian inheritance was very important to Bona. After an accident in 1527 she could not have more children, so she put all her faith in her only son, Sigismund Augustus, who rechaed legal age of 14 years old in 1534, for continuation of the dynasty. To facilitate his entry into adulthood, she agreed or possibly even arranged his affair with her lady-in-waiting Diana di Cordona, who was just five years younger than Bona (born in 1494). 

Raised by Countess Ribaldi in Rome, Diana had an abundant life and allegedly infected Sigismund Augustus with syphilis. When the young king married in 1543, she most probably left for her native Sicily. 

The same woman as in the Dresden portrait by Licinio was also depicted in the painting from the same pariod by Lucas Cranach the Elder in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid (oil on panel, 75 x 120 cm, inv. 115 (1986.13)). It was acquired in Berlin in 1918 from the collection of the painter Wilhelm Trübner. It's earlier history is unknown. It is possible that it was taken from Poland during the Deluge - "the elector [of Brandenburg] himself took to Prussia as a spoil, the most valuable paintings and silverware of the royal table", wrote Wawrzyniec Jan Rudawski about the looting of royal residencies in Warsaw in 1656.

The painting shows Diana the Huntress as the nymph of the Sacred Spring, whose posture recalls Giorgione's and Titian's Venuses, a clear inspiration by Venetian painting. The inscription in Latin, which reads: FONTIS NYMPHA SACRI SOM: / NVM NE RVMPE QVIESCO (I am the Nymph of the Sacred Spring: Do not disturb my sleep. I am resting.), indicate that the client who ordered the painting was not speaking German, therefore could be either Queen Bona or Diana herself.

Egeria, the nymph of a sacred spring, celebrated at sacred groves close to Rome, was a form of Diana. In the grove at Nemi, near Rome there was a spring, sacred to Diana. She was believed to bless men and women with offspring and to assist mothers in childbirth. Two partridges in the painting are a symbol of sexual desire as according to Aelian (Claudius Aelianus) partridges have no control over it (after Steven D. Smith's "Man and Animal in Severan Rome: The Literary Imagination of Claudius Aelianus", p. 183).

Portrait of Diana di Cordona, mistress of king Sigismund Augustus by Bernardino Licinio, 1530s, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.

Diana di Cordona, mistress of king Sigismund Augustus as Diana the Huntress-Egeria by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530s, Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid.

Portraits of Beatrice Roselli and Ludovico Alifio by Bernardino Licinio

After the ceremonies of the so-called Prussian Homage of Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568), nephew of King Sigismund I, in Kraków (April 10, 1525), several couples from the court of the King and Queen Bona got married. In May and June, at Wawel Castle, Beatrice Roselli married Gabriel Morawiec, Porzia Arcamone married Jan Trzciński, and Urszula Maciejowska married Jan Leżeński. A similar ceremony took place in September, when Katarzyna Mokrska married Jan Wrzesiński and Anna Zopska married Żegota Mokrski. During the wedding ceremonies, tournaments and knightly games were held in the courtyard, and the court presented the brides with expensive imported Italian fabrics and sweets (compare "Kim jest nieznana dama herbu Ciołek?" by Helena Kozakiewiczowa, p. 141). 
​
The marriage of Italian women from Bona's entourage with Poles aroused great interest in court circles. Jan Zambocki reported this to his friend Jan Dantyszek, the Polish ambassador to Spain, in a letter from Kraków on September 12, 1525: "The court follows its own course, they get married and are married. Two Apulian maidens were now married: one to the son of the voivode of Rawa, the other to the glutton Morawiec" (Curia cursum suum tenet. Nubunt et nubuntur. Duae puellae Appulae traditae sunt maritis: alteram palatinides Ravensis, alteram vorax ille Morawyecz duxit).

Beatrice Roselli (or de Rosellis), a noblewoman from Naples, who married the royal courtier Gabriel Morawiec of Mysłów, a great tournament player, received from the queen as a wedding gift 22 ells of yellow damask and 20 ells of grey Florentine damask, as well as a dowry of 200 zlotys (florins). The gifts for Urszula Maciejowska were similar: on May 17 of that year, Boner noted expenses for 20 ells of white damask and 18 ells of grey damask and 6 ells of black velvet edged with gold, and on June 30 for sweets. Likewise Porzia Arcamone, of the powerful and very branched Arcamone family of Greek origin, who received from the queen 20 ells of golden damask and the same amount of grey Florentine damask. Morawiec assured his wife a dower of 800 zlotys (or 400 florins) on his estates located in the Lublin province. A branch of the Rosellis lived in Bari at the beginning of the 16th century, including Raguzio, canon of Bari Cathedral, and his brother Loysio with his sons Raguzio, Niccolo and Cesare. Niccolo, probably Beatrice's brother, married Isabella de Charis, sister of the court cook of Bona. On the occasion of Beatrice's wedding, a tournament was held at the castle, in which the Tęczyński brothers took part. 

Beatrice's married life did not last long. In 1531, Morawiec died without an heir, having squandered his wife's dowry, and Beatrice was forced to give part of her property to Mikołaj, her husband's brother, with the consent of the king and queen. However, Bona obtained appropriate compensation (Mikołaj Morawiec promised to pay Beatrice 1,200 florins in two installments) and, adding her own money, she acquired an estate for her (after "Działalność Włochów w Polsce ..." by Danuta Quirini-Popławska, p. 30, 99).

Shortly afterwards, for unknown reasons, and without prior notice to the queen, Beatrice left Poland for Ferrara, where she joined the daughters of the last King of Naples, Giulia (1492-1542) and Isabella d'Aragona (1496-1550). After the death of the princesses' mother, the Dowager Queen Isabella del Balzo in 1533, they all went to Spain to the court of Germaine of Foix (d. 1536), Vicereine of Valencia, who was married to Ferdinand of Aragon (1488-1550), Duke of Calabria, son of Isabella del Balzo. Roselli's sudden departure from Poland led to the confiscation of her property in Poland, as well as in Bari. Her estate in Poland was given by Bona, touched by Beatrice's ingratitude, to one of her distinguished courtiers.

Taking advantage of her connections at the Spanish court and at the court of Ferrara, Beatrice obtained in 1538 letters of recommendation from the Emperor Charles V and from Duke Ercole II d'Este to Queen Bona, to restore her to grace and return her estates in Poland and Italy. The mediation of Doctor Valentino, who had great influence over the queen, was even resorted to. However, this was to no avail and Beatrice remained in Spain at the mercy of the princesses of Aragon (after "Królowa Bona ..." by Władysław Pociecha, p. 87, 88, 276). 

Was Roselli spying for the Spanish court or did she reveal secrets of Queen Bona? It is quite possible.

At the same time, the situation became difficult for another of Bona's courtiers, Ludovico Masati de Alifio (Aliphia or Aliphius, 1499-1543). On 28 August 1530, Sigismund I and Bona appointed him governor of the principalities of Bari and Rossano. The governor was in conflict with the inhabitants of the principalities and in 1533 he was even prosecuted before the pontifical tribunal because of the imprisonment in Bari of the bishop of Saida in Syria - Cyprian. The open conflict with the treasurer of the Duchy of Bari, Gian Giacomo Affaitati (Giovanni Giacomo de Affatatis), provoked a strong reaction from his subordinates. In addition, Alifio lost the queen's favor and was forced to leave Italy at the end of 1534. In Poland, as he wrote to Jan Dantyszek, the court had moved to Vilnius and the mood towards him was not friendly. He believed that the envy of his enemies and false accusations had caused a change in the court's attitude towards him. He expressed hope that Dantyszek's intercession with the queen would allow him to regain the lost royal favor (after "Działalność Włochów w Polsce ..." by Danuta Quirini-Popławska, p. 98). 

Bona's letter to Duke Ercole II confirms that he had indeed lost her favour and had already intervened on his behalf in Ferrara, explaining the situation in the opposite way to what Bona had written. He did not exonerate himself before the queen's envoy in Italy, but came to Poland counting on the support of his friends and the lack of witnesses. In the meantime, the treasurer Affaitati, exiled by Alifio, despite his advanced age, personally went to Bona's court at the end of 1534 with his entire retinue. Arriving in Kraków, he learned that the royal couple was staying in Vilnius, where he went escorted by royal courtiers. In Vilnius, he was very kindly received by the queen and she not only approved him in his position, but also gave him generous gifts. Despite this, on his way back, Affaitati was arrested and imprisoned in the queen's castle in Pinsk (Belarus). It is possible that Alifio managed to convince the queen of the truth of his claims and make her change her mind, or perhaps a clique of Alifio's confidants acted independently. The affair of Affaitati's imprisonment was widely discussed in court circles and reflected in the correspondence of the period. The Spanish cardinal Esteban Gabriel Merino (Stefano Gabriele Merino, d. 1535), archbishop of Bari and bishop of Jaén, and five other cardinals also wrote on the subject. Even Pope Paul III Farnese intervened in defense of Affaitati with the Bishop of Kraków and Vice-Chancellor Piotr Tomicki on February 26, 1535. The Pope was informed that Affaitati had been maliciously and deceptively imprisoned by Bona, and the letter was not addressed directly to the queen, but to Tomicki.

The death of the old treasurer, shortly afterwards, in mysterious circumstances, in prison in Pinsk Castle, is attributed to the machinations of Alifio, who soon left Poland permanently, first for Vienna, then for Venice, where until his death in 1543, he carried out certain diplomatic and financial tasks for Bona (after "Tryumfy i porażki ..." by Maria Bogucka, p. 103). 

Since both Beatrice and Ludovico fell out of favor with the queen around the same time and both sought mediation in Ferrara, the two cases were probably connected.

In the Prado Museum in Madrid there is a portrait of a woman holding a book, attributed to Bernardino Licinio (oil on canvas, 98 x 70 cm, inv. P000289). The painting comes from the Spanish Royal Collection (Royal Alcázar of Madrid, 1734) and was previously considered to be the work of Paris Bordone (museum inventory of 1857, no. 693). The woman is identified as the painter's sister-in-law, Agnese, because of her resemblance to the central female figure in the portrait of Arrigo Licinio and his family, a work signed by Bernardino (Galleria Borghese in Rome, inv. 115). The resemblance is very general and the woman in the Prado painting has a darker southern complexion and hair, more typical of Naples than of the Veneto. The costume, on the other hand, is very similar and typical for Italian fashion of the 1530s. The family portrait of Arrigo Licinio is dated around 1535 and similar costumes can be seen in Licinio's portrait of Diana di Cordona (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, inv. Gal.-Nr. 200), identified by me, as well as in Parmigianino's so-called "Turkish Slave" (Galleria nazionale di Parma, inv. GN1147) or Bartolomeo Veneto's Portrait of a lady in a green dress (Timken Museum of Art, inv. 1979:003, dated "1530").

The book the woman is holding appears to be a petrarchino, a book of Petrarchan verses, similar to the one seen in the portraits of Queen Bona by Licinio, identified by me. She was therefore most likely a court lady, while her gray dress indicates that she was most likely one of the ladies of Queen Bona's court, who received gray damask as a wedding gift. The ring on the woman's finger is probably the wedding ring, so the portrait would usually be accompanied by a portrait of her husband. No such pendant is known, so the woman was probably a widow for some time before the portrait was executed. All these facts speak strongly in favor of identifying the sitter as Beatrice Roselli, who undoubtedly traveled through Venice from Kraków and then further to Spain.

In the British Royal Collection there is another interesting painting by Licinio from the same period (oil on canvas, 94.7 x 79.1 cm, inv. RCIN 402790). This painting is considered a possible disguised portrait and depicts a man as the apostle Saint Paul and was first recorded in the Closet near the Chapel at Hampton Court in 1861. The cartellino in the upper left corner bears the painter's signature and the date "1534" (M.D.XXX-IIII / Bernardinj Lycinij / Opus:-). The man holds a sword in his hand, the instrument of Saint Paul's martyrdom, however this highly decorative weapon looks more like a sword of justice (gladius iustitiae), a ceremonial sword that is used to signify the supreme judicial power of a monarch. It could be compared to the sword of Sigismund the Old decorated with engraved Renaissance ornaments (Wawel Castle), originally used as a sword of justice and later for the ennoblement of knights. The man shows the passage from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians, in an open book placed on a parapet: "Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another". Like Alifio, the man demanded truth and justice in 1534.

​Portrait of Beatrice Roselli, lady-in-waiting of Queen Bona Sforza, holding a book by Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1533, Prado Museum in Madrid. 

​Portrait of Ludovico Masati de Alifio (1499-1543) as Saint Paul the Apostle by Bernardino Licinio, 1534, Royal Collection. 

The Fable of the Mouth of Truth with disguised portraits of Queen Bona Sforza d'Aragona and her courtiers by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder

In the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg there is an interesting painting from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder (oil on panel, 75.5 x 117.4 cm, inv. Gm1108). It is an illustration of the medieval story of the adulterous wife - The Fable of the Mouth of Truth (Wiles of Women). The story most likely has its source in a legend according to which the Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth) in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, an ancient Roman fountain or drain cover in the form of a marble mask, perhaps from the Temple of Hercules Victorious, would bite off the hand of any liar who puts his hand in its mouth. In the 11th century, the mask was attributed the power to pronounce oracles in the Mirabilia urbis Romae (a medieval guide for pilgrims). The German Imperial Chronicle (Kaiserchronik) of the 12th century refers to a fable according to which a statuette of Mercury (found in the waters of the Tiber) bit the hand of the dishonorable emperor Julian, known as Julian the Apostate in Christian tradition. The same statue later convinced him to renounce the Christian faith. The American folklorist Alexander Haggerty Krappe (1894-1947) has indicated possible sources from the East that use the topos of the hand-biting statue (after "La Bocca della Verità" by Christopher S. Wood, p. 69).

According to the legend depicted in the painting, a woman accused of adultery had to undergo the ordeal of the Bocca della Verità in front of her husband and a judge. She convinced her lover to come with her disguised as a jester and, at the crucial moment, he mischievously embraced her. By placing her hand in the lion's mouth, she was then able to swear that no man, except her husband and this jester, had ever touched her. Because she told the truth, the lion did not bite her hand. The fool, her disguised lover, was not taken seriously by the witnesses and remained unrecognized.

The painting is considered to be a workshop work, painted by the master and his assistants or his son Hans Cranach, which indicates that there probably existed a painting painted by Cranach himself and that this one was only a copy. The painter also created another version of this composition, which comes from the collection of Countess Hardenberg, Schloss Neuhardenberg and is considered to be an earlier version painted by Cranach himself (Sotheby's London, July 8, 2015, lot 8). Unlike the Neuhardenberg painting, where the three main characters in the scene are clearly identifiable - the wife, her lover and her husband - in the Nuremberg painting, the main characters are the wife, her lover and two other women on the right, accomplices of the wife. The figure of the woman's husband is missing (although it is possible that the husband is the bearded old man on the right, behind the women). The painter changed the scene and all the characters. None of the people depicted in the two paintings are identical. He also changed the poses, costumes, and composition. The women in the Nuremberg painting wear more jewelry, as if to indicate their wealth and superior position. It seems that the person who commissioned the painting wanted to indicate the duplicity and perfidy of these three women. 

If the scene was a general moralistic painting, why did the painter and his workshop not borrow elements from the previous scene, especially since it was painted with the assistants? Such a practice was common and would have allowed them to complete the work more quickly. All these factors indicate that the Nuremberg painting is full of disguised portraits and that in addition to the meaning referring to the medieval legend, it also has an additional hidden meaning understandable to the people to whom this meaning was addressed.

The commissioner of the painting must have been a wealthy person, because Cranach's workshop was one of the most renowned in Germany and, by referring to the Italian legend, he wanted to emphasize the duplicity of an Italian woman who dominates the scene and and looks at the viewer in a meaningful way. This is Queen Bona Sforza d'Aragona and, according to the date inscribed in the lower left corner of the painting, it was made in 1534, the year in which the imprisonment of the treasurer of the duchy of Bari Gian Giacomo Affaitati and his mysterious death in the Bona's castle in Pinsk (Belarus), upset many people in Europe. The effigy of the queen is very reminiscent of other portraits by Cranach, which I have identified, including the portrait from the Medici collection in the Villa del Poggio Imperiale in Florence (inv. 558 / 1860) or the portrait as the roman heroine Lucretia (Weiss Gallery, London in 2014). The queen's expression can be compared to that of another Lucretia by Cranach or workshop in the former royal palace in Wilanów in Warsaw (inv. Wil.1749). The German painter must have painted Bona's effigies frequently, so he had a lot of study drawings that he could draw on to create this political allegory. The use of Cranach's studio is also not accidental.

The painting comes from the Picture Gallery of Mannheim Palace, where it was inventoried in 1799 under the number 570. The palace was until 1777 the main residence of the prince-electors of the Electorate of the Palatinate. When the painting was created in 1534, the prince-elector of the Palatinate was the Catholic Louis V (1478-1544), who voted in 1519 for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and married Sibylla of Bavaria (1489-1519), daughter of Cunegonde of Austria (1465-1520), Duchess of Bavaria by her marriage to Albert IV. The Elector's brother and successor, Frederick II of the Palatinate (1482-1556), served as a general in the service of Ferdinand I of Austria, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, maintained friendly relations with Emperor Charles V and performed various diplomatic duties in Rome, Madrid and Paris. Those familiar with the story of Queen Bona and her struggle with the Habsburgs, who longed for the crown of Poland (the crown they would never obtain in the male line) and her duchies in southern Italy, will immediately consider the two main candidates who could inspire such a painting - Charles V or his brother Ferdinand I, both of whom were painted by Cranach (for example the portraits of Charles V in the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and in the Wartburg-Stiftung in Eisenach or the portrait of Ferdinand I in Güstrow Castle) or their supporters like Frederick II of the Palatinate.

The wife of the elected monarch, Queen of Poland, Grand Duchess of Lithuania, Lady of Ruthenia and Duchess of Bari, challenged not only the Habsburg Empire, one of the largest in history, but also male dominance, as evidenced by her effigies in the guise of female heroines such as Judith and Lucretia. She was supported in this task by her court ladies, who represented the queen's interests in the main regions of the country. They are depicted on the right side of the painting. 

The letter of the Habsburg envoy to the Polish-Lithuanian court Giovanni Marsupino, allows us to identify one of them, the most influential in the Crown (Poland). Although it can be considered exaggerated, it also provides a valuable insight into the court of Queen Bona: "The old king forbids her to do so, but what if this poor old king has no will of his own and cannot be relied upon: for as soon as Bona weeps before His Royal Majesty and begins to scratch her face and eyes and tear her hair, the king immediately says: Do what you want, go and order as you like! She is the king. There is no one at court. Mr. Tarnowski is in his domains; Mr. Boner is in his castles. Only one bishop of Płock [Samuel Maciejowski (1499-1550)] is staying here, as vice-chancellor. The archbishop [Piotr Gamrat (1487-1545)] and his wife are in Mazovia. Mrs. Bona rules everything. One is queen, the other pope; thus secular and spiritual interests are in good hands. Wrantz [the envoy of John Sigismund Zapolya, King of Hungary] had several secret consultations with Mrs. Bona: all of them were working towards the Turk tearing Hungary out of the hands of Your Royal Majesty, giving it to her grandson [John Sigismund Zapolya] and destroy Austria. There are honest people here who, of their own free will and without Your Royal Majesty knowing, insist that the king send to the Turk to persuade him to make peace; but Mrs. Bona prevented everything, to the great horror of the entire Senate and all the honorable people. And yet who does not know that after conquering Hungary, the Turk will also think of neighboring Poland, which he would easily conquer; this is what everyone here fears. And on this subject I could tell Your Royal Majesty strange things, what Mrs. Bona has done and what she still does in favor of the Turks and the French, against Your Royal Majesty: the Bishop of Płock says that she is a demon that cannot be driven out by fasting and prayer. Your Royal Majesty writes, she answers, and everything ends with words", reports Marsupino to Ferdinand I on August 19, 1543. He also advised the Emperor, brother of Ferdinand I, to take the Duchy of Bari and thus force Queen Bona into submission (after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI wieku" by Alexander Przezdziecki, Volume 1, p. 139-140). The Italian agent of the Habsburgs calls Her Majesty the Queen of Poland in the mentioned letter "Mrs. Bona", as if she were a simple townswoman, which also perfectly illustrates their attitude towards her.

The "archbishop's wife" is Dorota Dzierzgowska née Sobocka, wife of Jan Dzierzgowski (d. 1548), voivode of Mazovia, starost of Warsaw and Łowicz, mistress of Piotr Gamrat, archbishop of Gniezno and primate of Poland. The sources confirm that Queen Bona owned a portrait of Dorota and that she "placed this portrait next to a similar woman, the voivodess of Vilnius, and other portraits of the most distinguished persons" (after "Zbiór pamiętników historycznych o dawnej Polszcze ..." by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Volume 4, p. 36). This voivodess of Vilnius should be identified as the widowed princess Sophia Vereyska, wife of Albertas Gostautas (died 1539), the wealthiest woman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to whom Queen Bona sent a letter addressed on June 4, 1543. So Sophia is the woman standing next to Dorota in the Nuremberg painting. The "archbishop's wife", like Queen Bona, looks at the viewer meaningfully and holds her hand on her protruding belly. The author of the concept of this painting probably wanted to suggest that she had given a child to Archbishop Gamrat. She is depicted in the same way in two other paintings: the portrait from the collection of the last elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski (Czartoryski Museum, inv. MNK XII-238) and the court scene Hercules at the court of Omphale by Lucas Cranach the Elder (Fondation Bemberg, inv. 1098). The jester/lover is therefore Dorota's husband, Jan Dzierzgowski, or her brother Tomasz Sobocki (d. 1547), tribune of Łęczyca, educated in Wittenberg, who thanks to her support became the Crown Cupbearer in 1539. The man in the red velvet costume lined with fur who stands behind Queen Bona should be identified as another of her favourites, Mikołaj Dzierzgowski (ca. 1490-1559), canon of Warsaw, Płock and Gniezno, Count of Dzierzgowo, educated in Padua. If the bearded old man on the right is the husband of an adulterous wife, he can be considered as King Sigismund - his age and appearance are generally similar to known effigies of the king, including the protruding lower lip.

Since the queen used allegory and disguise in her struggle against male domination, the Nuremberg painting should be seen as a reaction to her actions - the virtuous heroines of biblical and Roman antiquity were confronted with the image of female duplicity.

Another weapon of Queen Bona, epigrams and the pasquinade (pasquillo in Italian), was also used against her on several occasions. When Bona inspired the campaign of insults against her son's mistress Barbara Radziwill, some authors from Sigismund Augustus' circle began to attack the queen and the female influences at court. Spanish poet and lawyer Pedro Ruiz de Moros (Petrus Roysius, d. 1571), who initially praised Bona, the highness and nobility of her family and that she introduced social refinement to Poland, as well as that she is humane and charitable (although she has a snake in her coat of arms), in one malicious epigram compares the kingdom to a game of chess: Sigismund I plays the role of a too calm chess king and Bona of a lively queen. There are several other epigrams written by Roysius under fictitious names about powerful and influential women. Roysius maintains that one should not take into account the opinion of a woman, a creature less perfect than a man and that public affairs and politics definitely belong to men, not to women: "For whoever shares my opinion will not approve of your behavior; public affairs do not belong to women". The poet says that he writes about them under a fictitious name because by mentioning the real one, he would risk his life (after "Royzyusz : jego żywot i pisma" by Bronisław Kruczkiewicz, Rozprawy Wydziału Filologicznego, p. 22/62-23/63). The majority of the epigrams undoubtedly concern the queen, In Chlorim probably refers to Dzierzgowska, while another woman, whom the poet calls Maevia, was probably Sophia Vereyska. It is also worth noting that in an epigram on Queen Bona and her predecessor Queen Barbara Zapolya Roysius states that he does not understand the Sarmatian magnates, who were also not happy with Barbara, much less involved in politics than Bona (Ad Sarmatam de reginis Bona et Barbara: Barbara non placuit, placuit minus ante Latina; Nescio quid mirae, Sarmata, mentis habes?). So perhaps this has more to do with Poles complaining about everything and anything than with the dire reality of events. Some of these pasquinades were undoubtedly also financed by the Habsburgs, who eagerly granted the titles of hereditary imperial princes or counts to the Sarmatian magnates.

The appointment of Jan Latalski (1463-1540), called "Bacchus" by the people because of his penchant for strong drinks, with the support of Bona as Archbishop of Poznań (1525), as well as the ever-increasing influence of the queen, irritated her secretary Andrzej Krzycki (1482-1537), who in a poem referred to the legend of the Wawel dragon and Bona's coat of arms: "When the dragon sat under Wawel, only Kraków perished, When he sat at Wawel, the homeland perishes".

These voices of discontent, which are more often cited than the positive aspects of Bona's reign, should not obscure the fact that this period was one of the most prosperous in the history of Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia and we must "emphasize her great merits for the civilization of Poland, for having increased prosperity, if only on her own domains, which she administered excellently, thus increasing the resources of the Jagiellonian dynasty" (after "Z dworu Zygmunta Starego" by Kazimierz Morawski, Przegląd polski, p. 221, 535). This prosperity was undoubtedly reflected in many magnificent works of art, especially portraits, although due to numerous wars, very few of them remain in the countries once ruled by Queen Bona. 

Since the 19th century, Cranach has been one of the icons of German culture and for many people it is completely unimaginable that his paintings could depict anyone other than ethnic Germans or representatives of German culture. It is therefore a laugh of history that one of the most despised nations of 19th century Germany, which they wanted to annihilate on several occasions (Deluge, Partitions and Germanization, World War I, World War II), contributed to the development of their culture. Many of Cranach's works were destroyed during these invasions.

​The Fable of the Mouth of Truth (Duplicity of Women) with disguised portraits of Queen Bona Sforza d'Aragona (1494-1557) and her courtiers by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1534, Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.

Portraits of Sigismund Augustus and Sigismund the Old by Christoph Amberger

On 10-11 November 1530 a marriage treaty on behalf of ten-year-old king Sigismund II Augustus and his four-year-old cousin Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545), eldest daughter of Anna Jagellonica, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary, was signed in Poznań. On this occasion Elizabeth's father Ferdinand I, commissioned a series of portraits of his daughter and her three-year-old brother Maximilian from his court painter Jacob Seisenegger (Mauritshuis, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum). Everybody in Europe should know who will be the future Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania and who will be the future King of Bohemia and Hungary, despite the fact that the crowns of these countries were elective. Around 1533, when Sigismund Augustus was approaching the legal age of marriage (14), and his mother Bona wanted to break off the engagement or postpone the marriage, he most probably ordered an armour for the young king of Poland, created by Jörg Seusenhofer (Wawel Royal Castle). Its breastplate and sleeves proudly display the monogram formed by interweaving capital letters "E" and "S" (Elisabetha et Sigismundus). In 1537 Seisenegger created another portrait of eleven-year-old Archduchess Elizabeth and of her brother Maximilian. 

The king of Poland undeniably received a portrait of his fiancée, and she received his portrait. The portrait attributed to Christoph Amberger in the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna was acquired in the 18th century by Joseph Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein (oil on panel, 68 x 51 cm, GE 1075). It shows a young man in a costume and hairstyle from the 1530s, similar to that visible in portraits of Archduke Maximilian by Seisenegger, bronze medal with a bust of Sigismund Augustus by Giovanni Maria Mosca, created in 1532, and anonymous print from 1569 after original effigy from about 1540. The collar of his shirt is embroidered with gold thread with depiction of the dextrarum iunctio (hand in hand), highly popular in Roman art. In the Roman world marriage was considered a dextrarum iunctio, a joining of hands and "the right hand was sacred to Fides, the deity of fidelity. The clasping of the right hand was a solemn gesture of mutual fidelity and loyalty" (after Stephen D. Ricks "Dexiosis and Dextrarum Iunctio: The Sacred Handclasp in the Classical and Early Christian World", 2006, p. 432). It was a popular motif in engagement rings. Some gold rings with this symbol preserved in Poland (Wawel - third quarter of the 16th century, Konin - 1604).

Face features of the young man bears strong resemblance to other portraits of Sigismund Augustus, especially his portrait by Jan van Calcar in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 

"He is of medium height, gaunt, with black hair and a stringy beard, dark - complexioned and and does not seem to be very strong, but rather feeble, and therefore he could not stand great hardships and exertion and often suffers from podagra. [...] In his youth he liked to dress richly, he wore Hungarian and Italian robes of various colors, today he always wears a long robe and does not use any other color except black", described the aging king few years before his death the Papal Nuncio Giulio Ruggieri in 1568. Being involved in many affairs and holding a large number of mistresses, historians agree that the king contracted the "Italian disease", as the French called syphilis.

Two years earlier, in 1565, another Ruggieri, Flavio from Bologna, reported about Polish women that "adding charms by artificial means or dyeing their hair is a great disgrace to them". Sigismund's mother Bona Sforza was described as a lovely bright blonde with black eyelashes and eyebrows. Her court as Duchess of Bari and Rossano by her own right was on the other hand full of peoples of dark complexion and of Mediterranean descent. The word for a woman in Old Polish is białogłowa, literally meaning "white head", which most probably refers to fair hair of young women (after "Lud polski, jego zwyczaje, zabobony" by Łukasz Gołębiowski, published in 1830, p. 112) or a white cap. 

It is possible that later in his life Sigismund was darkening his hair to look more masculine and less "feeble", while his mother and sisters were lightening the hair to look more like a "white head", his hair darkened with age, he inherited a hair anomaly from his mother, painters used cheaper dark pigments to create copies, portraits and sitters' appearance was intentionally adapted to recipients - more northern look and costume for northern Princes, more southern look and costume for southern Princes, as a part of diplomacy, or painters received just a general drawing with sitter's appearance and adjusted the details (eye and hair color) to how they imagined the sitter.  

Christoph Amberger, primarily a portrait painter, was active in Augsburg, a Free Imperial City. A portrait of Emperor Charles V, brother of Ferdinand I, from 1532 in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin is attributed to Amberger. ​Around 1548, he repaired the damaged equestrian portrait of Emperor Charles V in the presence of Titian, as the Venetian was about to leave, and with the sovereign's consent, he copied Titian's portraits of the emperor. It is believed that the idealized image of the emperor in the National Museum in Wrocław (oil on panel, 31 cm, inv. MNWr VIII-1458) was created from earlier effigies. It depicts Charles at the age of 44 (ÆTATIS. S. XXXXIIII.), so it was painted around 1544, and this portrait was previously attributed to Holbein, as confirmed by the inscription on the back (Holbein / pinxit). The portrait of Otto Henry of the Palatinate (1502-1559), grandson of Hedwig Jagiellon (1457-1502), Duchess of Bavaria, who visited Kraków at the turn of 1536 and 1537, was attributed to Amberger (State Gallery of the New Palace of Schleissheim before World War II).

Before World War II in the royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, there was a portrait attributed to Amberger (oil on panel, 65 x 51 cm, inv. 15). It was identified as effigy of Charles the Bold (1433-1477), Duke of Burgundy due to some resemblance to his portraits and the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, that was established in 1430 by his father Philip the Good. The man's costume however does not match the fashion of the second half of the 15th century, it is more similar to that visible in portrait by Amberger in the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna, described above. 

On March 7, 1519 in Barcelona, ​​at the chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece, Emperor Charles V granted the order to Sigismund I and the man resembles certain effigies of the king, however, the model in Wilanów's painting bears a striking resemblance to Sigismund's nephew John of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1493-1525), son of Sophia Jagiellon (1464-1512), based on his portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder (Wartburg-Stiftung in Eisenach, inv. M0013), also shown wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece, which he received in 1515. Since the mid-19th century, the Wilanów painting has been considered the work of Hans Holbein the Younger or Amberger (after "Straty wojenne w zbiorach malarstwa w Wilanowie" by Irena Voisé, p. 75, item 41).

In 1520, John returned to Germany for Charles's coronation. Cranach and Amberger therefore had the opportunity to meet him in person, yet, this is not confirmed in the documents, so both paintings may be based on other effigies.

At Wawel Castle in Kraków there is another interesting painting attributed to Christoph Amberger (oil on panel, 38.5 x 27.5 cm, ZKnW-PZS 1117). It comes from the collection of Count Leon Jan Piniński (1857-1938) in Lviv, donated in 1931. The portrait, generally dated between 1541 and 1560, shows an old man in his study, and in this respect it resembles the portrait of the Gdańsk merchant Georg Gisze, painted by Holbein (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, inv. 586). Interestingly, the man's pose was also most likely copied from Holbein's paintings, namely the portrait of a 28-year-old man, painted in 1530 (ANNO DNI / MDXXX / ÆTATIS / SVÆ 28), which was in the collection of Leopold Hirsch in London in 1912, a portrait of another 28-year-old man, painted in 1541 (ANNO · DÑI · 1541 · / · ETATIS · SVÆ · 28 ·), preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 905) and a copy in the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia in Palermo (inv. C004263). It was also used in the portrait of a bearded man, considered to depict Antoine the Good (1489-1544), Duke of Lorraine, which in 1912 was in the John G. Johnson collection in Philadelphia.

This use of a ready-made template indicates that Wawel portrait was a pure studio invention, a collage in which the painter had just inserted the face of an old man. The old man closely resembles Seweryn Boner (1486-1549), banker to King Sigismund I, from his bronze funerary sculpture made between 1532-1538 in Nuremberg by Hans Vischer (Saint Mary's Basilica in Kraków).

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) by Christoph Amberger, ca. 1534, Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of John of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1493-1525) by Christoph Amberger (?), ca. 1525 or after, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portrait of an old man, most probably Seweryn Boner (1486-1549), banker of King Sigismund I, by Christoph Amberger, ca. 1541-1549, Wawel Royal Castle. 

​Portrait of Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), aged 44 by Christoph Amberger, ca. 1544, National Museum in Wrocław.

Portrait of King Ferdinand II of Aragon by workshop of Giovanni Cariani

In April 1518 Sigismund I married Bona Sforza d'Aragona, daughter of Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan. On maternal side she was related to Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516), king of Aragon and king of Castile, as the husband of Queen Isabella I, considered the de facto first king of unified Spain. 

In the National Museum in Warsaw there is a "Portrait of a man with a golden chain", also identified as portrait of Louis XI, King of France from 1461 to 1483, attributed to unknown imitator of the 15th century Franco-Flemish manner (oil on canvas, 61 x 45.5 cm, inventory number M.Ob.1624 MNW). Based on the technique - oil on canvas, possible sitter and style, it is considered to be a work of a 17th century Flemish painter. The resemblance to Louis XI is however very general.

This painting comes from the collection of Jakub Ksawery Aleksander Potocki (1863-1934) in Paris, bequeathed to the Museum in 1934 (after "Early Netherlandish, Dutch, Flemish and Belgian Paintings 1494–1983" by Hanna Benesz and Maria Kluk, Vol. 2, item 819). The portrait of Henry VIII, King of England, most probably by Lucas Horenbout, earlier in the collection of Leon Sapieha, was also offered by Potocki (inventory number 128165). The two portraits were therefore most likely part of historical, possibly royal collections transferred to Paris after partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The man bears great resemblence to Ferdinand II of Aragon from his portraits by Spanish painters from the 16th or 17th century (Convento de Nuestra Señora de Gracia de Madrigal de las Altas Torres and Prado Museum in Madrid, P006081) and to his portrait attributed to Michel Sittow or follower from the late 15th or early 16th century (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 830). His late gothic costume was "modernized" with a little ruff in nothern style, which indicate that it was created in the 1530s, like in the portrait of Joachim I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1532, Georgium in Dessau), portrait of a bearded man by Hans Cranach the Younger (1534, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum) and portrait of a man, probably of the Strauss family by Bartholomaeus Bruyn the Elder (about 1534, National Gallery in London). The style of this painting, especially the face, is close to the works by Giovanni Cariani and workshop, like the portrait of Stanislaus (1500-1524) and Janusz III (1502-1526), Dukes of Masovia (Museum of Fine Arts in Boston) and A Concert (National Gallery of Art in Washington). Consequently it is highly possible that this portrait of an important Aragonese/Spanish relative was commissioned in Venice by Queen Bona, basing on a lost original by Michel Sittow from the Polish-Lithuanian royal collection. 

Portrait of King Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516) by workshop of Giovanni Cariani, ca. 1534, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portraits of Sigismund I the Old by Jan van Calcar

"And under that king there were so many excellent craftsmen and artists that it seemed that those ancient Phidias, Polykleitos and Apelles were revived in Poland, masters who in the art of painting, sculpture in clay and marble were equal in glory to the ancient artists" (Itaque tanta copia optimorum opificum, atque artificum hoc rege fuit, ut Phidiæ illi ueteres, atque Policleti, et Apelles reuixiffe in Polonia uideretur qui pingendi, fingendi, ac dolandi arte, illorum ueterum artificum gloriam adæquarent), praise the king Sigismund I in his "Ornate and copious oration at the funeral of Sigismund Jagellon, King of Poland" (Stanilai Orichouii Rhuteni Ornata et copiosa oratio habita in funere Sigismundi Iagellonis Poloniae Regis), published in Venice in 1548, the Catholic priest Stanisław Orzechowski (1513-1566) from Ruthenia (partially after "Ksiądz Stanisław Orzechowski i swawolne dziewczęta" by Marcin Fabiański, p. 44).

The portrait of an old man in a fur coat by Jan van Calcar (compare Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda: 38836) from private collection is very similar to the effigies of king Sigismund I the Old published in Marcin Kromer's De origine et rebus gestis Polonorum from 1555 and Marcin Bielski's "Chronicle of Poland" from 1597. It bears a mysterious and ambiguous inscription in Latin: ANNO SALVTIS 1534 27 / ANNA AETATIS VERO MEAE / 40 (year of salvation 1534 27 / in the actual year of my age / 40) which, however, fit perfectly the events in Sigismund's life around the year of 1534. That year Sigismund was celebrating 27th anniversary of his coronation (24 January 1507) and his wife Bona Sforza her 40th birthday (2 February 1494), so the portrait could be a gift from her to please 67 years old Sigismund.

The portrait of a 70 years old man (inscription: ANNO ATAT. SVAE * LXX * on the base of the column) with a dog attributed to Venetian school (oil on canvas, 108.6 x 91.4 cm), stylistically is very similar to the previous one. Also the depicted man is undeniably the same, just much older, or more realistic. The difference in details, like eye color might be beacuse the portraits were not taken from nature or the one with darker eyes is a copy of some other effigy. Hedwig Jagiellon, Sigismund's eldest daughter, has bright eyes in her portrait by Hans Krell from about 1537 and dark in other. The compostion is close to known portraits by Calcar, who entered Titian's Venetian studio in 1536. The painting was sold in 2009 with attribution to the circle of Leandro Bassano (1557-1622) (Christie's New York, Auction 2175, June 4, 2009, lot 83), Venetian painter who, according to my research, worked for Sigismund's daughter, Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), and the way the dog was painted could indicate that this might be correct, however there is no similar painting of a pet attributed to Calcar, which would confirm or exclude his authorship. The columns are typical for many Calcar portraits and the old man's hat and the shape of the beard indicate the second quarter of the 16th century more than the late 16th century. They also closely resemble those in the Portrait of a gentleman with a letter by Moretto da Brescia kept at the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia (inv. 151), generally dated around 1538. It is also possible that Bassano copied an earlier painting by Calcar. Interestingly, this portrait was also previously attributed to Moretto da Brescia (auction November 7, 1990, artnet).

The king's particular liking for little doggies is confirmed by sources. When he was over thirty years old and staying at the Hungarian court of his brother in Buda from 3 October 1498 until the end of 1501, together with his courtiers, armed post, servants and his then life companion, Katarzyna Telniczanka, his favorite animal was a lap dog called "Whitey" (Bielik). The dog was the subject of his special care and he liked him so much that Whitey accompanied the prince during his stays in the bathhouse, and was even washed with soaps bought especially for him.

Portrait of king Sigismund I the Old (1467-1548) in a fur coat by Jan van Calcar, 1534, Private collection.

Portrait of king Sigismund I the Old (1467-1548) aged 70 with his dog by Leandro Bassano after Jan van Calcar, late 16th century after original from 1537, Private collection.

Portraits of Hedwig Jagiellon as Madonna by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger

"When this Lady was devoted to such a house and to a country whose language and customs are foreign to her, and therefore must experience great longing when no person is with her, who would share with her the commonness of speech; His Majesty pleads with Your Grace to instruct his nephew so that his spouse could keep people of both sexes from her countrymen who speak her language, until she learns the German language herself, and that her husband will treat her with due honor and marital love", wrote in a letter of July 9, 1536 the king Sigismund I to Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg asking him to intervene at the Berlin court with his daughter's marital problems. 
​
Relations of Hedwig Jagiellon with her husband were not going well. The marriage with a Catholic did not satisfy Hedwig's mother-in-law, Elizabeth of Denmark, a devout Protestant, who converted in 1527 against the will of her husband. In July 1536, almost a year after the wedding in Kraków, Sigismund was forced to send his envoy Achacy Czema (Achaz Cema von Zehmen), castellan of Gdańsk to the cardinal. 

Albert of Brandenburg, prince of the Roman Church and renowned patron of the arts, was famous for his lavish lifestyle, which displeased many Protestants. In his portraits by the best German painters he and his concubines Elisabeth "Leys" Schütz from Mainz and Agnes Pless, née Strauss from Frankfurt were frequently depicted in guise of different Christian Saints. Several paintings by Lucas Cranach shows Albert as Saint Jerome. He was depicted as Saint Erasmus in a painting by Matthias Grünewald and as Saint Martin in a painting by Simon Franck. 

The cardinal collected more than 8,100 relics and 42 holy skeletons and wanted to repress the growing influence of the Reformation by holding far grander masses and services. For this purpose he decided to demolish two old churches and built a new representative church in a central location of his residential city of Halle, dedicated solely to the Blessed Virgin Mary (Marienkirche).

The face features of Saint Erasmus from the so-called Pfirtscher Altar, which was until 1541 in the collegiate church in Halle, today in the Staatsgalerie Aschaffenburg (panel, 93.1 x 40.6 cm, inv. 6272), are identical with the portrait of cardinal Albert of Brandenburg as Saint Jerome in his study, created by Cranach in 1525, today in the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (inv. GK 71). Among the female saints in the Pfirtscher Altar there is a counterpart panel with Saint Ursula (panel, 92.5 x 40.8 cm, inv. 6268), while two similar depictions of this saint are identified as disguised portraits of cardinal's concubine Elisabeth (Leys) Schütz (d. 1527) - one in the Grunewald hunting lodge (inv. GK I 9370), a companion painting to Saint Erasmus, which has the features of Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg in the same collection, and the other in the Stiftsmuseum Aschaffenburg (inv. 170/55), a companion to the portrait of the cardinal as Saint Martin (inv. 169/55). The letters O.M.V.I.A on Elisabeth's necklace in Grunewald painting refer to Omnia vincit amor ("Love vanquishes all)" in Virgil's tenth eclogue (cf. "Die Renaissance in Berlin ..." by Elke Anna Werner, p. 208-209). In another painting from Cranach's studio in the Staatsgalerie in Aschaffenburg, the cardinal and his concubine are depicted as Christ and the adulterous woman (inv. 6246). They can also be identified in the scene of the Lamentation of Christ from Halle Cathedral, also from the circle of Cranach and also in the Staatsgalerie in Aschaffenburg (inv. 5362), depicted as Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Nicodemus, holding a container with ointments to embalm the body (also a traditional attribute of Saint Mary Magdalene).

Cranach also worked for the electoral court in Berlin, although his visit to Berlin is not firmly confirmed in the sources. He created several portraits of electors, including effigies of Hedwig's husband and a portrait of his first wife, Magdalena of Saxony (Art Institute of Chicago, inv. 1938.310). The Lamentation of Christ in the Protestant St. Mary's Church in Berlin from the 1520s, by the workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder, contains disguised portraits of Joachim II of Brandenburg, his mother, and his sisters, according to my identification.

Like earlier her mother Barbara Zapolya (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, inv. 114 (1936.1)) and her stepmother Bona Sforza (The State Hermitage Museum, inv. ГЭ-684), Hedwig was also depicted as the Virgin in old Medieval custom. In the painting as the Nursing Madonna (Madonna lactans) in the collection of the Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig (panel, 49 x 33 cm, inv. 42), her features are very similar to these visible in her portrait as Judith dated 1531 in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (inv. 636A). In the painting from the Friedenstein Palace in Gotha (panel, 105.8 x 78.2 cm, inv. SG 678, recorded since 1721), the main seat of the Dukes of Saxe-Gotha, one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty, her features are very similar to the portrait in Veste Coburg (inv. M.163). It is dated 1534, when the Princess was still unmarried, threfore it was most probably sent to a potential suitor in Saxony. In the paintings from the Georg Schäfer collection in Obbach near Schweinfurt (panel, 82.5 x 56.5 cm, Sotheby's London, December 11, 1996, lot 53), from Eltz Castle (panel, 77.6 x 57.6 cm) and from Zwettl Abbey (panel, 75 x 56 cm, SZ25.416(129)), between Vienna and Prague, the features and pose of the Virgin are very similar to the Gotha painting.

In the painting in the Detroit Institute of Arts (panel, 116.8 x 80.3 cm, inv. 23.31), acquired from the collection of Arthur Sulley (1921-1923) in London, Hedwig pose and features are very similar to the painting in Gotha. It was created in 1536, threfore after her marriage to Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg. Similar to this painting is the effigy in the Prado Museum in Madrid (panel, 121.3 x 83.4 cm, inv. P007440), acquired in 1988 from the collection of Duquesa de Valencia, also created in 1536. Derived from the latter are the Virgins from the Bode Museum in Berlin (panel, 77 x 57 cm, inv. 559 A), acquired in 1890 from Carl Lampe in Leipzig, possibly from the collection of cardinal Albert of Brandenburg and lost during World War II and in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (panel, 74.3 x 55.8 cm, inv. 140), which was at the beginning of the 19th century in the Court collection (Hofsammlungen) in Vienna.

​The Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, also attributed to Lucas Cranach the Younger, from the Swedish royal collection, today in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (panel, 85 x 57 cm, inv. NM 299), is very similar to the painting in Detroit, while the Child is almost identical as in the portrait of Hedwig's stepmother as the Virgin in the Hermitage. Its provenance in Sweden is unknown, therefore it cannot be excluded that it was taken from Poland during the Deluge (1655-1660) or it was part of dowry of Hedwig's sister Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), future Queen of Sweden. Two copies of the Stockholm painting, probably made in the second half of the 16th century, are now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (inv. 904, originally in the imperial collection in Vienna) and in the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck (inv. Gem. 118), both of which may have originally come from the collections of Hedwig's distant relatives - the Habsburgs.

Treated kindly by Bona from her arrival in 1518, Hedwig, together with the queen and her father, took part in a pilgrimage to Jasna Góra on April 20-27, 1523. She was then given a certain sum of money "for the journey to Częstochowa", to the sanctuary of the Black Madonna, so that she could give alms herself, following her father's example. The devotion of the Princess to Virgin Mary is evidenced by the fact that a rosary was made for her by the famous goldsmith from Kraków, Andreas Mastella or Marstella (d. 1568), at the request of Sigismund I (ab inauracione legibulorum alias paczyerzi, paid on May 9, 1526). From the inventory of valuables left after Jadwiga’s death, it is known that the Margravine of Brandenburg had several such precious rosaries: gold, amber and coral.

Ercole Daissoli, secretary of Hieronim Łaski (1496-1541), writing about the envoys of John Zapolya who arrived in Kraków and the gifts that were given to the princess in 1535, confuses her name and calls her Lodovica, but adds that she is "much loved by the King of Hungary and rightly so, because in addition to being born of his sister, the goodness and valor of the Infanta are such, as you know, that she deserves to be loved not only by her own people but also by foreigners" (questa s - ra Lodovica e molto amata dal re d'Ungharia et meritamente, perchè oltra che nascesse de la sorella, la bontà et valuta de l'infanta e tal come vi e noto, che non solo da li suoi ma ancho da li extranei merita esser' amata, after "Królowa Bona ..." by Władysław Pociecha, p. 565). The use of the Spanish title Infanta indicates that it was probably used already in the 1530s in connection with the daughters of Sigismund I. In his letter of September 17, 1571 to his stepsister (today at the Wawel Royal Castle), Sigismund Augustus also calls Hedwig "Infanta of the Kingdom of Poland" (Dei gratia Infanti Regni Poloniæ), which also indicates some links with Spain.

A letter from Stanisław Hozjusz (1504-1579), Prince-Bishop of Warmia, to Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), administrator of the Archdiocese of Milan (part of the Spanish Empire), written in 1560 (July 31), confirms the interest in Rome for the Catholic Electress of Brandenburg. In a letter written on September 2, 1564, by Charles Borromeo to the papal legate Delfino, who was then in Germany, Borromeo expresses the hope that Hedwig's husband would visit Rome to meet the Pope and believes that it will happen "through the merits and prayers of this holy lady" (per li meriti et orationi di questa santa donna), as he calls Hedwig. Nuncio Deifino also calls her in his letter the "Holy Old Woman of Brandenburg" (santa vecchia di Brandenburg, after "Królewna Jadwiga i jej książeczka do spowiedzi" by Urszula Borkowska, p. 86, 89-91). 

Sigismund was aware of the Lutheran sympathies of his son-in-law, and already in 1535 when the Brandenburg envoys came to Vilnius to sign the pacta matrimonialia (March 21, 1535) the Polish-Lithuanian side was guaranteed that the wedding would take place in the Catholic rite. Joachim II converted to Lutheranism in 1539. Concerned that his daughter will be forced to abandon Catholicism, which he expressed in his letter to Joahim of 26 September 1539 (Illud autem ante omnia Illm vestram rogamus: ne filiam nostram dulcissimam adigat ad eeclesiae unitatem deserendam), the king decided to send another priest from Poland and to pay him a salary from his own treasury so as not to burden his son-in-law reluctant to Catholicism. Łukasz Górka, bishop of Kuyavia, envoy in Berlin helped the king to choose the priest Jerzy, who was paid an annual salary of 100 florins.

Good relations between the spouses are evidenced by letters written by Hedwig to her husband in 1542, when Joachim II was in Hungary as the leader of an anti-Ottoman expedition. Despite religious differences Hedwig was an exemplary mother for three of her step-children (two sons and a daughter of her cousin Magdalena of Saxony). 

Interestingly, in 1534 and 1535 Cranach also created three other very portrait-like effigies of the Madonna depicting another woman in the guise of the Virgin. One of these paintings, dated "1534", on the window, is today in the Staatsgalerie in Aschaffenburg (panel, 120.8 x 82.6 cm, inv. 5566) and before 1811 it was in the collection of the episcopal residence of the Catholic prince-bishops of Bamberg - the New Residence. Another very similar one and dated "1535" is in the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart (canvas, transferred from the wood, 119.5 x 83 cm, inv. 2385). Before 1916, this painting belonged to Nikolai Pavlovich Riabushinskii (1876-1951) in Moscow. The same woman can also be identified in a beautiful painting by Cranach from around 1535, now in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (panel, 120.3 x 72.7 cm, inv. 46.4), which belonged before 1896 to the Orsini collection in Rome, so it was probably originally a gift for a pope or a cardinal or a member of this noble Italian family. The woman depicted as the Virgin bears a striking resemblance to the lady looking at the viewer in the painting from Cranach's studio - Hercules at the court of Omphale in the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen (inv. KMSsp727), which, according to my identification, represent Agnes Pless née Strauss (1502-1547). After Leys' death, she became the concubine of Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg. The Copenhagen painting bears the cardinal's coat of arms and, like the Bamberg and Rome Madonnas, was panted in 1535.

Around 1525-1530, the Flemish miniaturist Simon Bening (ca. 1483-1561), who created illuminated manuscripts for Emperor Charles V and Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Guarda, son of King Manuel I of Portugal, also created the Prayer Book for Cardinal Albert with his coat of arms and splendid Scenes from the Creation, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Ms. Ludwig IX 19 (83.ML.115)), which testify to the international aspect of his patronage and his following of European trends. However, until the end of his life, like the Jagiellons and the Electors of Brandenburg, the cardinal favoured the style and workshop of Cranach based in Lutheran Wittenberg, as evidenced by his somewhat extravagant portrait with 21 rings, painted in 1543 (Mainz State Museum, inv. 304).

Portrait of cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545) as Saint Erasmus and his concubine Elisabeth (Leys) Schütz (d. 1527) as Saint Ursula from the so-called Pfirtscher Altar by circle or workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1526, Staatsgalerie in Aschaffenburg. 

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Madonna lactans by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1531, Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig.

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John and angels by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1534, Friedenstein Palace in Gotha.

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John by Lucas Cranach the Younger and workshop, ca. ​1534 or after, Private collection.

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Madonna with Child nibbling grapes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1534 or after, Eltz Castle.

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Madonna and Child with grapes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1534 or after, Zwettl Abbey.

Portrait of Crown Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1534-1536, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Electress Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John and angels by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1536, Detroit Institute of Arts.

Portrait of Electress Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John and angels by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1536, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Electress Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1536 or after, Bode Museum in Berlin, lost. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Electress Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573) as Madonna and Child with grapes by workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1536 or after, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

​Portrait of Agnes Pless née Strauss (1502-1547), concubine of Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), as Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and angels by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1534, Staatsgalerie in Aschaffenburg. 

​Portrait of Agnes Pless née Strauss (1502-1547), concubine of Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), as Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and angels by workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1535, Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. 

​Portrait of Agnes Pless née Strauss (1502-1547), concubine of Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), as Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and angels by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1535, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. 

Portraits of Princess Sophia Vereyska by workshop of Bernardino Licinio and Lucas Cranach the Elder

Princess Sophia Vasilievna Vereyska, wife of Albertas Gostautas, together with Barbara Kolanka, wife of George "Hercules" Radziwill, Katarzyna Tomicka, wife Nicolaus "the Red" Radziwill and Elżbieta Szydłowiecka, wife Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill, was one of the wealthiest and the most influential woman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, during the reign of Sigismund I and Bona Sforza. As the wife of Grand Chancellor of Lithuania and Voivode of Vilnius, the positions held by her husband from 1522, she was the most important woman in the Grand Duchy after the Queen. Furthermore, in 1529 Pope Clement VII Medici granted Albertas the title of count and in 1530 Emperor Charles V included him among the counts of the empire. Sophia's husband was also the richest man in Lithuania. His estates included hundreds of villages and towns. In 1528 he had 466 cavalrymen and 3,728 servants.

Sophia, known in Polish sources as Zofia Wasilówna z Wierejskich Gasztołdowa, was the daughter of the Russian prince Vasily Mikhailovich Vereysky, a relative of the Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan III, and Maria Palaiologina (d. 1505), who, according to Russian sources, was the daughter of the titular emperor of Constantinople and Despot of the Morea Andreas Palaiologos (1453-1502). Andreas was a courtier of Pope Alexander VI Borgia in Rome and married a Roman prostitute Caterina (after "The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571" by Kenneth Meyer Setton, Volume 2, p. 462). He lived on a papal pension and was buried with honor in St. Peter's Basilica at the expense of Pope Alexander VI.

In 1483, Vasily and Maria went into exile in Lithuania because of an incident involving the jewels of Maria of Tver (1442-1467). On October 2, 1484, they received the estates of Lubcha, Koydanava, Radashkovichy and Valozhyn (Belarus) from King Casimir IV Jagiellon. Sophia was born around 1490 and married Albertas in 1505 or 1506, for whom this marriage was a significant elevation since his wife was related to Byzantine emperors and the rulers of Moscow. As Vasily's only daughter, she inherited all his property, granted by King Casimir IV. In 1522, King Sigismund I granted Sophia, her husband and her descendants the right to seal letters with red wax, which was reserved for persons of royal blood. The king emphasized in the privilege that "having special respect for the nobility of the Vereysky princely family and the personal virtues of Sophia, the wife of Albertas, grants the above privilege to her, her husband and her offspring forever" (after "Ateneum wileńskie", Volume 14, 1939, p. 120). Around 1507 the only son of Sophia and Albertas, Stanislovas (Stanislaus), was born in Vilnius. He was the first husband of Barbara Radziwill (1520/23-1551).

It is possible that as the presumed granddaughter of a Roman prostitute, whose mother was probably raised at the Borgia court in Rome, Sophia knew Italian, making her even closer to Queen Bona. Two letters from the queen to the voivodess of Vilnius are known, both in Polish - dated January 21, 1537 and June 4, 1543. The letter of 1537 is evidence that communication through envoys to whom the oral message was transmitted was valued more highly than a letter (compare "Kobieca korespondencja w Wielkim Księstwie Litewskim ..." by Raimonda Ragauskienė, Biuletyn historii pogranicza, p.  9, 11). This is one of the reasons why we have so little information about portraits of women from Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia, which were undoubtedly numerous. However, one source confirms that Queen Bona owned a portrait of the voivodess of Vilnius, most likely Sophia, which she kept with a portrait of her favourite Dorota Dzierzgowska née Sobocka "and other portraits of the most distinguished persons" (after "Zbiór pamiętników historycznych o dawnej Polszcze ..." by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Volume 4, p. 36). 

Albertas died in December 1539 and his estates passed to his son. By virtue of a privilege granted by Sigismund on June 13, 1542, Sophia purchased a house in Vilnius. After Stanislovas died without an heir in December 1542, all the Gostautas estates passed, in accordance with the law of the time, into the possession of King Sigismund the Old, who gave them to his son, Sigismund Augustus, on June 15, 1543. The rights to the estates of the Gostautas family were expressed by the widows: Sophia after Albertas and Barbara Radziwill after Stanislovas. The young king returned to Albertas' widow her patrimonial estates, which had been bequeathed to her by her husband and son for life.

It is very likely that this action was inspired by Bona, because a woman became the administrator of the Gostautas' fortune. As the richest woman in the Grand Duchy, close to Queen Bona, Sophia is probably also among the women criticized in epigrams by the Spanish poet and lawyer Pedro Ruiz de Moros (Petrus Roysius, died 1571), perhaps written between 1545 and 1549, when Bona inspired a similar campaign against a mistress of his son Barbara Radziwill. When Stanisław Orzechowski (1513-1566), in conflict and polemic with Roysius, attacked Barbara, the Spaniard who on October 1, 1549 had been appointed by Sigismund Augustus as a courtier and royal advisor with a salary of 200 złotys per year, wrote a malicious poem "To Maevia" (Ad Maeviam). This pseudonym means "the one who is great" or "mighty" and this woman, although she refers to the chaste Lucretia of Rome, is more like Helen of Troy, who does not care about her husband's fame (Quod decet, illud ama, plenis fuge, Maevia, velis Dedecus et sanctae damna pudicitiae. Hoc sibi proposuit Lucretia casta sequendum, Hoc Helena prae se non tulit argolica. Illius idcirco laus nullo intercidet aevo, Perpetuum terris dedecus huius erit. Illius haud oberunt saeclorum oblivia famae, Non Helenes sordes abluet oceanus). The selection of Roman and Greek heroines could be a reference to Sophia's origins.

The Imperial Countess died in August 1549, although according to some sources she was still alive in 1553, because in that year she concluded an agreement with Barbara Holszańska and acquired Migowo from Czaplica (after "Poczet rodów w Wielkiem Księstwie Litewskiem ..." by Adam Boniecki, p. 60). There are some letters about the funeral and the inventory of Sophia's belongings (letters from Sigismund Augustus to Nicolaus "the Red" Radziwill, from Kraków, August 25 and December 13, 1549), as well as the fact that after her death Bishop Zmorski brought a box to Warsaw to Queen Bona, which was carried by 10 men (after "Język polski w kancelarii królewskiej ..." by Beata Kaczmarczyk, p. 67). Three members of the Council of Lords were sent to Valozhyn to prepare a register. In Vilnius, the king's treasurer Stefan Wełkowicz received sealed chests from the manors in Valozhyn, Koydanava and Vilnius (after "The earliest registers of the private archives of the nobility ..." by Raimonda Ragauskienė, p. 127-128).

Of the immense fortune of the Gostautas family, almost nothing remains. In the Munich University Library there is a prayer book created in 1528 in Kraków by the splendid illuminator Stanisław Samostrzelnik for Albertas. This prayer book is partly inspired by German graphics and shows Albertas on one page as a donor kneeling before the Vir Dolorum. On the other page, King Sigismund I is depicted as one of the Magi in the scene of the Adoration of the Child. Beautiful funerary sculpture of Albertas in precious red marble, created around 1540, preserved in the Vilnius Cathedral, although it was seriously damaged during the Deluge (the face was smashed during the Russian and Cossack occupation of the city). The sculpture is attributed to the Florentine sculptor Bernardino Zanobi de Gianotis, also called Romanus (the Roman).

There are no known painted portraits of Albertas (apart from mentioned miniature by Samostrzelnik), but he had good relations with Sigismund I's nephew, Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568), who was painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans Krell. He corresponded with the duke about the Ruthenian printer and pedagogue Francis Skaryna, active in Vilnius in Prague, who published several books in Ruthenian decorated with magnificent engravings by an engraver from the circle of Hans Springinklee. As a count of the Holy Roman Empire, to increase his prestige, Gostautas probably used the painters working for the emperor, including Titian, but also Cranach, who painted several portraits of Charles V and his brother Ferdinand I.

Albertas' wife, following the example of Queen Bona, probably also commissioned several of her portraits. Nothing is known about her burial place, but since she was probably Orthodox, she was not buried with her husband in the Catholic Cathedral in Vilnius.

In the State Art Museum in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, there is a painting of Lucretia, painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop in 1535 (panel, 77 x 52 cm, inv. 966). The same woman in a similar pose was depicted standing next to Queen Bona's favourite Dorota Dzierzgowska née Sobocka in the 1534 painting in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (inv. Gm1108). The face is almost identical, as if the painter had used the same study drawing to create both effigies. The Nizhny Novgorod painting comes from the collection of Mikhail Platonovich Fabricius (1847-1915), a military engineer, who participated in the reconstruction of a number of Kremlin buildings in Moscow. Fabricius collected materials and wrote a book on the history of the Kremlin. He began collecting in Moscow and continued in St. Petersburg. If we assume that the painting depicts the wife of Albertas Gostautas, it could have come to Russia as a gift to her family there (in 1493, the Grand Princess of Moscow Sophia Palaiologina obtained pardon and permission for Prince Vereysky and his wife to return to their homeland, but for some reason the exiles did not take advantage of this). As the property of an aristocratic family outside Moscow, it could survive iconoclasm of 1654-1655. It could also have been acquired in the former territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Partitions or come from the collection of many Polish-Lithuanian and Ruthenian aristocrats who settled in St. Petersburg in the 19th century.

At least two copies of the Nizhny Novgorod painting are known, both made by the painter's workshop more than ten years later, in 1548, when Roysius probably wrote his malicious poem. Both are signed with the artist's winged serpent and dated. One of these copies, now in a private collection (panel, 77.5 x 52.4 cm, Christie's London, Auction 5013, April 26, 2006, lot 124), comes from the Electoral Collection in Dresden (inventory from 1722 to 1728, number 351 inscribed on the painting), the possible earlier provenance being the royal residences in Warsaw from where Augustus II the Strong moved many paintings and objects during the Great Northern War. The other is also in a private collection (oil on panel, 80 x 53 cm, Dorotheum in Vienna, October 17, 2017, lot 210) and was sold in 1966 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

In the 1530s, Cranach and his workshop depicted the same woman in two other paintings depicting the virtuous Roman Lucretia. One of them, dated "1535", like the Nizhny Novgorod painting, is in the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum in Hanover (panel, 51.7 x 34.8 cm, inv. PAM 775), and comes from the collections of the Electors of Brunswick-Lüneburg, mentioned in the collection of the Hanover Palace in 1802 (no. 83). This provenance also indicates that the woman depicted as Lucretia was a member of the European high aristocracy. This painting is frequently compared to Cranach's later Lucretia in Wilanów Palace (Wil. 1749), which is similar in pose and depicts Queen Bona, according to my identification. The other, undated, is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (panel, 63 x 50 cm, inv. B89-0059) and was in New York before 1931. The similarity of the costume with the Nizhny Novgorod painting is notable and the painting is also compared to that in the Wilanów Palace. The expensive furs worn by the woman were typical of Lithuania and Ruthenia at that time.

We can identify the same woman in a portrait attributed to the workshop of Bernardino Licinio, now kept at the Galleria Sabauda in Turin (oil on canvas, 74 x 67 cm, inv. 466). The painting came at the gallery following the donation of Riccardo Gualino (1879-1964) in 1930 and its previous history is unknown. This likeness is very similar to two portraits of Queen Bona by Licinio that I have identified (British Embassy in Rome and private collection). The costume is very much alike and as in the portrait of the queen, the ribbon that ties the bodice of the model's dress is inspired by German fashion of the time. Unlike Cranach's portraits, her forehead is not shaved according to the Nordic fashion. She holds a dog, a symbol of fidelity, and directs her gaze to the left as if she were looking at the man, her husband, in the counterpart painting, which probably accompanied this effigy. The Madonna by Lucas Cranach the Elder, made around 1525, now in a private collection (panel, 56.5 x 39.9 cm), has the same facial features. This painting comes from the collection of the Barons of Mecklenburg, a noble family originally from Mecklenburg, who owned estates in Sweden, Prussia and Pomerania.
​
The effigies of the "disguised" Princess Sophia most likely inspired the Augsburg painter Jörg Breu the Elder (ca. 1475-1537) to create the effigy of the Roman heroine in his composition depicting the Story of Lucretia, now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (inv. 7969). Breu travelled to Italy twice (about 1508 and 1514), but this painting was painted more than ten years later, in 1528 (dated top left). It also bears the coat of arms of William IV (1493-1550), Duke of Bavaria, and his wife Maria Jakobaea of ​​Baden-Sponheim (1507-1580), as it was part of the cycle commissioned by the Duke for the decoration of his residence. The Story of Lucretia was acquired in 1895 from the collection of Carl Edvard Ekman at Finspang Castle in Sweden, built between 1668 and 1685. Breu's study drawing, held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (inv. 62), indicates that the main character's face was originally different and that patrons probably requested for it to be changed. Although the Gostautas prayer book in Munich is believed to have come from the dowry of Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651), the earliest confirmed provenance of this book is the collection of the Jesuit Ferdinand Orban (1655-1732) in Ingolstadt. Like Breu's painting, the prayer book was also created in 1528 (dated on one of the pages).

The face of a lady in another painting by Bernardino Licinio is very similar to that in Cranach's Madonna from the collection of the Barons of Mecklenburg. The work is now in a private collection (oil on canvas, 71 x 59 cm, Asta Finarte in Milan, 29 November 1995, lot 131). This portrait, known as "Portrait of a Lady with a Fan" (Ritratto di gentildonna con ventaglio), comes from the Contini Bonacossi collection in Florence, from which also come several portraits of the Jagiellons, identified by me. Like the portraits of the Jagiellons, it was probably sent to the Medici or other important ruling families in Italy. The sitter's costume indicates the early 1530s and is entirely black (or dark grey). The woman's black veil, like a Roman matron, indicates mourning, hence mourning after the death of Pope Clement VII Medici, who died in September 1534 (he granted the title of count to Gostautas). This gesture by the probably Orthodox princess and papal and imperial countess undoubtedly had a special meaning for her and for the Medici.

In the 16th century, Italian and German influences, as well as Netherlandish influences (in the northern regions), mixed in artistic patronage from Poland, Lithuania and Ruthenia. The works of art preserved in the Cathedral and the Archdiocesan Museum in Przemyśl are the best illustration of this.

It was sometimes associated with the education of the patrons of these works of art, as in the case of the splendid funerary monument of Jan Dziaduski (1496-1559), bishop of Przemyśl, educated in Padua and Rome (between 1519 and 1524), sculpted by the Venetian sculptor Giovanni Maria Mosca known as Padovano (1493-1574) around 1559 (IOANI DZIADVSKI ‣ I ‣ V ‣DOCTO/RI ‣ EPICOPO PREMISLIEÑ ‣ [...] ‣ANNO ‣ ÆTATIS SVÆ / L XIII ‣ SALVTIS VERO M D LIX DIE XXIX / I VLII VITA FVNCTO AMICI MERENTES PO/SVERE ‣). 

Another source of foreign influences was the presence of a local community from a specific country or cultural cycle, as in the case of the so-called Master of the Klimkówka Triptych, active in Krosno and the surrounding area in the first quarter of the 16th century. Since the Middle Ages, this area was inhabited by the community of Saxon settlers called "Deaf Germans" (Głuchoniemcy in Polish or Taubdeutsche in German). As his style indicates, the Master of the Klimkówka Triptych was probably trained in Kraków, however, either there or in Krosno he had the opportunity to see the imports of painting and graphics from southern Germany.

The Farewell of Saint Peter and Paul from Osiek Jasielski, painted in 1527 (inv. MAPrz I/110), reveals the inspiration of the works of the Master of Messkirch, active between 1515 and 1540, probably a student of Hans Leonhard Schäufelein. The Klimkówka Lamentation of Christ from 1529 is based on Schäufelein's woodcut from the Speculum Passionis Domini Nostri Jhesu Christi, published in Nuremberg in 1507 (inv. MAPrz I/337). These images, however, are not direct transpositions of works by German masters. In the Lamentation from Klimkówka, the painter gave the figures the effigies of members of the local community, perhaps members of the noble Sienieński family, who owned the village at that time. He also dressed them according to the fashion in vogue in the region, thus Saint Joseph of Arimathea, possibly Wiktoryn Sienieński (ca. 1463-1530), castellan of Małogoszcz, wears a hat lined with grey fur and his costume and beard are typical for Western European fashion of the time. In turn, Saint Mary Magdalene, perhaps the daughter of a man represented as Saint Joseph (possibly Agnieszka or Katarzyna Sienieńska), wears a costume more typical of Ruthenia. The men behind Saint Peter in the painting from Osiek Jasielski are dressed according to the Western European fashion, while the sermon of Saint Paul in Athens on the right wing of this triptych probably takes place in one of the churches in Kraków or Krosno.

The same is true for a painting of Jew whipping the statue of Saint Nicholas of Bari from Rzepiennik Biskupi (Czartoryski Museum, inv. MNK XII-242), painted by the same master or his workshop, where the Jew is dressed in a costume typical of this community from the first quarter of the 16th century. This Mimesis, which consists of placing religious scenes in authentic places and involving members of the local community in the religious scene, had a great moralizing significance.

Wealthy patrons like Sophia could afford greater diversity in their patronage and commission their effigies from the most important centres of pictorial production in Europe.

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Vasilievna Vereyska (ca. 1490-1549) holding a dog by workshop of Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1524-1534, Galleria Sabauda in Turin. 

​​Portrait of Princess Sophia Vasilievna Vereyska (ca. 1490-1549) as Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1525, Private collection. 

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Vasilievna Vereyska (ca. 1490-1549) in mourning by Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1534, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Vasilievna Vereyska (ca. 1490-1549) as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1535, Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum in Hanover. 

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Vasilievna Vereyska (ca. 1490-1549) as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1535, Israel Museum in Jerusalem. 

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Vasilievna Vereyska (ca. 1490-1549) as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, 1535, State Art Museum in Nizhny Novgorod. 

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Vasilievna Vereyska (ca. 1490-1549) as Lucretia by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1548, Private collection. 

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Vasilievna Vereyska (ca. 1490-1549) as Lucretia by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1548, Private collection. 

Portraits of royal banker Seweryn Boner by Giovanni Cariani and workshop 

In 1536 Jan (1516-1562) and Stanisław (1517-1560), sons of Seweryn Boner (1486-1549), royal banker of Bona Sforza and Sigismund I, burgrave of Kraków and starost of Biecz, went on a scientific trip around Italy. They traveled to Naples and to Rome, where their tutor Anselmus Ephorinus (d. 1566) was ennobled by Emperor Charles V. They returned to Kraków in autumn 1537. Few years earlier, in September 1531, at the instigation of the Łaskis, Ephorinus and his disciples Jan Boner and Stanisław Aichler found themselves in Basel benefiting from teachings of a Netherlandish philosopher and theologian Erasmus of Rotterdam for almost 6 months. The philosopher dedicated his P. Terentii Comoediae sex to Jan and Stanisław (Ioanni et Stanislao Boneris fratribus, Polonis) and he refers to their father (Seuerinum Bonerum) in this work. During a seven-year peregrination they also visited France and Germany, where in Erfurt and Nuremberg they made acquaintance with a number of eminent humanists.

Erasmus, who corresponded with Seweryn and other Poles, died in Basel on July 12, 1536. In his will he bequeathed to Bonifacius Amerbach, his friend in Basel, two gold medals of King Sigismund and Seweryn Boner, both from 1533 and both works by Matthias Schilling from Toruń or an Italian medallist, such as Padovano, Caraglio, Pomadello, perhaps created in Venice or Verona. The reverse side of the medal with a portrait of King Sigismund had the inscription: "To Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus Seweryn Boner as a souvenir" (after "Wiek złoty i czasy romantyzmu w Polsce" by Stanisław Łempicki, ‎Jerzy Starnawski, p. 354). The Poles also acquired Erasmus' library - in 1536, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski stayed in Nuremberg in the house of his friend Daniel Schilling, a merchant from Kraków, and in November this year, at the request of Jan Łaski, he goes to Basel in order to bring the library to Poland. The books were sent first to Nuremberg, where the library was deposited in the apartment of Schilling, staying there with his brother on commercial business, either his own, or perhaps for the Boners or Justus Ludwik Decjusz. 

Seweryn Boner (or Bonar) was the son of Jakob Andreas (1454-1517), a banker in Nuremberg and in Wrocław, and the nephew of Johann (Hans) Boner (1462-1523), royal banker, born in Landau in Palatinate, from whom he inherited all the property along with the offices held by his uncle. On October 23, 1515, he married Zofia Bethmanówna - the heiress of Balice, which became the suburban residence of the Boners. From 1532 he was a city councilor in Kraków and from Emperor Ferdinand he received the title of baron in Ogrodzieniec and Kamieniec.

Boner acted as an intermediary in international monetary transactions. Through Fuggers' bank, he transfers money to Venice using promissory notes, the basis of trade between cities.

Even before his coronation, Sigismund owed him 7,000 florins. In 1512, the debt amounted to 65,058 florins, which is 4,000 more than all the annual revenues of the treasury. When he was elected king, in 1506 Boner become his exclusive supplier of all goods from glass panes imported from Venice for the windows in the Wawel Castle, to cloth and pepper (after "Przemysł polski w dawnych wiekach" by Aleksander Bocheński, ‎Stefan Bratkowski, p. 131).

Banking and commercial relations with Nuremberg of Johann and Seweryn Boner, closely associated with the artistic patronage of Sigismund the Old, also influenced the importation of outstanding works of artistic craftsmanship from there to Kraków. Silver and gold products were purchased by Boner in Nuremberg, and above all in Italy. His wagons loaded with pomades, soaps, perfumes, silk, Venetian glass, costly goblets and rings of pure gold were coming from Italy and Venice. Through Lviv merchants, he purchased Turkish goods, and very sought after pepper and spices (after "Kraków i ziemia krakowska" by Roman Grodecki, p. 125). Seweryn also organized his own post office from Kraków to Germany, which was often used by the court. In December 1527 a shipment of costly fabrics for the queen, together with a letter to Bona from the Margrave of Mantua, was to be sent by her Venetian agent Gian Giacomo de Dugnano to Seweryn Boner, however, the transport was detained by the Viennese customs chamber (allegedly due to the violation of customs regulations).

In 1536, foreign orders increased due to planned marriage of the eldest daughter of Bona and Sigismund - Isabella, as well as the fire of the newly built Wawel Castle (October 17) and costly repair works. The king and queen were in Lithuania at the time. Upon learning of the fire, the monarch ordered the governor, Seweryn Boner, to secure the roofs and make preparations for immediate reconstruction. A fire broke out in the apartments of Sigismund Augustus, in the new part of Wawel. The fire consumed the paintings purchased in Flanders and the golden throne covered with scarlet. A contract was signed with Bartolommeo Berrecci as the main works manager. When he was murdered a few months later, his duties were entrusted to another Italian, Niccolo Castiglione.

Queen Bona frequently used Venetian banking services and deposited large sums there before returning to Italy in 1556. Sigismund I and Bona financed the activities of their envoy Jan Dantyszek by sending money and buying his bills of exchange at the banks of the Fuggers and Welsers. In 1536 a seller of Venetian goods (rerum venetiarum venditor) Paul was recommended by the council of Poznań to Vilnius city council and envoys sent from Kraków to Venice that year all took 20 florins from the royal treasury - Marcin in June, Andreas (Andrzeich) and an unknown Italian in August. In 1536 Melchior Baier and Peter Flötner in Nuremberg created silver candlesticks for the Sigismund Chapel, soon they accomplished the silver altar for the chapel (1538) and a sword of Sigismund Augustus with Hercules vanquishing the Lernaean Hydra (1540). Many exquisite works of art were commissioned through Seweryn Boner, like tapestries in Flanders in 1526 and in 1533 or pendants for daughters of the royal couple in Nuremberg in 1546. Bronze tombstone for himself and his wife Seweryn also ordered in Nuremberg - created by Hans Vischer between 1532-1538.

In the Picture Gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, there is a "Portrait of a Nuremberg patrician", a work signed by Giovanni Busi, called Cariani (oil on canvas, 98.5 x 89 cm, inventory number 6434, inscribed left above the parapet: Joannes Cariani -p-). The painting is verifiable in the gallery in 1772, could therefore come from old collections of the Habsburgs, having been sent to them as a gift. The old man from the portrait holds a letter in his hands which in the upper part mentions in Latin: "Including Nuremberg 1470 was issued on Tuesday on the 17th, while he brought this form to Venice in 1536 in the same year" (Inclyta nurimberga protulit 1470 Mensis Martis die 17 / Usq. dum attulit formam hanc Venetiis 1536 eodem lustro), most likely referring to the transfer of money from Nuremberg to Venice, a promissory note. Below there is another inscription: "What nature produced more slowly, the painter quickly represented" (Natura produxit tardius / Pictor figuravit extemplo), which together with a second piece of paper, at the right, which says: "Death destroys nature, time art" (Mors Naturam / destruit / Tempus Artem) and the objects of the vanitas, a skull and an hourglass, set on the parapet, reminds that nature transforms man and that the painter did not age the model, contrary to nature. The features of the old man correspond to known effigies of royal banker and supplier Seweryn Boner from silver medal with his bust, created in 1533 (National Museum in Kraków, MNK VII-MdP-263), and his bronze tombstone, cast in Nuremberg (St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków).

A copy of this portrait by Cariani's workshop from anonymous sale (oil on canvas, 91 x 71 cm, Sotheby's London, April 18, 2000, lot 367) was sold in Paris (Artcurial, November 9, 2022, lot 165). Cariani and his workshop also painted the effigies of Seweryn's sister Magdalena Bonerówna (1505-1530), lady-in-waiting of Queen Bona, and his daughter Zofia Firlejowa née Bonerówna (d. 1563).

The Governor's salon at the Wawel Castle, a representative interior in which guests were received, is one of 3 rooms of the so-called Governor's apartment. German furniture and paintings are presented there to emphasize the fact that the most eminent governors from the times of King Sigismund I - Hans and Seweryn Boner - came from Germany. The furniture and paintings were acquired from different collections after the reconstruction of the castle in the 1930s, because nothing has been preserved of the original furnishings and paintings of the royal residence.

Portrait of royal banker Seweryn Boner (1486-1549) by Giovanni Cariani, after 1536, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of royal banker Seweryn Boner (1486-1549) by workshop of Giovanni Cariani, after 1536, Private collection.

Portraits of Dorota Sobocka and Barbara Kościelecka by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans Döring

"Queen Bona persuades the king to convene the Sejm [Diet] in Warsaw. This idea came to her from the archbishop [Piotr Gamrat (1487-1545)], not for reasons of public interest, but because he has his mistress here [ubi Archiepiscopus habet amationes suas sabbatorias, i.e. Dorota Dzierzgowska née Sobocka (died after 1548), chatelaine of Czersk]. He tells everyone that the burghers of Warsaw, once assured that the Sejm will be held here, will not fail to build new houses and repair those that have burned down in a short time.

Your Lordship, having already mentioned so many trivial things, I must add another: the special grace and attachment of our lady for the blood and family of the Sobodzki [Sobocki]. She praises them, raises them to heaven, calls happy the womb that gave birth to such sons. She strives by all means to make the chatelaine of Czersk the voivodess of Mazovia, not so that her foolish husband is worthy of this dignity, but so that his wife holds the first place here. To achieve this, Bona constantly explains to the king that there are many quarrels, affairs, appeals that fall within the discretion of the voivode. To settle them, the voivode must always be present here, while the current voivode Gamrat [Jan Gamrat (1502-1544), younger brother of the primate] is weak and often unconscious, and moreover he has few assets in this country. So, after the first vacancy, Gamrat will receive higher voivodeships; and Dorota, who is the wife of two, will become voivode of Mazovia, for certainly not her husband Dzierzgoski [Jan Dzierzgowski (1502-1558)], who can't tell a fly from a mosquito. And so our Mazovia is at the mercy of either fools, or drunkards, or harlots, not through the fault of the nation, but through the incompetence of those in power. This shameless woman lives in the greatest intimacy with the queen, and she is very much loved by her. The queen ordered a portrait of her to be made, she constantly looks at it with the greatest joy, she placed this portrait, next to a similar woman, the voivodess of Vilnius [most likely Princess Sophia Vasilievna Vereyska (ca. 1490-1549)], and other portraits of the most distinguished people. She often says to her: Oh! How happy you are that you were able to please such a prelate [Piotr Gamrat]. Everyone laughs at this madness. I would not like to know about these shamelessnesses, but they are constantly making themselves known. I will keep silent about the rest: it is a shame to speak any longer about these fornications", wrote to a friend in a letter given in Warsaw on May 26, 1544 Stanisław Górski (1497/99-1572), canon of Płock and Kraków (after "Zbiór pamiętników historycznych o dawnej Polszcze ..." by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Volume 4, p. 28-29, 34-36, 48). 

Father Górski was the queen's secretary between 1535 and 1548 and thanks to her he received the canonry of Kraków in 1539 and the parish of Wiskitki in Mazovia in 1546. He frequently criticized the queen, accusing her of greed, of concealing her wealth and of influencing parliamentary decisions in her favor and to the detriment of the kingdom. This letter, however, seems very reliable and there is no reason to believe that it is a product of overflowing imagination of a clergyman, educated in Padua and hostile to Bona. In the cited fragment, he explicitly accuses the queen of having intimate lesbian relations with Sobocka.

The 1540s were very difficult for Bona. In 1544 she reached the age of 50, while her husband Sigismund was 77 and often ill. For the first time in many years she was not the most important woman in the kingdom, because in May 1543 her son married Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545) and Bona became from then on "the old queen". In addition, Elizabeth was the daughter of her great enemy Ferdinand I of Austria, her son Sigismund Augustus wanted to free himself from his mother's influence and many people attacked Bona. It was also a time of great cultural changes brought about by the Reformation and the rejection of many old customs. It is therefore possible that the queen was bisexual and that at this time in her life she became more open to the charms of Lady Sobocka.

According to Bronisław Kruczkiewicz (1849-1918), it is likely that the Latin epigram of the Spanish poet Pedro Ruiz de Moros (Petrus Roysius, d. 1571) under the title In Chlorim ("To Chloris") is a direct reference to Sobocka (after "Royzyusz : jego żywot i pisma", Rozprawy Wydziału Filologicznego, p. 62). The poet states: "Night and day you frequent the roofs of the very old, this is not luxury, O Chloris! it is greed" (Nocte dieque senum nimium quod tecta frequentas, Haec non luxuria, a Chloris! avaritia est). According to Ovid's Fasti V, the nymph Chloris was partly responsible for the conception of Mars, the god of war. With the help of a flower, Chloris made Juno, queen of the gods, pregnant. At that time, the Queen's apartments were located on the second floor of the west wing of Wawel Castle, called the piano nobile, while the courtiers' rooms were on the first floor. In the next poem under the meaningful title Ad Lesbiam ("To Lesbia"), Ruiz de Moros writes that he should neither condemn nor judge her because "it has been said: an imperfect animal is a woman" (Cur te non venerer, cur te non, Lesbia, curem Contemnamsque tuum, Lesbia, iudicium. Non longe repetam causas; breve, Lesbia, dictum est: Imperfectum animal, parce mihi, est mulier). 

In the poem Ad Maeviam ("To Maevia"), which probably refers to Princess Sophia Vereyska, he adds that "the ocean does not wash away Helen's filth" (Non Helenes sordes abluet oceanus, compare "Petri Rozyii Maurei Alcagnicensis Carmina ...", ed. Bronisław Kruczkiewicz, part II, pp. 465-466, poems V-VI, IX). There are 13 poems of this kind addressed to influential women from the court of Queen Bona, and most likely to the queen herself. Roysius, a simple professor at the Kraków Academy, was undoubtedly paid by someone very influential to slander them. The letter of March 15, 1544 from Piotrków to Jan Dantyszek is a clear confirmation that Górski was a staunch supporter of the Habsburgs, praising the "Most Serene" King of Rome and his daughter and slandering Queen Bona and her son "raised by women and Italians more fearful than women themselves".

Father Górski's views were frequently quoted by 19th-century authors, when large parts of Poland were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire of Franz Joseph I, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, but they probably did not know or forgot, like Górski himself, that the Habsburgs married and had children with their close relatives. In 1543, Charles V's son, Prince Philip married his close relative, the Infanta Maria Manuela of Portugal, who was also a close relative of Philip's father and mother. Both of Sigismund Augustus's Habsburg wives were granddaughters of his uncle. 

It seems, however, that apart from the "doctor Spaniard" and Górski, no one in Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia felt concerned about Bona's sexual life, as no other comments are known. Since such homosexual acts were punishable by death at the time, it is quite possible that by making them public, the instigator(s) hoped to get rid of the "dragon who sat at the Wawel".

The event that took place in 1545, after the death of Elizabeth of Austria, was probably a response to this campaign. In that year, an order was placed in Vienna, the seat of Ferdinand I, for the queen's bed and the piece of furniture was to be modeled on a bed belonging to Elizabeth. The intensive use of the queen's bed is confirmed by the accounts. The first piece of furniture, brought from Italy, was repaired several times. Later, Bona acquired at least two more beds (including a large bed for the queen's bedroom and a smaller one for the king's bedroom, commissioned in 1543, after "Sypialnia królowej Bony na Wawelu ..." by Kamil Janicki). Also in 1545, Poland was threatened with war with Turkey and the pro-Habsburg party was ready to push the country into an armed conflict with the Ottoman Empire, but the queen, with the help of her supporters, adopted a resolution to pay compensation to Turkey, thus saving the peace (after "Słownik biograficzny arcybiskupów ..." by Kazimierz Śmigiel, p. 151). 

Dorota Sobocka, a noblewoman of the Doliwa coat of arms, met Piotr Gamrat, who, according to a contemporary source, came from the Italian school of cortegiano (courtiers), before 1528, because at that time this Pułtusk scholastic was defended by Andrzej Krzycki (1482-1537), Bishop of Płock, against the rumors that he had some affection for Dorota (malicious lampoons were circulating in the country). Krzycki wrote in a letter of October 23, 1528 to his uncle, Vice-Chancellor Piotr Tomicki (1464-1535) that there were no witnesses and the defense was easy (after "Z dworu Zygmunta Starego. (Dokończenie)" by Kazimierz Morawski, p. 535). Gamrat, a close associate of Bona, famous for his lavish and dissolute lifestyle, was administrator of the queen's estate in Mazovia between 1532 and 1538. He probably entered the queen's service shortly after her arrival in Poland-Lithuania in 1518. Thanks to Queen Bona, he was appointed Bishop of Kraków in July 1538, then Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland in January 1541.

Sobocka was the daughter of Tomasz (d. 1527), Lord of Sobota, and Elżbieta Bielawska (died after 1546). Her brother was Tomasz Sobocki (ca. 1508-1547), who in 1525, together with his brother Jakub, enrolled at the University of Wittenberg and was a student of Philipp Melanchthon. Probably thanks to Dorota, he became the royal courtier of Sigismund I before 1532. In the service of the king, he was ambassador to John Zapolya, King of Hungary (1535), to Prussia (March 1537) and to Pope Paul III (May 1537) and to the Ottoman Empire (1539). Her sister Anna was married to Piotr Okuń, court marshal of Queen Elizabeth of Austria, and she also had a brother Brykcy (d. 1549), cupbearer to Queen Elizabeth.

Before 1520 she married Jan Dzierzgowski (1502-1558) of the Jastrzębiec coat of arms, castellan of Ciechanów in 1532 and castellan of Czersk in 1542. They had two children, a daughter Dorota, who married Zygmunt Parzniewski, and a son Feliks Zbożny (Auctus, 1520-1571).

"Some think that Sobodzko will be Archbishop or Bishop of Kraków. It is only certain that a lot of gold for the [papal] bulls will go to Rome," comments Stanisław Górski after Gamrat's death in a letter from Kraków, dated October 9, 1545. This "Sobodzko" was Dorota's brother-in-law, Mikołaj Dzierzgowski (ca. 1490-1559), who thanks to her received the rich bishopric of Kuyavia in January 1543 and on October 20, 1545 he was actually elected Gamrat's successor as primate. Through Bona and her brother Tomasz, Dorota obtained the Mazovian Voivodeship for her husband in 1544. In the same year, she also wanted to secure for her brother the position of Grand Chancellor of the Crown, and Górski left another malicious comment on this (letter of 26 May 1544): "Many assume that the king will not give the chancellery to Soboczka, the cupbearer, because the Soboczka house is despised by the people because of his sister's licentious life and that the chancellery would be defiled as a result. When Soboczka, as cupbearer, served the king at the table, a cake was brought to the king from his sister. This one too, said the king, you will not defile this Soboczka with guilt. However, I think that the king, following the advice of the queen and the archbishop, will give Father Paweł [Dunin Wolski] the Bishopric of Poznań, and the seal to Mr. Sobeczko, because women and effeminates rule everything today". 

After Jan Dzierzgowski's death on August 22, 1548, Dorota erected a funeral monument for her husband in St. Anne's Church in Warsaw, in the main nave on the right side next to the altar of the Virgin Mary, carved in marble, but it was destroyed during the Deluge (1655-1660). It was probably made by Giovanni Cini or Giovanni Maria Padovano in their workshops in Kraków and transported to Warsaw.

There are no material traces of the influential and very wealthy Sobocka preserved in today's Poland, she is also largely forgotten and known thanks to the malicious comments of Stanisław Górski and the Habsburg agent Giovanni Marsupino, who in a letter to Ferdinand I of August 19, 1543, called her the wife of Archbishop Gamrat (after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI wieku" by Alexander Przezdziecki, Volume 1, p. 139). There is also a Mazovian legend connected with Lady Sobocka and Queen Bona: during the queen's stay at the hunting palace of the Mazovian dukes at Lake Krusko (today Lake Serafin) near Łomża, the child of her favourite, left unattended, drowned in the marshy lake. Bona Sforza and her companion, in a fit of anger, cursed the lake and this place.

The Czartoryski Museum in Kraków houses a portrait of a woman, previously attributed to the German painter Conrad Faber von Kreuznach, active in Frankfurt am Main before 1553, and today to an unknown German painter from the circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder (oil on panel, 51.5 x 40 cm, inv. XII-238). The painting comes from the collection of the last elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski (1732-1798), where it was considered the work of Hans Holbein the Younger. In 1818 it was purchased by Princess Izabela Czartoryska, who placed it in the Gothic House in Puławy as a portrait of Katharina von Bora, a fugitive nun and wife of Martin Luther. Around 1818, an inscription in Polish was added to the upper left corner of the painting: Katarzyna Boore / żona Marcina Lutra. The costume is similar to that from the portrait of Bora by Cranach the Elder in the Coburg Fortress (inv. M.418), but the facial features are different, Bora has larger (Slavic?) cheekbones. Therefore, this identification, like many other inscriptions on the paintings from the Puławy collection, usually based on a general resemblance, is today rejected.

The inscription Anna de Boulen in the upper left corner of the portrait of Charles V's sister Isabella of Austria (1501-1526), ​​Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (Czartoryski Museum, inv. XII-299) was removed in the early 2000s because it is obviously not the famous second wife of King Henry VIII of England, Anne Boleyn (d. 1536), although the costume is similar to that seen in the portrait of Anne in the National Portrait Gallery (inv. NPG 4980(15)). The portrait of Isabella comes from the Sułkowski collection in Rydzyna and could probably have come from the collection of Sigismund I. It was later acquired by Stanislaus Augustus.

By the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, the rich and powerful Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia of the Renaissance had long been forgotten, and Protestant Prussia, which together with Russia and Austria divided the country, was the dominant power in the region. The earlier history of the portrait by Cranach's entourage in the Czartoryski Museum is not known, so it either comes from earlier royal collections or was purchased by Poniatowski from a magnate collection. To make the identification with the famous Lutherin even more obvious, a coat of arms was added to the woman's ruby ​​ring, however the author probably did not know Katharina's coat of arms and based it on descriptions of Martin's coat of arms, since this emblem resembles that of the Luther family - two golden apples and a white rose.

The resemblance to Cranach's style in the painting described is obvious, so the most likely author seems to be Hans Döring (ca. 1490-1558), Cranach's chief assistant until the mid-1510s. His signed and dated portrait of Philipp (1468-1544), Count of Solms-Lich, is very similar (Sotheby's London, December 6, 2007, lot 135, HD.1520). His presence in Wetzlar north of Frankfurt in 1533 is confirmed, however his biography is not well known, so his stay in Poland-Lithuania is likely. If this were the case, it would also mean that the majority of his works were destroyed.

The same woman, dressed in a similar costume, is depicted in the painting from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, preserved in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (inv. Gm1108). This painting tells the story of an adulterous wife - The Fable of the Mouth of Truth (Duplicity of Women) - and Queen Bona is depicted as the main character. Like Queen Bona, the woman in the black dress on the right looks at the viewer meaningfully, so she must be identified as the influential mistress of the queen - Sobocka. The same woman, dressed in a similar costume, can also be identified in another painting by Cranach. The work, now held at the Fondation Bemberg in Toulouse (oil on panel, 83.4 x 120.5 cm, inv. 1098), was sold in London in 2000. It is a courtly scene depicting Hercules at the court of Omphale, Queen of Lydia, where this mythological hero is dressed as a woman and the queen required him to do women's work. Two of Omphale's servants put a lady's bonnet on his head and two others hand him a distaff to spin. It was a popular motif at the Polish-Lithuanian court, as a similar scene depicting the family of Sigismund I is in the National Museum in Poznań (inv. Mo 109) and the oldest ones from 1531 depict the family of Bona's favourite Beata Kościelecka (private collection), all identified by me. The scene was painted in 1537 and signed with the artist's sign.

"The Lydian maidens entrust their daily tasks to Hercules, and he, though equal to the gods, submits to the will of his lady. Thus lust robs a man of his intelligence, and fickle love robs him of his strength" (HERCVLEIS MANIBVS DANT LYDÆ PENSA PUELLÆ / IMPERIVM DOMINÆ FERT DEVS ILLE SVÆ / SIC CAPIT INGENTIS ANIMOS DAMNOSA VOLVPTAS / FORTIAQVE ENERVAT PECTORA MOLLIS AMOR), reads the Latin inscription above the scene, a perfect illustration of the refined court of Queen Bona and that of Sobocka in Ciechanów, Czersk and Warsaw.

In this court scene in mythological disguise, Dorota wears an orange French-style dress with a large neckline in the back. Hercules is undoubtedly her husband Jan Dzierzgowski. The woman on the left, who looks like Sobocka, is probably her daughter Dorota, later Parzniewska, or less likely her sister Anna. The facial features of the two women behind Sobocka are different, so they are most likely her future daughter-in-law Anna Szreńska (Srzeńska) in the blue dress and her mother Barbara Kościelecka (died after 1550) in the green dress.

Barbara, daughter of Stanisław Kościelecki (1460-1534), voivode of Poznań, was officially Beata Kościelecka's cousin (her "father" Andrzej was Stanisław's brother) and, like Beata, was a member of Queen Bona's court. Before April 1526, she married a courtier, Feliks (Szczęsny) Szreński (Srzeński) Sokołowski (ca. 1498-1554), who on April 12, 1526 acknowledged receiving a considerable dowry of 3,000 florins. In 1532, at the age of 29, he took office as voivode of Płock and in 1537 he received the starosty of Malbork. Like other members of the queen's court, Barbara was a colourful character and subject to commentary by Górski.

On Barbara's orders, the noblewoman Pniewska, who was having an affair with her husband, was murdered. She also had a lover, probably Feliks Sieprski from Gulczewo, castellan of Rypin. Queen Bona, whose favor Szreńska enjoyed, tried to reconcile the spouses in 1533 through Bishop Krzycki, while Feliks denied all accusations of mistreating his wife at that time. Kościelecka soon began to manage the Płock starosty, which her husband had given her in 1531, on her own. Between 1537 and 1543, she bought small plots of land near Płock, creating "her own little farm". In 1540, following a complaint from the citizens of Płock that she was taking away the municipal benefits for this purpose, a royal commission investigated the matter on the spot, but it did not find any abuses on Szreńska's part. Later, she sold this farm with her husband's consent and made a profit from it. Barbara had good relations with Duke Albert of Prussia, who was painted by Cranach. In 1549, she asked him to send her a grey English puppy, and in 1550 - to sell 100 Silesian sheep. Szreńska had two daughters: Anna, mentioned above, wife of Zbożny Dzierzgowski, castellan of Sochaczew, and Barbara, who married Andrzej Firlej, castellan of Lublin (after "Polski słownik biograficzny: Sowiński Jan-Stanisław August ...", 1935, p. 253). 

The same woman in a green dress similar to the one in the Toulouse painting was depicted as the biblical heroine Judith holding the head of Holofernes in a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder from around 1545 (oil on panel, 21 x 14.6 cm, Sotheby's New York, Auction 2282, January 27, 2010, lot 7). However, since the Toulouse painting is dated "1537", it could also be dated earlier. The painting was auctioned in London in 1963. Interestingly, the man's head resembles the features of Barbara's husband Feliks from his funerary monument in the parish church in Szreńsk. The monument was probably made in Kraków in a workshop influenced by Giovanni Maria Padovano in 1546 and shows him in splendid Renaissance armour that can also be seen in many of Cranach's paintings (compare "Funerary sculpture in sixteenth-century Mazovia" by Olga M. Hajduk, p. 69, 325-329). A short biography of Feliks and his daughters was included by Bartłomiej Paprocki in his Herby Rycerztwa Polskiego ..., published in Kraków in 1584 (p. 309). 

A stove tile with a male bust from the second quarter of the 16th century (District Museum in Toruń) and another tile with the biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife from the first quarter of the 16th century (Klaipeda Castle Museum), as well as Martin Schoninck's The Story of Judith (The Siege of Bethulia) from 1536 (Artus Court in Gdańsk) prove that the fashion in Poland-Lithuania was very similar to that visible in Cranach's paintings.

The voivode of Płock, Feliks Szreński, one of the most trusted collaborators of King Sigismund Augustus, died in 1554. All his property was passed on to his daughters born from his marriage to Barbara Kościelecka. The funerary monument of Anna Szreńska in the parish church in Pawłowo Kościelne, sculpted by the royal sculptor Santi Gucci Fiorentino in the 1560s, is very interesting because it refers to the Venetian images of the sleeping Venus. Lady Dzierzgowska née Szreńska is pointing at her womb. 

Perhaps by today's standards, all these women were not role models in their private lives, but as administrators and guardians of peace they contributed enormously to the economic and cultural development of Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia before the Deluge.

​Portrait of Dorota Dzierzgowska née Sobocka by Hans Döring, ca. 1534-1537, Czartoryski Museum in Kraków. 

​Hercules at the court of Omphale with portrait of Dorota Dzierzgowska née Sobocka and members of her family by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1537, Fondation Bemberg in Toulouse.

​Portrait of Barbara Szreńska née Kościelecka as Judith with the head of Holofernes (bearing the features of her husband Feliks) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1537-1545, Private collection. 

King Sigismund I, his wife and his four daughters as Hercules and Omphale's maids by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder

"The Lydian maidens entrust their daily tasks to Hercules, and he, though equal to the gods, submits to the will of his lady. Thus lust robs a man of his intelligence, and fickle love robs him of his strength" (HERCVLEIS MANIBVS DANT LYDÆ PENSA PVELLÆ / IMPERIVM DOMINÆ FERT DEVS ILLE SVÆ / SIC CAPIT INGENTIS ANIMOS DAMNOSA VOLVPTAS / FORTIAQVE ENERVAT PECTORA MOLLIS AMOR), reads the Latin inscription above the scene of Hercules and Omphale in several paintings made by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop in the late 1530s. The mythological hero, courageous and wise, was not afraid of powerful women, he succumbed to them and this obviously gave him great joy.

Sigismund I the Old was frequently compared to the mythological hero Hercules, it was a standard during renaissance. In 1537 the king was celebrating 20th anniversary of his coronation (January 24, 1507​) and 70th anniversary of his birth (January 1, 1467). 
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The composition of a painting from the Mielżyński collection, now in the National Museum in Poznań (oil on panel, 48 x 73 cm, inv. Mo 109), surprisingly correspond to the composition of the Jagiellon family around 1537. It is a workshop copy, most probably a copy of a copy, hence resemblance might be not so evident. Cranach workshop was famous for its "mass production" of quality paintings. The study for a portrait, a drawing with all details of the sitter's costume meticulously described, was prepared by some court painter or a Cranach's pupil sent to the patron. Just as in case of preparatory drawings to portraits of Margaret of Pomerania (1518-1569) and Anna of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1502-1568), Duchess of Pomerania, relatives of Sigismund through his sister Anna Jagiellon, Duchess of Pomerania (1476-1503), such drawings were sent from Poland to facilitate the work on commission.

In this courtly scene showing Hercules, who was sold to the court of Queen Omphale where he had to remain as a slave for three years, we could distinguish the 70 years old king Sigismund (1467-1548), his 43 years old second wife Bona Sforza (1494-1557), and his four daughters: 18 years old Isabella (1519-1559), 15 years old Sophia (1522-1575), 14 years old Anna (1523-1596) and 11 years old Catherine (1526-1583).

Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), Bishop and Elector of Mainz, Archbishop of Magdeburg and Archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, was not afraid either and succumbed to ... the fashion for such disguised portraits, because the painting in the Danish National Gallery (Statens Museum for Kunst) bears his coat of arms and corresponds perfectly to the composition of the Cardinal's family in 1535, the year the painting was painted (panel, 82 x 118 cm, inv. KMSsp727). The work comes from the Danish royal collection, mentioned in the inventory of Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen in 1784. In the centre, the prince-elector can be seen in secular costume as Hercules. Albert's daughter Anna Schütz von Holzhausen (ca. 1515-1599), the child from his previous affair with Elisabeth (Leys) Schütz von Holzhausen (d. 1527), places a woman's bonnet on his head. Agnes Pless née Strauss (1502-1547), mistress of the cardinal from around 1527 until his death in 1545, is depicted as another court lady of the mythological Omphale (or the queen herself). She gives the distaff to "Hercules" and looks at the viewer in a meaningful way. The older lady behind her is her mother Ottilia Strauss née Semer (d. 1543), the second wife of Agnes' father, the Frankfurt butcher Hans Strauss (d. 1519). In 1531/32, Agnes bought a house on the old market square in Halle an der Saale for over 2,000 guilders. She lived there with her mother and held court in great splendor. Her relationship with Albert was known to the public. She also received gifts from several nobles, such as a precious pearl necklace from Duke Henry of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1489-1568), later husband of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575). In 1541, following the victory of the Reformation, she left Halle with her mother and Albert. A reduced copy of the painting from the Danish royal collection, which was in the Albert Langen collection in Munich before 1899, is now in the Stiftsmuseum in Aschaffenburg (inv. 12578). It is believed to be a fragment of a larger composition that was cut into pieces and the portrait of Ottilie, also from the Langen collection in Munich, is now in a private collection (Hampel in Munich, June 27, 2019, lot 674).

​Such a secular disguise in a court scene should not be considered unusual. In a drawing attributed to the German sculptor and medallist Hans Schwarz and earlier to Albrecht Dürer, Christopher of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1487-1558), Bishop of Verden and Archbishop of Bremen, brother of Henry, is depicted in a completely secular costume - a fur coat and hat (Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, inv. KdZ 6020).

​Cardinal Albert, a splendid patron of the arts and prince of the Renaissance, corresponded with King Sigismund I and imitated the fashion at the royal court of Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia.

​Hercules at the court of Omphale with portrait of King Sigismund I (1467-1548), his wife and his four daughters by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1537, National Museum in Poznań. ​

​​Hercules at the court of Omphale with portrait of Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), his daughter Anna Schütz von Holzhausen (ca. 1515-1599), his concubine Agnes Pless née Strauss (1502-1547) and her mother Ottilia Strauss née Semer (d. 1543) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1535, National Gallery of Denmark. 

Portraits of Bona Sforza by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder

In a letter of 29 June 1538 in response to accusations that his second wife Bona appropriated the robes of his first wife Barbara Zapolya, the king Sigismund I testified that the Queen arrived to Poland with so many garments, clothes and ornaments that it would be enough for a few queens.

The Queen's passion for fabrics revived crafts and trade. Under her patronage, attempts were made to establish Italian-style silk weaving mills, as evidenced by entries in the accounts of the royal court (after Ksawery Piwocki's "Tkanina polska", 1959, p. 14). In December 1527 Federico II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua sent a large shipment of costly materials, including gold cloth, silk and satin fabrics commissioned by Bona, to her Venetian agent Gian Giacomo de Dugnano. Trade took Venetian merchants all over the Mediterranean and as far as China, a fact that affected not only the city's economic prosperity but its cultural identity, making 15th century Venice one of the most culturally diverse cities in Europe (after Carol M. Richardson's "Locating Renaissance Art", 2007, p. 211). So was "Guanyin look" of Bona and her step-daughter in some paintings by Cranach inspired by Chinese art?
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Bona's taste for German garments and embroideries is confirmed by employment at her court of German embroiderers. Jan Holfelder from Nuremberg became her court embroiderer in about 1525 and Sebald Linck from Nuremberg or Silesia was mentioned in the accounts in the years 1537-1579.

The "portrait of a woman" (ritratto di donna) produced by the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, today kept in the Villa del Poggio Imperiale in Florence (oil on panel, 38 x 27 cm, Poggio Imperiale 558 / 1860), most probably comes from the old collections of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Similar to the Habsburgs, the Medici also collected effigies of the rulers of Europe and today some of the most important effigies of the monarchs of Poland can be found in Florence, sent to them as diplomatic gifts or commissioned by the grand dukes, like the portraits of Sigismund I (Uffizi Gallery, inv. 1890, 412), Stephen Bathory (inv. 1890, 8855) and the young Sigismund Vasa (inv. 1890, 2436). Several portraits of Bona, who in addition to being Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania with enormous possessions in Ruthenia, was also reigning duchess and heiress to several Italian duchies, should also have been provided to them, so we should assume that all have been lost or forgotten.

The mentioned ​portrait is generally dated between 1525 and 1540 and the woman bears a striking resemblance to the queen in her portraits by Francesco Bissolo (National Gallery in London, NG631) and by Cranach against the idealized view of Kraków (Hermitage Museum, ГЭ-683), both identified by me. Given her more mature appearance, the portrait should be dated more to the 1530s than the 1520s. A similar portrait is now in the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck in Remagen, Germany (oil on canvas, mounted on wood panel, 31.2 x 26.8 cm). As in Cranach's earlier painting at Wilanów Palace (Wil.1518), the queen holds forget-me-nots, perhaps addressing her husband who, despite his old age, was still traveling across the vast country.

Portrait of Bona Sforza d'Aragona (1494-1557), Queen of Poland by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530s, Villa del Poggio Imperiale.

Portrait of Bona Sforza d'Aragona (1494-1557), Queen of Poland holding a flower by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530s, Arp Museum Rolandseck. ​

Portraits of daughters of Bona Sforza by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder

Around the year of 1537 three of four daughters of Sigismund I and Bona Sforza reached puberty age (twelve for brides) and their marriage become a principal concern for the queen. Two years earlier, in 1535, the princesses were accommodated in a separate building, the Domus Reginularum (House of the Princesses), at Wawel Castle. Their apartment was richly furnished. The royal court accounts record expenses such as the purchase and repair of various luxury items, such as frames for paintings, ivory crucifixes, golden icons, chests and coffers with ornamental fittings, chessboards, dice, checkers and chess imported from Italy and bird-cages etc. (after "The Court of Anna Jagiellon: Size, Structure and Functions" by Maria Bogucka, p. 93-94). 

All three, Isabella, Sophia, Anna, apart from the youngest 11 years old Catherine, were depicted with their hair covered with a snood in the painting from the Mielżyński collection showing the daughters and the wife of Sigismund I in 1537. 

The portraits of three unkown ladies from the late 1530s, created by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, surprisingly fit the Mielżyński painting and effigies of daughters of Bona by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger from the 1550s. They were probably part of a series of copies commissioned to be sent to relatives and potential suitors. 

​The woman in a green dress from a painting sold in London in 2004 (panel, 37.1 x 25.2 cm, Sotheby's, July 7, 2004, lot 32), perfectly matches the appearance and age of the eldest daughter of Sigismund and Bona. This painting was probably in the late 18th century in the collection of James Whatman in Maidstone, Kent. The lady in a crimson dress from a painting sold in New York in 2002 (panel, 56 x 38 cm, Sotheby's, January 24, 2002, lot 156), resemble the second daughter of the royal couple Sophia. The painting comes from the collection of Mrs. Rachel Makower (d. 1960), sold at auction in London on June 14, 1961. The woman in the painting held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (panel, 76 x 56.5 cm, G-73-51), corresponds perfectly to the effigy of the third daughter - Anna in the Mielżyński painting. This painting was also acquired in London (Arcade Gallery).

The garments are more German in style, however Italian influences with low-cut bodices are visible. In 1537 the royal tailor was Francesco Nardocci (Nardozzi) from Naples. Also the fabrics are Italian, Venetian sumptuous silk satins and velvets. During the Prussian Homage in 1525 the royal family was dressed in clothes made of rich Venetian fabrics acquired by Jan Boner in Venice (Acta Tomiciana, vol. IV).

Before the advent of cheaper Mexican cochineal in the 1540s, Polish cochineal (Porphyrophora polonica) from which the natural dye carmine is derived, colloquially known as "Saint John's blood", and widely traded in Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, was utilized in Venice to dye fabrics. Polish merchants were present in Venice since at least 1348 and the first permanent dipomatic agent of Poland-Lithuania in Venice between 1535-1543 was Lodovico Alifio, head of the chancellery of queen Bona.
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The royal embroiderer Sebald Linck from Nuremberg, active at the court from 1537, also worked for the Princesses, like in 1545 when he redo the collars offered by Primate Piotr Gamrat to Sophia, Anna and Catherine and embroidered their dresses with pearls. Splendid clothes and jewelry were made for the princesses by local craftsmen, but also ordered from abroad, such as necklaces ordered from Nicolaus Nonarth in Nuremberg in 1546 for Sophia, Anna and Catherine or expensive and fashionable berets, which the embroiderer Bartholomew had brought from Vienna; since he initially had only two, special care was taken to buy a third (after "Anna Jagiellonka" by Maria Bogucka, p. 10).

The painting featuring Herodias in the Speed Art Museum in Louisville (panel, 57 x 49.8 cm, 1968.26) is similar to portrait of princess Sophia Jagiellon. Also her face features match perfectly her portraits in Spanish costume. The inscription identifying the sitter as mother of Salome was most probably added in the 17th or 18th century. The portrait, originally displaying also the decapitated head of John the Baptist, was cut later and lower part was sold separately.

A radiograph of the portrait in the Winnipeg Art Gallery, depicting Anna, reveals that her right arm originally featured a decapitated head on an oval platter. The composition was altered during its production. All of Bona's daughters were therefore to be depicted in the popular guise of the legendary biblical and mythological femmes fatales such as Salome, Judith, Delilah or Lucretia. The painting by Lucas Cranach the Younger in the Güstrow Palace (Staatliches Museum Schwerin, panel, 89.5 x 70 cm, G 201), very similar to the Winnipeg portrait, shows Anna Jagiellon as Judith with the Head of Holofernes. A copy of this portrait from an old East Prussian aristocratic collection was sold in Munich in 2011 (panel, 92.7 x 82.5 cm, Hampel, June 30, 2011, lot 235). The painting is attributed to the circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger, but its style recalls works attributed to student of his father active in Lübeck, Hans Kemmer (ca. 1495-1561), such as the Adoration of the Magi (National Museum in Warsaw, M.Ob.2537 MNW) and Judith (National Museum in Wrocław, VIII-2670).

The portrait by Cranach's studio, similar to the Winnipeg and Güstrow paintings, depicting the same woman, was in 1934 in the collection of the Jewish art dealer Rudolf Heinemann (1901-1975), partner in the Galerie Fleischmann in Munich (oil on panel, 58.4 x 43.2 cm). It was acquired from a private collection in Italy. The resemblance of the young woman to Anna's mother, Queen Bona, from her portrait of 1526 by Cranach in the Hermitage Museum (inv. ГЭ-683), identified by me, is so obvious that Max Jakob Friedländer and Jakob Rosenberg in their "Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach" (items 238, 238 d, pp. 73, 118), clearly considered it to be an effigy of the same woman (hence the catalog number and dating), despite the fact that the costume indicates that the painting from Heinemann's collection was created at least ten years later. The wide sleeves of her dress and her unusual hat indicate that Anna wished to combine elements of Italian and German fashion of the time.​

In 1538 also the youngest daughter of Bona, Catherine Jagiellon, reached the legal age of marriage. Her mother, as for the rest of her daughters preferred Italian match to strengthen her position and the rights to the principalities she owned (Bari and Rossano) as well to these that she claimed (Milan). 
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A small portrait of a girl as Saint Catherine by Lucas Cranach the Elder in Museo Civico Amedeo Lia in La Spezia (panel, 33 x 26 cm, inv. 249), between Florence and Genoa, in a costume from the late 1530s is very similar to effigy of the youngest daughter of Bona from the portrait of Sigsimund I's family from the Mielżyński collection and to other portraits of Catherine Jagiellon.

Portrait of Crown Princess of Poland-Lithuania Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1537, Private collection.

Portrait of Crown Princess of Poland-Lithuania Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1537, Private collection.

Portrait of Crown Princess of Poland-Lithuania Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Herodias by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, after 1537, Speed Art Museum in Louisville.

Portrait of Crown Princess of Poland-Lithuania Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1537, Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as Judith with the Head of Holofernes by Lucas Cranach the Younger, after 1537, Güstrow Palace.

​Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as Judith with the Head of Holofernes by Hans Kemmer, after 1537, Pivate collection.

​Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, after 1537, Galerie Fleischmann in Munich, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as Saint Catherine by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1538, Museo Civico Amedeo Lia in La Spezia.

Portraits of Isabella Jagiellon and Sophia Jagiellon by Lucas Cranach the Elder

What better way to depict a potential bride then in a guise of virtuous biblical or historical heroine, the goddess of love or the Virgin? 

On January 11, 1537 died in Dresden John, Hereditary Prince of Saxony, the eldest son of Barbara Jagiellon. It was now his younger brother Frederick, born in 1504, second of only two sons of Barbara to survive to adulthood, who would inherit the title of the Duke of Saxony from his father George, nicknamed the Bearded. Despite being mentally handicapped he was declared a heir by his father. Frederick was 33 and was unmarried. 

Maintaining the alliance with Saxony was important to Poland-Lithuania and it was beneficial for Papacy and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V if the Catholic and pro-Habsburg Albertine line (headed by George, a staunch opponent of Martin Luther), would stay in power. 

"The marriage of royal maidens, or what was called resolution, was in the spirit of the time a matter of very open diligence on the part of parents and family. They did not hesitate to use methods for this purpose that are not necessarily in keeping with today's sense of delicacy. Finding a husband for the princesses and daughters of the king was often one of the secret diplomatic orders, given not only to envoys, but also to merchants and agents of banking houses, etc.", comments the Polish historian Józef Szujski (1835-1883) about the marriages of the sisters of Sigismund Augustus (after "Ostatnie lata Zygmunta Augusta i Anna Jagiellonka", p. 298). 

The dowry of Jagiellonian women from the late 15th century was customarily 32,000 Hungarian florins payable in five or two installments. The eldest daughter of Sigismund and Bona, Isabella Jagiellon received 32,000 ducats in cash in 1539, and her bridal trousseau was worth 38,000 ducats, therefore her dowry amounted to 70,000 ducats. The wedding contract of the second in line Sophia, concluded in 1555, stipulated her dowry to 32,000 ducats (or 48,000 thalers) in cash and 100,000 thalers in jewels and other valuables, among which were huge amounts of table and church silver, about 60 precious garments, 5 tents, 34 tapestries, 32 carpets and lots of wonderful jewelry (12 berets set with precious stones, 9 gold necklaces set with precious stones, 34 pendants, 17 gold chains, two gold belts, 4 bracelets). She was accompanied by 8 carriages, including one gilded carriage and one chariot, valuable harnesses and 28 horses. Both princesses were unmarried in 1537, therefore their cousin Frederick of Saxony undeniably received their portraits. 

Two pendant paintings of Lucretia and Judith by Lucas Cranach the Elder, which were recorded in the inventory of the Ducal Kunstkammer (art cabinet) in Dresden as far as 1595, most likely destroyed in 1945, match perfectly effigies of two mentioned daughters of Sigismund I and Bona. Both paintings had identical dimensions (panel, 172 x 64 cm, inv. 1916), similar composition and were dated to around 1537. The resemblance of Isabella-Lucretia to the famous Venus of Urbino (Uffizi, 1890 no. 1437, mirror view) is striking, while the face of Sophia-Judith is almost identical to that of Herodias at the Speed Art Museum (1968.26). To describe Lucretia from these two panels, Max J. Friedländer and Jakob Rosenberg in their 1932 publication refer to a half-length Lucretia by Cranach from 153(9) which was in the Vilnius Museum (Wilna Museum, panel, 62 x 50 cm, compare "Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach", p. 82, item 289). 

Bona Sforza favored her oldest daughter Isabella, who received a thorough education and she could speak and write four languages. Isabella was depicted as Lucretia, the epitomy of female virtue, chastity, fidelity and honour. 

The younger Sophia, considered the wisest and the most intelligent of all Bona's daughters and described as "an example and a mirror of virtue, piety, and dignity" (exemplum et speculum virtutis, pietatis et gravitatis) by Stanisław Sędziwój Czarnkowski in 1573, was shown as Judith, intelligent, strong, virtuous and devout woman who saved her people from destruction.

Opting for closer ties with Emperor Charles V, Frederick was eventually married on January 27, 1539 in Dresden to Elisabeth (ca. 1516-1541), from the Counts of Mansfeld, one of the oldest noble families in Germany and sister of Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld, who participated in Charles V's expedition against Tunis in 1535. The groom died childless just four weeks later on February 26, 1539 followed by his father, who died on April 17, 1539. Duke George was succeeded by his Lutheran brother Henry IV (1473-1541), married to Catherine of Mecklenburg (1487-1561). In April 1538 Isabella Jagiellon was engaged to the King of Hungary.

In 1539 John George of Brandenburg (1525-1598), the eldest son of Magdalena of Saxony, daughter of Barbara Jagiellon, reached the legal age of marriage (14). His father Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg and his stepmother Hedwig Jagiellon were concerned to find a good match for him. Exactly as in the case of Hedwig's portrait as Venus by Cranach from the early 1530s, there is a painting showing Venus from the late 1530s in Berlin. It was accquired by the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin from the Royal Castles' collection in 1830 (panel, 174 x 64.9 cm, inv. 1190). The woman depicted as Venus resemble greatly other effigies of Sophia Jagiellon. When on November 1, 1539 Joachim II openly introduced the Reformation into Brandenburg by receiving Communion according to the Lutheran rite, the marriage with a Catholic princess could not be considered and on 15 February 1545 his son married Protestant Princess Sophie of Legnica (1525-1546), great-granddaughter of King Casimir IV of Poland.

Exactly the same effigy of princess Sophia's face as in the Berlin Venus portrait, like a template, was used in the effigy of Madonna and Child with grapes by Lucas Cranach the Elder in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (panel, 57.1 x 34.6 cm, 68.41.4). She offeres the Child a bunch of grapes a Christian symbol of the redemptive sacrifice, but also a popular Renaissance symbol for fertility borrowed from the Roman god of the grape-harvest and fertility, Bacchus, similarly to the effigy of her father's first wife Barbara Zapolya (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid). 

The same template was also used in the effigy of Madonna lactans in Vienna by workshop of Cranach, showing the Virgin breastfeeding the infant Jesus, a common motif in European art since the Middle Ages and a symbol of purity and humility. This motif was borrowed from the image of Isis lactans, a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, nursing her son, Horus, the god of divine kingship. The painting, now in the Cathedral Museum (Dom Museum) in Vienna (panel, 84 x 57 cm, L/61), was deposited by the Weinhaus Parish in Vienna, a votive temple, built to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Vienna in which John III Sobieski, king of Poland led the army to a decisive victory over the Ottomans on September 12, 1683.
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In the spring of 1570, two years after death of her husband Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Sophia Jagiellon converted to Lutheranism.

Portraits of Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559) as Lucretia and Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Judith by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1537, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, lost. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Portrait of Crown Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Venus with Cupid as the honey thief by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1539, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

Portrait of Crown Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Madonna and Child with grapes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1539, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Portrait of Crown Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Madonna lactans by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1538-1550, Dom Museum in Vienna.

Portraits of Isabella Jagiellon by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop and portrait of John Zapolya by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder

The plan to wed Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), the eldest daughter of Sigismund I the Old and his second wife Bona Sforza, to John Zapolya (1487-1540), Voivode of Transylvania and King of Hungary emerged around 1531. Sigismund von Herberstein (1486-1566) in his 1531 report to King Ferdinand I of Austria (1503-1564) cites Hieronim Łaski (1496-1541) as a source of information: "The King of Poland will marry the eldest daughter of the current queen to Count John of Spis [the Habsburgs refused to give Zapolya the title of king]. Then Łaski told me that about the marriage of his master [John Zapolya] he had negotiated with the King of Poland and received a favorable answer". Perhaps Łaski himself, one of the most skillful politicians of the time, a close associate of Zapolya, or Bona, were the authors of this project. For many years the queen tried in vain to persuade her husband to take an anti-Habsburg position. The marriage of her daughter to Zapolya would mean a victory for the queen and a change in Polish policy (after "Jagiellonowie: leksykon biograficzny" by Małgorzata Duczmal, p. 60, 265, 413).

At that time, Zapolya again sought help from the West against the Habsburgs. The help for Zapolya was sought by Hieronim Łaski, who used the entire year of 1531 for diplomatic trips. From Kraków, he went to Bohemia, then to Vienna and Buda, then back to Kraków, but soon went to Innsbruck, then to France and Hesse, from there again to Kraków, then to Spis and finally to Transylvania, to Zapolya. However, he did not provide any concrete help to the Hungarian king. It was then that Łaski's idea was born, not entirely original, because Andrzej Krzycki, perhaps at the instigation of Bona, had already suggested such a solution in 1526, to marry Zapolya to a Polish princess. Łaski believed that in Europe only Poland could provide Zapolya with effective support against the Habsburgs (after "Izabela Jagiellonka, królowa Węgier" by Małgorzata Duczmal, p. 158). 

Accounts of royal expenses by royal banker Seweryn Boner (Severin Bonar, 1486-1549) confirm the expenditures made on Isabella's jewellery and clothing in 1536, such as the money allocated for her dress, a sapphire signet ring ordered for her to match her jewellery (Die 17 Decembris 1536. dedit pro Schaphiro pro signeto Sermae reginulae Isabellae monetae fl. 29 et a sculptura eiusdem signiti monetae fl. 8 facit in toto fl. 37/15), or a ruby ​​rose sent to Nuremberg to have a new stone set in place of the missing one. At the same time, Bona ordered jewelry for Isabella from the goldsmiths in Wrocław. In 1537, the four princesses received a gold chain from her, also ordered in Wrocław (after "Izabella királyné, 1519-1559" by Endre Veress, p. 22, 27-28, 45). The city was at that time the economic centre of Silesia and many of Cranach's paintings were imported there, as evidenced by some paintings kept in the National Museum and the Archdiocesan Museum in Wrocław. 

The marriage project, so important for Hungary, was first seriously discussed in November 1537, when Franjo Frankopan (Franciscus Frangepanus, d. 1543), Archbishop of Kalocsa and Bishop of Eger, received a letter from Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski, who proposed Isabella as a bride to the King of Hungary. Although the old, sick King John did not really want to marry, he yielded to the persuasion of his advisors. Zapolya first communicated his agreement to Tarnowski privately. All these negotiations were kept secret, especially from the Habsburgs and their agents in Hungary, such as Johan Weze (1490-1548), Archbishop of Lund and later Bishop of Constance. Weze was secretary to King Christian II of Denmark and a diplomat in the service of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and at that time negotiated the Treaty of Oradea (Nagyvárad / Grosswardein), signed on February 24, 1538.

The King of Hungary planned to come to Buda on St. Martin's Day and to celebrate his marriage immediately after the New Year 1539, around the Epiphany. But this was impossible, because Isabella's wedding dress was not yet ready, and so it was agreed at the court in Kraków that the symbolic marriage would take place before King John's envoys at the end of January, and the religious ceremony in Hungary would take place in the first half of February, on the 9th, as the invitations had been sent out.

The wedding ceremony on January 31, 1539 in Kraków was followed by a sumptuous feast, at which court poets such as Stanisław Aichler (Glandinus), Stanisław Kleryka (Anserinus), Sebastian Marszewski (Sebastianus Marschevius) and Wacław Szamotulski (Wenceslaus Samotulinus) read their occasional poems and wedding songs praising Isabella. Some of them were also published in Kraków, such as two works by Marszewski (Kórnik Library, Sygn.Cim.Qu.2205, Sygn.Cim.Qu.2206) or Aichler's Epithalamium Isabellae ... (Czartoryski Library, 250 II Cim). Queen Bona's physician, Giacomo Ferdinando da Bari (Jacobus Ferdinandus Bariensis, Jakub Ferdynand z Bari), in his De foelici connubio serenissimi Ungariae regis Joannis et S. Isabellae Poloniae regis filiae ..., also published in Kraków in 1539 (Kórnik Library, Sygn.Cim.Qu.2379), wrote about her marriage that not a hundred languages ​​could adequately describe Isabella's physical and mental gifts and beauty and that her body is pretty, graceful, her face shows joy and modesty. Her limbs are beautiful and proportionate, and King John can rejoice in receiving such a bride, as can Hungary, which has suffered so much until now.

A portrait of a young woman by Lucas Cranach the Elder in the Danish National Gallery (panel, 41.5 x 25.5 cm, inv. DEP4), bears a strong resemblance to other effigies of Isabella, in particular the best-known effigy of the Jagiellonian princess made by the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger around 1553 or later (Czartoryski Museum, inv. MNK XII-542). It can therefore be dated to around 1532, as the medal with the bust of Isabella by Giovanni Maria Mosca (Gallerie Estensi, Palazzo Coccapani in Modena, inv. R.C.G.E. 9313). The painting comes from the collection of Abraham Oppenheim (1804-1878) in Cologne, and its earlier history is unknown. This work is generally dated before 1537 because of the raised wings of the dragon in Cranach's mark. Although this portrait is also considered to represent Emilia of Saxony (1516-1591), the resemblance to the best-known portrait of the Saxon princess in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (group portrait with her sisters, inv. GG 877) or to a portrait by Hans Krell in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool (inv. WAG 1222), is barely visible.

The same woman can be identified in another painting by Cranach and his workshop, now in the Hallwyl Museum in Stockholm, considered to be an effigy of the Roman goddess Venus (panel, 94 x 59.5 cm, inv. XXXII:B.156. HWY). This is also evident not only from the resemblance of the facial features, but also from the general context of such effigies of Jagiellonian women, identified by me. The woman even wears the same necklace as that visible in the portrait of Isabella in a green dress by the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder (Sotheby's London, January 24, 2002, lot 156). The painting is undated and is generally dated to 1526-1537. It was therefore most likely part of Isabella's dowry, which she took with her to Hungary and brought back to Poland on her return in September 1551. The painting was originally part of a larger composition depicting Venus and Cupid, similar to the portrait of Isabella's half-sister Hedwig Jagiellon, daughter of Barbara Zapolya, in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (inv. 594). It was most likely cut down by later, more prudish owners. Before its acquisition in 1915, the painting was located at Edsberg Castle, north of Stockholm, which once belonged to Gabriel Oxenstierna (1619-1673), much valued by the Brigand of Europe, as Stefan Czarniecki called him, King Charles X Gustav of Sweden.
 
Isabella died just three years after her return to Transylvania on September 15, 1559, at the age of 40, allegedly as a result of a poorly performed abortion, a child of her lover Stanisław Nieżowski (ca. 1520-1573).

Like Isabella, very few confirmed effigies of her husband have survived and some are probably waiting to be rediscovered. John Zapolya, like his predecessor Louis II Jagiellon, whose portraits were painted by Bernhard Strigel, Hans Krell, Flemish and Italian painters, must have commissioned several of his painted effigies. The effigy which probably represents Zapolya most faithfully is a woodcut by the German engraver Erhard Schön (ca. 1491-1542) from Nuremberg, published by Hans Guldenmund (d. 1560), with the inscription in the upper part in German: Johans von Gottes gnaden König zu Hungern and Hans Guldenmundt below the effigy. Between 1532 and 1548 Guldenmund also created an engraving with the portrait of the Elector of Saxony John Frederick I (1503-1554), inscribed Gedruckt zu Nürnberg durch Hans Guldenmundt, bey den Fleisch pencken, which was undobtedly based on original by Cranach (British Museum, inv. 1850,0612.111). Considering the king's costume as well as Schön's dates of life, the original must have been made in the 1530s or in 1541 like the print depicting the siege of Buda by the Ottoman army, which is also attributed to him (University Library of Erlangen-Nuremberg, H62/DH 4). Woodcuts with portraits of Anna Jagiellonica (1503-1547), Mary of Hungary (1505-1558) and Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana, 1504-1558) are also attributed to Schön, who is considered to have spent his entire life and career in his hometown, where he died in 1542. Highly realistic depictions of the Siege of Buda, as well as the portraits mentioned, must be based on effigies by other artists, probably itinerant painters or draughtsmen or, in the case of the effigy of the Hungarian king, a drawing or portrait by his court painter or an artist who stayed temporarily at his court. 

It is interesting to note that the woodcut depicting the portrait of the Transylvanian humanist and Protestant reformer Johann Honter (Johannes Honterus, 1498-1549), who studied in Kraków, is very close to the style of Lucas Cranach, which is particularly visible in the part of the model's hands, shirt and beard (inscription: VIGILATE ET ORATE·JOHANES·HONT ...). Honter played a decisive role in the introduction of the Reformation in Transylvania and corresponded with Luther and Melanchthon. In the autumn of 1529 he stayed briefly in Nuremberg and in November he went to Kraków, where on March 1, 1530 he entered his name in the register of the Kraków Academy as Johannes Georgii de Corona. Honterus's first two works were published in Kraków - a description of the world Rudimentorum Cosmographiae libri duo (1530) and a Latin grammar De Grammatica Libri Duo (1532). In 1532 he printed in Basel his map of Transylvania, which he had already made in Kraków, and returned to his hometown of Brasov (Kronstadt in German) in January 1533, where he set up a printing press in 1539 to enable the distribution of his own works. The Protestant Reformers from Transylvania and Hungary Matthias Dévay (ca. 1500-1545), Valentin Wagner (ca. 1510-1557), János Sylvester (ca. 1504–1552) and István Szegedi Kiss (1505-1572), all studied in Kraków and Wittenberg.

In his work Geschichte des Kronstädter Gymnasiums, published in 1845 in Brasov, Joseph Dück, citing three Saxon writers from the 18th century, mentions that Honter was Isabella Jagiellon's teacher. He was supposed to have taught the princess Latin and probably also taught her German. He dedicated to Isabella Preface to the Sentences of Saint Augustine (SENTENTIAE EX OMNIBVS OPERIBVS DIVI AVGVSTINI DECERPTAE), published in Brasov in 1539 with a title page decorated with her coat of arms (AD SERENISSIMAM PRINCIPEM / ET DO. DOMINAM ISABELLAM / Dei gratia Reginam Vngariæ, Dalmatiæ, Cro/atie, etcæ. Io. Honteri C. in Sententias diui / Augustini Præfatio). Honter and other members of the German-speaking community in Sarmatia and Transylvania undoubtedly supported and facilitated contacts with artists established in Germany.

Portrait of a Bearded Man, formerly attributed to Lucas Cranach the Younger and now to the painter from Cranach's circle known as the Master of the Mass of Saint Gregory, shows a man in rich costume - a fur-trimmed cloak and a gold-embroidered collar set with pearls (oil on panel, 55.9 x 41.3 cm, Christie's London, July 8, 2008, lot 11). The painting was on private loan to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg before 1930 and has appeared on the art market several times in recent decades. In 1910 it was reported as belonging to L. Hess in Wiesbaden in Hesse, where Łaski travelled in 1531. The signet ring on the sitter's right hand bears the mirrored letters HF, beneath which is a symbol possibly composed of other ligatured letters, interpreted as IH. Such symbols, usually coats of arms, were very important to the people who commissioned the paintings, so this ambiguity regarding the symbol could be the result of a copy, where the copyist misinterpreted or incorrectly painted the symbol, as in the similar painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by the circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder (inv. 32.100.61), which according to my identification is an effigy of King Sigismund I. The clearly visible letters HF are probably the monogram of the painter, which could be considered the work of Lucas the Elder's closest collaborator, his son Hans Cranach (ca. 1513-1537) - Hans Fecit, who probably produced his own works from 1527. If Hans copied a portrait made by his father or another German painter and the letters IH are monograms, it could originally be JHR in ligature, comparable to the signature of the Hungarian King John Zapolya: Joannes Rex Hungariæ. The painting is dated "1527" at the top left in Latin numerals (M·D·XX VII). The man in this portrait wears a floral diadem of a bridegroom, which means that he is either engaged or wants to find a wife. In 1526, in addition to the marriage with the Jagiellonian princess, Zapolya also considered marrying the widow of Louis Jagiellon - Mary of Hungary (Mary of Austria), sister of Emperor Charles V and King Ferdinand I, although she stated that she would rather go to a convent than betray her brother by marrying Zapolya. In early 1527, the Habsburgs still deceived Zapolya into believing that this marriage was not out of the question. In this way, they wanted to persuade John to yield. Mary also rejected other candidates, although they were not enemies of the Habsburgs like Zapolya. The 1527 portrait is very similar to Erhard Schön's woodcut with the portrait of the Hungarian king.

Portrait of Crown Princess Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1532, Statens Museum for Kunst.

Portrait of Crown Princess Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559) as Venus by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1537, Hallwyl Museum in Stockholm.

​Portrait of John Zapolya (1487-1540), King of Hungary and Croatia by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder, probably Hans Cranach, 1527, Private collection.

​Woodcut with portrait of Johannes Honterus (1498-1549) by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1540s, Picture Collection of Archive and Library of the Evangelical Church A.B. Kronstadt in Brasov.

Allegorical portraits of Bona Sforza by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop

"Bona loved power and did not like to share it with anyone, not even her own son - as evidenced by her reluctance to handing over Lithuania to him. For this reason, even earlier, in 1538, she prevented the functioning of the institution of four resident senators alongside Sigismund Augustus, created during the Diet of that year" (after Maria Bogucka's "Bona Sforza", 1989, p. 224).

The 1537 anti-royalist and anti-absolutist rebellion (rokosz) of the Polish nobility, ridiculed by the nickname of the Chicken War, criticized the role of queen Bona, whom they accused for the "bad upbringing" of young Sigismund Augustus, centralizing policies and seeking to increase her power in the state. As a result the 1538 Diet declared elections vivente rege, that Bona forced, illegal in the Polish kingdom and insisted that all estates had the right to be present at such events in the future.

That same year it was also agreed that the only son of Bona will marry archduchess Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545), which Bona "a great enemy of the king of Rome" Ferdinand I, her father, strongly oposed. 

So does she commissioned a painting to express her dissatisfaction?

The painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder, dated 1538, from the old collection of the Royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (oil on panel, 60.3 x 42.1 cm, Wil.1749, recorded in 1743) can be considered as such. It shows Lucretia, a noblewoman in ancient Rome, whose suicide led to the political rebellion against the established power.

Bona is credited with introducing many Italian "novelties" to Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia and portraiture was very developed at that time in her native country. Numerous portraits of the queen's relatives of the House of Sforza, such as the portrait of her paternal grandfather Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1444-1476), Duke of Milan, by Piero del Pollaiuolo (Uffizi Gallery, inv. 1890, 1492) became a classic of European portrait. However, the effigies of the queen are not mentioned in the inventories of notable collections, such as those from the second half of the 17th century of the Lubomirskis or the Radziwill family, which indicates that they were probably forgotten or hidden in mythological or religious disguises (portrait historié). The 1661 inventory of the Lubomirski collection indicates that only the most recent effigies were saved and that the oldest were left at the "mercy" of the barbarians during the Deluge. Similarly Boguslaus Radziwill (1620-1669), who evacuated his possessions to Königsberg/Królewiec. The register of his paintings from 1657 (AGAD 1/354/0/26/84), however, lists a few paintings by Cranach (one of the rare names of painters mentioned in this inventory), including two or three paintings of Lucretia probably by him (the author's name is not mentioned) - "A painting on a board of a woman man who killed herself" (Obraz na desce białeygłowy ktora się zabiła, [...] obraz ktora się sama zabia), as well as several portraits whose identity has already been lost: "Two Italian Ladies", "Two unknown ladies", "Unknown cavalier", "Unknown Hetman", "Large paintings of women ... 3", "A Cardinal", "Moldavian Voivode", "Radziwill without a name", "A German person in a cuirass", "Foreign Duchess", "Face of a woman", "Holy head", "A girl with a dog" and "Image of Antichrists". 

Very similar Lucretia as a naked three-quarter length figure, covered only by a veil, is in the private collection (oil on panel, 75.5 x 57.7 cm, with the Weiss Gallery, London in 2014). Her facial features were modelled on other effigies of the Queen by Cranach and resemble greatly the effigy in Villa del Poggio Imperiale.​

​The same effigy, almost like a template, was used in the painting depicting the Virgin and Child with grapes in front of a curtain held by an angel in the National Gallery in Prague (oil on panel, 85 x 59 cm, O 9321). This painting is attributed to workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder and dated to about 1535-1540. It was previously in the collection of the Sternberg family (recorded since 1806), most probably in Prague. Mary is depicted here as a noble vine, whose fruit is Jesus. At the same time, the vine is the Redeemer himself and his branches are believers: "If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Like the Virgin, Bona was the mother of the king, so she is equally important. This painting could be a gift for Bona's main opponent, Ferdinand of Austria (1503-1564), who resided in Prague. 

Similar Madonna is in Gdańsk, which was the main port of Poland in the 16th century (National Museum in Gdańsk, oil on panel, 55 x 36.5 cm, inventory number MNG/SD/268/M). However, the pose of the Virgin and the Child resemble more closely the portrait of Queen Bona Maria Sforza in guise of Mary in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. The Child is offering an apple to his mother, a symbol of original sin (peccatum originale), as well as temptation, salvation and the royal power (royal orb or royal apple).

According to a Milanese manuscript, probably from the 17th century, Bona was criticized by her opponents, like probably all strong female leaders in history, for three things in Poland: monetae falsae, facies picta et vulva non stricta - allegedly fake coins mixed in with her dowry, excessive use of cosmetics and licentiousness (after Mónika F. Molnár, "Isabella and Her Italian Connections", p.  165).

"If I seem a lecherous image to the viewer, what kind of shame do you have a greater ideal? You will marvel at my power and accomplishment in that form, so I will become religious to you" (Si videor lasciva tibi spectator imago, / Die maius specimen quale pudoris habes? / Virtutem factumque meum mireris in ista / Forma, sic fiam religiosa tibi), wrote in his Latin epigram entitled "On Lucretia depicted more lasciviously" (In Lucretiam lascivius depictam), secretary of Queen Bona Andrzej Krzycki (1482-1537), Archbishop of Gniezno.

Allegorical portrait of Bona Sforza as Lucretia by workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1538, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Portrait of Bona Sforza as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder or workshop, ca. 1535-1540, Private collection.

Portrait of Bona Sforza as Madonna and Child with grapes by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1535-1540, National Gallery in Prague.

Portrait of Bona Sforza as Madonna and Child with an apple by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1535-1540, National Museum in Gdańsk. 

Portrait of king Sigismund I by circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder ​

In 1538 Sigismund I and his second wife Bona Sforza were celebrating 20 years of their fruitful marriage which produced a heir to the throne and four daughters, one of which was about to become the Queen of Hungary and large festivities were held at the Wawel Castle. 
​
The portrait of a man in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (oil on panel, 55.9 x 42.5 cm, 32.100.61) from 1538, date top center: MDXXXVII(I), is very similar to the effigy of King Sigismund I from Aleksander Gwagnin's Sarmatiae Europae descriptio, published in Kraków in 1578 and other portraits of the king. The oldest confirmed provenance of the painting is the Lindemann collection in Vienna in 1927, therefore coming from the collections of the Habsburgs, relatives of Sigismund, or transfer from the collections of Polish-Lithuanian magnates, who transferred their collections to Vienna after the Partitions of Poland, are possible.​

Christian II of Denmark (in the Museum der bildenden Künste) and Elector Frederick III of Saxony (in the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia) are depiced in very similar black caps with earflaps, costumes and beards in their portraits by Cranach and his workshop from the 1520s. Therefore the painting could be a copy of a portrait from the 1520s.

The initals on a signet ring displaying a coat of arms are illisible and unidentifiable as of today, however they are very similar to these visible on signet seal of Sigismund I with monogram SDS (Sigillum Domini Sigimundi) in the State Archives in Gdańsk and in Poznań.

Finally the age of the sitter (?) on the painting is also illisible and identified as xlv, so it could be XX, as 20th anniversary or LXXI, as age of Sigismund in 1538 and commissioned by the king or his wife on this occasion as one from a series commemorating it? "If the present work had a female pendant, which is quite possible, the orange as a symbol of fertility would have been especially appropriate" (after The Met Catalogue Entry).

The 1657 inventory of paintings by Boguslaus Radziwill (1620-1669) held at the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw (AGAD 1/354/0/26/84), which lists several paintings by Cranach and very probably his circle, includes two paintings by the master which could be pendants, such as the portrait of Joachim Ernest (1536-1586), prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, depicted as Adam, and his wife Agnes of Barby-Mühlingen (1540-1569) as Eve (Dessau Castle, inv. I-58 and I-59). One of the paintings was "Lucas Cranach's art with Venus and Cupid" and the other was "Lucas Cranach's painting of an old man". Both were probably destroyed during numerous wars, invasions and accidental fires, but the general context suggests that the portraits represented Sigismund I the Old and his second wife Bona Sforza "in the guise" of Venus.

Similarly to the Met painting, although naked, the king was most likely depicted in a small painting showing the Fountain of Youth (in the right corner), painted by Hans Dürer in 1527 (National Museum in Poznań, MNP M 0110, signed and dated center left, on a tree trunk: 1527 / HD). The man embraces his wife, also depicted nude, who in turn greatly resembles the effigies of Queen Bona, identified by me, in particular the painting in London (National Gallery, NG631). The couple watches the bathers in the mythical spring which restores youth to anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. It is quite possible that Bona used such "magic" potions, but in the paintings both will remain young and beautiful forever.

Portrait of king Sigismund I by circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1538, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ​

Portraits of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski and Jan Łaski the Younger

Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski was born on 20 September 1503 in Wolbórz in central Poland. He studied in Kraków between 1517 and 1519. He was ordained a vicar in about 1522 and worked in the office of Jan Łaski the Elder, Primate of Poland.

At the turn of 1531/32 he went to Germany, probably on the mission entrusted to him by Łaski, and he enrolled in the University of Wittenberg. The letter of recommendation from Łaski enabled him to live in Philip Melanchthon's house. Acquaintance with the prince of German humanists turned into friendship over time and he also met Martin Luther and other Protestant reformers. The leading painter in the city, who also held the office of mayor, was Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Frycz was a diplomatic agent and he often traveled between Wittenberg and Nuremberg and to Poland. He probably left Wittenberg in mid-1535, when a great plague broke out in the city. In November 1536 Modrzewski was sent by Jan Łaski to Basel to take over Erasmus of Rotterdam's great library, purchased by Łaski during the lifetime of the great humanist. Then he went briefly to Paris, Nuremberg, Strasbourg and Kraków and at the beginning of February 1537 he was in Schmalkalden as an observer on a congress of Protestant princes.

On May 1, 1537 he took part in the talks in Leipzig on dogmatic issues with Jan Łaski the Younger and Melanchthon and after the conference he stayed longer in Nuremberg to learn German. At the beginning of 1538, he was at the fairs in Frankfurt am Main. Most probably through Wittenberg, he returned to Poland. Later, in 1547 he became a secretary of king Sigismund II Augustus. 

During his studies and travels in Germany he undeniably dressed as other students and Protestant reformers, however as a nobleman of Jastrzębiec coat of arms and hereditary mayor of Wolbórz, he could allow himself a more extravagant attire, like Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg. 

A portrait of a man who was 35 in 1538 (ANNODO: M.D.XXXVIII / AETATI SVÆXXXV / 1538), painted by Cranach, from private collection, can be therefore considered as effigy of Frycz Modrzewski (panel, 49.7 x 35.3 cm, Sotheby's New York, Janary 27, 2005, lot 188). From the 18th century to before 1918 it was in the Benedictine Abbey in Lambach, near Linz in Austria. Its prior history is unknown. 

In October 1567 Queen Catherine of Austria, third wife of Sigismund Augustus, settled in the castle in nearby Linz with her servants and all the goods she has accumulated during her 14-year stay in Poland. Although Catholic, the Queen was known for generally favorable views on Protestantism. Andrzej Dudycz (András Dudith de Horahovicza), bishop of Knin in Croatia and Imperial envoy who agitated for her stay in Poland, soon after his arrival to Poland in 1565 joined the Protestant church of Polish Brethren and married a Polish woman. 

The Queen studied the Bible and other theological works and supported nearby monasteries. She died childless in Linz on 28 February 1572 and donated most of her property to charity. 

The same man was depicted in a portrait of a man with beret in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 103 x 82 cm, inv. GG 1552). It is dated similarly as the painting by Cranach: 1538 + NATVS + ANNOS + 35 +. The portrait was in the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria in Brussels and was included in the Theatrum pictorium (Theatre of Painting), a catalog of 243 Italian paintings in the Archduke's collection, under number 56. The painting is attributed to the Lombard-Venetian school and it was probably made in Brescia, a city in Lombardy that was part of the Republic of Venice. Its style recalls the works of Moretto da Brescia, such as his portrait of Count Fortunato Martinengo, dating from around 1540-1545 (National Gallery in London, inv. NG299), but also those attributed to Bernardino Licinio, such as the portrait of a man in a red coat (Hampel Fine Art Auctions in Munich, June 26, 2014, lot 245). This ambiguity regarding authorship could result from a copy; for example, Moretto could have received a painting from Licinio to copy and draw inspiration from the style of the painter active in the capital of the Republic of Venice.

The same man can also be identified in a painting attributed to Joos van Cleve (d. 1540/1541), now at Petworth House and Park, West Sussex (oil on panel, 43.2 x 33 cm, inv. NT 486251). This work may have been at Northumberland House in 1671. It is dated around 1535-1540 and was thought to depict Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), hence the inscription in the upper left corner: Sir.Tho. More. This traditional identification is probably related to the fact that Cleve painted the portrait of Henry VIII without having met the King of England (Hampton Court Palace, inv. RCIN 403368). The costume and facial features of this man are very reminiscent of portraits of Modrzewski by Cranach and the Lombard-Venetian painter. The man is also wearing the same ring as in the Vienna painting.

​The portrait of Jan Łaski the Younger (Johannes a Lasco, 1499-1560), a Polish Calvinist reformer, in the Johannes a Lasco Library in Emden in northwest of Germany, is painted on a wood panel and dated dendrochronologically to about 1555 (oil on panel, 81.5 x 66 cm). Łaski worked in Emden between 1540 and 1555. This portrait is attributed to an unknown Netherlandish painter or less known painter Johannes Mencke Maeler (or Johann Mencken Maler) active in Emden around 1612. Stylistically this effigy is very close to the portrait of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and to the style of Bernardino Licinio, who died in Venice before 1565. His workshop frequently used wood instead of canvas, like in paintings attributed to Licinio and his workshop in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. The way the model's hands were painted is reminiscent of the paintings of Giulio Licinio (1527-1591), nephew of Bernardino, son of Arrigo, such as the roundels commissioned in 1556 by the procurators of Saint Mark de supra for the ceiling of the reading room of the Biblioteca Marciana. In 1559, Giulio moved to Augsburg and, between 1562 and 1570, together with his brother Giovanni Antonio Licinio, he worked for the Habsburgs on the decoration of Bratislava Castle. The inscription in the upper part of the frame with the coat of arms of Łaski - Korab, confirms the identity of the model (JOANNES A LASCO POLONIE BARO). 

Another known painted portrait of Łaski from 1544, now lost, was also painted by a Venetian painter. The composition and technique visible in the only known photo of the painting clearly indicate this. Inscription in Latin in the upper part of the painting: ÆTATIS SVÆ 45 ANNO 1544 (after "Szlakami dziejopisarstwa staropolskiego ..." by Henryk Barycz, p. 60), confirmes his age - 45 years in 1544. The style of this painting is reminiscent of works attributed to Giovanni Battista Maganza (ca. 1513-1586), father of Alessandro (1556-1630), who, according to my research, painted several portraits of Sarmatian nobles and monarchs. Particularly similar is the style of composition with several figures, now in a private collection, representing Judith with the head of Holofernes, attributed to Giovanni Battista. Another similarly painted composition is in a private collection in Poland. It is a version of the original composition attributed to Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) depicting the Virgin and Child with Saint Barnabas and Saint John the Baptist (oil on canvas, 89.5 x 90.5 cm, Rempex in Warsaw, auction 188, December 19, 2012, lot 114), another copy of which, possibly by Andrija Medulić, known as Andrea Schiavone (d. 1588), was in the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw before the Second World War (oil on canvas, 91 x 100 cm, inv. 106).

Łaski studied in Vienna and later in Italy, at the universities of Bologna and Padua. He knew Latin, Greek, German, and Italian and traveled to many European countries, including England and East Frisia. Several printed images with his portrait were produced in the Netherlands, including the engraving in the National Library of Poland (G.25203) with a Dutch inscription at the bottom. Other of his best-known effigies were also produced by the Dutch engraver Hendrik Hondius I (1573-1650). The portrait of a man wearing an eastern hat decorated with feathers - aigrette (szkofia, egreta) and a brooch closely resembles Łaski's effigies (oil on panel, 55.5 x 44 cm, Capitolium Art, Auction 387, December 13-14, 2022, lot 27). The painting comes from a private Italian collection and bears the inscription in the center right: ALASSCO.,, interpreted as the painter's signature, although it appears to be an Italianized version of Łaski's Latin name: [Joannes] a Lasco. The painting is attributed to a 16th-century Northern European artist, while its style closely resembles the works of a Flemish Renaissance painter who was active in Bruges in the 16th century - Pieter Pourbus (ca. 1523-1584), such as his Adoration of the Shepherds in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, signed and dated: PERTVS POVRBVS. / FACIEBAT. AN° DNI, 1574,.

This diversity of painters and representations perfectly reflects the diversity of Renaissance Sarmatia, as well as its main thinkers.

Portrait of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503-1572), called "the Father of Polish democratic thought", aged 35 by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1538, Private collection.

Portrait of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503-1572), called "the Father of Polish democratic thought", aged 35 by Moretto da Brescia or circle, 1538, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503-1572), called "the Father of Polish democratic thought" from the Theatrum Pictorium (56) by Lucas Vorsterman II after Moretto da Brescia or circle, 1660, Princely Court Library in Waldeck.

​Portrait of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503-1572), called "the Father of Polish democratic thought", by Joos van Cleve, ca. 1538, Petworth House.

Portrait of Jan Łaski the Younger (Johannes a Lasco, 1499-1560), Polish Calvinist reformer by Giulio Licinio, ca. 1544-1555, Johannes a Lasco Library in Emden.

Portrait of Jan Łaski the Younger (Johannes a Lasco, 1499-1560), Polish Calvinist reformer, aged 45 by Giovanni Battista Maganza, 1544, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portrait of Jan Łaski the Younger (Johannes a Lasco, 1499-1560), Polish Calvinist reformer by Pieter Pourbus, 1550s, Private collection.

Portrait of Illia, Prince of Ostroh by Giovanni Cariani or Bernardino Licinio

"Mr. Nicolaus Nypschitz, my singularly generous friend and supporter, has recently sent me two letters, one from his Sacred Imperial Majesty, which is of the greatest importance and comfort to me, the other from your Reverend Paternity, my most respected master and friend, which was most agreeable to me" (Dominus Nicolaus Nypschitz amicus et fautor meus singulariter generosus, in hiis paulo transactis temporibus binas ad me transmisit literas, unas a Sacra Maiestate Imperiali, que michi maximi momenti et consolationis adsunt; alias vero ab Vestra R. Paternitate a domino et amico meo observantissimo, que michi etiam plurimum in modum extiterant gratissime), is a fragment of a letter of Illia (1510-1539), Prince of Ostroh (Helias Constantinovicz Dux Ostrogensis) to Bishop Jan Dantyszek (1485-1548), envoy of Poland-Lithuania at the Imperial court in Vienna (before 1878 in the Czartoryski Library in Paris, Mss. Nr. 1595, published in "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku ..." by Aleksander Przeździecki, ‎Józef Szujski). In this letter, dated from the castle of Ostroh on the Wednesday before the feast of the Transfer of Saint Stanislaus (September 22), in the year 1532, he also thanked the prelate for his recommendations to the Emperor (me comendare in gratiam Cesaree Catholice Maiestatis) and other letters. 

In the imperial archive in Vienna there was also a letter of Prince Illia (or to him) dated February 2, 1538, in which the Prince asked King Ferdinand for a passport to travel to Jerusalem. Sigismund I's sentence from December 20, 1537 released Illia from the obligation to marry Anna Radziwill. Shortly after this, in 1538, the Prince decided to visit the Holy Land and arrived at the king's court to obtain the necessary documents and authorizations. However, the ruler dissuaded him from traveling because of a threat from the Tatars and Saracens and Queen Bona took steps to reunite the young prince with her favorite Beata Kościelecka, which ended in an engagement.

Around that time, Illia, who loved a luxurious life and visit the royal court quite often, is said to have sent gardeners from Italy and set up an orangery in Ostroh. According to the 1620 description, his castle in Ostroh had Venetian glass in the windows, and there was also a stock of glass from Gdańsk. The dining room with a stove and a large a cabinet with silverware was quite large (five windows, a high vault) and the rooms had stoves with green tiles of local and Italian production. The Orthodox Church of the Epiphany in Ostroh with its Gothic elements, founded by his father Constantine (ca. 1460-1530), was probably built by Italians who worked at that time in Kraków, and the church utensils were allegedly ordered almost exclusively abroad, in Germany and Italy.

His famous father, often compared to ancient heroes and leaders, introduced Illia into military service. The papal legate Jacopo Pisoni wrote in 1514, that "Prince Constantine can be called the best military leader of our time... in battle he is not inferior to Romulus in bravery", he also described his devotion to the Greek Church and added that he is "more pious than Numa". Queen Bona's physician, the Italian Giovanni Valentino, in a letter of September 2, 1530 to Duke Federico Gonzaga of Mantua, written immediately after Constantine's death, stated that he was "so much pious in his Greek faith that the Ruthenians considered him a saint" (after "Prince Vasyl-Kostyantyn Ostrozki ..." by Vasiliy Ulianovsky, pp. 42, 158, 160, 323-324, 524-525, 1171-1172). 

From the second half of the 17th century, portrait gallery of the Princes of Ostroh was kept in the Dubno Castle, built by Constantine in 1492. Their collections as well as their clothing represented both Eastern and Western traditions. At the coronation sejm in February 1574, Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), Illia's stepbrother, arrived with his sons, one of them was dressed in Italian, and the other in Cossack style, as well as four hundred hussars, dressed in Persian style. He offered king Henry of Valois a very expensive and original gift - five camels. 

Inventory of the treasury of the Princes of Ostroh in Dubno of March 10, 1616, made six years after the death of Constantine Vasily (Archives in Dubno, published in 1900 by Jan Tadeusz Lubomirski), lists many items from the princely collections. Apart from Turkish fabrics, Persian rugs, gold and silver tableware, clocks, music boxes, a bezoar, precious Eastern, Cossack, German and Italian saddles, armours and armament, gold and gilded maces, the treasury also contained the gifts, like these from the Wallachian Hospodar, and souvenirs and trophies from the Battle of Orsha in 1514: "Moscow cannon with a Centaur, with the Moscow coat of arms", "a long florid cannon", and the golden mace of the Great Tsar of Moscow. Zofia Tarnowska, hetman's daughter, and wife of Constantine Vasily, contributed: three armours of the Tarnowski family, a great cannon, "a second cannon from Tarnów", and also items received from her mother, Zofia Szydłowiecka: "painting on copper of Szydłowiecki" and "The Great Chain of Lord Szydłowiecki", possibly a gift from the Emperor, received in 1515 by the chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki. Among 41 cannons cast in Dubno, Ostroh, Lviv, imported from Gdańsk or donated by Hornostaj, Radziwill and Lubomirski families, Bishops of Kraków and the Vasas, one was a gift from Queen Bona. In the treasury there were also: "Venetian armour, misiurka helmet of Damascus steel, made in Venice, studded with gold", "Wax picture of the Duke of Brandeburg behind glass in a round little box", gold face of His Majesty Prince Constantine Vasily, "German chest from Vienna" with silverware, "German vanity table woven with silk", "Marble table from Poland", "Turkish green tent, Turkish tent from Mr Jazłowiecki", "The third chest, inside it: Leopards 108, Tigers 13, Dyed bears 2, Dyed lioness 1". The inventory also lists many paintings, some of which were purchased in Lublin, Kraków and abroad, like "14 paintings bought in Lublin, 6 paintings bought in Kraków, 4 large, 2 small", "Alabaster image with the Descent from the Cross of Jesus in golden frame", "Picture of the Lord's Passion framed in silver", "Picture made of stone [pietra dura] from the voivode of Podolia", "A picture of peacock feathers", as well as "Moscow paintings" and many other objects typical of early 17th century art cabinets. The paintings, as much less valued than weapons and fabrics, were described very generally, with particular emphasis on the valuable material on which they were painted or framed.

In private collection in the United States there is a "Portrait of a warrior", attributed to Giovanni Cariani (after "Giovanni Cariani" by Rodolfo Pallucchini, Francesco Rossi, p. 350). It was also attributed to Bernardino Licinio (by William Suida), Bartolomeo Veneto and Paolo Moranda Cavazzola. Licinio's authorship is also very likely, the style of these two painters is sometimes very similar, which indicates that they could cooperate, in particular on large orders from Poland-Lithuania. In the 19th century the painting was in the Palais Coburg in Vienna, built between 1840-1845 by the Ernestine line of the Wettin Dynasty, Dukes of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Its previous history is not known, so it is possible that it was sent to Vienna already in the 16th century. The costume of a young man indicates that the portrait was created in the 1530s - similar to that seen in a portrait of the three-year-old Archduke Maximilian of Austria (1527-1576), son of King Ferdinand, by Jakob Seisenegger, dated '1530' (Mauritshuis in The Hague), similar to costume of a soldier in the Christ crowned with Thorns by Lucas Cranach the Elder, dated '1537' (Grunewald hunting lodge in Berlin) and to attire of Matthäus Schwarz from his portrait by Christoph Amberger, dated '1542' (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum). His crinale cap is also more Northern European, and close to that visible in many effigies of king Sigismund I. The young man is holding a stick or a cane and viaticum, a small provision for a journey, as in the known portraits of pilgrims. The marble relief on the right is an explanation of the reason for his penance. It shows a woman holding a baby and a man leaving her. Between them there is another child or a blindfolded figure, like in the scenes of the marriage of Jason and Medea, created after 1584 by the Carracci family (Palazzo Fava in Bologna), and Jason rejecting Medea by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini from about 1711 (Northampton Museum and Art Gallery). 

Princess and sorceress Medea, who figures in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, was a daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis on the east coast of the Black Sea, further south from the domains of the princes of Ostroh. Out of love, she helps Jason and the Argonauts to get the golden fleece guarded by Aeetes and flees with them. Then Jason abandons her to marry the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. In revenge, guided by emotions contrary to reason, Medea murders Creon, his daughter and her own children. So the young man from the portrait wants to make amends for abandoning a woman - breaking the engagement with Anna Radziwill, fixed by his father. From 1518 the Radziwills were Imperial Princes (title granted by Emperor Maximilian I, grandfather of King Ferdinand) and the story of the Argonauts was undoubtedly particularly appealing to the Habsburgs who were members and grand masters of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

The symbol on his crinale cap is the Seed of Life or more broadly Seed of Life within the Flower of Life, one of the ancient sacred geometry symbols. It is often used to symbolize the sun, the cycle of life and the seasonal cycles of nature. It is also "a symbol of fertility, the Divine Feminine, and growth since it contains the Vesica Piscis symbol, which initially represented the female vulva or womb. [...] Many cultures use the rosette [Seed of Life] to avoid bad luck and the central six petals symbolize blessings. In Eastern Europe, the Seed of Life and the Flower of Life were called 'thunder marks' and were carved on building to protect them from lightning" (after "Seed Of Life Secrets You Want To Know" by Amanda Brethauer). Leonardo da Vinci studied this symbol in his Codex Atlanticus (fol. 459r), dating from 1478 to 1519 (Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan). The central six petals also bring to mind the six-pointed star from the portrait of Alexander (d. 1603), Prince of Ostroh (Ostroh Castle) and coat of arms of his brother Janusz (d. 1620) on the main gate of the Dubno Castle. 

The young man with high cheekbones, often associated with people of Slavic origin, resemble greatly Prince Illia from his effigies by workshop of Cranach, identified by me (Hercules and Omphale's maids from Kolasiński collection, preparatory drawing for Saint George fighting a dragon), and effigies of his father Prince Constantine.

Portrait of Illia (1510-1539), Prince of Ostroh by Giovanni Cariani or Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1538, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of manager of the royal mints Justus Ludwik Decjusz by Dosso Dossi

"Whoever wrote that justice [Iustitia or Justitia in Latin] is not worth selling for all the gold in this world predicted the future well. He predicted that near the city of Krakus there would be a village bearing the famous name of justice, your village, Ludwik, which is not worth selling for all the gold hidden in the earth in its dark bosom. I am so delighted with the recently erected mansion, and the garden, and the shade cast by the beautiful vineyards, and the forest that seems to wander in the nearby hills; I am so charmed by ponds with waters as transparent as glass; I like it so much to be free to drink at my will, sweet daughter of Auson's land [Italy]" (partially after "Dzieła wszystkie: Carmina" by Andrzej Trzecieski, p. 167), praises the beauty of the suburban villa of Justus Ludwik Decjusz, Polish poet Klemens Janicki (Clemens Ianicius, 1516-1543) in his Latin epigram "To Justus Ludwik Decjusz, the father" (Ad Iustum Ludovicum Decium patrem). 

Janicki, who during his stay in Venice in the years 1538-1540 found himself in the circle of humanists grouped around Cardinal Pietro Bembo, described the residence of the informal minister of finance (financial adviser) and secretary to the king Sigismund I the Old, built in the style of Italian Renaissance between 1530-1538 in Wola Justowska near Kraków. The design of the building is attributed to Giovanni Cini from Siena, Bernardo Zanobi de Gianottis (Romanus) from Rome or Filippo da Fiesole (Florentinus) from Florence.

The owner of the magnificent villa, the royal secretary Justus Ludwik Decjusz (Justus/Jodocus Ludovicus Decius in Latin or Justo Lodovico Decio in Italian) was born Jost Ludwig Dietz in about 1485 in Wissembourg, a town north of Strasbourg in today's France. He settled in Kraków at the turn of 1507/1508. At first he was a secretary and associate of Jan Boner, his countryman, the royal banker and administrator of the salt mines in Wieliczka and Bochnia, thanks to which he was able to make many trips to Italy, Netherlands and Germany and establish contacts for Boner. From 1520 Decjusz was a secretary and diplomat of King Sigismund I. It was he who was sent to Venice in 1517 to buy an engagement ring and richly decorated fabrics for the king in preparation for the king's wedding to Bona Sforza.

In June 1523 he was sent as a royal envoy to Venice, Naples and to Queen Bona's mother, Duchess Isabella of Aragon in Bari, taking with him as a gift a statue of Saint Nicholas made of gilded silver. In 1524, together with Jan Dantyszek, he was in Ferrara and in Venice, and a year later in 1525 he was entrusted with the task to purchase pearls in Venice for Bona, which was accomplished with the help of a Jewish merchant Lazarus from Kazimierz, who was sent by the king to Venice as a commercial expert (after "Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego", Issues 153-160, p. 6).

Decjusz soon became influential and made personal acquaintances with Erasmus of Rotterdam and Martin Luther. From Emperor Maximilian I he received a noble title, which was confirmed in Poland in 1531 and the Tęczyński family adopted him to the Topór coat of arms. Decjusz's career peaked with his appointment as the king's personal adviser and overseer of the royal mint. He was appointed by the king the manager of the mints in Kraków and Toruń, and later also in Königsberg (Królewiec in Polish) and entrusted with the task of reforming the monetary system in the Crown, Lithuania and the Duchy of Prussia. The reform program was included in the work "Treatise on minting coins" (De monetae cussione ratio) from 1525, where he argued that a ruler could profit from minting money. He was also the author of a three-volume Latin work entitled "On the Ancient Origins of the Poles" (De vetustatibus Polonorum), an early version of the Sarmatian myth about the origin of the Polish kings.

A man born into a patrician family in a German-speaking community far from the historical lands of the Jagiellonian elective monarchies, he became one of the most important politicians of multicultural Poland-Lithuania, one of the largest countries of Renaissance Europe. Justus was also one of the richest people in Poland-Lithuania, owner a tenement houses in Kraków and in Toruń, and estates near Kraków renamed in his honour Wola Justowska, mines of lead and silver in Olkusz, estates in Silesia and the Duchy of Świdnica, including a copper mine in Miedzianka (Kupferberg), the Bolczów Castle, the villages of Janowice and Waltersdorf. 

The year 1538 was inportant for Decjusz, who on 7 March had to prove the reliability of his monetary policy in Toruń at the Sejm and who received a confirmation of mining privileges from Emperor Ferdinand I, as well as for Polish commercial contacts with Venice. In 1538 Michael Wechter of Rymanów, a bookseller from Kraków, who received a very expensive printing commission from Bishop Jan Latalski, published in Venice the Kraków Breviary (Breviariu[m] s[ecundu]m ritum Insignis Ecclesie Cracovien[sis], preserved copy in the Ossolineum, XVI.O.528). Earlier edition was printed in France in 1516 by Jan Haller and Justus Ludwik Decjusz, who, possibly, was also indirectly involved in the 1538 edition. At that time, contacts with the ducal court in Ferrara also intensified. In April 1537 Giovanni Andrea Valentino (de Valentinis), court physician of Sigismund the Old and Bona, was sent to Ferrara and Mantua, Mikołaj Cikowski, whose brother Jan was a courtier of the Dukes of Ferrara, became a courtier, and soon the royal secretary, on July 2, 1537 Ercole II, Duke of Ferrara adressed a letter to Queen Bona, and in October 1538 the queen sent her envoys to Ferrara (after "Działalność Włochów w Polsce w I połowie XVI wieku" by Danuta Quirini-Popławska, p. 80).

Wealthy Venetian merchants who imported from Poland cochineal, animal skins and furs, as well as woolen cloth and exported huge amounts of mirrors and glass for the windows, silk products, expensive fabrics and stones of eastern origin, gold and silver wire, metal threads and various women's ornaments, as well as wine, spices and books (after "Z kręgu badań nad związkami polsko-weneckimi w czasach jagiellońskich" by Ewelina Lilia Polańska), they were undeniably interested in Polish-Lithuanian monetary policy and their finance minister. 

In the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest there is a "Portrait of a Moneychanger" (inventory number 53.449, oil on canvas, 107.5 × 89 cm), attributed to Dosso Dossi, a court painter of Duke Ercole II d'Este in Ferrara, who also travelled to Venice and painting in a style mainly influenced by Venetian painting, in particular Giorgione and early Titian. Before 1865 this picture was in the collection of the Duchess of Berry in Venice and later acquired by Count Jeno Zichy, who bequeathed it to the museum. 

The man wears a black fur-lined coat similar to late Medieval houppelande or knee-length Italian cioppa and black crinale headband. Such headdress was popular with the older generation of men well into the 1530s. Ennoblement of the progenitor of the Odrowąż family by Stanisław Samostrzelnik, created in 1532 (Kórnik Library), Bishop Piotr Tomicki and King Sigismund I and his courtiers kneeling before Saint Stanislaus, also by Samostrzelnik, created between 1530-1535 (National Library of Poland), marble tombstone of Mikołaj Stanisław Szydłowiecki (1480-1532) by Bartolommeo Berrecci or workshop, created in about 1532 (Parish Church in Szydłowiec) and a wooden sculpture of a man in a crinale cap by Sebastian Tauerbach from a coffered ceiling in the Chamber of Deputies at the Wawel Castle, created between 1535-1540, are examples of crinale in the court fashion in Poland-Lithuania. King Sigismund I the Old was depicted in very similar crinale in a print by Monogrammist HR and Hieronymus Vietor, created in 1532 (State Graphic Arts Collection in Munich).

On an inkstand there is a slip of paper inscribed in Italian: Adi 27 de febraro 1538 M Bartolommeo, voria festi contento de dare in felipo quelli ... denari perché io ne o bisognio ne Vostro io Dosso. The last word of the letter to Messer Bartolommeo dated February 27, 1538 with the signature was formerly rather difficult to decipher. Elena Berti Toesca in 1935 linked the painting and the person who signed the paper and needs the money with Io[annes] Dosso, that is to say Dosso Dossi (after "Italian Renaissance Portraits" by Klára Garas, p. 32). This Messer Bartolommeo could be the secretary of the Duke of Ferrara Bartolomeo Prospero who corresponded with Bona's court physician Giovanni Andrea Valentino and his cousin Antonio, the same who in 1546 (March 20) recommended Bartolomeo to send a portrait of Ercole's daughter Anna d'Este (1531-1607) not by royal mail, but by a private route in the hands of Carlo Foresta, one of the agents of Gaspare Gucci from Florence, a merchant in Kraków (after "Studia historyczne", Volume 12, Issues 2-3, p. 182).

The man is holding a scale and weighing coins, in a composition similar to typical northern school portraits of merchants (like in paintings by Adriaen Isenbrant, Quentin Matsys or Marinus van Reymerswaele). His costume is also more northern, this was the reason why, apart from the physical appearance, this image was previously identified as a portrait of a famous German banker Jakob Fugger. However, he died in 1525, so he could not have been involved in the 1538 letter. The man is therefore Justus Ludwik Decjusz, manager of the royal mints, who was accused of the depreciation of the Polish silver coin and abuse and who cleared himself at the Sejm in 1538. Decjusz died in Kraków in 1545 at the age of about 60, consequently he was about 53 in 1538, that match the appearance of the man in the Budapest portrait. Scales of Justice is a symbol of Themis, goddess of justice (Justitia), divine law and order, like in the Latin version of Decjusz's first name Justus (the Just) and in a print with Allegory of Justice (IVSTICIA) by Sebald Beham (1500-1550) in the National Museum in Warsaw (inventory number Gr.Ob.N.167 MNW).

Portrait of Justus Ludwik Decjusz (ca. 1485-1545), manager of the royal mints holding a scale by Dosso Dossi, 1538, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

Portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon nude (Venus of Urbino) by Titian

Who would not like to marry a goddess? A beautiful, educated and wealthy daughter of a king? But she had an important flaw, she was from a distant country with elective monarchy, where parliament decided everything. Her husband will have no right to the crown, his children would need to stand in election, he woud have no title, he could even not be sure that her family will stay in power. She was finally not a niece of an Emperor, hence she cannot bring valuable connections and prestige. This was a hudge disadvantage to all hereditary princes of Europe. This was the case of Isabella Jagiellon, the eldest daughter of  Sigismund I and Bona Sforza. She was born in Kraków on 18 January 1519 and named after her grandmother, Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan and Duchess of Bari.

Together with her brother, Isabella received a good education, including from humanist Johannes Honter, and she could speak four languages: Polish, Latin, German, and Italian. Her mother willing to reclaim the inheritance of Isabella of Aragon pursued a French and an Italian marriage for her daughter. She hoped that King of France would install his son Henry and Isabella in the Duchy of Milan. Isabella, being the eldest granddaughter of the rightful Duke of Milan after her mother, would strengthen the French claims to the Duchy. These plans were abandoned after Battle of Pavia on February 25, 1525. Then Isabella's grandmother wanted to marry her granddaughter for one of her late husband's cousins Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan, however Sigismund I opposed as Francesco's hold of the title was tenuous. In 1530 Bona proposed Federico Gonzaga, a son of her friend Isabella d'Este, and sent her envoy Giovanni Valentino (de Valentinis) to Mantua. Bona's daughter was 11 and the potential groom 30 years old. Federico, however, who was made Duke of Mantua by Emperor, pushed for marriage with Maria Paleologa and after her death with her sister Margaret Paleologa, as she brought March of Montferrat as her inheritance and claimes to the title of Emperor of Constantinople. Then Valentino corresponded (25 November 1534) about Isabella's marriage with Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, the eldest son of Alfonso I d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia, another friend of Bona. He wrote to Ercole that since the king and queen of Poland have a fifteen-year-old daughter, full of virtues and refined beauty (verluti et bellezza elegantissima), it would be a pity to marry her among German barbarians, from which nationality many powerful men are seeking her hand (after "Izabela Jagiellonka, królowa Węgier" by Małgorzata Duczmal, p. 75). In 1535 Habsburgs proposed Ludovico, eldest son of Charles III, Duke of Savoy. The marriage was negotiated by Bona's secretary, Ludovico Monti and the envoy of King Ferdinand of Austria, Baron Herberstein, but Ludovico died in 1536.

Between 1527-1529 and 1533-1536 Isabella lived in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In his texts entitled De Europa written in the 1440s Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini, future Pope Pius II, reported about women in Lithuania, that: "Married noble ladies have lovers in public, with the permission of husbands, whom they call assistants of marriage" (Matronae nobiles publicae concubinos habent, permittentibus viris, quos matrimonii adiutores vocant). These assistants, whose number depended on the position and financial situation of the husband, who were fed at his expense, replaced him by old custom in his marital duties if he had neglected them due to illness, prolonged absence or any other cause. The husbands were not allowed to have lovers and marriages were easy to dissolve by mutual consent (Solvuntur tamen facile matrimonia, mutuo consensu, compare "Stosunki Eneasza Sylwiusza z Polska i Polakami" by Ignacy Zarebski, p. 366). In other writings, he also claimed that Isabella's great-grandfather, Jogaila of Lithuania (Ladislaus II), at the age of almost one hundred, finally had descendants with his subsequent wives, but this was also thanks to marriage assistants (after "Jadwiga (5. Wilhelm i republika listów)" by Marta Kwaśnicka). Although some 19th and 20th century authors have attempted to prove that Piccolomini had invented or propagated this "rumor", it should be kept in mind that "there is a grain of truth in every rumor". Such habits undoubtedly terrified many male readers across Europe.

On November 12, 1537 Mikołaj Nipszyc wrote to Albert, Duke of Prussia about "the secret women's practice, which you could get over with, if the princess Isabella was rendered a good favor in this way". He was probably referring to marriage of Isabella with elected King of Hungary, John Zapolya, secretly planned by Bona. But he could also refer to a painting. In October 1536, on the order of the queen, an unknown capellano Laurencio was paid for his mission to Venice.

Everything in Titian's painting known as Venus of Urbino emphasize the qualities of a bride depicted (Uffizi Gallery in Florence, oil on canvas, 119 x 165 cm, 1890 n. 1437). She is beatiful, young, healthy and fertile. She is loyal and faithful and a sleeping dog symbolize devotion, faithfulness and fidelity. She is loving and passionate and red roses in her hand symbolize this. She is also wealthy, her servants are searching the coffers of her dowry for a suitable dress. Sumptuous wall hangings are undeniably allso part of her dowry and a pot of myrtle, used in marriage ceremonies, suggest that she is available for marriage. Her face resemble greatly other effigies of Isabella Jagiellon. 

The painting is identifiable with certainty at the Villa del Poggio Imperiale in 1654-1655. In Villa del Poggio Imperiale, there is a portrait of Isabella's mother by Lucas Cranach from the same period and in Poland preserved one of the oldest copies of Venus of Urbino (Museum of Art in Łódź, oil on canvas, 122 x 169.5 cm, MS/SO/M/153). The latter painting possibly comes from the Radziwill collection and could be tantamount to description in the catalogue of paintings exhibited in Królikarnia near Warsaw in 1835: "TITIAN. (copy). 439. Venus lying on a white bed, a dog at her legs, two servants occupied with clothes. Painted on canvas. Height: elbow: 1, inch 20, width: elbow: 2, inch 20" (TITIAN. (kopia). 439. Wenus leżąca na białem posłaniu, przy jej nogach piesek z tyłu dwie służące zajęte ubraniem. Mal: na płótnie. Wys: łok: 1, cali 20, szer: łok: 2, cali 20, after "Katalog galeryi obrazow sławnych mistrzów ..." by Antoni Blank, p. 123). Two old replicas with minor changes to the composition are in the Royal Collection in England (RCIN 406162 and 402661) - one was recorded at Whitehall Palace in London in 1666 (no. 469) and the other in the King's Little Bedchamber at Windsor Castle in 1688 (no. 754). One of them of good quality could come from Titian's workshop (oil on canvas, 109.5 x 166.3 cm, RCIN 406162). Certainly the English monarchs were more interested in the portrait of the Polish-Lithuanian princess and queen of Hungary than the unknown mistress of the Duke of Urbino. The painting in Florence is generally considered as tantamount to that of the "naked woman" (la donna nuda), mentioned in the letters of March 9 and May 1, 1538 that Guidobaldo della Rovere (1514-1574) wrote to his agent in Venice, Gian Giacomo Leonardi. Another reduced version of the painting, probably from Titian's workshop, was sold on July 8, 2003 (Sotheby's London, lot 320).

In the version held at Nottingham City Museums and Galleries (Nottingham Castle), the model is transformed into Diana, goddess of the hunt, childbirth, and fertility (oil on canvas, 68 x 115.5 cm, inv. NCM 1910-1960). Her womb is covered, probably referring to her status as a married woman. The green color of the curtain behind her also evokes fertility. This painting is closer to the style of Lambert Sustris and the facial features more closely resemble the portrait of Isabella Jagiellon, then Queen of Hungary and Croatia, holding a white dog (private collection), attributed to Sustris. It was presented to the museum in 1910 by Sir Kenneth Muir-Mackenzie (1845-1930) and, before that, was probably in the collection of his father-in-law William Graham (1817-1885).

Similar pose is visible in monument to Barbara Tarnowska née Tęczyńska (d. 1521) by Giovanni Maria Padovano in the Tarnów Cathedral from about 1536 and monument to Urszula Leżeńska by Jan Michałowicz of Urzędów in the Church in Brzeziny, created between 1563-1568. These are not the only particular examples of the combination of elements of life and death in 16th-century art preserved in the former territories of Renaissance Sarmatia. The National Art Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania holds an interesting painting inspired by the Venus of Urbino: Vanity (oil on canvas, 97 x 125 cm, inv. ČDM MŽ 1188). It is one of several copies of this composition, the original of which was also painted by Titian - probably the one from the Kingston Lacy Estate, Dorset (inv. NT 1257116), originally held in the Widmann collection in Venice. In this composition, the sitter is looking upwards towards a painted plaque above her head, on which is written: OMNIA / VANITAS (All is vanity). The symbols of the vanity of royal power, a crown and a scepter, lie at her feet; on the ground, near her hand, are bags of money and a pile of gold coins. The large silver vase, or rather the urn, symbolizes death. Similar to the version in the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, the most likely author of the Kaunas painting is Alessandro Varotari (1588-1649), known as Il Padovanino, who frequently copied Titian's paintings in early 17th century. As its style suggests, the Kingston Lacy Estate painting can be dated to the late period of Titian's work, in the 1560s, and therefore after the death of Isabella Jagiellon.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, famous paintings from other eras frequently inspired wealthy patrons to commission similar works of art. Usually these paintings were well known to customers, so they wanted to have a similar work of art or be represented "in the guise" of that particular figure. One of the best-known examples, at least in Poland, of this practice is the painting identified as self-portrait by Jan Lievens, now kept at Wawel Castle (inv. 600). It comes from the Jerzy Mycielski collection and is inspired by the lost portrait of a "Young Man" by Raphael from the Czartoryski Museum. In the Bratislava Municipal Gallery (A 2446) there is another transposition of this famous work by Raphael, painted at the end of the 17th century and possibly depicting a member of the Dal Pozzo family. Interestingly, the portrait by Raphael, which was stolen by the Nazi German invaders during World War II, probably does not depict "a man" at all, as the same youth was depicted in the School of Athens by Raphael (Vatican Museums), identified as the female mathematician Hypatia and "his" face also resembles a woman from a painting in the Louvre (INV 612 ; MR 434), variously attributed to Raphael, Giulio Romano or the school of Raphael and identified to represent Doña Isabel de Requesens y Enríquez de Velasco (d. 1532), vicereine of Naples. 

The most beautiful inspiration by the "Venus of Urbino" in what is considered 18th-century Polish painting is probably the posthumous portrait of Anna Lampel née Stiegler (d. 1800), imagined as a reclining Venus. It was painted around 1801 (i.e. at the beginning of the next century) by the painter Marcello Bacciarelli, born and educated in Rome and naturalized as a Polish nobleman in 1768 by the Commonwealth's parliament. Anna, a theater actress of Austrian origin, was a lover of the actor, director and playwright Wojciech Bogusławski (1757-1829) and she died in 1800 in Kalisz, probably in childbirth. Bogusławski then commissioned a large portrait of Anna which he kept until the end of his life.

The model is lying on a bed in a negligee. Next to her is Cupid or putto (genius of death) who extinguishes the torch of life. Anna holds her hand on a small dog, a symbol of fidelity. In the background on the left is an idealized landscape. The painting revives the same canon and concept of the "disguised portrait" that was also popular in the Renaissance and ancient Rome, particularly similar to the statue of a wealthy Roman lady depicted as Venus on a lid of her sarcophagus, now kept at the Pio Clementino Musem (inv. 878).

The scene is generally thought to be imaginative and Bacciarelli used other effigies of Anna as inspiration (compare "Zidentyfikowany obraz Bacciarellego" by Zbigniew Raszewski, p. 194-196). The painting as well as a drawing and a preparatory painting sketch for the composition are held in the National Museum in Warsaw (Rys.Pol.6085, MP 1102, MP 5150). They had to be approved by the sponsor and differ in many details, which indicates that Bogusławski had a great influence on the final effect and that he must have been well acquainted with "Venus of Urbino" and other Venetian nudes, despite the fact that, according to known sources, he never visited Italy.

The art collector, physician and historian Paolo Giovio (1483-1552), bishop of Nocera de' Pagani, who owned several portraits painted by Titian, must have been familiar with the likenesses of Bona's eldest daughter, because he claimed that she "combined the charm of an Italian woman with the beauty of a Polish woman" (Madama Isabella, figliuola di Gismondo Re di Polonia, fanciulla di virile di Polonia, & erudito ingegno; & quel che molto importò per allettare l'animo di lui amabilissima per vaghezza Italiana, & per leggiadria Polonica, after "La seconda parte dell'historie del suo tempo ...", published in Florence in 1553, p. 771). In 1549 Giovio moved to the court of Cosimo I de' Medici in Florence, where he died in 1552.

​Portrait of a young man or woman in a fur coat by Raphael, 1513-1514, Czartoryski Museum, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559) nude (Venus of Urbino) by Titian, 1534-1538, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559) nude (Venus of Urbino) by follower of Titian, after 1534, Museum of Art in Łódź.

Portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559) nude (Venus of Urbino) by follower of Titian, after 1534, The Royal Collection.

Portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559) nude (Venus of Urbino) by workshop of Titian, after 1534, Private collection.  

​Portrait of Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), Queen of Hungary and Croatia as Diana by Lambert Sustris, after 1539, Nottingham Castle.

​All is vanity by Alessandro Varotari, first half of the 17th century, National Museum of Art in Kaunas. 

​Postmortem portrait of Anna Lampel née Stiegler (d. 1800), depicted as a reclining Venus, by Marcello Bacciarelli, ca. 1801, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portraits of Isabella Jagiellon by follower of Titian and Jacopino del Conte

"As fate wills it. Queen Isabella" (Sic fata volunt. Ysabella Regina) – the eldest daughter of Sigismund I and Bona Sforza painted these words with her own hand on the wall of her beautifully painted bedroom. This inscription still existed in 1572 (after "Izabella királyné, 1519-1559" by Endre Veress, p. 28, 36-37, 81, 489-490). 

No painted effigy of Isabella from the period between 1538 and 1553, made before Cranach's famous miniature, appears to have survived to the present day. However, sources confirm the existence of such effigies. In a letter dated August 31, 1538, Bona Sforza speaks of two portraits of her daughter, one half-length and the other full-length, made by a court painter of Jan Dantyszek, Prince-Bishop of Warmia, perhaps a painter from a German school of painting. However, it is not excluded that Dantyszek, a diplomat in the service of Sigismund I, who traveled frequently to Venice and Italy, had at his court a painter from Titian's workshop. In the letter, Bona also complains that the features of her daughter in the portrait are not very faithful (Scimus P. V. habere imaginem Sme filie nostre Isabelle. Ea imago, si semiplena est, et similis illi imagini, quae a capite secundum pectus est depicta, quam apud nos pictor V. P. vidit: volumus ut eam nobis V. P. mittat. Sin autem hec ipsa imago plena est et staturam plenam in se continet, estque similis illi imagini, quam pictor V. P. isthic existens depinxit, quia turpis est, nec omnino speciem formamque filie nostre refert, eam non cupimus habere. Itaque P. V. non hanc, sed semiplenam imaginem ad nos mittat et valeat feliciter. Dat. Cracovie die ultima Augusti Anno domini M. D. XXX. VIII°, after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku: Obrazy rodziny i dworu Zygmunta ..." By Aleksander Przezdziecki, Volume 1, p. 82, 281). It is very likely that she herself ordered a better effigy from Titian's workshop.

Until 1848, there was supposed to be a portrait of Isabella in Gyalu Castle in Transylvania (now Gilău in Romania), where she had stayed for some time, but the owner of the castle took it to Vienna and the painting disappeared (after "Izabela Jagiellonka, królowa Węgier" by Małgorzata Duczmal, p. 40, 187-188).

The marriage of Bona's daughter, "a girl of a brave and educated mind, who combined the charm of an Italian woman with the beauty of a Polish woman" (Fanciulla di virile e erudito ingegno, amabilissima per vaghezza italiana e per leggiadria polonica), as famous art collector Paolo Giovio (1483-1552), Bishop of Nocera de' Pagani, described her, was an important event. In 1538, the royal tailor Pietro Patriarcha (Patriarca) from Bari made a number of dresses in damask, satin, velvet, silver and colored brocades for the trousseau of the future Queen of Hungary (after "Działalność Włochów w Polsce ..." by Danuta Quirini-Popławska, p. 58).​ On January 15, 1539, five hundred Hungarian knights arrived to Kraków. The marriage contract with the dowry of 32,000 ducats in cash was probably signed between January 28 and February 2. Her trousseau was worth 38,000 ducats, which makes a total of 70,000 ducats. This was a huge sum compared to the wages of the time in Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia - a master carpenter, for example, employed at Wawel, received 34 to 48 groszy per week (grosz - a copper coin worth about 1/30 of a zloty). When Hieronim Łaski sold three villages in 1526, he received 3,000 zloty (ducats) in exchange. Due to Zapolya's precarious situation, Isabella's marriage contract was quite complicated. It was therefore foreseen that within the next two months King John would deposit 70,000 ducats in cash for his wife in a bank in Venice or in the bank of the Boner family, or directly in the hands of the King of Poland. Despite these precautions, Isabella's dowry in cash was not paid out just in case, and she did not take the entire trousseau to Hungary, but only the value of 26,005 ducats. The dowry and the rest of the trousseau were to be sent when Zapolya had settled the matter of the dower or paid the appropriate sum into the bank. Zapolya also undertook to leave 2,000 ducats from his own estates in Transylvania as a wedding gift to the young bride. If Isabella died without issue before her husband, the dowry and the trousseau would be returned to the family.

Among the dresses she took to Hungary were three dresses embroidered with silver, a brown satin dress with sable fur, a black damask dress, a green brocade dress, a violet damask dress, as well as many expensive furs. Many beautiful fabrics were also needed for her carriages. Her golden bridal carriage was covered with brocade fabric, while the interior was upholstered in crimson brocade decorated with gold and silver roses, and her second carriage was upholstered in red silk. She also received expensive church utensils for her home altar, silver candlesticks, censers and the like, while the Kraków City Council presented the future Queen of Hungary with a gilded silver cup of "Hungarian workmanship", purchased from Erasmus Schilling (d. 1561), an international wholesaler. 

Besides Italian and Latin, before her arrival in Hungary, Isabella probably knew some Hungarian, because there were Hungarians at the royal court and accounts from 1520 confirm the performance of a "Hungarian joculator" (Hungarus joculator), who was paid 1 florin, and of an Italian acrobat who saltas faciebat, who was paid 6 florins. Shortly after her coronation (February 23, 1539), she sent a letter in Italian to King Ferdinand I, addressed "From Buda, March 20, 1539" (Datum a Buda, 20 Martii 1539): "I do not doubt that Your Majesty will also deign to bear good love towards the Most Serene Lord and my dearest husband, for his virtue, for my consolation, for the common good of the kingdoms so close to you. [...] knowing already that I am greatly grateful to Your Majesty, and that I am also most desirous of having the love of the Most Serene Queen [Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547)], Your Majesty's consort and my most beloved sister, to whom I most desire to be a devoted sister" (Non dubito, che medesmamente se degnarà Vostra Maestà portar bon amor ancora verso el Sermo [Serenissimo] Signor et marito mio carissimo, per sua virtù, per mia consolatione, per lo ben commune degli regni a se tanto vicini. [...] conoscendo gia io assai gratia de Vostra Maestà esser ancora desider[at]osissima aver lo amor della Serma [Serenissima] regina de Vostra Maestà consorte et mia sorella amantissima, alla qual summamente desidero esser sorella commendatissima). 

The interest that the Queen of Hungary aroused in the Italians is illustrated by a letter from Ludovico Monti, agent of Sigismund Augustus, to Ercole II, Duke of Ferrara, dated May 1554. Monti speaks of the very tense relations between Ferdinand I (King of the Romans since 1530) and the eldest daughter of Bona Sforza who, after the death of her husband in 1540, had been deprived of most of the kingdom: "Queen Isabella had left Opole in disagreement with the King of the Romans, and was staying at Piotrków, and the King of the Romans had sent ambassadors to the King and his Most Serene Mother, but they had done little" (La reina Isabella era partita di Opolia discorde col re de Romani, et stava in Pijotrkowia, et il re de Romani havea mandato ambasciatori al re et a la serenissima madre, ma poco havevano fatto, after "L'Europa centro-orientale e gli archivi ..." by Gaetano Platania, p. 78).

The facial features of a lady with a dog in the portrait made by Titian's entourage are identical to those from the known effigies of Isabella Jagiellon - the miniature by the workshop of Cranach the Younger, made in Wittenberg (Czartoryski Museum, inv. MNK XII-542) and the full-length portrait (Royal Castle in Warsaw, inv. ZKW 61), both in widow's costume. This painting, from a private Italian collection, is also attributed to Lambert Sustris (oil on canvas, 98 x 74 cm) and was auctioned in 1996 as a possible effigy of Eleonora Gonzaga (1493-1570), Duchess of Urbino. It is likely that the same painting was put up for sale in 2000, however, the woman has dark hair, which brings her closer to the known effigies of Eleonora Gonzaga. A similar effigy, representing a blonde woman holding a zibellino, comes from the Contini Bonacossi collection in Florence, as do several portraits of the Jagiellons, identified by me. It is now in the Samek Art Museum in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania (oil on panel, 100 x 76.2 cm, inv. 1961.K.1200), sold to Samuel Henry Kress (1863-1955) on September 1, 1939. This painting is attributed to the School of Agnolo Bronzino or Florentine school of the 16th century (compare Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 37442). The most likely author is therefore Jacopino del Conte (ca. 1515-1598), a pupil of Andrea del Sarto, active in Rome and Florence. The style of the painting is similar to the portrait of a boy in the National Gallery in London (inv. NG649), which according to my identification is a portrait of Isabella's son, John Sigismund Zapolya, and the Madonna in the National Museum in Warsaw (inv. M.Ob.639 MNW). However, at first glance, the resemblance of the facial features is not so obvious: is it then the painting mentioned by Bona in her letter or a copy of it offered to the Medici family in Florence?

The portrait that was in the Hungarian National Museum before 1853, known from a lithograph, depicted a woman in a similar costume, sitting in the 16th-century Savonarola chair and holding a fan. The lithograph was made in 1853 by the Hungarian lithographer Alajos Rohn. This portrait was identified as an effigy of Mary of Anjou (1371-1395), Queen of Hungary, granddaughter of Elizabeth of Poland (1305-1380) - I. MARIA MAGYAR KIRÁLYNŐ. A copy of the painting from Budapest from the 18th or 19th century or painted after Rohn's lithograph was sold in Vienna in 2021 as by a follower of Alessandro Allori (oil on panel, 17.5 x 12.8 cm, Dorotheum, April 27, 2021, lot 89). This painting was on the art market in Brussels, where it was acquired in the 1980s.

It is likely that Sustris, to whom the painting with the white dog is attributed, created a painting clearly inspired by Titian's famous Venus of Urbino, which was in a private collection in France before 1997 (oil on canvas, 110 x 138.5 cm). The facial features, although idealized, are also reminiscent of Venus of Urbino and the woman in the portrait with the white dog. The pose of the nude woman and her hairstyle are similar to those depicted on the reverse of a medal of Giovanni Battista Castaldo (1493-1563) to commemorate the capture of the town of Lipova in Transylvania in November 1551. This medal was probably made in Milan around 1552, commissioned by Castaldo, whose portraits were painted by Titian and Antonis Mor. On the left is a trophy of Ottoman arms and the inscription reads the "Transylvania captured" (TRANSILVANIA CAPTA), while the nude female figure seated on the bank of a river holds a crown in her left hand and a sceptre in her right (Bargello Museum in Florence, inv. 6223).

Portrait of Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), Queen of Hungary and Croatia​ with a dog by follower of Titian, 1538-1540, Private collection. ​

Portrait of Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), Queen of Hungary and Croatia​ holding a zibellino by Jacopino del Conte​, 1538-1540, Samek Art Museum. ​

Portrait of Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), Queen of Hungary and Croatia​ holding a fan, 1853 lithograph after lost original by Titian or Jacopino del Conte from about 1539, Private collection.

Portrait of Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), Queen of Hungary and Croatia​ holding a fan, 18th or 19th century after lost original by Titian or Jacopino del Conte from about 1539, Private collection. 

Portrait of Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), Queen of Hungary and Croatia nude by follower of Titian, ca. 1551, Private collection. 

​"Transylvania captured", reverse of a medal of Giovanni Battista Castaldo (1493-1563), ca. 1552, Bargello Museum in Florence. 

Portrait of court physician Giovanni Andrea Valentino by Gaspare Pagani

"John Andrew de Valentinis from Modena, provost of Kraków, Sandomierz and Trakai, etc. very proficient doctor of medicine, who served the venerable Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, the Most Serene King Sigismund I and the Most Serene Queen Bona Sforza for many years, so summoned by the almighty God on February 20, 1547, he moved to eternity" (Ioannes Andreas de Valentinis natus Mutinensis praepositus cracoviensis, sandecensis, trocensis et cetera, artium medicinaeque doctor peritissimus qui reuerendissimi Cardinali Hippoliti Estensi atque Serenissimi Poloniae Regi Sigismundo I et Serenissimae Reginae Sfortiae faeliciter pluribus servivit annis, tandem a Deo Optimo Maximo vocatus. XX • Februarii M • D • XLVII ad aeternam migravit vitam), reads the Latin inscription on the tombstone plaque of Giovanni Andrea Valentino (ca. 1495-1547), court physician of Queen Bona Sforza in the St. Mary's Chapel (Bathory Chapel) at the Wawel Cathedral.

The tombstone, funded by Bona as the executor of Valentino's will, was carved by Giovanni Soli from Florence or Giovanni Cini from Siena. The sculpted effigy of a canon holding a chalice and adorned with coat of arms of two paws in circles on each side depict most probably Valentino, although it is traditionally identified as the image of Bernard Wapowski (Vapovius, 1475-1535), canon of Kraków.

Valentino, a nobleman from Modena, son of Lodovico and his wife née Barocci, had a vulture's paw in his coat of arms. He studied with a famous physician Niccolò Leoniceno (1428-1524) in Ferrara and he became the court physician of Queen Bona Sforza in 1520 (after "Studia renesansowe", Volume 3, p. 227). He played a very important role at the royal court in Poland acting as an agent of the Dukes of Mantua and Ferrara and over time he rose to the rank of a secretary. He also acted as an intermediary in sending valuable gifts between courts in Poland and Italy, like in June 1529 when he sent, through Ippolito of Mantua who arrived to Vilnius, a skin of a white bear to Alfonso (1476-1534), duke of Ferrara, a very rare and sought after item even in Lithuania (according to Valentino, only the king had one piece, which was used to cover the carriage). Perhaps this emissary brought the queen a portrait of Marquess of Mantua, Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540), most likely by Titian. Bona was showing the portrait to the court barber Giacomo da Montagnana from Mantua "with the same ceremony with which the mantle of Saint Mark is shown in Venice", so that the barber had to kneel before it with folded hands, reported Valentino in a letter to Alfonso (after "Królowa Bona, 1494-1557: czasy i ludzie odrodzenia", Volume 3, p. 187).

Giovanni Andrea became rich thanks to Bona's support and numerous endowments. He owned a house in Vilnius and estates near Brest. As a trusted household member of the royal family, he was sent as an envoy to Italy several times, like in 1537 when he also visited his family in Modena. Valentino contributed to the education of his relatives, like two nephews of Bonifazio Valentino, canon of Modena and Pietro Paolo Valentino, son of Giovanni. Other members of his family received on November 25, 1538 from Ercole II d'Este, Duke Ferrara, at his request, exemption from payment of import duty in Modena.

When in Poland, Valentino also conducted scientific research and his observations on Polish cochineal found an echo in Antonio Musa Brassavola's work on syrups (after "Odrodzenie w Polsce: Historia nauki" by Bogusław Leśnodorski, p. 132) and commissioned works of art. In about 1540 he founded the altar of St. Dorothy for the Wawel Cathedral (today in the Bodzów Chapel in Kraków), created by circle of Bartolomeo Berecci and adorned with coat of arms of Poland, Lithuania and the Sforzas as well as Latin inscription: IOANNES ANDREAS DE VALENTINIS EX MUTIN BON PHYSICVS SANDOMIRIENSIS PRAEPVS DEDICAVIT. 

He died after a fourteen-day illness on the night of February 19/20, 1547 at the age of about 52 and left all his property in Poland to a family residing in Italy. In the Ducal Chancellery of Modena are the ducal instructions addressed to Valentino on March 18, 1523. Giovanni Andrea left the duke in his will a golden cup and a small dwarf (una coppa d'oro e uno suo naino picolino e ben fattos, after "Lodovicus Montius Mutinensis ..." by Rita Mazzei, p. 12).

In the Philadelphia Museum of Art there is a "Portrait of an Elderly Physician" (oil on canvas, 67.3 × 55.3 cm, inventory number Cat. 253), created in about 1540 and attributed to Gaspare Pagani (d. 1569), Italian painter active in Modena, first documented in 1521. This painting was acquired in 1917 from the collection of John G. Johnson and was previously attributed to Dosso Dossi, court artist to the dukes of Ferrara. According to the description of the work in the museum  "this man is identified as a physician by the caduceus, or staff, in his hand. The caduceus became a symbol of the medical profession because of its association with Asclepius, a legendary Greek physician and god of healing". However, caduceus was also the symbol of Mercury, Roman god of commerce, travellers and orators, the emissary and messenger of the gods. Both rods were each given to Asclepius and to Mercury by Apollo, god of the sun and knowledge. So this man was a doctor and an emissary, just like Giovanni Andrea Valentino.

Portrait of court physician Giovanni Andrea Valentino (ca. 1495-1547) by Gaspare Pagani, ca. 1540, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Portrait of Beata Kościelecka holding a book by Bernardino Licinio

"In the hands of Her Majesty the Queen for images to the Kraków Cathedral florins 159/7, which the factor of Her Majesty paid in Venice" (In manus S. Reginalis Mtis pro imaginibus ad eccl. Cathedralem Crac. fl. 159/7, quos factor S. M. Reginalis Veneciis exposuit), a note in the royal accounts (In communes necessitates et ex mandato S. M. Regie) on August 9, 1546 (after "Renesansowy ołtarz główny z katedry krakowskiej w Bodzentynie" by Paweł Pencakowski, p. 112), is the only known confirmation so far that the paintings were ordered by Queen Bona in large quantities in Venice. Many nobles living at the court, attending Sejm (parliament) sessions, or just visiting the capital and interested in affairs of state around the court, imitated the style there and other customs.

Between January 14 and March 19, 1540 Sejm was held at the Wawel Castle in Kraków. During this Sejm, on February 15, in the cathedral, Hieronim Bozarius (possibly Girolamo Bozzari from Piacenza near Milan) presented Sigismund Augustus with a hat and a sword consecrated by Pope Paul III. The exact agenda of the session it not known, however one of the important topics discussed was undoubtedly the case of inheritance of Ilia, Prince of Ostroh, who died just few months earlier on August 19 or 20, 1539. Two very influential women were involved in the matter - the widow Beata Kościelecka, illegitimate daughter of Sigismund I and protegee of Queen Bona and Princess Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska, second wife of Ilia's father and mother of his brother Constantine Vasily, a descendant of Grand Princes of Kiev and Grand Dukes of Lithuania. On August 16, 1539, Ilia, who according to Nipszyc succumbed too much to his energetic wife Beata, signed a will in which he left his possessions to his unborn child and his wife and named king Sigismund Augustus and his mother Bona as guardians. Until Ilia's half-brother came of age, Beata was to manage her husband's vast estates and his brother's estate (after "Dzieje rodu Ostrogskich" by Tomasz Kempa, p. 61). The will was confirmed by the king. Nevertheless, the inheritance disputes soon began. 

Constantine Vasily applied for his part of the Ostroh property and recognition of his rights to custody of the minor Elizabeth (Halszka), daughter of Ilia and Beata. In 1540 Sigismund took under sequestration the estate and confirmed his coming of age in 1541 at the age of 15. At that time Beata's management of the estates caused dissatisfaction of many nobles and the king. She changed a significant part of the officials appointed in Ilia's estates, used all the profits for her own needs and did not pay the debts of her late husband and father-in-law, the administrators appointed by her did not take care of the defense of the lands against Tatar attacks, but several times a year they collected serebshchyna (quitrent in silver coins, established in 1513 by Sigismund). Complaints poured in about the princess from the servants, neighbors and government officials. Under such conditions, on March 3, 1540 Sigismund instructed Fyodor Andreevich Sangushko (d. 1547), marshal of Volhynia and one of the guardians - to exercise control over the profits from the Ostroh estates and Beata's decisions.

The trial regarding the Ostroh inheritance began in Vilnius on August 27, 1540. Princess Alexandra and her son were represented by Florian Zebrzydowski with a statement about the illegality of the transfer of the inheritance to Beata that she "to the great hurt and harm of Prince Vasily kept for herself and she did a lot of damage there and destroyed those estates". The final decree of the Compromise Court was issued on December 20, 1541. The property left by Prince Ilia (with the exception of Beata's dowry) was divided into two parts. The division was carried out by Princess Beata and Prince Constantine Vasily was to decide of one of the two parts of the estate (after "Dzieje rodu Ostrogskich" by Tomasz Kempa, p. 64).

Pedro Ruiz de Moros's malicious epigram entitled In Chorim probably refers to Beata. In the 1540s, the poet attacked influential women in Queen Bona's circle. The woman in the poem, whom the poet calls Choris, was already a mother, and yet appeared as a young girl with her head uncovered and her hair loose (In cunis vagit partus, tu fusa capillos / Incedis. Virgo es sic mulierque, Choris). 

Portrait of a lady in a red dress holding a petrarchino by Bernardino Licinio in the Musei Civici di Pavia (oil on canvas, 100 x 78 cm, inventory number P 24) is very similar to the portrait of Beata from 1532 by the same author in terms of facial features, costume and pose. Her clothes and jewellery indicate high position, noble origin and wealth. The little book that the she shows closed in one hand is complement of the sumptuous robe, as a fashionable item to show off the refined silk binding. As in the portrait of Queen Bona Sforza by Licinio being seen holding a petrarchino, a book by Petrarch, was a courtly intellectual fashion. Inscription in Latin on the marble parapet "1540 DAY/ 25 FEB" (1540 DIE/ 25 FEB) refers to an important event in her life. She is not wearing a black mourning gown, so she's not commemorating someone's death, therefore it could be some important document like a royal decree that didn't survive. At the end of 1539 or at the beginning of 1540, Princess Beata came to Kraków asking the king to confirm her husband's will. Her signed portraits (BEATA KOSCIELECKA / Elice Ducis in Ostrog Conjunx) from the beginning of the 1540s indicate that she closely followed the fashion prevailing at the royal court. Beata's costume, jewellery and even the pose in these effigies are identical as in the portraits of the young Queen Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545), who preferred the German style.

The painting was transferred to the Museum from the School of Painting in Pavia, where in inventory of 1882 it was recored as coming from the collection of the Marquis Francesco Belcredi in Milan, offered in 1851 and attributed to Paris Bordone. The painting is identifiable in the collection of Karl Joseph von Firmian (Carlo Firmian, 1716-1782), who served as Plenipotentiary of Lombardy to the Austrio-Hungarian Empire. In 1753 Firmian was recruited as ambassador to Naples, where many belongings of Queen Bona were transferred after her death. 

Portrait of Beata Kościelecka holding a book by Bernardino Licinio, 1540, Musei Civici di Pavia.

Portrait of Anna of Masovia in crimson dress by Bernardino Licinio

"Let me look at the power or royalty of the Piasts, When it comes to noble origin: no woman is equal to you" (Virtutem spectem seu regia sceptra Piasti, Unde genus: par est femina nulla tibi), praised the Duchess of Mazovia (DUCISSÆ MASOVIÆ) the Spanish poet educated in Italy Pedro Ruiz de Moros.

Italian fashion and novelties quickly reached Poland-Lithuania. One of the few surviving examples is the epitaph painting of Marco Revesla (Revesili, Revexli or Revesli, d. October 19, 1553) from Novara near Milan, who was a pharmacist at the court of Queen Bona. It is considered as one of the earliest reflections of The Last Judgment by Michelangelo, created between 1536-1541 (after "Wczesne refleksy twórczości Michała Anioła w malarstwie polskim" by Kazimierz Kuczman). The painting is in the Franciscan Monastery in Kraków and it was founded by his wife Catharina Alentse (also Alantsee, Alants or Alans). Her family came from Venice and was well known in Kraków and in Płock in Masovia in the first half of the 16th century. Giovanni or Jan Alantsee from Venice, who died before 1553, an aromaticist and pharmacist of Queen Bona, was a mayor of Płock who in August 1535 initiated the construction of waterworks in the city. He was also suspected of poisoning of the last Masovian dukes on the queen's order.

Despite tremendous losses during many wars and ivasions, some traces of Venetian portraiture from the 16th century preserved in Masovia. During exhibition of miniatures in Warsaw in 1912 two tondo miniatures by Venetian school were presented - portrait of a Venetian lady from the second half of the 16th century (oil on canvas, 10.6 cm, item 190), owned by the Zamoyski Estate and a miniature of a lady in a costume from the mid-16th century (oil on wood, 7.5 cm, item 192), owned by Count Ksawery Branicki (after "Pamiętnik wystawy miniatur, oraz tkanin i haftów" by Władysław Górzyński and Zenon Przesmycki, p. 31-32), both were probably lost during World War II. 

After the incorporation of Masovia Polish troops immediately occupied Warsaw, Princess Anna, sister of the last dukes and beloved daughter of Sigismund I (Quam si nostra filia esset), as the king called her in a letter, was to live in a smaller castle in Warsaw until she got married. According to the agreements of 1526, Anna was to give the king her extensive Masovian estates in exchange for a dowry of 10,000 Hungarian ducats and renounce hereditary rights to the duchy. However, the ambitious duchess delayed the decision to marry. In 1536, when she was approaching 38, King Sigismund entrusted Andrzej Krzycki, secretary of Queen Bona, Piotr Gamrat, bishop of Przemyśl and Piotr Goryński, voivode of Masovia, to arrange marriage pacts with Stanisław Odrowąż (1509-1545), voivode of Podolia. On March 1, 1536, Krzycki, his retinue and many senators arrived in Warsaw for the wedding. 

After a year of delaying the decision the Duchess refused to return her possessions to the king which caused a conflict between the couple and Sigismund and Bona and led to the deprivation of Odrowąż of his offices, and even to skirmishes between the armed forces of the Crown and the private troops of the Duchess of Masovia. The dispute was ended by the Sejm of 1537, which forced Anna and her husband to take an oath before the king, to renounce hereditary rights to Masovia and her estates for the benefit of the Crown. Her husband was deprived of the starosty of Lviv and Sambir, and was forced to leave Bar in Podolia.
​
After leaving Masovia, Anna settled in the Odrowąż estates, where her husband was promoting religious innovations (according to Piotr Gamrat). For the rest of her life, she stayed mainly at the castle in Jarosław between Kraków and Lviv, where around 1540 she gave birth to her only daughter, Zofia. The couple reconciled with Sigismund and Bona. In 1540 Stanisław offered the queen the village of Prusy in Sambir land and between 1542-1543 he become voivode of Ruthenia. The final monetary settlement with the queen took place in March 1545 and Bona paid him 19,187 in gold.

Portrait by Bernardino Licinio from the Schaeffer Galleries in New York (oil on panel, 38.5 x 33.5 cm), depict a lady whose facial features are very reminiscent of the effigy of Anna of Masovia in mourning with a portrait of her brother (Castello Sforzesco in Milan). She is older and her costume and hair style resemble greatly that of Bona's protegee Beata Kościelecka, created in about 1540 (Musei Civici di Pavia), identified by me. Her dress of Venetian silk is dyed entirely with Polish cochineal and she holds her hand close to her heart as if taking an oath of allegiance. 

A portrait of the Duchess of Mazovia (Xzna Mazowiecka), most likely Anna, and probably an effigy of her mother (Radziwilowna Xzna Mazowiecka) are mentioned in the 1657 inventory of the painting collection of Boguslaus Radziwill (1620-1669), which included several paintings by Lucas Cranach, a painting by Paolo Veronese and several Italian paintings (AGAD 1/354/0/26/84, p. 20, 22). 

Portrait of Anna of Masovia (ca. 1498-1557) in crimson dress by Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1540, Private collection.

Portraits of Queen Bona Sforza as Diana the Huntress-Egeria by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger

"Such a good queen and such a hunter, That I don't know: are you Juno or are you Diana?" (Tam bona regina es, bene tam venabula tractas Ut dubitem Iuno an sisne Diana magis), plays with words and the name of Queen Bona ("Good" in Latin) comparing her to Juno, queen of the gods, goddess of marriage and childbirth and to Diana, goddess of the hunt and wild animals in his epigram entitled "Cricius, bishop of Przemyśl, to Bona, queen of Poland" (Cricius episcopus Premisliensis ad Bonam reginam Poloniae), her secretary Andrzej Krzycki (1482-1537). 

On August 2, 1540 Giovanni Cini, an architect and sculptor from Siena, concludes a contract with Helena Malarka (quod honesta Helena malarka sibi nomine), a female painter in Kraków, for work on finishing her house "in the street of the Jews" (in platea Judaeorum), but at the same time he delegates the work to his assistants, due to his imminent return to Lithuania (after "Nadworny rzeźbiarz króla Zygmunta Starego Giovanni Cini z Sieny i jego dzieła w Polsce" by Stanisław Cercha, Felix Kopera, p. 22). Helena adopts the city law in 1539 and she was mentioned in a register Liber juris civilis inceptus as a widow of another painter Andrzej of Gelnica in Slovakia (Helena Andree pictoris de Gelnicz relicta vidua). This Malarka (Polish for female painter) was apparently a very rich woman that she could afford to have a house in the city center, Jewish Street, today Saint Anne's Street (Świętej Anny), is close to the Main Market Square and the main seat of the Jagiellonian University (Collegium Maius), as well as the royal architect to renovate it. Judging by the available information she was most probably a Jewish female painter from Italy or Poland-Lithuania, close to the royal court of Queen Bona Sforza. So was she involved in any secret or "sensitive" missions for the royal court, like preparation of initial drawings for the royal nudes?

In the National Gallery of Art in Washington there is a painting of the Nymph of the Spring by Lucas Cranach the Elder, created after 1537 (oil on panel, 48.4 x 72.8 cm, inventory number 1957.12.1). It probably comes from the collection of Baron von Schenck in Flechtingen Castle, near Magdeburg. The city was the seat of Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), Archbishop of Magdeburg and Mainz, patron of the arts and collector, whose concubines Elisabeth "Leys" Schütz and Agnes Pless were frequently painted in guise of different Christian Saints by Cranach. The cardinal, who maintained good relations with the Jagiellons, undoubtedly had effigies of King Sigismund and Queen Bona. 

The painting shows Diana the Huntress as the Nymph of the Sacred Spring, whose posture recalls Giorgione's and Titian's Venuses. Egeria, the nymph of a sacred spring, celebrated at sacred groves close to Rome, was a form of Diana. She was believed to bless men and women with offspring and to assist mothers in childbirth. Beguilingly through lowered eyelids she observes two partridges, a symbol of sexual desire, like in a very similar painting depicting the lady-in-waiting of Queen Bona - Diana di Cordona (Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid). The inscription in Latin on this painting "I am the Nymph of the Sacred Spring. Do not disturb my sleep. I am resting" (FONTIS NYMPHA SACRI SOM: / NVM NE RVMPE QVIESCO) can be taken as an indication that the person who commissioned the painting did not speak German. The landscape behind her is a view of Grodno although seen through the lenses of a German painter and mythological, magical aura. The topography match perfectly the main city of the Black Ruthenia (Ruthenia Nigra) in present-day Belarus, as depicted in an engraving Vera designatio Urbis in Littavia Grodnae with coat of arms of king Sigismund Augustus, created by Matthias Zündt after a drawing by Hans Adelhauser (made in 1568), reproduced in Georg Braun's Civitates orbis terrarium (published in 1575), and the panorama by Tomasz Makowski (created in about 1600). 

Bona was known for her passion for hunting, but one hunt in Niepołomice near Kraków for bison and bears in 1527 ended tragically for her. She fell from her horse, miscarried her son and was unable to have children later. Possibly in connection to this, in 1540, thanks to his renowned medical and gynecological practice, as well as an edition of his volume on childbirth dedicated to Bona and her daughter Isabella, Giorgio Biandrata (1515-1588) from Saluzzo near Torino was called to the court of Poland-Lithuania and appointed as personal physician to the queen.

The main feature of the city was a large wooden bridge (depicted as stone one in the painting) with a gate tower. The first permanent bridge across the Neman River in Grodno is mentioned in 1503. On the left we can see the brick Gothic Old Castle, built by Vytautas the Great between 1391-1398 on the site of previous Ruthenian settlement. On the right there is a Gothic St. Mary's Church, also known as Fara Vytautas, founded before 1389. In 1494, Alexander Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania, demolished the old wooden structure and erected a new church on its place and in 1551, by order of Queen Bona, the church was repaired. Grodno economy belonged to the queen. During her management, many reforms of the city's organization were carried out and new trade privileges were granted. In 1540, she confirmed the former privileges and allowed the mayor and jurors to have seals. In 1541, Sigismund, at her request, reduced the kopszczyzna (tax on wine sales) from 60 to 50 kop groszy. The queen's residence was built on Horodnica by her secretary Sebastian Dybowski and the oldest hospital in Grodno was founded by Bona in 1550. In Kobryn near Brest, there was a letter from Queen Bona written on December 20, 1552 from Grodno to the starost of Kobryn, Stanisław Chwalczewski, ordering him to designate a plot for building a house with a garden for the goldsmith Peter of Naples (Piotr Neapolitańczyk, Pietro Napolitano), distinguished at the court, where he could freely pursue his craft (after "Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego ...", Vol. 4, p. 205).

Another very similar painting of Diana the Huntress-Egeria, attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder or his son, today in the San Diego Museum of Art (oil on panel, 58 x 79 cm, 2018.1), comes from Polish collections. In 1925 it was in the collection of Rudolf Oppenheim in Berlin. According to Wanda Drecka this painting is probably identical to the "Reclining Nymph" by Cranach the Elder, exhibited in Warsaw in the Bruhl Palace in 1880 as the property of Jan Sulatycki. In both described paintings in Washington and in San Diego the face of the sitter resembles greatly the effigies of Queen Bona as Lucretia.

Paintings of Diana and her nymphs were present in many collections in Poland-Lithuania among the works of Venetian and German School of painting. 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 (number 1/357/0/-/7/12), lists some of the preserved paintings from the collection of Helena Tekla Ossolińska, daughter of Great Crown Chancellor Jerzy Ossoliński, and her husband Aleksander Michał Lubomirski, owner of the Wiśnicz Castle. The description is very general, however some of these paintings were from the 16th and 17th century Venetian and German School: "Great painting of Diana with greyhounds", "Herodias holding the head of St. John in Ebony Frames", possibly by Cranach, "Abram killing Isaac. Titian", "The Blessed Virgin with little Jesus on wood. Alberti Duri", that is Albrecht Dürer, "Tres virtutes cardinales. Paulo Venorase", that is Cardinal virtues by Paolo Veronese, "Copy of Susanna's painting", i.e. Susanna and the Elders, "Two Landscape paintings from Venice on one St. John taking water from a spring on the second a Shepherd with cattle", "Portrait of Her Majesty in the shape of Diana with greyhounds", i.e. portrait of Helena Tekla as Diana the Huntress and many portraits, like that of Venetian Duke Molini (most probably Francesco Molin, Doge of Venice, reigning from his election in 1646 until his death), Dukes of Florence, Modena, Mantua and Parma. In the collection of Stanisław Dziewulski before around 1938 there was Cranach's Diana (semi-sitting, with a landscape with deer in the background), sold to a private collection in Warsaw (after "Polskie Cranachiana" by Wanda Drecka, p. 29). 

​In the Dziewulski collection in Warsaw before the Second World War there was also a painting of Diana at rest, painted on panel and attributed to the Netherlandish painter. The National Museum in Warsaw keeps an old photo of this painting (DDWneg.1166 MNW, DDWneg.17585 MNW). It was a workshop copy of a version kept at the Senlis Museums (D.V.2006.0.30.1, Louvre MNR 17), considered to be a portrait of Diane de Poitiers (1500-1566), mistress and advisor to the King of France Henry II. Its provenance is not known, but a contemporary, almost exact copy indicates that it could be a gift for Queen Bona from France.

"The pagan and mysterious image of the nymph Egeria, a hidden being who directs but does not act, seems to be a symbol of a Christian woman" (after "Dzieje Moralne kobiet" by Ernest Legouvé, Jadwiga Trzcińska, p. 73) and perfect allusion to Queen Bona Sforza. 

Portrait of Queen Bona Sforza as Diana the Huntress-Egeria against the idealized view of Grodno by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1540, National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Portrait of Queen Bona Sforza as Diana the Huntress-Egeria by Lucas Cranach the Elder or Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1540, San Diego Museum of Art.

Portrait of Christoph Scheurl from the Polish Chronicle by Lucas Cranach the Elder

"Truly, with the exception of the one and only Albrecht Dürer, my compatriot, that incontestably great genius, it is to you alone, for this century, that is granted […] the first place in painting", praised Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1509 in a letter addressed to him the Nuremberg humanist, lawyer and diplomat Christoph Scheurl (1481-1542). In a print entitled Oratio doctoris Scheurli attingens litterarum prestantiam ..., published in Leipzig in 1509, the author dedicates the preface to the painter. In the same year, Cranach produced a beautiful portrait of Scheurl, dated under the artist’s insignia "1509", today preserved in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (inv. Gm2332), representing him at the age of 28 (CHRISTOFERVS • SCHEVRLVS • I • V • D / NATVS • ANNOS • Z8). 

Scheurl was born in Nuremberg, the eldest son of Christoph Scheurl, originally from Wrocław in Silesia, and his wife, Helena Tucher. From 1498 he studied in Bologna, where he probably met Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). In 1510, the year after his portrait was painted, Christoph visited his uncle Johann Scheurl (d. 1516), a graduate of the University of Bologna, in Wrocław (after "Prawnicy w otoczeniu Mikołaja Kopernika" by Teresa Borawska, p. 302). Scheurl maintained close ties with Wrocław, his father's city, and often visited Silesia. A keen historian, he corresponded with Justus Ludwik Decjusz (ca. 1485-1545) in Kraków and asked him for information on the history of Poland and Ruthenia. He greatly appreciated Maciej Miechowita (1457-1523), whose book Chronica Polonorum ("Polish Chronicle") he had in his library (after "Na marginesie „Polskich Cranachianów”" by Anna Lewicka-Kamińska, p. 148-149). This book, written in collaboration with Andrzej Krzycki (1482-1537), secretary to Queen Bona Sforza, and published by Jost Ludwik Decjusz in 1521 in Kraków, is now in the Jagiellonian Library (BJ St. Dr. Cim. 8516).

The title page of Chronica Polonorum, belonging to Scheurl, is hand-coloured and preceded by a bookplate, a hand-coloured woodcut depicting the owner and his two sons kneeling before the crucified Christ. The coat of arms and the inscription below the bookplate (Liber Christ.[ophori] Scheurli. I.V.D. qui natus est. 11 Nouemb. 1481, / Filij uero Georg. 19. April. 1532. & Christ. 3. August. 1535.) confirm the identity of the model. The bookplate is unsigned, however, according to Anna Lewicka-Kamińska, "it is undoubtedly the work of Cranach the Elder" and was probably made around 1540, and certainly before 1542. In 1511, at Scheurl's request, Cranach made a woodcut bookplate (also unsigned) for his parents. Scheurl's uncolored bookplate, attributed to Lucas Cranach the Younger and his workshop, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 21.35.14).

Although indirectly and implicitly, this bookplate can be considered as one of the evidences of the contacts of the Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian clients with Cranach and his workshop, of which very few traces remain in the territories of the former Jagiellonian Monarchies. It is interesting to note that the painted frieze of the Tournament Hall of Wawel Castle, probably begun by Hans Dürer, Albrecht's brother, around 1534 and completed after 1535 by a Wrocław painter Anton Wiedt, is largely inspired by four woodcuts depicting knightly tournaments by Lucas Cranach the Elder from 1506 and 1509 (compare "Rola grafiki w powstaniu renesansowych fryzów ..." by Beata Frey-Stecowa, p. 35). 

​Hand-colored woodcut with portrait of Christoph Scheurl (1481-1542) and his two sons kneeling before the crucified Christ from the Polish Chronicle by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1540, Jagiellonian Library. 

Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus by Lucas Cranach the Younger and portrait of Rheticus by Hans Maler

​Probably in May 1539 Georg Joachim Iserin de Porris (1514-1574), known as Rheticus reached Frombork, where the young professor from Wittenberg was warmly welcomed by the 66-year-old scholar Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). Rheticus stayed there for two years and he was to become Copernicus' only student. At the farewell, as Rheticus recalled in his preface dedicated to Emperor Ferdinand I, Copernicus ordered him to finish "what he himself, due to his age and the inevitability of the end, could no longer complete". Rheticus convinced the astronomer to publish his work. In 1540, Franz Rhode in Gdańsk published Narratio Prima ("First Account") in the form of an open letter to Johannes Schöner, constituting the first printed edition of Copernicus' theory. The interest in the work - which soon had to be renewed - encouraged Copernicus to publish his main work. In October 1541, Rheticus returned to Wittenberg, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts for seven months. He wanted to print Copernicus's main work in Wittenberg. However, this was not possible primarily because of Melanchthon's resistance. Copernican theory was met with incomprehension, rejection, and sometimes even sharp ridicule from the Wittenberg reformers.

Rheticus did not share this view. In 1542, while still in Wittenberg, he published, with Copernicus's consent, a small fragment of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, the so-called Trigonometry. Perhaps he hoped that in this way he would gain Melanchthon's favor in terms of printing the work. However, in vain. Rheticus commissioned the printing of the work in Nuremberg from Johann Petreius, the best Nuremberg printer. In 1542 Rheticus left Wittenberg and accepted a position at the University of Leipzig. 

Accordind to Franz Hipler (1836-1898), Rheticus took the image of Copernicus with him on his return to Wittenberg in order to add a portrait of the author to the main Copernican work when it was printed (after "Die Porträts des Nikolaus Kopernikus", p. 88-89). This original image of the astronomer was most likely re-used almost half a century later in Icones sive Imagines Virorum Literis Illustrium ... by Nikolaus Reusner, published in Strasbourg in 1587 (p. 128). What's interesting the portait of Sarmatian astronomer was published before the portrait of Martin Luther (p. 131), who called Copernicus a "fool" in his "The Table Talk" (Tischreden Oder Colloqvia Doct. Mart. Luthers, published in 1566 in Eisleben by Urban Gaubisch, p. 580, Bavarian State Library, Res/2 Th.u. 63). The effigy of Luther was undobtedly based on a work by Cranach. The woodcuts by Cranach the Younger, his workshop or circle, were also based on painted effigies or created simultaneously, as evidenced by the great similarity of several of them, for example the woodcut with the portrait of Luther by Cranach the Younger's entourage from around 1546 in the National Gallery of Art in Washington (inv. 1943.3.2874), resembles the painted portrait of the reformer in the National Museum in Wrocław from around 1540 (inv. MNWr VIII-2987).

A woodcut with portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus holding a lily of the valley in the Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg (paper, 14.7 x 11.5 cm, inv. I,50,25) is considered to be the work of Lucas Cranach the Younger or his circle because of the absence of a famous mark (winged serpent). However, the style of this woodcut and the mastery of its execution indicate that despite the absence of a mark, it could be the work of Cranach himself. There is also a coloured copy in a private collection in Italy and probably before 1600 it was also reused in an engraving commissioned by Sabinus Kauffmann made in Wittenberg (Witebergae, apud Sabinum Kauffmanum, National Museum in Kraków, inv. MNK III-ryc.-56303). This engraving, together with the portrait of Copernicus, which was in the Warsaw Observatory before World War II (oil on panel, 51 x 41 cm), indicate that one or more portraits of the astronomer were made by Cranach and his workshop around 1541.

The painting from the Warsaw Observatory was destroyed in 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising, when the German army bombed and burned the building. It bore an inscription in Latin confirming the identity of the model (D. NICOLAVS COPERNICVS DOCTOR ET CANONICVS / WARMIENSIS ASTRONOMVS ...) and the following inscription on the left near the astronomer's lips: NON PAREM PAVLO VENAM REQVIRO / GRATIM PETRI NEQ POSCO SED QVAM / IN CRUCIS LIGNO DEDERAS LATRONI / SEDVLVS ORO ("I do not ask for a grace equal to the grace of St. Paul, nor for the forgiveness that St. Peter received, but for such as you granted to the thief on the tree of the cross, I constantly beg"). The author of the text on the portrait of the astronomer was Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405-1464) - Bishop of Warmia between 1457-1458, humanist, cardinal and Pope Pius II from 1458, who dedicated these words in 1444 to Emperor Frederick III. The same inscription is also found on the epitaph of Copernicus created before 1589, located in the Cathedral Basilica of St. John in Toruń. The Warsaw portrait was considered the 17th century copy of a lost original and in the upper right corner was the coat of arms, most likely that of a previous owner of the painting. The coat of arms resembles that of the von der Decken family from Lower Saxony and various other families (Zerssen, Twickel and Zieten families). The work was donated to the Observatory in 1854 by Franciszek Ksawery Pusłowski (1806-1874) and the note on the back added that the painting came from the collection of the Królikarnia Royal Palace in Warsaw and in addition to that, at the bottom there was a small seal on red wax with the Janina coat of arms (after "Wizerunki Kopernika" by Zygmunt Batowski, p. 51), so it is possible that the painting belonged to the Sobieski family. The portrait was reproduced in a woodcut published in "Kłosy" in 1876 (No. 593, p. 301, National Library of Poland, b2150801x) and the original in a 17th century engraving in the National Museum in Kraków (MNK III-ryc.-54707).

This effigy depicts the astronomer as being relatively young, so the original was probably made at the beginning of the 16th century. The lily of the valley he holds in his hands is considered a symbol of the medical guild, but it is also used as a symbol of love, motherhood and purity, mainly in connection with the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Renaissance painting. The lily of the valley was not unusual as an attribute in portraits during Copernicus' lifetime, as evidenced by a painting from the first half of the 16th century, which has been in the possession of the Paris Observatory (Musée de l'Observatoire) since 1824 as a presumed portrait of Copernicus. It was deposited there by P. F. de Percy, a surgeon in the Napoleonic armies, who had brought it back from one of his campaigns. Its Polish provenance could therefore not be ruled out. The man, probably a nobleman, judging by his attire, is holding a lily of the valley. His pose and the direction of his gaze indicate that this could be a counterpart painting for a woman's portrait. The author of this alleged portrait of Copernicus is considered to be a painter from the circle of Joos van Cleve or Christoph Amberger. In the woodcut by Cranach the Younger and the portrait from the Warsaw Observatory, Copenisus looks at the viewer or towards the sky. 

The portrait of Copernicus that was in the Gołuchów Castle before the Second World War was also close to Cranach's style (oil on panel, 43 x 31.5 cm, inv. KFMP 1000, inscription: R · D · NICOLAO COPERNICO). This painting was attributed to Crispin Herrant, court painter to Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568), who maintained lively artistic contacts with the Bishop of Chełmno in Lubawa, Jan Dantyszek (1485-1548) and was painted by Cranach. Herrant was considered to have been a student of Albrecht Dürer, but strong influences of Cranach's style are also visible in his works (after "Kulturgeschichte Ostpreussens in der Frühen Neuzeit" by Klaus Garber, ‎Manfred Komorowski, ‎Axel E. Walter, p. 436). He also worked in Lidzbark, where he painted two portraits of Mauritius Ferber (1471-1537), Bishop of Warmia, as well as for the Polish magnates Stanisław Kostka and Stanisław Tęczyński (after "Malarstwo Warmii i Mazur od XV do XIX wieku" by Kamila Wróblewska).
 
It is to Rheticus that we owe the Copernican revolution and probably also the most beautiful effigy of the astronomer by Cranach the Younger. Without his involvement, the paradigm shift from a geocentric to a heliocentric view of the world would probably have been long in coming, and Nicolaus Copernicus's main work might never have been published (after "Z Wittenbergi do Fromborka i z powrotem: Retyk i Kopernik" by Reiner Haseloff, p. 8-10). It should be noted, however, that his colleagues in Wittenberg described his personality as abnormal and enthusiastic, with homosexual tendencies. They perceived Rheticus as a man who was carried away by the fame and knowledge of older men, and fantasized about them. This led them to believe that the sole purpose of Rheticus's request for leave from Melanchthon in Wittenberg was to get closer to Copernicus (compare "The Melanchthon Circle, Rheticus, and the Wittenberg Interpretation of the Copernican Theory" by Robert S. Westman, p. 165-193). 

There is no known portrait of Rheticus. Before going to Frombork, the young scholar travelled to Nuremberg in October 1538, then to Ingolstadt, Tübingen and his hometown of Feldkirch in Austria, near Liechtenstein. In the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna there is a "Portrait of a Young Man", attributed to Hans Maler, a painter born in Ulm and active as a portrait painter in the village of Schwaz, near Innsbruck, where he painted numerous portraits of members of the Habsburg court. This painting was probably acquired by Johann II (1840-1929), Prince of Liechtenstein (oil on panel, 35.1 x 25.3 cm, inv. GE 711). The alleged author of the painting, Hans Maler, is believed to have died around 1529, however this painting is clearly in his style and bears the date 1538. According to the Latin inscription in the upper part of the painting, the man was 24 years old in 1538 (᛫ ÆTATIS SVÆ XXIII IOR ᛫ / ᛫ 1 5 3 8 ᛫), exactly like Rheticus, when he went to Austria and then to Frombork.

​Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) by Crispin Herrant, ca. 1533, Gołuchów Castle, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of Georg Joachim de Porris (1514-1574), known as Rheticus, aged 24 by Hans Maler, 1538, Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.

​Woodcut with portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) holding a lily of the valley by Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1541, Veste Coburg. 

​Woodcut with portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) holding a lily of the valley by Lucas Cranach the Younger, after 1541, Private collection. 

​Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) holding a lily of the valley, first half of the 17th century, Warsaw Observatory, destroyed in 1944. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

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Portraits of Sophia Jagiellon in Spanish costume

​Daughters of Bona Sforza d'Aragona, Queen of Poland, Grand Duchess of Lithuania and Duchess of Bari and Rossano by her own right were descendants of Alfonso V, King of Aragon, Sicily and Naples.

Contacts with Spain intensified after 1550. In 1550 and 1553, Gian Lorenzo Pappacoda (1541-1576), a courtier of Queen Bona, was sent to the emperor with unknown instructions given to him by the queen. In March 1554, he also went to London and Brussels. Pappacoda's task was to convince the emperor and king of Spain to intervene on Bona's behalf at the court of Sigismund Augustus in order to facilitate her leaving Poland, and to obtain for her the position of viceroy of Naples, vacant since 1553 after the death of Pedro Álvarez de Toledo y Zúñiga (after "Odrodzenie i reformacja w Polsce", Volume 44, p. 201).

In a letter dated May 11, 1550 from Valladolid, Juan Alonso de Gámiz, secretary of Charles V, informed King Ferdinand I of the arrival of the "secretary of the King of Poland with letters and gifts" (secretario del rey de Polonia con letras y presentes para sus altezas), including six horses with velvet tacks richly embroidered with royal emblems (seys cavallos portantes concubiertas de terciopelo morado y la devisa del rey bordada), as well as sable, ermine and wolf pelts for the king and queen (after "Urkunden und Regesten ..." by Hans von Voltelini, p. L-LI).

The letter dated December 31, 1560 from Vilnius (Datum Vilnae, ultima Decembris 1560) to Henry of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, husband of Sophia Jagiellon, is probably the earliest confirmed use of the Spanish title of infanta by Sophia's younger sisters, Anna and Catherine (Infantes Poloniae), who in an earlier letter to Henry dated October 18, 1559 from Przemyśl (Datum Premisliae, die XVIII. Octobris 1559) referred to themselves as Crown Princesses (Reginulae Poloniae). The document issued by King Henry of Valois on May 5, 1574 in Kraków refers to Sophia as "the Most Illustrious Princess Sophia, Infanta of the Kingdom of Poland, born of this same stock of Jagiellons" (Illustrissima Principe Domina Sophia Infante Regni Poloniae ex hac eadem Jagiellonum stirpe nata, after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku: Korrespondencya polska ..." by Alexander Przezdziecki, Volume 3, p. 309-310, 334). In an undated letter in Italian, probably from around 1556 (or before 1565), Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) also calls Sophia "Infanta of Poland" (Principessa Sofia Infante di Polonia, Dochessa di Brunschwig). 

In 1551, Queen Bona proposed that the Gdańsk merchant Hans von Werden be used to suggest Gustav Vasa (1496-1560), the recently widowed King of Sweden, to marry one of her daughters. Bona reproached his son Sigismund Augustus for his indifference to the fate of his sisters, and he reciprocated. The Queen Mother did not want to marry one of her daughters to the Bavarian prince who was asking for the hand of one of the princesses, while the king indifferently accepted the efforts of an Italian prince and "a lord of a noble Roman family" (pan rzymskiej zacnej familiej), probably Marcantonio II Colonna (1535-1584), commander of the Spanish cavalry. In a letter dated January 21, 1554, the Austrian envoy, Bishop of Zagreb Pavao Gregorijanec (Paulus de Gregoryancz), reports that Queen Bona received very well Archduke Ferdinand (1529-1595), son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), who accompanied his sister Catherine of Austria to Kraków, expecting that he was coming to ask for the hand of one of her daughters (after "Ostatnie lata Zygmunta Augusta i Anna Jagiellonka" by Józef Szujski, p. 299). 

The portrait of a blond lady in Spanish costume from the 1550s which exists in a number of copies, although idealized, bears a strong resemblance to the portrait of Sophia in French/German costume in Kassel by circle of Titian (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, inv. GK 496) and her miniature in German/Polish dress by Cranach (Czartoryski Museum, XII-544).

At least two paintings are preserved in Poland (one in Kraków and the other in Warsaw) and another, identified as Sophia, is at Wolfenbüttel Castle (deposit of the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover, inv. KM 105, also similar to the very idealized portrait of Barbara Radziwill at the Musée Condé, known as "Anne Boleyn", inv. PE 564). With reference to the 1828 catalogue of the Czartoryski collection in Puławy, the Kraków painting was purchased (between 1789 and 1791) by Princess Izabela Czartoryska in Edinburgh as a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots ("bought in Edinburgh", compare "Poczet pamiątek zachowanych w Domu Gotyckim w Puławach", item 456, p. 43), hence the inscription in French: MARIE STUART / REYNE D'ESCOSSE, added in about 1800 (Czartoryski Museum, oil on panel, 22 x 17 cm, MNK XII-296). Nevertheless, many similar inscriptions on the portraits from the Puławy collection are no longer considered credible today. They were clearly based on a general impression or general resemblance as in the case of the Portrait of a Man Holding Arrows, most likely Konrad von Lindnach (d. 1513), Landvogt in Aargau, previously identified as the effigy of William Tell, a folk hero of Switzerland, hence the inscription in French: GUILLAUME TELL (inv. V. 207) or the Portrait of a Man by a German painter (inv. XII-235), previously identified as Thomas More (1478-1535) and attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger, bearing the inscription: THOMAS MORUS / HOLBEIN.

Similar costume and hairstyle are found in several portraits of members of the ruling house of Spain and Portugal made between 1550 and 1555, such as the portrait of the Infanta Maria of Austria (1528-1603), Regent of Spain by Antonis Mor, painted in 1551 (Prado Museum in Madrid, inv. P002110, signed and dated: Antonius Mor pinx. / Año 1551), the portrait of her sister the Infanta Joanna of Austria (1535-1573), Princess of Portugal, aged 17, thus painted around 1552 by Cristovão de Morais (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. 1296, inscription: .AETATIS.SVE / .17.), the portrait of their close relative Catherine of Austria (1507-1578), Queen of Portugal by Antonis Mor from around 1552-1553 (Prado, inv. P002109) and portrait of Maria of Portugal (1521-1577), Duchess of Viseu, also by Mor, painted around 1550-1555 (Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid).

Knowing the history of Franco-Spanish rivalries in the 16th century, it is very unlikely that Mary Stuart, who was Queen of France between 1559-1560 and lived in France from 1548, wanted to show her attachment to Spain through her costume. Moreover, it is difficult to indicate any resemblance of the model to well-known effigies of the Queen of Scots, such as the miniature attributed to François Clouet (Royal Collection, RCIN 401229). The identification with Anna van Egmont (1533-1558), wife of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, is also difficult to maintain (compare with her beautiful portrait attributed to Anthonis Mor and studio, Dorotheum in Vienna, October 25, 2023, lot 25).

The 1696 inventory of the Wilanów Palace mentions under No. 296: "Painting on panel, Portrait of Reginae Scottorum, in black frames", which most probably depicted Mary Stuart. This painting, owned by King John III Sobieski, most likely came from older royal collections, which survived the destruction during the Deluge. As the Polish-Lithuanian monarchs owned portraits of the Queen of Scots, the monarchs or artitocrats of Scotland could receive or acquire a portrait of the Jagiellonian Princess-Infanta. Another possible hypothesis is that the painting was not acquired in Edinburgh, but in Poland, and that by claiming to have an authentic portrait of the famous Queen of Scots, the Czartoryskis wanted to raise the status of their collection.

An almost exact copy of the Kraków painting, attributed to circle of Jean Clouet, was sold in Zurich in 2011 (oil on panel, 23.3 x 18.2 cm, Koller Auctions, April 1, 2011, lot 3012). The Warsaw version is slightly different and was purchased in 1972 from the Radziwill collection (National Museum in Warsaw, oil on panel, 24.5 x 19 cm, M.Ob.654).

After marriage of Isabella Jagiellon in 1539, Sophia was the eldest daughter of Bona still unmarried. Three of Bona's younger daughters dressed identically, as evidenced by their miniatures by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger from about 1553 and inventory of dowry of the youngest Catherine includes many Spanish garments, like a black velvet coat with "53 Spanish buckles of 270 thalers worth", "buckles on (thirteen) French and Spanish robes", or "a robe of black velvet at the throat in Spanish style" with 198 buckles, etc. The fashion was udobtedly used in complex Jagiellonian politics.

A portrait from the private collection in Sweden (oil on panel, 26 x 19 cm, Metropol Auktioner in Stockholm, January 26, 2015, nr 938 5124), possibly taken from Poland-Lithuania during the Deluge (1655-1660), and created by the same workshop, showns Sophia in similar Spanish/French costume. ​

In the National Art Gallery in Lviv there is a portrait painted in the same style, apparently by the same painter (inv. Ж-277). It resembles the one traditionally identified as Mary Stuart (photogravure, after Henry Bone, published in 1902, National Portrait Gallery, NPG D41905). The painting comes from the Lubomirski collection and according to the inscription on the back it has been identified as possibly depicting the Queen of Scots: "Lubomirski Collection, probably portrait of Mary Stuart" (ZBIÓR LUBO/MIRSKICH / podobno: Portret Maryi Stuart).

Many similar paintings are now attributed to the circle of French painter François Clouet (d. 1572) and are probably part of collections of idealized portraits of ladies of quality, so popular at that time and in the 17th century in Europe (also as a model for fashionable costumes). Since many of them are based on originals by Anthonis Mor, as in the case of the portraits of Anna van Egmont (paintings in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam and the Ducal Palace in Mantua), the authorship of a Flemish workshop is also possible.

Portrait of Princess-Infanta Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in Spanish costume by circle of François Clouet or Flemish painter, ca. 1550-1556, Czartoryski Museum in Kraków.

Portrait of Princess-Infanta Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in Spanish costume by circle of François Clouet or Flemish painter, ca. 1550-1556, Private collection.

Portrait of Princess-Infanta Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in Spanish costume by circle of François Clouet or Flemish painter, ca. 1550-1556, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of Princess-Infanta Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in Spanish/French costume by circle of François Clouet or Flemish painter, ca. 1550-1556, Private collection. 

Portraits of Sigismund Augustus and Catherine of Austria as Adam and Eve from the Paradise Bliss tapestry 

"Adam and Eve, the parents of calamity, stood both painted according to true image and the word all over the tapestries woven with gold. And since those portraits of the first parents, in addition to the other things to be seen, were of admirable material and workmanship, I will show them like Cebetis, so that from thence the work itself of an excellent artist, as well as the genius of the best king, may be perceived [...]. In the first tapestry, at the head of the nuptial bed, we saw the bliss in the faces of our parents; in which, when they were happy, they were not ashamed to be naked. Moreover, the nakedness of both of them so moved the spirits, especially that of Eve's husband, that lascivious girls would smile at Adam as they entered. For when the man's womb was opened, the sex of a woman is fulfilled" (calamitatis parentes Adam et Eva ad effigiem veritatis stabant textu picti ambo per omnes Cortinas, auro praetextati. Et quoniam illae primorum parentum effigies praeter caeteras res visendas, admirabili fuerunt materia et opere, eas ad Cebetis instar demonstrabo, ut inde cum opus ipsum praeclari artificis, tum vero ingenium optimi regis pernoscatis [...]. In prima Cortina, ad caput genialis lecti, parentum nostrorum contextu expressa felicitatis cernebatur effigies; in qua felices illi cum essent, non erubescebant nudi. Porro utriusque nuditas ita commovebat animos, ut viri Evae, Adamo vero lascivae introingressae arriderent puellae. Aperta enim pube ille viri, haec foeminae sexum sinu ostendebant pleno), thus praises the veracity of effigies of the figures of Adam and Eve in the tapestry commissioned by king Sigismund II Augustus, Stanisław Orzechowski (1513-1566) in his "Nuptial Panegyric of Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland" (Panagyricus Nuptiarum Sigimundi Augusti Poloniae Regis), published in Kraków in 1553.

Orzechowski (Stanislao Orichovio Roxolano or Stanislaus Orichovius Ruthenus), a Ruthenian Catholic priest, born in or near Przemyśl, educated in Kraków, Vienna, Wittenberg, Padua, Bologna, Rome and Venice and married to a noblewoman Magdalena Chełmska, described the festivities and decorations of the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków during king's wedding celebrated on July 30, 1553. The bride was a sister of Sigismund Augustus first wife and widow of the Duke of Mantua, Catherine of Austria, daughter of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547). Wedding chambers were adorned with tapestries from the series of the Story of Adam and Eve, created in Brussels by workshop of Jan de Kempeneer after cartoons by Michiel I Coxcie, most probably on this occasion, including the described Paradise Bliss. The author emphasizes that they were depicted naked, while both Eve and Adam's womb on this tapestry are today covered with vine branches. "A closer look at the technique of the fabric in these places reveals that the vine covering Eve's womb, and the other vine covering Adam's womb, are woven or embroidered separately and applied to the fabric itself", states Mieczysław Gębarowicz and Tadeusz Mańkowski in their publication from 1937 ("Arasy Zygmunta Agusta", p. 23). Vine branches were probably added in 1670 when the tapestry was transported to Jasna Góra Monastery for the wedding of king Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki. Another intriguing aspect is the veracity of the images so underlined by Orzechowski. It is about the true image of the legendary first parents, a woman and a man or, most likely, the bride and groom?

Adam's facial features are very reminiscent of images of king Sigismund Augustus, especially the portrait by Jan van Calcar against the Mausoleum of Empeor Augustus in Rome (private collection), while the face of Eve is very similar to that of Queen Catherine of Austria, depicted as Venus with the lute player by Titian (Metropolitan Museum of Art). These two effigies can be compared to the naked effigies of French monarchs from their tombs in the Basilica of Saint-Denis - tomb of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany (1515-1531), tomb of Francis I and Claude of France (1548-1570), and especially the tomb of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici (1560-1573), all inspired by Italian art. 

Portrait of King Sigismund Augustus (1520-1572) as Adam from the Paradise Bliss tapestry by workshop of Jan de Kempeneer after design by Michiel I Coxcie, ca. 1553, Wawel Royal Castle.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Eve from the Paradise Bliss tapestry by workshop of Jan de Kempeneer after design by Michiel I Coxcie, ca. 1553, Wawel Royal Castle.

Tapestry with Paradise Bliss by workshop of Jan de Kempeneer after design by Michiel I Coxcie, ca. 1553, Wawel Royal Castle.

Portraits of Sophia Jagiellon and Catherine of Austria by Titian and workshop 

"My heart moves me to tell of forms changed into new bodies" (In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas corpora), states Ovid in the opening lines of his "Metamorphoses" (Transformations). If gods could turn into humans, why humans (and especially royals) could not turn into gods? At least in paintings. 

When in June 1553 Sigismund II Augustus married his distant cousin Catherine of Austria, widowed duchess of Mantua, his three younger sisters Sophia, Anna and Catherine were not married. At the same time Catherine's cousin, Philip of Spain (1527-1598), Duke of Milan from 1540, son of Emperor Charles V, was unmarried after death of his first wife Maria Manuela (1527-1545), Princess of Portugal. Philip undeniably received a portrait of his distant relative Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), the eldest of Bona Sforza's daughters, unmarried at that time. 

At the end of 1553 Philip's wedding to his second aunt, the Queen of England, Mary I (1516-1558), was announced. It turned out, however, that Philip was only a duke and there could be no marriage between the queen and someone of lower rank. Charles V solved the inconvenience by renouncing the Kingdom of Naples in favor of his son, so that he would be king. On July 25, 1554 Philip married the Queen of England.

Painting of Salome with the head of John the Baptist by Titian in the Prado Museum in Madrid is dated to about 1550 (oil on canvas, 87 x 80 cm, inv. P000428). Many authors underline an erotic dimension of the scene. The work was inventoried as part of the royal collection in the Alcazar of Madrid between 1666 and 1734, possibly acquired from the collection of the 1st Marquess of Leganés, between 1652-1655, who probaly bought it at the auction of collection Charles I of England. According to other sources "Salome, by Titian, painted around 1550, appears in an early inventory of the Lerma collection. In 1623 Philip IV gave it to the Prince of Wales, later Charles of England" (after "Enciclopedia del Museo del Prado", Volume 3, p. 805). 

Titian's workshop created several replicas of this painting transforming Salome into a girl holding a tray of fruit, most probably representing Pomona, a goddess of fruitful abundance and the wife of the god Vertumnus (Voltumnus), the supreme god of the Etruscan pantheon. According to Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (XIV), Vertumnus, after several unsuccessful advances, tricked Pomona into talking to him by disguising himself as an old woman and gaining entry to her orchard. The best version of this painting, acquired in 1832 from the Abate Luigi Celotti collection in Florence, is today in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (oil on canvas, 106.2 x 84.8 cm, inv. 166).

In both paintings the girl is wearing a rich jewelled tiara, so she is definitely a princess and the main fruit on her tray is a quince (or Cydonian apple), similar to that visible in watercolour paintings by Joris Hoefnagel from about 1595, one with Venus disarming Amor (National Gallery of Denmark), or less probably a lemon, a symbol of fidelity in love associated with Virgin Mary. A yellow lemon- or pear-shaped fruit, evocative of the female body, was sacred to Venus, herself often represented holding it in her right hand, as being the emblem of love, happiness, and faithfulness.

"Both the Greeks and Romans used quince boughs and fruit to decorate the nuptial bedchamber. The fruit became an integral part of marriage ceremonies with the bride and groom partaking of honeyed quince. Eating the fruit was symbolic of consummating the marriage" (after Sandra Kynes' "Tree Magic: Connecting with the Spirit & Wisdom of Trees").

According to Columella (4 - ca. 70 AD), a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire, "Quinces not only yield pleasure, but health". "Romans would serve quince to their loved ones to encourage fidelity and those newly married would share a quince to ensure a happy marriage" (after Rachel Patterson's "A Kitchen Witch's World of Magical Food").

Around that time Titian's workshop created another version of this composition, which was before 1916 in the Volpi collection in Florence (oil on canvas, 104 x 81 cm, Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 39297, Archivio fotografico Davanzati 1039), hence both Pomonas were possibly initially in the Medici collection. The woman's face and pose is identical as in the Raczyński Herodias, which is the effigy of Queen Catherine of Austria. 

The face of the princess in the Prado painting bears great resemblance to effigies of Princess Sophia Jagiellon by Cranach and in Spanish costume by Flemish painter. ​Some of the copies of this Salome and Pomona were created by Titian's workshop, such as the Knebworth House copy, sold in 2003, the paintng sold in 2006 in Zurich (oil on canvas, 111 x 90.4 cm, Koller Auctions, A138, September 22, 2006, lot 3048) or a reduced version, sold in 2020 (oil on canvas, 46.5 x 36 cm, Bonhams London, October 21, 2020, lot 3), which also indicate that she was an important person. Princess Sophia's Habsburg relatives also owned a copy, which is considered lost, as the "Young Woman with a Bowl of Fruit" was listed in the imperial collections before the Swedish occupation.

In another variant of Salome/Pomona by Titian's studio, the princess "metamorphoses" into another femme fatale - Pandora, now holding a rich jewelled box on her tray, like in later paintings by James Smetham (ca. 1865), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1871), John William Waterhouse (1896) or Odilon Redon (1910/1912). Pandora was to be created by Hephaestus (Vulcan) on the order of Zeus (Jupiter), as the first human woman, to whom each of the gods gave some special gifts - Athena (Minerva) gave her intelligence, talent and manners and Aphrodite (Venus), beauty of a goddess, and she was also given a box containing all the evils that could afflict humanity, with a warning never to open it. In modern times, Pandora and her vessel have become, among other things, a symbol of the seductive power of women. 

This painting, from the French royal collection, mentioned among the paintings of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (1674-1723), who was regent of the kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723, is today in a private collection in Milan (oil on canvas, 116.5 x 94.5 cm, Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 42005). In the 19th and 20th centuries, many paintings returned to their place of origin, although this does not at all mean that the model was Italian (however, it is worth mentioning that through her mother, Princess Sophia was Italian). 

​The fingers of her right hand, originally supporting larger tray in initial version (Salome) in this painting of Pandora, are eerily raised so that the girl is holding a heavy silver tray and a much heavier casket just by part of her hand. This is another proof that the painting was not taken from life, but based on study drawings sent from Poland-Lithuania, and it cannot be Titian's daughter posing for it, otherwise she would hurt herself holding these heavy objects like that.

A version of a painting entitled "A Useless Moral Lesson" (allegorical subject of the loss of virginity and dangers of love) by Godfried Schalcken from 1690 (Mauritshuis) was sold in the United Kingdom in December 2020 as Pandora. Some copies of the painting by Titian's studio were sold as "Pandora's Box" (Manner of Guido Reni, 2014 and British School, 19th century, 2010) and Helena Tekla Lubomirska née Ossolińska (d. 1687), daughter of Chancellor Jerzy Ossoliński (1595-1650) was depicted in guise of Pandora, holding a bronze vase bearing the Lubomirski coat of arms - Szreniawa and inscription in Italian SPENTO E IE [IL] LUME / NON L'ADORE (the light is out, not the ardor), which is a paraphrase of a line from the poem Adone ("Adonis", 1623) by Giambattista Marino (attributed to Claude Callot and circle, National Museum and Wilanów Palace in Warsaw). 

Helena Tekla particularly liked different disguises in her effigies. In her portrait by Mignard, thus ordered and created in France, she is depicted as Flora, Roman goddess of flowers and spring (inscribed on verso: Capitane Lubomirski / par Nic. Mignard., National Museum in Warsaw, M.Ob.1253 MNW) and inventory of Wiśnicz Castle from 1661 lists "a portrait of Her Highness, in the guise of Saint Helena" and "a full-length portrait of Her Highness, in the guise of Diana with greyhounds". 

Wanda Drecka interprets this representation of the widowed Princess Lubomirska "as the guardian of all virtues or Pandora who gives everything" (after "Dwa portrety księżnej na Wiśniczu", p. 386). It was not just a 17th century invention and such representations were known much earlier (Pandora from the French royal collection was considered to be the portrait of Titian's daughter Lavinia), also in Poland-Lithuania where Italian influences were so strong in the 16th century. Unfortunately, in Poland-Lithuania, the losses of cultural heritage during the Deluge (1655-1660) and the subsequent invasions were so great that everything was forgotten.

Portrait of Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Salome by Titian, 1550-1553, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Pomona by workshop of Titian, 1550-1553, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Pomona by workshop of Titian, 1550-1553, Private collection.

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Pandora by workshop of Titian, 1550-1553, Private collection.

Portrait of Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) by follower of Titian, after 1553, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Pomona by workshop of Titian, 1553-1565, Private collection. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Allegorical portraits of Queen Catherine of Austria by workshop of Titian

Another version of the Pomona in Berlin by workshop of Titian was before 1970 in private collection in Vienna, Austria (oil on canvas, 102 x 82.5 cm, Sotheby's London, April 10, 2013, lot 94; Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 39299), however, her facial features are slightly different, the face is more elongated and the lower lip is more protruding, as in most of the portraits of Catherine of Austria's relatives in Vienna. Her features are very similar to Saint Catherine of Alexandria in the Prado (inv. P000447) and in the Raczyński Herodias. The same face and pose was copied in a painting of a nymph and a satyr which was before 1889 in James E. Scripps collection in Detroit (oil on canvas, 99 x 80.6 cm, Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 45033), attributed to follower of Titian, possibly by his student Girolamo Dente. The nymph playfully tugs at the ear of the satyr, who probably has the features of a court dwarf. Satyrs were nature deities and part of Bacchus's retinue. They were considered symbols of natural fertility or virility and were frequently portrayed chasing nymphs, symbolizing chastity.

A good copy, or rather a version of the composition attributed to Dente, since some elements of the composition have been modified, was in Riga, the capital of Latvia, which between 1582-1629 was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and later became part of the Swedish Empire. This painting was considered to represent Vertumnus and Pomona and was attributed to a 17th-century Venetian painter, but it was also considered a work by Titian in the collection of photographs of the Italian art historian Federico Zeri (1921-1998), where it was noted as belonging to the "Coll. Bul[b]ets / (Latvijas Banka)" around 1936, so before World War II (cf. Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 58454). In this version, the woman has a thicker face, so it is possible that she commissioned another, more favorable painting (i.e. version from the Scripps collection).
​
Similar paintings were in royal and magnate collections in Poland-Lithuania. Inventory of the Kunstkammer of the Radziwill Castle in Lubcha from 1647 lists a painting of a "Naked lady with a satyr" offered by king John II Casimir Vasa and in 1633 a painting of "Diana with her maidens, the fauns laugh at" presented by his predecessor Ladislaus IV (after "Galerie obrazów i "Gabinety Sztuki" Radziwiłłów w XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska, p. 96).

Inventory of paintings from the collection of princess Louise Charlotte Radziwill (1667-1695), drawn up in 1671, lists many nude and erotic paintings, some of which may be works by Titian: A half-naked lady in sables (297, possibly a copy of a Girl in a fur by Titian in Vienna), Naked woman sleeps and two men watch (351), A naked woman sleeps and a lute and a flask with a drink is beside her and a man watches (370), A filthy image, Cupids and many naked people (371), Bacchanalia (372), Adonis wrestle with Venus (374, possibly a copy of Venus and Adonis by Titian in Madrid), A lady in flowers (375) and A lady with flowers (419, possibly a copy of Flora by Titian in Florence), Two naked women, one combs herself (420), A woman lying holding a glass, a man in front of her and Cupid embracing her (430), Three nymphs and Cupid (431), Two pictures on silver plates, one of Cupid with Venus, and the other with lustitia (628-629), Venus between two Cupids. A special image (762, most likely a painting from Bernardino Luini's workshop in the Wilanów Palace or a copy), A woman, naked, covered herself with cotton cloth, on a large panel (794, possibly a copy of a portrait of Beatrice of Naples as Venus by Lorenzo Costa in Budapest), Susanna and two old men, a large painting on canvas (815), Picture: a naked lady is sleeping and a satyr is next to her, this painting was given by King John Casimir (820), Three nymphs and Cupid (826), A lady with satyr, filthy (842), A lady lying. Small painting, golden frames (843), Naked lady with a swan, stone painting (844, possibly Leda by Alessandro Turchi, a pupil of Carlo Cagliari in Venice), A naked person in a red coat (863, possibly a copy of "Titian's Mistress" in Apsley House) (after "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska). The inventory also includes several paintings which could be identified as Lucretia or Salome by Cranach and this is only a part of splendid collections of the Radziwills that survived the Deluge (1655-1660).

Carlo Ridolfi (1594-1658) in his work Le Maraviglie dell'arte ..., published in Venice in 1648, confirms that after his stay in Spain (around 1550), Titian travelled to Innsbruck "where he portrayed Ferdinand, King of the Romans, his wife Queen Maria [Anna Jagellonica] and seven most noble maidens, daughters of her majesty, on the same canvas, almost composing a heaven of earthly deities; and it is said that every time these princesses went to have their portrait painted, they brought a gem as a gift to the painter" (Passato poi in Inspruch, ritrasse Ferdinando re de' Romani, la regina Maria sua moglie, e sette nobilissime Citelle, figliuole di quella Maestà in una stessa tela, componendo quasi un Cielo di terrene Deità; e raccontasi, che ogni fiata che quelle Principesse andavano a ritrarsi, recavano una gemma in dono al Pittore, p. 166). The author most likely confused Queen Anna Jagellonica, wife of Ferdinand, with her daughter-in-law Maria of Spain (1528-1603), who travelled through the Republic of Venice to return to Spain in 1581, however, from this fragment we can assume that Titian painted Anna's daughters, most likely including Catherine, as Roman goddesses (Cielo di terrene Deità).

"The Goddess Diana with the God Pan / That chaste breast, which perpetually / Had made itself a shelter of modesty / And fled the consortium of people / To avoid some illicit act" (la Dea Diana col Dio Pan / Quel casto petto, che perpetuamente / S'era di pudicitia albergo fatto / E fuggiva il consortio de la gente / Per non venir a qualche illecito atto) is the inscription in Italian under an erotic (even obscene by some standards) print with Jupiter transformed into Satyr and Diana from the series of 15 sheets depicting the Loves of the gods (Gli amori degli dei). The version in the National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst) in Copenhagen is attributed to Jacopo Caraglio, court goldsmith and medallist of King Sigismund II Augustus (inv. KKSgb7584). Between 1527 and 1537 Caraglio was in Venice and from about 1539 in Poland-Lithuania, where he worked until his death on August 26, 1565.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Pomona by workshop of Titian, 1553-1565, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as a nymph with a satyr by follower of Titian, possibly Girolamo Dente, 1553-1565, Private collection.

​Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as a nymph with a satyr by follower of Titian, possibly Girolamo Dente, 1553-1565, Private collection in Riga before World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Erotic print with Jupiter transformed into Satyr and Diana by Jacopo Caraglio, second quarter of the 16th century, National Gallery of Denmark.

Portraits of Sophia Jagiellon by circle of Titian and portraits of Catherine of Austria by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

"Most Serene Princess, my dearest sister! I have received the gracious letter of Your Illustrious Ladyship and have learned with great joy of your good health; [...] I then ask a favor of Your Illustrious Ladyship; since it pleases God that I cannot enjoy your gracious company: do me a great favor by sending me your portrait and also that of your husband; I will keep them before me as a souvenir of you. If I can be of any use to you, I beg you to order it from me only, and you will find me always ready to do so. Finally, I commend myself to Your Grace. Given at Vilnius, April 23" (Serenissima Principessa signora et sorella mia carissima! Io ho receputa la amorevola letera di V. Ill. S. et con grante alegreza intesso la bona sanita di quella; [...] Poi io prego V. Ill. S. per una gratia; essento che a Dio cussi piace, che io non possa goder la sua amorevola compangina: che quella si denga a farme tanta gratia a mantarme il suo retrato et anchora quello di suo consorte; io tengero in vita mia per sua memoria. Se io in contar possa servir in qualla cosa, prego a commandar mi, che me trouera sempre pronta, cussi faro. Fin in ne la sua bona gratia me ricommando. Dat. in Vilno, alli 23 di aprillo, after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku ..." by Aleksander Przezdziecki, p. 260, National Library of Poland, 68.338 A), wrote in Italian Catherine of Austria (1533-1572), Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania, to her sister-in-law Infanta Sophia Jagellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Alla Serma Principessa Sofia Infante di Polonia, Dochessa di Brunschwig), probably shortly after her departure from Poland-Lithuania in 1556.

Sigismund Augustus' third wife, before marrying the king in 1553, was Duchess of Mantua and Montferrat (between 1549 and 1550) and after only four months as the wife of Francesco III Gonzaga (1533-1550), who drowned in Lake Como on February 21, 1550, she returned to Innsbruck. The Habsburgs pretended that the marriage had not been consummated to increase Catherine's chances of obtaining a better second marriage. The double portrait of the young widow with her mother Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), Queen of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary, made at that time, i.e. between 1551 and 1553 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, oil on canvas, 140 x 130 cm, GG 8199), was probably intended to underline her connection to the Jagiellonian dynasty and to increase her chances of marrying her widowed relative, the King of Poland (the king's second wife, Barbara Radziwill, died on May 8, 1551). Anna died in 1547, before Catherine's marriage to the Duke of Mantua, when the Archduchess had no reason to display her attachment to her mother so ostentatiously. The parrot above her right shoulder in this painting is probably linked to the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary her destiny to give birth to Jesus, and symbolizes purity and wealth (compare "Nature and Its Symbols ..." by Lucia Impelluso, p. 302). 

Very similar to this effigy of Catherine is her full-length portrait at Voigtsberg Castle (oil on canvas, 176 x 112 cm), attributed to Titian. This portrait, basing on a miniature in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 4703) in which she is titled as the wife of the Duke of Mantua, is generally dated to 1549, therefore around her marriage to Francesco, however taking into account that the counterpart of this portrait, i.e. the portrait of Francesco, is not known and that the double portrait with her mother was most likely made after 1550, the painting could be considered a possible betrothal effigy before the marriage with the King of Poland. The little dog suggests to the groom that she is faithful and the zibellino, which she holds in her hands, that she is fertile. It is interesting to note that at that time the Cremonese painter Sofonisba Anguissola created a portrait, considered her self-portrait, in the same costume and pose as the Duchess of Mantua and the Queen of Poland (private collection, oil on panel, 29 x 22 cm). It is quite possible that Sofonisba received a painting by Titian to copy, which would explain the overall titianesque character and colouring of Voigtsberg painting. 

The double portrait is similar to the Family portrait of Maximilian II, son of Anna Jagellonica, which is also in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (GG 3448). The Family portrait was made around 1553 or 1554, which indicates the young age of the youngest child, Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553-1595). However, since it is attributed to Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593), the possible date of creation is considered to be 1563, because at that time the artist moved from Milan to Vienna (according to the traditional approach, the painter and the model must have had the opportunity to meet in person when the portrait was created). If Arcimboldo or his workshop created the double portrait of Catherine and her mother, he must have done so in Milan, where he met the Duchess's father, Ferdinand I (on November 28, 1551 he was paid for painting the five banners of the King of Bohemia), so both paintings could be based on study drawings sent from Vienna or Innsbruck.

Arcimboldo is also considered the author of the portrait of a daughter of Anna Jagellonica, now in the National Gallery of Ireland (oil on panel, 37 x 31 cm, NGI.902). This painting was purchased in Berlin in 1928 and Kurt Löcher considered it to be the effigy of Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545), Queen of Poland, by Jakob Seisenegger (after "Nieznane portrety ostatnich Jagiellonów" by Janina Ruszczyc, p. 75). According to the catalog note of the National Gallery of Ireland, this is an effigy of Archduchess Anna (1528-1590), Duchess of Bavaria (from 1550). Nevertheless, while the resemblance of the woman to the effigies of Elizabeth and Anna is general, the resemblance to Catherine from her portrait at Voigtsberg Castle is striking, as if Arcimboldo and Titian (or Sofonisba) had used the same set of study drawings to create both effigies. This depiction can be compared to Catherine's bust-length portrait inscribed in the upper part CHATARINA.REGINA.POLONIE.ARCHI: / AVSTRIE. The style of these paintings is similar and both relate to the series of portraits of the daughters of Anna Jagellonica preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, attributed to Arcimboldo, for example the portrait of Archduchess Joanna of Austria (1547-1578), future Grand Duchess of Tuscany (inv. GG 4513). 

As for the Duchess of Brunswick, very few portraits created during her lifetime (before this blog) were known. It is quite possible that her portrait for sister-in-law Catherine of Austria, former Duchess of Mantua, was commissioned from an Italian artist. The portrait of Sophia Jagiellon from the Von Borcke Palace in Starogard, which was lost during World War II, was most probably the only inscribed effigy showing her features the most accurately. It bears a strong resemblance to the features of a lady, painted by a Venetian painter from the circle of Titian, in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Kassel (oil on canvas, 120 x 96 cm, inv. GK 496).

The portrait in Kassel is tentatively identified as effigy of Sophia's relative Archduchess Eleanor of Austria (1534-1594), Duchess of Mantua (daughter of Anna Jagellonica), and wife of Guglielmo Gonzaga, due to great similarity of garments and location, the Gonzagas of Mantua frequently commissioned their effigies in nearby Venice. However the face lacks an important feature, the notorious habsburg lip, allegedly stemming from Cymburgis of Masovia, a hallmark of prestige in the 16th century and inherited by Eleanor from her father, the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The sitter's costume and features are very similar to these visible in a miniature showing Sophia's mother Bona Sforza (in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, inv. MNK XII-141), who visited Venice in 1556, the year of Sophia's marriage with the 66-year-old Duke Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. It is highly possible that the painting was commissioned in Venice by Sophia's brother, king Sigismund II Augustus or her mother.

In the same collection in Kassel, there are also two other portraits from the same period by Venetian painters, which are linked to Jagiellons, a portrait of Sophia's sister Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) and a portrait of a general, which according to Iryna Lavrovskaya, could be an effigy of influential cousin of Barbara Radziwill, Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (Heritage, N. 2, 1993. p. 82-84). A good copy of the Kassel painting is now in the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (oil on canvas, 115.6 x 97.2 cm, inv. 43.19). Because of some obvious influences from Flemish painting, especially the colors and softness, it is attributed to Peter Paul Rubens, who worked in Mantua around 1600, but Lambert Sustris, a Dutch painter active mainly in Venice, and a pupil of Titian, can also be considered an author. Rubens in turn worked for the Polish-Lithuanian Vasas, descendants of Sophia's sister Catherine.

The marriage of a 34-year-old princess with an old man was mocked in a painting, created by follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder and his son, preserved in the National Gallery in Prague (oil on panel, 44.7 x 49.8 cm, inv. DO 4323). The work was acquired in 1945 from the Nostitz picture collection in Prague (first probable record 1738, definite record 1818). The painter used earlier effigies of the Princess in the popular subject of the "grotesque marriage", dating back to antiquity when Plautus, a Roman comic poet from the 3rd century BC, cautioned elderly men against courting younger ladies. The inscription SMVST.A. on her bonnet should be therefore interpreted as a satirical anagram. ​Interestingly, the style of this painting resembles the mentioned works of Arcimboldo, so it is possible that he received a painting by Cranach to copy or that he created this composition based on Cranach's works.

Portrait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in a black dress by circle of Titian, ca. 1553-1565, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel. ​

Portrait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in black dress by circle of Titian, probably Lambert Sustris, or Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1553-1565 or 1600s, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. ​​

Ill-Matched Lovers, caricature of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) and her husband Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1489-1568) by Giuseppe Arcimboldo after Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1556, National Gallery in Prague.

​Portrait of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), Queen of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary and her daughter Archduchess Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by workshop of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, ca. 1551-1553, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 

​Portrait of Archduchess Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by circle of Titian or Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1553, Voigtsberg Castle. 

​Self-portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola, 1550s, Private collection.

​Portrait of Archduchess Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, ca. 1553, National Gallery of Ireland. 

​Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by workshop of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, ca. 1554, whereabouts unknown.

Portraits of Zofia Tarnowska by Lambert Sustris and workshop of Titian

The Polish woman, one of the greatest muses and celebrities of 16th-century Europe? Why not, if 19th-century art historians could make a lesser-known lawyer's daughter, Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612-1642), one of the greatest celebrities of the 17th century? Apparently, every important art collector of the Baroque era was bound to own an effigy of the daughter of the mayor of Leeuwarden. Unlike Saskia, who, nota bene, through her uncle and brother-in-law, had connections with Poland, Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) was far more likely to become such a muse in her lifetime. Her father, the imperial count Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561), who had connections in Portugal, Spain, Italy and at the imperial court, was one of the richest and most powerful men in the country. Through her mother, Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551), she was the granddaughter of another prominent political figure, Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki (1466-1532), considered one of the greatest patrons of the arts in early 16th-century Poland.

​On January 18, 1553 the Sejm began in Kraków, but the proceedings were suspended immediately, as most of the deputies and senators went to Tarnów for the wedding of the nineteen-year-old daughter of Voivode of Kraków. Zofia was marrying Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), son of Constantine, Prince of Ostroh and his wife Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska. The Spanish poet Pedro Ruiz de Moros (d. 1571) dedicated a short poem to Zofia and her husband entitled "Newly Wed" (Novae nuptae), stating: "I, the virgin of Tarnów, have been united to a worthy husband, and our offspring will be born of a noble lineage" (I digno coniuncta viro Tarnovia virgo, Et nostrum subole suffice nata genus, compare "Petri Rozyii Maurei Alcagnicensis Carmina ...", ed. Bronisław Kruczkiewicz, part II, p. 58, poem VIII).

In 1550, the twenty-five-year-old Constantine Vasily received from King Sigismund II Augustus the office of marshal of Volhynia. A year later he participated in the fight against the Tatars, who burned down the town and the castle in Bratslav, and probably met the Grand Hetman, Jan Amor Tarnowski, who came to the city with Polish reinforcements.

Since the groom was Orthodox and the bride Catholic, the couple was blessed by priests of both rites. The celebrations must have been very impressive since Tarnowski borrowed 10,000 Hungarian zlotys from Queen Bona for this occasion or the wedding of his son just two years later. Emericus Colosvarinus (Imre Kolozsvár) from Cluj-Napoca, wrote a special speech, entitled De Tarnoviensibus nuptiis oratio, published in Kraków (he also published a speech on the occasion of the third marriage of King Sigismund Augustus that year). Taking Zofia Tarnowska as his wife, Constantine Vasily became the son-in-law of the highest secular dignitary of the Kingdom of Poland, the largest landowner, and a renowned military commander and military theoretician. Immediately after the wedding, Constantine Vasily and his wife went to his castle in Dubno in Volhynia. A year later, in 1554, Zofia gave birth to a son in Tarnów, who was named Janusz.

Zofia's younger brother, Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567), become formal successor of his father, ​just few months after birth, after death of his brother Jan Amor (1516-1537). At the age of eleven, he was sent to Augsburg with his tutor Jakub Niemieczkowski, canon of Tarnów, where during the Diet of Augsburg on 25 February 1548, he witnessed the grand ceremony of inauguration of Duke Maurice (1521-1553) as Elector of Saxony. That same year also Titian and Lambert Sustris arrived to Augsburg. In December that year the young Tarnowski went to Vienna to continue his education at the court of King Ferdinand I. A year later, in November 1549, his father Hetman Jan Tarnowski bought Roudnice nad Labem estate in Bohemia for him. Between 1550-1556 Jan Krzysztof built the Renaissance eastern wing with arcades of the Roudnice nad Labem Castle. In 1553 he set off on another educational journey, which, according to Stanisław Orzechowski, was to cost his father a huge sum of 100,000 zlotys. He visited Germany, Brussels, where he was introduced to Emperor Charles V, and London. Then he went to Basel and to Italy, where he met a poet Jan Kochanowski. In Rome, he was a guest of Pope Julius III and in Parma of the Farnese princes. 

On April 22, 1551, died Zofia Szydłowiecka and she was buried in the collegiate church in Opatów. The Flemish lawyer Petrus de Roeulcz (Petrus de Rotis) published a panegyric in Vienna praising the deceased and the Tarnowski family (Liber funerum domus Tharnoviae Petri à Rotis Belgae Cortraceni).

A painting of a nude woman attributed to Lambert Sustris in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is very similar to the portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon (Venus of Urbino), created few years earlier (oil on canvas, 116 x 186 cm, inv. SK-A-3479). In 1854 the painting, as by Titian, was in the collection of Joseph Neeld (1789-1856) in Grittleton House, near Chippenham. As in Venus of Urbino, all alludes to the qualities of a bride and the purpose of the painting. The pose of the woman, although inspired by Titian's painting, find its source in ancient Roman sculpture (e.g. statue of a young Roman lady from the Flavian period in the Vatican Museums). This pose was repeated in tomb monument of Barbara Tarnowska née Tęczyńska (d. 1521), first wife of Jan Amor in the Tarnów Cathedral, most probably created by Giovanni Maria Padovano in 1536 or earlier, monument to Urszula Leżeńska in the Church in Brzeziny by Jan Michałowicz of Urzędów, created between 1563-1568, and in the tomb monument of Zofia Tarnowska, Princess of Ostroh, daughter of Jan Amor, also in the Tarnów Cathedral, sculpted by Wojciech Kuszczyc, a collaborator of Padovano, after 1570. 

The face of a young woman with protruding ears greatly resemble the effigy of Zofia Tarnowska, Princess of Ostroh, most likely a 19th century copy of an original from the late 1550s (Museum of the Ostroh Academy), and portrait of Zofia's brother (National Museum in Warsaw, inv. MP 5249 MNW), mother (portrait by Cranach's workshop in the guise of Judith from the William Delafield collection) and father (Prado Museum, inv. P000366). 

Jan Amor Tarnowski, a world man, who on July 4, 1518 sailed from Venice to Jerusalem, who on February 20, 1536 organized a grand wedding in Kraków for Krystyna Szydłowiecka, a younger sister of his second wife, who was getting married to Duke of Ziębice-Oleśnica and who on July 10, 1537 hosted at his castle in Tarnów the king and queen Bona, could be planning an international marriage for his only daughter. 

A copy of this painting by workshop or circle of Titian, from the Byström collection, possibly taken from Poland during the Deluge (1655-1660), is in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (oil on canvas, 119 x 190 cm, inv. NM 95). Another copy is in the Borghese Gallery in Rome (oil on canvas, 118 x 180 cm, inv. 050), where there is also a portrait of Queen Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547) as Venus by Lucas Cranach the Elder. According to 1650 inventory of the Borghese collection it was one of a pair of similar paintings of Venus located in the same room (the small gallery, now room XI). The inventory of 1693 records them as two overdoor paintings in the same room (the sixth) as "a horizontal large painting of a naked woman on a bed with flowers on it with five other figures one that plays the cimbolo and the other that looks inside a chest" (un quadro bislongo grande una Donna Nuda sopra un letto con fiori sopra il letto con cinque altre figurine una che sona il Cimbolo e l'altra che guarda dentro un Cassa, number 333) and "a large painting of a naked Venus on a bed with a little dog sleeping with two other figures with her hand between thighs, 5 hand-palms high" (un quadro grande di una Venere nuda sopra il letto con un Cagnolino che dorme con due altre figure con la mano tra le coscie alto di 5 palmi, number 322), which was another version of Venus of Urbino - portrait of Isabella Jagiellon. 

There are several other versions and copies of this painting, some of which are related to Sustris and his followers. Among the most beautiful, probably created at the same time as the original or shortly after, are the following paintings from private collections: "Reclining Venus", considered to be a work of the early 17th century (oil on canvas, 101 x 150 cm, Bonhams London, December 10, 2003, lot 98), "Reclining Venus", attributed to the Modern Italian School (oil on panel, 28.5 x 39.5 cm, Nouvelle étude in Paris, November 21, 2022, lot 53), as well as three paintings on a dark background: "Reclining Venus", attributed to the circle of Lambert Sustris, auctioned in France on April 24, 2014 (oil on canvas, 112 x 172 cm), "A lady as Venus, reclining on a bed by follower of Titian", auctioned in London (oil on canvas, 90 x 131 cm, Christie's, July 11, 2003, Auction 9665, lot 199) and "Venus, manner of Lambert Sustris", auctioned in Rome (oil on canvas, 100 x 136 cm, Finarte Auctions, November 28, 2017, Auction 144/145, lot 62).

The same woman was also depicted in similar composition, this time more mythological due to presence of the god of war Mars and the god of desire Cupid, the son of the love goddess Venus and Mars, and a dove. "Romans sacrificed doves to Venus, goddess of love, whom Ovid and other writers represented as riding in a dove-drawn chariot". A white dove is a symbol of monogamy and enduring love, but also the regenerating and fertile powers of the goddess "arose from the conspicuous courtship and prolific breeding of the birds" (after "Animals and Animal Symbols in World Culture" by Dean Miller, p. 54). It is known from at least three different versions, one by circle of Titian, is in the royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 113.3 x 166.5 cm, inv. Wil.1547). The painting was most probably purchased by Stanisław Kostka Potocki before 1798 as the work of Agostino Carracci, although it cannot be ruled out that it was added to the collection much earlier. A smaller version in the style of Lambert Sustris is in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg since 1792 and it comes from the collection of Prince Grigory Potemkin (oil on canvas, 101.5 x 170.5 cm, inv. ГЭ-2176), who during his career acquired lands in the Kiev region and the Bratslav region, provinces belonging to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A miniature copy of the Hermitage version, painted on copper, was in private collection in Italy before 2015 (oil on copper, 20.5 x 29.2 cm, Sotheby's New York, October 30, 2019, lot 22). Another two versions, also attributed to Sustris or his circle, are in private collections in Florence (oil on canvas, 108 x 173 cm, Premier Auction, February 5, 2022, lot 434, earlier or later in Vienna) and in Rome (Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 42869), the version in Florence being close to the style of Bernardino Licinio (d. 1565). The shape of the castle in the distant background matches the layout of the Tarnowski Castle at the Saint Martin's Peak in Tarnów. 

​This Venus can be considered an alternative version of the best-known depiction of the goddess of love by Sustris, now in the Louvre, which clearly depicts the same woman (oil on canvas, 132 x 184 cm, INV 1978; MR 1129). This masterpiece by the painter uses the same elements, with the god Mars in the background. However, the references to love are even more direct here, with white pigeons copulating and Cupid pointing an arrow at them and looking at Venus. This painting probably comes from the Fugger collection in Augsburg, but the earliest confirmed provenance before entering the collection of Louis XIV of France in 1671 is the collection of his superintendent of finances Nicolas Fouquet (1615-1680). A comparable composition is that of Sustris representing the same model in the guise of Flora, goddess of fertility and blossoming plants, with a Cupid in a landscape, preserved in the Pinacoteca Egidio Martini in Venice (oil on canvas, 102 x 126, inv. 028).

The same model can also be identified in a series of paintings depicting the biblical heroine Judith, exemplary in virtue and in guarding her chastity. In a version from private collection in England, she is depicted in a green dress with the raised sword in a composition close to the effigy of Zofia Szydłowiecka as Judith by workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder (oil on canvas, 84.2 x 63.1 cm, Christie's London, April 30, 2015, lot 487). Another version of this Judith was in private collection in Mönchengladbach in Germany (Heinz Brandes collection, probably lost during World War II). A version from the Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands Park shows her in a blue dress before the naked body of Holofernes (oil on canvas, 121.5 x 100.5 cm, inv. 356). It was recorded in the posthumous inventory of the collection of a Swedish businessman born in Stockholm, Henrik Wilhelm Peill (1730-1797), as "Italian, Judith with the head of Holofernes". In a version from the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille she is depicted in a purple dress and accompanied by a servant (oil on canvas, 113 x 95 cm, inv. P 261). This painting was acquired by Louis XIV, in 1662, from a banker and collector Everhard Jabach, born in Cologne. A lower quality copy of the version in Lille is in the Münsterschwarzach Abbey (oil on canvas, 123.5 x 96 cm, inv. 10377). During the Middle Ages its influence reached as far north as Bremen and in the south to Lambach, near Linz in present-day Austria. Between 1631 and 1634 the abbot of Münsterschwarzach lived in exile in Austria, it is possible that he acquired the paining there from the collection of Queen of Poland, Catherine of Austria, who died in Linz on February 28, 1572. 

The representation of the same sitter in the guise of another biblical heroine, Susanna, epitome of female virtue and chastity, unjustly accused of sexual transgression, is similar. This painting was purchased in 1961 by the Museo de Arte de Ponce from the collection of the family Trolle-Bonde in the Trolleholm Castle in southern Sweden (oil on canvas, 105 x 125 cm, inv. 61.0200). The painter evidently used the same set of preparatory drawings to create the face of Susanna and Judith in Lille. 

​There are also two other paintings by Sustris depicting this sitter. One is a Madonna and Child, attributed to the 17th-century Venetian school, but very similar in style to Flora in the Pinacoteca Egidio Martini (oil on canvas, 82 x 68.5 cm, Pandolfini in Florence, Auction 290, February 26, 2019, lot 232). The other is a Portrait of a woman reading, attributed to Sustris, which was in a private collection in Rome in 1977 (oil on canvas, 83.5 x 77 cm, Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 42866). This image evokes the representations of the Cumaean Sibyl, a prophetess, supposed to have predicted the coming of Christ, such as those by Guercino and Domenichino. The Cumaean Sibyl was generally said to have come from the east.

Given the number of paintings in which her face was used, this woman was Sustris's greatest muse, and he likely wouldn't have wanted to paint a nude effigy of his wife or mistress for another man. If she was a famous courtesan, as some might claim, why has her name been forgotten?

The popularity of "obscene" images in Poland-Lithuana before the Deluge (1655-1660) was apparently so great that some authors urged against them. "Lascivious paintings and statues, speeches and songs full of obscenity [...], whom will they not lead to all kinds of debauchery?" (Picturae & statuae lascivae, sermones & cantilenae obscoenitatis plenae [...], quam aetatem quem sexum non contaminant?), wrote in his treatise "Commentaries on the Improvement of Commonwealth" (Commentariorvm de rep[vblica] emendanda) dedicated to king Sigismund Augustus and published in Kraków in 1551, his secretary Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503-1572). Half a century later Sebastian Petrycy, professor of the Kraków Academy in his commentaries to Aristotle's Oeconomicum libri duo (Oekonomiki Aristotelesowey To Iest Rządu Domowego z dokładem Księgi Dwoie), published in Kraków in 1601, wrote that children and young ladies "looking at the painted naked people will easily learn to be shameful" and confirmed his opinion in a gloss to "Politics" by Aristotle (published in 1605), writing that "indecent images are to be hidden from the youth [...] so that young people would not be scandalized" (partially after "Ksiądz Stanisław Orzechowski i swawolne dziewczęta" by Marcin Fabiański, p. 57-58). ​The same Sebastian Petrycy also complains about the patricians, who in their newly built houses "put expensive pictures", depicting Vulcan, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Cupid. According to Wanda Drecka, this "expensiveness" of the images would indicate imported paintings. The inventories of the collection of Boguslaus Radziwill from 1656 and 1657 include such paintings as "Cupid, Venus and Pallas", "Venus and Hercules" and "Venus and Cupid" (after "Polskie Cranachiana" by Wanda Drecka, p. 26-27) by Cranach or Venetian painters. ​The inventory of paintings belonging to his daughter mentions "A half-naked lady in sables" (297/6, after "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska), the register of paintings of the descendant of the Jagiellons John II Casimir Vasa, sold in Paris in 1673, mentions a painting of Judith with the head of Holofernes (396) and a painting of a naked woman (440), both on canvas, and the inventory of the picture gallery of the Radziwill Palace in Biała Podlaska from 1760 mentions "Portrait of a lady with two Cupids" (item 512, after "Zamek w Białej Podlaskiej ..." by Euzebiusz Łopaciński, p. 46). None of these paintings survived in the former territories of Sarmatia, just like most of the likenesses of Zofia Tarnowska created during her lifetime. 

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by workshop or circle of Titian, ca. 1550-1553, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by circle of Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Borghese Gallery in Rome.

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection (auctioned in London).

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by follower of Lambert Sustris, after 1550, Private collection (auctioned in Paris).

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection (auctioned in France).

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by Lambert Sustris or circle, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection (auctioned in London).

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by Lambert Sustris or circle, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection (auctioned in Rome).

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Venus with a dove by circle of Titian, ca. 1550-1553, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Venus with a dove by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, The State Hermitage Museum.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Venus with a dove by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Venus with a dove by circle of Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection in Rome. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Venus with a dove by circle of Lambert Sustris or Bernardino Licinio, ca. ​1550-1553, Private collection in Florence.

​Venus and Cupid with disguised portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Louvre Museum.

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Flora by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Pinacoteca Egidio Martini in Venice.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Private collection.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka​

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, The Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands Park.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lambert Sustris or follower, 1550s, Münsterschwarzach Abbey. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Susanna by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Museo de Arte de Ponce.

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as the Cumaean Sibyl by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Private collection. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Madonna and Child by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Private collection.

Portraits of Catherine of Austria and Zofia Tarnowska by Titian

Family events that took place in 1553 brought a great revival in the monotonous existence of the Jagiellons. In the spring, Queen Isabella arrived to Warsaw with her 13-year-old son, John Sigismund Zapolya, to live with her mother and sisters. Soon, Sigismund Augustus also visited Warsaw, and in June the whole family went to Kraków for his wedding with Catherine of Austria, widowed Duchess of Mantua. The dynastic marriage of the king with a daughter of Ferdinand I, just few months after the wedding of the only daughter of Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski, was decided to prevent the threat of an alliance of Tsar Ivan the Terrible with the Habsburgs against Poland-Lithuania. In July, Catherine's brother, Archduke Ferdinand, governor of Bohemia, escorted her to Kraków. The ceremony was attended by Duke Albert of Prussia, the Silesian dukes of Cieszyn, Legnica-Brzeg and Oleśnica, the papal legate Marcantonio Maffei from Bergamo (Republic of Venice), many foreign envoys and Polish magnates. The ceremonial entry to Kraków took place on July 29 and the coronation the next day. During the procession, Jan Amor Tarnowski, carried the royal crown. 

During his visit the Archduke demanded that the Habsburgs should be granted succession in Poland-Lithuania in the event of king's death without a male heir. Sigismund Augustus seemed willing to agree to this request, however the senators, inspired by Tarnowski, were to answer him that this would not happen, because the king had no right to do so (after "Panowie na Tarnowie. Jan Amor Tarnowski, kasztelan krakowski I hetman wielki koronny ..." by Krzysztof Moskal, part 8/9). 

The same year, Francesco Lismanini, a preacher and confessor of Sigismund Augustus, was sent to Venice to procure books for his library. Before his return in 1556, he also visited Moravia, Padua, Milan, Lyon, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Strasbourg and Stuttgart, while among books published in this period were two dedicated to Hetman Tarnowski, both by Italian physician Giovanni Battista Monte (Johannes Baptista Montanus), Explicationes, published in Padua in 1553 and In quartam fen primi canonis Avicennae Lectiones, published in Venice in 1556. 

In about 1553 died Giovanni Alantsee from Venice, a pharmacist from Płock, initially a supplier of the Dukes of Masovia and later of the court of Sigismund I, who remained in Bona's service (sent by her in 1537 on a secret mission to Vienna). One of the Italian envoys who traveled permanently to Venice on the orders of the Polish royal court was a certain Tamburino. On April 30, 1549, he received 1 ducat for an unspecified order. Before her departure for Italy, the Queen deposited in Venetian banks, and also borrowed at interest, her great income from Masovia, Lithuania and Bari. In November 1555 Queen Bona wrote to Hetman's wife, Zofia Tarnowska née Szydłowiecka, asking her to arrange for a mature lady (matronam antiquam) to accompany her daughter Sophia to her husband in Germany. 

In 1559 Sigismund Augustus admitted to his service in Vilnius two goldsmiths from Venice, Antonio Gattis and Pietro Fontana. If Philip II could commission paintings in Titian's Venetian workshop, the same could the king of Poland and Polish magnates. Kraków and Tarnów are closer to Venice by land then Madrid. 

Also some contacts of Princes of Ostroh with Venice and Italy are confirmed in sources. The teacher of Constantine Vasily's sons was, among others, a Greek, Eustachy Nathanael, from Crete. He was probably educated, like many Greeks from Crete, in Italy, probably in Venice. Other Greek, Emanuel Moschopulos, educated in Collegium Germanicum in Rome also settled in Ostroh. According to letters of Germanico Malaspina (ca. 1550-1604) from 1595, papal nuncio in Poland, Constantine Vasily even asked the Catholic patriarch in Venice to come to Poland: a riformare il suo dominio (to reform his domain). 

The inventory register of Catherine's dowry, drawn up in Kraków on August 8, 1553 and written in Latin by an Italian courtier of the queen, lists a large number of jewels, precious fabrics and costumes including dresses "in the Spanish manner" (more hispanico) as well as seven magnificent large tapestries from the series The Seven Virtues: Prudence, Temperance, Hope, Charity, Faith, Justice and Fortitude (Auleae uiridices septem cum figuris septem virtutum uidelicet fidei, spei, Charitatis, Iusticiae, Prudentiae, Temperantiae et fortitudinis, after "Wyprawa Królowej Katarzyny" by Józef Korzeniowski, p. 80-81, 83, 85). 

Catherine took them with her to Austria in 1565 and it is very likely that they were made to order or purchased by her. Even before her marriage to Sigismund Augustus, she had used the services of the Habsburg tapestry maker Jhan de Roy. In 1549, Catherine asked him to order and purchase tapestries in Flanders for three rooms at a cost of about 1,000 guilders. The tapestry maker received a passport from Ferdinand's court in Prague for free passage to Antwerp and for the transport by land and water of the canvases and tapestries to Innsbruck, where the court of the Roman king was supposed to stay and where Jhan de Roy was commissioned to deliver the purchased tapestries to count Joseph von Lamberg (after "Arrasy Zygmunta Augusta" by Mieczysław Gębarowicz, Tadeusz Mańkowski, p. 8, 10-11).

The tapestries were made under the direction of Frans Geubels in Brussels, probably before 1549, after a design by Michiel Coxcie, who also made cartoons for the famous tapestries of Sigismund Augustus at the same time. After Catherine's death in Linz, they were inherited by her brother Emperor Maximilian II (after "Inventar der im Besitze des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses befindlichen niederländer Tapeten und Gobelins" by Ernst von Birk, p. 229-230). They are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The tapestry with the Fortitude is one of the most beautiful (wool, silk and metal, 352 x 469 cm, inv. XVII, 7). It shows a personification of the Fortitude in the form of a seated female figure with a helmet and shield, similar to the Roman Minerva. To her right is a roaring lion and to the left the biblical Jael killing the sleeping Sisara. The inscription above reads FORTITVDO EST MEDIETAS / CIRCA TIMORES ET AVDACIAS ("Fortitude is the one in the middle, surrounded by fears and daring"). Jael's facial features resemble known effigies of Catherine, so it is possible that Coxcie depicted the Archduchess as a biblical heroine.

Herodias with the head of Saint John the Baptist, also known as Salome, by Titian is known from several versions. The best, the so-called Raczyński Herodias, was in the 19th century in the possession of the noble Raczyński family, according to the label on the back (oil on canvas, 114 x 96 cm, after "Nemesis: Titian's Fatal Women", Nicholas Hall, Paul Joannedes​, p. 17-19). The woman's face is identical with the face of Venus with the lute player by Titian in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Saint Catherine by Titian in the Prado Museum in Madrid, she is therefore Queen Catherine of Austria, third wife of Sigismund Augustus, in guise of the biblical temptress. A copy of this painting by Titian and workshop, which was by 1649 in the royal collection in England (Hampton Court), is today in the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. Another copy by workshop or follower of Titian from private collection in Germany was sold in Cologne (oil on canvas, 106 x 93.5 cm, Van Ham Kunstauktionen, May 19, 2022, lot 517). Also Parrasio Micheli (ca. 1516-1578), a painter profoundly influenced by Titian who belonged to the patrician Michiel family in Venice, copied this painting. It was owned by a Venetian family (oil on canvas, 104 x 93 cm, sold at Babuino Auction House, March 28, 2023, lot 18).

Such a composition depicting the Archduchess could have been commissioned in Titian's workshop around 1548, because the X-ray of the famous posthumous portrait of her aunt, Empress Isabella of Portugal (1503-1539), painted almost ten years after her death, shows a similar composition (Prado Museum in Madrid, inv. P000415). It is not known why the painter reused the canvas, perhaps the portrait of the Archduchess was not paid for.

In the early 1570s, as indicated by the model's costume (characteristic ruff), while Catherine was living in Linz in Austria, Titian also painted another version of this composition, which was in the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. This painting has been lost and is known only from a small copy painted by David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690), almost a century later around 1650 (Christie's London, auction 15495, July 6, 2018, lot 124). It was also reproduced in the Theatrum Pictorium (number 51), but from these copies it is difficult to tell whether they depicted the same woman, that is, Catherine of Austria in the guise of Salome.

There is also another similar painting by Titian of other biblical heroine, Judith, in identical pose. This painting was by 1677 in Florence in the collection of Marchese Carlo Gerini (1616-1673), today in the Detroit Institute of Arts (oil on canvas, 112.7 x 94.9 cm, inv. 35.10). According to X-ray examination it was painted upon other unfinished portrait of a monarch holding an orb and sceptre, possibly Sigismund Augustus. The woman depicted bears gret resemblance to other effigies of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570), Princess of Ostroh by Lambert Sustris and workshop of Titian, especially her effigies as Judith. 

​Fortitude, tapestry from the series The Seven Virtues of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by workshop of Frans Geubels in Brussels after design by Michiel Coxcie, before 1549, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Herodias (or Salome) with the head of Saint John the Baptist and servants (Raczyński Herodias) by Titian, 1553-1565, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist and servants by Titian, 1553-1565, National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist and servants by workshop or follower of Titian, 1553-1565, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist and a servant by Parrasio Micheli after Titian, 1553-1565, Private collection.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570), Princess of Ostroh as Judith with the head of Holofernes and a servant by Titian, 1553-1565, Detroit Institute of Arts.

Portrait of Constantine Vasily, Prince of Ostroh by Jacopo Tintoretto 

The man in a black costume lined with white fur in a portrait by Jacopo Tintoretto in the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, on loan to the Gallery since 1947, bears a strong resemblance to effigies of Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), Prince of Ostroh, including that visible in a gold medal with his portrait (treasury of the Pechersk Lavra and the Hermitage), and his mother Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska from paintings by Cranach and his workshop. It is dated to about 1550-1555, the time when in 1553, at the age of 27, Constantine Vasily married Zofia Tarnowska. The painting comes from William Coningham's collection in London, exaclty as the portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) with a dog by Francesco Montemezzano in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 1559 Constantine Vasily became the voivode of Kiev. The economic power of his estates and his considerable political influence quickly earned him the title of "uncrowned king of Ruthenia". In 1574, he moved the princely residence from Dubno to Ostroh, where the reconstruction of Ostroh Castle began under the Italian architect Pietro Sperendio from Breno near Lugano. Cristoforo Bozzano (Krzysztof Bodzan) from Ferrara, called incola Russiae (resident of Ruthenia), who reconstructed the Ternopil Castle in 1566 for Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski, also most probably worked for Constantine Vasily.

Portrait of Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), Prince of Ostroh by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1553-1565, National Galleries of Scotland.

Portraits of Thomas Stafford, ambassador of the King of Poland by Giovanni Battista Moroni and workshop

The portrait of a man by Giovanni Battista Moroni presenting a letter dated in Italian September 20, 1553 (Di Settembre alli XX del M.D.LIII), is known from at least three versions. His left hand, holding another document, is very similar to Moroni's famous tailor in the National Gallery in London. One vesion, sold in 2015 in London, comes from the collection of Marquise de Brissac in France, the other in the Honolulu Museum of Art, was before 1821 in the collection of Edward Solly (1776-1844) in London and another from Scandinavian private collection, showing just the man's head, was auctioned in London (Sotheby's, 09.12.2003, lot 326). Two versions were painted on canvas and the smallest, attributed to Italian School early 17th century, was painted on wood. 

Apart from the date and abbreviation D V S, which could be Dominationis Vestrae Servitor (Your Lordship's Servant) in Latin or Di Vostra Signoria (of Your Lordship) in Italian, the rest is illegible and could be either in Italian or in Latin. The man is therefore showing his letter, most probably a response, to someone very important. 

On July 9, 1553, Mary Tudor, the eldest daughter of Henry VIII of England, proclaimed herself Queen of England. On August 3, she triumphantly entered London with her sister Elizabeth, and ceremonially took possession of the Tower. On September 27, she and Elizabeth moved into the Tower, as was the custom just before the coronation of a new monarch and on October 1, 1553, Mary was crowned in Westminster Abbey. While in a letter, in Portuguese, dated in Lisbon, September 20, 1553, king John III of Portugal announces the despatch of Lorenzo Piz de Tavora, a member of his council, as his ambassador to congratulate her Majesty on succeeding to the throne, Sigismund Augustus, king of Poland, sends a letter, in Latin, dated in Kraków, October 1, 1553, addressed to queen Mary. He despatches to Her Majesty's presence Thomas Stafford, grandson of the Most Noble Edward Stafford, late Duke of Buckingham, for that purpose. He prays the Queen to place unhesitating confidence in the said Stafford, of whom he speaks in the highest terms of praise, especially with regard to his cultivated and gracefully modest manners (Lat. State Paper Office, Royal Letters, vol. XVI. p. 9). Also king's newly wed wife, Queen Catherine of Austria, sends a letter on October 1, 1553 to queen Mary, congratulating her upon her accession, speaking in terms of high commendation of Thomas Stafford, and earnestly requests that he may be restored to the honours and possessions formerly possessed by his ancestors (Lat. State Paper Office, Royal Letters, vol. XVI. p. 11).

Shortly after Jan Łaski's departure from England, Hieronim Makowiecki came to London at the end of 1553 as an envoy of the Polish king, and in the following year Leonrad Górecki attended Mary's wedding to Philip II of Spain. According to a letter of Marc'Antonio Damula, Venetian ambassador to the Imperial Court, to the Doge and Senate, dated in Brussels, August 12, 1554: "It is being treated about, to give the government of the kingdom of Naples to the Queen of Poland [Bona Sforza], together with a council, and the Emperor has already said that he is content with this; and they are endeavouring to obtain the consent of the King of England, who is expected to give it readily, the kingdom of Naples being now weary and depressed by the many wrongs endured at the hands of the Spanish governors. The ambassador of the Queen aforesaid has purchased an organ at Antwerp for 3,000 crowns, as also goldsmith's work to the amount of 6,000, to give to the Queen of England, and will go thither to endeavour to arrange this business, which is supposed to be very near conclusion".

Thomas Stafford (ca. 1533-1557) was the ninth child and second surviving son of Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford and Ursula Pole. His maternal grandmother was Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury and the last direct descendant of the Plantagenets. This lineage made Thomas and his family particularly close to the throne of England. In 1550 he went to Rome, where his uncle Cardinal Reginald Pole (1500-1558) was nearly elected a pope in the papal conclave convened after the death of Pope Paul III, and where he remained for three years. He was resident in Venice in May of 1553 when the Signory permitted him to view the jewels of Saint Mark and to bear arms in the territories of the Republic. He arrived to Poland during the summer of 1553 when Sigismund Augustus was celebrating his third marriage with Catherine, daughter of Anna Jagiellonica. It was most likely on her initiative that Stafford became an envoy of Poland-Lithuania to England. The king's recommendation to restore him to the Dukedom of Buckingham appeared to have no effect, as in January 1554 he joined the rebellion, directed against Mary's plans to become the wife of Philip II. The rebels were defeated, Stafford was captured, but was able to escape to France, where he announced his claims to the crown of England. He returned to England in April 1557, but he was arrested and sentenced to death as a traitor. He was beheaded on May 28, 1557 on Tower Hill in London. 

The date on a letter in mentioned portraits match perfectly the time when Stafford could receive an ambassadorial nomination and send a response expressing his appreciation to the king of Poland. Also previous locations of the works match Stafford's journeys - one was in England, one in France and one in Scandinavia, possibly taken from Poland during the Deluge. The sitter bears a strong resemblance to effigies of Thomas' uncle Cardinal Reginald Pole by Sebastiano del Piombo and workshop, in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest and in the Hermitage Museum, and by unknown artist, in the Trinity College of the University of Cambridge.

Portrait of Thomas Stafford (ca. 1533-1557), ambassador of the King of Poland by Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1553, Private collection.

Portrait of Thomas Stafford (ca. 1533-1557), ambassador of the King of Poland by Giovanni Battista Moroni or workshop, 1553, Honolulu Museum of Art.

Portrait of Thomas Stafford (ca. 1533-1557), ambassador of the King of Poland by workshop of Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1553, Private collection.

Portrait of Abraham Zbąski by Jacopo Tintoretto

In 1553 died Stanisław Zbąski, castellan of Lublin, the father of Abraham and Stanisław (1540-1585), and on the basis of his last will written in the Lublin town book, Abraham was to receive Kurów estate with a stonghold near Płonki, and Stanisław the town of Kurów and compensation of 1000 florins. The same year the Catholic church in Kurów was turned into a Protestant temple. 

The castellan of Lublin, himself educated in Leipzig (1513/1514) and most probably in Italy, send his eldest son to a Protestant university in Wittenberg in February 1544, together with another Abraham Zbąski (D. Abrahamus / D. Abrahamus de Sbanski / poloni), identified as the son of Piotr Zbąski (d. 1543) from Greater Poland, the owner of Zbąszyń, who was most likely the same age as his friend Marcin Czechowic (born in November 1532) and the son of Stanisław. One Abraham Zbąski also studied in Królewiec (Königsberg) in Ducal Prussia in 1547 (as Abrahamus Esbonski. Polonus) and in Basel from May 1551. On November 30, 1550, Abraham Zbąski (the one from Kurów or from Zbąszyń) join the court of King Sigismund Augustus.

Perhaps under Abraham Zbąski's influence Celio Secondo Curione (Caelius Secundus Curio), an Italian humanist, dedicated to King Sigismund Augustus his work De amplitudine beati regni Dei, published in Basel in 1554 - on December 1, 1552, in a letter to Zbąski, he asked about the title of the Polish king, as he intended to dedicate his book to him. Celio dedicated to Abraham his Selectarum epistolarum librer II, published in 1553, and his handwritten dedication to Zbąski preserved in a volume of his M. Tullii Ciceronis Philippicae orationes XIIII, published in 1551 (Poznań University Library). This Abraham Zbąski frequently travelled to Italy, mainly to Bologna, in 1553/1554, in 1558/1559 and between 1560 and 1564. "I heard that this Abram, who recently arrived from Italy, could be quite a gem in this family" (Jakoż słyszę ten Abram, nowo z Włoch nastały, Że to może w tym domu klenot być niemały), wrote about the Zbąski family in his Bestiary (Zwierziniec/Zwierzyniec), published in 1562, the Polish poet and prose writer Mikołaj Rej. In 1554 he continued his studies at the University of Leipzig, where he enrolled for winter semester (as Abrahamus Sbansky) with Marcin Czechowic (Martinus Czechowicz), a Protestant thinker and a leading representative of Polish Unitarianism, and Stanisław Zbąski of Lublin (Stanislaus Sboxsky Lubelensis), his brother or cousin. 

The portrait of a young man by Jacopo Tintoretto in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham was acquired in 1937 from the collection of Francis Drey (1885-1952) in London, who recalled that the portrait was previously in a French private collection (oil on canvas, 121 x 93.3 cm, inv. 37.13). Basing on this, together with the style of the costume, it was suggested that the sitter is a Frenchman. His rich costume, more northern, sword and gloves indicate that he is a wealthy nobleman, like the Zbąskis of the Nałęcz coat of arms. According to Latin inscription in upper right corner, in the month of March (or May) 1554, the man was 22 years old (ANNO 1554 MENSE MA / AETATIS SUAE 22). This date and age match the age of one of the Zbąskis (both born in about 1531 or 1532), who was in Italy in 1553/1554 and in winter of 1554 enrolled at the University of Leipzig, further north of Venice. The man bear a resemblance to effigy of Stanisław Zbąski (1540-1585), from his tomb monument in Kurów, created by Italian sculptor Santi Gucci or his workshop, and to the distant descendant of the Zbąskis, bishop Jan Stanisław Zbąski (1629-1697) from his portrait in the Skokloster Castle in Sweden.

Portrait of Abraham Zbąski aged 22 by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1554, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

Portrait of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill by Agostino Galeazzi

​Titian's portrait of a general, held at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel (oil on canvas, 229 x 155.5 cm, inv. GK 488, signed: TITIANVS / FECIT, on the small rock on the left), is identified by Belarusian researcher Iryna Borisovna Lavrovskaya as the effigy of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565). According to the biographies of the painter and the model, it can be said with certainty that their paths crossed in the same year in Augsburg in 1547, where Radziwill received the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (confirmed by Sigismund Augustus in 1549). At the same time, he also concluded a very important political alliance with the Habsburgs. Ms. Lavrovskaya's forensic and cultural expertise (cultural contexts, practices, and norms) reinforces the hypothesis that the portrait of a general is the effigy of Nicolaus "the Black" (Heritage, No. 2, 1993, p. 82-84). This portrait is also considered to represent Ferrante I Gonzaga (1507-1557), governor of the Duchy of Milan between 1546 and 1554, who corresponded with the Radziwills (cf. "La trama Nascosta - Storie di mercanti e altro" by Rita Mazzei). Several other Italian aristocrats have been proposed as possible models, consistent with the hypothesis that the model must be Italian, although nothing speaks strongly in favor of this hypothesis, except the origins of the painter.

The painting was purchased in 1756 by Gerard Hoet in Paris for William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, at the auction of the Duke of Tallard's collection. It previously belonged to the collection of Monsieur de la Chataigneraye (or Châtaigneraie), Treasurer of the Chamber of the King and Children of France, "In Paris, at the Royal Abbey of Saint-Victor, his residence", included in the catalogue published in Paris in 1732 (Catalogue de tableaux [...] du cabinet de feu Monsieur de la Chataigneraye [...] A Paris, en l'abbaye Royale de Saint Victor, lieu de sa demeure, p. 23). It is not known how this important collection of paintings by the greatest masters of European painting came to the unknown Monsieur de la Chataigneraye. The clue concerning the earlier provence of the portrait of a general could be the possessions of King John II Casimir Vasa, at the Abbey of Saint-Martin in Nevers, at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris and at the Château de Cachan near Paris, part of which was sold at auction in the French capital on February 15, 1673. Among the "uninventoried furniture" (meubles non inventoriéz) in the minutes of the sale of King John Casimir's property is an unspecified "portrait of a Polish prince", purchased by Monsieur Corade (un portrait d'un Prince pollonnois, after "Uzupełnienie do inwentarzy pośmiertnych króla Jana Kazimierza ..." by Ryszard Szmydki, p. 85).

Nicolaus lost his father at a young age and was raised with his brother John (1516-1551) by his uncle George I "Hercules" Radziwill (1480-1541). In 1529, along with his brother and sister, he was taken to the royal court of Sigismund I and Bona, where he was raised and educated. In 1534, he entered the Kraków Academy (Jagiellonian University), but did not complete his studies; the following year, he participated in battles against the Muscovite army at the head of his banner. He opted for a diplomatic and state career. The rapid rise of Nicolaus "the Black" began after 1544, when Sigismund I transferred full powers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to his son, Sigismund Augustus. Radziwill received the position of district marshal and became a member of the highest state body: the Grand Ducal Council.

On the way back from Augsburg, on February 12, 1548 in Sandomierz, Nicolaus married the fifteen-year-old daughter of one of the greatest Polish patrons, Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki (1466-1532), Elżbieta Szydłowiecka (1533-1562), Countess of Szydłowiec. King Sigismund Augustus and Queen Bona attended the wedding. In 1550, he was appointed Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, a year later, Voivode of Vilnius. In 1553, he joined the Lutheran Church and, two years later, converted to Calvinism and began corresponding with prominent Calvinist theologians, including John Calvin himself.  

The establishment of the portrait gallery in Nesvizh is associated with Radziwill "the Black", who commissioned images abroad, including in Strasbourg (after "Monumenta variis Radivillorum ..." by Tadeusz Bernatowicz, p. 20). In one of the letters, the longing father instructed his son Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan", who was studying abroad, to commission a portrait and send it to Lithuania. The portrait, sent from Strasbourg, aroused dissatisfaction and at the same time biting remarks about his son's clothes. The voivode ordered a new life-size portrait of his son to be made so that he could see how tall he was. He also ordered a chain with the image of the king to be painted on his son's chest (after "Tylem się w Strazburku nauczył ... " by Zdzisław Pietrzyk, p. 164). The inventory of the Radziwill collection of 1671 probably mentions two portraits of the prince (items 10/10 and 12/2[?]), undoubtedly made during his lifetime. The painting depicting the granting of the title of Imperial Prince by Emperor Charles V to Nicolao Radziwił Palatino Vilnensis most likely depicted the scene involving Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill in 1547, because Nicolaus II Radziwill (1470-1521), nicknamed Amor Poloniae, received this title in 1518 from Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519), Charles's grandfather (item 91/10, compare "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska).

One of the most splendid Renaissance half-armors preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna was made for Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (inv. A 1412). It was made around 1555 in Nuremberg by Kunz Lochner, who also created armors for King Sigismund Augustus (Royal Armory in Stockholm, Kremlin Museum, and Polish Army Museum in Warsaw). The rich, colorful decoration, unusual for German armor, was probably made to the customer's specifications. This half-armor was once part of a field and tournament ensemble. Other pieces from this ensemble from the armory of Nesvizh Castle (Belarus), the Radziwill family residence, are preserved in Paris (sallet, Musée de l'Armée, inv. 3570) and in New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art, several pieces). The armor was presented by Radziwill to Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria (1529-1595), a relative of King Sigismund Augustus and Imperial Count of Tyrol. Its presence in the Archduke's collection dates back to 1593. At Wawel Castle there is a conical helmet from 1561, which, according to tradition, belonged to Nicolaus (inv. 1370, purchased in Paris in 1937).

The "general" in Titian's painting wears a chainmail and, over it, a splendid Renaissance doublet. His Renaissance costume is completed by a decorative burgonet helmet adorned with a dragon. This burgonet is held by Cupid, son of Mars, god of war, and Venus, goddess of love, which indicates that the man was depicted in mythological disguise. Considering the identification of the sitter with Nicolaus "the Black," this mythological costume could be that of Palemon (Publius Libon), legendary Roman founder of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and relative of Emperor Nero.

In 2019, a Portrait of a commander, attributed to the Brescian painter Agostino Galeazzi (1523-1576) was auctioned in Vienna (oil on canvas, 128 x 107.5 cm, Dorotheum, October 22, 2019, lot 40). Due to a certain similarity in facial features, pose, and armor to the Titian painting from the Potocki collection, now at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles (oil on canvas, 110 x 80 cm, inv. 2003.486), the portrait is considered to represent Alfonso d'Avalos (1502-1546), an Italian condottiero of Aragonese origin. Stanisław Krzyżanowski (1841-1881) described Titian's painting in his book published in Kraków in 1862 about the Potocki Palace in Tulchyn, Ukraine ("Tulczyn ...", p. 15). According to family tradition, the portrait of d'Avalos came from the collection of King John III Sobieski (1629-1696) or Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski (1732-1798) (after "Portret Alfonsa d'Avalos Tycjana z kolekcji Potockich" by Agnieszka Woźniak, p. 557), so it could have come from an earlier royal collection, such as that of the Jagiellons. Mieczysław Potocki (1799-1878) transferred the painting collection from Tulchyn to France. The portrait of d'Avalos is believed to have been painted between January and February 1533; the commander died in 1546. However, the man in Galeazzi's portrait is dressed according to later fashion, more typical of the late 1550s or early 1560s. Similar Spanish-style hose (calzas, chausses), codpiece (bragueta), and small ruff can be seen in a portrait of Don Carlos (1545-1568), son of King Philip II of Spain, in the Prado Museum in Madrid, believed to have been painted between 1555 and 1559 (inv. P001136). Similar armor and chausses with codpiece are also seen in a portrait of the 16-year-old Alessandro Farnese (1545-1592), painted in 1561 by Antonis Mor (Meadows Museum, inv. MM.71.04, inscription top right: ANNO ÆTATIS SVE. XVI. / 1561); the ruff is larger in Alessandro's portrait. According to Marco Tanzi, Galeazzi's portrait also lacks the Order of the Golden Fleece, which d'Avalos received in 1531, visible in a painting by Titian from the Potocki collection. Similar chausses and a ruff are also visible in a portrait by Titian in Kassel, which is considered to have been painted in the early 1550s. In the image of Radziwill "the Black" in the Hermitage Museum (inv. ОР-45841), Spanish-style chausses can also be seen, accompanied by a ruff and decorative armor. The same is true for the image of Nicolaus's brother John (inv. ОР-45844), while his father John "the Bearded" wears fantastically decorated armor (inv. ОР-45838).

As the most important political figure in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after the king in the 1550s and 1560s, his contacts undoubtedly extended to Italy and Spain. Although there is no direct evidence of these contacts, several facts attest to them. In April 1552, Radziwill met his "nephew" Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567). Together, they set off on horseback, then by barge on the Vistula River, for Gdańsk, from where the young Tarnowski embarked on a journey to Brussels, where he was presented to Emperor Charles V, then to London, Basel, and finally to Italy. In early 1553, Nicolaus "the Black" was sent to the court of Ferdinand I to dissuade him from forming an alliance with Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. During his stay in Vienna, he concluded the marriage of Sigismund Augustus to his relative Catherine of Austria (the king agreed to a third marriage on April 10, 1553). He also replaced the monarch during the marriage per procura, as well as on the symbolic wedding night, during which Catherine was ashamed to lie down next to Radziwill, but was forced to do so by her father Ferdinand, who grabbed her by the head, and by her elder brother Maximilian (1527-1576), who grabbed her by the legs (after "Ostatnia z rodu" by Paweł Jasienica, p. 88). From 1548 to 1551, during the absence of Prince Philip, Maximilian and his wife Maria of Spain (1528-1603) acted as regents of Spain and moved to live in Vienna in 1552. The Lutsk Regional Museum houses a large painting, painted between 1752 and 1759, depicting the scene of the marriage per procura in Vienna in 1553 with Radziwill "the Black" and Catherine (inv. Ж-260, КВ-26383). In 1556, Pier Paolo Vergerio (1498-1565), educated in Padua, dedicated a translation of the work of the Spanish reformer Juan de Valdés, "The Spiritual Milk" (Lac spirituale), to Radziwill's son, Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan". In October 1556, Vergerio stayed in Vilnius where he met Queen Catherine and Radziwill "the Black".

In Galeazzi's portrait, the man holds a simple military baton, typical of portraits of Spanish commanders. Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill holds a similar baton in his likeness, taken from Archduke Ferdinand II's Armamentarium Heroicum, the catalog of the arms in the Archduke's collection held at Ambras Castle, published in Innsbruck in 1601. The print was made by the Flemish engraver Dominicus Custos (1560-1612) after a drawing attributed to the Veronese draftsman and engraver Giovanni Battista Fontana (1524-1587), accompanied by Nicolaus's biography in Latin (British Museum, inv. 1871,0812.448). Moreover, the man in Galeazzi's portrait resembles Radziwill in Custos's engraving, the right eyebrow is very similar. The same applies to the portrait by Titian in Kassel, which clearly depicts the same man. The facial features are also comparable to those of Radziwill's son, Cardinal George Radziwill (1556-1600), painted by an Italian painter around 1592 (Lutsk Regional Museum, inv. Ж-31, КВ-16425). The dark black hair and beard in the paintings by Titian and Galeazzi also correspond to known effigies of Radziwill "the Black".

Agostino Galeazzi was a pupil of Alessandro Bonvicino, known as Moretto da Brescia. From his youth, he worked in Moretto's workshop alongside Giovanni Battista Moroni until the master's death in 1554. He may have collaborated with Moretto on the portrait of Nicolaus's cousin, Queen Barbara Radziwill, depicted as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (Museum of Nysa), which I have identified and attributed. Since Galeazzi was one of the most faithful followers of Moretto's style, critics tend to attribute to him the creation of certain paintings sometimes attributed to Bonvicino.

In one of his earliest solo paintings, the Adoration of the Magi from San Pietro in Oliveto, painted in 1551 (Centro Pastorale Paolo VI in Brescia), the central figure of Saint Melchior wears a crimson cloak lined with lynx fur, typical of the Sarmatian nobility of the time, while the Magi's servants in the background also evoke the typical effigies of the inhabitants of Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia. The full-length portrait of King Sigismund Augustus from 1563, now in the North Carolina Museum of Art (inv. GL.60.17.46), is also attributed to Galeazzi.

​Portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos (1502-1546) with a page from the Potocki collection by Titian, ca. 1533, Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

​Portrait of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565) with Cupid and a dog by Titian, ca. 1550-1552, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel.

​Portrait of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565) holding a baton by Agostino Galeazzi, ca. 1555-1560, Private collection.

Portraits of Halszka Ostrogska by Bernardino Licinio and workshop of Tintoretto

"What's happening to me? where I was taken? To France, or to Italy, or elsewhere? And after all, a neighbor invited me to his wedding, and I see a strange dress in this circle of female gender, and I don't see any Polish woman here, I don't know who I honor and welcome. This one sits, I see, she's from the domain of Venice, and this one in this robe, from the land of Spain. This one is supposedly French, and the other wears a Netherlandish outfit, or it's Florentine?", describes the great diversity of women's fashion in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in his satire "Reprimand of Women's Extravagant Attire" (Przygana wymyślnym strojom białogłowskim), published in Kraków in 1600, Piotr Zbylitowski (1569-1649), a poet and courtier.

From 1585, Zbylitowski was a courtier of Stanisław Górka (1538-1592), voivode of Poznań, then, in 1593, he participated in the Czarnkowski embassy to King Sigismund III, who was staying in Sweden. After returning to Poland, he married Barbara Słupska and settled in the village of Marcinkowice near Sącz in Southern Poland.

In addition to the diversity of dress, which has been confirmed in Poland-Lithuania since at least the sumptuous wedding ceremonies of Sigismund II Augustus in 1543, in this work, which he dedicated to his patroness starościna Zofia Czarnkowska née Herburt (d. 1631), he also criticize the great opulence of clothing and jewelry. Extravagant headdresses, crowns and ruffs on heads, pearls and rubies, necklaces of precious diamonds, dresses with "six sleeves" adorned with pearls and precious stones, Spanish and French farthingale (portugał jak się na niej koli), conical caps similar to Turkish kiwior, robes embroidered with gold, lead him to scathing remarks - "it's a pity that she doesn't hang anything on her nose either", "how the neck will not tear from these severe ruffs" of Flemish lace, "it would be hard for her to go to work" or "it is difficult to recognize them in such clothes". 

The women of Poland-Lithuania dressed according to the latest fashion from Italy, Spain and France, because due the high price of Polish grain "it is not expensive" and such a rich dress can be made just "for a heap of rye". To their conservative husbands wanting them to wear more modest or Polish clothes, the wives responded angrily: "I am your companion, not your handmaid, I am allowed as you, I am not a slave". The Synod of Protestants in Poznań convened in 1570, enacted a rule of reprimanding and punishing the "licentious clothes", which generally did not bring the desired results (after "Reformacja w Polsce" by Henryk Barycz, Volume 4, p. 39).

This opulence of costume was as in Italy, Spain and France undoubtedly reflected in portraiture, however, someone checking the portraits of women from Poland-Lithuania before the Delugue (1655-1660), and this article, will unmistakably have the impression that it was a poor country of old nuns. This would be correct because the majority of the portraits that survived the destruction during the wars and the subsequent impoverishment of the country were created by less skilled local artists for churches and monasteries. Such portraits were commissioned by wealthy women in their old age for the temples they founded or supported. Thus, they were depicted in a black outfit covering the whole body, a white bonnet covering the hair and ears and holding a rosary. A large number of these portraits have survived because either they were not of high artistic class, or they were created for provincial churches, far from the major economic centers of the country, which were destroyed, or both. Over a century of portraiture in Poland-Lithuania of mainly young women, disappeared almost completely.

In 1551, the richest bride in Poland-Lithuania - Elizabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh also known as Halszka Ostrogska (illustri virgini Elisabetae Duci Ostroviensi, Kxięzna Helska Ilijna Ostroska, Hałżbieta Ilinaja Kniażna Ostroskaja), reached the legal age of marriage (12) and the battle for her hand began. She was the only child of Beata Kościelecka (1515-1576), the illegitimate daughter of king Sigismund I and protegee of Queen Bona, and her husband Illia (1510-1539), Prince of Ostroh.

Halszka's huge fortune aroused so much interest that in 1551 the Sejm in Vilnius adopted a special resolution stating that "the widow [Beata] may not marry her daughter without the consent of close relatives", including guardians, her uncle Prince Constantine Vasily (1526-1608) and king Sigismund II Augustus. Two years later, in 1553, Constantine Vasily decided to marry Halszka to Prince Dmytro Sangushko (1530-1554), a hero of the defense of Zhytomyr from the attack of the Tatars and the eldest son of her other guardian Prince Fyodor Sangushko (d. 1547). Dmytro received written consent from Constantin Vasily and the mother for the marriage, however, when the king objected, the mother withdrew her consent. At the beginning of September 1553, Constantin Vasily and Dmytro arrived in Ostroh, where the widow lived with her daughter and stormed the castle. During the forced marriage ceremony on September 6, 1553, Halszka was silent and her uncle answered for her. Beata wrote a complaint to the king that the marriage took place without her consent and Sigismund II Augustus deprived Sangushko of the post of the starost and ordered him to appear in January 1554 in Knyszyn at the royal court. Despite the intervention of Ferdinand I of Austria, King of the Romans and future Emperor, who was constantly intriguing against the Jagiellons, in a letter dated December 11, 1553, blaming the incident on Halszka's mother, who "began to appropriate her daughter and, without her uncle's permission and consent, wanted to marry her off as she wished", Prince Constantine Vasily was deprived of the rights of guardian by the king and Dmytro was sentenced to infamy for failure to appear at the court, expulsion from the state, confiscation of property and an obligation to return Halszka to her mother. On January 20, 1554, a reward of 200 złotys was announced for Sangushko's head.

Dmytro and Halszka, disguised as a servant, fled to Bohemia, hoping to take refuge in the Roudnice castle, which belonged to the hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski, father-in-law of Prince Constantine Vasily. They were pursued by the Voivode of Kalisz Marcin Zborowski, who captured them at Lysá nad Labem near Prague and fearing that Ferdinand I would release Dmytro ordered his servants to kill him on the night of February 3 at Jaroměř near the Silesian border. For murder on the territory of a foreign state, Zborowski was arrested and imprisoned, however, thanks to the intercession of king Sigismund II Augustus, the Czech king soon ordered his release. Zborowski took Halszka to Poznań to her relatives, the Kościelecki and Górka families. On March 15, 1554, she saw her mother again, who arrived to Poznań.

The beauty and wealth of a young 14-year-old widow again attracted numerous suitors, including the sons of Marcin Zborowski, Piotr and Marcin, Calvinists. Beata opted for Orthodox Prince Semen Olelkovich-Slutsky (d. 1560). The king, however, decided to marry her to his loyal supporter count Łukasz III Górka (d. 1573), a Lutheran, which was announced in May 1555. With the support of Queen Bona, Beata and her daughter strongly opposed the will of the monarch and Halszka even wrote to Górka that she would rather die than marry him. However, with Bona's departure for Italy in 1556, the situation for them became increasingly difficult. 

Eventually the king lost his patience and decided to force the marriage. The wedding took place on February 16, 1559 at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, however, the marriage remained unconsummated (non consummatum). When the royal court moved to Vilnius, Princess Beata and her daughter fled secretly to Lviv, where they found refuge in a fortified male Dominican monastery. The king ordered Halszka to be separated from her mother and taken to her husband. Royal forces besieged the monastery but the women only gave up after their water supply was cut off. To the surprise of the Lviv starost who entered the monastery by order of the king, Beata announced that her daughter had just been married to Prince Olelkovich-Slutsky, who entered the monastery disguised as a beggar, and the marriage was consummated, so Górka would no longer be entitled to Halszka.

The young princess was delivered to Warsaw, where the king declared all agreements made with Prince Olelkovich-Slutsky to be null and void and she was handed over to Łukasz Górka, who, despite her resistance, soon brought her to his residence in Szamotuły. She often accompanied her husband, always dressed in black. When he died suddenly at the beginning of 1573, she intended to marry Jan Ostroróg, but her uncle Constantin Vasily did not allow her to do so. She returned to Ruthenia, where she died in Dubno in 1582 at the age of 43.

No signed effigy of Halszka preserved. In 1996, a Ukrainian artist created her imaginative portrait and depicted her like a nun holding a prayer book. 

In the Galerie Canesso in Paris, there is a painting depicting the "Young Lady and her Suitor", attributed to Bernardino Licinio, who died in Venice around 1565 (oil on panel, 81.3 x 114.3 cm). This painter made portraits of Halszka's mother, Beata, identified by me. It was sold in 2012 (Sotheby's New York, 26 January 2012, lot 21) and comes from the collection of Caroline Murat (1782-1839), Queen of Naples, sold in 1822, while she was in exile at the castle of Frohsdorf in Austria. She therefore probably acquired it in Austria, where resided king Ferdinand I or Naples, where collections of Queen Bona were moved after her death in Bari. It cannot be excluded that one of them received this painting as a gift.

The young lady with loose blond hair wears a green cloak, a color being symbolic of fertility. Her white linen chemise has fallen from her shoulder to reveal her breast. The bas relief behind her, showing a warrior in ancient armour, connotes mythology. It could depict Odysseus leaving Penelope, but at the later stage of the painting's creation, it was painted over and uncovered during a recent restoration of the work after 2012. The woman turns her face away while glancing at her suitor. In response, he places his right hand on her wrist and his left on his heart in a gesture imploring amorous passion and future promise. Echoing the beauties of Palma Vecchio and Titian, the painting is dated to around 1520, however, the costume of the suitor indicate that it was created much later. His crimson satin doublet and regularly slashed jerkin are almost identical to those seen in a portrait of Lodovico Capponi by Agnolo Bronzino (The Frick Collection, 1915.1.19), which is generally dated to around 1550-1555. His pose and his hat are reminiscent of King Edward VI holding a flower by William Scrots (National Portrait Gallery and Compton Verney), generally dated to around 1547-1550. 

​A workshop copy or by an unknown 17th century copyist, such as Alessandro Varotari (1588-1649), of this painting was put up for sale in 2023 in Mosta, Malta (oil on canvas, 112 x 87 cm, Belgravia Auction Gallery, December 9, 2023, lot 512). A reduced version of this composition is also known, showing only the man holding a document (a love letter?). It was in a private collection in Turin and was attributed to a Venetian painter of the first half of the 16th century (compare Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 39412). This painting was created either as a separate composition or, more likely, it is a fragment of the original painting that was cut and repainted later, so that the portrait of the woman and the man can be sold separately.

The same woman was depicted in another painting attributed to Licinio. It was confiscated during World War II from the collection of Van Rinckhuyzen in the Netherlands for Hitler's Führermuseum in Linz (oil on canvas, 80.5 x 81 cm). This painting is usually dated around 1514, but in this case the dating is also not very adequate because her black dress most closely resembles that seen in portrait of a poetess Laura Battiferri, also by Bronzino (Palazzo Vecchio in Florence), dated around 1555-1560. She is holding a feather fan, similar to that in the portrait of Catherine of Medici (1519-1589), Queen of France by Germain Le Mannier (Palazzo Pitti in Florence, inv. 1890, n. 2448), created between 1547-1559. 

She was also represented in a painting by workshop of Jacopo Tintoretto, today in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (oil on canvas, 102.9 x 86.4 cm, inventory number 180) from the 1550s. In all of mentioned effigies the model's face resemble the effigies of Halszka's mother and father by Bernardino Licinio, identified by me. Consequently the suitor in the Paris painting could be Dmytro Sangushko, Semen Olelkovich-Slutsky or Łukasz III Górka. 

​Portrait of Elizabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh (Halszka Ostrogska) and her suitor by Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1554-1555, Galerie Canesso in Paris.

​​Portrait of Elizabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh (Halszka Ostrogska) and her suitor by follower of Bernardino Licinio, after 1554 (17th century?), Private collection.

​Man with a love letter by workshop of Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1554-1555, private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of Elizabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh (Halszka Ostrogska) holding a feather fan by workshop of Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1555-1560, Private collection. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of Elizabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh (Halszka Ostrogska) by workshop of Tintoretto, 1550s, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Portrait of Adam Konarski by Jacopo Tintoretto

In 1552, a brilliant diplomatic career of a young nobleman from Greater Poland, Adam Konarski (1526-1574), began. King Sigismund Augustus sent him to Rome as an envoy to Pope Julius III. Perhaps the effect of this mission was the sending of the first apostolic nuncio to Poland in 1555, Bishop Luigi Lippomano.

Adam was a son of voivode of Kalisz Jerzy Konarski and Agnieszka Kobylińska. He studied at the Lubrański Academy in Poznań, then in Frankfurt an der Oder, from 1542 in Wittenberg and later in Padua, from where he returned to his homeland in 1547. He decided to devote himself to a career in the church as a priest, but as a result of refusal to receive the office of coadjutor of Poznań, he decided, upon the advice of his father, to pursue a secular career. In 1548 he became the secretary of King Sigismund Augustus and in 1551 he was appointed chamberlain of Poznań, the official responsible for supervising the servants and the courtiers of the king. In the same year, he finally received the Poznań provostry, but he did not quit his job at the royal chancellery.

On the occasion of the king's wedding with Catherine of Austria, he went to Kraków in June 1553 together with the nuncio Marco Antonio Maffei (1521-1583), Archbishop of Chieti (born in Bergamo in the Venetian Republic) and returned to Rome in November to stay there until April 1555 (after Emanuele Kanceff, ‎Richard Casimir Lewanski "Viaggiatori polacchi in Italia", p. 119). Upon his return, he received the post of canon of Kraków and scholastic of Łęczyca. He was again sent to Rome in 1557 after the death of Queen Bona and in 1560, also to Naples, regarding the inheritance of the Queen. In 1562, for his services to the king, he received the office of the bishop of Poznań, which he took upon his return to Poland in 1564. In 1563 Girolamo Maggi (ca. 1523-1572), an Italian scholar, jurist and poet, also known by his Latin name Hieronymus Magius, dedicated to Konarski his Variarvm lectionvm seu Miscalleneorum libri IIII, published in Venice (Venetiis : ex officina Iordani Zileti). In 1566-1567 Adam travelled to Padua.  

Bishop Konarski died on December 2, 1574 in Ciążeń and was buried in the Poznań Cathedral. His beautiful tomb monument there (in the Holy Trinity chapel) was created by royal sculptor (mentioned in the documents of the royal court in 1562), Gerolamo Canavesi, who, according to his signature, created it in his workshop at St. Florian's Street in Kraków (Opus Ieronimi Canavesi qui manet Cracoviae in platea Sancti Floriani). It was transported and installed in Poznań in about 1575. 

The portrait of a bearded man holding gloves by Jacopo Tintoretto in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin was purchased at Christie's, London, in 1866 (oil on canvas, 116 x 80 cm, inv. NGI.90). According to Latin inscription the man was 29 years old in 1555 (1555 / AETATIS.29), exactly as Adam Konarski when he was returning from his mission to Italy, undeniably through the Republic of Venice, to Poland-Lithuania. The man bears great resemblance to the effigy of Bishop Adam Konarski in the National Museum in Poznań and his tomb sculpture in the Poznań Cathedral.

Portrait of royal secretary Adam Konarski (1526-1574), aged 29 by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1555, National Gallery of Ireland.

Portraits of Franciszek Masłowski by Tintoretto

The years 1555-1557 were important in the life of the young nobleman Franciszek Masłowski (Franciscus Maslovius). In 1555 he was appointed counselor to the Polish nation at the University of Padua. The following year he undoubtedly participated with other Polish students in organizing the reception of Queen Bona Sforza who traveled to Bari via Padua and Venice. In 1557, at the age of around 27, he published in Padua his translation from Greek into Latin of Demetrius of Phalerum's treatise on rhetoric (Demetrii Phalerei, De elocutione liber a Francisco Maslovio Polono in Latinum conversus ...). 

In December 1555, Bona, who had taken her treasures with her and had previously sent money to Venice, was in Italy. Already in September 1555, her ambassador Arturo Pappacoda made efforts to obtain permission to pass through the lands of the Republic of Venice. The queen arrived in the city of Treviso, welcomed by the knight Giovanni Cappello (1497-1559), patricians of Treviso and Venice, who led her to the city of Padua. On March 27, 1556, she entered the city accompanied by her ladies traveling in twelve black velvet carriages each pulled by four horses. In each carriage sat three ladies dressed in Italian and Polish fashion, followed by other carriages for ladies and servants. The triumphal arch with Corinthian columns was built by the Veronese architect Michele Sanmicheli (1484-1559). Emblems and inscriptions adorned this gate and the figure of Bona represented as personification of Poland (la Polonia in figura di Reina) and provided with the inscription: Polonia virtutis parens et altrix, which could be translated as "Poland, nourisher and mother of virtue". A book by Alessandro Maggi da Bassano, a Paduan scholar and collector of antiquities, published in Padua in 1556, entitled "Description of the arch made in Padua on the arrival of the Most Serene Queen Bona of Poland" (Dichiaratione dell'arco fatto in Padova nella venvta della serenissima reina Bona di Polonia), describes the decorations. The allegorical statue of Bona was probably similar to the allegory of Poland from her tomb in Bari (Basilica of Saint Nicholas), in the form of a half-naked woman holding the arms of the kingdom (the eagle), sculpted by Francesco Zaccarella between 1589-1593.

The arrival of the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania was a very important event for the Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian community in Italy. The wealthy queen also distributed generous gifts, for example to several women from Padua, she presented each of them with a crucified Christ, carved from coral, and a hundred Hungarian gold coins (after "Il passaggio di regina Bona Sforza per Padova e Venezia" by Sandra Fyda, p. 29, 31). Thus, although she was the wife and mother of elected and not hereditary monarchs, her arrival was also important for the local population. The splendor of her reception was also noted by some foreigners, such as the Earl of Devonshire, who wrote on March 29, 1556 to John Mason, the English ambassador to the court of Charles V, that the Queen of Poland had arrived in Padua and had been received there with great solemnity (after "Polska w oczach Anglików ..." by Henryk Zins, p. 82). She was also received with great honors by the Duke of Ferrara, in whose palace she stayed. After a month-long stay in Padua, the queen arrived in Venice on April 26, 1556, where she was greeted with great pomp by a delegation of one hundred of the most distinguished patrician women. At the age of about 91, at the bequest of the Doge Francesco Venier (1489-1556), the Venetian writer Cassandra Fedele (ca. 1465-1558) gave her last public speech, an oration welcoming the queen. In Venice, Bona embarked for Bari, escorted by a fleet of galleys of the Serenissima. 

Masłowski dedicated his translation of Demetrius' work to Bishop Jan Przerębski (ca. 1519-1562), Vice-Chancellor of the Crown and royal secretary, with whose support he went to study in Italy in 1553. The dedicatory letter preceding his translation is dated from Padua on April 5, 1556 "when we were waiting for the arrival of Queen Bona" (Patauio. V. Cal. April. quo die Bonę reginę ad nos aduentum expectabamus. Anno à Christo nato MLLVI), however, this date is probably incorrect and should rather be March 1556 (compare "Kilka uwag o łacińskich przekładach traktatu Demetriusza ..." by Jerzy Starnawski, p. 201). He was helped in his work by a professor of philosophy and rhetoric Francesco Robortello (Franciscus Robortellus, 1516-1567), who encouraged Franciszek to translate the text when he took refuge from the plague at professor's country estate.

In 1557 another Pole Stanisław Iłowski (Stanislaus Ilovius, d. 1589), a nobleman of Prawda coat of arms, from Masovia, also published in Basel his Latin translation of the same treatise (Demetrij Phalerei De Elocutione Liber a Stanislao Ilovio Polono ...), which he dedicated to Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565), in dedicatory letter from 1556.

Franciszek actively participated in the life of Sarmatian students at the University of Padua, among whom were Jan Kochanowski, Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki (Andreas Patricius), Jan Grodziecki, Stanisław Warszewicki, Piotr Giezek (Petrus Gonesius) and Mikołaj Śmieszkowic (Nicolaus Gelasinus). His studies at the faculties of philosophy and law at the University of Padua lasted until 1558. Shortly after his return to Poland-Lithuania, he probably worked for Bishop Przerębski. He began his public activity as a deputy from the Sieradz Voivodeship to the Warsaw Sejm in 1570. In the same year, he became royal secretary to Sigismund Augustus and the Wieluń scribe. Later, he was also secretary to King Stephen Bathory. 

According to most sources, Franciszek was born around 1530 as the son of Piotr, a judge of Wieluń, and Anna Gawłowska (compare "Polski slownik biograficzny ...", 1935, Volume 20, p. 124). The noble Masłowski family of Samson coat of arms, from which he came, originated from the Wieluń region. His marriage to Konstancja Konarska left no descendants. He probably died after 1594, although according to some sources he died young in Padua. The epigram of his friend Jan Kochanowski Do Franciszka probably refers to his travels to Rome and Greece, and in 1573 he went to France with a Polish-Lithuanian delegation offering the throne to Henry of Valois.

In addition to Latin and Greek, he probably knew Italian well after five years of study in Italy and brought many souvenirs from his stay. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find any trace of the Masłowski family in Wieluń and the surrounding area today. The town was destroyed by fires in 1631 and 1644, but also by Swedish forces in 1656 and by Polish troops, who took revenge on its Protestant inhabitants for their support of the Lutheran Swedes. On September 1, 1939, the town was bombed by the German Luftwaffe.

Since Italy and especially Venice in the 16th century were famous for their painters, Franciszek most likely took many portraits with him. Kochanowski probably refers to such a portrait received as a gift from Masłowski in his In imaginem Franc. Maslovii, in which he comments that the "portrait is skillfully painted," but that the painter has not captured "the knowledge and the greatest talent" (Exiguam, Francisce, tui suavissime partem / Scita licet nobis ista tabella refert. / Agnosco faciem, verosque in imagine vultus, / Doctrinam et summum non video ingenium). These portraits were usually ordered in several copies, some of which the young student must have also given to his friends in Italy.

In the Fondation Bemberg, Hôtel d'Assézat, in Toulouse, France, is a "Portrait of a Gentleman" (Portrait de gentilhomme, oil on canvas, 107 x 88 cm, inv. 1167), attributed to Jacopo Robusti, better known as Tintoretto. A black embroidered velvet doublet, gloves, and a valuable sword held by the man indicate that he was a wealthy nobleman. The painting was acquired in Venice by an English amateur artist John Skippe (1741-1812) in 1784. Unfortunately, the identity of the sitter has long been lost. The family or friends of this young man, who owned the painting, did not affix any inscription or coat of arms to the portrait, indicating that he was probably a foreigner in the Venetian Republic. The date placed on the base of the column in the lower left corner of the painting, informs us in Italian that the man was 26 years old on March 12, 1556 (1556 / DI.XII MARZO / A.XXVI), exactly like Franciszek Masłowski, when with other members of the Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian community he was preparing for the arrival of Queen Bona.

According to my findings, Tintoretto often painted portraits of Bona's son, Sigismund Augustus; we can therefore assume with great probability that he also painted the portrait of his future secretary.

The same man, although older, was depicted in another painting attributed to Tintoretto, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 105.5 x 86 cm, inv. GG 1539). The painting can be verified in the 1720 inventory of the imperial painting collections of Stallburg in Vienna, so like other paintings in this collection, it most likely comes from former Habsburg collections. During the second interregnum (1575), Masłowski (together with his brother Gabriel) was a supporter of Emperor Maximilian II (1527-1576), son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), whose act of election he signed in 1575, against the Infanta Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) and her husband. In 1587, during the third royal election, he signed the election of the emperor's son, Archduke Maximilian III (1558-1618). The Habsburgs thus received an effigy of their supporter in the Commonwealth. The difference in eye color (blue and brown) is either the effect of the painter not having seen the real model at the time the Viennese painting was made around 1562 or later, or the use of cheaper pigments (common practice for copies). ​His dark hair and red beard were either natural or the effect of a certain fashion at the royal court.

​Portrait of a nobleman Franciszek Masłowski (ca. 1530 - after 1594), aged 26, holding a sword and gloves, by Tintoretto, 1556, Fondation Bemberg in Toulouse.

​Portrait of a nobleman Franciszek Masłowski (ca. 1530 - after 1594), sitting in a chair by Tintoretto, ca. 1562 or after, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Self-portraits and portraits of Sigismund Augustus by Lucia Anguissola

Provenance of a portrait of a lady sitting in a chair from the collection of the royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (inventory number Wil. 1602) is unknown. It was suggested that it comes from the collection of Aleksander Potocki or his parents - Aleksandra née Lubomirska and Stanisław Kostka Potocki, however it cannot be excluded that it comes from the royal collection. It may be tantamount to "The picture in which the Seated Lady" (No. 247. Obraz na ktorym Dama Siedzi), mentioned in the inventory of the Wilanów Palace from 1696 in the part concerning paintings brought from various royal residencies to Marywil Palace in Warsaw (Connotacya Obrazow, w Maryamwil, zostaiących, ktore zroznych Mieysc Comportowane były, items 242-303). The painting in Wilanów was attributed to Agnolo Bronzino and Scipione Pulzone. 

The woman was also depicted in other similar portrait in quarter-length, which is in Galleria Spada in Rome. This painting is attributed to Sofonisba Anguissola, while the costume is similar to that visible in Lucia Anguissola's self-portrait in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan. The latter painting is more a miniature (28 x 20 cm) and was signed and dated '1557' by the author (MD / LVII / LVCIA / ANGUISOLA / VIRGO AMILCA / RIS FILIA SE IP / SA PINX.IT). Lucia was Sofonisba's younger sister and was initiated into painting by Sofonisba and perhaps she perfected herself in Bernardino Campi's studio. Just two years earlier, in 1555, Lucia and her two other sisters Europa and Minerva were portrayed by Sofonisba in her famous Game of Chess, signed and dated on the edge of the chessboard (SOPHONISBA ANGUSSOLA VIRGO AMILCARIS FILIA EX VERA EFFIGIE TRES SUAS SORORES ET ANCILLAM PINXIT MDLV). The Game of Chess was acquired in Paris in 1823 by Atanazy Raczyński and today forms part of the collection of the National Museum in Poznań. The effigy of Lucia in the Game of Chess is very similar to mentioned two portraits in Wilanów and Galleria Spada. A copy of the portrait from Galleria Spada, in green dress, is in private collection. It was identified as effigy of Bianca Cappello, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and attributed to Alessandro di Cristofano Allori or as Sofonisba's self-portrait.

Also another portrait is similar to mentioned two works in Wilanów and Rome, a portrait of a lady as Saint Lucy, half-length, in a red embroidered dress and brown mantle, attributed to circle of Sofonisba Anguissola, which was sold in December 2012 (Christie's, lot 171). It was painted more from above, like a self potrait looking in the mirror above sitter's head, therefore the silhouette is more slender and the head bigger. She holds attributes of Saint Lucy (Latin Sancta Lucia, Italian Santa Lucia) - the palm branch, symbol of martyrdom and eyes, which were miraculously restored to her. 

The style of all these three larger effigies, in Wilanów, Galleria Spada and as Saint Lucy, is very similar to the best known work of Lucia Anguissola, the portrait of a physician from Cremona Pietro Manna holding the staff of Asclepius, today in the Prado Museum in Madrid. This work was also signed (LVCIA ANGVISOLA AMILCARIS / F[ilia] · ADOLESCENS · F[ecit]) and was probably sent to King Philip II of Spain to win the royal favor.

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus in armour in full-length in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, discovered by me in August 2017, is stylistically very similar to the portrait in Wilanów described above. In this portrait, however, the king has unnaturally big eyes, that were to become the hallmark of the Sofonisba's self-portraits and portrait miniatures by her hand. We can therefore assume that Lucia sent her self-portrait to Warsaw in order to enjoy royal favour and created some effigies of the royal family basing on miniatures created by her sister.

On November 29, 2017 another portrait attributed to Lucia Anguissola was sold at an auction (Wannenes Art Auctions, lot 657). This work is similar to Lucia's self-portrait in Castello Sforzesco, however her costume and coiffure are almost identical with the so-called Carleton Portrait in Chatsworth House, the portrait of Sigismund Augustus' second wife Barbara Radziwill (1520/23-1551) by circle of Titian. 

The Game of Chess by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1555, National Museum in Poznań.

Self-portrait in a dress of gold cloth by Lucia Anguissola, ca. 1555-1560, Galleria Spada in Rome.

Self-portrait in a green dress by Lucia Anguissola, ca. 1555-1560, Private collection.

Self-portrait sitting in a chair by Lucia Anguissola, ca. 1555-1560, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Self-portrait as Saint Lucy by Lucia Anguissola, ca. 1555-1560, Private collection.

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus by Lucia Anguissola, ca. 1555-1560, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

Portraits of the Jagiellons and Dukes of Pomerania by Giovanni Battista Perini and workshop 

"The most illustrious prince, a very dear friend. Not so long ago Johannes Perinus, our distinguished and faithful painter, complained to us, although the inheritance of his uncle the late Johannes Perinus had passed to himself and his brothers by a legitimate line of succession as the closest relatives, yet they discovered Franciscus Taurellus and his consorts, who from the donation they would contend that the same inheritance belonged to them" (Illustrissime princeps, amice plurimum dilecte. Conquestus est apud nos non ita pridem Johannes Perinus, pictor insignis ac fidelis noster, etsi haereditas patrui quondam Johannis Perini ad se fratresque suos legitimo successionis tramite tanquam ad proximos agnatos ab intestato devoluta esset, repertos tamen Franciscum Taurellum et consortes eius, qui (quod) ex donatione eandem haereditatem ad se pertinere contenderent), wrote Duke John Frederick of Pomerania (1542-1600) in a letter dated June 10, 1578 from Szczecin to Francesco I de' Medici (1541-1587), Grand Duke of Tuscany.
 
The duke intervened in favor of the Italian painter Giovanni Battista Perini (Parine) from Florence, his court painter. Before he become the "Princely Pomeranian portrait painter" (fürstlich-pommerischen Contrafaitmaler), he worked for the Electoral court in Berlin and in about 1562 he created the portrait of Electress Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573), known from a copy by Heinrich Bollandt (Berlin Palace, lost during World War II), and the portrait of her husband Joachim II (Berlin City Museum, VII 60/642 x). He probably became Joachim's court painter in 1524, as a certain painter Johann Baptista was mentioned as such at that date, and he was considered "the best painter of all in the Margraviate [of Brandenburg]" (der beste Maler überhaupt in der Mark). As he worked for the Electress and as it was customary in the 16th century to lend painters to other royal and princely courts, he probably also worked for the Jagiellons.

A certain Giovanni Battista Perini, son of Piero, is mentioned in Florence in 1561 and 1563, but the profession is not specified. If he was the painter of Joachim II, then either he returned to his homeland, or he worked on the orders of the Elector from Florence.

We generally think of "remote work" as a 21st century invention, however, already in the 16th century or even earlier many artists were working remotely. Cranach thus worked for several of his clients, as well as many Venetian painters, in particular Titian, copying other paintings and study drawings. For Charles V, in 1548 he painted his wife Isabella of Portugal, who died in 1539, using a mediocre painting as a reference. The Roman sculptor Bernini thus worked for Cardinal Richelieu of France and King of England. The so-called "Book of Effigies" (Visierungsbuch), lost during the World War II, was full of various preparatory drawings for the effigies of the Pomeranian dukes, mainly by Cranach's workshop, including the portraits of John Frederick and his brother Ernest Louis from 1553. They were most likely rendered by the painters with the ready-made portraits. 

The scenario that the Elector's lack of payment prompted Perini to leave Florence to personally claim his due and when he did not receive it he decided to enter the service of the Duke of Pomerania, is also possible. Joachim II died in 1571 and that year he painted the Electress Catharine (in a letter to the same, he asked 110 thalers for it, while she only wanted to give him 80 thalers), and passed at this period much of his time at Kostrzyn (Cüstrin), where he painted the celebrated Leonhard Thurneysser, as appears from one of his letters. Thurneysser paid him 20 thalers for it (after "Berliner Kunstblatt" by Ernst Heinrich Toelken, Volume 1, p. 143).

Perini was employed by the ducal house of Pomerania as early as 1575, because on September 6, 1575, the dowager Duchess Mary of Saxony (1515-1583) wrote in a letter from Wolgast to her eldest son, Duke John Frederick, that the painter complained to her about his salary which was not paid by the elector of Brandenburg (after "Baltische Studien", Volume 36, p. 66). In 1577 he created the retable for the ducal chapel in Szczecin, rebuilt in the Renaissance style between 1575-1577 and decorated with Italianate frescoes (destroyed during air raids in 1944). He undoubtedly made many portraits, however, only one mention, in the inventory of the estate of Duke Barnim X/XII (1549-1603), is known: "full-length effigy of the late Duke John Frederick and of his wife by Johann Baptist" (hochseligen Herzog Johann Friedrichs F. G. und derselben Gemahlin Contrafei per Johannem Baptistam ganzer Gestalt). He died on April 6, 1584 in Szczecin.

Duke John Frederick's contacts with his "very dear friend" Grand Duke Francesco were certainly not limited to a single letter. Monarchs of this era frequently exchanged their effigies and precious gifts and Francesco was a renowned patron of the arts.

In 1560, one of the most productive medalists of the Italian Renaissance, Pastorino de' Pastorini (1508-1592), who four years earlier (in 1556) created a medal with a bust of Queen Bona Sforza, made a medal with bust of Grand Duke Francesco (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974.167). On the obverse it shows the profile of the duke and on the reverse Tiberinus, the genius of the Tiber, and the inscription Felicitati Temporum S.P.Q.R. in Latin. Twelve years later, in 1572, he created another medal of the Duke and in 1579 a medal of his wife Bianca Cappello (Museo del Bargello and British Museum).

Perhaps Francesco recommended Pastorini to Duke John Frederick because the gold medal with his bust was clearly created in Pastorini's style (Münzkabinett in Dresden, BRA4086). Stylistically it is particularly similar to the medals of Gianfrancesco Boniperti and Massimiano Gonzaga, Marquis of Luzzara from the 1550s (both in the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and the medal of Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, from about 1534 (National Gallery of Art, Washington).

According to the date in Latin it was minted in 1573 (M.D.LXXIII). His age is also in Latin (Æ XXXII), his name, however, and the title abbreviation are in German (Hans Friderich H[erzog] Z[u] S[tettin] P[ommern]). Medal with bust of Gracia Nasi the Younger (la Chica) by Pastorini from about 1558 bears the name of the sitter in Hebrew characters and her age in Latin, therefore, such mixtures of languages were not new to Pastorini. Two shaking hands and the inscription "Remember Me" (Memento Me) on the back of John Frederick's medal suggest that it was a gift to his relatives in Saxony.

Between 1971 and 1984, the Royal Castle in Warsaw was rebuilt with funds collected by civil society committees organized throughout Poland and in many foreign countries with large Polish communities. The building, which was the seat of the Polish kings and parliament, was bombed by the Germans in September 1939. During the following years of German occupation, the castle was methodically robbed and looted by the occupier and deliberately left unrestored to cause further damage. In September 1944, shortly before the end of World War II, the Germans blew up the building.

In 1977, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany donated three full-length portraits of the Jagiellons - Sigismund I, his second wife Bona Sforza and his eldest daughter Isabella Jagiellon, Queen of Hungary, to the rebuilt Royal Castle (oil on canvas, 203.5 x 108, 210.5 x 111, 203.5 x 111.5 cm, inventory number ZKW/59, ZKW/60, ZKW/61). The paintings come from the Wittelsbach collection in Munich and may have been part of the dowry of Anna Catherine Constance Vasa, the great-granddaughter of Sigismund and Bona. The painter evidently used the same or similar set of preparatory drawings as the studio of Lucas Cranach the Younger to create miniatures of the Jagiellon family, dated variably between 1553 and 1565 (Czartoryski Museum). These miniatures were bought in London before the mid-19th century by a Polish collector, Adolf Cichowski and purchased by Władysław Czartoryski in Paris in 1859 at the auction of his collection. The provenance of Cranach's set in England is not known. Miniatures commissioned by Polish monarchs from a foreign artist in the 16th century were again purchased abroad in the 19th century.

At that time, Cranach's workshop created several full-length portraits, such as the effigy of Augustus, Elector of Saxony and his wife Anna of Denmark from around 1564 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna), from the imperial collection of the Stallburg in Vienna, therefore very probably a gift to the Habsburgs, or portraits of Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt and his first wife Agnes of Barby-Mühlingen, painted in 1563 (Georgium in Dessau). Thus the paintings of the Jagiellons could be part of a large order for the effigies of the royal family from different painters, including Cranach. Because of this general similarity to miniatures, the Warsaw full-length portraits are attributed to a German or Polish painter, but their style and technique indicate Italian influences.

The set in the Czartoryski Museum is made up of 10 miniature portraits, so at least 7 effigies from the Warsaw cycle are missing, assuming it reflected the Cranach miniatures. The portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (oil on canvas, 201 x 99 cm, Gm 622), destroyed during the Second World War, was probably part of this series as well as two other paintings from this museum - portraits of two wives of Sigismund II Augustus, Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545) and Catherine of Austria (1533-1572), daughters of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547). The composition of the two latter is slightly different from the four paintings described above. They have similar measurements (oil on canvas, 200 x 103 cm, Gm617 and 195.5 x 101.5 cm, Gm623), however, these two have inscriptions in German and in Latin, so either they were from another set or these two alone were made and sent to the sister of the two queens Anna of Austria (1528-1590), Duchess of Bavaria. 

Both paintings depicting the wives of Sigismund Augustus have a similar monogram PF, which is identified as the painter's monogram, but his identity remains unknown, hence he is called the Monogramist PF. The style of the two paintings resembles that of the portrait of Joachim II by Perini in Berlin. His portrait is unsigned and bears a Latin inscription, but its style indicates that the author was a German court painter. It is possible that in the portraits of two queens of Poland the inscription was also added later, and the monogram could be the abbreviation of Perini fecit in Latin, that is, made by Perini. Possibly also the full-length portrait of Sigismund II Augustus in armor by Lucia Anguissola, discovered by me in 2017 (oil on canvas, 200 x 118 cm, Alte Pinakothek in Munich, 7128), belonged to this or a similar cycle, although its composition is different and the painter does not copy the same effigy as Cranach in the Czartoryski series.

Another portrait that could be from the same workshop is the portrait of a bearded man in the Palace of Versailles (oil on paper mounted on canvas, 96 x 77 cm, inv. 893 / M.R.B. 172). It is generally dated to the 17th century, but its style and sitter's costume indicate that it dates from the mid-16th century. The man bears a strong resemblance to the effigy of King Sigismund II Augustus by Venetian painter Battista Franco Veneziano from around 1561 (print, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, RP-P-OB-105.261). Another possible author of this painting could be Giovanni del Monte, who was court painter to the king around 1557, however no signed work by this painter is known.

The only known portrait of Pomeranian rulers attributed to Giovanni Battista Perini was the effigy of Duke John Frederick in the Pomeranian Museum in Szczecin, which was lost during World War II. According to the Latin inscription, it was painted in 1571 (ANNO DOMINI 1571), four years before Perini is generally thought to have entered the Duke's service. Italianate portrait of Duke John Frederick and his wife Erdmuthe of Brandenburg as donors under the crucifix in the main altar of the Church of St. Hyacinth in Słupsk, was undoubtedly created in Perini's milieu. It was most probably founded by Erdmuthe and most likely painted by Jakob Funck in 1602, a painter and carpenter from Kołobrzeg, who signed it with a monogram I.F.F. (Jacobus Funck fecit) on the cross. He may have been trained in Perini's workshop.

In the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm there is a similar small portrait of a princely couple, also close to the style of Perini, although attributed to Lucas Cranach the Younger (oil on panel, 32 x 52 cm, NMGrh 94). It comes from the Gripsholm Castle and according to the 18th century Swedish inscription it depicts Christian IV of Denmark (1577-1648) and his wife Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (1575-1612), which is obviously incorrect as the couple is dressed in costumes from the 1590s, but when they married in 1597, Christian and Anne Catherine were in their twenties while the couple in the painting is much older and effigies do not match other portraits of the King of Denmark and his wife. It can also be compared to the portrait of John Frederick's younger brother Boguslaus XIII and his wife Anna of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg from 1600 and the effigy of a woman closely resembles the model medal with bust of Erdmuthe by Tobias Wolff from 1600 (Münzkabinett in Berlin). The man's face, apart from the mentioned portrait in Słupsk, also resembles the face of Duke John Frederick from his 1594 silver thaler (Münzkabinett in Berlin). Therefore, the painting was most likely transported to Sweden after 1630 during the Swedish occupation of Pomerania.

​Portrait of King Sigismund I (1467-1548) by workshop of Giovanni Battista Perini, 1550s or 1560s, Royal Castle in Warsaw.

​Portrait of Queen Bona Sforza (1494-1557) by workshop of Giovanni Battista Perini, 1550s or 1560s, Royal Castle in Warsaw.

​Portrait of Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), Queen of Hungary by workshop of Giovanni Battista Perini, 1550s or 1560s, Royal Castle in Warsaw.

​Portrait of Crown Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) by workshop of Giovanni Battista Perini, 1550s or 1560s, Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, lost. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portrait of Queen Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545), aged 16 by Giovanni Battista Perini, 1542 or after, Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.

​Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572), aged 24 by Giovanni Battista Perini, 1557 or after, Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) by Giovanni Battista Perini or Giovanni del Monte, ca. 1560, Palace of Versailles. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Gold medal with bust of Duke John Frederick of Pomerania (1542-1600), aged 32 by Pastorino de' Pastorini, 1573, Münzkabinett in Dresden (Photo: © SKD). 

​Portrait of Duke John Frederick of Pomerania (1542-1600) and his wife Erdmuthe of Brandenburg (1561-1623) by circle of Giovanni Battista Perini, possibly Jakob Funck, 1590s, Gripsholm Castle.

Portaits of Sophia Jagiellon, Duchess of Brunswick by Lucas Cranach the Younger, French and Flemish painters

​Following the Second Margraves' War (1552-1555), King Ferdinand I confiscated the estates of Albert II Alcibiades (1522-1557), Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, grandson of Sophia Jagiellon (1464-1512), and his lands were subject to imperial sequestration. Upon Albert's death on January 8, 1557 in Pforzheim, the inheritance was claimed by two other descendants of Sophia Jagiellon: her other grandson George Frederick (1539-1603), Margrave of Ansbach, and her son Albert of Prussia (1490-1568). By mid-February 1557, Margrave George Frederick already had the support of a large group of allies, including the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, the Duke of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Küstrin and the Landgrave of Hesse, as well as the Duke of Württemberg and the Margrave of Baden. These and their advisors jointly petitioned King Ferdinand, the Emperor's representative, to demand that George Frederick be immediately invested with the Principality of Kulmbach and, in lengthy speeches, described the current situation as a disgrace to the House of Brandenburg.

Having already assumed the government of the Principality of Ansbach in 1556, at the age of 15, George Frederick sought, after the death of Albert Alcibiades, who died without issue, to reunite the Kulmbach region, occupied by the Bohemian Governor, Count Schlick, under imperial sequestration, with the principality he had inherited. Thanks to the efforts of his family and allies, the young prince finally obtained the withdrawal of the Bohemian Governor, which allowed him to enter the city of Bayreuth on March 27, 1557. To the great displeasure of the Catholic Habsburgs, the Protestant George Frederick reunited in his hands substantial lands surrounding the imperial city of Nuremberg, as well as several possessions in Silesia.

As for Albert of Prussia's claims, although he was supported by Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia and Sigismund Augustus and his wife, Catherine of Austria, decided to write personal letters of support, it was claimed that, upon the election as the Grand Master, the Duke had renounced his claims to the Franconian inheritance. His Brandenburg relatives also opposed Albert's investiture (after "Das preussisch polnische Lehnsverhältnis ..." by Stephan Dolezel, p. 93). 

The complex case of the Franconian inheritance was undoubtedly discussed in Wolfenbüttel, where the aged Henry II (V) "the Younger" (1489-1568), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and his much younger wife Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) hosted the electoral couple of Saxony - Augustus (1526-1586) and his wife Anne of Denmark (1532-1585), Prince Magnus of Denmark (1540-1583), Duke of Holstein, and two dukes of the House of Guelph - Otto II (1528-1603), Duke of Brunswick-Harburg and Ernest III of Brunswick-Grubenhagen-Herzberg (1518-1567), husband of Margaret of Pomerania-Wolgast (1518-1569). The Duke of Brunswick, who took command of the League's troops against Albert II Alcibiades, lost two eldest sons at the Battle of Sievershausen in 1553. His youngest son, Julius, destined to become a clergyman and infirm, became heir to the principality to the despair of his father, who noticed his fragile constitution and his sympathies for French culture and the Protestant faith (after "Wolfenbüttel: Geist und Glanz einer alten Residenz" by Friedrich Thöne, p. 43). Therefore, Henry, then sixty-seven years old and widowed since 1541, decided to marry the Jagiellonian princess (February 22, 1556). The Duke designated the future children of this marriage as his heirs, while Julius was to receive a life annuity. However, Henry's second marriage remained childless.

Sophia brought 32,000 florins as a dowry and a rich trousseau worth 100,000 to 150,000 thalers, silverware, carpets and jewelry and later inherited 50,000 ducats from Bona's inheritance. Shortly after the wedding, the duke decided to rebuild Wolfenbüttel Castle, as he indicated in his letter to Philip I (1504-1567), Landgrave of Hesse, dated June 25, 1556. The architect was probably Francesco Geromella (Chiaramella) da Gandino, who worked in Wolfenbüttel between 1556 and 1559 and who probably arrived in Wolfenbüttel from Venice (his presence there is confirmed in September 1554). The Langelsheim steelworks, founded by Duke Henry in 1556, was named Frau-Sophien-Hütte in Sophia's honor. Prince Julius, in turn, was a propagator of French culture. He studied first in Cologne, then in Leuven in Flanders, and from 1550 he traveled to France. After the initial tensions following Henry's death, Sophia's relationship with her stepson was friendly, as evidenced by a letter from Julius dated December 30, 1573, in which he offered her, as a New Year's gift, a carved alabaster and marble door frame (ein Thürgericht) and a vase (Kantel) made of the same material. These works were by the renowned French sculptor Adam Lecuir (Liquier Beaumont), who also created the funerary sculpture of Sophia in St. Mary's Church in Wolfenbüttel. Also at this time, the widowed duchess became friends with the Francophile Landgrave William IV of Hesse-Kassel (1532–1592) and supported the French bid for the Polish throne. 

Sophia also had Schöningen Castle, her widow's seat, rebuilt. She ordered large windows to be made in the main, residential part of the castle, overlooking the courtyard, from which an entrance in the form of a spiral staircase was built. In the "new tower", on the wall of the chamber intended for the castle chapel, a beautiful Renaissance bay window (more Italico) was constructed. In 1569, a bell funded by Sophia was hung in the eastern tower of the castle. The building had numerous bedrooms, service rooms, kitchens, pantries, a large dance hall (Dantz Sadell), a chapel and a magnificent fountain erected in the middle of the courtyard. Inventories from 1575 mention more than 100 pictures hanging on the walls of the rooms occupied by Sophia or placed on furniture. Most of them, up to 70, were devoted to religious themes, including the Passion, the Crucifixion, and effigies of the Virgin Mary. On the other hand, the absence of images of Saint Stanislaus, Saint Adalbert, and other patron saints of Poland in this collection is somewhat surprising, although Sophia owned paintings of Saint John, Saint Christopher, and Saint Bernard. She also owned a painting depicting the beheading in 1568 of the leaders of the anti-Spanish opposition in the Netherlands and 31 portraits, including Sigismund Augustus, the children of Catherine Jagiellon, Sigismund and Anna, and Henry of Valois, King of Poland and France. However, the list does not include the portrait of Bona Sforza promised to Sophia by her sister Catherine in 1572, and strangely enough, there are no images of the princess's sisters, nor finally a portrait of herself, although it is known that such a picture was painted in 1556 by Peter Spitzer (after "Zofia Jagiellonka ..." by Jan Pirożyński, p. 117, 130, 135). This indicates that some of the paintings depicting religious scenes were in fact disguised portraits. Sophia's German family was represented by a portrait of Duke Henry in full armor, and then portraits of his daughters from his first marriage - Catherine and Margaret, Duke Julius and his wife Hedwig of Brandenburg (1540-1602), daughter of Sophia's stepsister, Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573). According to the inventory of Wolfenbüttel Castle drawn up in 1589, it is known that in the large "Burgundy Hall" there were two portraits depicting Duke Henry the Younger with the Order of the Golden Fleece and his second wife Sophia Jagiellon. It can be assumed that these two paintings previously belonged to Sophia, although they are not mentioned in the Schöningen inventory of 1575.

A private collection holds a fragment of a painting, painted in the style of Lucas Cranach the Younger, depicting the head and bust of a reclining nude woman in a landscape (panel, 35.5 x 30.5 cm). The painting was confiscated in 1938 from the family of the Jewish art dealer Heinemann in Munich. It is considered a fragment of a larger composition depicting the reclining water nymph Egeria, a form of the Roman goddess of the hunt Diana, as in the disguised portraits of Queen Bona, mother of Sophia, that I have identified. In this respect, the painting can be compared with the one by Lucas Cranach the Younger in the National Museum in Oslo, dated "1550" (inv. NG.M.00522). Interestingly, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo owns another painting by Lucas Cranach the Younger, which appears to be a fragment of the same painting as the woman's face from the Heinemann collection (panel, 53 x 69 cm, inv. KM 100.320). The Otterlo fragment depicts a stag hunt and bears, in the lower center, the painter's mark and the year "1557". It comes from the Marczell de Nemes collection, auctioned in Paris in 1913. The fragment of a woman's hand wearing a bracelet, visible in the lower left, confirms that this is indeed a fragment of a composition depicting a naked water nymph. The stag hunt takes place near a large city, visible in the background on the left. This is Nuremberg, and the view corresponds perfectly to the panorama published by Braun and Hogenberg in 1575 (Wrocław University Library, 8-IV.B./2). This same panorama shows typical costumes of Nuremberg, but no hairstyle or women's cap matches that of the image from the Heinemann collection. Although the woman's forehead was shaved, as was the custom at that time in Germany and Poland-Lithuania, her hairstyle is typical of French fashion, as evidenced by the portrait of a lady dated "1557" in the upper right corner, painted by Catharina van Hemessen (Lempertz in Cologne, Auction 1197, May 21, 2022, lot 2011A). Several of the noble guests who visited Wolfenbüttel in 1557 were painted by Cranach the Younger and his workshop.

It is not known why the painting was cut into pieces and what happened to the other parts. It may have been cut up because of its poor condition or to sell pieces more profitably - landscapes and portrait. Another possible reason was that the painting was controversial, due to the woman's nudity, its meaning, or both. Why did the goddess, a wealthy aristocrat following French fashion, organize a hunt near Nuremberg? The events in 1557, the year the painting was created, provide a clue. Since hunting was usually organized on one's own lands or on the territories of friendly rulers, the woman wanted to demonstrate that the lands surrounding Nuremberg were her family estates. Her facial features bear a striking resemblance to known effigies of Sophia Jagiellon, such as the funerary sculpture by Lecuir in Wolfenbüttel or the miniature by Cranach the Younger in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków (inv. MNK XII-544). The image as a whole, like the disguised portraits of Sophia's mother, can therefore be interpreted as an important message to the Habsburgs and their supporters. In this context, this controversial portrait of the Duchess of Brunswick could therefore have been cut into pieces as early as the 16th century.

A very similar and idealized effigy of the same woman from the same period, attributed to the 16th-century School of Fontainebleau, is in a private collection (oil on panel, 49.6 x 38.1 cm, Christie's New York, Auction 1822, April 19, 2007, lot 11). In the early 20th century, the painting belonged to the D'Atri collection in Paris and Rome. Like in the painting by Cranach the woman is naked, she has a partially shaved forehead and red hair. She wears jewelry in her hair, resembling a diadem and an elaborate necklace. A similar painting of this woman, also attributed to the School of Fontainebleau, from the second half of the 16th century, depicts her as Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, fertility, and motherhood, holding a cornucopia. This "Portrait of a lady as Ceres" is also in a private collection (oil on panel, 101 x 79.5 cm, Bonhams London, December 7, 2005, lot 73). In this version, the lady wears a gold necklace and bracelets, however, the painter has marked the dark roots of her red hair, indicating that she had dyed it. Another version of the same effigy, also attributed to the School of Fontainebleau and known as a "Portrait of a young woman" or "Allegory of Beauty", could be a work by a Flemish painter, as its style indicates (oil on panel, 47.5 x 30 cm, Sotheby's Paris, June 26, 2014, lot 3). The versions at King's College, Cambridge (oil on panel, 47 x 34.5 cm) and Eton College, Windsor (oil on canvas, 48.5 x 37 cm, inv. FDA-P.38-2010) are traditionally identified as portraits of Elizabeth "Jane" Shore (ca. 1445 - ca. 1527), mistress of King Edward IV of England, following a rather simplistic belief that a naked lady must be a courtesan or the favorite of a monarch. The painting at King's College has been dendrochronologically dated to 1550-1560. The earliest reference to Jane Shore's likeness at King's College is in the 1660 inventory, while Eton's is mentioned in 1714. As both colleges were supported by the King of England, it is quite possible that one or both paintings were originally in the royal collection. In a portrait from a private collection in Genoa (Italy) – collections of works of art and furniture from three exclusive Genoese residences (oil on panel, 49 x 37 cm, Cambi Casa d'Aste, Auction 837, June 30, 2023, lot 687), the same model was depicted wearing a red French-style dress. This painting was auctioned with an attribution to the 17th-century English School (Scuola inglese del XVII secolo, Ritratto di gentildonna in abito rosso), probably due to the fact that many similar effigies are identified as portraits of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.

The Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover holds another portrait from the same period, painted in a similar style, probably by the same painter or his circle (oil on panel, 49 x 34.5 cm, inv. KM 105, exhibited at Wolfenbüttel Castle). This portrait comes from the collection of Sophia of the Palatinate (1630-1714), Electress of Hanover, where it was considered an effigy of Eva von Trott (ca. 1506-1567), mistress of Duke Henry II of Brunswick. In 1558, Henry ended this affair and offered Eva a residence at the Kreuzstift monastery in Hildesheim. Due to the Spanish clothing, the portrait is dated to the beginning of the second half of the 16th century. At that time, Eva von Trott was around fifty years old. The portrait, however, shows a much younger woman and, on this basis, is now identified as representing Sophia Jagiellon (after "Die deutschen, französischen und englischen Gemälde ...", ed. Angelica Dülberg, p. 87). The model's facial features closely resemble those of the woman in the portrait from the D'Atri collection and the portrait in the guise of Ceres. Her tiara is identical to that in the portrait from the D'Atri collection, while her Spanish dress is similar to that visible in the portrait of Sophia, depicted with blond hair, today in the Czartoryski Museum (inv. MNK XII-296), identified by me. This painting is attributed to Peter Spitzer, a pupil of Cranach, court painter to Duke Henry, active in Brunswick between 1533 and 1578. However, since its style is closer to the Flemish school, his authorship is unlikely.

Sophia and her half-sister Hedwig Jagiellon, Electress of Brandenburg, although they had lived in Germany for several years and knew the language, felt isolated and estranged there, as expressed in the letter from the Duchess of Brunswick to Sigismund Augustus from January 1571. "And because Her Grace [Hedwig Jagiellon] as well as myself are completely foreign and unknown in these countries and do not know where to look for consolation, advice, protection, and demands from anybody else but God and Your Royal Highness", Sophia wrote to her brother (after "Dynastic identity, death and posthumous legacy of Sophie Jagiellon ..." by Dušan Zupka, p. 797, 803). In a letter to her relative, Emperor Maximilian II, son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), dated from Schöningen on January 17, 1573, Sophia describes herself as "a poor, foreign widow and previously deeply troubled and abandoned, living among a foreign and unknown nation in these lands, destituted and deprived of almost all earthly and human comforts" (ausländische und zuvor hoch bekümmerte und verlassene arme Wittwe, unter einer frembden und unbekanten Nation diser Lande gesessen, fast alles Irdischen und Menschlichen trosts destituirt, und beraubt worden). This isolation further explains why the Duchess of Brunswick and her portraits are almost completely forgotten in Western Europe today.

S​tag hunt near Nuremberg, fragment of the portrait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick as Diana the Huntress-Egeria by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1557, Private collection.

​Fragment of the portrait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick as Diana the Huntress-Egeria by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1557, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick as Ceres by the School of Fontainebleau, ca. 1556-1560, Private collection.

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick by the School of Fontainebleau, ca. 1556-1560, Private collection.

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick by Flemish or French painter, ca. 1556-1560, Private collection.

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick by Flemish or French painter, ca. 1556-1560, King's College, Cambridge.

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick by Flemish, French or British painter, before 1714, Eton College, Windsor.

Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick in Spanish costume by Flemish or French painter, ca. 1556-1560, Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick in French costume by Flemish or French painter, ca. 1560, Private collection.

Portraits of Sigismund Augustus and his third wife by Tintoretto and Lambert Sustris

After Sigismund I's marriage to Bona Sforza in 1518, the presence of Italian artists in Poland-Lithuania gradually increased.

In 1547 a painter Pietro Veneziano (Petrus Venetus) created a painting to the main altar of the Wawel Cathedral. Ten years later, on March 10, 1557 in Vilnius, King Sigismund Augustus issues a passport to the Venetian painter Giovanni del Monte to go to Italy, and according to Vasari, Paris Bordone has "sent to the King of Poland a painting which was held very beautiful, in which was Jupiter and a nymph" (Mandò al Re di Polonia un quadro che fu tenuto cosa bellissima, nel quale era Giove con una ninfa). The latter also created an allegorical portrait of royal jeweller Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio, receiving medallion with king's effigy as a proof of his nobilitation and royal patronage of Sigismund Augustus.

Giovanni Battista Ferri (Ferro) from Padua in the Venetian Republic worked in Warsaw in about 1548 and the royal accounts from 1563 provide information about the payment of over one hundred thalers to Rochio Marconio, pictori Veneciano for eight paintings made for the king.

Portrait of Sigismund the Old from around 1547 from the collection of the Morstins in Pławowice, today at the Wawel Castle (inventory number ZKWawel 3239), is considered by Michał Walicki as a very definite manifestation of the Venetian tradition (after "Malarstwo polskie: Gotyk, renesans, wczesny manieryzm", p. 33). It is possible that this paining, which is sometimes attributed to German painter Andreas Jungholz, was actually created by Pietro Veneziano or his circle.

Contacts with the Venetian milieu of Titian have very probably further intensified when in 1553 Sigismund Augustus married his cousin Catherine of Austria, widowed Duchess of Mantua as a wife of Francesco III Gonzaga. The high demand for paintings in the Venetian workshops required painters to complete their work quickly. This involved a change in technique which uses a series of fast brushstrokes to create the impression of faces and objects. For many prominent patrons, speed was very important as they required several copies of the same image to be sent to different relatives, like effigies of the Habsburgs by Titian. In a letter of 1548, Andrea Calmo eulogised Tintoretto's ability to capture a likeness from nature in a mere half hour and according to Vasari he worked so fast that he had usually finished while the others were just thinking about starting.  

On December 18, 1565 in Florence, Francesco I de' Medici, who since 1564 was regent of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in place of his father, married Joanna of Austria, the youngest daughter of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), Queen of Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, and sister of Catherine of Austria, Queen of Poland. According to preserved letters, that year Sigismund Augustus sent at least two envoys to Florence: letter of March 10, 1565 notifying Francesco about sending of the envoy Piotr Barzi (from a family of Italian origin), castellan of Przemyśl and two letters of October 2 and 6, 1565 about sending the envoy Piotr Kłoczowski, royal secretary, to attend the wedding (after "Archeion", Volumes 53-56, p. 158).

Around that time Florentine painter Alessandro Allori and his workshop created several portraits of young Francesco I de' Medici holding a miniature of his wife Joanna, which were undoubtedly meant to be sent to different European royal and princely courts. It is possible that also king of Poland, who sent his envoy for Francesco's wedding, received a copy and the version which was acquired before 1826 by Gustav Adolf von Ingenheim (1789-1855), later transported to Rysiowice in Silesia and today in the Wawel Royal Castle (inventory number 2175), may possibly be considered as such. Also the princes of Tuscany undoubtedly had images of the Polish-Lithuanian royal couple. 

Portrait of a man in a fur coat, attributed to Tintoretto, in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (oil on canvas, 110 x 91.5 cm, inv. Contini Bonacossi 33), was acquired in 1969 from the Contini Bonacossi collection in their Villa Vittoria in Florence. According to museum's description of the painting the relationships with Titian's portraiture appear evident in this work.

A man with a long beard in his forties or fifties wears expensive fur coat, which were imported to Western Europe mainly from the eastern part of the continent. Poland and Lithuania at that time were considered as one on the largest exporters of pelts of various animals: "the total number of hides exported from Poland in the second half of the 16th century amounted to about 150,000" (after "Acta Poloniae Historica"​, 1968, Volumes 18 - 20, p. 203). In 1560 Berardo Bongiovanni, Bishop of Camerino reported that, "The king [Sigismund Augustus] dresses simply, but has all kinds of clothes, Hungarian, Italian, of gold cloth, silk, summer and winter attires lined with sables, wolves, lynxes, black foxes, worth over 80,000 gold scudi". Five years later, in 1565, Flavio Ruggieri described the king: "He is 45 years old, of fairly good height, mediocre, great sweetness of character, more inclined to peace than war, speaks Italian by the memory of his mother, he loves horses and he has more than three thousand of them in his stable, he likes jewels of which he has more than a million red zlotys worth, he dresses simply, although he has rich robes, namely furs of great value".​

The man bear a great resemblance to preserved effigies of Sigismund Augustus, especially a minaiture by Lucas Cranach the Younger in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków (inventory number XII-538), created between 1553-1565. The same facial features were also captured in two other portraits attributed to Jacopo Tintoretto or his workshop, both in private collection. In one of them the man, much younger then in the version from the Contini Bonacossi collection, resemble greatly Sigismund Augustus from his effigy created by Marcello Bacciarelli (considered as the effigy of Jogaila of Lithuania), from the Marble Room at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, created between 1768 and 1771 (inventory number ZKW/2713). This portrait was sold in Munich, Germany (oil on canvas, 56 x 44 cm, Hampel Fine Art Auctions, April 11, 2013, lot 570), where there is also a full-length portrait of the king (Alte Pinakothek, inv. 7128). The other was in a private collection in the United States (oil on canvas, 48.9 x 38.8 cm, Christie's New York, May 31, 1991, lot 213). A similar portrait, attributed to Tintoretto, showing the same man from a different angle, is in the Miramare Castle, deposit of the Galleria nazionale d'arte antica di Trieste (oil on canvas, 46 x 41 cm, inv. 47). This "portrait of a man" was purchased from the collection of Pietro Mentasti in 1955 and it is generally dated between 1550 and 1553. In all the mentioned paintings, the model wears coats lined with various expensive furs.
​
It is quite surprising that in today's Italy (apart from my discoveries) it is difficult to find effigies of Sigismund Augustus, whose ties with his mother's native land were strong throughout his life and who was also the heir to the Duchy of Bari and could also claim the Kingdom of Naples and the Duchy of Milan.
​
A companion to the portrait in Uffizi is undoubtedly another portrait from the Contini Bonacossi collection with similar dimensions and composition, showing the man's wife, now in Belgrade (National Museum of Serbia, oil on canvas, 110 x 83 cm). Federico Zeri (1921-1998), noticed the great similarity of this portrait to minaiture of Catherine of Austria in the Czartoryski Museum (Fondazione Federico Zeri, card number 43428), created, like the effigy of Sigismund Augustus, by Lucas Cranach the Younger in his workshop in Wittenberg. However, the portrait is identified as depicting Christina of Denmark (1521-1590), despite bearing no resemblance to any confirmed effigy of widowed Duchess of Milan and Duchess of Lorraine, who dressed more according to French/Netherlandish fashion and not Central European, like the woman in the described portrait.

She is holding a compass in her left hand and her right hand on a celestial globe. Catherine's interest in cartography is confirmed by support to cartographer Stanisław Pachołowiecki, who was in her service between 1563-1566 (after "Słownik biograficzny historii Polski: L-Ż" by Janina Chodera, Feliks Kiryk, p. 1104). She was depicted in a black dress, most probably a mourning dress after death of her father Emperor Ferdinand I (died 25 July 1564), therefore the portrait should be dated to about 1564 or 1565, shortly before her departure to Vienna (October 1566).

A copy of the painting in Belgrade, painted on oak panel, is in Kassel (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, oil on panel, 45.5 x 35 cm, inv. SM1.1.940), where there are also several other portraits of the Polish-Lithuanian Jagiellons, identified by me. The style of the painting in Kassel is more Netherlandish and can be attributed to Lambert Sustris, a Dutch painter, presumably a student of Jan van Scorel, active mainly in Venice where he worked in Titian's studio.

King Sigismund Augustus established a permanent postal connection between Kraków and Venice. "The tasks of the post office included taking orders in the markets, sending very expensive and light goods [like paintings on canvas] and bullion coin" (after "Historia gospodarcza Polski do 1989 roku: zarys problematyki" by Mirosław Krajewski, p. 82). Merchants importing luxury goods, like Tucci, Bianchi, Montelupi, Pinozzo family, coming from Venice, Battista Fontanini, Giulio del Pace, Alberto de Fin, Paolo Cellari, Battista Cecchi, Blenci and many others, used it frequently. 

It was organized on the Italian model and for many years it was operated mainly by Italians. From 1558 it was run by Prospero Provano, then, from 1562, by Christopher de Taxis, former Augsburg postmaster and imperial court postmaster, from 1564 by Pietro Maffon, a native of Brescia in the Venetian Republic, and after him from 1568 by Sebastiano Montelupi, a Florentine merchant, who received an annual salary of 1,300 thalers. 

In 1562, a shipment from Kraków through Vienna to Venice took about 10 days, and from Kraków to Vilnius through Warsaw - 7 days. Royal mail was free of charge, private senders paid according to the agreed rate. Montelupi was obliged to carry royal and diplomatic mail, so he sent horse messengers every week. The royal post was under the management of the Montelupi family for nearly 100 years and they maintained the line between Kraków and Venice until 1662. 

In his book Hercules Prodicius ..., published in Antwerp in 1587, the humanist Stephanus Winandus Pighius (1520-1604) describes the visit of Prince Charles Frederick of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1555-1575), grandson of Queen Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), to his uncle's castle of Ambras, near Innsbruck, in September 1574. "Charles was particularly delighted when he saw in the spacious, magnificent dining room the pictures of the illustrious members of the House of Austria, the relatives of the Emperor Ferdinand and the most flourishing princes of our time, painted from life by the skilful hand of the excellent painter Titian. He was delighted to recognize among them his parents [Maria of Austria (1531-1581) and William of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1516-1592)] in their wedding finery, his grandfather Ferdinand and his wife Anna, mother of such a large family, his great-uncle Charles V with Eleonora, daughter of King Manuel of Portugal [Isabella of Portugal (1503-1539) or Eleanor of Austria (1498-1558)], then the emperor's son Philip with his wife Maria, daughter of King Henry of England [Mary Tudor (1516-1558)], and his uncle Maximilian with Charles V's daughter Maria [Maria of Spain (1528-1603)]. He also looked with delight at King Sigismund of Poland [Sigismund Augustus] in a fur coat, the mighty Duke Alexander of Etruria [Alexander Farnese (1545-1592), Duke of Parma] in shining armor, several aunts and related princes whom he had never seen before", read the description of the family portrait gallery (after "Hercules Prodicius seu Principis iuuentutis vita et peregrinatio", p. 235, Complutense University of Madrid, and "Die k. k. Ambraser-Sammlung: Geschichtliche Einleitung und die Rüstkammern", p. 14).

It seems that all these portraits from the collection of Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595), son of Anna Jagellonica, were made by Titian (principes in tabulis ad vivam effigiem Titiani peritissimi pictoris ingeniosa manu coloribus imitatos). The painter, who according to Carlo Ridolfi (1594-1658) visited Innsbruck after his stay in Spain, probably after 1547 or 1550 and before 1556, must have based all or the majority of these effigies, including the portrait of "King Sigmund of Poland in a fur coat" (Considerare iuuabat pellitum Polonum Sigismundum regem), on other portraits of Habsburgs and their relatives. In his Maraviglie dell'arte ... (p. 166), published in Venice in 1648, Ridolfi confirms that Titian painted portraits of King Ferdinand (emperor from 1556) and his wife Anna, whom he calls Maria, and her daughters in Innsbruck. If Ridolfi could have confused the name of the wife of the King of the Romans, he could also have forgotten or not known that the painter had visited Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia. If Titian's visit to Innsbruck actually took place after 1547, he could not have painted Queen Anna ad vivum (from life), because she died on January 27, 1547 in Prague. This sentence therefore refers more to the impression made by the paintings and not to the fact that all members of the Habsburg family (or the sovereigns who were related to them by marriage) posed directly for Titian in Innsbruck. 

​If the portrait of the Sarmatian monarch was actually painted by Titian in Innsbruck, he must have based it on other effigies or study drawings, just like Tintoretto, whose visit to Sarmatia is also not confirmed by the sources.

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) wearing a fur trimmed coat by Tintoretto, ca. 1550-1553, Galleria nazionale d'arte antica di Trieste.

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) wearing a black fur trimmed coat by Tintoretto, 1550s, Private collection. ​

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) by Tintoretto, 1550s, Private collection.

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in a fur coat by Tintoretto, ca. 1565, Uffizi Gallery. ​

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) with a globe and a compass by Tintoretto or Titian, ca. 1565, National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade. ​

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) with a globe and a compass by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1565, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel.

Portrait of Francesco de' Medici (1541-1587) by Alessandro Allori, ca. 1565, Wawel Royal Castle.

Portaits of Sigismund Augustus, Catherine of Austria and court dwarf Estanislao by Venetian painters

In 1553 Sigismund II Augustus decided to marry for the third time with a widowed Duchess of Mantua and his cousin Catherine of Austria. The wedding celebrations lasted 10 days and Catherine brought as a dowry 100,000 florins as well as 500 grzywnas of silver, 48 expensive dresses, and about 800 jewels. Somewhat distant marriage continued for a few years and Catherine became close with two yet-unmarried sisters of Sigismund, Anna and Catherine Jagiellon. 

The royal court travelled frequently from Kraków through Warsaw to Vilnius. In October 1558 the queen became seriously ill. Sigismund was convinced that it was epilepsy, the same disease that tormented his first wife and Catherine's sister. For this reason, the marriage has become even more distant and the king sought to obtain annulment. It was a matter of international importance, Catherine's father Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor ruled vast territories to the west and south of Poland-Lithuania and assisted Tsar Ivan the Terrible in expanding his empire on eastern border of Sigismund's realm, while Catherine's cousin King Philip II of Spain was the most powerful man in Europe, ruler of half the known world from whom Sigismund was claiming the inheritance of his mother Bona. The queen become attached to her new homeland and her family used their influence to not allow the divorce. The arch-Catholic king of Spain undeniably received portraits of the couple. 

The portrait of a lady in a dress of green damask attributed to Titian from the Spanish royal collection is very similar to Catherine's portrait by the same painter in the Voigtsberg Castle and to her portrait in Belgrade. It is recorded in the inventory of the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid of 1794 as a companion to a portrait of a soldier, now attributed to Giovanni Battista Moroni, a painter trained under Moretto da Brescia and Titian: "No. 383. Another [painting] by Titian: Portrait of a Madam: a yard and a quarter long and a yard wide, companion to 402. gilt frame" (Otra [pintura] de Tiziano: Retrato de una madama: de vara y quarta de largo y una de ancho, compañera del 402. marco dorado) and "No. 402. Another [painting] by Titian: half-length portrait of a man, a yard and a half high and a yard wide, with gilt frame" (Otra [pintura] de Tiziano: retrato de medio cuerpo de un hombre, de vara y media de alto y vara de ancho, con marco dorado). The effigy of "a soldier" bears great resemblance to portraits of the king and his costume is in similar style to that visible in a miniature by Cranach the Younger in the Czartoryski Museum.

The portraits of Sigismund Augustus (most likely) and his third wife were in the collection of the favorite residence of King Philip II - the Royal Palace of El Pardo near Madrid, among the paintings by Titian - "In another box was the portrait of the king of Poland, in armor and without a helmet, on canvas" (En otra caja metido el retrato del rey de Polonia, armado e sin morrion, en lienzo) and "Catherine, wife of Sigismund Augustus, king of Poland" (Catalina, muger de Sigismundo Augusto, rey de Polonia) (compare "Archivo español de arte", Volume 64, p. 279 and "Unveröffentlichte Beiträge zur Geschichte ..." by Manuel Remón Zarco del Valle, p. 236). 

Both paintings have similar dimensions (oil on canvas, 119 x 91 cm / 117 x 92 cm, inventory number P000262, P000487) and matching compostion, just as portraits of Pietro Maria Rossi, Count of San Secondo and his wife Camilla Gonzaga by Parmigianino in the same collection (Prado Museum), with the wife's portrait painted with "cheaper", simple dark background. The portraits of Sigismund and Catherine from Contini Bonacossi collection, although very similar, differ slightly in style, one is closer to Tintoretto, the other to Titian, therefore it cannot be excluded that just as in case of Sigismund's famous Flemish tapestries his large commission for a series of portraits was realized by different cooperating workshops from the Venetian Republic. 

​Copies of "The Venetian Officer", as it is sometimes called in literature, are in the castle of Monselice, also known as Ca' Marcello, near Padua (oil on canvas, Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 45161, from the Cini collection, with the original in Madrid dated 1560-1563) and in a private collection in England (oil on canvas, 126.1 x 95.5 cm, Sotheby's London, October 29, 1998, lot 445, as by an 18th century copyist after Moroni). A smaller version of the portrait of a woman from Prado, today in the Museo Correr in Venice (oil on canvas, 22 x 17 cm, inv. Cl. I n. 0091), is attributed to Domenico Tintoretto (1560-1635).

Sigismund Augustus reunited with his wife in October 1562 at the wedding of Catherine Jagiellon in Vilnius. The king's sisters and his wife dressed similarly and similar Venetian style dress to that visible in the portrait of queen Catherine is included in the inventory of Catherine Jagiellon's dowry: "Damask (4 pieces). A long green damask robe, on it the embroidery of gold cloth with red silk, wide at the bottom, covered with patterned green velvet, trimmed with gold lace on it with green silk. The bodice and sleeves along embroidered with the same embroidery."
​
Sigismund Augustus had his ambassadors in Spain, Wojciech Kryski, between 1559 and 1562 and Piotr Wolski in 1561. He sent letters to the king of Spain and to his secretary Gonzalo Pérez (like on 1 January 1561, Estado, leg. 650, f. 178). He also had his informal envoys in Spain, dwarves Domingo de Polonia el ­Mico, who appears in the house of Don Carlos between 1559 and 1565, and Estanislao (Stanisław, d. 1579), who was at the court of Philip II between 1553 and 1562, and whom Covarrubias cited as "smooth and well proportioned in all his limbs" and other sources described as a skillful, well educated and sensible person (after Carl Justi's "Velázquez y su siglo", p. 621). Estanislao is recorded back in Poland between 1563-1571. Apart from being a skilled huntsman he was also most probably a skilled diplomat, just as Jan Krasowski, called Domino, a Polish dwarf of Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France or Dorothea Ostrelska, also known as Dosieczka, female dwarf of Sigismund's sister Catherine Jagiellon, queen of Sweden. 

Queen Catherine of Austria sent Polish dwarves to her brother Ferdinand II (1529-1595), Archduke of Austria, and to her brother-in-law Albert V (1528-1579), Duke of Bavaria. In the gallery of Archduke Ferdinand II in Ambras, there was a portrait of a "great Pole" (gross Polackh) in a yellow coat with the inscription DER GROS POLAC, probably copied by Anton Boys from an original, mentioned in the inventory of 1621 (Aber ain pildnus aines Tartarn oder Polln mit ainem gelben röckhl, f. 358), while the inventory of the ducal art chamber (Kunstkammer) in Munich of 1598 by Johann Baptist Fickler mentions a portrait of a Polish dwarf Gregorij Brafskofski (Conterfeht des zwergen Gregorij Brafskofski so ain Poläckh, 3299/3268) (after "Die Porträtsammlung des Erzherzogs ..." by Friedrich Kenner, item 159).

In 1563 the king of Spain placed two portraits of Estanislao, one showing him in Polish costume of crimson damask, both by Titian, among the portraits of the royal family in his palace El Pardo in Madrid (included in the inventory of the palace of 1614-1617, number 1060 and 1070). It is also very probable that the king of Poland had his portrait. The portrait of unknown dwarf in Kassel attributed to Anthonis Mor (oil on panel, 105 x 82.2 cm, inventory number GK 39), although stylistically also close to Venetian school, seems to fit perfectly. In the same collection in Kassel there are also other portraits linked to Jagiellons. A pensive monkey in this painting is clearly more a symbol connected to deep knowledge and intelligence than joyfulness. 

​A drawing by Federico Zuccaro (Zuccari) in Cerralbo Museum in Madrid (inventory number 04705) shows a monarch receiving an emissary with a cardinal and figures in Polish costumes. The effigy of the monarch is similar to portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus in coronation robes from the thesis of Gabriel Kilian Ligęza (1628) and other effigies of the king. In the National Gallery of Ireland, there is another drawing by Zuccaro, showing king's mother Bona Sforza (inventory number NGI.3247). Between 1563 and 1565, the painter was active in Venice with the Grimani family of Santa Maria Formosa. It is highly probable that he was also employed on some large order from the king of Poland. 

In addition to the splendid gold-woven tapestries ordered in Flanders, the king purchased other luxury items from foreign merchants. In 1553, the Nuremberg merchant Kasper Niezler sold the king some jewelry for 1,500 zlotys. Similarly, Boneficus Hagenarus sold jewels for 1,264 zlotys and 7 groszy, and Nicolaus Nonarth for 956 zlotys. Nonarth personally brought the valuables to the king in Vilnius in 1554. Until 1560, the king's suppliers of clocks were mainly German merchants, including Andreas Wolprecht in 1549 and Hanus Hellzschmidt from Augsburg in 1558. A year later, a German merchant, whose name is not mentioned, brought the king to Piotrków a "large silver clock", for which he was paid 173 zlotys and 10 groszy. Among the royal suppliers of jewels until 1560, the account books mention two Italians. The first of them, the royal scribe Traiano Provana (Trojan Provano), delivered to Sigismund II Augustus in 1556 gold products set with precious stones, which he had acquired in Italy, as well as a painting by an unknown Italian painter. He received 478 zlotys and 12 groszy for the jewels, and 346 zlotys and 20 groszy for the painting. Three years later, the Italian merchant Antonio Borsano sold a gold box to the Crown Carver Mikołaj Łaski in Kraków, for which he was paid 400 thalers, equivalent to 440 zlotys. In the same year, 500 zlotys were paid to Claudio Moneste mercatori Lugdunensi (from Lyon) for the jewels that the king had personally collected from him (after "Dostawcy dworów królewskich w Polsce i na Litwie ..." by Maurycy Horn, Part II, p. 15). The portraits commissioned by such a splendid patron must have been of the highest class, but because of their relatively low value at the time we do not have many documentary traces. In July 1562, for the processional banner, painted on both sides, Moroni received 13.5 gold scudi, from Andrea Fachinetti and Alberto Vasalli (after "Giovan Battista Moroni ..." by ‎Simone Facchinetti, p. 100). 

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in crimson costume by Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1560, Prado Museum in Madrid.

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in crimson costume by follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1560, Castle of Monselice. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in crimson costume by follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, after 1560 (18th century?), Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) in a dress of green damask by Titian or circle, ca. 1560, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) holding a book by Venetian painter, ca. 1560, Museo Correr in Venice.

Portrait of court dwarf Estanislao (Stanisław, d. 1579) by Anthonis Mor or circle of Titian, ca. 1560, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel. 

Sigismund II Augustus receiving an emissary, with a cardinal and figures in Polish costumes by Federico Zuccaro, 1563-1565, Cerralbo Museum in Madrid.

Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland by Federico Zuccaro, 1563-1565, National Gallery of Ireland.

Portraits of Krzysztof Warszewicki by Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tintoretto

Krzysztof Warszewicki (Christophorus Varsavitius or Varsevitius in Latin), a nobleman of the Kuszaba coat of arms, was born in Warszewice near Warsaw as the son of Jan Warszewicki, castellan of Liw (1544-1554), and later castellan of Warsaw (1555-1556), and his second wife Elżbieta Parysówna. He was born in the first months of 1543, and the year of his birth was certainly determined by Teodor Wierzbowski on the basis of a note by Vincenzo Laureo (Lauro), bishop of Mondovì, papal nuncio in Poland-Lithuania. Describing the Warsaw Convention of 1574, Laureo mentions the attacks and accusations that Warszewicki received from opponents for his previous conduct, especially for the reckless act he committed in Italy fifteen years ago, in 1559, "at the age of sixteen". In his speech to King James I of England in the spring of 1603, Warszewicki states that he is "over sixty years old" (mihi-ultra quam sexagenario).

The old father and the young mother indulged his whims. They send him to the court of King Ferdinand I in Prague and Vienna, where little Krzysztof was admitted as a page. From there the eleven-year-old boy, probably with Ferdinand's envoys, was sent to London for the marriage of Philip of Spain to Mary Tudor, Queen of England. The splendid entry of the Spanish prince into the capital of England on July 25, 1554, despite Krzysztof's young age, already made a strong impression on him and contributed to his sympathies with the Habsburg dynasty. Returning from London to Poland, Krzysztof probably stayed at the court of Jan Tarnowski, castellan of Kraków, or at the court of Jan Tęczyński, voivode of Sandomierz, with whose family Krzysztof's grandfather and father had close relations. He also stayed in his parent's house. Piotr Myszkowski, having met his father at the Piotrków Sejm in 1555, persuaded him to send his son abroad, where he could receive a better education. The castellan decided to send his son to Germany. At the end of April 1556 Krzysztof, together with Franciszek Zabłocki and Jan Głoskowski, came to Leipzig and enrolled as students of the "Polish nation" for the summer term, but after two months they left Leipzig for Wittenberg, where they also enrolled at the university in July of that year. Then Krzysztof went to Prague and Vienna, probably because there he could get letters of recommendation needed for Italy. Leaving Vienna, he took money and a horse from an Italian, but he was caught in Villach and forced to return the stolen things, as Mikołaj Dłuski claimed eighteen years later.

14 years old Warszewicki went Bologna, where he spent over two years studying at the University until the autumn of 1559. The natural stop on his journey from Vienna was Venice, although the precise dates of his stay are not known. In a speech given in Venice in March 1602, he says "after forty years I returned to you" (post quadragesimum annum ad Vos appuli). He also visted Naples, Rome, Florence and Ferrara. Certain aspects of his stay in Italy were discussed at the Convention of Warsaw on September 2, 1574 before the parliament, when he was chosen as envoy from Masovia. Abraham Zbąski and Piotr Kłoczewski, starost of Małogoszcz accused Warszewicki of stealing a gold chain from Krzysztof Lwowski in Naples, that he borrowed money in many Italian towns, escaped and was condemned in absentia, while the Poles lost their reputation with the Italians because of this, and indecency "by debauching with men in a dishonorable way". 

From Venice he returned via Vienna to Poland and in the spring of 1561 he was in Warsaw. He returned to Italy in 1567 and 1571 with Bishop Adam Konarski (1526-1574), as his courtier and secretary. He became a priest in 1598 and thanks to the grant of 150 zlotys from the Kraków chapter and 100 ducats from the council of Gdańsk in October 1600, he returned to Italy again, passing through Prague, Munich, Augsburg and Innsbruck. He visits Mantua, Rome, Genoa, Bologna and stays more than four months in Venice accompanied by Giovanni Delfino (1545-1622), procurator of San Marco (after "Krzysztof Warszewicki 1543-1603 i jego dzieła ...", pp. 56-64, 129). 

Krzysztof's half-brother Stanisław (d. 1591), who studied in Kraków, Wittenberg (under Philip Melanchthon) and Padua, was secretary to King Sigismund II Augustus from 1556. Warszewicki was one of the most vocal critics of the elective system in Poland-Lithuania, although he acknowledged that it was rooted in old Polish customs.

His fascination with the Queen of the Adriatic is best reflected in his first major work, a narrative poem "Venice" (Venecia/Wenecia), first released in 1572 in Kraków, and later in 1587 also in Kraków. The poem applied the convention of a lament uttered by personified Venice, which painted a panoramic view of the relations between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Porte (after "Venice in Polish Literature ..." by Michał Kuran, p. 24). 

In the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, there is a portrait of a boy attributed to Paolo Veronese (oil on canvas, 30.5 x 21.7 cm, inventory number 2570 (OK)). In 1928 the painting was in the collection of Jacques Goudstikker (1897-1940) in Amsterdam (after "Paolo Veronese ..." by Adolfo Venturi, p. 120) and it was purchased by the museum in 1958. The significantly reinforced inscription in the upper part dates the work to 1558 (Anno 1558), when the painter worked on the decoration of the Marciana Library in Venice, painted frescoes in the Palazzo Trevisan in Murano and between 1560 and 1561 he was called to decorate Villa Barbaro in Maser. The inscription may have been added after it left the artist's studio and the boy was 15 or 13 years old (Aetatis 15[3]) because the last number is not clearly visible. At that time, wealthy Venetians preferred larger effigies, full-length or group portraits and frescoes (portraits of Francesco Franceschini, Iseppo da Porto and his son, Livia da Porto Thiene and hier daughter, Giustinia Giustiniani on the balcony), so this small effigy, easy to transport and sent to other places, is quite unusual.

Around 1558, when he was 15, Jan, Krzysztof's father, died and it is not known if he returned to Poland from Bologna, if so, he traveled through Venice or the vicinity. Such a small painting would be a good gift for his worried mother.

The same man, although older, is depicted in another painting from the Venetian school. This larger, half-length portrait by a red curtain was created by Jacopo Tintoretto (oil on canvas, 70.3 x 58 cm, sold at Christie's London on December 7, 2007, live auction 7448, lot 195). It comes from the collection of Oskar Ernst Karl von Sperling (1814-1872), a German major general in the Prussian Army, who stationed in Wrocław and died in Dresden (sold at the Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer in Berlin on September 1, 1931). Its earlier history is unknown.

The landscape behind him shows an imaginative waterside temple with large stairs, a triumphal arch-shaped doorway and a rose window. This is probably the temple of Apollo at Delphi on which the ancients had placed the inscription "Know thyself" (Gnothi seauton). "Let the diplomat, then, as instructed by Apollo of Delphi, and with my advice previously given, strive to know himself", advises Warszewicki in his De legato et legatione from 1595 (after "O pośle i poselstwach" by Jerzy Życki). In this work he also makes frequent reference to Venice. Early in 1567 he left for Rome. On March 21, 1567, he was in Padua and most likely returned to Poland with a letter of March 8, 1570 from Pope Pius V to the Infanta Anna Jagiellon. His letters to Konarski are addressed from Padua - May 18 and August 10, 1571.

In both cases, the only direct link to Venice is the painter, but that does not mean that the model was also Venetian.

​Portrait of Krzysztof Warszewicki (1543-1603) at the age of 15 by Paolo Veronese, 1558, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. 

​Portrait of Krzysztof Warszewicki (1543-1603) by Jacopo Tintoretto, ca. 1571, Private collection.

Portraits of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill by Lambert Sustris and Frans Floris

In 1554 the construction of a large fortess in Berezhany in western Ukraine, called the "Eastern Wawel", was accomplished and its founder Mikołaj Sieniawski (1489-1569), voivode of Ruthenia commemorated it on a stone plaque with Latin inscription above the southern gate. The architect of the building is unknown, however, the Renaissance decor suggests that he was Italian.

Descended from a noble family from Sieniawa in southeastern Poland, he raised the Sieniawski name to great power and importance. Under hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski, of the same clan crest of Leliwa, Sieniawski took part in the battle of Obertyn in 1531 and in as many as 20 other war campaigns. In 1539 with Tarnowski's intercession, he become the Field Hetman of the Crown and received from King Sigismund I the Medzhybizh Fortress, which he rebuilt in Renaissance style. 

Around 1518, he married Katarzyna Kolanka (d. after 1544), daughter of the Field Hetman of the Crown Jan Koła (d. 1543) and a niece of Barbara Kolanka (d. 1550), wife of George Radziwill (1480-1541), nicknamed "Hercules". Sieniawski was a Calvinist and raised his children as Protestants. Nevertheless his eldest son Hieronim (1519-1582), who became a courtier of the king Sigismund Augustus in 1548, married a Catholic, Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (d. 1565). The religion was unsurpassable obstacle in many countries of divided Europe at that time, but apparenly not in the 16th century Poland-Lithuania, the "Realm of Venus", godess of love. 

Hieronim and Elizabeth were married before May 30, 1558 as on this date Sieniawski bequeathed to his wife "for eternity" the estates, including Waniewo, which she had previously granted him "and bequeathed to him by particular Polish laws" (after "Podlaska siedziba Radziwiłłów w Waniewie z początku XVI wieku ..." by Wojciech Bis). Elizabeth, Princess of Goniądz and Medele (Myadzyel), was the youngest of three daughters of John Radziwill (d. 1542) and Anna Kostewicz of Leliwa coat of arms. As John had no son, the Goniądz-Medele line of the Radziwill family became extinct, and his domains were divided between his daughters, Anna, born in 1525, Petronella, born in 1526, and Elizabeth. 

On June 5, 1559, king Sigismund Augustus, orders Piotr Falczewski, Knyszyn leaseholder and Piotr Koniński, governor of Belz, to settle the matter between the royal subjects of the Tykocin Castle and the Kamieniec chamberlain Hieronim Sieniawski and his wife Elizabeth Radziwill. After Elizabeth's death her estates were inherited by her husband, who in 1577 sold Waniewo to the Princes Olelkovich-Slutsky.

In the 18th century, the Berezhany Castle was famous for its collection of paintings  parts of which are now kept in various museums of Ukraine. In 1762, the collection was located in 14 halls, other rooms and a library. The walls were covered with historical pictures. On the plafonds of two large halls there were battle compositions and the Great Hall was decorated with 48 portraits of the kings of Poland. 

In the "Viennese" halls, one with a large canvas on the ceiling showing the Relief of Vienna in 1683 and walls covered with red-gold brocade, there were portraits of Queen Jadwiga and Tsar Peter I, the other with Venetian style gilded ceiling and walls covered with green-red brocade was also hung with portraits. In the room with walls covered with Persian fabric with gold and silver, there were portraits of Hieronim Sieniawski, King Sigismund Augustus, Potocki, voivode of Kiev and a landscape painting. In the next room covered with green-red brocade and red portiere tapestries, there were Italian religious paintings. The gilded wooden ceiling of one of the rooms was decoarated with planets and carved human heads, most probably similar to the orginal coffered ceiling in the Chamber of Deputies at the Wawel Castle. There was a large pyramid-shaped chandelier there and several portraits of family members. Next was the library with other paintings and a room with gilded ceiling with 11 paintings showing the episodes from the Battle of Khotyn (1621) and several other portraits. In the fourth upper room there was a gilded ceiling filled with portraits (after "Brzeżany w czasach Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej: monografia historyczna" by Maurycy Maciszewski, p. 33-34). 

From 1772, after the First Partition of Poland, Berezhany belonged to Austria, while the descendants of the Sieniawski family were based in Russian partition. The abandoned castle gradually fell into disrepair. Many valuable items were sold at auction on August 16, 1784. When princess Lubomirska won the trial in Vienna against the Austrian government to recover the portraits of the Sieniawski family painted on silver and other valuables from the family tombs, it turned out that they were melted for coinage. Paintings and portraits were moved to the outbuildings, where they were rotting and crumbling to dust (after "Brzeżany w czasach Rzeczypospolitej ...", p. 54). The author of an article, published in Dziennik Literacki from 1860 (nr 49) recalled: "Today I will only add that there were very expensive Italian paintings in the chapel and castle halls in Berezhany. There are still people who remembered them. For some of these paintings, the Sieniawskis paid several thousand ducats. Years ago, when I asked the guardian of the chapel and the castle, a simple peasant, where are the paintings, he replied that the smaller ones were dismantled and stolen, and the larger canvases were cut into sacks on the order of the officialists. It happened 30 years ago. There were many historical portraits among the paintings, namely of the Sieniawski family". The deed of destruction was accomplished during the First and Second World War. The "Realm of Mars", god of war, left only ruins in Berezhany.

The portrait of lady in the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa, Ukraine (inventory number ЗЖ-112) was acquired in 1950 from Alexandra Mitrofanovna Alekseeva Bukovetskaya (d. 1956), wife of Ukrainian painter Evgeny Iosifovich Bukovetsky (1866-1948). In 1891 Bukovetsky made a trip to western Europe, returning to Odessa in the same year. In Paris he attended the Académie Julian and worked for some time in Munich. Nevertheless, he or his wife, most likely acquired the painting later in Ukraine. The effigy is considered the work of a 16th-century Venetian artist and dated between 1550 and 1560. In 1954, on the back of the main canvas, a piece of another canvas was found with the inscription: restavrir 1877. Interestingly, between 1876-1878 Stanisław Potocki started renovation and restoration works in Berezhany.

The costume of depicted woman is very similar to that visible in the effigy of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) in unknown collection (published on livejournal.com on June 2 2017). The portrait of the Queen is inscribed in Latin: CHATARINA.REGINA.POLONIE.ARCHI: / AVSTRIE, therefore should be dated to between 1553-1565, before the Queen's departure from Poland. It is also closely related to a portrait of an unknown lady wearing a red velvet gown with a V-shaped white lace front from the 1550s in the Apsley House. Another similar costume and pose of the sitter is visible in the portrait of a lady in red dress by Giovanni Battista Moroni in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, dated to about 1560.

The woman wears a heavy gold earrings with cameos with female busts and a belt with a large cameo with sitting goddess Minerva holding on her right hand a figure, the personification of victory. Similar cameos were set on the casket of Hedwig Jagiellon, created in 1533 (The State Hermitage Museum) and the casket of Queen Bona Sforza, created in or after 1518 (Czartoryski Museum, lost during World War II). A certain similarity can also be indicated with the cameo with bust of Queen Barbara Radziwill by Jacopo Caraglio, created in about 1550 (State Coin Collection in Munich). 

The style of the mentioned portrait in Odessa is very close to the portrait of Veronika Vöhlin, created in 1552 and to the portrait of Charles V seated, created in 1548, both in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and both attributed to Lambert Sustris, the same painter who created several effigies of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570), the only daughter of hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski. 

The same woman was also depicted in another painting attributed to Sustris or his circle, and showing Venus and Cupid with the view of the evening landscape. It was painted on canvas (88 x 111 cm) and is today in the private collection in Germany. A smaller version of this composition (29.5 x 42 cm), painted on panel is today in the Hallwyl Museum in Stockholm. It was acquired in 1919 in Berlin, where before 1869 there was a Radziwill Palace (later Reich Chancellery). Basing on signature (F.F.) and style it is attributed to the Flemish painter Frans Floris, who traveled to Italy probably as early as 1541 or 1542. He spent several years there with his brother Cornelis. From 1547 until his death he lived in Antwerp, where he managed a large studio with many pupils. In 1549 Cornelis Floris was commissioned to make a funerary monument for Dorothea, wife of Albert, Duke of Prussia, cousin of King Sigismund II Augustus, in Königsberg Cathedral. Design for several tapestries with monogram of Sigismund Augustus (Wawel Royal Castle), created in about 1555, is attributed to Cornelis Floris. Until his death in 1575 he worked on an impressive series of sculptures at home and abroad, including the tomb for Duke Albert in Königsberg, carved in 1570. Königsberg, known as Królewiec in Polish, was the capital of Ducal Prussia, fief of Poland (till 1657) and one of the biggest cities and ports situated close to estates of the Goniądz-Medele line of the Radziwill family. Paintings by Frans Floris were imported to different countries in Europe already in the 16th century, like the Last Judgment, created in 1565, today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, which was verifiable in Prague in 1621, and he died while working on large paintings for a Spanish client. In Poland there is an Allegory of Caritas, acquired in 1941 for the Museum in Gdańsk (inventory number M / 453 / MPG) and a portrait of a girl as Diana in the National Museum in Wrocław (inventory number VIII-2247). The Holy Kinship by Frans Floris from the Łańcut Castle, dated to about 1555, was sold in 1945 in Zurich and tin sarcophagus of Sigismund Augustus with allegories of five senses (Wawel Cathedral) was created by Flemish/Dutch sculptors (Monogrammist FVA and Wylm van Gulich) in 1572 and inspired by engravings after drawings by Frans Floris.

The sitter from the described paintings by Lambert Sustris and Frans Floris, bear a resemblance to effigies of Anna Kostewicz and John Radziwill (a print and a portrait in the National Museum in Warsaw), parents of Elizabeth Radziwill. 

​Among paintings offered in 1994 by Karolina Lanckorońska to the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków, there is a small painting depicting the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (oil on panel, 94.5 x 69.6), painted in the style close to Lambert Sustris (inventory number ZKWawel 7954). Before 1915 it was in the Lanckoroński Palace in Rozdil (Rozdół in Polish), between Berezhany and Lviv in Ukraine, and later transported to Vienna.

Portrait of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (d. 1565) by Lambert Sustris, 1558-1560, Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa.

Portrait of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (d. 1565) as Venus and Cupid by Lambert Sustris or circle, 1558-1560, Private collection.

Portrait of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (d. 1565) as Venus and Cupid by Frans Floris, 1558-1560, Hallwyl Museum in Stockholm.

The Holy Kinship from the Łańcut Castle by Frans Floris, ca. 1555, Private collection.

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Lambert Sustris, third quarter of the 16th century, Wawel Royal Castle.

Portraits of Anna Jagiellon, Catherine Jagiellon and Catherine of Austria as Venus by Titian

In 1558 died Mary Tudor and Philip II of Spain, ruler of the half of the known world was widowed again. He decided to marry. The future wife should be fertile and bear him many healthy sons, as his only son Don Carlos was showings signs of mental instability. At the same time the contacts of the Polish court with Spain increased. It is possible that Sigismund Augustus proposed his two unmarried sisters Anna and Catherine and sent to Spain their portraits. The match with the king of Spain, apart from great prestige, would also allow Sigismund to claim the heritage of his mother and the Neapolitan sums.

In January 1558, the councilor of the king of Spain, Alonso Sánchez took possession of the goods of the late Queen of Poland Bona in the name of the Spanish Crown and sequestered everything that was in the castle in Bari. Wojciech Kryski was sent to Madrid to appeal to Philip II about Bona's inheritance. Instructions for Kryski (January 16, 1558) and a letter from Sigismund Augustus to Philip (April 17, 1558) were dated from Vilnius. 

A letter of Pietro Aretino to Alessandro Pesenti of Verona, musician at the royal court, dated 17 July 1539, is the earliest witness to Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio's presence in Poland. Pesenti had been the organist to Cardinal Ippolito d'Este before becoming a royal musician at the Polish court on 20 August 1521. He was Bona's favourite organist and Caraglio created a medal with his profile on obverse and muscial instruments on reverse (Münzkabinett in Berlin). 

There were also other eminent Italian muscicians in royal capella, like Giovanni Balli, known in Poland as Dziano or Dzianoballi, who in the 1560s was paid 25 florins quaterly and many others.

Among the lute players, the favourite of the king Sigismund II Augustus was Walenty Bakwark or Greff Bakffark (1515-1576), born in Transylvania who entered his service on 12 June 1549 in Kraków. He recieved many gifts from the king and his salary increased from 150 florins in 1558 to 175 florins in 1564. In 1559 he acquired a house in Vilnius and he travelled to Gdańsk, Augsburg, Lyon, Rome and Venice. From 1552 the court organist of the king was Marcin Andreopolita of Jędrzejów and Mikołaj of Chrzanów (d. 1562), an organist and composer. 

Most probably before his arrival to Poland Caraglio created numerous erotic prints, including sets of Loves of the Gods, which also contain very explicit scenes. One depicting Venus and Cupid (Di Venere e amore) is signed by him (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, RP-P-OB-35.614, · CARALIVS · / · FE · under Venus' foot). In April 1552, he made a brief return trip to Italy.

On October 18, 1558 in Warsaw, Sigismund Augustus issued a privilege to Prospero Provano (or Prosper Provana, d. 1584), a Piedmontese merchant, to arrange permanent post Kraków - Venice via Vienna (Ordinatio postae Cracowia Venetias et super eandem generosus Prosper Provana praeficitur). The company was subsidized by the king and Prospero was paid 1,500 thalers a year by the royal treasury. The post was to transport luggage and people.

Two paintings by Titian from the Spanish royal collection (Prado Museum in Madrid, oil on canvas, 138 x 222.4 cm, P000420 and 150.2 x 218.2 cm, P000421) and one from the Medici collection in Florence by workshop of Titian (Uffizi, oil on canvas, 139.2 x 195.5 cm, inv. 1890, 1431), shows Venus, goddess of love. They were created at the same time and they are almost identical, the protagonists however are different. In Prado versions the musician is interrupted in the act of making music by the sight of a nude beauty. He directs his eyes to her womb. In Uffizi version a musician is replaced with a partridge, a symbol of sexual desire. As in Venus of Urbino, all alludes to the qualities of a bride and the purpose of the painting. A dog is a symbol of fidelity, donkeys refer to eternal love, a stag is the attribute of the huntress Diana, a virgin goddess and protector of childbirth and a peacock, sacred animal of Juno, queen of the gods, sitting on a fountain refer to fecundity. A statue of satyr on the fountain is a symbol of the sexuality and voluptuous love. A pair of embraced lovers are heading towards the setting sun.

A copy of "older" Venus from Prado is today in the Mauritshuis in The Hague (oil on canvas, 157 x 213 cm, inventory number 343). This painting was created in the studio of Titian and at the beginning of the 19th century was in the collection of Lucien Bonaparte, the younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, and later, until 1839, belonged to Cardinal Joseph Fesch in Rome. Another, most probably a workshop copy and close to the works by Lambert Sustris, is in the Royal Collection in England (oil on canvas, 96.3 x 136.9 cm, RCIN 402669). It once belonged to King Charles I and it is also attributed to Spanish artist Miguel de la Cruz (Michael Cross, active 1623-1660).

Paintings from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (oil on canvas, 115 x 210 cm, inv. 1849), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (oil on canvas, 165.1 x 209.6 cm, inv. 36.29) and the Fitzwilliam Museum (oil on canvas, 150.5 x 196.8 cm, inv. 129) are similar, but the women are married. The musician directs his eyes to breasts of the goddess, a symbol of maternity, or her head crowned with a wreath. Her womb is covered and in Berlin painting the goddess is departing (carriage in the background) towards the peaks of the far north - a good quality copy of this painting, possibly from Titian's 19th century copyist, is in Kaunas, Lithuania (oil on canvas, 115.5 x 202 cm, National Museum of Art, inventory number ČDM MŽ 1217). The copy from the collection of the Jewish lawyer Gino Pincherle in Trieste, lost during World War II, was attributed to the school of Titian (oil on canvas, 40 x 60 cm). The copyist did not faithfully reproduce the original, replaced the organist with a large vase and omitted the Cupid. The lanscape with stags and dancing satires in paintings of crowned Venus allude to fecundity. ​

Despite the divine beauty of two sisters of king of Poland, Anna and Catherine Jagiellon, Philip decided for more favorable match with neighbouring France and married Elizabeth of France, who was engaged with his son. The younger Catherine married Duke of Finland in 1562 in Vilnius and departed to Finland. The painting in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin was acquired in 1918 from private collection in Vienna and the painting in the Fitzwilliam Museum was in the Imperial collection in Prague by 1621, therefore both were sent to Habsburgs. Lambert Sustris created a reduced copy of the version from the Fitzwilliam Museum without the lute player (or possibly cut later), which was sold in Rome in 2014 (Minerva Auctions, November 24, 2014, lot 18). 

The painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art was described in great detail in a 1724 inventory of the Pio di Savoia collection in Rome. Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, humanist and patron of the arts, was the favorite candidate of Philip II of Spain in the Conclave of 1559. Catherine of Austria, willing to save her marriage and give the heir to Sigismund Augustus, most probably sent her portait to Rome to get a blessing, just as her mother Anna Jagellonica in about 1531 (Borghese Gallery).

The effigy of Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Titian from about 1560 in the Prado Museum (oil on canvas, 135 x 98 cm, P000447) is very similar to other effigies of Queen Catherine and her portraits as Venus. The slashed wheel and the sword allude to the martyrdom of the saint and difficult marital situation of the Queen. Her royal status was appropriate for a foundation such as Royal Monastery of El Escorial (recorded as far as 1593). Despite her efforts she did not managed to save her marriage.

The painting of Venus in Berlin was acquired in 1918, the year when Poland regained its independance after 123 years, eliminated by neighbouring countries. Blond goddeses of European culture were rulers of the country that should not exist (in the opinion of countries that partitioned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), something totally inimaginable and inacceptable to many people back then. 

It is also worth noting here that one of the most important and one of the most beautiful male nudes in European painting, inspired by Renaissance and Baroque female nudes (such as Diego Velázquez's Venus del espejo), is found in Poland. The work, now kept at the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm, MP 2242 MNW), was painted by Aleksander Lesser (1814-1884), a Polish painter of Jewish origin, in 1837, during his studies in Munich (signed and dated lower right: 18AL37).

Portrait of Princess Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as Venus with the organ player by Titian, ca. 1558, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Princess Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as Venus with the organ player by workshop of Titian, ca. 1558, Mauritshuis in The Hague.

Portrait of Princess Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as Venus with the organ player by workshop or follower of Titian, possibly Lambert Sustris, ca. 1558 or after, The Royal Collection.

Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as Venus with the organ player by Titian, ca. 1558, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as Venus with a partridge (Venere della pernice) by workshop of Titian, ca. 1558, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as Venus with the organ player by Titian, ca. 1562, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

​Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) nude by the school of Titian, ca. 1562 or after, Private collection, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as Venus with the organ player by follower of Titian, first half of the 19th century, National Museum of Art in Kaunas.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus with the lute player by Titian, ca. ​1558-1565, Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus by Lambert Sustris, ca. ​1558-1565, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus with the lute player by Titian, ca. ​1558-1565, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Saint Catherine by Titian, ca. ​1558-1565, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Venus and Cupid by Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio, mid-16th century, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

​Reclining male nude by Aleksander Lesser, 1837, National Museum in Warsaw. 

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon in red by Giovanni Battista Moroni 

Renaissance painters often drew inspiration from real life to depict religious scenes and placed them in interiors and settings typical of their country. This is why Giovanni Battista Moroni's Adoration of the Magi is set in a ruined Renaissance house, whose architecture is typical of Lombardy (oil on canvas, 97 x 112 cm, Codice di catalogo nazionale: 0303270207). Interestingly, the painter dressed Saint Melchior, the oldest member of the Magi, traditionally called the King of Persia, who brought the gift of gold to Jesus, in a costume typical of Polish-Lithuanian nobles of the time. The man wears a velvet coat the color of crimson Polish cochineal lined with expensive white fur. Similar costumes can be seen in the Theatrum virtutum ac meritorum D. Stanislai Hosii ..., created by Tomasz Treter (1547-1610) in Rome before 1588 (National Library of Poland, Rps BOZ 130), where, according to Latin captions, Polish noblemen were represented (Nobilis Polonus). After 1617, the Venetian painter Tommaso Dolabella placed his religious scene depicting the 11th-century Saint Stanislaus at the court of Sigismund III and the saint is surrounded by notables from Poland-Lithuania in their national costumes, including one in a crimson coat lined with white fur (Church of the Assumption of Mary in Warta). This means that the rich eastern kingdom was also for Moroni an example of oriental splendor and he knew this costume from his everyday life. This painting is dated around 1555-1560 and was originally part of the collection of the notary Gian Luigi Seradobati of Albino, the master's hometown. A copy probably made by Moroni's workshop is also in a private collection (oil on canvas, 97 x 120 cm, attributed to School of Bergamo). 

​A young woman in the portrait of a lady, known as La Dama in Rosso (Lady in Red) by Moroni in the National Gallery in London (oil on canvas, 155 x 106.8 cm, inv. NG1023), bears great resemblance to Catherine Jagiellon's miniature in German costume by Lucas Cranach the Younger and her portraits by Titian and his workshop. 

The identification as a portrait of poetess Lucia Albani Avogadro (1534-1568) is manly based on engraved effigy of Lucia in profile, with generic resemblance, by Giovanni Fortunato Lolmo created between 1575 and 1588, therefore almost ten years after her death, and inventory of Scipione Avogadro's collection in Brescia, which describes "two portraits by Moretto [da Brescia], one of the count Faustino, standing, the other of the countess Lucia, his wife" (Due ritratti del Moretto, uno del conte Faustino in piedi, altro della contessa Lucia sua moglie). 

The painting was purchased from Signor Giuseppe Baslini at Milan in 1876 with other portraits from Fenaroli Avogadro collection, most probably from their villa in Rezzato, near Brescia. Its previous history is unknown, it is threfore possible that it was acquired when their villa was extened in the 18th century or that Filippo Avogadro, who greeted Queen Bona in Treviso in 1556, wanted to have a portrait of her beautiful daughter. 

The sitter is pointing to a simple fan of straw worked with silk, the main accessory as in the portrait by Titian in Dresden. The fan was regarded as a status symbol in ancient Rome and developed as a means of protecting the holy vessels from pollution caused by flies and other insects in the Christian Church (flabellum), thus becoming a symbol of chastity. In Venice and Padua a fan was carried by betrothed or married women.

Its specific octagonal shape might be a reference to renewal and transition as eight was the number of Resurrection (after "Signs & Symbols in Christian Art" by George Ferguson, p. 154), can then be interpreted as readiness to change marital status. In 1560, at the age of 34, Catherine was still unmarried and did not want be betrothed to a tirant, Tsar Ivan IV, who invaded Livonia committing horrible atrocities. This portrait would be a good information that she prefers an Italian suitor. It was commissioned around the same time as portraits of Catherine's brother and his wife by Moroni and Titian (Prado Museum). 

​The king opposed his sister Catherine's marriage to the Duke of Finland. In response to his mother's letters, which required him to help his sisters marry, Sigismund Augustus constantly repeated that he did not want to impose his will on them, but that he would comply with that of his sisters. He declared to the Duke of Finland, who was seeking to marry Princess Catherine: "Venetians came to the Kingdom of Cyprus offering a noble Venetian woman in marriage. The princess Her Majesty will be all the happier than her other sisters, for she will marry whomever she wishes; while they had to marry men they have never seen [in real life]" (after "Cnoty i wady narodu szlacheckiego ..." by Antoni Górski, p. 62).

​Less well known is the fact of the marriage negotiations which, with the mediation of Ludovico Monti, lasted for years, although conducted with little conviction on the part of both parties, between a son of Ferrante I Gonzaga (1507-1557), governor of the Duchy of Milan between 1546 and 1554, and the youngest daughter of Bona (after "La trama Nascosta - Storie di mercanti e altro" by Rita Mazzei). Perhaps they were undertaken thanks to queen's efforts. It is not clear why he wanted to marry Catherine, although her older sister Anna was unmarried. Perhaps Anna, aged thirty-three, seemed too old to the count of Guastalla, or perhaps he knew from somewhere that Catherine was prettier. However, Sigismund Augustus refused Gonzaga (February 1556), because he feared that the Italian, married to a Jagiellonian princess, would become Bona's heir and take over Bari (after "Jagiellonowie: leksykon biograficzny" by Małgorzata Duczmal, p. 340). The governor of Milan undoubtedly received several portraits of the Polish-Lithuanian Princess-Infanta. ​In a letter dated 20 February 1556, the king mentions other candidates and "the delay in efforts".

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) in red by Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1556-1560, National Gallery in London.

​Adoration of the Magi with a man in a costume of a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman by Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1555-1560, Private collection. 

Portraits of Catherine Jagiellon by circle of Titian ​

In the 16th century fashion was an instrument of politics and princesses of Poland-Lithuania had in their coffers Spanish, French, Italian and German robes. Their clothing also reflected the great diversity of Poland-Lithuania (and Ruthenia).
​
The inventory of dowry of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland includes many items similar to these visible in the portraits identified as likenesses of the Duchess of Urbino: "Necklaces with precious stones, 17 pieces (the most expensive 16,800 thalers)", "Pearl caps (13 pieces). From 40 thaler. to 335", "Buckles on (thirteen) French and Spanish robes", 17 velvet, long underneath garments, including one crimson with 72 French buckles (ferety), and "longitudinal pontały [jewels and ornaments sewn onto the dress, imitating embroidery] with blocks with the same white and brown-red enamel is pair 146", 6 satin underneath garments, one robe of white satin embroidered with gold and silver with 76 buckles, and a robe of brown-red satin embroidered along the length with gold thread (Opisanie rzeczy, które Królewna J. M. Katarzyna Polska a Księżna Finlandzka z sobą wziąść raczyła A. D. 1562 die octava mensis Octobris, compare "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI wieku. Korrespondencya polska ...", Volume 3, p. 312-314, 317, 320). The wealth of clothes of Catherine's brother, Sigismund Augustus, as well as the great diversity of the country, its fashions and customs were praised by Jean Choisnin de Chastelleraut in his "Speech in truth of all that happened for the entire negotiation of the election of the king of Poland", dedicated to Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) and published in Paris in 1574 (Ie diray d'auantage, qu'il a laisse plus de riches habillemens, & d'armes, & d'Artillerie que tous les Roys qui sont auiourd'huy viuans ne sçauroient monstrer, p. 123). The Duchess of Finland took with her from Vilnius many luxury clothes and household items, as well as plenty of clothing "for eight ladies and two female dwarves" (na ośm panien i na dwie karliczki) and servants.

As in other European countries, marriage plans and negotiations were often accompanied by portraits, so many portraits of the beautiful and wealthy daughter of Sigismund I and Bona Sforza must have been made during her lifetime. However, very few were known before this blog. Furthermore, very few sources confirming this practice within the ruling dynasty of Poland-Lithuania have been preserved. In a letter from 1562 to Gabriel Tarło (d. 1565), Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568), cousin of Sigismund Augustus, requests a portrait and information on the age and dowry of the king's youngest sister (der jüngsten Schwester des Königs) - Catherine, with a view to her possible marriage to the young Duke of Holstein. At that time, there were Italians at Albert's court, such as the horse trainer Antonio Arduvia from Ferrara (confirmed in 1558), a mason (in 1562), a lutenist (in 1565), a physician from Florence (in 1566) and most likely an Italian painter. According to a contract from 1561, several ships were to be built each year for the Venetians in East Prussia (compare "Die Kunst am Hofe der Herzöge von Preussen" by Hermann Ehrenberg, p. 118, 196). It is therefore quite possible that Italian artists were involved in creating the portrait of Catherine for the Duke of Holstein.

Friends and allies of Catherine's mother in Italy must also have received several portraits of the princess, who spoke Italian fluently. While mentions of portraits of kings, queens and hereditary princes of Spain, France and England are quite common in inventories of the Medici residences, such as "a painted portrait of the Queen of England, by the hand of Louis the Flemish" (Un quadro del ritratto della regina d'Inghilterra, di mano di Luigi Fiamingo), mentioned in the inventory of the Palazzo Vecchio from the 1560s (Guardaroba di Cosimo I de' Medici, Segnatura: ASF, GM 65, c. 160), the status of the elected monarchs of Poland-Lithuania probably contributed to the fact that their effigies were not considered worthy of mention or their identity was quickly forgotten after being received. The inventory of the Villa del Poggio Imperiale from 1646-1652 mentions "A small painting on panel, depicting a foreign lady, by Titian" (Quadretto in tavola, dipintovi una gentildonna forestiera, di Tizziano, Segnatura: ASF, GM 674, c. 2), as well as one of the oldest mentions of a portrait "representing a lady dressed in black in the old style, said to be the Duchess Eleonora of Urbino, by Titian" (dipintovi una signora vestita di nero all'antica, che dicono sia la Duchessa Leonora d'Urbino, di Tizziano, Segnatura: ASF, GM 674, c. 272). The number of mentions of portraits of kings, queens or princes of Poland increases in the inventories of the early 17th century, when the mothers of the young Medicis and the Polish-Lithuanian Vasas were related (Constance of Austria and her younger sister Maria Maddalena).

The portrait identified as representing Giulia da Varano (1523-1547), who married Guidobaldo II della Rovere (1514-1574), Duke of Urbino, in 1534, now preserved in the Pitti Palace in Florence (oil on panel, 113.5 x 88 cm, inv. 764 - Oggetti d'arte Pitti (1911)), can be considered a portrait of a bride or depicting a potential candidate for marriage. Numerous jewels and a bunch of roses allude to the purity and qualities of a bride. The necklace is a jewel in which three different stones are set, each with its own precise meaning: the emerald indicates chastity, the ruby indicates charity, the sapphire indicates purity and the big pearl is finally a symbol of fidelity in marriage. The portrait could therefore be dated to around 1534, but the woman looks older than 11 years old (Giulia's age at the time of her marriage). The identification as portrait of Giulia da Varano is mainly based on inventory of the Ducal Palace of Pesaro from about 1624, which says about the portrait of the Duchess in ebony frames with her coat of arms and interlaced monogram G.G. of Giulia and her husband (Quadro uno simile con cornici d'ebano con lauoro dell'arme di Casa Varana con G. G. legati insieme ne cantoni fog[li] e e ghiande di cerqua col Retratto della Duch[ess]a Giulia Varana).

The Duchess of Urbino died in Fossombrone, at the age of 24, in 1547, after two months of illness. She was buried in a gamurra satin ochre dress with stripes, displayed at the Brancaleoni Castle in Piobbico. The following year, the widower Guidobaldo remarried Vittoria Farnese (1519-1602). In the 17th century, a painter from the Marche created portraits of two of Guidobaldo's wives, both inscribed in Latin (private collection). While the effigy of Vittoria resembles other portraits identified as Guidobaldo's second wife, the portrait of a lady in a green dress inscribed in Latin IVLIA VARANI / I VXOR GVIDONIS VBALDI II VRB・DVC, could hardly be compared to the portrait in the Pitti Palace.

The monogram on the buckles of the woman's dress visible in the portrait is interpreted as that of Giulia and Guidobaldo, but it closely resembles the monogram of Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France, who was regent of France between 1560 and 1563. A similar interlaced CC can be seen on a plaque with miniatures of Catherine, her husband and other members of her family, painted by François Clouet around 1559. It probably belonged to Catherine herself, who would then have left it as an inheritance to her favourite niece Christine of Lorraine (1565-1637), married to the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand I (1549-1609), now preserved in the Uffizi Gallery (inv. 1890, 815). The dress of the Queen of France from her miniature portrait in the center is also decorated with buckles with the monogram of her and her husband HCC intertwined.

The Queen of France, the most powerful Italian woman of the time, was undoubtedly a model or idol for the woman in the portrait, as her dress and hairstyle bear a strong resemblance to French fashion of the time, visible in the portrait of Catherine de' Medici by an unknown painter, after original from the 1550s (Uffizi Gallery, inv. 4301 / 1890) and the miniature portrait of Mary Stuart (1542-1587), Queen of Scots by François Clouet, dated circa 1558-1560 (Royal Collection, RCIN 401229).

The famous pendant of the namesake of the Queen of France, Catherine Jagellon with her monogram C with which she was buried, commissioned by her father in Nuremberg in 1546 and made by Nicolaus Nonarth (now in the Treasury of Uppsala Cathedral), was not included in the mentioned inventory of her dowry, however the crimson dress with 72 French buckles or 146 pontały matches the portrait in Florence almost perfectly.

The Florentine museums have one of the richest collections of effigies of European monarchs, in particular of Catherine de' Medici, of various origins, some of which were probably sent from France or painted by Florentine painters. We can mention three others representing her before widowhood (Uffizi, inv. 21 / 1890 and inv. 2257 / 1890; Pitti, inv. 2448 / 1890), as well as four as a widow (Uffizi, inv. 2236 / 1890; inv. 441 / Poggio Imperiale (1860); Pitti, inv. 275 / Oggetti d'Arte Castello (1911); Pitti, inv. 5665 / 1890). Catherine Jagiellon, despite her links with the Italian peninsula, is not represented (according to the sources and identifications known before this blog).

The portrait preserved in the Pitti Palace is considered to be a copy of a lost original by Titian, which indicates that the painter and his workshop created several portraits of this bride intended to be sent to different places in Europe. The woman depicted strongly resembles the future Duchess of Finland, based on her known effigies in German-style costume (Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, inv. Gm 622, lost, and Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, MNK XII-543).

The same woman was depicted in another portrait thought to be a work by Titian's studio (oil on canvas, 39.4 x 31.1 cm, Christie's New York, Auction 2511, January 26, 2011, lot 115). She was shown in profile wearing a Spanish-style satin dress and a pearl snood or cap, a comparable example of which was depicted in the intaglio with the profile of Catherine's mother, Bona Sforza (Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, inv. 284). The portrait was sold with an attribution to the late 16th-century Venetian school, and the identification of the sitter as Giulia da Varano has not been maintained. The woman wears a pendant with an indistinct monogram (probably as a result of copying), which could originally be an intertwined I and C, thus Ioannes and Catharina for John of Finland and Catherine Jagiellon, four intertwined Cs as in the mentioned monogram of Catherine de' Medici or Christogram IHS. A somewhat similar late Gothic pendant with a Christogram from the second half of the 15th century adorns the Diamond Robe of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa (Jasna Góra Treasury).

In Florence, another portrait of the same woman, depicted in a black velvet dress embroidered with gold, is preserved, today in the Bardini Museum (oil on canvas, 73 x 54 cm, inv. Bardini, n. 1461). The work in the catalogue of the auction of the Bardini collection, which took place in London in 1922, was attributed to Paolo Veronese. This attribution was later corrected to the Venetian school of the second half of the 16th century. The inventory of the Duchess of Finland included four black velvet dresses, three of which were probably Italian or French in style, and a Spanish "under the throat" (pod gardło) with 198 trumpet-shaped buckles. ​The style of this painting resembles works attributed to Bernardino Licinio, who died in Venice before 1565.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) by Venetian school, most probably​ Bernardino Licinio, 1550s, Bardini Museum in Florence.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) in a pearl snood net by circle of Titian, before 1562, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as a bride by circle of Titian, before 1562, Pitti Palace in Florence.

Portrait of a courtier, most likely the writer Łukasz Górnicki by Paris Bordone

​"It must be to Your Royal Majesty's good fortune, Most Serene and Gracious King, that under no other Polish king were there so many scholars in Poland as during the reign of Your Royal Grace: and it is not by chance, but precisely from Your Royal hands, that Poland possesses so many books in its own language, as there have never been before. [...] And I, a servant of Your Royal Grace, noting this, and understanding that all this is very pleasing to Your Royal Grace, what someone does for the Polish nation with a virtuous spirit, undertook a work, so that I could also show something. And according to the old custom, as did Count Balcer Castiglion, whose courtier I wished to translate into Polish, I recorded the conversations of Your Royal Grace's courtiers, from Prądnik. [...] Written in Tykocin, on the eighteenth of July in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-five from the Nativity of Our Lord", reads the dedication to King Sigismund II Augustus. It was published in 1566 in the best-known work of the writer Łukasz Górnicki (1527-1603) - "The Polish Courtier" (Dworzanin polski), a paraphrase of the treatise Il cortegiano by Baldassare Castiglione.

Unlike Castiglione, who, in his famous work, written at the court of Urbino between 1508 and 1516 and published in 1528 in Venice, propagated new rules of social coexistence, a culture of behavior and respect for women, Górnicki not included any female characters, which in the original reflected the atmosphere of the Italian court. He also removed homoerotic themes, adding: "As for de effeminatis [the effeminate] he speaks of, since this bad custom has not come down to us, it would be a shame to mention it as well". It should be remembered, however, that around 1554 Górnicki received minor clerical orders (Jan Kochanowski did the same) and obtained several ecclesiastical benefices in this capacity. As a member of the clergy at the time of the impending Counter-Reformation, he undoubtedly could not freely base his work on Castiglione's original. However, he included the following conversation between Stanisław Bojanowski (1507-1555) and Andrzej Kostka: "[...] and yet women always want to be men [...] This is indeed the case, but not because of our greater perfection, but because of the freedom we have taken from them" (białegłowy lepszego nie baczą, ale niebożątka radyby mężczyznami były dla swobody, chcąc ujść surowej naszej zwierzchności, którąśmy sobie sami nad nimi przywłaszczyli, i tą zniewoliliśmy niebogi nad przystojeństwo).

In 1554, Łukasz's uncle, Stanisław Gąsiorek, called Anserinus, better known as Stanisław Kleryka, cleric of the royal chapel on Wawel, made a will in his favor and bequeathed him the Wieliczka rectory and the canonship of the Kruszwica collegiate church, and then, in 1562, the rectory in Kęty. Górnicki did not personally perform the duties associated with his office, but, as was the custom at the time, simply drew on the income from these offices, using deputies. Having thus acquired greater financial resources, he left for Italy in 1557 for two years, where he began studying law in Padua. He returned to Poland in February 1559 and, although he did not obtain a university degree, he received the honorable rank of secretary of the royal secret chancellery, a position that, in practice, was reserved only for eminent individuals. On November 23, 1559, he was appointed librarian to Sigismund Augustus. He held this for nearly thirteen years, until the king's death in 1572.

Probably shortly after his return from Italy, he began adapting Castiglione's Il cortegiano in Vilnius and completed it in Tykocin, where the royal library was eventually relocated. He adapted Castiglione's work to the reality of the court of his former patron, the Crown Vice-Chancellor and Bishop of Kraków, Samuel Maciejowski (1499-1550). From around 1545 he stayed at the Bishop's Palace in Prądnik, near Kraków. At that time, the Orthodox, Protestant, and Jewish denominations dominated in many parts of the country, so claims that the views of a small group of courtiers at the court of the Catholic bishop perfectly reflected those of the entire nation are completely unfounded. The Polish Courtier was printed in Kraków in 1566 by one of the finest printers of the time, Maciej Wirzbięta (1523-1605). The work, however, was not among the widely read. Unlike the successive reprints of Kochanowski's works, no new edition appeared during Gornicki's lifetime, that is, before 1603 (after "Łukasz Górnicki, jego życie i dzieła" by Raphael Löwenfeld, p. 20-21, 23, 25, 28, 32, 35, 38, 45-47, 79, 94, 107, 164, 225).

Another important work by Górnicki in the context of his travels and education in Italy is "A Conversation between a Pole and an Italian on Polish Freedoms and Rights" (Rozmowa Polaka z Wlochem O Wolnosciach Y Prawach Polskich), a political dialogue written around 1588-1598 and published around 1616. The Pole is a representative of Sarmatian ideology, while the Italian recreates the views of the author himself, boldly criticizing the political system in Poland and in particular "golden freedom", the judicial system and the administration.

The writer's stay in Italy between 1557 and 1559 was not the only one. He probably stayed there between 1543 and 1548, although the precise dates are unknown. In many places Górnicki refers to Gasparo Contarini's work De magistratibus, et repub. Venetorum libri quinq., published in Basel in 1547, which he had evidently studied thoroughly. The Republic of Venice serves as his model everywhere. He probably also visited Rome, and even stayed there for a long time. 

With the royal court, he traveled through the lands forming Sarmatia, notably to Gdańsk and Królewiec in 1552, then to Kaunas and Vilnius the following year. Shortly after Easter 1553, Sigismund Augustus sent an embassy to Vienna to negotiate a marriage with his relative Catherine of Austria, widow of the Duke of Mantua and daughter of the Roman King Ferdinand. Przerębski headed the embassy, ​​and among the few courtiers who accompanied him was also Górnicki. Between 1559 and 1562, Łukasz lived mainly at the court in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1561, he was in Rudnik. In the same year, the king left Vilnius in November and arrived in Łomża, where Górnicki received "secret letters". In October 1562, he attended the wedding of Catherine Jagiellon, the king's sister, in Vilnius with the entire court, and then went to the Sejm in Piotrków.

The year 1561 was particularly important for Górnicki, as he obtained from the king written confirmation of his alleged nobility of the Ogończyk coat of arms (May 6 / July 2), which was questioned in 1555 by Łukasz Oleśnicki. He was actually the son of Marcin Góra (original name) and Anna Gąsiorkówna, poor townspeople from Bochnia. On February 13, 1561, the king also granted him an annual pension of 100 florins, paid around Easter from the tax office of the city of Kraków, and on May 15, a second sum of 100 Hungarian gold zlotys, which constituted the tax on Kraków's Jews. It is not known when he renounced his ecclesiastical benefices, but around 1570 Górnicki married Barbara Broniewska (1557-1587), 30 years his junior, daughter of Stanisław (1507-1582), equerry of Przemyśl and starost of Medyka. Barbara's father was a royal courtier who traveled to various courts in Europe.

The writer died on July 22, 1603, at the age of 76 (Obiit Anno Domini 1603. Die 22 mensis Julii, aetatis suae anno 76to), as evidenced by the commemorative plaque on his tombstone in the Bernardine Church in Tykocin. He was buried alongside his wife and children, and the tombstone was erected by his sons Jan and Łukasz. The church, located on an island in the Narew River, adjacent to the castle island, was demolished before 1771 due to the river waters undermining the buildings.

There are no known portraits of the author of "The Polish Courtier" from the time he lived. No information about his appearance has survived. According to information and portraits found on the internet, artificial intelligence depicts him as a dark-haired man. A description left by Górnicki in "The Polish Courtier" suggests that he was a connoisseur of painting: "Like a good Painter, he sets a thing in shadow and makes it opaque and with brightness he sets it far away, deep, lowers, shortens it, according to need: by putting different colors, he supports one thing against another; and knowing where to put something against something, he shows what he wants to the eyes of men".

In 2008, a portrait of a dark-haired man wearing a black fur-lined coat and holding a cap in his right hand, painted by Paris Bordone, was sold in London (oil on canvas, 94.5 x 78 cm, Sotheby's, December 4, 2008, lot 167). At the beginning of the 20th century, this painting was in a private collection in Florence. The man's pose and his rich costume suggest that he was a nobleman and courtier. In the lower right corner, we can see traces of inscription: ÆTATIS / ANNO / [..] III, while at the time of the Van Diemen sale in 1935, the catalog states that the inscription in the lower right was: ÆTATIS / ANNO / XXXIII and that the work was signed and dated in the lower left: O.P.B. [Opus Paris Bordone] 1561. The painting was therefore created in the year in which Górnicki received confirmation of his nobility and significant income.

The man depicted in this portrait was 33 years old at the time of its creation. Although the date on his tombstone indicates that Łukasz should have been 34 that year, this discrepancy is minimal and generally acceptable, as in the case of the portrait of Ferdinand I of Austria (1503-1564), aged 46 in 1548 (MDXLVIII / ANNO ETATIS SVE / XXXXVI), created by Titian's workshop or follower (Dorotheum in Vienna, June 9, 2021, lot 155). Since the inscription is damaged, it is possible that the original age was XXXIIII or that the painter, for some reason, did not add an "I". Moreover, the age of Łukasz's wife at the time of her death is very interesting in this regard. According to the poem dedicated to her by her husband, "She lived 29 years and three months and died in 1587, on the last day of February" (Żyła lat 29, miesięcy trzy, umarła roku 1587, dnia ostatniego Lutego, after "Żywot Łukasza Górnickiego" by Bronisław Czarnik, p. 48), she was therefore born around December 1557. Paris Bordone worked for King Sigismund Augustus and also painted a splendid portrait of his goldsmith Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio, now preserved in Wawel Castle.

There is no evidence that the painter and the model met around 1561 and, in general, Bordone's visit to Sarmatia is not confirmed. However, in the same year, a friend of Górnicki - Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki (1522-1587), who had also studied in Padua between 1557 and 1559 and returned to the country in May 1559, published in Venice fragments of Cicero with a dedication to Filip Padniewski (dated: Dat. Vilnæ, in Lituania, die XX. Iunii, anno Christi nati M. D. LX. [Vilnius June 20, 1560], Fragmentorvm M. Tvllii Ciceronis tomi IIII cum Andr. Patricii adnotationibus; Venetiis, apud Iordanum Ziletum [Giordano Ziletti], M. D. LXI.). Therefore, in the same way that the book finished in Vilnius could be printed in Venice, the portrait of the courtier living in Vilnius could be produced in Venice.

​Portrait of a courtier, most likely the writer Łukasz Górnicki (1527-1603) by Paris Bordone, 1561, Private collection.

Portrait of Jan Firlej by Titian

After his missions to Emperor Charles V in Worms in 1545 and to the court of King Ferdinand I of Austria in 1547, the brilliant career of Jan Firlej (1521-1574) continued. He was a courtier of the king (1545), secretary of the king (1554), castellan of Belz (1555), voivode of Belz (1556), voivode of Lublin (1561), grand marshal of the Crown (1563), voivode and starost of Kraków (1572) and marshal of the Sejm (1573). After 1550, he converted to Lutheranism, then to Calvinism and introduced Protestantism in his estates. He was one of the most prominent promoters of Protestantism in the Commonwealth and an ardent defender of Polish dissidents.

Before Queen Bona left for Italy in 1556, Jan was delegated by King Sigismund Augustus, together with several other castellans under the direction of Crown Chancellor Jan Ocieski, to collect important state documents from her. The description of their activities, preserved in the letter of the chancellor of January 27, 1556 from Warsaw to the king, is interesting: "When we came to receive the letters, Her Highness began with the words: Praise God that everyone should know about my business. In my lord's time no one knew what I had in my chest; now I have to open it. But I am really happy to do it, and I will gladly do it" (Laudetur Deus quod omnes debent scire res meas; tempore domini mei nemo scivit quid ego in cista mea habebam; nunc oportet me aperire. Sed vere ego sum contenta, libenter faciam). It was mainly Queen Bona's protection that helped the house of Firlej grow: "The one who ran away from us with an immeasurable catch / Cunning, greedy, lustful, Italian in a word, [...] With what she stripped from others, she dressed the Firlejs", wrote Ignacy Krasicki (1735-1801). Interestingly, this negative opinion about the queen was written by the Catholic bishop, who after the first partition of Poland became a close friend of Frederick II of Prussia, considered misogynist and homosexual (after "Dwie książki o Ignacym Krasickim" by Stefan Jerzy Buksiński, p. 62).

After the death of his brother-in-law Jan Boner (1516-1562), the castle of Ogrodzieniec passed into the possession of Jan Firlej, as husband of Zofia, daughter of Seweryn Boner. Zofia's father was a royal banker and baron in Ogrodzieniec, a title received from King Ferdinand I in 1540. Firlej was also the king's envoy to Moldavia, where he received the oath of allegiance from Bogdan IV (1555-1574), prince of Moldavia (from 1568 to 1572). During the first interregnum (1572-1573), the French court sent him rich gifts through a Pole, in order to obtain his support for the candidacy of Henry, Duke of Anjou to the throne of Poland-Lithuania, but Firlej rejected the gifts and severely rebuked the messenger. He allegedly wanted the throne for himself.

In the picture gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, there is portrait of a man in a coat lined with expensive lynx fur, painted by Titian (oil on canvas, 115.8 x 89 cm, GG 76). The painting comes from the the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and was recorded in the Theatrum Pictorium (number 95), after two paintings depicting Roxelana (numbers 93, 94), identified by me. David Teniers the Younger, court painter of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, created between 1650-1656 a small copy of this painting, now in the Courtauld Institute of Art (oil on panel, 22.6 x 17 cm, P.1978.PG.436). He also depicted the painting in several views of Archduke's Gallery in Brussels (Schleißheim State Gallery, 1819, 1840, 1841), however in an incorrect layout, thus probably copying the earlier version of Lucas Vorsterman's engraving or a drawing.

Titian's painting was previously thought to depict Filippo di Piero Strozzi (1541-1582), a member of the Florentine Strozzi family and condottiero, who in 1557 entered the French army and fought the Calvinist Huguenots, but this identification was rejected. Strozzi's miniature, possibly by Anton Boys, is also in the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

The Habsburg collections included many portrait paintings of notable figures, mostly sent as gifts, so the man in the Venetian painter's painting must have been an important international figure. This is more of an official portrait, so the man was rather not a warrior or military leader, like Strozzi portrayed in a suit of armor of an admiral. He was most likely a diplomat or politician.

The painting was initially larger in its upper part, as evidenced by old photographs and copies by Teniers. His face has also been changed. Possibly it was repainted by another painter because Titian does not render the likeness well and these alterations were removed in the 20th century. The man's pose and facial features, especially in the pre-restoration versions, resemble Jacopo Tintoretto's portrait in the Kröller-Müller Museum, depicting Firlej in 1547 at the age of 26. 

The painting is generally dated to around 1560, when Jan obtained important posts of voivode of Lublin (1561) and grand marshal of the Crown (1563). As a Calvinist close to Queen Bona, he can generally be seen as an opponent of the Habsburgs and their policies, but as an important dignitary, good relations with him, like for the French court, were undoubtedly important. So it was good to receive his beautiful portrait, but not necessarily to remember his identity.

​Portrait of Jan Firlej (1521-1574) by Titian, 1560s, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

​Portrait of Jan Firlej (1521-1574) by Titian, 1560s, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (before restoration).

​Portrait of Jan Firlej (1521-1574) by David Teniers the Younger after Titian, 1650s, Courtauld Gallery in London.

​Portrait of Jan Firlej (1521-1574) from the Theatrum Pictorium (95) by Lucas Vorsterman the Elder after Titian, 1673, Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon in white by Titian

In the first half of the 18th century, a Swedish painter Georg Engelhard Schröder, created copies of two portraits of Venetian ladies by Titian. These two portraits, in Gripsholm Castle near Stockholm, are undeniably a pair, pendants showing two members of the same family, sisters. They are the only two copies of Titian by Schröder in this collection, they have almost identical dimensions (99 x 80 cm / 100 x 81 cm), composition, the two women are similar and the paintings have even similar inventory number (NMGrh 187, NMGrh 186), a proof that they were always together. The woman holding a cross and a book is Anna Jagiellon, as in the painting by circle of Titian in Kassel, the other must be then her younger sister Catherine Jagiellon, Duchess of Finland from 1562 and later Queen of Sweden.
​
After 1715 the Gripsholm Castle was abandoned by the royal court and between 1720 and 1770, it was used as a county jail. In 1724 Schröder was made the court painter of Frederick I of Sweden, who highly valued him. It is very probable that the king ordered the painter to copy two old, damaged portraits of unknown ladies from Gripsholm, which were then thrown away, replaced with copies by Schröder. 

The portrait of a second lady, in white dress and holding a fan, considered to be Titian's mistress, his daughter as a bride or a Venetian courtesan, is known from several copies. The best known is that in Dresden (without a pattern on sitter's dress, which a pupil of Titian most probably forgot or didin't managed to add), acquired in 1746 from the collection of the d'Este family (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, oil on canvas, 102 x 86 cm, inv. Gal.-Nr. 170), which were friends and allies of "the Milanese princess", Bona Sforza, Catherine's mother. The other, now lost, was copied by Peter Paul Rubens, most probably during his stay in Mantua between 1600-1608, tohether with a portrait of Isabella d'Este, also by Titian and also considered to be lost (both in Vienna - Kunsthistorisches Museum, oil on canvas, 96.2 x 73 cm, GG 531) and another recorded by Anton van Dyck in his Italian sketchbook (British Museum) from the 1620s.

​In case of a copy by Rubens, it's also highly probable that Catherine's son, Sigismund III Vasa, who ordered paintings and portraits from the Flemish painter, also commissioned a copy of a portrait of his mother in about 1628. Another copy by a Flemish painter, holding a rose, can be found in Canterbury Museums and Galleries (oil on canvas, 54 x 40 cm, CANCM:4036).

The dress, as that visible in the portraits, is described among the dresses of the Duchess of Finland in the inventory of her dowry from 1562: "Satin (6 pieces). Satin white robe; on it four embroidered rows at the bottom made of woven gold thread with silver; the bodice and sleeves are also embroidered in a similar manner; buckles on them with red enamel 76" (after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku: Korrespondencya polska ..." by Alexander Przezdziecki, Volume 3, p. 317).

This likeness, as well as the best-known effigy of the princess, a miniature by Lucas Cranach the Younger (Czartoryski Museum, oil on copper, 19.5 x 17.5 cm, inv. MNK XII-543), and a full-length portrait in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (inv. Gm 622), destroyed during the Second World War, probably based on the same initial portrait, can be compared with two portraits of the Czech noblewoman Bohunka of Rožmberk (1536-1557). In the portrait in Nelahozeves Castle (inv. č. L 4766), Bohunka was depicted in a black outfit very similar to that of the best-known portraits of Catherine. In a later portrait, probably painted on the occasion of her engagement around 1555, now in the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague (inv. č. L 5185), she wears a rich dress in the Spanish-French style.

Even without Titian's idealization, Catherine, just as her mother, was considered a beautiful woman, which, unfortunately, is less visible in her portraits in German costume by Cranach the Younger. The Russian envoy reported to Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1560 that Catherine was beautiful, but that she was crying (after "Furstinnan : en biografi om drottning Katarina Jagellonica" by Eva Mattssons), unwilling to marry a man famous of his violence and cruelty.

The painting in Dresden, and its copies, was most probably commissioned by Sigismund Augustus or Anna Jagiellon and sent to the Italian friends. Another version of this portrait by circle of Titian, most probably from the collection of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel is also in Kassel not far from Brunswick (Wilhelmshöhe Castle, oil on canvas, 99 x 79 cm, inv. 490). The three sisters Sophia, Anna and Catherine are therefore reunited in their portraits by circle of Titian in Kassel.

​In 1563, King Eric XIV of Sweden imprisoned his brother John and his consort Catherine Jagiellon in the Gripsholm Castle. Few years later Catherine granted authority to her sister Anna to fight for the Italian inheritance of Queen Bona.

​In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence there is also a miniature by an Italian painter, possibly Sofonisba Anguissola, showing the same blond woman in a costume similar to that visible in portraits of Catherine Stenbock, Dowager Queen of Sweden from the 1560s (oil on panel, 13 cm, inv. 1890, n. 3953). It depicts Catherine Jagiellon during the time of imprisonment in Gripsholm Castle between 1563 and 1567. Rather because of the appearance of the lady and her costume, than the style of the painting, it was initially attributed to the Northern School, to Hans Holbein the Elder. The miniature comes from the collection of Cardinal Leopold de Medici (1617-1675). The style of this work is also comparable to that of Sofonisba's master, Bernadino Campi (1522-1591), especially the portrait of Isabella Gonzaga (1537-1579), Princess of Francavilla (Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 63.43.1), identified by me. Both Sofonisba and Campi came from Cremona, just like Catherine's courtier, Paolo Ferrari, who had arrived in Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia before 1556 with the intention of serving Queen Bona, Catherine's mother. He was not part of the princess's retinue, but in Finland he was counted among the courtiers.

Sigismund Augustus, when marrying off this sister, foresaw that misfortune might befall her. This may be a later addition, but Łukasz Górnicki (1527-1603) expresses it this way: in Gdańsk, before Catherine's departure to Finland, the king "had some talks with his sister in the black chamber near us, the meaning of which was: that if anything happened to the princess, let her not blame the king, to which the princess gave a wonderful answer; and the duke [of Finland] was not present at this conversation. He got into the carriage with the princess, and the duke of Finland rode on a horse; and for quite a while the king sat in the carriage together with the princess, then he got out and said goodbye to the duke and the princess, who was bidding farewell to the king with tears" (partially after "Cnoty i wady narodu szlacheckiego ..." by Antoni Górski, p. 60-61).

​Althought considered a compassionate and loyal queen, the religious issues made Catherine unpopular with her contemporaries in Sweden. The Catholic queen maintained close relations with Poland-Lithuania and Italy. Her agent was Paolo Ferrari from Cremona, mentioned above, she also had her own ambassadors in Rome, a Dutch Catholic named Petrus Rosinus, and Ture Bielke. Catherine is considered to have had an influence on her husband John III of Sweden in many areas, such as his religious attitude, foreign policy and art. For her son (Sigismund III), she kept a Polish teacher and taught him perfect Polish. The names of her daughter and son, Isabella (in honour of her grandmother Isabella d'Aragona of Naples, Duchess of Milan) and Sigismund (in honour of her father), both contrary to Swedish tradition, indicates that, like her mother Bona Sforza, she had a much greater influence on politics than is officially claimed. 

​Miniature portrait of Crown Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) by Lucas Cranach the Younger or workshop, ca. 1553-1565, Czartoryski Museum.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland in white by Titian, ca. 1562, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland in white by circle of Titian, ca. 1562, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland in white by Peter Paul Rubens after lost original by Titian, ca. 1600-1608 or 1628, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland holding a rose by Flemish painter after Titian, after 1562, Canterbury Museums and Galleries.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland in white by Georg Engelhard Schröder after original by Titian, 1724-1750, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Miniature portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland by Italian painter, possibly Sofonisba Anguissola or Bernadino Campi, ca. 1563-1567, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Portrait of king Sigismund Augustus holding a buzdygan by workshop or follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni

In 1551 Georg Joachim de Porris (1514-1574) or von Lauchen, also known as Rheticus, a mathematician and astronomer of Italian heritage, best known for his trigonometric tables and as Nicolaus Copernicus's sole pupil, lost his job at the Leipzig University following the alleged drunken homosexual assault on a young student, the son of a merchant Hans Meusel. He was sentenced to 101 years of exile from Leipzig. As a result, he would come to lose the support of many long-time benefactors including Philipp Melanchthon. Earlier rumors of homosexuality forced him to leave Wittenberg for Leipzig. Constitutio Criminalis Carolina, a comprehensive criminal code, promulgated in 1532 by Emperor Charles V and binding for the Holy Roman Empire until 1806, mandated the death penalty for homosexuality. He fled following this accusation, for a time residing in Chemnitz before eventually moving on to Prague, where he studied medicine. He then moved to Kraków. Having settled there, where he lived in the Kaufman's tenement house in the Main Square, he erects a large obelisk in Balice near Kraków with the financial and technical assistance of Jan Boner (1516-1562), the king's advisor and the leader of the Lesser Poland's Calvinists. This gnomon of 45 Roman feet high (about 15 meters) used to indicate the declination of the sun, necessary for astronomical observations and calculations, was ready in mid-July 1554 (according to letter from Rheticus to Jan Kraton, a Wrocław naturalist, July 20, 1554). The obelisk's pyramidal shape was thought to be a link between heaven and earth and a symbol of heavenly wisdom. Rheticus' obelisk become a symbol of Oficyna Łazarzowa (Officina Lazari), printing house of Łazarz Andrysowicz (died before 1577) in Kraków.

Between 1562-1563, Rheticus was closely associated with the court of king Sigismund Augustus, making rare astronomical instruments for him on the occasion of the famous August conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 1563. After the death of Jan Benedykt Solfa (1483-1564), the court physician of the king, Rheticus assumed his position as well as the function of court astrologer.

According to accounts of Berardo Bongiovanni, Bishop of Camerino and Papal Nuncio to Poland (1560-1563), written in 1560, "the king keeps 2,000 horses in the stable, 600 of which I saw, the rest were in the villages for fodder, as well as the foals and the stud. I have also seen 20 royal armor, four of which are remarkable works, namely one with a beautiful carving and silver-clad figures, depicting all the victories of his ancestors over Moscow. It cost 6,000 scudi. There are other victories on others.

[...]

Finally, he has thirty saddles and horse tacks, so rich that it is impossible to see the richer elsewhere. Some are of pure gold and silver, it is not surprising, knowing that they belong to such a king, but that they are also a masterpiece of art, no one who has not seen it would not believe it.

[...]

In each craft, the king has skilled masters, Jacob of Verona for jewels and carving on them, several Frenchmen for casting cannons, a Venetian for woodcarving, a Hungarian expert lute player, Prospero Anacleri, a Neapolitan for dressage of horses, and then for any craftsmanship.

He allows all these people to live as everyone likes, because he is so good and gracious that he would not want to cause anyone the slightest pain. I just wish he was a bit stricter in the matter of religion" (after "Relacye nuncyuszów apostolskich", Volume 1, pp. 96-100).

In 1565 Flavio Ruggieri reported that, "The king has horses in Lithuania, brought from the Kingdom of Naples during the times of Queen Bona, when also many horses were brought to Italy from Poland".

Another Ruggieri (or Ruggeri), Giulio, Papal Nuncio from 1565, recalled at the beginning of 1568, drew up for the Pope's information a full report, which, after the manner of the Venetian reports, stated about the king: "now he usually lives in Lithuania, most often in Knyszyn, a small castle of this province on the border of Mazovia, where he has stables with lots of beautiful horses, some of which are Neapolitan, the other Turkish, the other Spanish or Mantuan, and most Polish. This love of horses is, in a way, the reason that the king likes to live here, and maybe also that this place, being almost in the center of his countries, it is more convenient in terms of domestic administration for the king and those who have an interest, than Kraków, located on the Polish border" (after "Relacye nuncyuszów apostolskich", Volume 1, p. 182).

Adam Miciński, the court equerry of the king, in his work published in Kraków in 1570 entitled O swierzopach i ograch (On mares and stallions), says that the royal herds consisted of Arab, Turkish and Persian stallions, and the Polish mares, and that Nicolaus Radziwill, brought the king stallions from the Archipelago (Greek Islands), including from Venetian-ruled city of Candia (modern Heraklion, Crete). In 1565 Giert Hulmacher, a burgher from Gdańsk, supplied the king with two Friesian horses, bought in the Netherlands.

Portrait of a man in armor in the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh is signed in lower left corner with a monorgam G B M and a date "1563", thence attributed to follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni (oil on canvas, 255 x 161.9 cm, inv. GL.60.17.46). The style of this painting is also very close to Moroni. In the early 19th century it was owned by the Lord Stalbridge in London. The man, in a partially gilded armor, is holding a gold flanged mace of Eastern origin, very popular in Poland-Lithuania in the 16th and 17th centuries and known as buzdygan. Similar maces were depicted in the magnificent funerary monument of Stanisław Maleszewski (d. 1555) in the cloister of the Dominican Church in Kraków, created around 1555 by the workshop of Bartolommeo Berrecci or Santi Gucci, and that of Piotr Boratyński (1509-1558), castellan of Belz and Przemyśl and secretary to King Sigismund II Augustus, in Wawel Cathedral, created around 1558 by the workshop of Bartolommeo Berrecci (founded by his wife Barbara Dzieduszycka). His crimson trunkhose of Venetian fabric are very similar to that visible in a portrait of Sigismund Augustus in crimson costume in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Behind the man, among antique Roman ruins, stand his white horse and an obelisk, similar to that visible in a reconstruction of the Mausoleum of Emperor Augustus in Rome published in 1575, on title page of Rheticus' Canon doctrinae triangulorum, published in Leipzig in 1551, several publications of Oficyna Łazarzowa, some sponsored or dedicated to Polish-Lithuanian monarchs, or in the portrait of royal jeweller Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio from about 1553. Facial features of a man bear a strong resemblance to effigies of king Sigismund Augustus by Tintoretto. 

​This painting is also attributed to the Brescian painter Agostino Galeazzi (1523-1576), pupil of Moretto da Brescia (after "Pittori intorno a Moretto ..." by Stefano Bonaldo, p. 24, 26), who according to my identification painted the portrait of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (Dorotheum in Vienna, October 22, 2019, lot 40).

Portrait of king Sigismund Augustus in armor holding a buzdygan by workshop of Giovanni Battista Moroni or Agostino Galeazzi, 1563, North Carolina Museum of Art.

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus at the age of 43 by Tintoretto

"For the magnates, the elected ruler was only primus inter pares, to whom honor and respect were to be shown as a symbol of the state, but not necessarily obedience. Some magnates even allowed themselves to attack and ignore the monarch" (after "Obyczaje w Polsce ..." by Andrzej Chwalba, p. 203). In the great hall of his beautiful palace in Warsaw (Sandomierski Palace), among the portraits of the ancestors of Great Crown Chancellor Jerzy Ossoliński (1595-1650), there was a portrait of King Ladislaus IV Vasa with such inscription - Primus inter pares (First among equals). The term was introduced under Emperor Augustus to describe his position in the Roman state (Principate). Augustus wanted to use this designation to emphasize his subordination to the republican institutions, de facto, however, he was absolute ruler. According to Aleksander Bronikowski, the reign of Sigismund Augustus in Poland-Lithuania, a constitutional king with little power, shows the process of further limitation of monarch's prerogatives.

Such position of the Polish monarch also determined the iconography. The majority of people accustomed to the well-known effigies of Francis I, King of France and especially Henry VIII of England in rich fabrics and adorned with precious stones and jewels from head to toe, consider them an archetype of a Renaissance monarch. Despite the fact that his wardrobe was full of the most exquisite European and Oriental clothes, Sigismund Augustus usually dressed modestly, similar to the rulers of Europe's greatest power of the 16th century - Spain. In several of his portraits, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) is dressed in simple black attire. If not for the distinctive features and the Order of the Golden Fleece, such portraits could be considered effigies of a mere merchant (e.g. series by workshop of Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen). 

Some of the portraits of the Emperor's brother and successor to the Imperial throne Ferdinand I of Austria (1503-1564), husband of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), by workshop and follower of Titian, were even inscribed with a standard latin inscription, indicating only the age of the model and the date (Prado Museum in Madrid and Private collection in Vienna). According to mentioned inscription Ferdinand was 46 in 1548 (MDXLVIII / ANNO ETATIS SVE / XXXXVI), which is not entirely accurate as he was born on March 10, 1503, so generally speaking should be 45 in 1548. However, the version from Fugger Castle in Babenhausen provides the titulature (FERDINANDVS. D.G. ROMA. / IMP. ANNO. 1548) and the resemblance to many other of his preserved effigies is so obvious that the identification is not disputed. What is also noticeable in the mentioned portraits of Ferdinand is the color of his hair which is different in all versions. He has the darkest hair in the versions in Spain (Prado and Convent de Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, attributed to Anthonis Mor) and the brightest in the versions in Germany and Austria. Ferdinand commissioned his portraits from Titian's studio in Venice and one version was undoubtedly sent to Poland to a relative of his wife Sigismund II Augustus (also husband of two of Ferdinand's daughters).

Around 1538 Titian and his disciples realized also a series of portraits of King Francis I of France (1494-1547), allegedly inspired by a medal engraved by Benvenuto Cellini in Fontainebleau in 1537. Two of these portraits, in the Louvre and in the Harewood House are very similar, but many details differ (hairstyle, costume, background), so it is more likely that he painted these portraits based on study drawings of the king sent from France.

These portraits were gifts to various monarchs of Europe and were copied by various workshops. The portrait of Italian Duke of Savoy, Emmanuel Philibert (1528-1580), painted by circle of Antonis Mor in the Netherlands between 1555-1558, today in the Lviv National Art Gallery, could be a gift to Sigismund II Augustus. In a letter dated April 10, 1546 from Königsberg, Duke Albert of Prussia informs King Christian III of Denmark that the young King of Poland, Sigismund Augustus, had commenced building a new palace at Vilnius in Lithuania, for which he wished to have, among other things for its decoration, the portraits of the King and his family, and requesting that they should be furnished by his Majesty, whereupon the King, in a letter dated Kolding, the 6th of June, 1546, answers the Duke, that he willingly would have sent to the King of Poland the portraits wished for, but as they were not ready, and his Majesty's portraitist, Jacob Binck, whom he had some time before sent to the Duke, had not yet returned, he must rest contented until Binck came back and painted them (after "The Fine Arts Quarterly Review", Volume 2, pp. 374-375). In early 1570 a Swedish envoy arrived in Warsaw, where Sigismund Augustus settled for good from January 1570, with a portrait of Prince Sigismund (1566-1632), son of his sister Catherine. 

One of the few preserved, painted and inscribed effigies of "the last of the Jagiellons" is a portrait in the National Museum in Kraków (SIGISM. AUGUSTUS REX / POLONIÆ IAGELLONIDARUM / ULTIMUS, MNK I-21). It was probably created in the first half of the 17th century as a copy of a lost original by Lucas Cranach the Younger (known from a miniature from his workshop in the same museum, mirror view, Czartoryski collection, MNK XII-538). It was acquired in Sweden by a Pole Henryk Bukowski (1839-1900), who after the January Uprising settled in Stockholm and founded an antique shop. 

In 2022, a portrait of a gentleman by Jacopo Robusti known as Tintoretto from the Ferria Contin collection in Milan was auctioned (oil on canvas, 117 x 92 cm, Pandolfini Casa d'Aste, September 28, 2022, auction 1160, lot 21). According to inscription in Latin on the right the man was 43 in 1563 (AÑO ÆTATIS / SVÆ XXXX III / 1563), exacly as king Sigismund II Augustus (born on 1 August 1520), when workshop or follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, realized his portrait holding a buzdygan (North Carolina Museum of Art). The man bears a striking resemblance to other effigies of the monarch by Tintoretto identified by me and his squinted eyes make him look very much like his mother in her portraits by Cranach.

​The same man with a similar expression on his face was depicted in another painting by Tintoretto, now in the Rollins Museum of Art in Winter Park, Florida (oil on canvas, 57.46 x 46.35, inventory number 1962.2). He is, however, much older and wears armour adorned with gold, similar to that in the portrait of Sigismund Augustus at the age of 30 with a royal galley (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, GG 24). The face is also similar, as well as to the smaller "derivative" works of this portrait. The portrait was previously attributed to Paolo Veronese.

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572), aged 43 by Tintoretto, 1563, Private collection.

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in armour by Tintoretto, 1565-1570, Rollins Museum of Art.

Portraits of Georgia of Pomerania, countess Latalska by Paolo Veronese and circle

On October 24, 1563 in Wolgast, Georgia of Pomerania, granddaughter of Anna Jagiellon (1476-1503), Duchess of Pomerania, married Stanisław Latalski (1535-1598), count in Łabiszyn, starost of Inowrocław and Człuchów. On this occassion Philip I (1515-1560), Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast asked the court administration of his uncle Barnim IX in Szczecin for a larger series of tapestries to decorate the festive chambers, altogether 28 pieces.

Georgia was a posthumous daughter of George I, Duke of Pomerania and his second wife Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577). She was born on November 28, 1531 as the only child of the couple and named after her father. When her mother remarried in 1534, she was brought up at the court of her stepfather, prince John V of Anhalt-Zerbst (1504-1551) in Dessau. It was decided, however, that when she reached her eighth birthday, in 1539, she must be returned to Pomerania under the custody of her half-brother Philip I. Despite this, Margaret was able to have kept her daughter with her until May 1543, when she was finally sent to Wolgast. There were plans to marry her to Jaroslav of Pernstein (1528-1560), Prince Eric of Sweden (1533-1577), future Eric XIV, when she was just 10 years old and later to Otto II (1528-1603), Duke of Brunswick-Harburg. In the fall of 1562, negotiations were initiated with Stanisław Latalski, who was an envoy of Greater Poland to the Piotrków Sejm in 1562/1563. Latalski was a son of Janusz, voivode of Poznań and Barbara née Kretkowska. His father received the title of Count of the Holy Empire from Emperor Charles V in 1538 and in 1543 he was sent to Emperor Ferdinand in order to arrange a marriage of Sigismund II Augustus with Elizabeth of Austria. In 1554 young Stanisław, accompanied by Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski, son of Hetman Jan Amor, and Mikołaj Mielecki travelled to England, Switzerland and Italy. During this trip, they had the opportunity to meet Emperor Charles V in Brussels and his son Philip of Spain in London (after "Hetman Jan Tarnowski ..." by Włodzimierz Dworzaczek, p. 316).

The couple lived in Łabiszyn and in Człuchów, where Georgia was visited by her mother Margaret of Brandenburg. In 1564 Stanisław went to Wittenberg, to his wife's nephews, the Pomeranian princes Ernest Louis and Barnim, who were studying there. In the same year, under Georgia's influence, he converted to Lutheranism and brought the preacher Paul Elard (or Elhard) and his brother Hans from Szczecin, giving them in 1564 the castle chapel in Człuchów, and two years later also the parish church. Most of the city's population converted to Lutheranism. He also built a wooden Lutheran church in Łabiszyn. Between 1557 and 1564 Stanisław rebuilt the Inowrocław Castle in the Renaissance style with Italianate attics (ochędożone po włosku brandmury [literally firewall from Dutch/German/Polish - brandmuur, brandmauer, ogniomur]). The castle, however, was destroyed in 1656 during the Deluge. His father Janusz, voivode of Inowrocław and Poznań, corresponded with Protestant Duke George II of Brzeg (1523-1586) and Catholic King Ferdinand I (1503-1564). In a letter from 1550 to Duke George, Janusz thanks him for the two dogs he sent him and sends him in return two falcons trained for hunting and adds that he will send four of them to King Ferdinand (Serenissimo Regi Romanorum quatuor lectos falconas assignavi, cum iisque suae Sacrae Majestatis falconarius, qui eos tollat, in itinere expectatur). 

After the birth of her first child in 1566, three years after the wedding - a daughter named Maria Anna - Georgia lost her mind and never completely regained her sanity since. She died in childbirth in late 1573 or early 1574.

Portrait of a lady wearing an elaborate yellow silk dress in Kensington Palace was painted in the style close to Paolo Veronese (oil on canvas, 87.6 x 64.8 cm, RCIN 400552). It was previously attributed to Leandro Bassano and comes from the collection of the Capel family at Kew Palace in London (acquired in 1731). The coat of arms, which is unidentified, was painted in a different style, hence it is clearly a later addition. It is painted over an original inscription in Latin, which is still in part legible: AETATIS SVAE XXXII. / ANNO DNI / 1.5.6.3 / SIBI. The woman was therefore 32 years old in 1563, exacly as Georgia of Pomerania, when she married Latalski. The upper part of her dress is transparent and embroidered with white flowers of five petals, very similar to the Luther rose visible on the epitaph of Katharina von Bora (1499-1552), wife of Martin Luther, in the Marienkirche in Torgau, created in 1552. Around her neck is a string of pearls, associated with purity, chastity and innocence and a large green jewel-pendant on a long chain, a color being symbolic of fertility. She is holding a green parrot on her hand, a symbol of motherhood. The woman bear a great resemblance to half-brother of Georgia of Pomerania, Prince Joachim Ernest of Anhalt (1536-1586) in his effigies by Lucas Cranach the Younger (Georgium in Dessau and private collection) and to effigies of Georgia's mother Margaret of Brandenburg by Lucas Cranach the Elder, identified by me (Grunewald hunting lodge in Berlin and private collection). 

The same woman, although somewhat older, was depicted in another similar painting by Veronese, now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (oil on canvas, 117.3 x 100.8 cm, inv. 594). The painting comes from the Electoral Gallery in Schleissheim Palace near Munich, where it had been listed since at least 1748 (after "Alte Pinakothek: italienische Malerei", ed. Cornelia Syre, p. 280). From the same gallery comes the portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as a widow, painted by the workshop of Sofonisba Anguissola, attributed by me, now in the Royal Castle in Warsaw (inv. ZKW 64). The particular expression of the woman in the painting also correspond with reports that Georgia suffered from mental health problems.

In the Schorr collection in London there is another interesting portrait painted in 1563 (oil on panel, 117 x 82.5 cm, inv. SRR6370427). The man is holding a pair of gloves and wears a gold signet ring set with a precious stone on his index finger, suggesting that he was a man of some wealth. The painting is attributed to Anthonis Mor, also known as Antonio Moro, a Dutch portrait painter born in Utrecht, who painted many aristocrats and members of the ruling families of Europe. According to the date inscribed on the contemporary frame around the painting, the man was 28 years old in 1563, exactly like Latalski when he was elected to the Diet of Piotrków and married Georgia. The same man can be identified in a portrait by Tintoretto, painted two years later, in 1565, which once belonged to the imperial collection of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern (oil on canvas, 100.8 x 87.7 cm, Christie's London, Auction 11974, July 8, 2016, lot 159, signed and dated lower left: IAC·TENTORETO·F· / ·15·65·). This painting also bore another inscription in the upper left corner, invisible today.

The Latalskis were a wealthy family, although today very few traces of their prosperity remain in Poland. Among them, we can cite two books published in Leipzig in 1533 by Melchior Lotter the Elder (1470-1549), who printed works by Luther and Cranach, Age[n]da s[e]c[u]nd[u]m cursum et rubrica[m] eccl[es]ie cathedralis Posnaniensis ... and Eva[n]gelistaru[m] quatuor passiones D[omi]ni n[ost]ri Jhesu Christi. In ecclesia cathedrali Posnanien[si] ... (Kórnik Library, sygn.Cim.Qu.2953; sygn.Cim.Qu.2954). These books, intended to unify the liturgy in the Poznań diocese, were financed by Jan Latalski (1463-1540), Bishop of Poznań, favourite of Queen Bona and uncle of Stanisław. The title page of both books is decorated with a beautiful woodcut with the arms of Latalski - Prawdzic with the apostles Peter and Paul, signed with an indistinct monogram on the stone in the center of the composition. This woodcut is very much in the style of Cranach and comparable to the woodcuts with the effigies of the two apostles preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 21.35.5; 22.67.34) or the title page of Luther's book Von Jhesu Christo eine Predigt, published in Wittenberg in 1533. The study drawing with the arms of Latalski was probably sent to Wittenberg or to a collaborator of Cranach in Leipzig or made in Poznań by a member of Cranach's workshop. The same is probably true for the portraits of members of the Latalski family, especially Stanisław who travelled and had connections in different parts of Europe. As in the case of the portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-1574), Grand Duke of Tuscany, wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece, painted by the workshop or circle of Mor in the late 1560s (Sotheby's New York, January 27, 2007, lot 624), it would be difficult to prove how the painter and the model met, since they probably not met in person at the time the painting was created and the effigy was based on other portraits or study drawings. However, Count Stanisław undoubtedly had the opportunity to meet the painter personally in Brussels or London during his visit to that city in 1554. In 1604, Karel van Mander, in his biography of Anthonis, reports on the trip that the latter made to London at the request of Charles V to paint a portrait of Mary Tudor, one of his best-known works, now kept in the Prado Museum in Madrid (inv. P002108). The following year Latalski went to Italy, which also made possible a personal acquaintance with Tintoretto and other Venetian painters. His uncle Bishop Jan was also the initiator of the publication in Venice of the Kraków Breviary in 1538, which, however, bears the Abdank coat of arms of his successor Jan Chojeński (1486-1538) on the tile page (after "Przywileje drukarskie w Polsce" by Maria Juda, p. 37).

The Italian, Netherlandish and German influences in the Latalskis' patronage and portraiture perfectly reflect the diversity of the country.

Portrait of Georgia of Pomerania (1531-1573/74), countess Latalska, aged 32 with a parrot by circle of Paolo Veronese, 1563, Kensington Palace. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of Georgia of Pomerania (1531-1573/74), countess Latalska by Paolo Veronese, ca. 1570, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

​Portrait of a man aged 28, most probably Count Stanisław Latalski (1535-1598) by Anthonis Mor, 1563, The Schorr Collection. 

​Portrait of a man holding a pair of gloves, most probably Count Stanisław Latalski (1535-1598) by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1565, Private collection. 

​Woodcut with the coat of arms of Prawdzic of Jan Latalski (1463-1540), Bishop of Poznań, Apostles Peter and Paul from Eva[n]gelistaru[m] quatuor passiones ... by circle or workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1533, Kórnik Library. 

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon holding a zibellino by Tintoretto ​

In 1562 on the occasion of the wedding of her younger sister Catherine in Vilnius, Anna ordered for herself three gowns: "one robe of red taffeta, and two hazuka dresses of red velvet" all sewn with pearls. The sisters dressed identically, as evidenced by their miniatures by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger from about 1553. Inventory of Catherine's dowry includes many items similar to these visible on the portrait of a lady holding a zibellino by Tintoretto from about 1565: a golden belt set with rubies, sapphires and pearls valued at 1,700 thalers, "a black sable stitched together from two, his head and four feet are golden, set with precious stones" of 1,400 thalers worth, a chain of large round, oriental pearls of 1,000 thalers worth, a neacklace of round, oriental pearls of 985 thalers worth, velvet long, crimson robe with three rows of pearl edgings with 72 French-style enameled buckles, velvet crimson hazuka dress lined with sables, four velvet outer garments for summer, eleven white linen shirts with gold sleeves, and even "one large yellow Turkish rug for the table".

By the mid-1560s, Anna's financial situation had improved. The assistance of an important Mazovian official, Wojciech Bogucki, an old friend of her mother, played an important role. Bogucki, as treasurer (podskarbi) and general intendent (ekonom) of Mazovia (and after his death his successor Marcin Falęcki), was largely responsible for the financial affairs of Anna's court. Her income increased considerably in these years. She now had a stable income from her Mazovian estates and Sigismund Augustus agreed to give her 1,900 Polish zlotys annually from the royal salt mines, and sometimes sent her an extra money. In 1564, for example, Anna's total income can be estimated at nearly 18,000 Polish zlotys, and she was now spending a lot (in 1564, her expenses reached 21,000 Polish zlotys). The accounts of 1564 allow us to estimate the number of her courtiers at about 70 people. The steward was Stanisław Wolski, castellan of Rawa, who was sent to Vienna in January 1564 to convey Anna's message to the emperor. Among the courtiers, the physician Casary (Caspary) was the best paid: his salary in 1564 amounted to the enormous sum of 854 Polish zlotys and 29 groszy. There were also the notary Andrzej Hincza, the bookkeeper Grzegorz Goryszewski, six coachmen, an "overseer of the silver" and two servants in charge of the silverware, a hairdresser, a pharmacist, one male and one female bath attendants (Raczek łaziebnik and kąpielowa Miliczina), a stove attendant, a servant in charge of the ladies-in-waiting, four doormen, and three servants in charge of the clothes. Among the important figures were Algismund, the cellar and wine overseer, and Jan, the trumpeter. There were nine cooks, mostly Poles, but Jerzy (Giorgio) Macarona was probably Italian, as his name suggests, while Jerzy Bohemus probably came from Bohemia. There was also a certain Gaspar, servant to the main cook. Among the matrons at the princess's court at that time were Elżbieta Maciejowska, Mrs. Świdnicka, Mrs. Bentkowska, as well as a "Italian maiden" Livia, probably an old lady-in-waiting of Bona, who had not married, and eight ladies-in-waiting. In 1564, the salaries of the court members amounted to almost 4,000 Polish zlotys (including arrears). The costs of sending special envoys and letters amounted to 140 Polish zlotys, which testifies to rich contacts. Considerable sums were spent on textiles and clothing for courtiers and servants. These clothes were made from various types of textiles, such as silk taffeta, satin, damask, Bohemian and English (luńskie) cloths of various colors. In one year (1564), Anna purchased 12 cubits of red silk taffeta and 1/2 cubit of black silk taffeta for a dress, as well as black satin to finish her damask dress. She had one of her old damask dresses altered and had five new ones made: one in black satin, three in damask, and one in black velvet with silver fringes. A damask cloak was also to be made for her. The greatest expenses, however, were incurred by the table. The rich list of products purchased for the kitchen suggests that meals at Anna's court were abundant and refined (after "The Court of Anna Jagiellon: Size, Structure and Functions" by Maria Bogucka, p. 95-98).

Apart from Cranach's miniature, there are no known portraits of the princess from this period, but sources confirm the existence of such effigies. In November 1569, a faithful portrait (wahrhaftig Conterfey) of Anna was made for Prince Barnim of Pomerania (1549-1603). At the initiative of Sigismund Augustus, negotiations on the marriage of Anna with Barnim were conducted in Drahim by Stanisław Sędziwój Czarnowski (1526-1602). However, they did not lead to any results, because the Pomeranian side wanted to expand its territory at the expense of the Polish crown, which Sigismund Augustus could not accept, since these issues were decided by the Sejm, and its consent was unlikely - the Pomeranians demanded several starosties as a dowry for Barnim's future wife. Sigismund Augustus, for his part, was ready to generously equip his sister, offering her the considerable sum of 400,000 Polish zloty, as well as a rich trousseau of clothes and equipment and a share of Queen Bona's inheritance. Despite the consent of the Princess and Barnim and the serious involvement of the Polish side in these negotiations, the planned marriage of Anna Jagiellon with the Pomeranian Prince did not take place (after "Książęta Pomorza Zachodniego ..." by Zygmunt Boras, p. 181). Earlier, in August 1557 in Vilnius, Antoni Wida painted portraits of princesses Anna and Catherine for Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568).

As with his sister Catherine's marriage, Sigismund Augustus did not want to impose his will on Anna regarding her marriage. On November 16, 1562, he replied to Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565) from Warsaw that he had not yet discussed the candidacy of the Danish Prince Magnus (1540-1583) with her: "we do not know the opinion or will of Her Grace in this matter, and we would not want to act without the knowledge and consent of Her Majesty herself, otherwise than we have done with our younger sister, according to her own will" (after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku ..." by Aleksander Przezdziecki, Volume 3, p. 41). ​

In September 1565 arrived to Cracow count Clemente Pietra to announce the marriage of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany with a cousin of Sigismund Augustus and Anna, Joanna of Austria (a sister of Sigismund Augustus' first and third wife) and to ask for the hand of Anna for 16 years old Ferdinando, brother of Duke Francesco. It is highly probable that on this occasion the king commissioned in the workshop of Tintoretto in Venice a portrait of himself, his wife and his 42 years old sister, created just as earlier effigies of the Jagiellons by medalier van Herwijck or painter Cranach the Younger, basing on drawings or miniatures sent from Poland.

Experts frequently point out the uniqueness of this effigy, now at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 98 x 75.5 cm, inventory number GG 48), not only because of the frontality of the woman's posture, but also the unusual cut of her outfit - red velvet dress. For the authors of the exhibition "Titian and the image of women in 16th century Venice" at the Royal Palace of Milan (February 23 to June 5, 2022), "she is not a Venetian gentlewoman but from the Venetian hinterland" (Il vestito fa ritenere che non si tratti di una gentildonna veneziana ma dell'entroterra veneto) and her jewelry and the oriental carpet express good taste and high social status. 

Similar to the effigy of the second wife of Anna's brother, Barbara Radziwill, known as "La Bella" (Pitti Palace in Florence, Inv. 1912 no. 18), a zibellino on her hand is a fertility talisman, indicating that she is an unmarried woman. Weasel pelts (zibellino) were mainly imported to Italy from Poland-Lithuania and Muscovy.

This painting, sometimes also attributed to Marietta Robusti, known as Tintoretta (d. 1590), most probably comes from the collection of James Hamilton (1606-1649), 1st Duke of Hamilton, which after his death entered the collection of Archduke Leopold William of Austria in Brussels. Hamilton collected Venetian paintings through his agent, Viscount Basil Feilding, who was sent in 1634 as ambassador to Venice, where he remained for five years. It differs, however, from the work represented in the catalog of the Archduke's collection - Theatrum Pictorium (number 79). The print by Lucas Vorsterman the Younger shows a slightly larger image and fragments of architecture in the background and attributes the original painting to Titian. There is also no zibellino in this version. It is possible that the painting was modified or that it is one of the many versions belonging to the Habsburgs, relatives of Crown Princess Anna Jagiellon, who undoubtedly received her effigies. It was mentioned in the gallery in 1735. 

The portrait resembles Anna's miniature by workshop of Cranach from around 1553, her funerary monument from around 1584, and a portrait by Tintoretto in the Collegium Maius in Kraków.

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) when Crown Princess of Poland-Lithuania holding a zibellino by Tintoretto, ca. 1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. ​

​Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) when Crown Princess of Poland-Lithuania from the Theatrum Pictorium (79) by Lucas Vorsterman the Younger after Titian, 1660, Princely Court Library in Waldeck.

Portraits of Queen Catherine of Austria as Venus Verticordia by Titian and workshop

"Today I came to Radom, where the queen lives, and that same evening I visited Her Highness, comforting her in the name of the Holy Father after the loss of Emperor His Higness, although three months ago I had fulfilled this obligation by one of my secretaries, whom I sent to Radom. The Queen seemed to accept this very pleasantly, and in return she kisses His Holiness' most holy feet in the most humble way. She asked me to visit her the next morning for easier conversation", wrote about his visit on December 3, 1564 to Queen Catherine of Austria, Venetian bishop and papal nuncio Giovanni Francesco Commendone (1523-1584), in his letter to Cardinal Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), future saint. 

The next day this secret audience took place, a description of which we find in Commendone's next letter: "It was on it that she spoke of her unhappy condition, complaining that, apart from leaving her for no reason, there were also attempts to divorce her, and that this was the main cause of the Synod. She considered all the accusations made against her with such care, caution, and respect for the king that I do not know whether I felt more pity or admiration for her. Later she said extensively that she knew well how the ministers, especially the envoys of the courts, contribute to all this; so she begged me and beseeched me for the holy priesthood, in the name which I had until now, and for the kindness shown to me by her father, and by her brothers, and also the Bavarian prince, that I would have mercy on her; and then she opened up completely to me and said that she had been secretly informed about the efforts made with the Holy Father for divorce, and that His Holiness, with my advice and commitment, allows it. [...] She spoke all these words with bitter tears and sobbing so that I could hardly answer her. [...] I assured her, most honestly, that the king had not mentioned a word of divorce [...]. I wish and hope to convince the Queen someday that I did just the opposite; that I tried in various ways and under various appearances to dissuade from these intentions, to suppress these thoughts, and that the same is the opinion of the Holy Father. [...] At the supper (because she wanted me to dine with me) I saw her greatly comforted. Finally, bidding me farewell, she again took me aside and asked me to recommend her pious services to the Holy Father begging him to take care of her and not to forget in his holy prayers that God may console her in these worries. I understand that the Hungarian War increased the Queen's suspicions: some argue that for this divorce and for the Emperor's other practices with the Prussian Master and Moscow against the Kingdom of Poland, efforts were made to entangle him in these Transylvanian troubles. Whatever the answer to the matter of divorce, no matter how indifferent, I remind Your Majesty most humbly to write it with a key" (after Aleksander Przeździecki's "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku. Korrespondencya Polska", Volume 3, p. 104-107).

Undobtedly also works of art, paintings, were part of all these secret negotiations and political efforts. In May 1562, the queen settled in Radom alone, abandoned by the king. As a widowed Duchess of Mantua, daughter of Emperor and cousin of Philip II of Spain, she knew the power of image and allegory. 

In the Borghese Gallery in Rome, where there is also a portrait of Catherine of Austria's mother Queen Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547) as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder, there is a painting of Venus blindfolding Cupid by Titian, dated by Adolfo Venturi to about 1565. It was probably acquired in 1608 as part of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati's collection. 

According to Erwin Panofsky it shows Venus Verticordia between the blindfolded Cupid and Anteros, the one with his eyes open, symbols of contrasting aspects of love, the blind and sensuous, and the clear-sighted and virtuous, and two nymphs symbolizing Marital Affection and Chastity. The matrons of Rome, who were so renowned for good management that old Cato told the senate, "We Romans govern all the world abroad, but are ourselves governed by our wives at home," erected a temple to that Venus Verticordia, quæ maritos uxoribus reddebat benevolos (Venus the Turner of Hearts, who makes husbands well disposed to their wives), whither (if any difference happened between man and wife) they did instantly resort. There they did offer sacrifice, a white hart, Plutarch records, sine felle, without the gall (some say the like of Juno's temple), and make their prayers for conjugal peace (after Robert Burton's "The Anatomy of Melancholy", Volume 3, p. 310). Venus has the features of Queen Catherine of Austria, similar to her other effigies by Titian. The Queen probably commissioned it as a gift for the Pope or one of the cardinals.

A copy of this painting was in the collection of Cornelis van der Geest and is seen in two paintings of his art gallery in the 1630s, by Willem van Haecht. In 1624 Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, grandson of Catherine Jagiellon, visited his gallery in Antwerp. The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm has two workshop copies of this painting, out of four known previously. One, attributed to Andrea Schiavone (inventory number NM 7170), came to the Nationalmuseum with the collection of Nicola Martelli, a Rome art dealer, in 1804, the other was transferred in 1866 from the Swedish royal collection (inventory number NM 205). It is possible that some previously known copies were taken from magnate or royal residencies in Poland during the Deluge (1655-1660), or even from the Royal Castle in Radom, which was ransaced and burned in the spring of 1656.

Interestingly, in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, there is a painting of Adoration of the Magi by Titian from this period with figures in oriental costumes, very similar to contemporary Polish-Lithuanian attire. This work comes from the collection of Cardinal Federico Borromeo (1564-1631), cousin of Saint Charles Borromeo. It cannot be excluded that it was another luxury gift from the Queen of Poland commissioned in Venice. 

Some time later, most probably between 1566-1570, therefore after Queen's departure to Austria, Titian created another version of this composition. At some point after the painting's completion, most likely in the mid-18th century, its right side was cut away. Before 1739 it was in the collection of Charles Jervas or Jarvis in London (his sale, at his residence, London, 11-20 March 1739, 8th day, no. 543, as by Titian). In 1950 the painting was sold to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York and in 1952 offered to the National Gallery of Art in Washington. 

The blonde goddess seems younger and more beautiful and composition was modified. The inventories up to 1780 describe the picture as "Venus binding the eyes of Cupid, and the Graces offering a Tribute", similar to the painting in the royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (Wil.1548), in which Venus bears the features of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651), granddaughter of Catherine Jagiellon, and to the painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where Venus has the features of Ladislaus Vasa's first wife Cecilia Renata of Austria. The figures bear attributes of the goddess of love: apples, a dove and flowers. They could also be interpreted as assistants of Fortuna Virilis, an aspect or manifestation of the goddess Fortuna, often depicted with a cornucopia (horn of plenty) and associated with Venus Verticordia. Fortuna Virilis, according to the poet Ovid, had the power to conceal the physical imperfections of women from the eyes of men.

The x-radiographs have revealed a number of alterations, especially in woman's face, which was initially less sublime and more close to the features of the Queen. It is possible that through this painting, Catherine wanted to convince Sigismund Augustus that her rightful place is at his side and that she should return to Poland.

Allegory with portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus Verticordia (Turner of Hearts) by Titian, 1563-1565, Borghese Gallery in Rome.

Allegory with portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus Verticordia (Turner of Hearts) by workshop of Titian, attributed to Andrea Schiavone, 1563-1565, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Allegory with portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus Verticordia (Turner of Hearts) by Titian or workshop, 1566-1570, National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Adoration of the Magi with figures in Polish-Lithuanian costumes by Titian, ca. 1560, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. 

Portraits of Anna Jagiellon and Catherine of Austria by Titian and workshop

After the return of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572), third wife of Sigismund Augustus, to her native Austria in 1565, Princess-Infanta Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), the king's only unmarried sister who remained in Poland-Lithuania, became the most important woman in the Realm of Venus.

Anna resided mainly in Masovia, in splendid residences built by her mother Bona and the Masovian dukes. The Princess-Infanta had a small court, but considering her position as the only living relative of the king, present in the country after Catherine's departure, her importance must have increased after 1565. However, very little is known about this period in the life of the future elected queen of the Commonwealth.

Magnificent fabrics were acquired for the Infanta and her ladies, from which dresses in Italian, Spanish, French, Polish and German styles were made, similar to those mentioned in the register of dowry of Catherine Jagiellon from 1562. The accounts confirm that on January 24, 1564, a piece of cloth for the princess's court was purchased from the Jew Józef in Płock for 6 zlotys, as well as two pieces of Krosno linen for 15 zlotys, from which shirts for the princess were sewn. In mid-April, this merchant delivered to the court of Princess Anna 5 and a half ells of black velvet for 18 zlotys 10 groszy, 4 ells of flesh-coloured Chinese silk and threads for sewing a letnik ("summer dress") for 24 groszy, and 7 ells of black velvet for 16 zlotys 10 groszy. According to a note prepared by the treasury scribe, the inferior quality velvet was used on May 10, 1564 to sew dresses for the court ladies of Princess-Infanta Anna (after "Dostawcy dworów królewskich w Polsce i na Litwie ..." by Maurycy Horn, Part II, p. 13).

Among the most important events in the life of the Warsaw court, besides the marriages of Anna's court ladies, were the visits of her brother. During one of these visits, the king arrived ill on a Sunday in Lent (March 10, 1567). Sigismund Augustus probably caught a fever on the way. He was so weak that he had to be carried from the carriage in a chair to the castle chambers, where, lying on a bed, he was often visited by Anna and the "old lady", the influential chamberlain of her court, Jadwiga Żalińska née Taszycka (d. after 1575). This lasted two weeks, then, feeling better, he left in April for the Sejm in Piotrków.

The Princess-Infanta, like her mother and brother, loved to surround herself with favourites and listen to the advice of secret advisers, whom her sister Sophia called "secretaries". The energetic chamberlain Żalińska, who was said to "snarl at the princess as if she were a servant" when angry, was generally disliked for her intrigues and greed. She was the wife of Maciej Żaliński, a favourite of the king, and the Żalińskis were reputed to be all-powerful at court. Anna showered her chamberlain with gifts, endured her anger and sulking, protected and financed the education of her son - Jan, an elegant young man, but with a rather dubious character. Along with Żalińska, among the influential women of the court were Zofia Łaska, Elżbieta Świdnicka and Katarzyna Orlikowa, who were admitted to great intimacy and sincerely devoted to the Princess-Infanta (after "Anna Jagiellonka" by Maria Bogucka, p. 79, 116, 153). 

The letter of Zofia Łaska, clearly reluctant towards Żalińska, to Sophia Jagellon, dated May 23, 1573 from Warsaw, in which she informs her of the election of Henry of Valois and that Anna will probably marry him, is very interesting. The lady-in-waiting also adds: "If anything were to please me, it would be that Your Ducal Highness be there yourself, and especially that Żalińska's son does not sleep there: ​​because everyone criticizes this and holds the Princess responsible for having allowed it. But the Princess does not care" (after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku: Korrespondencya polska ..." by Aleksander Przezdziecki, Volume 4, p. 69). "Anna, having taken him under her protection, sent him to study at the Academy of Ingolstadt, then surrounded him with her favors", comments about Mr Żaliński Kasper Niesiecki (1682-1744) (after "Herbarz polski", Volume 10, p. 44). In February 1592, she wrote to Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616), asking for help for this "pupil of ours" in his efforts to marry Elżbieta (Halszka) Chodkiewiczówna. In the meantime, Żaliński had become the starost of Przedbórz.

The beautiful ladies of Anna's court often attracted her brother's attention, as was the case with Anna Zajączkowska, who was distinguished by her extraordinary beauty. Zajączkowska, "a very virtuous young lady of the purest morals," was the Infanta's favorite. Anna's court was famous for its nobility and all maiden virtues. It took a lot of courage and ingenuity to attack this "sacred gynaeceum" (in ancient Greece, it was a part of the house reserved for women), so the royal courtiers used an unusual trick. One day, a nobleman named Mikorski appeared at the Infanta's court, showed the recommendation of the Piotrków starost Andrzej Szpot, asked the Infanta for Zajączkowska's hand in marriage, and then, having received her consent, took the bride out of Warsaw. But instead of going to the altar, Zajączkowska went to the royal bed in Bugaj Castle near Witów. This was a terrible blow for Anna. "It is admirable," wrote a contemporary chronicler, "with what violence the pain pierced the heart of the Infanta, how many deep sighs she heaved, falling on the bed, accusing her brother, who had covered her honor and fame with such shame" (after "Zygmunt August: żywot ostatniego z Jagiellonów" by Eugeniusz Gołębiowski, p. 471).

Although her relationship with the young and handsome Jan Żaliński was very ambiguous, it seems that in Zajączkowska's case the Infanta needed to save face in public opinion and especially in front of the Habsburgs, who were well informed about the affairs of the Polish-Lithuanian court. Moreover, Catherine of Austria should not have believed that Anna supported her brother's behavior towards her. Although she lived in Austria, she was still the legal wife of Sigismund Augustus and the Queen of Poland, and, in addition to her family connections in the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, she had many friends in Italy. 

Having reluctantly left Mantua shortly after the death of Duke Francesco, Catherine of Austria remained very attached to the court of Mantua, which she had known for only a few months of marriage. Once she became Queen of Poland, she began a close correspondence between the two courts. Between Vilnius, where Sigismund Augustus liked to reside, and Mantua, an exchange of gifts and favors, recommendations and various courtesies intensified. Shortly after her marriage to the King of Poland, in 1554, Catherine promised to send a horse to Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga (1505-1563), a very precious gift at the time. From the surviving correspondence, we know that the horse left Vienna around October 22 and that a few weeks later, on November 10, the cardinal may have written to the queen to thank her for this gift.

In her letters to Mantua, the Queen only occasionally used the services of secretaries. In a letter to Duchess Margaret Palaeologa (1510-1566) in May 1564, Catherine justified herself thus: "It is no small displeasure that, finding ourselves on a journey to Lithuania, we cannot, as is our custom, reply in our own hand to the letter of Your Illustrious Ladyship" (Ne displace non poco che, per ritrovarne nel viaggio di Lituania, non possiamo secondo ch'è di nostro costume risponder di mano propria alla lettera di Vostra illustrissima Signoria). 

After the death of Catherine and Sigismund Augustus in 1572, Anna became the object of interest of candidates for the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, among whom were also Italians, including her distant relative, widowed Alfonso II d'Este (1533-1597), Duke of Ferrara. "The Infanta will openly favour both the Duke of Ferrara and Rožmberk [William of Rožmberk (1535-1592)], because she passionately desires the marriage: there is no other way to retain her favour", wrote Andrzej Dudycz to Emperor Maximilian II in November 1574.

The friendly court of the d'Este family, so dear to Anna's mother, Bona Sforza, was very involved in the first free elections of the Commonwealth. In 1574, several ambassadors from Ferrara arrived in Poland-Lithuania, including Taddeo Bottone, Antonio Semenza and Ascanio Giraldini. One of them, Alessandro Baranzoni, sent incognito, sought the support of the most eminent Tuscan merchants present in Kraków. Girolamo Mazza, a Venetian who had played a role in the election of Henry of Valois, and Filippo Talducci, an important figure in the Italian merchant community of Kraków, supported the candidacy of the Duke d'Este. Even after the election of Anna and Bathory in December 1575, Talducci did not give up cultivating his relations with Ferrara. In October 1578, a young man from his entourage, Luca Del Pace, who was going to Florence to see his family, passing through Ferrara, was commissioned to bring a portrait of Queen Anna as a gift that Giraldini had been unable to obtain, "because at that time His Majesty had forbidden her to be portrayed" (sendo che in quel tempo Sua Maestà haveva proibito l'essere ritratta). The Este court was therefore fully included in the network of relations of the Tuscan merchants operating in Poland, and Ferrara appears to us as an almost obligatory stop on the Kraków-Florence route (after "La trama Nascosta - Storie di mercanti e altro" by Rita Mazzei).

Ippolito Tassoni was sent as ambassador from Ferrara to Poland in the summer of 1553 on the occasion of the marriage of Sigismund Augustus with Catherine of Austria. Two years later, in October 1555, the Ferrarese envoy Antonio Maria Negrisoli was sent by Bona to Ercole II to ask permission to stay in "the palace he has in the city of Venice" (ricercare et pregare Vostra Signoria del palazzo tiene in la città di Venetia) and in the autumn of 1565, Taddeo Bottone was sent to Sigismund Augustus to invite the sovereign to the marriage of Alfonso II d'Este with Barbara of Austria (1539-1572), the younger sister of Catherine of Austria. All these links indicate that the portrait of Queen Anna sent in 1578 was undoubtedly not the only effigy of the member of the Polish-Lithuanian royal family that was in the possession of the Dukes of Ferrara. It is quite possible that the portrait of Alfonso II d'Este from the Popławski collection, attributed to Hans von Aachen, now in the National Museum in Warsaw (inv. M.Ob.1913 MNW) is connected with such family relations or with the duke's candidacy in the royal election of 1587.

In the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden there is a portrait by Titian, believed to represent his daughter Lavinia (oil on canvas, 103 x 86.5 cm, Gal.-Nr. 171). The painting comes from the former collections of the d'Este family in Ferrara, which were transferred to Modena in 1598 by Duke Caesar d'Este (1562-1628). In 1746, the painting, together with many other masterpieces from the Galleria Estense in Modena, was sold to Augustus III (1696-1763), elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Elector of Saxony, to enrich his collection in Dresden. The identification of the sitter and the attribution are based mainly on the inscription in the upper right corner, which reads in Latin: "Lavinia, daughter of Titian, painted by him" (LAVINIA. TIT. V. F. / AB. EO. P.). This inscription is unusual for Titian's works and was most likely added later, probably to sell this portrait at a more advantageous price as the original work of the famous Venetian master. Today, however, both the author of the portrait and the identity of the sitter are in doubt. In a 1993 publication by Jacob Burckhardt there is a question mark (Lavinia Vecellio?, Dresda, Gemäldegalerie, "Il ritratto nella pittura italiana del Rinascimento", p. 352) and in a 2001 catalogue of Titian's works it is listed as "Portrait of a noblewoman", additonally proven not to be autograph work. There are also suggestions that the person depicted is Bianca Cappello, the future Grand Duchess of Tuscany (after "Die bewegte Frau: Weibliche Ganzfigurenbildnisse in Bewegung ..." by Petra Kreuder, p. 70). 

The exact dates of birth of Lavinia, daughter of Titan, are unknown. She probably died in 1561. In 1555 she married the wealthy minor nobleman Cornelio Sarcinelli of Serravalle, while the woman depicted seems rather to be a member of the high aristocracy or even the ruling family given her pose and her rich costume. Stylistically and considering the costume, the painting is dated to around 1565, which is generally not disputed. The woman's green dress is not typical of Venice and the authors indicate strong inspirations from Spanish fashion - the costume of Elisabeth of Valois (1545-1568), Queen of Spain according to her portrait in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 3182), is similar in many elements. With this costume, the woman wanted to emphasize her ties to the Spanish monarchy. The Infanta Anna Jagiellon, through her mother, was descended from the kings of Aragon and the kings of Naples and had rights over the possessions that were part of the Spanish Empire at that time.
An ostrich feather fan, an accessory of noble ladies, which only married women were allowed to wear in Venice at the time, could in this case indicate the desire to marry. Queen Elizabeth I, whose unmarried status inspired a cult of virginity linked to that of the Virgin Mary, is often depicted with ostrich feather fans, notably in her famous "Armada Portrait". Thus, given that the woman in the Dresden portrait was not Venetian, she should not be considered already married. Furthermore, if the woman was married, the portrait would be accompanied by the portrait of her husband, which is not known. Given its provenance, the painting, commissioned in Venice on the basis of study drawings sent from Poland-Lithuania, could easily have been transported to Anna's relatives in Ferrara.

The resemblance of the woman in the Dresden portrait to the Princess-Infanta in the portraits by Venetian painters that I have identified is strong. The portrait by Francesco Bassano in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 33) is particularly similar in terms of facial features and costume. One can also point out the resemblance to the famous miniature of Anna by Lucas Cranach the Younger (Czartoryski Museum, MNK XII-545) (blond hair, small lips).

A portrait similar to the one in Dresden, also identified as representing Titian's daughter Lavinia, is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 111 x 90.5 cm, GG 3379). The woman is different and due to the lack of resemblance to the Dresden portrait, the identification as Lavinia is questioned. The woman's costume in expensive green fabric is similar, but it is more in the Venetian style. We can identify the same woman in the painting attributed to Titian and his workshop in the Prado Museum in Madrid (inv. P000487), which was previously catalogued as Portrait of Titian's daughter Lavinia Vecellio by Paolo Veronese, and which, according to my identification, represents the third wife of Sigismund Augustus - Catherine of Austria. The resemblance to the portraits of Catherine by Titian's entourage or followers in Voigtsberg Castle and the National Museum of Serbia is also visible in the facial features. The Vienna painting is attributed to Titian and his workshop or to his nephew Marco Vecellio (1545-1611) and is also dated around 1565. It comes from the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and was listed in the Theatrum Pictorium under number 91, before Titian's portrait of Jacopo de Strada, dated between 1567 and 1568 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 81). The painting was therefore commissioned shortly before Catherine's departure from Poland-Lithuania and probably sent to her Habsburg relatives.

Another interesting painting by Titian in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (oil on canvas, 183 x 200 cm, GG 71), depicts the mythological scene of Diana and Callisto. It is generally dated to around 1566 and is thought to have been acquired by Emperor Maximilian II, Catherine's brother and Anna's relative, in 1568. In 1559 Titian had sent an earlier version of this theme to King Philip II of Spain, when Maximilian II declined Titian's offer to paint it for him. In 1568, Veit von Dornberg, the imperial envoy in Venice, had written to Emperor Maximilian II that Titian was willing to provide him with seven "fables", including six versions of Philip II's poesie. However, this offer does not seem to have come to fruition (after "Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice ..." by Frederick Ilchman, ‎Linda Borean, p. 59). Additionally, there were complaints that Titian's portrait of the King of Portugal bore no resemblance to the subject (after "Emperor Maximilian II" by Paula S. Fichtner, p. 98). 

The painting from Philip's collection is now in the National Gallery in London and the National Galleries of Scotland (inv. NG6616). The painter altered several elements, including the faces of the main characters - the goddess Diana and her close servant. While in the painting made for the King of Spain their faces are indistinct, in the Viennese version they are very characteristic and Diana's servant looks at the viewer in a meaningful way, indicating that in addition to the reference to Ovid's Metamorphoses, the painting has an additional, hidden meaning. The woman depicted as the goddess of hunting and fertility, daughter of the king of the gods Jupiter, closely resembles the woman in Titian's "Venus with an Organist and a Dog" in the Prado (inv. P000420) and the woman in the portrait from Titian's entourage in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel (inv. GK 491), both of which represent the Infanta Anna Jagiellon according to my identification. Around 1568 Titian most likely paint the young king Sebastian of Portugal (1554-1578), whom he never met in person. 

The nymph Callisto had taken a vow of chastity to Diana. She broke her vow when Jupiter approached her in the guise of Diana. The painting shows the moment when the goddess discovered her subject's pregnancy. As punishment, Callisto was cast out and transformed into a bear by Juno, Jupiter's jealous wife. The painting can therefore be seen as a message to Maximilian and Catherine, who were staying in Austria at that time, that the "daughter of the king (of the gods)" does not tolerate disobedience from her ladies (as in the case of Zajączkowska). In his Zwierziniec, written in 1562 (version published in Kraków in 1574, p. 49v), Mikołaj Rej compares two daughters of Sigismund I - Anna and Catherine - to the goddess Diana (Jakoż ty dwie Dianie, bez pochlebstwa wszego, Umieją pięknie użyć stanu królewskiego, National Library of Poland, SD XVI.Qu.539). 

​Portrait of Princess-Infanta Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) by Titian and workshop, ca. 1564-1565, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. 

​Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by Titian and workshop, ca. 1564-1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 

​Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) from the Theatrum Pictorium (91) by Jan van Troyen after Titian and workshop, 1660, Princely Court Library in Waldeck.

​Diana and Callisto with disguised portrait of Princess-Infanta Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) by Titian and workshop, ca. 1566-1570, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 

Portrait of Jan Amor Tarnowski by Tintoretto 

In the Prado Museum in Madrid there is an interesting portrait attributed to Jacopo Tintoretto from the Spanish royal collection (oil on canvas, 82 x 67 cm, inventory number P000366). Because the painting was obviously created by a Venetian painter and the identity of the model is unknown, it is known as a "Portrait of a Venetian admiral". The man in rich armour etched with gold is holding a baton, that is traditionally the sign of a high-ranking military officer. 

This work was offered to King Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665) by Diego Felipez de Guzmán (1580-1655), 1st Marquess of Leganés, a Spanish politician and army commander, who fought during more than 20 years in the Spanish Netherlands and in 1635 was named Captain General and Governor of the Duchy of Milan. Such portraits of important military commanders were frequently exchanged in Europe at that time and sent to different places, so that Leganés could acquire the painting in Italy, but also in Flanders or Spain.

The portrait is astonishingly similar in features, pose and and style of armour to the well known effigy of Jan Amor Tarnowski commissioned by king Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski in about 1781 for his gallery of effigies of Famous Poles at the Royal Castle in Warsaw (ZKW/3409). The effigy, just as the rest, was undoubtedly based on some original portrait still preserved in the royal collection. It was painted by court painter of king Stanislaus Augustus, Marcello Bacciarelli, who also copied other effigies of famous Poles, including Copernicus (ZKW/3433).

During the Great Northern War, royal residencies of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a Venetian style republic of nobles created in 1569 with support of the last male Jagiellon, Sigismund Augustus, were ransacted and burned again by different invaders in 1702 and 1707. That is why some effigy of Sigismund Augustus, survived in the royal collection in about 1768, was confused with the effigy of the progenitor of the Polish-Lithuanian dynasty - Ladislaus Jagiello in the cycle of Polish Kings in the Marble Room at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, commissioned by Poniatowski. 

Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) was a renowned military commander, military theoretician, and statesman, who in 1518 became a knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and was accoladed by King Manuel I in Lisbon as a knight of Portugal. In the first half of the 1540s, the hetman was already well known to the Habsburgs as a military officer and politician, as evidenced by the letter King Ferdinand I sent to Juan Alonso de Gámiz. The King of Bohemia requested not only that Elizabeth of Austria reward Tarnowski, but also that "he receive a favor in the Iberian Peninsula through Her Majesty". In the account of the expedition that the maestre de campo Bernardo de Aldana made to Hungary in 1548, he is mentioned as "the very noble Count Tornoz". The hetman corresponded frequently with the court of Vienna and perhaps also with Spain with the aim of obtaining a high position in the imperial and Spanish army. In July 1554, Charles V wrote from Brussels to Prince Philip and Mary of Hungary, either in reference to Jan Amor Tarnowski or to his son Jan Krzysztof, to inform them that "the Count of Tarna, Polish (…) came here requesting that he be present at your nuptials and to then travel to Spain at the first opportunity in order to see that province. And being the person he is, and having been highly recommended to us by the King and Queen of Bohemia my children, it is only fair that he be given a warm welcome and good treatment. I kindly request you to treat him with the utmost care for the duration of his stay" (after "Jan Tarnowski and Spain" by Paweł Szadkowski, pp. 55-57).

The portrait finally bears a resemblance to the effigies​ of Jan Amor and his son on his monumental tomb in the Tarnów Cathedral, created between 1561 and 1573 by Venetian trained sculptor Giovanni Maria Mosca called Padovano, who also created tomb monuments of two wives of Sigismund Augustus.

According to the inventory, a fine parade burgonnet from the collection of the Krasiński Estate in Warsaw, belonged to Hetman Tarnowski (Polish Army Museum, 35128 MWP). It was richly decorated with engraved and embossed mythological and biblical scenes - the Rape of the Sabine women, the Romans fighting the barbarian tribes, the arrival of Judith at the camp of Holofernes, scenes of camp life and the stylized Jagiellonian eagle with the letter 'S' of King Sigismund I on its chest. It is considered a work of Parisian, Italian or Polish workshop, which indicates that the hetman commissioned the exquisite works of art from abroad.

The same man was depicted in another painting attributed to circle of Jacopo Tintoretto or Titian, standing three-quarter-length, in armour with a crimson tunic and holding a baton (oil on canvas, 120.7 x 94.9 cm). This "Portrait of a Venetian officer" comes from private collection and was sold in April 2006 (Christie's New York, lot 206). His velvet tunic with embedded metal plates is similar to so-called corazzina brigandine, a form of armour made of heavy cloth lined with small steel plates, such as that from the Royal Armoury in Warsaw, most likely made in Poland or Italy around 1550, now in the Livrustkammaren in Stockholm (Swedish war booty from 1655, 23167 LRK). Hetman's father-in-law, Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki, was depicted in a similar crimson brigandine and armour, in a painting by Titian (Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan). The overall style of this portrait resembles works attributed to Bernardino Licinio, who died in Venice around 1565.

His large codpiece, a prominent addition to the full suits of armour and the affirmation of virility, was "censored" and repainted, most likely in the 19th century. During the French wars of religion, which lasted from 1562 to 1598, Catholics mocked Huguenots as impotent ébraguettés (without virility) because they would not wear the prominent codpiece (after "A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in the Renaissance" by Elizabeth Currie, p. 70). In the 16th century, virility was considered a sign of God's blessing, which is why we also find representations of large codpieces in churches. One of the oldest is in the centre of the scene of the Crucifixion, a large fresco painted by Il Pordenone on the counter-façade of the Cathedral of Cremona in 1521. A knight, probably a notable of Cremona, with a large codpiece, holding a large sword, points to the crucified Christ. 

​In May 1543, when entering Kraków for the coronation of Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545), the members of Hetman Tarnowski's army were dressed in Spanish style (after "Zygmunt August" by Stanisław Cynarski, p. 53), so all of them undoubtedly wore codpieces, with the exception of two Hungarian trumpeters.

"Tarnowski was worthy of being compared to ancient captains for his expertise in military discipline and seriousness of counsel" (Era il Tharnouio degno d'esser paragonato a capitani antichi di peritia di disciplina militare e di grauità di consiglio, after "l rimanente della seconda parte dell'historie del suo tempo ...", published in Venice in 1557, p. 201), praised the hetman Paolo Giovio (1483-1552), bishop of Nocera de' Pagani, whose museum filled with many portraits of notable figures was described in a letter sent by Antonio Francesco Doni (1513-1574) on July 17, 1543 to M[es]s[er] Jacopo Tintoretto Eccellente Pittore.

Portrait of Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) in armour holding a baton by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1550-1575, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) in armour with a crimson brigandine, holding a baton by Bernardino Licinio, 1550s, Private collection.​ ​

Portrait of Fedor Senyuta Lyakhovitski by Paris Bordone

​"An ancient jewel for great courage given to the Senyuts in Volhynia by the Ruthenian princes, which is in a red field, because they always bravely defended their homeland with their blood" is the description of the Senyuta family coat of arms in Bartosz Paprocki's "The Nest of Virtues, whence the coat of arms of the knights, dukes, and lords of the Polish Kingdom, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, and other States have their genesis" (Gniazdo cnoty zkąd herby rycerstwa slawnego Krolestwa Polskiego ..., p. 1126), published in Kraków in 1578.

Below the text is the woodcut with reproduction of this coat of arms in a multi-field version with different runic and tamga symbols, some of which are coats of arms of other important Ruthenian noble families like the Yelovitzki (Jełowicki). To the right of the coat of arms, Paprocki included a schematic effigy of the most notable member of the family at that time - Fedor Senyuta Lyakhovitski, tribune of Kremenets (Woyski Krzemieniecki), wearing armor, a shishak helmet and holding a saber (also used as an image of other figures).

Fedor, also known as Fiodor Hrehorowicz Sieniut, Teodor Sieniuta Lachowicki or Lachowiecki in Polish, is considered the first Protestant member of the family. He was lord of Lyakhivtsi, Tykhomel and other villages and married twice: to Katarzyna née Jeło-Malińska and to Katarzyna Firlejówna (married in 1588), daughter of Mikołaj Firlej (d. 1588), voivode of Lublin. Firlejówna was a zealous Protestant and probably under her influencee, he converted from Orthodoxy to Calvinism. Samuel Twardowski, in the 1661 epithalamium for Piotr Opaliński and Anna Sieniucianka, mentions that Katarzyna was a lady of "high connections" (koniunkcyj wysokich) and the heiress of large estates. Through this marriage, Fedor received Rudno, near Lublin. The Kórnik Library preserves his estate archives, including a will with a legacy for his wife Katarzyna (BK 1853). They had two sons, Abraham (1587-1632) and Paul Christopher (1589-1640), who studied at the universities of Heidelberg (1603) and Leiden (1605), and a daughter Catherine. Fedor and Malińska's son, Nicholas, was killed in Siwki in 1604 by peasants. In the mentioned epithalamium of Twardowski, which opens with a description of the arrival of Venus in Lesser Poland, Hymen presents the families of the bride and groom, including the military deeds of Fedor Senyuta and his sons (after "Samuel Twardowski: Epitalamia" by Roman Krzywy, p. 18-19, 84). He became tribune of Kremenets, an officer responsible for security, on March 29, 1572. His father, Gregory (Hryhorij, Hrycko or Grzegorz), who died around 1559, was in the service of Illia (1510-1539), Prince of Ostroh (after "Spis ważniejszych miejscowości w powiecie starokonstantynowskim ..." by Jan Marek Giżycki, p. 433-434). He married Anna Patrykiejówna, also called Patrykówna, with whom he had four daughters: Sophia, Anastasia, Catherine and Elizabeth, as well as two sons, Matthew, who was killed by his subjects on May 30, 1563, and Fedor. 

After his brother's death, Fedor became heir to the Lyakhivtsi estates and the village of Tykhomel. The town of Lyakhivtsi (now Bilohiria, Lachowce, or Lachowice in Polish), originally inhabited by settlers from Masuria, was first mentioned in 1441. Since 1520, the settlement belonged to Queen Bona Sforza, who granted it to Dashka Kalenkovych, whose daughter Anna married Fyodor's grandfather Jesko in 1538. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a wooden fortress existed in Lyakhivtsi on an island in the middle of a pond, and at that time the town was the center of Arianism.

In 1566, the Ruthenian prince Andrei Petrovich Massalski sued Fedor, accusing him of assault near the city gate of Lutsk (after "Honor among nobles ..." by Povilas Dikavičius, p. 263-264). Several documents from the period of October 5, 1568 (claim for payment of a monetary debt to Mr. Stepan Urumsky) to May 29, 1578 mention Fedor, including his complaints against Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), Prince of Ostroh. He died after 1595 and his burial place is unknown.

Very little is known about artistic patronage of the family and practically nothing remained of it. In this regard, the trip of Fedor's son, Paul Christopher, to Italy in 1613 is interesting: he visited Padua and Rome (after "Polski slownik biograficzny", Volume 37 [1935], p. 196). In his book published in Kyiv in 1914, Marian Dubiecki (1838-1926) describes the portrait of Paul Christopher, preserved in the Dominican Church of Lyakhivtsi, as "with magnificent and expressive features, perhaps the work of an Italian master" ("Na kresach i za kresami ...", p. 235). It depicted the lord of Lyakhivtsi wearing a crimson cloak lined with sable fur.

In 2019, "Portrait of a Gentleman, half length", attributed to the 16th-century North Italian School, was auctioned in New York (oil on canvas, 97.5 x 80 cm, Sotheby's, January 31, 2019, lot 256). The manner in which the velvet fabrics of the costume were painted is very characteristic of the Venetian painter Paris Bordone (1500-1571) and his workshop. A comparable portrait is the one in the Pitti Palace in Florence, depicting a noblewoman in a crimson robe, traditionally known as "The Medici's Nurse" (La balia dei Medici, inv. 1912, Palatina 109; 19th-century critics identified her with a wet nurse of the Medici family). The way the painter has depicted the model's left hand indicates that he may have been inspired by the late works of Titian, which place the painting in the 1560s or around 1570. Several paintings from old collections in the former Sarmatia are linked to Bordone and his workshop. His works were also well known during the partitions. The 1834 register of paintings from the Potocki collection in Wilanów, for example, mentions "A woman's head, Paris Bordone" ("Spis obrazów znaidujących się w galeryi i pokojach Pałacu Willanowskiego ...", p. 10, item 83). 

The costume of a man wearing a ruff is also more typical of the second half of the 16th century. His pose, one hand on his hip, the richness of his costume, gilded dagger, saber hanging from his belt, and the gold chain around his neck, indicate that he was a wealthy aristocrat. On the chain, we can see a diamond-shaped coat of arms: on a red background, four runic or tamga symbols in gold recall the coat of arms of Senyuta family published in Paprocki's "The Nest of Virtues ...". The man wears a steel gorget, which makes him a military man, like Fedor, whose career culminated in his appointment as tribune of Kremenets. In this respect, the portrait is comparable to the schematic portrait of him in Paprocki's work.

​Portrait of Fedor Senyuta Lyakhovitski, lord of Lyakhivtsi by Paris Bordone, ca. 1563-1570, Private collection.

Portrait of Jerzy Jazłowiecki by Lambert Sustris

In 1563 Stefan Tomsa, a descendant of Moldavian boyars, led a successful conspiracy against the Protestant ruler Iacob Heraclid, known as Despot Voda, who after a 3-month siege of the Suceava Castle was betrayed by mercenaries and personally killed by Tomsa. As a sign of submission to Sultan Suleiman I, Stefan ordered to send the captured Ruthenian Prince Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, who was involved in Moldavian affairs, to Istanbul, where Vyshnevetsky was tortured to death. Unable obtain recognition from the High Porte and to hold on to the throne, Tomsa fled to Poland, where King Sigismund II Augustus, in order to appease the Turks, ordered Jerzy Jazłowiecki (d. 1575), castellan of Kamianets to capture him. The Prince of Moldavia was imprisoned, then sentenced to death and beheaded in Lviv on May 5, 1564. 

Jazłowiecki, born in or before 1510, was the son of Mikołaj Monasterski of the Abdank coat of arms (ca. 1490-1559), castellan of Kamianets and his wife Ewa Podfilipska. He was brought up at the court of the bishop of Kraków, Piotr Tomicki (1464-1535), but soon he began his military career under the supervision of Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) and Mikołaj Sieniawski (1489-1569) and participated in many battles. Already in 1528, as an 18-year-old, he became famous as a royal cavalry captain in the battle with the Tatars near Kamianets. 

In 1546, under the influence of his wife Elżbieta Tarło, he converted to Calvinism, and later closed the churches on his estates and expelled the Dominican monks. In 1544, he purchased from Mikołaj Sieniawski the town and castle of Yazlovets (Polish Jazłowiec) with the surrounding villages for 6,400 zlotys. The sum was finally paid in 1546 and from 1547 he began to call himself Jazłowiecki.

Between 1550-1556 Jerzy rebuilt the Medieval fortress in Yazlovets in Renaissance style to design of Italian architects from the Lviv group of Antoni, Gabriel and Kilian Quadro, brothers of Giovanni Battista di Quadro, active in Poznań (after "Sztuka polska: Renesans i manieryzm", Volume 3, p. 120). It should be noted that the style of the stone portal above the entrance to the castle is similar to the one in the Mikołaj Sieniawski's Castle in Berezhany, created in 1554.

In April 1564, he was sent as royal emissary to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent for which he received a seat in the Senate from the king Sigismund Augustus. In 1567 Jerzy become the Voivode of Podolia, in 1569 the Voivode of Ruthenia and was appointed Field Hetman of the Crown and Grand Hetman of the Crown (without a formal nomination) that year. He also reorganized the defense of the southern borders against the Tatars. During the interregnum in 1573, Jazłowiecki was nominated by the Piast party as a candidate for the Polish throne and was supported by Sultan Selim II (after "Jak w dawnej Polsce królów obierano" by Marek Borucki, p. 69). 

In the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, there is a portrait of a general, attributed to Lambert Sustris (oil on canvas, 116.2 x 97.4 cm, inv. 418), similar in style to portrait of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa), daughter-in-law of Mikołaj Sieniawski, identified by me. This painting of unknown provenance was attributed to a Venetian follower of Titian in the gallery catalogs from 1881 to 1920. 

The 55-year-old man, according to Latin inscription in lower left corner of the painting (ETATIS / SVE AN / LV), is holding a heavy sword. His armour, beard and shaved head are strikingly similar to the statue of Mikołaj Sieniawski from his tombstone in Berezhany (destroyed during World War II). Behind him there is a view with the same man dismounted from the horse, standing before a body of another man, whose head was cut off. The killed man is wearing an Ottoman turban with pleated red velvet part, called külah, similar to that visible in a drawing by German School from the late 16th century and depicting Wallachian and Moldavian noblemen (inscribed ... reitten die Wallachen unnd Moldauer ..., Private collection). Michael the Brave (1558-1601), Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia, was depicted in similar turban in the Feast of Herod with the Beheading of St John the Baptist by Bartholomeus Strobel, created between 1630-1633 (Prado Museum in Madrid), as well as Alexander II Mavrocordatos Firaris (1754-1819), Prince of Moldavia, who is wearing a similar turban-like headpiece in his portrait created in 1785 or after (Private collection). The standing man in the view is not holding a sword, he did not execute the other man, he just captured him. The general from the painting bear a strong resemblance to portrait of Jerzy Jazłowiecki, when Field Hetman of the Crown, known from the photograph from the collection of the historian Aleksander Czołowski (1865-1944), most probably a 17th century copy of a painting created in about 1569. He was the same age (about 54 or 55) as Jazłowiecki when he captured the Prince of Moldavia in 1564. 

Portrait of Jerzy Jazłowiecki (ca. 1510-1575), castellan of Kamianets, aged 55 by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1565, Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe.

Portraits of Francesco Lismanini by Giovanni Battista Moroni and Bernardino Licinio

"Lismanini was with us as an envoy of the duke of Prussia; your reverence accuses that this man is not a Catholic, but the duke himself is not one and none of those whom he usually sends to us recognizes the authority of the church, and we, who receive other envoys of the said duke, as well as Tartar and Turkish envoys who are not Catholics and sent by non-Catholics, did not think that Lismanini could be refused an audience, however, he only had a short conversation with us and will take his dismissal without delay. We wish your reverence good health. Given in Grodno on September 1, year of our Lord 1565 of our reign 36", ends his letter to the Venetian cardinal Giovanni Francesco Commendone (1523-1584), King Sigismund II Augustus (after "Pamiętniki o dawnéj Polsce z czasów Zygmunta Augusta ..." by Mikołaj Malinowski, p. 271). That same year, mentioned Francesco Lismanini (Franciscus Lismaninus in Latin or Franciszek Lismanin in Polish) published in Królewiec/Königsberg his book "Short Explanation of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity" (Brevis explicatio doctrinae De sanctissima Trinitate ...), which he dedicated to the king (SERENISSIMO PRINCIPI ET DOMINO, DOMINO SIGISMVNDO AVEgusto Regi Poloniæ, Magno Duci Lithuaniæ, Russiæ, Prußiæ, Masouia, Samogitia, Liuoniæ &c. Domino hæredi, Franciscus Lysmaninus summam felicitatem præcatur). 
​
Born around 1504 to Greek parents on the island of Corfu, which then belonged to the Republic of Venice, Lismanini arrived in Kraków with his parents in 1515. He generally confirmed his Greek origin, but it is difficult to determine whether he was Greek by birth or whether he perhaps came from a family of settlers from the Serenissima (after "Odrodzenie i reformacja w Polsce", Volume 16, p. 38, 45). In the mid-1520s he joined the Franciscan order, becoming its provincial in 1538. Probably receiving his doctorate in theology in Padua around 1540, he soon became a preacher and confessor to Queen Bona Sforza (from 1545). In the 1540s he sympathized with the Reformation, and the Bishop of Kraków Samuel Maciejowski tried unsuccessfully to denounce Lismanini as a "heretic" to the newly elected Pope Julius III in 1549. Since the accession to the throne of Sigismund II Augustus, Francesco had been part of his immediate circle.

He left for Italy at the beginning of the summer of 1549, first to Rome to settle secret matters that were very dear to the queen, according to her letter to the pope, and then returned from Venice to Poland in March 1550 (after "Papiestwo-Polska 1548-1563" by Henryk Damian Wojtyska, p. 318). Upon his return from Italy, a rumour spread in Kraków that he was sending as much money and gold as possible to Italy, in order to build a house in Venice, settle there and marry, perhaps with his concubine whom he kept at the nuns of St. Andrew in Kraków. Lismanini spread Calvinist books and ideas among the nobility and at the royal court. He also maintained intensive contacts with Italian theologian Lelio Sozzini (1525-1562) in Switzerland and Poland. 

In 1553, the king entrusted him with the purchase of books for his library, and Lismanini undertook an extensive tour of Europe. Via Moravia he went to Padua and Milan, then visited the Swiss cities of Zurich, Bern and Basel. After stays in Paris and Lyon, Francesco stayed again in Switzerland in 1554-1555, in Geneva and Zurich, where he met John Calvin. It was in Switzerland that he broke definitively with the Catholic Church when he married, on Calvin's advice, a French noblewoman named Claudia (early 1555). On his return journey to Poland-Lithuania, he visited Strasbourg and Stuttgart in 1556. In 1557 and 1558, he considered settling in Królewiec/Königsberg with Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568), whom he had met at the funeral of duke's uncle Sigismund the Old in 1548. In the early 1560s, Lismanini, who was then living in Pińczów, was involved in serious conflicts with Francesco Stancaro (Franciscus Stancarus, Franciszek Stankar, 1501-1574). He spent the last years of his life, from 1563 to 1566, in Prussia as a ducal councillor (compare "Antitrinitarische Streitigkeiten ..." by Irene Dingel, p. 180-181). In the letter of April 29, 1563, the Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575) calls him "superintendent of the churches of Lesser Poland" (D. Francisco Lysmanino Corcyreo, superintendenti ecclesiarum Minoris Poloniae). Before September 1, 1565, according to the king's letter, he was in Lithuania and Ruthenia.

Although little recognized in literature, Lismanini was one of two important reformers of the Church linked to Queen Bona. In the spring of 1541, under the patronage of the queen, the Lithuanian jurist and church reformer Abraomas Kulvietis (Abraham Culvensis in Latin or Abraham Kulwieć in Polish, ca. 1510-1545) opened a school in Vilnius. Kulvietis studied in Louvain, then at the Lutheran University of Wittenberg (he matriculated as Abraham Littuanus Magister in May 1537), where he had the opportunity to attend the lectures of Melanchthon, and perhaps Luther, and then went to study in Italy. He travelled to Rome and Siena, where he received a doctorate in canon and civil law (in utroque iure) on November 28-29, 1540. Abraomas's propagation of Protestant doctrines soon led to his expulsion from Lithuania, and in September 1542, the year the Inquisition and the trials of heretics resumed in Italy, the Catholic Bishop of Vilnius ordered the arrest of Kulvietis' mother and some of his friends, and the seizure of the Kulvietis family's property. The queen advised him to flee Lithuania, as she herself had to leave Vilnius and would not be able to protect him. In Królewiec on June 23, Duke Albert, appointed Kulvietis as his counsellor. Through Jost Ludwig Decius the Younger (ca. 1520-1567), Bona Sforza strongly advised Duke Albert to keep Kulvietis at his side; under no circumstances ("even he had to be restrained by chains") was he to be allowed to leave Królewiec, because in Vilnius he would have been burned at the stake or imprisoned before the queen could help him (Et ita dicas patri tuo, ut scribat domino duci Prussiae, quod illum apud se teneat, nam ille voluit in Lithuaniam domum suam ire et metuendum est, ne illum comburant vel suspendant, nec dimittat, etiam si debeat nolentem in cathena retinere. Nam certe illum comburerent vel suspenderent, antequam ego rescirem, after "Abraomas Kulvietis and the First Protestant Confessio fidei in Lithuania" by Dainora Pociūtė, p. 41, 43-44, 47-50). 

Before the Second World War, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne held a "Portrait of an Elderly Gentleman" (Bildnis eines älteren Herrn, oil on canvas, 93 x 76 cm), attributed to Tintoretto. It was mentioned and reproduced in the 1910 catalogue of this museum ("Verzeichnis der Gemälde des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums der Stadt Cöln", p. 67, item 95). The painting was acquired in 1813 from the collection of Josef Truchsess von Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach (1748-1813), dean of the cathedral of Strasbourg, in Vienna and Nikolsburg. Before World War II, in the Wallraf-Richartz Museums there was also another portrait by Tintoretto, which most likely depicted the singer Krzysztof Klabon (inv. 516), a composer at the Polish-Lithuanian royal court, perhaps born in Królewiec around 1550 and possibly of Italian origin.

Although the "Portrait of an Elderly Gentleman" has been attributed to Tintoretto, based on an old photograph, it can be concluded that the style of the painting was closer to the style of another Venetian painter, Bernardino Licinio, similar to the signed work "Portrait of a Man" from 1532 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 6442, signed and dated: LYCINIO F P V / MDXXXII). Licinio, who probably died in Venice around 1565, was the author of the portraits of Queen Bona (for example the painting in the British Embassy in Rome, inv. 2280), identified by me. Not only the style of the painting is similar, but also the style of the inscription in the two paintings described. According to the Latin inscription in the lower right corner of the painting from the Truchsess collection, it was painted in October 1565, when the man was 61 years old (MDLXV. DIE ... / OCTOBRIS / ΑΝΝΟ ÆΤΑ ... / SVÆ LXI M ... / XI), exactly like Lismanini, when he published his book dedicated to Sigismund Augustus and visited the king, probably in Grodno.

Interestingly, the same man, although slightly younger, can be identified in a painting by Giovanni Battista Moroni, active in Lombardy, who painted portraits of Sigismund Augustus (Prado Museum in Madrid, inv. P000262; North Carolina Museum of Art, inv. GL.60.17.46), identified by me. This "Portrait of a man with a book" (Ritratto d'uomo con libro) is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (oil on canvas, 71 x 56 cm, inv. 1890 / 933). It was purchased in 1660 by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici (1617-1675) from the art dealer Paolo del Sera (1617-1672), as by Moroni. In the 1675 inventory and in all subsequent inventories, the work appears with an attribution to il Morazzone (1573-1626). The painting is generally dated between 1550 and 1553, which corresponds to Lismanini's visits to Venice and Milan. A damaged or unfinished copy (or modello) was sold in Milan in 2009 (oil on canvas, Sotheby's, October 12, 2009, lot 1491). ​A good copy is also in the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 39 x 32 cm, inv. Wil.1035). It was first mentioned in the inventory of the mid-19th century, so it is considered to be part of the acquisitions of August Potocki (1806-1867) and his wife Aleksandra (1818-1892). The reverse of the painting bears the inscription F. Vacini 1804, which is why it is believed to be a 19th century painting by an unknown painter depicting an unknown man. Another fine copy, also thought to be by the 19th-century painter, is in a private collection in France (oil on paper mounted on panel, 31,5 x 24 cm, Thierry de Maigret in Paris, July 9, 2020, lot 211). It is attributed to the French school, perhaps because of its resemblance to the style of 19th-century academic painters.

​Portrait of Francesco Lismanini (ca. 1504-1566) by Giovanni Battista Moroni or workshop, ca. 1550, Private collection.

​Portrait of Francesco Lismanini (ca. 1504-1566) by Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1550-1553, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

​Portrait of Francesco Lismanini (ca. 1504-1566) by workshop or follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, after 1553 (1804?), Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

​Portrait of Francesco Lismanini (ca. 1504-1566) by workshop or follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, after 1553 (19th century?), Private collection.

​Portrait of Francesco Lismanini (ca. 1504-1566), aged 61, by Bernardino Licinio, 1565, Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Portraits of Mikołaj Rej by Sofonisba Anguissola and Giovanni Battista Moroni 

"Let Mantua be proud of Virgil, Verona of Catullus, You, Rej, her bard, let the country of Sarmatia [Poland-Lithuania] be proud. And all the more so that the land of Italy and Greece gave birth to many, You are almost the only one in Sarmatia" (Mantua Vergilium iactet, Verona Catullum: Te Rei, vatem Sarmatis ora suum. Hocque magis, multos quoniam tulit Itala tellus Graiaque: Sarmatiae tu prope solus ades) (after Polish translation in "Wizerunk własny ...", Part 2, by Helena Kapełuś, ‎Władysław Kuraszkiewicz, p. 97), praises the poet Mikołaj Rej, or Mikołaj Rey of Nagłowice, in his Latin dedication Petrus Roysius Maureus (i.e. Piotr Roizjusz the Moor, born Pedro Ruiz de Moros). The Spanish poet and courtier of King Sigismund II Augustus, included this short poem in Rej's "Faithful image of an honest man" (Wizerunk własny żywota człowyeka poczciwego), published in Kraków in 1558-1560 before the poet's printed effigy showing him at the age of 50 (therefore created in 1555). Under Rej's portrait there is another Latin poem by his friend Andrzej Trzecieski (Trecesius, d. 1584) in which he calls him the Polish Dante (Noster hic est Dantes). 

Considered the "father of Polish literature", Rej was one of the first poets to write in Polish (and not in Latin). He was born into a noble family at Zhuravne in Ukraine in 1505. In 1518 he was enrolled as a student of the Cracow Academy and in 1525 his father sent him to the magnate court of Andrzej Tęczyński. Between 1541 and 1548 he converted to Lutheranism, then to Calvinism. Rej participated in synods, founded churches and schools on his estates. The Catholics, who reproached him for the desecration of churches, the expulsion of Catholic priests and the persecution of monks, called him the unleashed Satan, the dragon of Oksza, Sardanapalus of Nagłowice and a man without honor and faith. In 1603, as an author, he was included in the first Polish Index of Forbidden Books. He maintained close contacts with the courts of Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II August. Rej was also the first in Polish literature to receive a substantial reward for his work. He received Temerowce from King Sigismund I, and Dziewięciele from Sigismund Augustus as a lifelong possession and two towns, one of them Rejowiec, founded by Rej in 1547. He died at Rejowiec in 1569. His grandson, Andrzej Rej, royal secretary and Calvinist, was painted by Rembrandt in December 1637, while he was visiting Amsterdam as an ambassador. 

Although he praised the wisdom of Queen Bona in his "Bestiary" (Zwierzyniec, 1562 - "A woman of wisdom, that even today she is famous in Poland, and long-remembered her words. She was from the Italian nation where wisdom is born"), beauty of her daughters Anna and Catherine and dedicated his "Life of Joseph" (Żywot Józefa, 1545) to her daughter Isabella, Queen of Hungary, he is perhaps the first author in Poland to oppose strong women and their inflences. In a dialogue between Warwas and Lupus on the cunning of women, written before 1547 and most likely published anonymously, he begins with an appeal to Venus (Wenera), the patroness of females. Women do not participate in local assemblies and parliamentary sessions (Sejm), they do not sit over books, and yet they lead men by the nose. All women are cunning and laugh secretly at men who drink even out of their shoes for their health (after "Mikołaja Reja, żywot i pisma" by Michał Janik, p. 36). He frequently criticizes women, their extravagant clothing and their excessive make-up - "looks like she's wearing a mask" (iż się zda jakoby była w maskarze).

In the second known effigy of the poet, published in later edition of his "Faithful image of an honest man" and in "Speculum" (Zwyerciadło), published in 1568, similar to that from 1555, he is not depicted in national costume (crimson żupan), as one would expect from the national poet of the time, but in rich foreign costume – embroidered Italian-style shirt, rich doublet, wearing a hat and several chains. In this last portrait, he is holding a book, just to remind us that he is a poet. Both portraits are woodcuts, created by an artist working for a Kraków-based printer and bookseller Maciej Wirzbięta and most likely they were created after an original painted effigy of the poet as was customary. Later, engravers began to add the relevant inscriptions, that they were authors, not a painter who created the original portrait (fecit, sculpsit, pinxit, delineavit, invenit in Latin). 

Educated Poles, besides books, also commissioned and acquired portraits of their favorite foreign authors. Portrait of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) by Pontormo or workshop in the Czartoryski Museum (inventory number XII-218) was most likely brought to Poland already in the 16th century (painted around 1530). Later it was acquired by Princess Izabela Czartoryska, who placed it next to those of Torquato Tasso (423), Francesco Petrarca (424) and Beatrice Portinari (425) in the Temple of Memory at Puławy, opened in 1801. In her collection, which she also enlarged by acquisitions abroad, there were also letters by Tasso (891), Ariosto (892), as well as portraits of French Renaissance poets François Rabelais (944), Clément Marot (945) and Michel de Montaigne (946) and even chairs of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1310) and William Shakespeare (1311) in special box-cases, included in the inventory of the collection published in 1828 (Poczet pamiątek ...). 

​Among the paintings belonging to the "Victorious King" John III Sobieski (1629-1696), which could come from earlier royal collections or those of his father Jakub Sobieski (1591-1646) and mentioned in the inventory of the Wilanów Palace from 1696, we find "A picture of Cicero in a black frame" (Obraz Cycerona wramach czarnych, No. 223), "A pair of paintings, one of which represents Petrarch and the other, Laura, his wife, in black frames" (Obrazow para na iednym Petrarcha, na drugim Laura zona iego, wramach czarnych, No. 223) and "A picture of Laura" (Obraz na ktorym Laura, No. 246). There is also the portrait of Petrarca with the Latin inscription: Franciscus Petrarcha - Magna Poetarum Petrarcha est gloria, sumpsit in Capitolino praemia tanta loco ... mentioned in the 1913 catalogue of portraits from the collection of the oldest Polish university, the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (oil on canvas, 87 x 66 cm, "Katalog portretów i obrazów będących własnością Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego ..." by Jerzy Mycielski, p. 9, item 45). A portrait of Luigi Alamanni (1495-1556), Italian poet and statesman, attributed to the 16th-century Italian school, is located in the former Potocki Palace in Lviv (National Art Gallery, inv. Ж-2021).

Why then couldn't the French or the Italians have the portrait of a famous Sarmatian poet? Especially when many Polish collections were transferred to France and Italy.

In the Museum of Fine Arts in Reims, in France, there is portrait of a man sitting in a chair and holding a book (oil on canvas, 115 x 96.1 cm, inventory number 910.4.1). He was interrupted while reading so he put his finger in a book so as not to miss the page. He gazes at the viewer and the romantic ruins behind him suggest he is a poet. Another book is lying on a table. The overall style of the painting suggests Giovanni Battista Moroni as a possible author, but the technique is different, so perhaps it was done by a painter from Moroni's workshop or circle. However, it can also be compared to some works by Sofonisba Anguissola, such as her self-portrait with Bernardino Campi (Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena) and self-portrait at the easel (Łańcut Castle), both from the 1550s. His eyes also indicate that she might be the author as she frequently enlarged them in her paintings. This portrait was earlier attributed to Lorenzo Lotto, who died in Loreto in 1556/1557, and can be dated to about 1550 at the earlierst (about 1560, according to some sources).

The painting was bequeathed in 1910 by French politician Louis Victor Diancourt (1825-1910), born in Reims, and its earlier provenance is unknown. Perhaps there was initially an oral tradition or documents indicating that the painting depicts a famous poet of the 16th century, so since the portrait was in France, it has been identified as depicting a French poet - François Rabelais (born between 1483 and 1494, died 1553), despite the fact that there is no resemblance to his other effigies.
 
Rabelais was in Italy, in Turin and Rome, in 1534, 1540, 1547-1550, as a physician and secretary to Cardinal Jean du Bellay, nevertheless, as a clergyman in majority of his confirmed effigies he is depicted wearing a large biretta of the Christian clergy, thus, because of this and the lack of resemblance, the identification is now rejected and the work is referred to as a "portrait of an unknown man". 

The man wears a crimson tunic, typical of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility of the time (Rej was a wealthy nobleman of Oksza coat of arms), and his hat, shirt and face looks very much like in the print showing Mikołaj Rej at the age of 50.

Another version of this portrait exists, this one however is by Moroni, now at the Pope John XXIII Hospital in Bergamo (oil on canvas, 86 x 71 cm, inventory number 57099). Coming from the collection of a lawyer Giacomo Bettami de-Bazini and donated to the hospital by his son Antonio, the painting was in storage at the Carrara Academy since 1879. It was probably purchased on the Bergamo market in the early 18th century. "An old man seated in an armchair, entirely titianesque, is one of the best of this painter in the Bettame house" (Un vecchio seduto sopra sedia d'appoggio tutto tizianesco è de' migliori dell'autore in casa Bettame), praised the quality of the painting Francesco Maria Tassi in 1793. 

It is generally dated to the 1560s and the man is much older. His pose and costume are almost identical to the Reims painting, as if the painter had used the same study drawings created for the previous painting and just changed the face. His frowning eyebrows and more hooked nose are more like in the portrait of Rej published in 1568. 

Mikołaj dedicated his "Faithful image" to hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561), one of the richest people in Poland-Lithuania, whose portraits were painted by Jacopo Tintoretto and tomb monument carved by Giammaria Mosca called Padovano. Rej's portrait, similar to that of another eminent Polish poet of the Renaissance - Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584) from 1565 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam), was therefore most likely created by Giovanni Battista Moroni from drawings sent from Poland.

The same background as in the painting in Reims was used in another portrait by workshop of Moroni, today in the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon (oil on canvas, 112.7 x 109 cm, inventory number 496). It represents an ecclesiastic in a black biretta, seated on a chair and holding an hourglass. His face resembles more the effigies of Rabelais, in particular his laughing portraits, than the Reims painting.

​Portrait of Mikołaj Rej (1505-1569) by Sofonisba Anguissola or circle of Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1555, Museum of Fine Arts in Reims. 

​Portrait of Mikołaj Rej (1505-1569) by Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1568, Pope John XXIII Hospital in Bergamo.

Portrait of Jan Kochanowski by Giovanni Battista Moroni

Almost all old churches in former territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth have at least one good quality tomb monument in Italian style with effigy of deceased, but portrait paintings are very rare. Wars and invasions impoverished the nation and majority of non-religious paintings that preserved in the country, were sold by the owners. 

The exact date of birth of Jan Kochanowski is unknown, however according to inscription on poet's epitaph in the church in Zwoleń near Radom, he died on August 22, 1584 at the age of 54 (Obiit anno 1584 die 22 Augusti. Aetatis 54), therefore he was born in 1530. He started his education at the Artium Faculty of the Kraków Academy in 1544. Presumably in June 1549, he left the Academy and, perhaps, went to Wrocław, where he stayed until the end of 1549. Between 1551-1552 he stayed in Królewiec (Königsberg), the capital of Ducal Prussia (fiefdom under the Polish crown). From Królewiec, he left for Padua in 1552, where he studied until 1555. Kochanowski was elected a counselor of the Polish nation at the University of Padua (presumably from June to August 2, 1554). He returned to Poland in 1555 and after several months in Królewiec and Radom, he left for Italy at the end of the summer of 1556, presumably to repair his health. He was back in Poland between 1557 and 1558 and in spring that year he left for Italy for the third time. At the end of 1558, Kochanowski went to France, and in May 1559, he finally returned to Poland.

The poet refers to his portrait made in Italy, probably in Padua, where he studied between 1552 and 1555, in his epigram In imaginem suam (foricenium 35), in which he expresses his concern that the portrait should not betray the feelings that accompanied the pose (Talis eram, cum me lento torqueret amore / Decantata meis Lydia carminibus. / Pictorem metui, cum vultum pingere vellet, / Ne gemitus una pingeret ille meos). He refers to the tradition of ekphrases (written description of a work of art), expressing the highest appreciation for the artistic talent of the painter who is able to perfectly reproduce his subject.

He created several epigrams of this kind praising the splendid portraits of his friends, probably also made in Italy, notably In imaginem Andr[eae] Duditii, on the portrait of Andrzej Dudycz (1533-1589), who studied in Venice and Padua, in which he compares the painter to Apelles (Quis te Duditi, novus hic expressit Apelles?), the same in In imaginem Mariani (Apellaea redditum in tabula). In the epigram In imaginem Franc[isci] Maslovii he comments on the portrait of Franciszek Masłowski, who studied in Padua between 1553 and 1558, and in the epigram In imaginem Andr[eae] Patricii, the portrait of Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki (1522-1587), who studied in Padua between 1553 and 1556. In several of his works he also addresses the issue of the impermanence of the painted image (Apelleum cum morietur opus, after "Jana Kochanowskiego wiersze „na obraz” ..." by Agnieszka Borysowska, p. 155-160, 164). 

In mid-1563, Jan entered the service of Deputy Chancellor Piotr Myszkowski, thanks to which he become the royal secretary of king Sigismund Augustus, before February 1564, the office he held untill his death. In 1564, he helped his friend Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki (Andreas Patricius Nidecicus), also secretary at the traveling court and chancellery of Sigismund Augustus (Kraków - Warsaw - Vilnius). Nidecki was preparing the second fundamental edition of Cicero's "Fragments" for printing. It was published in Venice in 1565 by the printer Giordano Ziletti (Andr. Patricii Striceconis Ad Tomos IIII Fragmentorvm M. Tvllii Ciceronis ex officina Stellae Iordani Zileti), who also published many other Polish-Lithuanian authors. In October 1565 another royal secretary and Kochanowski's friend, Piotr Kłoczowski (or Kłoczewski), left for Ferrara as king's envoy to attend the wedding of Alfonso II d'Este with Sigismund Augustus' cousin Archduchess Barbara of Austria. Kłoczowski, who apparently accompanied him during his first trip to Italy, offered him a new journey: "Piotr, I don't want to take you to Italy a second time. You will get there alone: it's time for me to deal with myself. If I am to become a priest, or better a courtier, If I will live at the court or in my land", wrote the poet (Xięga IV, XII.).

Jan Kochanowski, considered one of the greatest Polish poets, died in Lublin. His nephews Krzysztof (d. 1616) and Jerzy (d. 1633), founded him a marble epitaph in the family chapel in Zwoleń, created in Kraków in about 1610 by workshop of Giovanni Lucano Reitino di Lugano and transported to Zwoleń.

The portrait of a man holding a letter by Giovanni Battista Moroni in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (oil on canvas, 87 x 66 cm, inv. SK-A-3410), can be compared with poet's posthumous effigy in Zwoleń. It bears the inscription in Latin and artist's signature at the bottom of the letter: AEt. Suae. XXXV. Miii MDLXV. Giu. Bat.a Moroni ("Age 35. 1565. Giovanni Battista Moroni"), which match perfectly the age of Kochanowski in 1565. 

At the end of the 18th century the painting was probably in the Mosca House in Pesaro, and then in the collection of Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee (1747-1813), near Edinburgh. Between 1561 and 1573, Giovanni Maria Mosca, known as Padovano, born in Padua in the Republic of Venice and trained in Venice in the workshop of Tullio Lombardo and Antonio Lombardo, created the monumental tomb of Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) and his son Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567) in the choir of the Gothic cathedral in Tarnów. The idea for this Venetian-style monument is attributed to Jan Kochanowski, who dedicated several of his works to Jan Krzysztof. "Erect a magnificent monument of Parian marble, / Above the waters of the Vistula. [...] Also let the battles in which he used to disperse his enemies / Be reconstructed in gleaming stone by Phidias" (Quin tu illi Pario de marmore Mausoleum, / Vistuleas ponis nobile propter aquas. [...] Praelia , quosque olim devicit strenuus hostes, Fac spiret paries Phidiaca arte nitens), Kochanowski states in his "Elegy 2" (Elegia II), addressed to the lord of Tarnów (after "Giammaria Mosca Called Padovano ..." by Anne Markham Schulz, p. 154).

Portrait of Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584), aged 35, holding a letter by Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1565, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

Portraits of Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski by circle of Dosso Dossi and Lambert Sustris

Wars and invasions contributed not only to the looting and destruction of works of art, including paintings, but also to the resulting chaos and impoverishment, so many preserved images as well as documents confirming the author and the identity of the sitter have been lost. Deteriorating living conditions also had an impact on art collections, as good quality and well-preserved paintings were frequently sold and neglected paintings, even by great masters, due to deterioration, had to be disposed of.

This is probably the reason why, in the 18th century, an unknown local painter made a copy of the full-length portrait of Count Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567), today in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 229 x 114 cm, inventory number MP 5249 MNW). The original must have been of good Venetian work, as the painter was inspired by the blurred brushstrokes of painters from the circle of Titian, particularly visible in the upper part of the painting. The identity of the model is confirmed by a large coat of arms of the Tarnowski family - Leliwa, above his head on the right, and a lengthy inscription in Latin on the left - Joannes Christophorus Comes / In Tarnow Tarnowski ..., listing all his titles. The painting comes from the Tarnowski collection, deposited with five other portraits in the National Museum during World War II. 

His costume, although generally resembling the 16th century attire of Polish-Lithuanian and Hungarian nobles, which were very similar (fanciful szkofia, a hat decoration of Hungarian origin, and Polish delia coat lined with fur), is quite unusual. A similar tunic with a longer part in the back, embroidered on the front with vertical rows of buttons, is visible in the effigy of a Pole (Polognois, f. 41) from Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre by Lucas de Heere, painted in the 1570s (Universiteitsbibliotheek Gent). However, the wider sleeves, the silver color, the belt and the garters are not typical and it is possible that he wore the costume made in Lisbon in 1516 for his father Jan Amor Tarnowski, as suggested by some authors. A Polish nobleman in a Hungarian-Portuguese costume is just another confirmation of the great diversity of fashion in Poland-Lithuania of the Renaissance, confirmed by so many authors, which has been forgotten today.

King Manuel I of Portugal (1469-1521) was depicted in similar tunic in a disguised portrait as Saint Alexis in the scene of Wedding of Saint Alexis by Garcia Fernandes, painted in 1541 (Museu de São Roque in Lisbon), and Tarnowski's portrait and attire can be compared to some portraits of governors of Portuguese India - Francisco de Almeida (d. 1510) and Afonso de Albuquerque (d. 1515), created after 1545, both in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon.

Such diversity was not only the Polish specialty and also occurred in other countries in Europe. The full-length portrait of a Spanish noble lady Doña Policena de Ungoa (Polissena Unganada), daughter of Juan de Ungoa, Barón de Sonek y Ensek, Mayordomo del Emperador (Emperor's Steward) and Margarita Loqueren, Camarera de la Emperatriz (Maid to the Empress), governess to the children of Empress Maria of Spain (1528-1603) and wife to Don Pedro Laso de Castilla, depicts her dressed in the German/Austrian fashion of the imperial court in Prague and Vienna from the 1550s (not the Spanish fashion, like the Empress). Inscription in Italian: ILL. DONNA POLISSENA UNGANADA MOGLIE DI D. PIETRO LASSO DE CASTIGLIA ..., confirms her identity. This portrait comes from the Arrighi de Casanova collection in the Château de Courson near Paris and was variably attributed to the Italian, Spanish (circle of Alonso Sánchez Coello) and Austrian school (follower of Jakob Seisenegger).

In recent literature, the identification of the model in Warsaw portrait has been questioned due to the discovery of a miniature in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (GG 5338). According to short inscription in Latin (IOANNES / COMES / A SERIN), it depicts Count Jan Zrinský (ca. 1565-1612), a nobleman from the Zrinský (Zrínyi) family of Zrin (Serin), son of Nikola IV Zrinski (ca. 1508-1566) and Eva z Rožmberka (1537-1591). According to Jan K. Ostrowski ("Portret w dawnej Polsce", p. 34), the sitter should rather be identified as the father of Jan, famous commander Nikola IV, so this inscription is partially incorrect, therefore, its author had a vague knowledge of who was really depicted. If the first part of the inscription (IOANNES) could be incorrect, the second (A SERIN) could also be questioned and the model is not Jan Zrinský, but Jan Tarnowski.

This small miniature comes from a series of almost 150 contemporary and historical portraits of rulers of Europe and members of the imperial House of Habsburg, including many Polish monarchs. Many of them were created by Flemish painter Anton Boys for Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria (1529-1595), son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), after 1579, when he become his court painter. Boys copied many other effigies form the Imperial collection, representing the models on dark or brown backgound, however some mistakes happened and the effigy of Viridis Visconti (1352-1414), Duchess of Austria and a daughter of the Lord of Milan, Bernabò Visconti, is most likely the effigy of Isabella of Aragon (1470-1524), Duchess of Milan and mother of Bona Sforza as it resembles greatly her profile from the lunette in the house of the Atellani in Milan.

The miniature of Count Jan is different and shows a clear influence of Flemish (colors) and Italian (blurred brushstrokes) style. Unlike other miniatures in the series, it has a distinctive background - green fabric. Not only the technique is different, but also the composition. Thus, this earlier miniature by a different painter has just been adapted to the series by adding the inscription. What is also very important for the identification of the model is which man has been depicted on a larger version with a more detailed description. Mainly the person who ordered the portrait was interested in having the full version. The larger painting depict Count Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski. 

Only the possible author of the miniature remained and all the given factors speak for Lambert Sustris (d. 1584 or later), a Dutch painter active mainly in Venice, who in 1552 created full-length portraits of Hans Christoph Vöhlin and of his wife Veronika von Freyberg zum Eisenberg (Alte Pinakothek), as well as many effigies of Jan Krzysztof's sister Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570), identified by me.

The same man, also against green fabric, but now in a more Italian attire, yellow doublet and embroidered shirt, was depicted in another portrait, sold in London in 2019 (oil on canvas, possibly reduced, 56.5 x 45.3 cm, Sotheby's, 5 December 2019, lot 109). It comes from the Addeo collection in Rome and it was identified as portrait of Duke Alfonso I d'Este (1476-1534) and attributed to Dosso Dossi (d. 1542). Both identification and attribution were later rejected and the painting was sold as by circle of Girolamo da Carpi (1501-1556), who collaborated with Dosso Dossi on commissions for the d'Este family.

The influences of Dossi's style are visible, thus the authorship of his pupils, such as Giuseppe Mazzuoli (d. 1589) or Giovanni Francesco Surchi (d. 1590), is possible. However, the style of this painting is also very similar to the head study of a young man, possibly being a portrait of the young Tintoretto, attibuted to Lambert Sustris (Slovak National Gallery, O 5116). 

The characteristic feature of the children of Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551), protruding ears, visible in the funerary monument of Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski by Giammaria Mosca Il Padovano in the cathedral of Tarnów, as well as in the portraits of his sister by Sustris, is noticeable in both described paintings in Vienna and from the Addeo collection. Considering the age of the man, the two effigies were most likely created shortly before the death of Jan Krzysztof, who died of tuberculosis on April 1, 1567 as the last male representative of the Tarnów line of the Tarnowski family. 

Jan Krzysztof received his middle name in honor of his maternal grandfather Krzysztof Szydłowiecki (1467-1532), Grand Chancellor of the Crown, whose portrait by Titian is in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan. He received an excellent education and traveled extensively in his youth. He was imperial count and proprietor of Roudnice nad Labem in Bohemia and he visited the imperial court in Vienna in 1548. In 1554 he went to Italy. After the death of his father in 1561, the young count maintained the closest relations with Nicolaus Radziwill the Black (1515-1565), the husband of his aunt. After Radziwill's death, Jan Krzysztof managed his estates located in the Crown including Szydłowiec. He maintained a large court, and his main supplier was a Jew from Sandomierz, Jakub Szklarz, who brought goods from Gdańsk (after "Panowie na Tarnowie ..." by Krzysztof Moskal, part 9).

Between 1554 and 1555 Jan Krzysztof (il Tarnoskijno pollacco) stayed in Italy, moving between Padua, Bologna, Ferrara, Modena and Parma. Leaving Modena in the autumn of 1554, he asked Ludovico Monti to thank Cardinal Farnese to Cardinal Farnese, "and to the most illustrious Madam [Margaret of Parma] with Lord Alessandro for the courtesies" (et a la illustrissima Madama col signore Alessandro per le cortesie). A letter dated March 21, 1555 from Ludovico's brother Stefano Monti informs us that the Poles, with a large retinue, had then advanced as far as Tuscany, where in Florence the young Tarnowski was received by Cosimo I (after "La trama Nascosta - Storie di mercanti e altro" by Rita Mazzei).

It was probably Jan Krzysztof who commissioned the monument for his father from Padovano, modeled on the monuments of the Venetian doges, the concept of which could have been conceived by the poet Jan Kochanowski, who dedicated several of his works to Jan Krzysztof. Pedro Ruiz de Moros dedicated him his Carmen fvnebre in obitv, published in Kraków in 1561, and Stanisław Orzechowski his Panagiricus nuptiarum, published in Kraków in 1553.

Inventories of Tarnów Castle, like the castle itself, have not preserved, but the last will of the court physician and secretary to Count Jan Amor Tarnowski, Stanisław Rożanka (Rosarius), may give an idea of its wealth. Rożanka was educated at the University of Padua in the Venetian Republic. In his will of 1569, which was opened after his death in 1572, Stanisław, a Calvinist and the owner of a house in Saint Florian's Street in Kraków, mentioned many of his exquisite possessions. "And besides the things described above (these are valuables, dresses, utensils, etc.), I have old Roman and Greek numismatics, books, maps, pictures, etc. Of these, my brother, Dr. Walenty, all of my books and mappas and antiqua numismatics both gold and silver, to use and keep. [...] I want my second brother Mr Jan to be given a sable-lined damask szubka [fur coat], a silver cup with a lid, four precious cups and a silver ewer, and all flasks, and armours, also pictures, a chariot &c. &c." (after "Skarbniczka naszej archeologji ..." by Ambroży Grabowski, p. 65).

In 1542, Jan Amor, aged 54, the father of Jan Krzysztof, suffering from gout, traveled to Italy for treatment, probably to Abano Terme, a health resort located near Padua. He also visited the Duke of Ferrara Ercole II d'Este and returned via Vienna, where King Ferdinand was to offer him command of his army during the war with the Ottoman Empire, but he did not accept the offer because of the good relations between King Sigismund I and the Turks. Such journeys serve to describe the origins of many beautiful Italian works of art in their collections for many European museums. The collections of the counts of Tarnów were undoubtedly exquisite and comparable to those of the dukes of Ferrara, however, today no traces of this patronage are kept in Tarnów, everything has been looted, destroyed or scattered.

The Tarnowskis equaled or even surpassed the Venetian doges and the kings of Poland with their funerary monument and their portraits were equally splendid.

​Miniature portrait of Count Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567) by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1565-1567, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

​Portrait of Count Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567) by circle of Dosso Dossi or Lambert Sustris, ca. 1565-1567, Private collection.

Portrait of Wawrzyniec Goślicki by Giovanni Battista Moroni

On January 3, 1567 Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki (Laurentius Grimaldius Goslicius) obtained the degree of Doctor Utruisque Juris (doctor of both laws - civil and church law) at the University of Bologna.

Goślicki was born near Płock in Masovia and after studying at Kraków's Academy he left for Italy after 1562. During his studies in Padua, in 1564, he published the Latin poem De victoria Sigismundi Augusti, which he dedicated to the victory of king Sigismund II Augustus over tsar Ivan IV the Terrible in the war of 1560. After receiving his doctorate in Bologna he visited Rome, and then Naples together with his friends. On the way back, Goślicki stopped in Rome for a while. In 1568, during his stay in Venice, he published his best-known work, De optimo senatore, also dedicated to king Sigismund Augustus. The book printed by Giordano Ziletti was later translated into English with the titles of The Counselor and The Accomplished Senator. After his return to Poland in 1569, he entered the king's service as the royal secretary. He later decided to become a priest and he was elevated to the episcopal dignity in 1577. In 1586 he was made bishop of Kamieniec Podolski and according to a document issued by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese entitled Propositio cosistorialis, he was 48 in 1586, therefore he was born in 1538.  

Wawrzyniec Goślicki died on October 31, 1607 in Ciążeń near Poznań as the Bishop of Poznań (from 1601) and was buried in the city's cathedral. According to his last will his tomb monument was to be modeled on the monument to his predecessor Bishop Adam Konarski, the work of Girolamo Canavesi, a sculptor from Milan, who had his workshop in Kraków. Goślicki's monument created in Kraków, most probably by workshop of Giovanni Lucano Reitino di Lugano, as Konarski's monument, was transported to Poznań after 1607.

The effigy of a young man by Giovanni Battista Moroni in Accademia Carrara in Bergamo (oil on canvas, 56.9 x 44.4 cm, inv. 81LC00174) is very similar to Goślicki's features in his statue in Poznań. According to inscription in Latin (ANNO . AETATIS . XXIX . / M . D . LXVII) the man was 29 in 1567, exactly as Goślicki when he earned his degree at Carolus Sigonius in Bologna. The painting entered the Academy in 1866 from the collection of Guglielmo Lochis with about two hundred other works. It was included in the 1846 catalogue of the painting collection of the Art Gallery and Villa Lochis in Crocetta di Mozzo near Bergamo under the number XVI, as "Portrait of a young man" (Ritratto di giovane uomo, compare "La Pinacoteca e la villa Lochis alla Crocetta di Mozzo presso Bergamo con notizie biografiche degli autori dei quadri", p. 12). ​Another version by workshop or follower of Moroni, also considered to be a 19th century copy, is in private collection in Florence (oil on canvas, 52 x 42 cm, Maison Bibelot in Florence, "Furniture and Old Master Paintings from a villa in Viareggio - II", October 5, 2018, lot 715).

Portrait of Wawrzyniec Goślicki (1538-1607), aged 29, by Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1567, Accademia Carrara in Bergamo.

Portrait of Wawrzyniec Goślicki (1538-1607) by workshop or follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1567, Private collection.

Portrait of royal secretary Jan Zamoyski by Tintoretto

"Carissimo Signore Valerio Montelupi, I have received a letter from my Ursyn [Niedźwiedzki] from Padua. He writes that, in accordance with my instructions, he went to Venice in the affairs of a painter. He looked at the paintings almost finished. From his description, I can see two things that should be given close attention. First of all - it was my intention that only two figures should be imagined clearly and decoratively, and this is the figure of the standing Savior and the figure of St. Thomas kneeling with his hand stretched to Christ's side", writes in Italian Chancellor Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605) in a letter of 1602 regarding paintings for the Collegiate Church in Zamość, commissioned in the workshop of Domenico Tintoretto in Venice (after "Jan Zamoyski klientem Domenica Tintoretta" by Jan Białostocki, p. 60). 

Zamoyski studied at the Universities of Paris and Padua, where he became Councillor of the Polish Nation and rector of the university in 1563. He also abandoned Calvinism in favor of Catholicism and discovered his love for politics. In the Archives of Venice there is a one-of-a-kind document in which the Venetian Senate congratulates the King of Poland on having such a citizen in his country, and expresses the highest appreciation for Zamoyski (Senato I Filza, 43. Terra 1565 da Marzo, a tutto Giugno): 

"It happened on April 7, 1565 at a session of the Senate. To the Serene King of Poland. Jan Zamoyski, the son of a noble starost of Belz, spent several years with great glory and honor at our University of Padua; last year, the most esteemed man was a gymnasiarch [the rector] [...] In this office he was doing so well and so excellently that not only the hearts of all young people who came to Padua to educate their minds with science, but also all citizens, especially our officials, he was able to win kindness in a special way. For this reason, we always welcomed him with the best will, and whenever there was an opportunity, we tried to surround him with favor and respect. There were various reasons for doing so; first of all, to your Majesty, whom we love greatly and to whom we are completely devoted, to please in the best possible way, and also, because we are deeply attached to the most noble Polish nation, finally in the conviction that Zamoyski's merits and virtues required us to do so".

After returning to Poland, Zamoyski was appointed secretary to King Sigismund II Augustus and in 1567, when he was 25 years old, he acted as the king's commissar entrusted with a responsible and dangerous mission. At the head of the court armed forces, he forcibly took away the illegally seized starosties of Sambor and Drohobych from the Starzechowski family.
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A painting by Jacopo Tintoretto from the Fundación Banco Santander in Madrid shows a young twenty-five year old man (ANN.XXV). His high social status is accentuated with gold rings, a belt embroidered with gold and a coat lined with ermine fur. He stands proudly with his hand on the table covered with crimson fabric. His hands and the table were not painted very diligently, which may indicate that it was completed in a hurry by the artist's studio working on a large order. The man bear a great resemblance to effigies of Jan Zamoyski, especially his portrait painting, attributed to Jan Szwankowski (Olesko Castle) and engraving by Dominicus Custos after Giovanni Battista Fontana (British Museum), both created in his later years. 

A portrait attributed to Tintoretto or Titian from the same period is in the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art. It represent Girolamo Priuli (1486-1567), who was a Doge of Venice between 1559-1567, when Zamoyski was in Venice. During the restoration of the painting, the inscriptions TIZIANO and the letters TI (over the shoulder) were discovered, however a very similar portrait in private collection and majority of larger versions are attributed to Tintoretto. 

The portrait of Priuli was transferred from the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg to the Odessa Museum in 1949. The painting comes from the collection of Prince Lev Viktorovich Kochubey (1810-1890), who distinguished himself in the storming of the Warsaw fortifications during the November Uprising (1830-1831), the armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The inventory number on the back '453' is sometimes interpreted as tantamount to an entry in the 18th century catalog of Gonzaga's collections, however, it is unknown where exactly Kochubey acquired the painting. 

After the collapse of the November Uprising the collections of magnates who sided with the insurgents were confiscated, e.g. painting of Madonna and Child by Francesco Francia in the State Hermitage Museum (inventory number ГЭ-199), created between 1515-1517, was confiscated in 1832 from the Sapieha collection in Dziarecyn, comprising 36 paintings of Old Masters and 72 portraits (after "Przegląd warszawski", 1923, Volumes 25-27, p. 266).

In this case the thesis that Priuli's portrait was originally offered to Zamoyski or king Sigismund II Augustus is very probable. 

Portrait of royal secretary Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605) aged 25 by Jacopo Tintoretto, ca. 1567, Fundación Banco Santander.

Portrait of Girolamo Priuli (1486-1567), Doge of Venice by Tintoretto or Titian, 1559-1567, Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art.

Portraits of Zuzanna Orłowska by Jacopo Tintoretto

"The King-Deceiver, of mixed Lithuanian and Italian blood, did not deal honestly with anyone. In repaying the shame with which he has covered me, I want to repay him bad for bad", noted the accusations made by Zuzanna (Susanna) Orłowska (or Szabinówna Charytańska, died after 1583), the mistress of King Sigismund II Augustus, historian Świętosław Orzelski (1549-1598) in his book Interregni Poloniae libri VIII (1572-1576).

The king's third marriage with his distant cousin and the Austrian Archduchess Catherine, concluded in 1553, was not happy from the very beginning. Even before his wife's departure in 1566, at the beginning of the 1560s, he allegedly had an affair with Regina Rylska, the wife of the courtier Jan Rylski.
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The romance of the king and Zuzanna, probably began in 1565, that is, before Queen Catherine left Poland. According to the account of the courtier of the King, Zuzanna was to be the illegitimate daughter of a canon of Kraków, other sources, however, indicate that her father was Szymon Szabin Charytański. The king and his entourage called her Orłowska (Lady of the Eagle or Mistress of the Eagle), possibly in reference to the king's coat of arms (White Eagle). Orłowska was suspected of knowing magic and together with her aunt, famous healer (or a witch-doctor) Dorota Korycka, she was to treat Sigismund Augustus, and received high remuneration for her services. With time, the feeling of the king towards Orłowska weakened, and after recovering, the king decided that "he would have no contact with demons and similar women", as he wrote in a letter to his courtier Stanisław Czarnotulski. He abandoned his mistress, and her place in the royal alcove was taken by Anna Zajączkowska, a lady of the court of Sigismund's sister Anna Jagiellon. Most likely the reason for Zuzanna's separation from the king was her betrayal. Although Orłowska herself was not faithful to him, she believed that it was the king who had disgracedly abandoned her and humiliated her. Apparently, every Thursday, "having invited the devils to a supper", according to Orzelski who knew it from the bed-chamber servant (łożniczy) of the King, Jan Wilkocki, she used magic and sprinkled peas on hot coals, saying: "Whoever has abandoned me, let him suffer so much and sizzle".

When in 1569, Sigismund Augustus became seriously ill, he ordered Korycka and Orłowska to be summoned. When both women refused to help him, he promised his former lover, a thousand zlotys as a dowry when she gets married.

After the king's death, Zuzanna Orłowska married the Polish nobleman Piotr Bogatko, who in 1583 bequeathed 2,400 florins to his wife as a dower and they had four sons.

Jacopo Tintoretto's Bathing Susanna in the Louvre (oil on canvas, 167 x 238 cm, inventory number INV 568; MR 498) shows a moment from the Old Testament story in which biblical heroine Susanna, epitome of female virtue and chastity, unjustly accused of sexual transgression, is watched by two elderly men, acquaintances of her husband, who desire her.

She sits naked in a garden beside a pool, while her maidservants are drying or brushing her hair and cutting her nails. A partridge at her feet is a symbol of sexual desire and three frogs is a symbol of fecundity and fertility. "The frog was also sacred for Venus, Roman goddess of love and fertility. Venus's yoni (female genitals) sometimes was depicted as a fleur-delis consisting of three frogs" (after Marty Crump's "Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog, Adder's Fork and Lizard's Leg: The Lore and Mythology of Amphibians and Reptiles", p. 135).

"Many medieval recipes for magical and medicinal potions and ointments included frogs and/or toads as ingredients, and the animals were used in rituals intended to cure drought. In addition, medieval and Renaissance people generally thought that witches could turn themselves into frogs and toads at will. The devil too was said to sometimes take the shape of a frog or toad" (after Patricia D. Netzley's "Witchcraft", p. 114). Two ducks represent constancy and rebirth and a rabbit symbolizes fertility. The outwardly turned face of the sitter gazing at the viewer is a clear information that she is someone important.

The work is an oil painting on canvas and is generally dated to the third quarter of the 16th century (1550-1575). Neoclassical frame is not original and was added in the 19th century. Bathing Susanna was acquired by King Louis XIV of France in 1684 from Marquis d'Hauterive de L'Aubespine. It is believed to have previously belonged by King Charles I of England (his sale, London June 21, 1650, no. 229), however, it could be also tantamount to "A picture painted on canvas, which shows a naked woman, without frame" (item 440) from the inventory of belongings of king John Casimir Vasa, great-grandson of Sigismund I, sold in Paris in 1673 to Mr. Bruny for 16.10 pounds. "Saint Susanna and two old men, a large painting on canvas" (815) 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).

The same woman was also depicted in a portrait painting by Tintoretto, owned by Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed in Amersfoort (oil on canvas, 101.5 x 77.5 cm, NK1639), which was before 1941 in the collection of Otto Lanz in Amsterdam. She is sitting in a chair, dressed in a rich Venetian style costume of orange silk. "In ancient Rome, the wives of the priests of Jupiter [king of the gods] wore a flammeum, an orange and yellow veil. The young Roman women betrothed in marriage copied this style as a symbol of hope for a long and fruitful marriage" (after Leatrice Eiseman's "Colors for Your Every Mood: Discover Your True Decorating Colors", p. 49). Based on all these facts the sitter should be identified as king's mistress Zuzanna Orłowska. Just as royal effigies, the portraits of king's mistress were created in the Republic of Venice basing on drawings or miniatures sent from Poland-Lithuania. 

The so-called Marshal's Book, a register of official state expenses of the court of Sigismund Augustus between 1543-1572, which was described in a publication from 1924 by Stanisław Tomkowicz ("Na dworze królewskim dwóch ostatnich Jagiellonów", pp. 31, 32, 36), is silent about court painters, as are the bills. Tomkowicz suggests that perhaps their wages were recorded separately and adds that the king often bought paintings, mostly portraits, even in batches of 16 and 20 pieces, however, "over the course of several years, one expense was recorded for the purchase of a painting depicting... a naked woman". The accounts of 1547 also mention a payment to a prostitute (meretricem) Zofia Długa (Sophia Long), who dressed in armor was to fight with Herburt and Łaszcz in a jousting tournament at the expense of the court treasury.

Portrait of Zuzanna Orłowska, mistress of King Sigismund II Augustus, as Bathing Susanna by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1565-1568, Louvre Museum.

Portrait of Zuzanna Orłowska, mistress of King Sigismund II Augustus by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1565-1568, Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed.

Portrait of Stanisław Karnkowski, Bishop of Włocławek by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger

​In 2016, during the restoration of a painting of the Holy Family, now kept in the Karlskirche Museum in Vienna, the monogram and the date AD1520 were discovered in the upper right part of the image (after "Karl Borromäus Museum in der Karlskirche, Wien IV" by Alicja Dabrowska). This painting is attributed to Daniel Fröschl (1563-1613), an imitator of Albrecht Dürer, appointed in 1603 court painter and miniaturist to Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, although he worked in the service of the Medici in Florence until 1604. The work is characterized by the beauty of the execution and the particular appearance of some figures. The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John and Saint Joseph are venerated by Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) and Empress Bianca Maria Sforza (1472-1510). Fröschl copied an original by Dürer painted in 1520, as confirmed by the monogram, probably in Prague. Dürer in turn created the original painting 10 years after the death of the Empress and one year after the death of the Emperor, how could he have done so since according to the traditional approach, the model and the painter should have met at the time of the painting's creation? Furthermore, he was living in Nuremberg at that time and in July 1520 he went to Cologne and then to Antwerp, so he probably did not have the opportunity to meet Maximilian shortly before his death at Wels Castle near Linz in Austria. The effigy of the emperor and his wife was undoubtedly based on other effigies.

This practice of commissioning paintings from famous painters located elsewhere, based on other effigies or study drawings, was also widespread in Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia. The best example are the miniatures of the Jagiellon family preserved in the Czartoryski Museum (inv. MNK XII-536-545), acquired by Adolf Cichowski in London in the mid-19th century. The miniatures were clearly created by Lucas Cranach the Younger, as indicated by their style, and each of them is signed with his famous mark - the winged serpent, as if he wished to emphasize his authorship on this noble commission. Since Cranach's stay in Sarmatia is not confirmed by the sources, he most likely painted all these effigies based on other portraits.

Many paintings by Cranach, his workshop and his followers in the former territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were destroyed or lost during numerous wars and invasions, including a small painting of the Crucifixion from the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, lost during the Second World War (panel, 53.5 x 52.5 cm, inv. 65, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 2268). The Crucifixion was purchased in 1804 by Stanisław Kostka Potocki (1755-1821), probably in Lviv, along with six other paintings, all considered to be works by Cranach (compare "Piękno za woalem czasu" by Teresa Stramowska, p. 56). Today, only three paintings remain in Wilanów: the Annunciation (inv. Wil.1860), the Last Supper (inv. Wil.1859) and the Lamentation of Christ (inv. Wil.1861). The Crucifixion, like the three paintings today in Wilanów, was not signed by Cranach's famous winged serpent, and its style was not typical for Cranach the Elder, which is why this traditional attribution was rejected in the catalogues of the Wilanów collection created after World War II and all the paintings are considered works of the German school of the second half of the 16th century. However, the style of the Wilanów Crucifixion, as can be seen from the surviving photograph, is very similar to that of the winged heart-shaped altarpiece, the so-called Colditzer Altar from 1584, now in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (inv. Gm1116), especially the panel with the Resurrection of Christ. It is interesting to note that only the central panel of the Colditzer Altar depicting the Crucifixion was signed with the artist's insignia and dated (on the shaft of the cross at Christ's feet). The other paintings, including the Resurrection, were not signed. If the Wilanów painting came from an altar or a pulpit, such as the one in Augustusburg made in 1573, which is very likely, only the central panel was signed by Cranach.

In the Higher Theological Seminary in Włocławek in northern Poland there is also a portrait from this period. It depicts Stanisław Karnkowski (1520-1603), Bishop of Włocławek (oil, 208 x 86 cm). The way in which the face and especially the hands were painted is very characteristic of Cranach and his workshop and comparable to the full-length portraits of Luther in the Veste Coburg (winged serpent and date "1575", lower right, inv. M.304) or to the painting in Meissen Cathedral (unsigned). The seminary in Włocławek was founded by Karnkowski on March 16, 1568 as one of the first theological seminaries in the Commonwealth. The painting does not come from the seminary, destroyed by the Swedes in 1655-1656 and in the years 1704-1705, but from the Karnkowski collection in Karnków near Lipno. It was acquired from there by Bishop Karol Radoński before 1939. Karnkowski obtained a doctorate in both laws (doctor utriusque juris) in Padua. Although he vigorously fought against the influence of Protestants in his diocese and is considered one of the first bishops of the Counter-Reformation in Poland, he also studied at Wittenberg (after "Krzysztof Plantin i Officina Plantiniana" by Barbara Górska, p. 291), where he undoubtedly had the opportunity to meet Cranach the Elder and his son. In 1574 Karnkowski commissioned in Paris the publication of a panegyric in honour of the Polish King Henry of Valois (Harengue publique de Bien-venue au Roy Henry de Valois, Roy eleu des Polonnes, prononcee par Stanislaus Carncouien Euesque de Vladislauie) with a splendid Polish eagle bearing the king's monogram H and his coat of arms. The Włocławek portrait could therefore be part of the series of portraits commissioned by the newly appointed bishop in 1567 (by the bull of Pope Pius V). The portrait bears four inscriptions. The original, perhaps made by the painter, is the inscription in the upper left corner confirming the bishop's age (ANNO ÆTATIS · / SVÆ · 47), which indicates that the original painting was made in 1567, when Karnkowski was 47 years old. The next inscription in the upper right corner is the year "1570" (ANNO DNI / 1570), perhaps indicating the date of the copy of the original portrait from 1567 or commemorating another important event, such as the so-called "Karnkowski Statutes" or "Constitutions of Gdańsk" (Statuta seu Constitutiones Carncovianae) approved by Parliament in 1570, intended to regulate the rights of the Polish kings over Gdańsk and their maritime law. The other two inscriptions confirm the identity of the sitter and that he was a benefactor of the chapter of Włocławek (STANISLAVS KARNKOWSKY / EPVS / CAPITVLI ISTIVS WLADISLAVIENSIS / SINGULARIS BENEFACTOR). They were probably added with the bishop's coat of arms - Junosza. 

It is also possible that a member of Cranach's workshop was active in Poland at that time, but since there is no confirmation of this, the hypothesis of the creation of Karnkowski's portraits in Wittenberg is more likely. However, the existence of another portrait of a clergyman in Cranach's style proves that the hypothesis of one or more of Cranach's pupils active in Sarmatia cannot be excluded. This is a portrait of Jeremias II of Tranos (1536-1595), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, now in the Museum of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, painted in 1588 (oil on canvas, 88 x 82.5 cm, inv. 3282, inscription: EREMIAS PATRIARCHA / CONSTANTINOPOLITAN: DV / EX MOSCOVIA BYZANTHIV / REDIBAT ANNO DOMINI / 1.5. / 88). Until 1887, the painting hung in the amphitheater of the St. Anne Gymnasium in Kraków. 

The first ecumenical contacts between Lutherans and Orthodox Christians took place during the reign of Jeremias, as evidenced by the lively correspondence between the patriarch and the Protestant theologians of Tübingen, conducted between 1573 and 1581. He also continued the dialogue with representatives of the Catholic Church. In 1588, he undertook a journey through the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to Moscow to raise funds. During his almost two-year journey, he crossed the territory of the Commonwealth twice, in 1588 and 1589, and stayed in Lviv and Vilnius. "At that time some painters strongly influenced by Cranach the Elder were active in Gdańsk and in the northern provinces of the Polish Commonwealth. Those artists also reached Vilnius" (after "Malarstwo obce w zbiorach Collegium Maius" by Anna Jasińska, p. 239-241). They could also be itinerant members of Cranach's workshop.

Cranach the Younger died in 1586. Although his son Augustin (1554-1595) continued the family professional tradition in Wittenberg, he died only nine years after his father. In 1588, Cranach the Younger's eldest son, Lucas III (1541-1612), sold a large collection of paintings and prints by various artists to the Electoral collection (Kunstkammer) in Dresden, indicating that the workshop was already in decline. The option with creation of the portrait of the Patriarch in Wittenberg in 1588 for customers from the Commonwealth is therefore also possible. The 1560 inventory of Wolgast Castle confirms that the original portrait of Philip I (1515-1560), Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast by the "painter Lucas" (Lucas Maler) made in 1541 (another version, attributed to Cranach the Younger, is in the National Museum in Szczecin, inv. MNS/Szt/1382) was painted on canvas (An Contrafej auff Tüchern, after "Neue Beitrage zur Geschichte der Kunst und ihrer Denkmäler in Pommern" by Julius Mueller, p. 32).

Portrait of a Catholic or Orthodox priest created in Lutheran Wittenberg? Although the church officials of Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia (Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Calvinists and others) were sometimes obliged to listen to or carry out orders from abroad, as confirmed by Jean Choisnin de Chastelleraut in his book published in Paris in 1574, respect was most important in the diverse and tolerant Sarmatia (Mais recognoissans entr'eux que la diuision apporteroit leur entiere ruyne, ils n'ont iamais voulu se courir sus l'vn à l'autre, "Discours au vray de tout ce qui s'est passé pour l'entière négociation de l'élection du roy de Pologne", p. 122, Lyon Public Library). In 1535 and before, the Jewish lady Estera from the court of Queen Bona, wife of Mojżesz Fiszel (1480-after 1543), rabbi of the Polish Jewish community from 1532, sewed the liturgical vestments for the Catholic clergy, including for Piotr Tomicki (1464-1535), Bishop of Kraków (after "Medycy nadworni władców polsko-litewskich ..." by Maurycy Horn, p. 9). This was Sarmatia, which many people abroad did not understand and some wanted to destroy. Sadly, the fact that all this seems unimaginable and sometimes unacceptable today is proof that they succeeded.

​Portrait of Stanisław Karnkowski (1520-1603), Bishop of Włocławek by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1567-1570, Higher Theological Seminary in Włocławek. 

​Portrait of Jeremias II Tranos (1536-1595), Patriarch of Constantinople by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1588, Jagiellonian University Museum in Kraków.

​The Crucifixion by Lucas Cranach the Younger or workshop, third quarter of the 16th century, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, lost during the World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portraits of Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski by Adriaen Thomasz. Key

In the summer of 1568 died Jakub Ostroróg, General Starost of Greater Poland, "a man endowed with extraordinary gentleness, piety and prudence, a lover of justice and equality before the law", in the words of the chronicler of the city of Poznań. Ostroróg was a prominent magnate and politician from Poznań and one of the main leaders of the community of Bohemian Brethren. The Protestant community in the city expanded under his protection. He was appointed Starost of Poznań and General Starost by King Sigismund II Augustus in 1566. 

The place of the dissident in the Poznań royal castle was taken by the Catholic Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski (1527-1578), and soon the Jesuits were provided with buildings in Poznań (after "Życie codzienne w renesansowym Poznaniu, 1518-1619" by Lucyna Sieciechowiczowa, p. 91). Czarnkowski, a nobleman of Nałęcz III coat of arms, studied in Wittenberg in 1543 and Leipzig in 1545 and he became a royal courtier in 1552. He and his older brother Stanisław Sędziwój (1526-1602), Crown referendary, were strong supporters of the House of Habsburg. Stanisław, educated at German universities in Wittenberg and Leipzig, stayed at the court of Charles V and in 1564 he was an envoy to the Pomeranian dukes, and in 1568, 1570 and 1571 to Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1575, the brothers signed the election of Emperor Maximilian II of Austria against the Queen Anna Jagiellon and her husband. During the next royal election in 1587 his son Adam Sędziwój (1555-1627) and brother signed the election of Archduke Maximilian III of Austria (1558-1618) against the Queen's candidate, Sigismund III Vasa. The portrait of Adam Sędziwój, created between 1605-1610 and most probably sent to the Medicis, is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (inventory number 2354 / 1890). Later in his life he become a supporter of king of Sigismund III Vasa, he organized a confederation in Greater Poland in defense of the king during the Zebrzydowski's rebellion and in his portrait he was depicted in national costume (crimson żupan and delia coat).

In the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna there is a portrait of a man in Spanish costume attributed to Adriaen Thomasz. Key (oil on panel, 109 x 82.5 cm, inventory number GG 1034). It is identifiable in the treasury of the imperial collection in Vienna in 1773. The painting was most likely a gift to the Habsburgs. According to inscription in Latin in upper right corner of the painting the man was 41 in 1568 (A°.ÆTATIS.41 /.1568.), exaclty as Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski when he become the General Starost of Greater Poland. A reduced bust-length version of this portrait in oval is now in the Medeiros e Almeida Museum in Lisbon (oil on panel, 59.5 x 48 cm, FMA 65). Before 1931 it was part of the Oxenden collection at Broome Park in Barham, England and was sold on 20 November of that year in London as part of the collection of Muriel Dixwell-Oxenden, Lady Capel Cure (after "Catalogue of early English portraits, the property of Lady Capel Cure ...", as "Sir Antonio Mor, Portrait of Ferdinand 1st of Austria, in black dress with white collar", item 76, p. 17).

Netherlandish influences were increasing at that time in Poland-Lithuania, which is reflected in the architecture of cities of the former Commonwealth like Gdańsk, Elbląg, Toruń and Königsberg (at that time Duchy of Prussia was a fief of Poland). Some Netherlandish painters, like court painter Jakob Mertens from Antwerp or Isaak van den Blocke (born in Mechelen or Königsberg), also decided to settle in the Commonwealth. Others, like Tobias Fendt (Kraków, around 1576) and Hans Vredeman de Vries (active in Gdańsk between 1592-1595), went there temporarily or only took orders from customers from Poland-Lithuania.

Many famous artists were unwilling to travel, especially when busy with high local demand. In order to have a marble bust made by famous Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, active in Rome, King Charles I of England ordered his Triple Portrait painted 1635-1636 by the Flemish artist Sir Anthony van Dyck, showing the king from three viewpoints (Royal Collection, RCIN 404420). He also ordered a similar portrait and bust of his wife Henrietta Maria in 1638. In about 1640-1642 also Cardinal Richelieu of France sent his Triple Portrait by Philippe de Champaigne to Rome (National Gallery in London, NG798) as a study for his statue by Francesco Mochi and a bust by Bernini (Louvre, MR 2165) and in August 1650, Francesco I d'Este, duke of Modena and Reggio sent paintings by Justus Sustermans and Jean Boulanger as a study for his marble bust by Bernini (Galleria Estense in Modena). In 1552 marble blocks and statues created by Giovanni Maria Mosca called Padovano and Giovanni Cini in Kraków for monuments of two wives of Sigismund II Augustus were floated down the Vistula to Gdańsk and Königsberg, then up the Nemunas and Neris rivers to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - Vilnius, covering a total of over 1,500 km. Paintings were less heavy and easier to transport over great distances than the heavy and fragile sculptures.

Portrait of Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski (1527-1578), General Starost of Greater Poland, aged 41 by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, 1568, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski (1527-1578), General Starost of Greater Poland by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, ca. 1568, Medeiros e Almeida Museum in Lisbon.

Portrait of doctor Wojciech Oczko by Venetian painter

In 1569 doctor Wojciech Oczko (1537-1599), called Ocellus, physician, philosopher and one of the founders of Polish medicine, who studied syphilis and hot springs, returned from his studies abroad to his hometown Warsaw and newly created republic of Poland-Lithuania - the Union of Lublin, signed on 1 July 1569, created a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He began to practice medicine at St. Martin's Hospital. 

Oczko's father was the Warsaw cartwright Stanisław (d. 1572), one of his brothers Rościsław (Roslanus) was a priest, and his sister Jadwiga married the painter Maciej. He left for the Academy of Kraków around 1559 or 1560, because in 1562 he received bachelor's degree there. He then received a master's degree at the cathedral school in Warsaw and a funding from the chapter in 1565 to study medicine in Italy. Wojciech studied at the Universities of Padua, Rome and Bologna, where he earned a doctorate in medicine. He also travelled to Spain and France, where he spent time in Montpellier. 

In order to keep him in Warsaw, the chapter of St. Martin's Hospital gave him a house close to the hospital without any payment, provided that he lived in it himself and did the necessary repairs. Later another resolution was passed in 1571 that Oczko should treat the poor free of charge in the hospital. At that time, his fame and renown was so great in the country that he became the archiater (a chief physician) of Sigismund Augustus and the royal secretary (D. D. Sigism: Aug: Poloniae regis Archiatro ac Secretario), according to inscription on his epitaph.

He then served for a time as personal physician to Franciszek Krasiński, bishop of Kraków, and from 1576-1582 (with some breaks) as the court physician to Stephen Bathory (the king and his predecessor Sigismund Augustus suffered from venereal diseases, among others). Wojciech also had literary interests and prepared the staging of Jan Kochanowski's "The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys", a play staged at the wedding of Deputy Chancellor Jan Zamoyski in the royal Ujazdów Castle in Warsaw - a note in the accounts of the Deputy Chancellor states on January 6, 1578: "I gave doctor Oczko for building, painting, etc., 151 (zlotys) for the tragedy".

His major work "French court disease" (Przymiot francuski), published in Kraków in 1581, is an extensive essay on syphilis, in which he denies the false views of his contemporaries - in Russia, where it certainly came at about this time, it was called the Polish disease (after Oliver Thomson's "Short History of Human Error", p. 328). In his other essay "Hot springs" (Cieplice), published in Kraków in 1578, he speaks about the importance and benefits of mineral waters.

From 1598 Oczko lived in Lublin, where he died a year later. He was buried in the Bernardine Church in Lublin, where his nephew Wincenty Oczko, canon of Gniezno, founded him an epitaph made of two-color marble. 

Portrait of a red-bearded man in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main was acquired on April 17, 1819 from the collection of Johann Friedrich Morgenstern (1777-1844), a German landscape painter, as a work of Titian. Morgenstern most probably purchased the painting during his studies at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, between 1797-1798 (in the first half of the 18th century Dresden was the informal capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as the main residence of the Saxon kings). 

The man in a courtly black costume in French/Italian style is holding his hand on books, so he must be a scholar. According to inscription in Latin on the base of the column he was 33 in 1570 ([A]NNOR[VM]. XXXIII / ANNO. MDLXX), exactly as Wojciech Oczko when he become the royal physician in Warsaw. The sign below the inscription is interpreted as showing a dragon, however it could be also Scorpio, the sign which rules the genitals, as in a German woodcut from 1512 (Homo signorum or zodiacal man) or a print created in 1484 depicting a person with syphilis. An outbreak of syphilis in November 1484 was assigned by Gaspar Torella (1452-1520), physician to Pope Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia, and Bartolomeo della Rocca known as Cocles (1467-1504), astrologer from Bologna, to the conjunction of the four great planets in Scorpio.

Oczko's portrait could have been created by a Venetian artist active at that time at the royal court or commissioned in Venice, basing on drawings, like the royal effigies. 

Portrait of doctor Wojciech Oczko (1537-1599), chief physician of king Sigismund Augustus, aged 33 by Venetian painter, 1570, Städel Museum.

Portrait of a man in eastern costume, possibly singer Krzysztof Klabon by Jacopo Tintoretto

The catalogue of Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne from 1927 ("Wegweiser durch die Gemälde-Galerie des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums", p. 70, number 516) includes a portrait painting of a man in eastern costume painted in the style of Jacopo Tintoretto, possiby lost during World War II (oil on canvas, 110 x 82 cm, inv. 516). His long inner robe of bright silk buttoned up with gold buttons is similar to Polish żupan and his dark coat is lined with fur, he also wears a heavy gold chain. This garment resemble greatly the costume of a horseman in the Crucifixion by circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder, created in 1549 (Salzburg Museum), the attire in the portrait of Jan Opaliński (1546-1598), created in 1591 (National Museum in Poznań) or costumes in Twelve Polish and Hungarian types by Abraham de Bruyn, created in about 1581 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam).

The inscription in Latin is only partially visible on preserved photograph, covered with a later frame: [...] VIII / [...]  NTOR / [...] MNI PRIN. / [...] D. / [...] XX. Presumably the text originally read: "His age 28, the chief singer of all, in the Year of our Lord 1570" ([ÆTATIS SVÆ XX]VIII / [CA]NTOR / OMNI[VM] PRIN.[CEPS] / [A.]D. / [MDL]XX). The sitter is holding a small book, which could be a psalter, a book containing a verse translation of the Book of Psalms, meant to be sung as hymns.

The man is therefore likely to be Krzysztof Klabon or Clabon (Christophorus Clabonius), who, according to some sources, came from Königsberg in what was then the Ducal Prussia, fiefdom of Poland (a note from 1604: Eruditus Christophorus Clabonius Regiomontanus S.R.M. chori musices praefectus) or he was Italian and his real name was Claboni. If he was born in 1542 (aged 28 in 1570), he could arrive to Poland in 1553 with Queen Catherine of Austria, widowed Duchess of Mantua. Prior to 1565, he belonged to a group of young singers in the royal chapel orchestra of King Sigismund II Augustus, and from 1565 to a group of instrumentalists (translatus ex pueris cantoribus ad numerum fistulatorum). On February 4, 1567, together with four other musicians, he was promoted to full wind-players (ad fistulatores maiores). Antoni Klabon, most probably Krzysztof's brother, was admitted into the king's service at court as a trumpeter in Lublin on June 25, 1569 (Antonius Klabon tubicinator. Susceptus in servitium Maiestatis Regiae Liublini die 25 Iunii 1569, habebit omnem provisionem similem reliquis).

In 1576, during the reign of Stephen Bathory, Krzysztof became the bandmaster of the court band and he was replaced by Luca Marenzio in 1596, during the reign of Sigismund III Vasa. He sang at the wedding of Jan Zamoyski with Griselda Bathory (1583), with a lute at two weddings of Sigismund III and at the ceremony on the occasion of the capture of Smolensk (1611). He traveled twice with Sigismund III to Sweden (1593-1594 and 1598). Klabon was also a composer, his extant works are "Songs of the Slavic Calliope. On present victory at Byczyna" (Pieśni Kalliopy słowieńskiey. Na teraznieysze pod Byczyną zwycięstwo) for 4 mixed voices, 3 equal voices, and for solo voice with lute, published in Kraków in 1588, one sacred piece, the five-part Aliud Kyrie (Kyrie ultimum) from the lost Łowicz organ tablatures and the soprano part of one other, Officium Sancta Maria.

"Numerous residences dispersed the courtiers of Sigismund Augustus. Many of them stayed away from the king. For example, in 1570 the superior of the royal band, Jerzy Jasińczyc, along with some of the musicians, lived in Kraków, while the rest were in Warsaw with the king, who, moreover, complained that there were not enough of them" (after "Barok", Volume 11, 2004, p. 23). Some famous musicians from the royal capella, like Valentin Bakfark, traveled extensively around Europe. According to accounts of the court of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria in Munich, a singer from Poland was paid 4 florins for a performance in 1570 (Ainem Sänger aus Polln so vmb diennst angehalten 4 fl. after "Beiträge zur Geschichte der bayerischen Hofkapelle", Volume 2, p. 47).

Portrait of a man in eastern costume, possibly singer Krzysztof Klabon by Jacopo Tintoretto, ca. 1570, Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Portraits of Sigismund Augustus with his maritime fleet and at the old age by Tintoretto

Between 1655-1660 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a wealthy Venetian style republic of nobles created in 1569 with support of the last male Jagiellon, Sigismund Augustus was invaded by neighbouring countries from north, south, east and west - the Deluge. Royal and magnate residencies in Warsaw, Kraków, Grodno and Vilnius and other locations were ransacted and burned which resulted in the loss of works by the greatest Venetian painters, like Paris Bordone, Tintoretto or Palma Giovane and a loss of memory of the royal effigies and their patronage.

The portrait of a "Venetian admiral" in armour from the 1570s, acquired by the National Museum in Warsaw in 1936 from the Popławski collection (oil on canvas, 81 x 68 cm, inventory number M.Ob.635, earlier 34679) bears a great resemblance to the effigies of the king from the last years of his life, notably a miniature by workshop of Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn at the Czartoryski Museum (MNK XII-146), painted after the original from around 1570. 

According to Universae historiae sui temporis libri XXX (editio aucta 1581, p. 516), originally published in Venice in 1572, the king was about to set up an enormous fleet against Denmark, consisting of galleys with three, five and more rows on the Venetian model in order to protect "Sarmatia". In the spring of 1570 he entrusted the Maritime Commission with the construction of the first ship for the Polish-Lithuanian maritime fleet, while bringing in specialists Domenico Zaviazelo (Dominicus Sabioncellus) and Giacomo de Salvadore from Venice.

Shortly before turning 50 in 1570, the king's health rapidly declined. Antonio Maria Graziani recalls that Sigismund was unable to keep standing without a cane when greeting Venetian Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Commendone in November 1571 who was sent by Pope Pius V to join Venice, Papal States and Spain in the interest of a crusade against the Ottoman Empire.

During research carried out in 1996 at the National Museum, an x-ray revealed an unfinished portrait of another man or the same but younger, perhaps unpaid work or not accepted by the client. The painter used the earlier composition to paint a new image on it, which was a common practice in his studio.

In the Popławski collection the painting was attributed to Tintoretto. Jan Żarnowski, in the 1936 collection catalog, suggested Jacopo Bassano as a possible author, however, he pointed out the resemblance of this painting among others to two portraits by Tintoretto at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (after "Katalog wystawy obrazów ze zbiorów dr. Jana Popławskiego", number 19, p. 48). One is a portrait of Sigismund Augustus with a royal galley (GG 24), identified by me, the other is a portrait of an old man in a fur coat and carmine tunic, similar to the Polish-Lithuanian żupan (oil on canvas, 92.4 x 59.5 cm, GG 25). The receipt issued by Princess Anna Jagiellon after the death of Sigismund Augustus to Stanisław Fogelweder, in addition to Italian, German and Persian dresses, lists numerous fur garments, such as sable coats, made of leopards, wolverines, lynxes, wolves and black foxes and traditional costumes - żupany, kopieniaki, kabaty, kolety, delie (after "Ubiory w Polsce ..." by Łukasz Gołębiowski, p. 16), which were generally crimson.

The resemblance of the men in all the mentioned effigies, in Vienna and Warsaw, is striking. The image of a man in a fur coat is also dated around 1570, like the Warsaw painting, and comes from the collection of Archduke Leopold William of Austria in Brussels, included in the catalog of his collection - Theatrum Pictorium (number 103).

The intensity of Poland-Lithuania's contacts with the Republic of Venice around 1570 is attested by some preserved works of art. Portrait of a Venetian senator holding a letter by Jacopo Tintoretto of unknown provenance in the National Art Museum of Belarus in Minsk, was most probably transported to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at that time, possibly offered to the king Sigismund II Augustus or the Radziwills. The map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - "The Sarmatian part of Europe, which is subject to Sigismund Augustus, the most powerful king of Poland" (Partis Sarmatiae Europae, quae Sigismundo Augusto regi Poloniae potentissimo subiacet) by Andrzej Pograbka (Andreas Pograbius), dedicated to Mikołaj Tomicki, son of the castellan of Gniezno, was published in Venice in 1570 by Nicolò Nelli. In 1572, the reissue of the legal thesis of the king's courtier Pedro Ruiz de Moros (d. 1571) Decisiones [...] De rebus In Sacro Auditorio Lituanico ex appellatione iudicatis, dedicated to the king (RAECLARVM opus quoddam est, Sigismunde Auguste Rex ...), was published in Venice by Bartolomeo Rubini.

In a painting by Tintoretto from a private collection, the same man, although older, was depicted with a dark hat, very similar to those seen on many printed effigies of the last male Jagiellon - effigy by Frans Huys and Hieronymus Cock (1553-1562), at the age of 35 by Hans Sauerdumm (1554), by Battista Franco Veneziano (ca. 1561), in Jan Herburt's Statuta y przywileie koronne ... by Monogrammist WS (1570) or by Dominicus Custos (1601), as well as in the portrait painting at the age of 41, thus painted in about 1561, at the Wawel Royal Castle (inventory number 535).

Until the end of his life, the king continued to acquire sumptuous clocks and jewels. In 1569, an Augsburg merchant, Hanus Heuzschmidt, received 110 zlotys "for a large round clock, which His Majesty the King had taken to his chamber". On June 10, 1570, the royal treasurer Fogelweder paid 242 zlotys "to a French merchant named Baduero for a diamond ring and for a Turkish gold clasp with diamonds and rubies, which His Majesty the King bought from this merchant". On September 6, the same treasurer gave "Pancratio Henne, a merchant from Nuremberg", 1,544 zlotys for "two golden and stone-set apples for musk [a perforated apple-shaped box for musk and other perfumes] [...] for a diamond ring [...] for 6 small rings [...] and a diamond cross". A few months later (November 16, 1570), the same Fogelweder paid 680 zlotys to the "Frenchman Blasio Bleaus Gioiller for the jewels that His Majesty the King had purchased from him", for which the royal cashier received a receipt "signed by Peter [Pierre] Garnier, the goldsmith of His Majesty the King". In 1571 (June 18), two other French merchants "Blasius de Vaûls and Servatius Marel" delivered to the court of Sigismund Augustus "a pendant on which was depicted the figure of David and Goliath in gold, and on it 9 rubies, 18 diamonds, and 3 pearls" and 2 rings (after "Dostawcy dworów królewskich w Polsce i na Litwie ..." by Maurycy Horn, Part II, p. 16).
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In 1570, Piotr Dunin Wolski, the king's ambassador to Spain, received 2,000 zlotys per year, due to the high prices in that country, while Sigismund Augustus's agents in Naples, Paweł Stempowski and Stanisław Kłodziński, received 1,500 zlotys per year. A year later, Dunin Wolski received an additional 1,000 Neapolitan ducats, worth 35.5 groszy (after "Polska slużba dyplomatyczna ..." by Zbigniew Wójcik, p. 125). This comparison proves that the sums paid to foreign jewellers and clockmakers were significant. On March 9, 1565, Tintoretto received a payment of 250 ducats for his monumental Crucifixion in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco (536 x 1127 cm). In 1578 he received a total of 200 ducats for the four allegories in the Palazzo Ducale, and he sometimes received up to 20 or 25 ducats for his official portraits. The king, who spent such sums on luxury items from Western Europe, undoubtedly also spared no money for magnificent portraits, but probably because of the low value of these objects and the use of foreign agents, Italian and Jewish merchants, it is difficult to find relevant evidence in the documents.

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in armour with his maritime fleet by Tintoretto, ca. 1570, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in a żupan and a fur coat by Tintoretto, ca. 1570, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) from the Theatrum Pictorium (103) by Lucas Vorsterman the Younger after Tintoretto, 1660, Princely Court Library in Waldeck.

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in a hat by Tintoretto, ca. 1572, Private collection.

Portrait of a Venetian senator holding a letter by Jacopo Tintoretto, third quarter of the 16th century, National Art Museum of Belarus in Minsk.

Portraits of children of Catherine Jagiellon by Sofonisba Anguissola and Titian

In a letter of 8 January 1570 from Warsaw (in the imperial archives in Vienna), the imperial envoy, Johannes Cyrus, abbot of the Premonstratensian monastery in Wrocław, informs Baron Trautson von Sprechenstein that the king of Sweden, John III, has sent an envoy to the Polish-Lithianian court with a portrait of his son, Prince Sigismund, and that he will probably want to promote him to the throne of Poland-Lithuania. He also adds that a year earlier the Swedish monarch had received many letters from Germany (most probably from Sophia Jagiellon, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg), Prussia and Poland urging him to look after his son's interests and succession in Poland-Lithuania (after "Dyarysze Sejmów koronnych 1548, 1553 i 1570 r. ..." by Józef Szujski, p. 134).

In March 1569, Sigismund Augustus agreed to meet with the emperor about the succession. Maximilian II even fixed the date of the congress in Wrocław for August 1569, but the king asked for a delay. In the end, despite the efforts of abbot Cyrus, the congress did not take place at all, because Sigismund Augustus deliberately delayed its date.

Prince Sigismund, as the only son of the reigning King of Sweden, was first and foremost his successor, as Sweden was a hereditary monarchy, so the success of all these endeavors should be attributed primarily to the wife of John III, Catherine Jagiellon. With her siblings Sigismund Augustus, Sophia and Anna, she was most likely willing to create a peaceful union of different countries of Europe under one king, thus expanding the idea of the Commonwealth (Res publica), established by the Union of Lublin in July 1569. A very innovative project in 16th century Europe, when many people thought it was noble to invade other nations, kill people, loot, destroy, subjugate others and thus create primitive empires. Unfortunately, such peaceful coexistence never had a reliable chance in Europe before the tragedy of World War II.

Catherine ruled Sweden similarly to her mother Bona in Poland-Lithuania, in a way described by Mikołaj Rej in his dialogue between Warwas and Lupus, thus many of her decisions are attributed or signed by her husband. In many cultures, it is said that the man is the head, but the woman is the neck and she can turn the head any way she wants. It was therefore she who had her son's portrait painted and sent with official legation to Poland-Lithuania. The symbolism of this portrait must have been obvious to everyone in the country, so it can be assumed that, like the other effigies of the Jagiellons, it was commissioned from a renowned foreign workshop and that the prince was dressed in the national costume.

No other document concerning this painting has been preserved, like probably the effigy itself. However, such portraits were frequently created in series for different notables. It cannot be the full-length portrait of the 2-year-old prince, attributed to the Dutch painter Johan Baptista van Uther (Wawel Royal Castle, inventory number 3221, from the collection of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków), because according to the inscription it was created two years earlier, in 1568, when the prince had actually 2 years (ÆTATIS SVÆ 2 / 1568). What's more the more German or Flemish costume of a boy with a ruff, would not please the supporters of the national cause.

In the Zamość Museum there is a small oval portrait of a boy with a feathered hat, which at first glance may resemble the works by the great Polish painter Olga Boznańska (1865-1940), who was inspired by the works of Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) and also painted children, or a 19th century pastiche of portraits of the Spanish infantes by Velázquez, such as effigies of Philip Prospero, Prince of Asturias (1657-1661), however, according to museum experts, the painting is by the Italian school and it was created at the beginning of the 17th century.

It was recently included in the exhibition in late 16th century interiors above another importation from Italy, an oriental-style chest of drawers inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory and silver, the so-called Certosina technique, from the beginning of the 18th century. Many of the oldest paintings in the museum, such as the Putto with a tambourine by circle of Titian or Lorenzo Lotto from the first half of the 16th century, a copy of the original attributed to Titian from around 1510 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna), comes from the collection of the Zamoyski estate in Warsaw. In addition to purchasing the Italian paintings, the Zamoyskis also received them as gifts, such as in 1599 when Papal Nuncio Claudio Rangoni, Bishop of Reggio, gave Chancellor Jan Zamoyski and his wife a copy of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Reggio and in 1603 the same Rangoni also sent a portrait of Pope Clement VIII to Zamoyski. The 1583 inventory mentions two religious paintings of Mary Magdalene and Christ carrying the cross (after "Kultura i ideologia Jana Zamoyskiego" by Jerzy Kowalczyk, p. 97-98), possibly disguise portraits by Italian school. The 1604 print with effigy of Jan Zamoyski (British Museum) was created by the Roman engraver Giacomo Lauro (Iacobus Laurus Romanus) most likely from a study drawing or a miniature sent from Poland.

The boy's crimson outfit and characteristic hat are typical of the national fashion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. We can find similar costume in many works of art depicting Polish-Lithuanian nobles like miniature with Polish horsemen from the Kriegsordnung (Military ordinance) of Albert of Prussia from 1555 (State Library of Berlin), a copy of which most likely belonged to his cousin and overlord Sigismund Augustus, or a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman (Polacho) from Habiti Antichi Et Moderni di tutto il Mondo ... by Cesare Vecellio, published in Venice in 1598 (Czartoryski Library in Kraków).

A similar crimson costume and hat can also be seen in the effigy of a Pole (Polognois) from Lucas de Heere's Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre, painted in the 1570s (Universiteitsbibliotheek Gent), images of Polish-Lithuanian nobles in Theatrum virtutum ac meritorum D. Stanislai Hosii by Tomasz Treter, painted between 1595-1600 (National Library of Poland) or in a much later fragment of the Commonwealth's map (Poloniae Nova et Acvrata Descriptio) by Jan Janssonius, published in Amsterdam in 1675 (National Library of Poland).

The broad, blurry brushstrokes of Zamość's painting are characteristic of a one painter living near the beginning of the 17th century - Titian. He was one of the first to leave such visible stains of paint created through dynamic short brushstrokes, thus providing inspiration for many later artists, Velázquez and Rembrandt among them. A large number of orders required him to be quick and to simplify the painting technique. It is particularly noticeable in his late paintings, made between 1565 and 1576 - Boy with dogs in a landscape (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), Saint Jerome (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum) and the Crowning with thorns (Alte Pinakothek). The portrait of a boy was painted on cedar wood, a precious wood particularly appreciated by cabinetmakers, imported to Venice from Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria in the 16th and 17th centuries. Titian and his workshop are usually associated with canvas as the primary material, however, some of the master's smaller exquisite paintings for royal patrons were done on more expensive wood or even marble, such as Mater Dolorosa with clasped hands from 1554 (oil on panel, 68 x 61 cm, Prado Museum, P000443) and Mater Dolorosa with her hands apart from 1555 (oil on marble, 68 x 53 cm, Prado Museum, P000444), both commissioned by Emperor Charles V, and also the Penitent Magdalene, probably painted for Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, between 1533 and 1535 (oil on panel, 85.8 x 69.5 cm, Pitti Palace, Palatina 67) or portrait of Pope Julius II, painted between 1545-1546, from the collection of Vittoria della Rovere (oil on panel, 100 x 82.5 cm, Pitti Palace, Palatina 79).

The boy in the painting may be three or four years old, as Prince Sigismund, born June 20, 1566, and the effigy resemble the earlier painting and the portrait of Sigismund's sister, Princess Elizabeth "Isabella" Vasa (1564-1566), at Wawel Castle (oil on canvas, 94.8 x 54.7 cm, 3934). 

The latter portrait is another intriguing aspect of the patronage of the Queen of Sweden. The style of the painting is obviously Italian and due to the inscription ISABEL in Spanish (medieval Spanish form of Elizabeth) it was initially believed to represent Catherine's older sister, Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559) and dated about 1525. This painting comes from the collection of the Sapieha family in Krasiczyn. The costume of the young girl with a small ruff is much later and the effigy resembles the statue of Princess Isabella as depicted on the sarcophagus of her tomb sculpted by Willem Boy, carved around 1570 (Strängnäs Cathedral). As the eldest daughter of Catherine, she received the name in honor of her famous great-grandmother Isabella of Aragon (1470-1524), Duchess of Milan and suo jure Duchess of Bari. The style of this effigy most closely resembles the paintings attributed to Sofonisba Anguissola, who was court painter and lady-in-waiting to Elisabeth of Valois (Isabel de Francia, Isabelle de Valois), Queen of Spain, from 1560 until queen's death in 1568, and lived at the Spanish court in Madrid. Among the closest analogous paintings are the self-portrait with Bernardino Campi from the 1550s (Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena), the double portrait of the two young girls from around 1570 (Royal Palace of Genoa) and the portrait of a young woman from around 1580 (Lázaro Galdiano Museum). To be painted by the court painter of the Queen of Spain was a great prestige in the 16th century, moreover on the maternal side Catherine was a descendant of some Aragonese monarchs. Very wealthy Jagiellons could easily afford such "extravagance".

The style of this painting both in composition and technique resembles the series of paintings of children of Emperor Maximilian II (1527-1576), son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna - Archduchess Anna (1549-1580) (95 x 60 cm, 8148), Archduke Rudolf (1552-1612) (95 x 55.5 cm, 3369), Archduke Matthias (1557-1619) (95 x 56 cm, 3372), Archduke Maximilian (1558-1618) (95 x 55.5 cm, 3370), Archduke Albert (1559-1621) (95 x 55.5 cm, 3267) and Archduke Wenceslaus (1561-1578) (95 x 55.5 cm, 3371). They were probably commissioned in Spain, as their mother was the Spanish Infanta Maria (1528-1603), daughter of Emperor Charles V and Isabella of Portugal.
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Also, the dimensions and style of inscription of all these paintings are similar, so the portrait of Isabella Vasa could be one of many paintings depicting the children of Catherine Jagiellon by Anguissola or her workshop. It is also possible that the Wawel Castle painting does not depict the Vasa Princess at all, because some paintings from the Habsburg series are missing, including the effigy of Elizabeth of Austria (1554-1592), future queen of France.

The style of the princess's portrait can also be compared to Sofonisba's self-portrait at the easel (Łańcut Castle), which was probably an advertisement of her talent or a gift to a generous client sent to Poland.

Catherine most likely commissioned the effigies of her children through her envoys, such as Ture Bielke (1548-1600), who visited Szczecin in 1570 and later went to Venice or Count Olivero di Arco, who entered into relations with the royal court of Sweden after the autumn of 1568 and in the summer of 1570 presented himself in Venice as official ambassador of the Swedish monarch (after "Le Saint-Siège et la Suède ..." by Henry Biaudet, p. 208). In November 1569, Venetian Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Commendone, papal legate to Poland, wrote to Princess Anna asking if it was possible for Anna's sister, as the new queen of Sweden, to influence the country's politics, while Catherine corresponded at the same time with the pope (e.g. letter from Pius V to Catherine Jagiellon, March 8, 1570). Intermediaries at the Spanish court could have been the Polish ambassadors, Piotr Dunin-Wolski (1531-1590), representing Commonwealth's interests between 1561-1573, or Piotr Barzy, starost of Lviv, sent in 1566 to Madrid, where he died in 1569.

Also the mentioned painting of a boy with dogs in a landscape (oil on canvas, 99.5 x 117 cm, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), could be related to Poland-Lithuania. Because the artist used the same study drawing of a dog as in a portrait of a general in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel, painted between 1550 and 1552, it is thought to have been commissioned by the same client or his family. According to Iryna Lavrovskaya, the portrait of a general could be an effigy of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (Heritage, N. 2, 1993. pp. 82-84). The effigy of a boy embracing the dog who looks at a second dog suckling two puppies on the left recalls the story of abandoned Romulus and Remus (Capitoline Wolf), the founders of the city of Rome and the children of the god of war Mars and the priestess Rhea Silvia. Interestingly enough, the eldest son of Nicolaus "the Black", Nicolaus Christopher (1549-1616) is said to have received the nickname "the Orphan" when King Sigismund Augustus found the child left unattended in one of the rooms of the royal palace. After his studies in Strasbourg, in mid-1566, the young 17-year-old Radziwill went through Basel and Zurich to Italy. He stayed longer in Venice, Padua and Bologna, he also visited Florence, Rome and Naples and, as he himself wrote, "everything worth seeing". He returned to the country in 1569 (after "Polski słownik biograficzny", 1935, Volume 24, p. 301). 

​After the death of his mother in 1562 and his father in 1565, at this time in his life he could really feel like an orphan, so an allegorical painting reminiscent of his father would be a good souvenir from Venice.

​Portrait of Princess Elizabeth "Isabella" Vasa (1564-1566), daughter of Catherine Jagiellon or Elizabeth of Austria (1554-1592), granddaughter of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547) by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1560s, Wawel Royal Castle. 

​Portrait of Prince Sigismund Vasa (1566-1632), son of Catherine Jagiellon, in Polish-Lithuanian costume by Titian, ca. 1570, Zamość Museum. 

​Boy with dogs in a landscape, most probably allegorical portrait of Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan" Radziwill (1549-1616) by Titian, 1565-1576, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Portrait of Infanta Juana de Austria with court dwarf Ana de Polonia by Sofonisba Anguissola 

"We have a great joy with them (...) each day this gift becomes more pleasant to us, for which we also offer our grateful appreciation to Vostrae Serenitati" wrote emperor Charles V on May 11, 1544 to Queen Bona Sforza, who sent him two dwarfs raised at her court, Kornel and Katarzyna. 

Dwarfs were present at the Polish court since the Middle Ages, however it was during the reign of Sigismund I and Bona that their presence was significantly strengthened. As servants of Osiris and their association with other Egyptian gods of fertility and creation, like Bes, Hathor, Ptah, dwarfs were also symbols of fertility, revival and abundance in Ancient Roman World and one fresco from Pompeii near Naples is a very special example of it (after "The meaning of Dwarfs in Nilotic scenes" in: "Nile into Tiber: Egypt in the Roman World", Paul G.P. Meyboom and Miguel John Versluys, 2007, p. 205). To secure the endurance of the dynasty in the times when child mortality was very high, fertility was very important to Bona, granddaughter of Alfonso II, King of Naples. 

There were Spanish dwarfs at the Polish court, like Sebastian Guzman, who was paid 100 florins, a cubit of Lyonian cloth and damask and Polish monarchs sent their dwarfs to Spain, like Domingo de Polonia el Mico, who appears in the house of Don Carlos between 1559-1565. The presence of Polish dwarfs was also significant at the French court. In 1556 Sigismund Augustus sent to Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France two dwarfs, called grand Pollacre and le petit nain Pollacre and in 1579 a dwarf Majoski (or Majosky) was even studying at her cost. 

A lot of female dwarfs were at the court of the Jagiellons, like a certain Maryna, an old dwarf of Queen Bona, who was paid salary by king Stephen Bathory or Jagnieszka (Agnieszka), female dwarf of Princess Sophia Jagiellon, who was her secretary. Queen Barbara Radziwill, had at her court a dwarf Okula (or Okuliński) and she received two female dwarfs from the wife of voivode of Novogrudok.

After her mother left for her native Italy, when all her sisters were married and her brother was occupied with affairs of state and his mistresses, Anna Jagiellon spent time on embroidery, raising her foster children and dwarfs. 

A portrait showing a little girl hiding under protective arm of a woman by Sofonisba Anguissola in Boston (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, oil on canvas, 194 x 108.3 cm, P26w15), due to appearance of her ruff can be dated to the late 1560s or early 1570s. The woman is Infanta Doña Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria), widowed Princess of Portugal, sister of king Philip II of Spain, ruler of one half of the world and mother of king Sebastian of Portugal, ruler of the second half of the world (according to Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494), sister of Holy Roman Empress Maria of Austria, as well as Archduchess of Austria, princess of Burgundy, a friend of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), one of the most influential religious orders of the Catholic Reformation, and whose confessor was her cousin Francis Borgia, third Superior General of the Jesuits. She was the most influential and powerful woman in Europe. 

The portrait which is said to depict Catherine Stenbock (1535-1621), Queen of Sweden from the Stenbock Palace in Kolga (Kolk) in Estonia, now in private collection (oil on canvas, 63 x 50 cm, sold at Bukowskis in Stockholm, Sale 621, December 11, 2019, lot 414), is de facto a copy or a version of Juana de Austria's portrait by Alonso Sánchez Coello from 1557 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, inv. GG 3127), most probably created by Sofonisba in about 1560. Kolga Palace was once owned by Swedish soldier Gustaf Otto Stenbock (1614-1685), who during the invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was promoted to field marshal. The painting, once sent to Sigismund Augustus or his sister Anna by Juana, was therefore taken from one of the royal residences during the Deluge (1655-1660) and this unknown lady was later identified as a Queen of Sweden from the Stenbock family. A somewhat similar effigy of Juana, purchased from Andrzej Ciechanowiecki in 1981, is in the Royal Castle in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 107 x 79 cm, inv. ZKW/103/ab). The possible author of the Warsaw painting is the Flemish painter Roland de Mois (Rolán de Moys, ca. 1520-1592), active in Aragon since 1559, or his studio.

The portrait in Boston is also very similar to the portrait in the Basque Museum in Bayonne by workshop of Sofonisba or Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (oil on canvas, 170 x 120 cm, inventory number G 2). It depicts Isabel de Francia (Elisabeth of Valois, 1545-1568), Queen of Spain, daughter of Catherine de' Medici and third wife of Philip II, with a little girl, which could be her French female dwarf Doña Luisa. It was a portrait of Queen Isabel that Sofonisba sent to the Pope Pius IV in 1561: "I heard from the most reverend Nuncio of your Holiness, that you desired a portrait, from my hands, of her Majesty the Queen, my mistress", according to Sofonisba's letter dated Madrid, September 16, 1561 and "We have received the portrait of the most serene Queen of Spain, our dearest daughter, that you have sent us" according to Pope's letter dated Rome, October 15, 1561.

The girl in Boston portrait is holding in her hand three roses. The association of the rose with love is too common to require elaboration, it was the flower of Venus, goddess of love in ancient Rome. Three flowers symbolize also Christian teological virtues, faith, hope and love, with love pointed as "the greatest of these" by Paul the Apostle (1 Corinthians 13). 

She is therefore a foreigner at the Spanish court and the painting is a message: I am safe, I have a powerful protector, do not worry about me, I love you, I remember about you and I miss you. It is a message to someone very important to the girl, but also important to Juana. We can assume with a high degree of probability that it is a message to the girl's foster mother Anna Jagiellon, who to strengthen her chances to the crown after death of her brother, assumed the unprecedented but politically important Spanish title of Infanta: Anna Infans Poloniae (Anna, Infanta of Poland, e.g her letter to cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz, from Łomża, 16 November 1572). 

In the 16th century Spanish portraiture even members of the same family were rarely depicted together. Suffocating court etiquette made exception only to dwarfs and court jesters, like in the portrait of infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia with a female dwarf Magdalena Ruiz by Alonso Sánchez Coello from about 1585 (Prado Museum) or in the portrait of pregnant youger sister of Anna of Austria (1573-1598), Queen of Poland - Margaret, Queen of Spain with a female dwarf Doña Sofía (her name might indicate Eastern origin) from about 1601 by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz or Bartolomé González (Kunsthistorisches Museum). 

Blood connections and family ties were very important to Spanish Habsburgs, Ana de Austria (Anna of Austria, 1549-1580), fourth wife of Philip II, was his niece (her mother Maria was his sister and her father was his cousin).

Spanish sources mentions that in 1578 died Doña Ana de Polonia, court dwarf of Queen Ana de Austria (after "Ana de Austria (1549-1580) y su coleccion artistica", in: "Portuguese Studies Review", Almudena Perez de Tudela, 2007, p. 199), most probably the same mentioned in 1578 in Cuentas de Mercaderes (Merchant Accounts), M. 4, granting her a skirt and other clothing. If this girl is the same with that in the portrait of Juana, and after death of Juana in 1573 she joned the court of a foreign queen who arrived to Spain in autumn of 1570, this lovely green-eyed girl was probably someone more than an agreeable court dwarf. 

Her name might indicate, apart from the country of her origin, also her family, like Doña Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria, Joan from the House of Austria, the Habsburgs), who was born in Madrid and never visited Austria, hence Doña Ana de Polonia (Anna of Poland, Anna from the House of Poland, the Jagiellons). So was this girl an illegitimate daughter of Sigismund Augustus, who after death of Barbara in 1551 was desperate to have a child or his sister Anna, a vigorous (gagliarda di cervello) spinster? Such a bold hypothesis cannot be excluded due to its nature that rather should be concealed and kept secret, and lack of sources (in Poland apart from paintings, also many archives were destroyed during wars). 

The preserved sources, especially from the last years of reign of Sigismund Augustus are controversial. Imperial envoy, Johannes Cyrus, Abbot of the Premonstratensian monastery in Wrocław, in a letter dated March 3, 1571 states that "The king would even marry a beggar, if she only gave him a son" and Świętosław Orzelski, Sejm deputy and Lutheran activist, in his diary that "in the same castle [Royal Castle in Warsaw], where Infanta Anna lived, Zuzanna was lying in one bed, Giżanka in the second, third at Mniszek's, the fourth in the room of the royal chamberlain Kniaźnik, fifth at Jaszowski's" about "the falcons" (Zuzanna Orłowska, Anna Zajączkowska and Barbara Giżanka among others), mistresses of the king. He also allegedly had illegitimate daughters with them. Maybe a research in Spanish archives will allow to confirm or exclude the hypothesis that Ana de Polonia was a daughter of Sigismund or of his sister Anna and was sent to distant Spain.
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The painting was purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1897 from the collection of Marchese Fabrizio Paolucci di Calboli in Forli. Its earlier history is unknown. It was most probably aquired in Poland by cardinal Camillo Paolucci, born in Forli, who was a papal nuncio in Poland between 1727-1738. Also earlier provenance is possible through cardinal Alessandro Riario Sforza, a distant relative of Anna from the branch of the family who were lords of Forli and Imola, who was named papal legate in Spain in 1580, just two years after death of Ana de Polonia, and who could acquire a copy of painting made for the Queen of Poland.

Before World War II, the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław owned a magnificent full-length portrait, identified as depicting Don Juan of Austria (1547–1578), the illegitimate son of Emperor Charles V and therefore attributed to Alonso Sánchez Coello (oil on canvas, 197 x 111 cm, inv. kat. 220, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 11114). The painting came from the collection of Barthold Suermondt (1818-1887), a German entrepreneur and banker who owned significant shares in the Warsaw Steelworks (Towarzystwo Warszawskiej Fabryki Stali). It was purchased in 1874 by the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin and donated to the Wrocław Museum in 1878. Its early history is unknown. Although it can be assumed that Suermondt acquired the painting in Belgium, the Netherlands or Germany, the Polish provenance cannot be ruled out. The style of this painting is very reminiscent of the works of Sofonisba, while the model resembles the effigies of King Philip II of Spain. This painting was most likely based on other effigies and idealized, hence the resemblance is not so apparent at first glance.

In the country where some were fascinated by the Spanish Empire, such as Krzysztof Warszewicki (1543-1603), as he expressed in his De Optimo Statu Libertatis Libri duo, published in Kraków in 1598 and especially in his "Speech on the Death of Philip II, Catholic King of Spain" (In mortem Philippi II Hispaniarvm regis catholici oratio), also published in the same year in Kraków, nobles travelled to the Iberian Peninsula and grain and other products were exported from Gdańsk, there were also undoubtedly many effigies of the King of Spain. Warszewicki dedicated this speech to George Radziwill, Bishop of Kraków, as a token of gratitude for having appointed him to the Kraków Chapter, and also because Radziwill had once been the Polish ambassador to Spain and had known the deceased king personally. After the title page of Warszewicki's speech the printing house of Andrzej Piotrkowczyk reproduced a portrait of King Philip II, most likely based on an original painting belonging to the author.

​Interestingly, the portrait of Philip II in Wrocław was similar in size (197 x 111 cm / 194 x 108.3 cm) and composition to the portrait of his sister, now in Boston. Thus, both portraits most likely came from the same series.

​Portrait of Infanta Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria) by Roland de Mois or workshop, after 1559, Royal Castle in Warsaw.

Portrait of Infanta Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria) from the Stenbock Palace by Sofonisba Anguissola or workshop, ca. 1560, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Isabel de Francia (Elisabeth of Valois) with a female dwarf by Sofonisba Anguissola or workshop, ca. 1565-1568, Basque Museum in Bayonne.

Portrait of Infanta Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria) with female dwarf Ana de Polonia by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1572, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

​Portrait of King Philip II of Spain (1527-1598) by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1570s, Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Stanisław Reszka by Adriaen Thomasz. Key

In 1569 Stanisław Reszka (Rescius), secretary of cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz went with him to Rome. During his stay there, he assisted the cardinal in his public activities in the Roman Curia and during the conclave in 1572. That year he was also an envoy in his name to the Viceroy of Naples, Cardinal Granvelle ("On the third day after the election of Pope Gregory XIII, I left with the most eminent Cardinal Granvelle for Naples", wrote Reszka in a letter), and the following year to King-elect Henry of Valois. He helped the cardinal with organization during his journey and stay in the Eternal City. He was also increasingly active in the cultural and literary field. Rescius assisted in the publication of the works of Cardinal Hozjusz (Paris 1562, Antwerp 1566 and 1571, Cologne 1584). Opera qvae hactenus extitervnt omnia ... was published in Antwerp by the publishing house of the widow and heir of Joannes Steelsius (Antverpiae : in aedibus viduae et haeredum Ioannis Stelsij), shortly after Hozjusz's return to Poland after the 1565-6 papal conclave (20 December - 7 January) and Opera omnia was published by the same publishing house in 1571, hence the work was prepared and directed from Rome. The full-length portrait of Cardinal Hozjusz, offered by Pope John Paul II in 1987 to the reconstructed Royal Castle in Warsaw (inventory number ZKW/2207/ab, previously in the Vatican Library), was painted in 1575 by Flemish painter Giulio (Julius) della Croce, called Giulio Fiammingo. Reszka himself published in Rome portraits with biographies of popes (1580), Roman emperors (1583), Cardinal Hozjusz (1588) and Polish kings (1591) (after "Vademecum malarstwa polskiego" by Stanisław Jordanowski, p. 44).

Stanisław, educated at the Lubrański Academy (Collegium Lubranscianum) in Poznań, in Frankfurt an der Oder as well as in Wittenberg and Leipzig, came from a bourgeois family. He was born in Buk in Greater Poland on September 14, 1544. He obtained his doctorate in Perugia and in 1559 he became the secretary of Bishop Stanisław Hozjusz. In 1565 he was ordained a deacon in Rome and in 1571 he became a canon of Warmia. Two years later, in 1573 he was appointed by King Henry of Valois as the royal secretary and in 1575 he was ordained priest by Hozjusz in the church of St. Clement in Rome. From 1592 he stayed in Naples as an envoy of the Commonwealth. One of Reszka's greatest achievements in Rome was the founding of the Polish College. He recommended many Poles and Prussians to Marcin Kromer, Prince-Bishop of Warmia, like Leonard Neuman, an Olsztyn resident, who was not admitted to the Collegium Germanicum in Rome (after "Działalność polonijna Stanisława Reszki ..." by Aleksander Rudziński, p. 70, 72).

As a diplomatic agent in Rome, distinguished by his artistic taste, Rescius also becomes an artistic agent of the monarchs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was an important supplier of works of art for Sigismund III Vasa, who purchased them in Naples, Rome and Venice, along with Tomasz Treter, Jan Andrzej Próchnicki, Bartłomiej Powsiński, Spanish and Italian envoys and magnates traveling abroad (after "Malarstwo europejskie w zbiorach polskich, 1300-1800" by Jan Białostocki, ‎Michał Walicki, p. 19). He also corresponded with Queen Anna Jagiellon, to whom he sent from Rome on January 19, 1584 "the Indian stone".

In the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna there is a portrait of a man with a reddish beard by Adriaen Thomasz. Key (oil in panel, 85 x 63 cm, inventory number GG 3679, signed top left with the monogram: AK). This painting is verifiable in the imperial collection Prague in 1685 and was transferred ​​to Vienna in 1876.

Key, a Calvinist painter active in Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands, painted in 1579 several versions of effigy of William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch revolt, however some portrait paintings of William's opponent Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba, are also attributed to him, in collaboration with Willem Key (in Palacio de Liria in Madrid and in Museum Prinsenhof in Delft), as well as portraits of Margaret of Parma (1522-1586), Catholic Regent of the Netherlands (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, GG 768 and Museum Prinsenhof in Delft).

The man with a reddish beard is holding gloves in his right hand and his black costume and pose resemble the portraits of Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517-1586), when bishop of Arras, especially the painting by Antwerp painter Antonis Mor in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, created in 1549 (GG 1035) or a similar portrait of future cardinal by Titian, created a year earlier (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 30-15). According to Latin inscription in upper part of the painting the man was 28 in 1572 (1572 / Æ T A. 28), exacly as Rescius, when he accompanied Cardinal Granvelle to Naples. The diplomat died there in 1600.

Portrait of Stanisław Reszka (1544-1600), aged 28 by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, 1572, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

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Portraits of Anna Jagiellon by Tintoretto and circle of Titian

"The Queen is fresh and in such good health that I would not consider it a miracle if she were to become pregnant", reported from Warsaw on 29 January 1579, Giovanni Andrea Caligari (1527-1613), papal nuncio in Poland, about 56 years old Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

"In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, overweightness and obesity were considered symbols of sexual attractiveness and well-being" (after "The Obesity Reality: A Comprehensive Approach to a Growing Problem" by Naheed Ali, p. 7) and Anna's mother Bona Sforza, who visited Venice in 1556, was obese in her 40s and 50s, as visible in the cameo in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 17.190.869).

At the end of November 1575 Austrian legation arrived in Warsaw, officially promising the infanta marriage to Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553-1592), the son of Emperor Maximilian II and Maria of Spain, and her relative as a grandson of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547). However, the offer was accepted very restrainedly and cautiously, even coldly. Anna was to reply modestly that she depended on the entire Republic and would only do what custom and the general will would require of her, and that she "entrusted her orphanage to God's holy protection" (after "Anna Jagiellonka" by Maria Bogucka, p. 118). The young Archduke, 30 years younger than the potential bride, undoubtedly received her effigy. News coming mainly from Vienna and Venice informed the general public about the course of 1575 royal election in the Commonwealth. The Fuggers, a prominent group of European bankers, learned about the election of Emperor Maximilian as king of Poland from reports sent from Vienna on December 16, 1575, and then from Venice (newspaper of 30 December) (after "Z dziejów obiegu informacji w Europie XVI wieku" by Jan Pirożyński, p. 141).

In the Jagiellonian University Museum in Kraków there is a painting attributed to Tintorretto from about 1575 (after "Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego" by Karol Estreicher, p. 100). This painting was offered to the Cracow Academy by Franciszek Karol Rogawski (1819-1888) in 1881 (oil on canvas, 110 x 96 cm, inv. MUJ 425/I, earlier 2526). According to Rogawski's record, the portrait features the queen of Cyprus, Caterina Cornaro (1454-1510), and was acquired at Sedelmayer's auction in Vienna. It had earlier belonged to the Viennese gallery of Joseph Daniel Böhm (1794-1865) and was also attributed to Paolo Veronese, Battista Zelloti and circle of Bernardino Licinio (after "Foreign Painting in the Collections of the Collegium Maius" by Anna Jasińska, p. 146).

The crown on her head alludes to a royal dignity, however, the woman's costume does not resemble well known effigies of the queen of Cyprus by Gentile Bellini and can be compered to the dress of La Belle Nani by Paolo Veronese (Louvre Museum), dated to about 1560, or to the costume of a lady from The Madonna of the Cuccina Family (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden), also by Veronese, painted around 1571. Her face has the appearance of not being taken live, as points out Enrico Maria Dal Pozzolo ("Un Michele da Verona e uno Jacopo Tintoretto a Cracovia", p. 104), who also attribute the canvas to Tintorretto. Therefore the painting was created after another effigy, a drawing or a miniature. 

​In the catalogue of the 2020 temporary exhibition "Dolabella. Venetian Painter of the House of Vasa", the painting was attributed to a follower of Paolo Veronese with the information that it is also attributed to the circle of Bernardino Licinio (after "Dolabella. Wenecki malarz Wazów. Katalog wystawy", ed. Magdalena Białonowska, p. 150). The painter who joins the influences of different Venetian painters, including Veronese, Tintoretto, Titian and Licinio is Francesco Montemezzano (1555 - after 1602) from Verona, considered a pupil of Paolo Veronese. The best example is the Portrait of a lady, traditionally identified as Rita Bellesi, which was attributed to Tintoretto (according to a label on the reverse) and in 2022 was auctioned with attribution to Montemezzano (Sotheby's London, April 6, 2022, lot 17).

The same woman was also depicted holding a cross and a book in a painting in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel (oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm, inv. GK 491), a copy of which was in the Swedish royal collection (18th century copy of lost original is in the Gripsholm Castle, oil on canvas, 99 x 80 cm, inv. NMGrh 187). The painting in Kassel is attributed to circle of Titian or specifically to his pupil Girolamo di Tiziano, also known as Girolamo Dante, and was acquired before 1749. This effigy is a pendant to portrait of Catherine Jagiellon, Duchess of Finland in white by Titian, identified by me. The woman bears strong resemblance to effigies of Anna Jagiellon, especially the miniature by Lucas Cranach the Younger in the Czartoryski Museum and her tomb sculpture at the Wawel Cathedral. In terms of facial features, the portrait in the Jagiellonian University Museum is particularly similar to the full-length portrait of the kneeling queen as donor in the Sigismund Chapel, created after 1586.

Polish-Lithuanian magnates owned a number of paintings by Titian and Tintorretto, like Michał Hieronim Radziwiłł, who according to the Catalogue of his picture gallery, published in 1835 (Katalog galeryi obrazow sławnych mistrzów z różnych szkół zebranych przez ś. p. Michała Hieronima xięcia Radziwiłła wojew. wil. teraz w Królikarni pod Warszawą wystawionych), had a copy of Venus of Urbino by Titian (Portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon nude, identified by me), item 439 of the Catalogue, or "Portrait of a lady in a dark green dress trimmed with gold braid. She takes a flower from the basket with her right hand, and leaning, holds a crimson scarf with her left hand. Painting well preserved. - Painted on canvas. Height: elbow: 1, inch 16.5, width: elbow: 1, inch 10" (Portret damy, w sukni ciemno-zielonej, galonem złotym obszytej. Prawą ręką bierze z koszyka kwiatek, lewą oparta, trzyma szal karmazynowy. Obraz dobrze zachowany. - Mal. na płót. Wys. łok. 1 cali 16 1/2, szer. łok. 1 cali 10, item 33, p. 13), a landscape with staffage (item 213, p. 64) and an Italian landscape with a tree (item 273, p. 83), all attributed to Titian or Saint Paul and Anthony in the desert, painted on wood, attributed to Tintorretto (item 365, p. 108).

In 1574 Anna decided to reactivate the postal service between Poland and Venice, suspended in 1572 after death of her brother, and to do so at her own expense (after "Viaggiatori polacchi in Italia" by Emanuele Kanceff, p. 106). The Queen, heiress of the Neapolitan sums, used Montelupi's postal facilities, who through their own agents, maintained close contact with the bankers in Naples, who sent them sums of money with great frequency (after "Saeculum Christianum", Vol. 1-2, p. 36). "In fact, we demand Y.L. [Your Lordship] as far as things or needs of our own are concerned, to pay no heed to our expense, because we will gladly cover it everywhere. But whatever may be sent through cursores ordinarios [ordinary messengers], please send through cursores, who may also go as far as Venice. And with the merchants goods, everything comes to us fast and at great cost. As for the other things, another time we will answer to Y.L. With this we wish Y.L. to be well. Dated Varsoviae, die 10 Novembris A. D. 1573. Kind to Y.L. Miss Anna Polish Princess", wrote the Infanta to cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz (after "Starożytności Historyczne Polskie ..." by Ambroży Grabowski, p. 21).

Anna was a well known benefactor of the Cracow Academy (now Jagiellonian University) and she visted it twice on 20 July 1576 and on 24 April 1584. Three days after her last visit she sent the doctors of the Academy a mug of pure gold and a few beautifully bound books. 
​
If Elizabeth I (1533-1603), hereditary Queen of England, favoured the French fashion, especially "when the Anjou marriage negotiation were at their height" in about 1579 (Janet Arnold's "Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd", 2020, p. 188), the elected Queen of the Polish-Lithuanian Republic, could prefer the fashion of the Venetian Serenissima. 

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Jacopo Tintoretto or Francesco Montemezzano, before 1579, Jagiellonian University Museum in Kraków. 

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) holding a cross and a book by circle of Titian, 1560-1578, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) holding a cross and a book by Georg Engelhard Schröder after original by circle of Titian, 1724-1750, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Henry of Valois by workshop of Tintoretto

After the death of Sigismund II Augustus in 1572, Catherine of Medici, Queen of France, willing to make her favourite son Henry of Valois, Duke of Anjou the king of Poland, sent her court dwarf Jan Krasowski, called Domino to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Under the guise of visiting his family in his homeland, he was to make some inquiries and explore the mood in the Commonwealth. Catherine used all her power to offer the crown to her son by influencing the noble electors.

In order to be more agreeable to the Ottoman Empire and strengthen a Polish-Ottoman alliance, on May 16, 1573, Polish-Lithuanian nobles chose Henry as the first elected monarch of the Commonwealth. He was officially crowned on February 21, 1574.

Expecting that Henry will marry her and she will become a Queen, Infanta Anna Jagiellon the wealthiest woman in the country and a sister of his predecessor, ordered French lilies to be embroidered on her dresses. Already in 1572, the Infanta was accused of wanting the crown for herself or to impose her candidate against the will of the council and the lords of the kingdom. "We already see that Y[our] H[ighness] is doing something without our will, with great anger. We see that you want this crown for you, but you will not elect us the lord", Anna cited the accusations made by the council in a letter of December 18, 1572 from Warsaw to her sister Sophia Jagiellon, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She was also accused of attempts to poison opposition leaders, including Franciszek Krasiński, Bishop of Kraków and Calvinist Jan Firlej, Voivode of Kraków - according to letter from Wawrzyniec Rylski, courtier of Catherine Jagiellon, to Duchess Sophia dated February 2, 1573 from Warsaw (after "Jagiellonki polskie ..." by Alexander Przezdziecki, Volume 4, p. 12, 30, 86).

Before the election, the Infanta received the portraits of the candidates to her hand, among whom were Henry of Valois and Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553-1595). The portrait of Henry was delivered in secret, while the portrait of Ernest was brought by Stanisław Sędziwój Czarnkowski (1526-1602) (after "Ostatnie lata Zygmunta Augusta i Anna Jagiellonka" by Józef Szujski, p. 330, 332, 333). As for her distant relative and son of the Emperor, Anna declared in the letter to her sister Sophia dated June 23, 1573 from Warsaw "that they did not want to elect him king in any way, so that he would have me; but all the others advised me against it as best they could". Czarnkowski's letter written after the election to Sophia (May 20 from Płock) is proof that the Infanta definitely contributed to Henry's election - "a letter from a man who, together with Sophia, fell victim to the feminine wiles of the apparently good-natured Anna" (after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI wieku" by Alexander Przezdziecki, Volume 5, p. CCXIV). 

Despite the fact that he arrived to Poland with a large retinue of his young male lovers, known as the mignons (French for "the darlings"), including René de Villequier, François d'O and his brother Jean, Louis de Béranger du Guast and especially his beloved Jacques de Lévis, comte de Caylus (or Quélus), and that "he even flattered the Polish lords by cleverly adopting their attire", as wrote Venetian envoy Girolamo Lippomano, he was not feeling well in the unknown country. After death of his brother Charles IX, Catherine urged him to return to France. During the night of 18/19 June 1574, Henry secretly fled the Commonwealth.

The portrait of a man in black hat by workshop of Tintoretto from private collection in Milan (reported before 1995, compare Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 44861), is almost identical with the portrait of Henry depicted against the wall hanging with his coat of arms as King of Poland in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest by Italian painter (inventory 52.602) and his portrait holding a crown in the Doge's Palace in Venice (Sala degli Stucchi) by workshop of Tintoretto. 

It bears no distinction, no reference to his royal status, as in mentioned two portraits in Budapest and Venice, he is depicted as a simple nobleman. It is higly probable then that it was one of a series of state portraits commissioned by Anna in Venice before Henry's coronation, as a clear signal that he should marry her before becoming a king. 

The Infanta was most probably well aware of his inclination towards men, as apart from Krasowski, there were also other Polish dwarfs at the French court. Raised at the multicultural court of the Jagiellons, where people spoke Latin, Italian, Ruthenian, Polish and German, they were perfect diplomats. In 1572 king Sigismund Augustus sent to Charles IX, four dwarfs and in October that year, Claude La Loue brought another three dwarfs from Poland as a gift from Emperor Maximilian II, father of Charles IX's wife Elisabeth of Austria (after Auguste Jal's "Dictionnaire critique de biographie et d'histoire", 1867, p. 896). 

A portrait, said to be Mariana of Austria with a female dwarf wearing a wimple from a private collection in Spain, lost (Mariana de Austria con una enana, collection of Antonio Hoffmayer in Madrid, oil on canvas, 186 x 116 cm, Archivo de Arte Español - Archivo Moreno, 02342 B), is very similar to the portrait of Elisabeth of Austria in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 3273), which is attributed to Giacomo de Monte (Netherlandish Jakob de Monte, according to some sources). Painter of similar name, Giovanni del Monte, possibly Giacomo's brother, is mentioned as a court painter of Sigismund Augustus before 1557. It is therefore highly probable that the portrait of Queen of France with her dwarf was created for or at the initiative of the Polish-Lithuanian court. On April 28, 2021 a portrait of a young woman wearing an embroidered dress and a pearl necklace by North Italian School was sold on an auction in London (oil on canvas, 25 x 18.5 cm, Sotheby's, lot 317). On other auction her dress was identified as Spanish court dress (Neumeister in Munich, July 15, 2020, auction 388, lot 141). Her costume and style of this painting resembles the portrait of Elisabeth of Valois, Queen of Spain with a female dwarf by Sofonisba Anguissola or her workshop (Basque Museum in Bayonne), the painter who joins the two mentioned terms (North Italian School and Spanish court). The woman in the portrait strongly resembles the effigies of Elisabeth of Austria, especially her best-known portrait by François Clouet in the Louvre, mentioned likeness in Vienna by de Monte and her face from the effigy by Jooris van der Straaten in the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, dated to about 1573. The portrait of Elisabeth's sister Anne, Queen of Spain by Sofonisba is also dated to about 1573 (Prado Museum, P001284). In several portraits, Elisabeth has blond hair, while in this one as well as in the portrait by de Monte, her hair is dark, which could indicate that at some point she lightened her hair or that painters copying effigies from general drawings were unaware of her true hair color. The style of this small portrait is also very similar to another signed work of Sofonisba - portrait of Cameria in the Musée Fabre in Montpellier (inventory number 65.2.1). Elisabeth, like her sister Anne, Queen of Spain, were both granddaughters on the paternal side of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), and as in the case of dynastic relations, the links between artists and patrons from different countries of Europe, including Poland-Lithuania, were also strong.

Due to the still small number of medalists in the country, the royal court usually commissioned images of this kind abroad, in Vienna or Prague. Only once, during the short reign of Henry of Valois, did the court order two coronation medals from Parisian artists (after "Dzieje sztuki medalierskiej w Polsce" by Adam Więcek, p. 85). Medals of Henry of Valois on the election as King of Poland, attributed to French sculptor Germain Pilon, are in the National Museum in Kraków (inventory number MNK VII-Md-97) and in the Royal Castle in Warsaw (ZKW.N.830/2511). Similar was the case for portrait paintings, and Venice was the nearest center with a large number of painting workshops. 

Portrait of Henry of Valois (1551-1589), elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by workshop of Tintoretto, ca. 1573, Private collection.

Portrait of Elisabeth of Austria (1554-1592), Queen of France by workshop of Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1573, Private collection.

Portrait of Elisabeth of Austria (1554-1592), wife of Charles IX as a widow with a female dwarf wearing a wimple by Jakob de Monte (?), after 1574, Private collection, lost. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Sarmatians and disguised portraits of Elector Augustus of Saxony and his Anne of Denmark by Lucas Cranach the Younger and workshop

"On March 3, 1573, Sophia [Jagiellon, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg] wrote to her envoys in Poland that she could not come and sent them two letters to her sister, Princess Anna, asking Referendary Czarnkowski to deliver them. The content of Sophia's letters to Anna is unknown, but they certainly concerned the most important matters for both sisters, i.e. the execution of Sigismund Augustus' will, the situation in Poland, and the future election. One can only assume that these letters contained many detailed pieces of advice and instructions for Anna. In the meantime, some particularly disturbing news must have reached Schöningen about the Muscovite candidacy for the throne in Poland, popular especially in Lithuania. It concerned Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself or his son Fyodor. Although it is hard to believe today, alongside the candidacies of "Piast", Archduke Ernest, Henry of Valois, John III Vasa or his son Sigismund and Anna Jagiellon herself, this very solution was taken into consideration quite seriously in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at that time, expecting that the union with Moscow could bring similar benefits as the union with Lithuania had once, consolidated by the appointment of Ladislaus Jagiello [Jogaila of Lithuania] to the throne in Kraków. Sophia, whose attitude to Moscow and Ivan the Terrible has already been discussed here, panicked and on March 9, 1573 she addressed letters to the electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, the electors of Mainz, Trier and Cologne, and to the Palatine of the Rhine and Landgrave of Hesse, William, as well as to Duke Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, with a heartfelt request that through their envoys they help to elect Anna to the throne in Poland and then arrange her marriage to the emperor's son or some other Christian prince. She presented Jagiellonian Poland as the bulwark of Christianity and expressed fear that the country might fall into the hands of a "Muscovite" or some other barbarian. Since she herself could not go to Poland due to illness, she asked for delegations to be sent to the electoral Sejm [Diet], which would take appropriate action to convince the Poles to her plan, for the benefit of the Reich, all of Christendom and, of course, Poland. In these letters, Sophia Jagiellon for the first time officially and publicly revealed her plans for the elections in Poland and, as can be seen, they were not entirely consistent with the aspirations of Emperor Maximilian. These letters, the content of which was certainly forwarded to Vienna, did not and could not have any greater significance. The electors had already sent their delegations to Poland, and the instructions given to them naturally ordered them to support the candidacy of Archduke Ernest at the electoral Sejm. In their replies, the electors wrote to Sophia about this politely but clearly. Thus, the action taken by the Duchess of Brunswick proves, on the one hand, her genuine fear for the future of the country and the fate of her sister, but on the other hand it indicates a certain lack of sense of reality" describes the events before the first free election in Sarmatia Jan Pirożyński (after "Zofia Jagiellonka ...", p. 112-113). 

These events also reflect the important role of German princes, especially the electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, in the royal election. Saxony, one of the richest regions bordering the Commonwealth, played an important role during and after the election due to its geographical location, because the shortest route to Paris ran through it. The main candidate in this election, Henry of Valois, lived in Paris. In a letter to Charles IX, dated February 7, 1573, Arnaud Du Ferrier (ca. 1508-1585), French ambassador to Venice between 1573 and 1582, informed the French monarch that the Duke of Saxony and the Margrave of Brandenburg were making efforts in Poland on behalf of the imperial son; he therefore considered it appropriate to send an ambassador to the Duke of Saxony, who had always shown favour to the French crown, in order to put an end to these hostile actions (after "Henryk III Walezy w Polsce ..." by Maciej Serwański, p. 77).

On May 11, 1573, Primate Uchański nominated Henry of Valois as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and on May 16, after the French embassy swore in the Henrician Articles and the Pacta conventa ("articles of agreement"), Grand Marshal of the Crown Jan Firlej proclaimed Valois king. Necessary preparations were then made to bring the newly elected king from France to Kraków. Given the delays of the Saxon Elector Augustus (1526-1586) and Emperor Maximilian II in granting a passport, it was decided to take the risk of taking the shortest route, that is, to go through Saxony to reach Paris. Nine envoys: Catholic Bishop of Poznań Adam Konarski (1526-1574), Protestant Jan Tomicki (d. 1575) and his Catholic son Mikołaj Tomicki (d. 1586), Lutheran Andrzej Górka (d. 1583), Catholic Jan Herburt (d. 1577), Catholic converted from Calvinism during his stay in Italy Mikołaj Firlej (d. 1601), Calvinist Ruthenian Prince Alexander Pronsky (ca. 1550 - ca. 1595), Catholic converted from Calvinism during his stay in Italy Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605) and Lutheran Jan Zborowski (1538-1603) set off with a large retinue no later than July 6. The next day they spent in Frankfurt an der Oder, and after passing through the lands of the Elector of Brandenburg, who accepted their passage because he needed good relations with the Commonwealth in the matter of Ducal Prussia, they reached Leipzig on July 12. There the expedition met with complete failure, for on the orders of the Elector the envoys were arrested and ordered to await the consent of the Emperor or return to the borders of Poland. However, thanks to the energy of Jan Herburt, who delivered an impassioned speech before the Elector Augustus, the difficulties were overcome, and the retinue set out on July 19 for the continuation of their journey (after "Diariusz poselstwa polskiego do Francji ...", ed. Adam Przyboś, p. IX). In a letter dated from Leipzig on July 12, 1573, Bishop Konarski, "a faithful and kind servant", informs the Lutheran princess Sophia Jagiellon of the matter. Herburt began his speech by declaring: "It is not for personal reasons, it is not for the desire to visit foreign countries, but to receive a king chosen by the Republic, that we are going to France. From what country? From that one, which is surrounded on all sides by enemies of the Christian name, stands on difficult and dangerous guard over all Christian countries, including your own land" (after "Historya wymowy w Polsce" by Karol Mecherzyński, Volume 1, p. 484). From February 1573 onwards, several envoys from Sarmatia travelled to Saxony, both to secure the support of the elector in the elections and to arrange the passports and travel arrangements of the ambassadors to Paris. The elector's peculiar behavior towards the Commonwealth's envoys in Leipzig, given his previous actions, was most likely intended to please the emperor, whose son lost the election. 

In a letter dated April 27, 1573, Lucas Cranach the Younger informed Elector Augustus of the completion of the commission for the pulpit for the new hunting lodge at Augustusburg (Jagdschloss Augustusburg) near Dresden. The paintings were transported by an apprentice from Wittenberg to Dresden (probably by ship) and from there by vehicle to Augustusburg. A year earlier, the princely portraits ordered by Elector Augustus were brought to Dresden by ship (after "Lucas Cranach der Jüngere und die Reformation der Bilder", ed. Elke Anna Werner, p. 181, 191). The pulpit is decorated with six pictorial scenes from the life of Mary and the life and passion of Christ: the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Baptism of Christ, the Crucifixion, the Entombment and the Resurrection. All the scenes are attributed to Cranach the Younger and his workshop, but only the scene of the Crucifixion is signed with Cranach's mark and dated "1573" (on the stone at the foot of the cross). The scene of the baptism of Christ (panel, 64 x 61 cm), is attended by Elector Augustus and his first wife Anne of Denmark (1532-1585) along with four or five other people on the left edge of the painting. On the opposite side of the painting stands another group of men, who are considered Old Testament prophets, probably because of their unusual costumes, including the prophet Daniel, patron of the miners, holding a miner's pick. However, the men's long robes, resembling żupan ​​and other typical Sarmatian clothing, as well as fur-lined hats and even a turban, indicate that they are not prophets, but guests of the Elector as indicated also by his hand gesture. The man with the long blond beard is not holding a miner's pick, but a horseman's pick nadziak, one of the main weapons of the famous Polish winged hussars, also popular as a kind of walking stick and an attribute of the nobility. In the background, one can see a panorama of Dresden with its long bridge as depicted by Braun and Hogenberg around 1572. The elector invites the noble guests to his capital. Since Cranach painted all these paintings in Wittenberg and not Dresden, he undoubtedly based all his effigies on study drawings or other portraits.

This is not the only scene where portraits can be found in the Augustusburg pulpit. Another scene filled with disguised portraits is the Adoration of the Shepherds, as the meaningful gaze of one of the shepherds on the right of the scene tells us. This shepherd was probably a member of the Elector's court, while Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary bear the facial features of Augustus and his wife Anne of Denmark. In the scene of the Entombment, we see another man dressed in a clearly Sarmatian costume - a kolpak hat, a giermak cloak and a crimson silk żupan. The view of Dresden by Braun and Hogenberg, cited above, shows typical costumes of Saxony of that period, reminiscent of those worn by Elector Augustus and his wife in the scene of the baptism of Christ, while on the other hand the views of Kraków and Warsaw by Braun and Hogenberg show typical Polish costumes, reminiscent of the costumes of the "biblical prophets" in the paintings.

At that time, Cranach the Younger sent many of his works not only from Wittenberg to Dresden, but apparently also to Sarmatia, where there were many Lutherans, as evidenced by similar paintings preserved in the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw. The paintings were purchased in 1804 by Stanisław Kostka Potocki (1755-1821), probably in Lviv, where he had also acquired Canaletto's View of St. Mark's Square and Judith with the Head of Holofernes after the fresco by Domenichino. Potocki bought four paintings for 24 ducats, as well as three more, all considered to be works by Lucas Cranach (afer "Piękno za woalem czasu" by Teresa Stramowska, p. 56). Only three paintings have survived in Wilanów: the Annunciation (oil on panel, 56.3 x 55.4 cm, inv. Wil.1860), the Last Supper (oil on panel, 56.5 x 55.2 cm, inv. Wil.1859) and the Lamentation of Christ (oil on canvas, 55.7 x 53.7 cm, inv. Wil.1861). The Lamentation is slightly different and was painted on canvas (possibly moved from panel), so it probably comes from a different series of paintings. The paintings that have not been preserved showed the scenes of the Presentation in the Temple, the Passion (Crucifixion?), the Nailing to the Cross and the Entombment. The Nailing to the Cross was lost during the Second World War (inv. 65, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 2268). Like most of the paintings in the Augustusburg pulpit, none of the paintings in Wilanów are signed with Cranach's mark, his authorship is rejected and the paintings are considered to belong to a German school of the third quarter of the 16th century.

In 2019, the painting depicting the scene of the Adoration of the Shepherds was sold in Vienna (oil on panel, 61.5 x 58 cm, Im Kinsky, April 9, 2019, sale 127, lot 1). This painting had already been sold in London in 1976 (Christie's, October 8, 1976, lot 133) and, based on the comparison with the Augustusburg pulpit, it is attributed to the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger and dated to the 1560s or after 1573. The style of the Adoration of the Shepherds is very similar to that of the Annunciation and the Last Supper at Wilanów and most likely comes from the same series. The Wilanów paintings are slightly smaller than the Adoration of the Shepherds, but the slightly cut-out portal in the Annunciation and the feet of a basin in the Last Supper indicate that the paintings acquired by Potocki were most likely cut to fit the Lamentation of Christ and other paintings acquired in 1804. The facial features of St. Joseph in the Adoration of the Shepherds closely resemble those of Elector Augustus from the Augustusburg pulpit, while those of the Virgin Mary resemble those of the Elector's wife Anne of Denmark. Similarly, the Madonna in the Wilanów ​Annunciation is clearly another disguised portrait of Electress of Saxony, as the woman closely resembles Anne as depicted in her full-length portraits by Cranach the Younger (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, inv. GG 3141 and Freiberg City and Mining Museum, inv. 79/14). In the Last Supper from Wilanów we can see through the window the same city as in the Baptism of Christ from the Augustusburg pulpit, that is, Dresden. 

The Wilanów Lamentation also has similar counterparts, now in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, donated in 1902 by Dmitri Ivanovich Shchukin (1855-1932). The style of the Agony in the Garden (oil on panel, 55 x 55 cm, inv. Ж-408) and the Entombment (oil on panel, 55 x 55 cm, inv. Ж-409), as well as the dimensions of these two paintings, perfectly match the Wilanów Lamentation. In the Moscow Entombment, the city of Dresden can also be seen in the background, while Saint Nicodemus is dressed in a strange red costume trimmed with fur and a fur hat, which is very reminiscent of the traditional costumes of Ruthenian princes, such as the costume of King Michael I according to an engraving by Nicholas de Larmessin I, made between 1669-1678 (National Library of Poland, G.45499). Saint Nicodemus is dressed in a similar costume in the Wilanów Lamentation. If the members of the merchant or noble family from the North German city of Hamburg, could represent themselves around Christ in a triptych today preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 17.190.13-15) and Electress of Saxony in the guise of the Virgin Mary, the Ruthenian nobles of Lutheran faith could represent themselves in the guise of Christian saints.

The three paintings from Wilanów, the two paintings from Moscow and one sold in Vienna were clearly part of the same series, probably originally decorating two pulpits or two altars, made in Cranach's workshop in Wittenberg, perhaps for a Lutheran church in Ruthenia.

Portraits of Elector Augustus and his wife, painted by Cranach the Younger, were undoubtedly also in the royal collection of Sarmatia. The Infanta Anna Jagiellon corresponded with Augustus before her election, as evidenced by her letter written in 1575 concerning the death of her sister Sophia, Duchess of Brunswick. In his reply to Anna in 1576, Augustus describes himself as "the most loving prince of the Jagiellonian name and best friend" (amantissimo Jagellonici nominis Principe et amico optimo, after "Dynastic identity, death and posthumous legacy of Sophie Jagiellon ..." by Dušan Zupka, p. 804). 

​The Baptism of Christ from the Augustusburg pulpit with Elector Augustus of Saxony (1526-1586) and his wfe Anne of Denmark (1532-1585) inviting the Sarmatians to Dresden and Saxony by Lucas Cranach the Younger and workshop, 1573, Augustusburg hunting lodge. 

​The Annunciation with disguised portrait of Anne of Denmark (1532-1585), Electress of Saxony by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1560s or after 1573, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw. 

​The Adoration of the Shepherds with disguised portraits of Elector Augustus of Saxony (1526-1586) and his wfe Anne of Denmark (1532-1585) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1560s or after 1573, Private collection. 

​The Last Supper with a view of Dresden by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1560s or after 1573, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw. 

​The Lamentation of Christ with Saint Nicodemus wearing a costume of a Ruthenian prince by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1560s or after 1573, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw. 

Portrait of Sophia Jagiellon and Sidonia von Borcke by Adriaen Thomasz. Key

Two paintings by German school in the Von Borcke Palace in Starogard, north of Szczecin, both lost during World War II, depicted members of the Jagiellonian dynasty. One, created by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder and representing pregnant Barbara Radziwill with a midwife, was traditionally identified as the most famous member of the Von Borcke family - Sidonia the Sorceress (1548-1620), the other was a signed effigy of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Von Borcke, a Pomeranian noble family of Slavic origin, originally known as Borek or z Borku and having two red wolves in their coat of arms, were owners of the large estates in Pomerania with several towns, including Łobez, Resko, Strzmiele, Węgorzyno and Pęzino Castle. Since the times of Maćko Bork (Matzko von Borck), who died in about 1426, the family had some ties to the Jagiellons and Poland. His great-granddaughter, mentioned Sidonia, lived at the court of Duke Philip I in Wolgast and became a lady-in-waiting to his daughter princess Amelia of Pomerania (1547-1580). In 1569 the Polish court planned to marry Amelia to Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia and Polish vassal. The son of Philip I, Prince Ernest Louis (1545-1592), fall in love with Sidonia and promised her marriage. However, the wedding did not take place, as the prince, under pressure from his family, withdrew from his promise and in 1577 he married Sophia Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1561-1631), granddaughter of Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573), Electress of Brandenburg, daughter of Sigismund I. In 1556 Sophia Hedwig's grandfather, Henry V (II) of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1489-1568), married a daughter of Sigismund I - Sophia Jagiellon. In 1619 in Wolfenbüttel, grandson of Duke Philip I, Duke Ulrich of Pomerania (1589-1622) married a great-granddaughter of Hedwig Jagiellon and Henry V, Princess Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1595-1650). The family ties between the ruling families of Poland-Lithuania, Pomerania and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel were therefore pretty strong at that time. Two known portraits of Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in French costume and large cartwheel farthingale (in the Royal Collection, RCIN 407222 and in the Gymnasium in Szczecinek, lost during World War II) were painted by a Netherlandish painter, attributed to Jacob van Doordt, Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, Daniël Mijtens or Paulus Moreelse. The Dukes of Pomerania frequently commissioned their effigies from the best foreign artists and the so-called "Book of effigies" (Visierungsbuch) of Duke Philip II of Pomerania (Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin, lost during World War II) was a collection of their likenesses, some of which were attributed to circle of Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach the Elder. The so-called Croy tapestry in the Pommersches Landesmuseum representing the Duke Philip I with his family as well as the family of his wife Maria of Saxony was made in 1554 by Peter Heymans, a Dutch weaver, in Szczecin. The composition of the tapestry was based on the graphics by Lucas Cranach the Elder and it is possible that Cranach's workshop in Wittenberg created the cartoon to this work. 

The painting of Madonna and Child with cherries by circle of the Netherlandish painter Quentin Matsys was acquired by Duke Boguslaus X (Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald), some jewels of the Dukes of Pomerania from the late 16th and early 17th century are attributed to Jacob Mores the Elder, active in Hamburg (National Museum in Szczecin), a cup in the shape of a peacock, created by Joachim Hiller in Wrocław in Silesia and a crystal bowl made in Paris and framed in Szczecin, both owned by Erdmuthe of Brandenburg, Duchess of Pomerania are in Green Vault in Dresden. The dukes also commissioned and purchased many exquisite objects from the center of European goldsmithing - Augsburg, like the famous Pomeranian Art Cabinet of Duke Philip II, silver plaques by Zacharias Lencker from Darłowo Altar or ivory veneered and painted box with exotic parrots, fish, and other animals and coat of arms of Philip II of Pomerania and his wife (Courtauld Institute of Art). 

Some contacts with Italy and Italian artists in this part of Europe are also documented. In 1496 Duke Boguslaus X went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, leaving his duchy under the regency of his wife Anna Jagiellon (1476-1503), sister of Sigismund I. He traveled to Venice and he was received in Rome by the Pope Alexander VI Borgia, who presented him with a ceremonial sword (nowdays in the collection of the Hohenzollern Castle, scabbard, in the Monbijou Palace in Berlin, was lost during World War II). Mannerist west wing of the Castle in Szczecin was built between 1573 and 1582 by Italian architects Wilhelm Zachariasz Italus and Antonio Guglielmo (Antonius Wilhelm) for Duke John Frederick (1542-1600) and Giovanni Battista Perini (Parine) from Florence created the painting to the ducal chapel and duke's portrait. Portrait of Duke Boguslaus XIV (1580-1637) is in the Villa di Poggio a Caiano, one of the most famous Medici villas near Florence.

In 1576 de Hane (d'Anna) family from Brabant, settled in Lübeck in Germany, about 290 km west of Szczecin, ordered a painting in Venice for the St. Catherine's Church in Lübeck. This large canvas depicting the Raising of Lazarus (140 x 104 cm) and representing some members of the family in the background, was painted by Tintoretto (signed and dated: IACO TINTORE / VENETIS F. / 1576). Around 1575 other Venetian painter Parrasio Micheli created a large painting depicting Allegory of the birth of the Infante Ferdinand, son of Philip II of Spain, today in the Prado Museum in Madrid (oil on canvas, 182 x 223 cm, inventory number P000479). The work was created in Venice with a portrait of Infante's mother Anna of Austria (1549-1580), Queen of Spain, granddaughter of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), Queen of Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary. The painting was sent by Micheli to Philip II without a commission, to win the favor of the monarch. Spanish monarchs also sent similar gifts to relatives, mostly in Vienna. A large painting by Alonso Sánchez Coello depicting King Philip II of Spain banqueting with his family and courtiers (The Royal feast), created in 1596 (signed and dated: ASC ANNO 1596), purchased by the National Museum in Warsaw in 1928 from Antoni Kolasiński's collection (oil on canvas, 110 x 202 cm, inventory number M.Ob.295, earlier 73635) was perhaps such a gift sent to the Polish-Lithuanian royal family. Micheli also painted the Dead Christ venerated by Pope Pius V, which could be another gift to powerful King of Spain ordered in Venice, this time from the Pope (Prado Museum, P000284). Netherlandish painters created effigies of both Philip II and his wife. A small portrait of the King of Spain from private collection (oil on panel, 46.4 x 35.6 cm), identified by me, is attributed to Adriaen Thomasz. Key, a portrait of Anna of Austria in Alte Pinakothek in Munich (inventory number 4859) was created by Flemish painter (attributed to Justus van Egmont) and very similar preparatory drawing in Albertina Museum in Vienna (inventory number 14269) is also attributed to Key (also to Antonis Mor or Peter Candid, similar to signed portrait painting by Alonso Sánchez Coello in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, inventory number 1733). 

In her last years the Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Sophia Jagiellon, retired to the residence in Schöningen, where she laid out the famous pleasure garden, which no longer exists today. She remodelled her residencies at Schöningen and Jerxheim in Renaissance style, according to the taste of the time. Her husband Henry V died in 1568 and two years later, in the spring of 1570, Sophia converted to Lutheranism. Most likely around that time a tombstone of Henry V, his two sons, killed in the Battle of Sievershausen in 1553, was created in Marienkirche in Wolfenbüttel. The tombstone is attributed to Jürgen Spinnrad and after the Duchess' death Adam Lecuir (Liquier Beaumont), a sculptor trained in Antwerp, created her relief sculpture basing on an effigy from the time of her marriage (1556). When her stepson tried to limit her authority as a widow, she appealed to Emperor Maximilian II and promised him to support Archduke Ernest's candidacy for the Polish throne and his marriage to her sister Anna. However, Stanisław Sędziwoj Czarnkowski, a supporter of the emperor's son, complained in a letter to Sophia that he tried to persuade Anna to accept the portrait of Archduke Ernest, "which Her Majesty by any mean whatever didn't want to" and further reports that "for four Sundays a picture of a French prince hung at her place". Earlier, in April 1570, Sophia's brother Sigismund II Augustus sent Czarnkowski as his envoy for arbitration in affairs with her stepson, Henry's successor, Julius (1528-1589). 

The Duchess was fluent in Polish, Italian, Latin and German, and she left a lively correspondence with more than 184 correspondents. She proved herself to be a good financial manager. Sophia had a reputation as a very rich woman with a large amount of cash and borrowing money at interest. The cities of Leipzig - 20,000 thalers, and Magdeburg - 30,000 thalers, took the largest 5% loans from the Duchess, as well as the Elector of Brandenburg, John George - 20,000 thalers and her stepsister Hedwig - 1,000 thalers. Her regular customer-debtor was her stepson, Julius, who often borrowed large sums (e.g. 15,000 thalers in November 1572). She also invested money in various goods, both movable and immovable (after "Zofia Jagiellonka ..." by Jan Pirożyński, p. 70). In her last will, she left Stanisław Sędziwój and his brother Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski (his portrait by Adriaen Thomasz. Key is in Vienna) 500 ducats each.

Duke Julius studied in Leuven (Louvain) in the Habsburg Netherlands and visited France in 1550. Under his rule many Netherlandish artists, architects and engineers were employed by the ducal court of Wolfenbüttel, like Willem de Raet from 's-Hertogenbosch (1574–1576), entrusted with the modernisation of the waterways, recruited for Duke Julius by his compatriot, painter Willem Remmers, or a painter Hans Vredeman de Vries (1587–1591), who created a portrait of Sophia's niece Hedwig of Brandenburg (1540-1602), Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and who later moved to Gdańsk (1592-1595). Ruprecht Lobri from the Low Countries become the personal valet of the duke. 

After discovery of the deposits of decorative stones (marble and alabaster) in his territory in the early 1570s Julius contracted stone cutters from Mechelen: Hendrick van den Broecke, Augustin Adriaens and Jan Eskens. The duke offered alabaster portals to his stepmother Sophia Jagiellon, and the magistrates of Gdańsk and Bremen and sent letters with samples, such as tabletops and dishes, to Duke Henry XI of Legnica and Duke Albert Frederick of Prussia (after "Netherlandish artists and craftsmen ..." by Aleksandra Lipinska), both having close ties with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. 

Sophia bequeathed half of her inheritance to her sisters and the other half to the Commonwealth institutions. Among other things, she decreed that marble tombs should be built in the Wawel Cathedral and that a marble slab engraved with the genealogy of the Jagiellons should be placed in the Chapel of the Holy Cross. 

The 1575 inventories of the collection of the Duchess of Brunswick list more than 100 paintings and 31 portraits, including images of Sigismund Augustus, the children of her sister Catherine Jagiellon - Sigismund and Anna Vasa, and king Henry of Valois, as well as one historical painting depicting the beheading in 1568 of Lamoral of Egmont and Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horn, the leaders of the anti-Spanish opposition in the Low Countries, most probably by Flemish painter. Her book collection consisted of about 500 items, many of which had beautiful, luxurious bindings. The Map of Poland (Poloniae Recens Descriptio. Polonia Sarmatie Europee quondam pars fuit ...) in the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, created in 1562 by Hieronymus Cock in Antwerp, was most likely commissioned by Sophia Jagiellon.

In the National Museum in Warsaw there is a portrait of a woman with a gold chain around the waist, attributed to Adriaen Thomasz. Key (oil on panel, 74 x 52.5 cm, inventory number M.Ob.822 MNW, earlier 34666). It was purchased in 1935 from the collection of Jan Popławski and in the 19th century it was in the Shchukin collection in Moscow. Her costume resembles the one seen in the portrait of Ermgart von Bemmelsberg by Westphalian school, painted in 1574 (private collection), portrait of a woman by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, dated '1578' (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, 1036), and costumes of women of Brabant and Gdańsk from Omnium pene Europae ... by Flemish engraver Abraham de Bruyn, published in 1581. Her ruff is similar to the one visible in the mentioned portrait of Queen of Spain by Flemish painter in Munich and in the effigy of Joachim Frederick of Brzeg (1550-1602) by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, dated '1574' (National Museum in Warsaw, M.Ob.819). Her face and pose resemble other effigies of the Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, identified by me, especially the portrait by circle of Titian in Kassel. 

A portrait of a lady in similar costume, also attributed to Key, is in private collection (oil on panel, 96.5 x 65.1 cm, sold Christie's London, April 20, 2005, lot 17), earlier, presumably, by descent at Studley Royal, Yorkshire. The woman wear a red coral bracelet, a fertility symbol in ancient Rome, as in portraits of young brides by Florentine painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, also believed to be a love talisman and perhaps even an aphrodisiac. According to Latin inscription: AN DNI 1576 (upper left) and ÆTATIS · SVÆ 28 (upper right), the woman was 28 in 1576, exacly as Sidonia von Borcke, born in the Wolf's Nest (Wulfsberg or Vulversberg - Strzmiele Castle) in 1548, when she was a lady-in-waiting to princess Amelia of Pomerania and Prince Ernest Louis fall in love with her.

Portrait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, ca. 1574, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of Sidonia von Borcke (1548-1620), aged 28 by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, 1576, Private collection.

Miniature portrait of George Radziwill by workshop of the Bassanos or Sofonisba Anguissola

"In the name of the Lord, in the year 1575. On the 11th of October, which then fell on Tuesday, I left Buivydiškės. I left there my sick brother, the great court marshal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Nicolaus Christopher, and went to Italy with my younger brother, Albert", wrote in Latin in a diary of his journey George Radziwill (1556-1600), future cardinal (after "Dziennik podróży do Włoch Jerzego Radziwiłła w 1575 roku" by Angelika Modlińska-Piekarz). 

Born in Italian style villa of his father in Lukiškės in Vilnius, George was raised and educated as a Calvinist. After his mother's death, in 1562, he spent some time at the royal court (perhaps as a page). Between 1571-1573, together with his brothers Albert and Stanislaus, he studied in Leipzig. In the summer of 1573, he accompanied his brother Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan" to France and after his return, together with his younger brothers, he converted to Catholicism on April 11, 1574.

Through Warsaw (October, 24-26), where he spent time with Infanta Anna Jagiellon, and Vienna (November, 12-20), where he met Emperor Maximilian II and his sons and where he saw "a beast of strange size, an elephant, sent as a gift to the emperor by Philip, king of Spain" on December 3 or 4 he arrived to Venice, the city "which, because of its beauty and its location, undoubtedly holds the priority palm among the cities of the whole world". He went to stay at the Magnificent White Lion, a German inn. He left the city in a hurry two days later, because of the suspicion of the plague, but during his brief stay he admired the St. Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace and the Arsenal. "After leaving the arsenal, I was driven around the city for two hours, where I saw many magnificent and very beautiful buildings, especially in the great street that stretches the entire width of the city, in colloquial language it is called the Grand Canal, the beauty of which I could never get enough of". He did not specify which places he visited, it is possible that he was also taken to the famous Venetian painting workshops. George commissioned works of art in Italy for himself and his brother, like in 1579, when one of the Roman painters made an altar for Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan" (after "Zagraniczna edukacja Radziwiłłów: od początku XVI do połowy XVII wieku" by Marian Chachaj, p. 97).

From Venice he went to Padua and then via Florence further to Rome to study philosophy and theology. In the years 1575-1581 he stayed in Italy, Spain and Portugal. In 1581, already as a bishop (from 1579), he was strongly condemned by King Stephen Bathory for the incident with the confiscation and burning of Protestant books in Vilnius. That same year, in 1581 he was again in Venice, together with his elder brother Nicolaus Christopher (after "Ateneum Wilenskie", Volume 11, p. 158). Two years later, in 1583, he was ordained a priest (April 10), consecrated a bishop (December 26), and received the cardinal's beret in Vilnius on April 4, 1584. In March 1586 he set out for Rome, where on June 26 he received the cardinal's hat from Pope Sixtus V.

A two sided miniature in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (inventory number 1890, 4051, oil on copper, 10.2 cm) is on one side a reduced and simplified version of portrait of Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" by Francesco Bassano the Younger or workshop, created between 1580-1586, identified by me. The composition of the miniatures is not similar, so they were probably not created at the same time. Both portraits, although close to miniatures by the Bassanos in the Uffizi (1890, 4072, 9053, 9026), also relate to works of Sofonisba Anguissola, who moved to Sicily (1573), and later Pisa (1579) and Genoa (1581) and who could copy the paintings by the Bassanos. The young man in a ruff is presenting a ring on his finger, comparable to that visible in portraits of cardinal George Radziwill, possibly a souvenir of conversion, and his face resemble other effigies of the cardinal.

According to Silvia Meloni, a copy of the recto of this miniature is kept in Udine, noth of Venice, which presents on the back the eagle testing its children in the sun. Eagle was a symbol of the Radziwills and cardinal George used it in his coat of arms, like the one published in 1598 in Krzysztof Koryciński's In felicem ad vrbem reditvm [...] Georgii S. R. E. cardinalis Radziwil nvncvpati [...]. All travelers returning from Venice to Poland or going to Rome from Poland trough Venice had to drive close to Udine. According to George's diary he was in San Daniele del Friuli near Udine in 1575. Funeral speech with biography of Cardinal George Radziwill by Daniel Niger and Jan Andrzej Próchnicki under the title In funere Georgii Radzivili S. R. E. Cardinalis Ampliss was published in Venice in 1600 in printing and publishing house of Giorgio Angelieri. 

Miniature portrait of George Radziwill (1556-1600) by workshop of the Bassanos or Sofonisba Anguissola, 1575-1581, Uffizi Gallery.

Portraits of Anna Jagiellon by Francesco Bassano and circle of Veronese

On 15 December 1575, in Wola near Warsaw, infanta Anna Jagiellon and her husband Stephen Bathory, Voivode of Transylvania were elected as monarchs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. 

Since the end of the 1570s Anna's court was bursting with life and she kept lively correspondence with many Italian princes, like Francesco I de Medici and his mistress Bianca Cappello, the daughter of Venetian nobleman Bartolomeo Cappello, exchanging news on politics and fashion, sending and receiving gifts (cosmetics, medicaments, crystal bowls and cups, luxury fancy goods, small pieces of furniture e.g. marble tables, silver incrusted boxes etc.) and even courtiers. "From February of 1581 to December of that year, several letters from the agent of Bianca Cappello [...] Alberto Bolognetti, described the perfect female dwarf he found for Cappello in Warsaw; the nana is described as having great "proportions" and being "very beautiful." The nana's travels through Cracow and Vienna were fully documented [...]" (after "Portraits of Human Monsters in the Renaissance" by Touba Ghadessi, p. 63).

The portrait of a lady by circle of Paolo Veronese from the 1570s, traditionally identified as effigy of Catherine Cornaro (1454-1510), Queen of Cyprus, and known in at least three variants (in Vienna, Montauban and private collection), bears a strong resemblance to the miniature of Anna when a princess of Poland-Lithuania from about 1553. Also the gold cross pendant set with diamonds, visible on the portrait, is very similar to the one depicted in a drawing, a study for a print, in the Hermitage Museum showing Anna (paper, 33 x 28 cm, inv. ОР-45839). 

As for the drawing in the Hermitage, it was probably made in the middle of the 17th century, probably after a painting from the Radziwill collection. According to the inscription in the lower right corner, this drawing depicts "Barbara, Queen of Poland" (Barbara Krolowa Polska), however the style of the costume and especially the ruff, typical of the 1570s, indicate that most likely the effigy of Anna was confused with the portrait of her brother's second wife - Barbara Radziwill (1520/23-1551). A rather similar costume is found in a portrait of Dorothea Susanna of Simmern (1544-1592) dated "1575" (Library of Duchess Anna Amalia in Weimar, inv. G 2333) and in the portrait of Sabina of Württemberg (1549-1581) dated "1577" (ANNO. M.D. LXXVII., Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel, inv. LM 1938/349). Although in the aforementioned drawing the queen's features more closely resemble those of her predecessor Catherine of Austria (1533-1572), this effigy can be compared to a woodcut by the monogrammist JB from the 1570s, known from the 19th century copy (National Library of Poland, DŻS XII 8b/p.28/9). This representation of the elected queen of Poland-Lithuania could be inspired by the portraits of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), because it recalls the allegorical representation of Elizabeth with the three goddesses, painted by Hans Eworth in 1569 (Windsor Castle, RCIN 403446). In both cases the queen depicted was a suo jure sovereign, which justifies such a depiction, and as in the case of the portrait of the English queen, the painter of the original portrait of Anna could also have been Flemish. 

The picture in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum, oil on canvas, 124 x 82 cm, inv. GG 33) was painted in the same period and in the same style as the portrait of a bearded man with hourglass and astrolabe attributed to Francesco Bassano (Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. GG 5775), identified by me as the portrait of king Stephen Bathory, Anna's husband. The portrait of the king was most probably offered before 1582 to Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria for his collection in the Ambras Castle in Innsbruck, while the "portrait of the Queen of Cyprus" was initially installed at the Stallburg, where various holdings of the Habsburg family were brought together and displayed, and later transferred to the Belvedere in Vienna (after "Wien. Fremdenführer durch die Kaiserstadt und Umgebung" by Dr. J. Spetau, p. 122). Like in the case of the Queen's likeness in her widowhood by Martin Kober, acquired from the Imperial collection in Vienna in 1936 (Wawel Royal Castle), her Habsburg relatives undoubtedly received other effigies from different periods of her life. The Queen sent them other valuable gifts, like oriental fabrics, also visble in described portaits by Francesco Bassano. The 1619 inventory of the estate of Emperor Matthias lists several textiles of Ottoman and Safavid manufacture offered by Anna to either Matthias or his brother Emperor Rudolf II, veils and handkerchiefs (after "Objects of Prestige and Spoils of War" by Barbara Karl, p. 136). 

​In the drawing by the Austrian painter Anton Joseph von Prenner (1683-1761) kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (inv. 3469), made before 1735, the model wears a crown and holds a bow and an arrow. They are also visible in an old photo of the painting taken after 1863.

A reduced version of the Vienna portrait, possibly a modello, was sold in Vienna in 1994 with an attribution to Paolo Veronese (oil on paper mounted on cardboard, 31 x 23 cm, Dorotheum, October 18, 1994, lot 66). The Montauban painting comes from the collection of the French neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) and has been attributed to various painters including Giovanni Battista Moroni, Paolo Veronese and Titian (oil on canvas, 38 x 27 cm, inv. MI.867.149). 

​The portrait of a woman from Barbini-Breganze collection in Venice, today in Stuttgart (Staatsgalerie, oil on canvas, 108.3 x 90.5 cm, inv. 126, acquired in 1852), bears a strong resemblance to the portrait of Anna by Tintoretto in the Jagiellonian University (pose and features) and to her effigy in Vienna holding a zibellino (features and garments), also by Tintoretto. This painting is attributed to Parrasio Micheli, who died in Venice on April 1578. Discovery of a letter of August 20, 1575 in the General Archive of Simancas (Estado, 1336. fol. 233) from the painter to king Philip II, allowed to attribute to him one of his major works as well as assign the subject - Allegory of the birth of the Infante Ferdinand (Prado Museum in Madrid, inventory number P000479). Infante's mother Anna of Austria (1549-1580), Queen of Spain, granddaughter of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), was depicted as bare-chested Venus, while her midwives attend to the mythological child Cupid - "The World celebrates that Venus has given birth" (CELEBRIS MUNDI VENERIS PARTUS), according to inscription in Latin in upper part of the paiting. The painting in Prado was formerly attributed to Carlo Caliari, known as Carletto, the youngest son of Paolo Veronese and believed to represent the birth of Charles V, in his letter, however, Micheli explained all the allegories (after "Ein unbekannter Brief des malers Parrasio Michele" by Constance Jocelyn Ffoulkes, pp. 429-430).

In the Stuttgart painting, the queen has a zibellino (weasel skin) on her belt, a popular accessory for brides as a fertility talisman. Therefore, the work must be dated shortly before or after his marriage to Bathory. 

Anna's strong familial and intellectual connections to Italy and a reputation as an advocate for women's educational pursuits within the scientific disciplines, persuaded Camilla Erculiani, an Italian apothecary, writer and natural philosopher from Padua in the Venetian Republic, to dedicate her work "Letters on Natural Philosophy" (Lettere di philosophia naturale), published in Kraków in 1584, to Anna. The Queen was also known for promoting education of girls at her court (after "Daughters of Alchemy: Women and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy" by Meredith K. Ray, p. 118). One of the finest book illuminations related to Anna was probably also made in Italy. It is her coat of arms with a crown supported by two angels and the inscription ANNA REGINA POLONIÆ in handwritten treatise of Francesco Pifferi of Pisa from 1579 (Delle cagioni dalle quali mossi alcuni heretici sono tornati alla fede catolica), dedicated to the queen (ALLA SERENISSIMA ET SACRA MAESTA ANNA REGI/NA DI Polonia, Wawel Royal Castle, ZKnW-PZS 6046).

​Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Francesco Bassano, ca. 1580, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (before restoration). 

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Francesco Bassano, ca. 1580, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by workshop of Francesco Bassano, ca. 1580, Private collection.

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by workshop of Francesco Bassano, ca. 1580, Musée Ingres in Montauban.

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in a robe of pink damask over a patterned brocade dress by Parrasio Micheli, 1575-1578, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. 

​Drawing with portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), after original by Flemish painter (?), mid-17th century after lost original portrait from around 1575-1577, The State Hermitage Museum.

Allegorical portrait of Anna Jagiellon by Francesco Montemezzano

In July 1572 died Sigismund II Augustus, leaving the throne vacant and all the wealth of the Jagiellon dynasty to his three sisters. Anna, the only member of the dynasty present in the Commonwealth, received only a small portion of inheritance, but still became a very rich woman. Sigismund's death changed her status from a neglected spinster to the heiress of the Jagiellon dynasty. 
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In June 1574 an unexpected turn of events made her one of the favorites in the second election, after Henry of Valois left Poland and headed back to France. Jan Zamoyski reconciled different camps promoting Anna to the crown. On December 15, 1575, Anna was hailed the King of Poland in the Old Town Square in Warsaw. Jan Kostka and Jan Zamoyski, representing the parliament, came to her to ask for her consent. It was then that Anna was supposed to utter the phrase that she "would rather be a queen than a king's wife". A day later, the nobility recognized her definitively as the "Piast" king and Stephen Bathory, Voivode of Transylvania, was proposed as her husband.

The painting identified as allegory of Pomona from the old collection of the Czartoryski Museum bears a great resemblance to other effigies of Anna (oil on canvas, 88 x 75 cm, inv. MNK XII-227). A woman in rich costume is being offered a basket with apples, denoted as symbol of the royal power and a symbol of the bride in ancient Greek thought, and pink roses, which represented innocence and first love - Bathory was the first husband to the 52 years old queen. The painting was previously thought to be a depiction of the biblical Esther, because until 1968 the figure of the boy was painted over.

In the catalogue of the Czartoryski Museum from 1914 by Henryk Ochenkowski (Galerja obrazów: katalog tymczasowy), this painting was attributed to "probably Parrasio Micheli" (item 188) and listed together with another painting by the 16th century Venetian School and depicting "Death of the Doge? Three ladies at the bedside. In the background the dogaressa, dictating a letter" (oil on canvas, 101 x 75 cm, item 187), which was most probably lost during World War II. This description fits perfectly with the facts known about the last moments of king Sigismund I the Old, who died in his Wawel residence in Kraków on April 1, 1548, at the age of eighty-one. On February 3, the young king Sigismund Augustus left for Lithuania and the old king was in Kraków with his wife Bona and three daughters Sophia, Anna and Catherine. According to Stanisław Orzechowski the young king who arrived from Vilnius on May 24, was welcomed by his mother "with her three daughters, and with a company of noble matrons" (Bona mater cum filiabus tribus ac cum matronarum nobilium turba adventantem regem expectabat) (after "Zgon króla Zygmunta I ..." by Marek Janicki, p. 92-93). Bona undoubtedly wrote a letter urging him to return and either she or her daughter Anna could commission a painting commemorating the event. ​However, this description may not have been accurate, because this painting is identified in today's catalogs with a horizontal (and not vertical) work from the first quarter of the 17th century (oil on canvas, 113 x 179 cm, inventory number MNK XII-231).

Allegorical portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Francesco Montemezzano, 1575-1585, Czartoryski Museum in Kraków.

Portraits of Anna Jagiellon by workshop of Tintoretto and Francesco Montemezzano

"There is a bridge across the Vistula near Warsaw, built at a great cost of Queen Anna, sister of King Sigismund Augustus, famous all over the Crown", wrote Venetian-born Polish writer Alessandro Guagnini dei Rizzoni (Aleksander Gwagnin) in his book Sarmatiae Europeae descriptio (Description of Sarmatian Europe), printed in Kraków in 1578.

On 5 April 1573, during the Royal Election after death of king Sigismund Augustus, the longest bridge of Renaissance Europe was opened to the public. The construction cost 100,000 florins, and Anna Jagiellon, willing to become a Queen, also allocated her own funds for this purpose. It was a great achievement and major political success praised by many poets like Jan Kochanowski, Sebastian Klonowic, Andrzej Zbylitowski and Stanisław Grochowski. 

The bridge, built of huge oaks and pines brought from Lithuania, was 500 meters long, 6 meters wide, it consisted of 22 spans and stood on 15 supports/towers that protected the construction. The construction, however, required constant renovations and was partially broken several times by ice floes on the Vistula River. It was severely damaged after Anna's coronation (1 May 1576) and in his letters from 15 August 1576 to the starosts, King Stephen Bathory recommended the delivery of wood for repair. Again in 1578 and the renovation was managed by Franciszek Wolski, voit of Tykocin. The wood material was floated from the San river. The works were completed in 1582 and "Anna Jagiellon, Queen of Poland, spouse, sister and daughter of grand kings, ordered the construction of this brick fortified tower", according to inscription on bronze plaque in Museum of Warsaw commemorating the fortified Bridge Gate.

Anna, as her brother, undeniably ordered some portraits to commemorate her role in construction and maintenance of the bridge. The portrait from private collection in Milan, attributed to Tintoretto or Veronese and depicting a blond woman in a crown against the view of a bridge, fit perfectly (compare Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda: 40683). Her facial features resemble greatly the portrait by Tintoretto in the Jagiellonian University Museum.

The painter depicted the bridge only symbolically in a small window. The recipients of the painting should know what it is about, there was no need to change the convention of Venetian portrait painting to show the whole construction.  

On her gown there is a symbol of six pointed star, in use since ancient times as a reference to the Creation and in Christian theology - star of Bethlehem. The star, was symbolic of light and of the preaching of Saint Dominic, who was the first to teach the Rosary as a form of meditative prayer, and become an attribute of Virgin Mary, as Queen of Heaven and as Stella Maris. The title, Stella Maris (Star of the Sea), is one of the oldest and most widespread titles applied to Virgin Mary. It came to be seen as allegorical of Mary's role as "guiding star" on the way to Christ.

The crown of stars is visible in a painting by Tintoretto in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (acquired from Francesco Pajaro in Venice in 1841), created in about 1570 showing Madonna and Child venerated by St. Marc and St. Luke, and in a painting of Madonna of the Rosary from Sandomierz, created by Polish painter in 1599 in which old Queen Anna was depicted with other members of her family and Saint Dominic. 

Thanks to Queen Anna's efforts the rosary confraternities, which mainly existed in Kraków were extended to all of Poland on 6 January 1577 and the annual feast of rosary was solemnly celebrated throughout the Commonwealth. She also donated, among other things, a few precious jewels and necklaces with which the image of Black Madonna of Częstochowa was adorned. In 1587 the Queen received the Golden Rose from Pope Sixtus V, which she offered to the collegiate church of St. John in Warsaw, lost. 

A somewhat similar portrait at bust length from a private collection in Italy is attributed to Giovanni Cariani (oil on canvas, 47 x 36 cm). It was probably cut from a larger canvas because the letters ... ND(Æ). of the original (or later) inscription are still visible in the upper left part.

The same woman in similar pose and in similar gown was depicted in painting by Francesco Montemezzano from William Coningham's collection in London (until 1849), now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (oil on canvas, 118.7 x 99.1 cm, inv. 29.100.104). This painting has traditionally been attributed to Veronese, to whose late work it is closely related.

Some sources confirm that the Italians had portraits of the elected queen Anna. According to a document kept in the Ducal Chancellery of Modena, in 1578 a Florentine from Kraków, Filippo Talducci, sent a portrait of the queen to Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, through one of his men who was going to Florence. Maciej Rywocki, who traveled the peninsula between 1584 and 1587, saw the portrait of Anna in the Villa Medici in Rome and Bernardo Soderini most likely also had it in the 1580s in his villa in Montughi near Florence (compare"Lodovicus Montius Mutinensis ..." by Rita Mazzei, p. 37-38).

​It is possible that the beautiful portrait of the Venetian noblewoman Bianca Cappello (1548-1587), who became Grand Duchess of Tuscany, attributed to Santi di Tito, or a copy of it, was in the possession of the elected queen Anna Jagellon. It depicts Bianca with a crown and a cabinet with a statue of Venus and Cupid. The painting comes from a collection in the south of France (oil on canvas 153 x 126 cm, Artcurial in Paris, November 13, 2018, lot 20). The two sovereigns frequently exchanged letters and gifts (after "The Court of Anna Jagiellon: Size, Structure and Functions" by Maria Bogucka, p. 103), and many paintings from the royal and magnate collections of Poland-Lithuania were transferred to France.

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with a symbolic view of the bridge in Warsaw by workshop of Tintoretto or Francesco Montemezzano, 1576-1582, Private collection. 

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by workshop of Tintoretto or Francesco Montemezzano, 1576-1582, Private collection. 

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with a dog by Francesco Montemezzano, ca. 1582, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

​Portrait of Bianca Cappello (1548-1587), Grand Duchess of Tuscany with a cabinet with a statue of Venus and Cupid by Santi di Tito, 1580-1587, Private collection. 

Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine with a portrait of queen Anna Jagiellon by Venetian painter

In 1556 having ambitions of becoming a Viceroy of Naples, Bona Sforza d'Aragona, Anna's mother, agreed to lend to her distant relative king Philip II of Spain a huge sum of 430,000 ducats at 10% annual interest, so-called "Neapolitan sums". Even when paid, the interest payment was late and according to some people the loan was one of the reasons why Bona was poisoned by her trusted courtier Gian Lorenzo Pappacoda.
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On November 10, 1573, and November 15, 1574 Catherine Jagiellon, Queen of Sweden, who had the right to a part of the Neapolitan sums in her dowry (50,000 ducats) agreed to renounce and cede it to her sister Anna, as the dispute deteriorated Polish-Swedish relations. 

The Commonwealth had bad experiences with a "foreign" candidate, Henry of Valois, who fled the country through Venice just few monts after election, therefore the only possible succesors of over 50 years old queen were children of her sister Catherine, Sigismund born in 1566 (elected as Commonwealth's monarch in 1587) and Anna born in 1568.
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The painting in the Prado Museum in Madrid (oil on canvas, 117 x 151 cm, inv. P000270), is very close in style to two portraits of Anna from the same period (in Vienna and Kassel). The lady in her 40s or 50s depicted as the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven is a clear indication that the scene has no purely religious meaning and it is very similar to other effigies of Anna, especially to the portrait by Tintoretto in Kraków.

According to the researchers the canvas should be attributed to Palma il Giovane, who created paintings for Anna's nephew and sucessor, Sigismund III Vasa (Psyche cycle and a painting for the St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw, destroyed during World War II) or Domenico Tintoretto, who painted several paintings for Anna's Chancellor, Jan Zamoyski. It has also been attributed to Lambert Sustris, a Flemish painter active in Venice. The canvas comes from the Spanish Royal Collection and the oldest confirmed provenance is the inventory of the collection of Queen Elisabeth Farnese (1692-1766) at the palace of La Granja, made in 1746, where it was listed as a work by Paolo Veronese (No. 274. Vna Pintura original en Lienzo de mano de Pablo Berones, que reptª el Desposorio de Stª Cathalina con el Niño, y Sn Juan abrazados de Ntrâ. Srª). 

In the collection of the Royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw there is a painting representing highly erotic subject of Leda and the swan by Palma il Giovane or his workshop from the last quarter of the 16th century (oil on canvas, 130.5 x 152 cm, inv. Wil.1053). It is uncertain how it found its way there, so the option that it was commissioned by Anna, who, as her mother Bona, was strongly engaged in maintaining good relation with her husband Stephen Bathory, is very probable. The painting is also connected with Stanisław Kostka Potocki (1755-1821), who owned such a painting, acquired as the work of the "Cavalier Liberi", probably Pietro Liberi (1605-1687).

The mystical marriage of Saint Catherine, a symbol of spiritual grace, should be interprated then that Catherine's children still have claims to the Neapolitan sums and the crown. Its history before 1746 is unknown, therefore it cannot be excluded that the painting was sent to the Spanish Habsburgs, just as her portrait in Vienna, personally by the queen. 

In November 1575, hence shortly before her election, Anna sent to Spain her envoy Stanisław Fogelweder, who was her ambassador there until 1587. She also had her informal envoys in Spain, dwarves Ana de Polonia (Anna of Poland, died 1578) and Estanislao (Stanislaus, died 1579).

Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine with a portrait of queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) by Venetian painter, possibly Palma il Giovane or Domenico Tintoretto, 1576-1586, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Leda and the swan by Palma il Giovane or workshop, fourth quarter of the 16th century, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

The Banquet of Cleopatra with portraits of Anna Jagiellon, Stephen Bathory and Jan Zamoyski by Leandro Bassano 

On 1 May 1576, then 52 years old Infanta Anna Jagiellon married ten years younger Voivode of Transylvania Stephen Bathory and was crowned as co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Soon after the wedding the king started to avoid his elderly wife. He dedicated her just three wedding nights and didn't look into her bedroom afterward. The papal nuncio in Poland, Giovanni Andrea Caligari, reported in August 1578, that the king does not trust her, that he is afraid of being poisoned by her, an art her mother, Bona, was well acquainted with, and he adds in a letter of February 1579, that she is haughty and vigorous (altera e gagliarda di cervello). One night, Anna wanted to visit Bathory, but he escaped. Many people witnessed this event, the Queen developed a fever and was subjected to phlebotomy.

King Stephen reportedly never held a great attraction for the marriage state and women in general, and he married Anna only to do a nice thing for the nation, she however was under the illusion that she would keep her husband with her and seduce him with boisterous balls and feasts. Primate Jan Tarnowski wrote in a letter to a Lithuanian magnate that "as she caught up a man, she carries her mouth high and proud".

The Queen had a grudge against Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, who according to Bartosz Paprocki "wanting to be a lord in Masovia, he sowed disagreement between the king and the queen" and "caused that the king did not live with the queen". Some "distasteful" rumors were also spread during the expedition to Polotsk in 1578, when the king slept in the same hut with Gaspar Bekes, his trusted friend (after Jerzy Besala's "Wstręt króla do królowej").

When Stephen left his wife in 1576, he did not see her, with some breaks, until 1583. She resided in Warsaw in Masovia where in a spacious and richly furnished wooden mansion in Jazdów (Ujazdów), built by her mother Queen Bona, she often held festivities and court games, he in Grodno (in todays Belarus). In January 1578 she organized in Jazdów famous wedding celebrations for Jan Zamoyski and his Calvinist second wife Kristina Radziwill, which lasted for several days.

Anna hoped that the allure of court life would fascinate her husband and keep him close to her. Vincenzo Laureo, the papal nuncio, wrote in his letter that the queen, after returning to Warsaw, entertained her husband with numerous banquets, balls, receptions, and other entertainments. She brought many objects and items from Italy to Jazdów and had the walls covered with golden samite and tapestries. Her apartments were adorned with a gallery of paintings depicting members of the Jagiellonian family. Following the example of her brother, Sigismund II Augustus, she collected precious stones and jewelry. As was the custom at all courts, Anna had dwarfs (mostly women) and jesters among her servants, and she also organized shows and performances. Her courtiers were often dispatched to Germany, Austria, Italy. The high qualifications of her collaborators are attested by the fact that, since 1572, her personal secretary was the famous philologist and humanist Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki (Andreas Patricius Nidecicus, 1522-1587), educated in Padua. As a religious person, Anna offered many churches rich donations: paintings, gold and silver vessels, altar cloths and chasubles (after "The Court of Anna Jagiellon: Size, Structure and Functions" by Maria Bogucka, p. 101-103).

In February 1579, the Queen prepared a court ball, awaiting Stephen's arrival. In the evening, the Warsaw Castle was illuminated, and the inhabitants were waiting for the king's arrival. Unfortunately, only the messenger with the letter arrived. The king wrote in it that due to the preparations for the war expedition, he would spend the whole year in Lithuania. The disappointed queen "ordered the lights to be turned off and the instruments to be taken out, and with great anger she retreated to her chambers", wrote the nuncio in a letter of February 26. The courtiers rumored that he wanted to divorce her.

The King and Queen reunited in June 1583 in Kraków for the opulent wedding celebrations of Zamoyski with his third wife and a king's niece, Griselda Bathory. The wedding feast was held in the chambers of Queen Anna at the Wawel Castle. The lavish tournaments and a procession of masks was illustrated by an Italian artist in a "Tournois magnifique tenu en Pologne", today in the National Library of Sweden.

Rich Venetian fabrics, like these used in chasubles founded by Anna and her husband (Cathedral Museum in Kraków) or vessels, like enamelled basin with her coat of arms and monogram (Czartoryski Museum), acquired by Anna in Venice, were undoubtedly used during the feasts. The sources confirm that allegorical paintings were brought to the Polish court from Venice for Sigismund III Vasa, Anna's sucessor, like Psyche cycle by Palma il Giovane or Diana and Caliosto by Antonio Vassilacchi. 

"You subjects learned this riding from your king", snapped resentful Anna in 1583, when someone from her court set off on a journey (after "Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki ..." by Kazimierz Morawski, p. 257-258).
​
The Banquet of Cleopatra by Leandro Bassano in Stockholm shows an episode described by both Pliny's's Natural History (9.58.119-121) and Plutarch's Lives (Antony 25.36.1), in which the spartan Roman warrior Antony being seduced by the sensual opulence of Cleopatra (Nationalmuseum, oil on canvas, 232 x 231 cm, inv. NM 133). 

The Queen of Egypt takes an expensive pearl, reputed to have aphrodisiac qualities, because of an association between pearls and Venus, the goddess of love, and dissolves it in her wine, which she then drinks. It is a culmination of a wager between Cleopatra and Mark Antony as to which one could provide the most expensive feast, which Cleopatra won. Lucius Munatius Plancus, a Roman senator had been asked to judge the wager. 

The three protagonists are clearly Anna Jagiellon as Cleopatra, her husband Stephen Bathory as Mark Antony and his friend Jan Zamoyski as Lucius and the painting was commissioned by the Queen to one of her residences, most probably Jazdów. 

It is recorded in the Swedish royal collection as far as 1739, therefore, most probably, it was taken from Poland during the Deluge (1655-1660), like the marble lions from Ujazdów Castle, or during the Great Northern War (1700-1721). 

In 1578 with the support of Queen Anna the Brotherhood of Saint Anne was founded in Warsaw at the Bernardine Church of Saint Anne, and approved by the Pope with the bull Ex incumbenti in 1579. The first member and guardian of this fraternity was Jan Zamoyski, chancellor and great hetman of the Crown. In her best-known portraits as a widow wearing a long veil and wimple, including the copy made by the workshop of the Venetian painter Alessandro Maganza (National Museum in Warsaw, inv. MP 5323), the queen is depicted as the founder and protector of the Brotherhood of Saint Anne with a golden distinctorium (a badge) of the Brotherhood in the form of a gold medallion with a representation of Saint Anne.

The painting by the same author, Leandro Bassano, from the Swedish royal collection, showing Saint Anne and the infant Virgin Mary was also undeniably created for Anna Jagiellon around the same time as the Banquet of Cleopatra (Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, oil on canvas, 117 x 99 cm, inv. NM 132). In 1760 this Catholic painting with Bernardine nuns was in the collection of Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, who freely converted from Calvinism to Lutheran when she moved to Sweden. It is another indication that this painting also was taken from Poland during the Deluge by Swedish or Prussian (Brandenburgian) forces. 

​Also other paintings by Bassano family and their workshop in Poland were created for partrons in Poland, like the Forge of Vulcan by Francesco Bassano the Younger in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 98.5 x 136.5 cm, inv. M.Ob.86 MNW). It was aquired in 1880 from Wojciech Kolasiński. Taking into consideration that other versions of this painting are in royal collections of "friendly" countries (Prado Museum in Madrid, inv. P005120, recorded as far as 1746 and Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, inv. GG 5737, recorded in Ambras collection in 1663), it is highly possible that it was commissioned or aquired by Bathory or Anna's successor Sigismund III. 

The work of Bassano's workshop inspired Polish artists of later periods. Although the anonymous painter of the second half of the 17th century or the beginning of the 18th century who painted the Adoration of the Magi in the Bernardine Church in Tarnów may have been inspired by an engraving by Raphael Sadeler the Elder after a painting by Jacopo Bassano, made in 1598 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 2012.136.588), like the artist of the painting auctioned in Stockholm (Stockholms Auktionsverk, January 13, 2017, number 432919), he may have seen an original made in Venice in the 16th century. The central figure of the kneeling Saint Melchior, dressed in eastern, clearly Sarmatian, costume, is very similar.

The Banquet of Cleopatra with portraits of Anna Jagiellon, Stephen Bathory and Jan Zamoyski by Leandro Bassano, ca. 1578-1586, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Saint Anne and the infant Virgin Mary by Leandro Bassano, ca. 1578-1586, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Forge of Vulcan by Francesco Bassano the Younger, 4th quarter of the 16th century, National Museum in Warsaw.

AI-generated view of the wooden villa of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, of Ujazdów (Jazdów) in Warsaw, based on my hypothetical schematic drawing and 1606 plan by Alessandro Albertini (Il sito della villa di Jasdovia).

Portrait of Pope Gregory XIII and portrait of Constantine Vasily, Prince of Ostroh by workshop of Francesco or Leandro Bassano

Despite huge losses during the wars, other conflicts and fires Venetian painting is particularly richly represented in the National Art Gallery in Lviv in Ukraine. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Lviv, the second largest city in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with a population of around 30,000, was the capital of the Ruthenian Voivodeship.

Among the notable works, one could distinguish the Sleeping Venus by Palma Vecchio, portrait of an old man by Titian, identified as effigy of Antonio Grimani (1434-1523), Doge of Venice (oil on canvas, 94 x 79.8, signed in upper right corner: Titianus P[inxit]), offered by professor Florian Singer in 1858, portrait of Francis I (1494-1547), King of France by circle of Titian after original by Joos van Cleve (oil on copper, 16.5 x 12.5 cm, inventory number Ж-41), from the collection of count Leon Piniński, Saint John the Baptist in the wilderness by workshop of Jacopo Bassano (oil on wood, 51 x 67 cm, Ж-287), a copy of work created in 1558 for the altar of the family Testa di San Giovanni in the church of San Francesco in Bassano, Madonna and Child as the Queen of Heaven with Saints by workshop of Jacopo Tintoretto (oil on canvas, 46 x 53 cm, inventory number Ж-755), from the collection of Wiktor Baworowski (1826-1894), David with a sword, presumably a fragment of a larger composition by Venetian painter (oil on canvas, 67 x 78 cm, Ж-1377), from the Lubomirski collection and Saint Veronica wiping the face of Christ on the road to Calvary by Palma il Giovane, until 1940 in the collection of Major Kündl.

Given the extensive economic and artistic contacts of the Commonwealth with the Venetian Republic at that time, we should assume that at least two-thirds of these paintings originally found their way into the Commonwealth already at the time of creation by different means (purchases or gifts).

Among interesting portraits of the Italian school in the gallery, there is a portrait of Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590) from the collection of the Ossolineum in Lviv (oil on canvas, 116 x 95 cm, Ж-4947). In 1586, in the bull issued on October 10, Sixtus, who was a pope from 1585 to his death in 1590, confirmed the brotherhood of Saint Anne, founded in Warsaw by Queen Anna Jagiellon in 1578. The establishment of the brotherhood was approved by Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585) in 1579 and confirmed in 1581 by his nuncio to Poland Giovanni Andrea Caligari (1527-1613), bishop of Bertinoro and again in 1584 by another nuncio of Gregory XIII Alberto Bolognetti (1538-1585), who before coming to Poland served as nuncio in the Republic of Venice (1578-1581). In the Commonwealth, Bolognetti was confronted with the advance of Protestantism and the spread of indifferentism. Numbers of both high and low clergy had gone over to Protestantism, some even to atheism. Presentation for church posts at all levels was under the control of local magnates or the king and selection had more to do with loyalty than religious views or vocation. He emphasized to king Stephen Bathory the necessity of appointing only Catholics to office, but with limited success. He also reported to Rome about the trade with Flanders, the port of Gdańsk, where the English heretics had considerable influence, and activities of Spanish agents in Poland, buying grain and other commodities.

On May 1, 1584 Pope Gregory XIII declares the feast of St. Anne. The Pope sent the queen a gift of Agnus Dei through Stanisław Hozjusz, which he had consecrated, supported her during the royal elections and with her efforts at the Spanish court concerning the Neapolitan sums. With the help of the queen and her sister Catherine, Queen of Sweden, he secretly sent several priests and Jesuits to Sweden. In 1580, Paweł Uchański delivered a sacred sword (Wawel Royal Castle) and a hat from Gregory XIII to Anna's husband Stephen Bathory in Vilnius and in about 1578 the pope offered the king the coral rosary (Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, E 65.76). 

Gregory also established a personal correspondence with Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), Prince of Ostroh, a leder and a promoter of Eastern Christian culture in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. On June 6, 1583 the Pope granted his son Janusz (1554-1620), who after education at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor in Vienna converted from Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism in 1579, the privilege of a portable altar. In a letter of July 8, 1583, Prince Constantine Vasily wrote to the Pope that he met the nuncio Bolognetti in Kraków and discussed with him the problem of "some people who with all zeal seek only disagreement" (after "Unia Brzeska z perspektywy czterech stuleci" by Jan Sergiusz Gajek, ‎Stanisław Nabywaniec, p. 33) and he sent to the Pope "Chyzycen, the archbishop of the Greek rites; asking him for a copy of the bible, written in Slavic language, which he could reprint for the benefit of the people of the Greek religion". Constantine Vasily also favored the introduction of the Gregorian calendar (introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII), however the Patriarch of Constantinople "severely reprimanded the Prince of Ostroh for recommending the change of the calendar to the Ruthenian people".

Numerous portraits of the ruling popes undoubtedly belonged to Queen Anna Jagiellon and the catholic magnates of the Commonwealth. Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616) had oil portraits of Popes Sixtus V and Paul V and Cardinals Francesco Sforza, Charles Borromeo and Alessandro Farnese (after "Monumenta variis Radivillorum ..." by Tadeusz Bernatowicz, p. 18) and according to Latin poem "Paintings in the hall in Zamość" (Imagines diaetae Zamoscianae) by Szymon Szymonowic (Simon Simonides), published in Zamość in 1604, Hetman Jan Zamoyski had a portrait of Sixtus V (To Sykstus Piąty - chlubny z tego miana). The portrait of Pope Clement VIII (Ippolito Aldobrandini) in the National Museum in Kielce (inv. MNKi/M/1651), painted in about 1592, could be a gift to Anna Jagiellon or her nephew Sigismund III Vasa.

It is highly possible that the portrait in Lviv also comes from magnate or royal collection. The sitter is identified as Sixtus V, however, he resemble more the effigies of his predecessor Gregory XIII - portrait by Bartolomeo Passarotti (Friedenstein Palace in Gotha), a small portrait with inscription GREGORIVS. XIII P. M. (The Antique Guild), engraving with inscription GREGORIVS. XIII. PAPA. BONONIEN. (Fototeca Gilardi) and especially a portrait attributed to Scipione Pulzone. 

The features, pose and costume are very similar, the only noticeable difference is only the color of the eyes, however Anna Jagiellon also has a different eye color in her portraits by workshop of Cranach (Czartoryski Museum) and Kober (Wilanów Palace). Also the style of this portrait is very interesting and close to that of Venetian painters Francesco and Leandro Bassano. The painter simplified the composition, probably intentionally he omitted the back of the Pope's chair, which indicate that the portrait was part of a series of similar portraits, some of which were intended for the Polish-Lithuanian market. The portrait of Constantine Vasily, Prince of Ostroh with a crucifix (unknown location, possibly lost during World War II) from the 1590s, was painted in the same style. 

Portrait of Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585) by workshop of Francesco or Leandro Bassano, 1572-1585, Lviv National Art Gallery.

Portrait of Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), Prince of Ostroh with a crucifix by Leandro Bassano or follower, 1590s, location unknown, possibly lost during World War II. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Portraits of Jadwiga Sieniawska, Voivodess of Ruthenia by the Bassano workshop and Jacopo Tintoretto

"You equated the state with the shy Diana, / You equated the face with the rosy Venus. [...] / Adornment of the earth! happy, happy, / To whom God has appointed you kind, / To whom Hymenaios in the steady words / And with eternal torches joined you", wrote in his poem entitled "To Miss Jadwiga Tarłówna, (later voivodess of Ruthenia)", a Polish poet of the late Renaissance Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński (ca. 1550 - ca. 1581). It is considered an epithalamium, a wedding song for the wedding with the lord of Berezhany (Brzeżany), Hieronim Sieniawski (1519-1582), who married Tarłówna in 1575. 

Jadwiga was the fifth child of Jan Tarło, standard-bearer of Lviv, and Regina Malczycka. She came from the ancient Tarło family from Szczekarzowice. Her parents owned Chapli (Czaple nad Strwiążęm) near Sambir (Sambor) and a part of Khyriv (Chyrów) in the Ruthenian Voivodeship (Ukraine). "Lords of Hungary and Wallachia" wanted to marry her and King Sigismund Augustus promised her hand to Bogdan IV (1555-1574), Prince of Moldavia in 1572, but he was deposed that year (after "Brzeżany w czasach Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej: monografia historyczna" by Maurycy Maciszewski, p. 78-80).

After death of her father (died in 1570 or 1572) and before marriage, she most probably lived at the very Italianized court of king's sister, Infanta Anna Jagiellon. Jadwiga received from father as a dowry only 3,000 zlotys and 1,500 zlotys in jewels, and from her mother 2,000 zlotys. It was a considerable amount for those times, but far from being a magnate's fortune. In June 1574, Hieronim buried his third wife, Anna née Maciejowska, and ordered a beautiful marble tombstone for her. Just few months later, in 1575, at the age of 56, he married Jadwiga who was about 25 years old (born in about 1550). The bridegroom bequeathed 14,000 zlotys to her as a dower. The next year (1576), she gave birth to Hieronim's only son, Adam Hieronim. Her husband died in 1582 and was buried in the family chapel in Berezhany. The young widow founded a beautiful tomb monument for him and his father and dedicated herself to raising her only son and did not remarry. She was glorified on a marble plaque in the castle church in Berezhany for restoring the weakened fortune to good condition after her husband's death: "These monuments were laid to her father-in-law and to her sweet husband by Jadwiga née Tarło, both with her powerful virtue, which she shines in her homeland, and with the sharpness of her mind. May our ages produce more of likewise matrons here and everywhere! The Republic would flourish if each of them would restore lost goods in this way after her husband's death" (Haec socero et dulci posait monumenta marito / Tarlonum Hedvigis progenerata domo, / Virtate omnigena patrio quae claret in orbe, / Nec minus ingenii dexteritate sui. / O utinam similes illi praesentia plures / Saecula matronas hic et ubique ferant ! / Publica res floreret abi post fata mariti / Quaelibet amissas sic repararet opes).

According to the sculptor's monogram (H.H.Z.) hidden behind the statue of Hieronim, the monument was created by Hendrik Horst (d. 1612), a Dutch sculptor from Groningen, active in Lviv since 1573. The overall design of this tomb monument, destroyed during World War II, resemble the monument to King Sigismund II Augustus in the Wawel Cathedral, founded by Queen Anna Jagiellon and created between 1574-1575 by Santi Gucci, and monument to Doge Francesco Venier (1489-1556) by Jacopo Sansovino and Alessandro Vittoria in San Salvador in Venice, created between 1556-1561. Until 1939 in the armoury of the Berezhany Castle in the western tower, there was a large painting depicting the funeral procession of Mikołaj Sieniawski (ca. 1489-1569), Jadwiga's father-in-law, in Lublin in 1569 with king Sigismund Augustus and lords of the kingdom. 

The deathbed conversion of Hieronim Sieniawski, a definitive Calvinist, was also influenced by his fourth wife, Tarłówna, a zealous Catholic according to papal nuncio, with the aid of Benedictus Herbestus Neapolitanus (Benedykt Zieliński or Benedykt Herbest), educated in Rome. Also Hieronim's sisters converted shortly after his death, closing numerous Calvinist churches on their estates (after "Calvinism in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth 1548-1648" by Kazimierz Bem, p. 181). In 1584 she issued a location privilege for the new town of Adamówka, named in honor of her son, later a suburb of Berezhany and most probably founded the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Her only son, who most probably, like all his three sons later, studied in Padua before 1593, employed at his court Venetian engineer and architect Andrea dell'Aqua.

A painting by workshop of Jacopo Bassano (1515-1592) of unknown provenance in the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art, shows a wealthy lady in the mythological scene of Abduction of Europa (oil on canvas, 108 x 90 cm). In the same museum there is also a portrait of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (d. 1565) by Lambert Sustris, identified and attributed by me. 

In the 1560s Jacopo Bassano created several versions of Adoration of the Magi (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, The State Hermitage Museum) with a man in a costume of a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman depicted as Melchior, the old man of the three Magi, comparable to effigies of Constantine (ca. 1460-1530), Prince of Ostroh by Lucas Cranach the Elder. He wears a green kaftan with sweeping floor-length sleeves and a fur collar, very similar to those visible in the effigy of a Polish horseman by Abraham de Bruyn, published in 1577 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) or in his Twelve Polish and Hungarian types, published in 1581 (also in the Rijksmuseum) or in the picture of a Polish-Lithuanian noble in "Theatrum virtutum ac meritorum D. Stanislai Hosii" by Thomas Treter, created between 1595-1600 (National Library in Warsaw). The effigy of the old man represented as Melchior, possibly intentionally or unintentionally, bear a resemblance to the effigy of Jadwiga's father-in-law, Mikołaj Sieniawski, Voivode of Ruthenia (and a Calvinist), from the tomb monument founded by her. According to some sources Mikołaj also converted to the Catholic faith shortly before his death (died in 1569), therefore he could commisson a series of his effigies as one of the Magi, or the painter just inspired by the images of Mikołaj commissioned in his studio. Bassano also dressed a kneeling man at the center of the Vision of Saint Eleutherius from the high altar of the church of Sant'Eleuterio in Vicenza (Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, inv. 401) in a similar costume. Such costumes are also seen in two Adorations of the Magi by the circle of Jacopo Bassano in the private collection in Sweden (Stockholms Auktionsverk, January 13, 2017, number 432919; August 25, 2019, number 669586).

In the myth, the god Zeus (Jupiter) assumed the form of a bull and enticed Europa to climb onto his back. The bull carried her to Crete, where Europa became the first Queen and had three children with Zeus. Unlike the earlier, very erotic version of the scene painted between 1560-1562 by Titian for King Philip II of Spain (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston) with Europa sprawled helplessly in open-legged posture and her face not visible, in Bassano's painting the woman's face is clearly visible. This portrait-like historié picture was therefore commissioned by this woman. In the 17th century Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673), Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in a large painting attributed to Jan Mijtens (La Suite Subastas in Barcelona, May 26, 2023, lot 26) and Madame de Montespan (1640-1707), chief royal mistress (maîtresse-en-titre) of King Louis XIV of France, and her children, in another large composition from the studio of Pierre Mignard (Kurpfälzisches Museum Heidelberg, L39), were represented in such historié paintings in the guise of Europa.

In the foreground there is a rabbit as an allegory of fertility, a duck, associated with Penelope, queen of Ithaca, as a symbol of marital fidelity, and a small dog, allegory of fidelity and devotion. A Cupid sitting on a tree in the upper right corner is prepared to aim an arrow at her heart. The island of Crete is visible in the far background, but the landscape around is similar to topography of Berezhany as depicted on the Austrian map of 1779-1783. There is a large lake (regulated in the 18th century) and two hills, which were depicted by the painter as rocky Alpine hills. Another, horizontal version of this composition, from private collection in Rome and attributed to circle of Francesco Bassano (1549-1592), was sold in 2021 (oil on canvas, 96 x 120 cm, Finarte, November 16, 2021, lot 73). In both paintings the woman has a fashionable hairstyle from the late 1570s or early 1580s and the painting in Rome was most probably sent as a gift to the Pope or one of the cardinals (this woman managed to convert to Catholicism the Voivode of Ruthenia!). A number of paintings by Francesco Bassano and his workshop are also in Poland (Adoration of the Magi with a Polish nobleman and Forge of Vulcan in the National Museum in Warsaw, Forge of Vulcan in the National Museum in Poznań or Annunciation to the shepherds in the Wawel Royal Castle and another in the Museum of the Warsaw Archdiocese). 

The same woman was also depicted in a portrait of a lady in a green dress (a color being symbolic of fertility), attributed variously to Jacopo and Leandro Bassano, in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California (oil on canvas, 78.7 x 65.4 cm, inv. F.1965.1.002.P). The picture was previously in the Edward Cheney collections in Badger Hall in Badger, near Wolverhampton, England (demolished in 1952). A pendant on a gold chain around her neck is a jewel in which two different stones and a pearl are set, each with its own precise meaning: the ruby indicates charity, the emerald indicates chastity, and a pearl is a symbol of marriage fidelity. The woman's dress and hairstyle are very simular to those visible in a self-portrait with madrigal by Marietta Robusti in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, dated to about 1578 (inventory 1890 n. 1898).

​A signed painting by Leandro Bassano (signature: Leandro) from Jan Gwalbert Pawlikowski collection is in the Wawel Royal Castle and Lamentation of Christ, attributed to him is in the Vereshchagin Art Museum in Mykolaiv, close to Odessa. Interestingly, in 2005, the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania acquired a copy of the Mykolaiv painting from a private collection in Rome, probably made by the workshop of Palma il Giovane (oil on canvas, 85 x 79 cm, inv. VR-7). Resurrection of Lazarus from the altar of the Mocenigo family in the church of Santa Maria della Carità in Venice (today in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, oil on canvas, 416 x 237 cm, inv. 252), another signed work by Leandro Bassano (LEANDER / BASSANE.is / F.), dated to between 1592-1596, shows a man in a costume of a Polish-Lithuanian noble. The architecture of a villa and a peasant's hat in Sheep Shearing (Autumn?) by the imitator of the Bassanos, a painting from the Sułkowski collection painted at the beginning of the 17th century (National Museum in Warsaw, inv. 232153), indicate that the painter may have created the work in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The early provenance of these paintings is now impossible to establish, but their number, given the enormous destruction of the heritage of the former Commonwealth, indicates that the Bassano workshop was actively engaged in the "production" of paintings for the Sarmatian market.

She was also depicted as a widow in a portrait by Jacopo Tintoretto in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden (oil on canvas, 104 x 87 cm, inv. Gal.-Nr. 265 A). This painting was probably acquired in Venice by Duke Francesco I d'Este (1610-1658) and listed as "Portrait of a woman dressed in black - Titian" (Ritratto di donna vestita de nero - Tiziano) in the inventory of 1744 of the Galleria Estense in Modena, then sold to Augustus III of Poland-Lithuania-Saxony in 1746 (as portrait of Caterina Cornaro). This portrait is dated to early 1550s, however similar costume of a Venetian widow (Vidua Veneta / Vefue Venetiene) is visible in an engraving representing Ten women dressed according to Italian fashion by Abraham de Bruyn, created in about 1581 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam). The style of this picture can be compared with portrait of the Procurator Alessandro Gritti in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, dated to between 1581-1582, and portrait of Piotr Krajewski (1547-1598), żupnik of Zakroczym in the Masovian Museum in Płock, dated "1583" (oil on panel, 102 x 83.5 cm, inv. MMP/S/7). The latter painting is generally attributed to circle of Martin Kober, however the man's face is painted in the same style as the widow in Dresden. Krajewski, a nobleman of Leliwa coat of arms, was the owner of villages Mochty and Smoszewo and a manager (żupnik) which oversaw the salt storehouse in Zakroczym near Warsaw, the seat of Infanta Anna Jagiellon. His portrait was most probably commissioned in Venice and a court painter in Warsaw added coat of arms and inscription (painted in different style). 

A miniature copy of this portrait was photographed around 1880 by Edward Trzemeski in the Yellow Room of Pidhirtsi (Podhorce) Castle near Lviv, opposite another miniature, a copy of portrait of Catherine Jagiellon, Duchess of Finland in white. Due to the layout, both were probably copies of prints by Pierre-François Basan based on the original paintings, published in the Recueil d'Estampes d'après les plus célèbres Tableaux de la Galerie Royale de Dresde in 1753 (number 11 and 12), when the two paintings were attributed to Titian, however, this selection and placement above the door might suggest that in the 18th century there were still clues to the identity of the two women and their connection to Poland-Lithuania.

In the Zhytomyr Region History Museumin Ukraine there is a portrait of Giovanni Francesco Sagredo (1571-1620), a Venetian mathematician and close friend of Galileo, painted by Gerolamo Bassano (oil on panel, 78 х 65 cm, inv. ЖМ-2, inscription on the back: GIOVANNI FRANCESCO SAGREDO VENEZIANO). The painting comes from the nationalized collections of barons de Chaudoir (the family may come from a line of French Protestant emigrants who fled in 1685 from Belgium and one de Chaudoire worked at the court of King Stanislaus Augustus). In the 1590s Sagredo studied privately with Galileo in Padua and in 1596 at the age of 25 he became a member of the Great Council of Venice. His portrait attributed to Gerolamo Bassano in the Ashmolean Museum depict him in the robes of the a Procurator of Saint Mark, therefore the portrait from Zhytomyr like the effigy from private collection, attributed to circle of Domenico Tintoretto, should be dated to before 1596, therefore could be acquired by Adam Hieronim during his potential studies in Italy. Sagredo was depicted in a crimson tunic similar to Polish-Lithuanian żupan. 

It is possible that all mentioned paintings by Venetian painting workshops, in Odessa, Mykolaiv and Zhytomyr, originate from the same collection - "the Eastern Wawel": Berezhany Castle, dispersed among several museums in Ukraine. Despite that no signed likenesses of Jadwiga Sieniawska née Tarło or her close relatives have preserved, basing on all these facts the mentioned potraits should be indentified as her effigies.

Abduction of Europa with portrait of Jadwiga Sieniawska née Tarło, Voivodess of Ruthenia by workshop of Jacopo Bassano, 1578-1582, Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art.

Abduction of Europa with portrait of Jadwiga Sieniawska née Tarło, Voivodess of Ruthenia by workshop of Francesco Bassano, 1578-1582, Private collection.

Portrait of Jadwiga Sieniawska née Tarło, Voivodess of Ruthenia in a green dress by Jacopo or Leandro Bassano, ca. 1578, Norton Simon Museum.

Lamentation of Christ by Leandro Bassano, late 16th century, Vereshchagin Art Museum in Mykolaiv.

Portrait of Jadwiga Sieniawska née Tarło, Voivodess of Ruthenia in mourning by Jacopo Tintoretto, ca. 1582, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.

Portrait of Piotr Krajewski (1547-1598), żupnik of Zakroczym by workshop of Jacopo Tintoretto, 1583, Masovian Museum in Płock.

Portrait of Giovanni Francesco Sagredo (1571-1620) by Gerolamo Bassano, 1590s, Zhytomyr Region History Museum. 

​Portrait of a man in Sarmatian costume from the Resurrection of Lazarus by Leandro Bassano, ca. 1592-1596, Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.

Portraits of king Stephen Bathory by Venetian painters

"I was chosen to be your king, at your request and urging I have come here; you have placed the crown on my head: I am therefore your real and legal king, not imaginary or painted; I want to reign and command and I will not tolerate being commanded. Be the guardians of your freedom, but do not want to become my tutors. Be such guardians that freedom does not become an abuse" (Dum in regem vestrum sum electus, vobis postulantibus et instantibus huc veni; per vos est corona capiti meo imposita: sum igitur rex vester non fictus neque pictus, sed realis et legalis; volo regnare et imperare, nec sinam ut mihi quis imperet. Custodes libertatis vestrae estis, non igitur vos volo paedagogos meos fieri; tuemini et servate libertates vestras, sed prudenter cavete, ne haec libertas vestra in abusum vertatur), declared Stephen Bathory (1533-1586) at the Sejm in Toruń in 1576 to the lords of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. According to Tadeusz Ulewicz (1917-2012), this statement was the first in Polish culture allusion to Venetian painting, and the king was familiar with the decoration of the Higher Council Hall (Sala del Maggior Consiglio) of the Doge's Palace in Venice, where the frieze running along the ceiling of the walls of the great hall depicted portraits of the Doges (compare "Dolabella. Wenecki malarz Wazów. Katalog wystawy", ed. Magdalena Białonowska, p. 42). It is even more likely, however, that the king was referring to state portraits commissioned on the occasion of his accession, most likely also in Venice, and probably similar to the effigies of the elected doges, who were glorified in splendid paintings by local painters. The king therefore wanted to emphasize to the nobility that, although he was elected by them, he is a powerful ruler of the kingdom not only in paintings.

​Official portraiture showed Bathory as he should look like and as he was perceived, imagined by average and less educated subjects, i.e. a strong, powerful, masculine monarch in rich national costume, a man capable to protect the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Tsar Ivan the Terrible, a brutal tyrant, who used terror and cruelty as a method of controlling his country and who invaded the Commonwealth during the second royal election after Henry of Valois's sudden return to France in mid-June 1574 through Venice. The Tsar had captured Pärnu on July 9, 1575, took as many as 40 thousand captives (according to Świętosław Orzelski) and devastated much of central Livonia. Anna Jagiellon and Bathory were elected just few months later on December 15.

In private effigies or these dedicated to his European colleagues Bathory could allow himself to be depicted as educated in Padua lover of astronomy, in a cloak of a simple soldier in his army or as an old, tired man. 

The portrait by Tintoretto from the Spanish royal collection, now in the Prado Museum in Madrid (oil on canvas, 54 x 43 cm, inv. P000374), shows Bathory in a toga-like attire similar to the costume of a Venetian magistrate. It is a kopieniak a sleeveless raincoat of Turkish origin (kepenek), popular at that time in Hungary (köpenyeg). According to Stanisław Sarnicki's "Księgi hetmańskie", published in 1577-1578, kopieniak was a sort of Gabina (gabìno), a toga in ancient Rome, while according to Encyklopedja powszechna ("Universal encyclopedia", vol. 15, 1864, p. 446) in Poland the attire and a word were popularized by Bathory, "who used the kopieniak in hunting and during war expeditions". 

After king's death some of his robes valued at 5351 zlotys were given to his courtiers. The inventory made in Grodno on 15 December 1586 includes many kopieniaks, made by his Hungarian tailor Andrasz, like the most valuable "scarlet kopieniak lined with sables with one silk button and a loop, 1548 zlotys worth", "12 navy blue half-kopieniaks lined with sables, with gold buttons" or "4 kopieniaks of different colors" (after "Pamiętniki do historyi Stefana króla polskiego ..." by Edward Raczyński, p. 143, 152-153, 157)​.

The king's face was similarly depicted in the beautiful engraving with his portrait by Giacomo Franco included in Antiqvitatvm Romanarvm (Treatise on Roman Antiquities) by Paolo Manuzio (Paulus Manutius, 1512-1574), published in Bologna in 1585 (Czartoryski Library of Kraków, 2335 III Cim). The earliest known provenance of this painting is the 1772 inventory of the collection of Charles III of Spain at the Royal Palace of Madrid, where it was listed with two other "Venetian men" and as an "original by Paolo Veronese" (Tres retratos poco mas de las cabezas de vnos varones venecianos de a dos tercias de caida y media vara de ancho originales de Pablo Verones, item 97). The powerful King Philip II of Spain (1527-1598) must have received a portrait of Bathory, but since he was only an elected king of a distant land, and moreover he did not demonstrate his status by rich clothing, it is understandable that the portrait was listed as "A Venetian man" in the 18th century, when the rich and influential Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the Renaissance was a vague memory.

​Portraits were part of the diplomacy of the time, reflecting the complex relationships in Europe, alliances and friendships. The portrait of the procurator Vincenzo Morosini (1511-1588), one of the leading senators of his time, prefect of Bergamo and general responsible for continental affairs of the Republic of Venice, now in the Wawel Royal Castle (oil on canvas, 101 x 85 cm, inv. PZS 47), could be another reminder of these relationships. On December 15, 1578, Morosini was appointed procurator of San Marco, after the death of Tommaso Contarini, and it was probably on this occasion that he commissioned Tintoretto to paint a series of his portraits, one of which could potentially have been sent to the notables of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as early as 1578 or shortly after. The Wawel painting comes from the collection of Count Leon Jan Piniński (1857-1938) in Lviv, donated to the State Collections in 1931.

The portrait of a bearded man with hourglass and astrolabe by Francesco Bassano from Ambras Castle in Innsbruck (oil on canvas, 106.3 x 89.8 cm, GG 5775), is very similar in style and composition to the portrait of Anna Jagiellon in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 33). The painting is documented in the Ambras collection in 1663. ​Before February 1, 1582 Bathory offered to Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria many items captured during the Siege of Pskov to his large collection of armaments in Ambras, including his armor accompanied by a portrait and resume. On March 10, 2020, a "portrait of King Ladislav VI of Hungary", whose style resembles works from the workshop or circle of Jacopo Bassano, was auctioned (oil on canvas, 65 x 47.5 cm, attributed to Italian school, inscription in Latin: LADISLAVS VNG. BOE / REX.). This portrait is almost a direct transposition of a print by Venetian printmaker Gaspare Oselli (Osello) after a drawing by Francesco Terzio from Bergamo, a pupil of Giovanni Battista Moroni, representing Ladislaus the Posthumous (1440-1457), King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia and Duke of Austria. This engraving, created in 1569, was a part of a series of 58 prints with portraits of 74 members of the House of Austria, dedicated to Ferdinand II, who was a son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), Queen of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia. The portrait of Ladislaus is further confirmation that Venetian painters did not need to see the real model to create a good effigy. In Ambras painting, the king's features resemble the portrait in Madrid, engraving by Franco and an anonymous engraving in the Austrian National Library in Vienna (PORT 00059876 01). 

Among the things given in deposit to king's courtier Mr Franciszek Wesselini (Ferenc Wesseleny´i de Hadad) in the inventory of king's belongings, there were "A gold carriage chest with the coat of arms of His Highness Augustus, in which there are various small things. Golden saddle of the deceased king Sigismund Augustus. A casket with small things and crane feathers" and also "A leaky watch (water hourglass)" and "Large old Turkish carpets, which were brought by Mr. Grudziński from Hungary from Machmet Basha", most probably offered by Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.

The inventory does not include any Western, black costumes, however since the king used many items of his predecessor Sigismund Augustus, he undoubtedly had access to his extensive black Italian wardrobe. Interestingly, the black Italian hose with protruding codpiece were at that time in Poland considered by some people as more effeminate than the dress-like żupan of colorful Venetian fabric. "The nation is effeminate [...] Franca [syphilis], musk, lettuce, with them it came, These puffed hose, stockings, mostardas, The Italian haughty nation has recently brought here" (269, 272-274), wrote Marcin Bielski in his satire "Conversation of the New Prophets, Two Rams with One Head" (Rozmowa nowych proroków, dwu baranów o jednej głowie), published in 1566/1567.

His interest in astronomy is confirmed by his support to the sorcerer Wawrzyniec Gradowski from Gradów and with a sojourn at his court of John Dee, an English mathematician, astronomer and astrologer and Edward Kelley, an occultist and scryer in March 1583 and April 1585, who were paid 800 florins by the king. He also transformed the Jesuit gymnasium in Vilnius into an academy (1578), where astronomy, poetry and theology were taught. Leaving Transylvania for Poland in 1576, he consulted astrologers, with whom he also set the date of his wedding with Anna Jagiellon.

Therefore Bathory was maybe more effeminate in his private life then in his public appearance, he was however one of the most eminent monarchs of this part of Europe, a wise and brave king who led the Polish-Lithuanian Republic to its greatest glory and power. 

After 50 his health rapidly declined. As Sigismund Augustus, Bathory most probably suffered from syphilis, treated by his Italian physicians Niccolò Buccella and Simone Simoni. "The king his grace had on his right leg two fingers below the knee, up to the ankle, a kind of rash, in which there were sometimes shallow, flowing wounds. On that leg, lower than the knee, he had an apertura [ulcer]: and when little was leaking from it, he had no appetite, the nights were restless and sleepless." The portrait in Budapest by Leandro Bassano (Museum of Fine Arts, oil on canvas, 116 x 96 cm, inv. 53.477), which is very similar to other effigies of Bathory, undeniably show him in the last year of his life. His facial features in this likeness resemble the miniature portrait by Lavinia Fontana kept in the National Museum in Kraków (inv. MNK I-290), attributed by me, or the portrait that was in Burg Kreuzenstein in Austria before World War II.
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Interestingly, the Budapest portrait was previously assigned to Tintoretto. It was listed as a work by Jacopo Bassano when it was in the collection of the Duchess of Berry at the Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi in Venice in the mid-19th century. This palace belonged to the Venetian Loredan family in the 16th century, but also to Eric II (1528-1584), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Guglielmo Gonzaga (1538-1587), Duke of Mantua, while Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Sicily (1798-1870), Duchess of Berry, who bought the palace in 1844, was a descendant of Augustus III (1696-1763), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, on both her mother's and father's side.

Portrait of Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in kopieniak coat by Tintoretto, ca. 1576, Prado Museum in Madrid.

​Portrait of the procurator Vincenzo Morosini (1511-1588) by workshop of Tintoretto, ca. 1578, Wawel Royal Castle. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with hourglass and astrolabe by Francesco Bassano, ca. 1580, Ambras Castle in Innsbruck.

Portrait of Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, sitting in a chair by Leandro Bassano, ca. 1586, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

Portrait of Primate Jakub Uchański by Jacopo Tintoretto

In the 14th century BC, Akhenaten, the pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt and his wife and co-ruler Nefertiti closed the temples of the gods of Egypt introducing monotheism by promulgating the worship of a single universal deity, the solar god Aten. They decided to found a new capital Akhetaten (horizon of the Aten) near present-day Amarna. The strong position of women in ancient Egypt was increased under Akhenaten and Amarna period is considered as one of the finest in the art of Ancient Egypt. Not long after Akhenaten's death, his successors reopened the state temples to other Egyptian gods and the name of the "heretic pharaoh" was removed from all of his statues and monuments. His radical move destabilised the social and economical system of Egypt. Temples were key centers of economic activity and charity and continue to uphold maat, the divine order of the universe, a principle that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting interests. People were expected to act with honor and truth in matters that involve family, the community, the nation, the environment, and the gods. Local courts known as Houses of Judgment were associated with local temples and resolved disputes at the gates of the temples.

As in Jerusalem and Mesopotamia, temples cared for the needy or marginalized in society, including the poor, widows, orphans, elderly and homeless, provided hospitality, food, and asylum (after "Mending Bodies, Saving Souls" by Guenter B. Risse, p. 45). Similar was the role of the Roman church in Poland-Lithuania during Renaissance. Catholic hierarchs understood the need for tolerance in a multi-religious country, especially during Reformation, which was often misunderstood abroad, and they were frequently accused of indifferentism. They also understood the role of institutions, social order and hierarchy inherited from medieval times when a single religion dominated in certain regions, financed through taxes and tithes. The bishop of Kraków, Andrzej Zebrzydowski (1496-1560), a student of Erasmus of Rotterdam, also educated in Paris and in Padua, was then attributed with a saying: "You can believe even in a goat if you like, so long as you pay the tithes". His episcopate took place during the mass conversion of the nobility to Calvinism and the bourgeoisie to Lutheranism. In 1556 Zebrzydowski also stood before an ecclesiastical court together with Bishop Jan Drohojowski after rumors of heresy. Papal nuncio Luigi Lippomano headed this investigation. He was charged with maintaining a friendship with Jan Łaski, a well-known Protestant leader, possessing heretical books and inappropriate conduct, including maintaining a relationship with a young Jewess (after "Sinners on Trial" by Magda Teter, p. 145). 

The Counter-Reformation and foreign invasions changed everything in Poland. After partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire, the Catholic church was one of the few public institutions where people could speak Polish freely (after "November 1918" by Janusz Żarnowski, p. 31) and some Russian writers from the late 18th century stressed degeneration of Catholic Poland and the need to "civilize" it by its neighbors (after "The Russo-Polish Historical Confrontation" by Andrzej Nowak).

In the spring of 1578 Paweł Uchański (d. 1590), beloved nephew of other "heretic" hierarch of the Catholic church in the Commonwealth, advocating religious tolerance, Jakub Uchański (1502-1581), archbishop of Gniezno and primate of Poland, was sent on a mission to the Pope in Rome and to the Spanish Viceroy of Naples. It was customary in Catholic countries that each new monarch, after his accession to the throne, sends an envoy to the Pope with a declaration of obedience to the head of the Church. Uchański received this mission from king Stephen Bathory in 1577, but under various pretexts he delayed the journey. The embassy reached Venice on September 23, and stayed there until November 28, 1578, under the pretext of seeking permission to travel to Rome. Then the legation arrived in Padua. It was only at the beginning of February of the following year that it was decided to return to Venice and go by sea to Ancona, to reach Rome via Loreto. After a month's stay there, they went to Naples for a month, then returned to Rome for the next six months. Like all the missions in Naples, this one also had a lot to do with the inheritance of Queen Bona, mother of Queen Anna Jagiellon and a loan made by Bona to Philip II of Spain, which was never repaid. In the first days of March 1580, Paweł was in Łowicz received by the archbishop, who lend him 30,000 zlotys to pay off debts incurred in Italy. According to Giovanni Andrea Caligari (1527-1613), papal nuncio to Poland, "as always malicious towards the Uchańskis", Paweł borrowed 10 thousand in Rome and 6 thousand in Padua. He offered and received gifts, he gave Cardinal Farnese his own horses brought from Poland together with the carriage and he received a gold chain worth 500 ducats from the signoria of Venice, and 6,000 ducats from the pope. He probably also bought and ordered many luxury goods in Italy. The debt was so great that it was not yet repaid in 1586 (money borrowed from the Duke of Tuscany). The creditors claimed their dues in various ways, they even disturbed the secretary of state in Rome, so in March 1583 Paweł delegated a certain Jerzy Polit to settle the matter and buy the silverware and other items pledged in Rome (after "Uchańsciana seu collectio documentorum ..." by Teodor Wierzbowski, p. 49).

In 1575 Primate Uchański, who was Archbishop of Gniezno from 1562 and interrex, a short-term regent, of the Commonwealth twice (1572-1573, 1575-1576), joined the pro-Habsburg camp and together with other senators proclaimed Emperor Maximilian II, cousin and brother-in-law of Philip II of Spain, the king. Due to the opposition of many other nobles, Maximilian lost, and Anna and her husband become the co-rulers of the Commonwealth.

The Primate was a patron of arts and in 1573 at the archbishops' castle in Łowicz he began the construction of a magnificent Renaissance palace worthy of a king. From 1580 or possibly earlier he employed an eminent mannerist sculptor for the decoration of his residence, Jan Michałowicz of Urzędów (d. 1583), who also created the archbishop's mausoleum at the Łowicz cathedral. The palace was completed in 1585 after death of Uchański and Michałowicz by Primate Stanisław Karnkowski (blown up by retreating Swedish forces in 1657). 

Alabaster tomb monument of Uchański in the Łowicz Cathedral, created by Michałowicz between 1580-1583 in the Italian style (rebuilt between 1782-1783), and marble tombstone of Calvinist Piotr Tarnowski (died before 1597), father of Primate Jan Tarnowski, by Willem van den Blocke in the style of the Netherlandish mannerism in the same temple, were made from imported Belgian limestones and English alabaster. Similar to tomb monuments of the Tarnowski family by Giovanni Maria Padovano and to the Ostrogski family by Willem van den Blocke in the Tarnów Cathedral, they perfectly illustrate the main influences of art in Poland at that time and great diversity.

D. Basilii Magni [...] De moribvs orationes XXIIII [...] by Stanisław Iłowski (Ilovius), dedicated to Primate Jakub Uchański, was published by Giordano Ziletti and Giovanni Griffio in Venice in 1564. Uchański sent a volunteer group to the war with Moscow, and ordered full armours for his soldiers from Brunswick craftsmen through Sophia Jagiellon, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg (after "W służbie polskiego króla ... " by Marek Plewczyński, p. 288).

In the Prado Museum in Madrid, there is a portait of an archbishop (El arzobispo Pedro) by Jacopo Tintoretto from the second half of the 16th century (oil on canvas, 71 x 54 cm, inventory number P000369). It comes from the royal collection, mentioned in the collection of Queen Elisabeth Farnese (1692-1766) in the palace of La Granja (fireplace room, 1746, no. 523), most likely sent to Spain already in the 16th century. According to inscription in Latin it depicts Archbishop Peter (PETRVS. / ARCHI EPVS). The characteristic tilde above v in EPVS, could indicate that the inscription was added much later in Spain and that the person who added the inscription had vague knowledge of who was depicted. From the times of Saint Lawrence Justinian (Lorenzo Giustiniani, 1381-1456), Catholic bishops of the Archdiocese of Venice are known as Patriarchs (Latin: Patriarcha Venetiarum) and the only Peter in the second half of the 16th century, Pietro Francesco Contarini (1502-1555), died after just a few months in the office. Among the Archbishops of Seville and Archbishops of Toledo there is no Pedro in the second half of the 16th century and their effigies are not similar to the described portrait. The portrait of Gaspar de Quiroga (1512-1594), Archbishop of Toledo, created cardinal in 1578, in Prado (P000401) is attributed to follower of Tintoretto, however it is also close to the style of the Bassanos. It was ordered in Venice from Spain and the sitter was identified mainly basing on "his unquestionable resemblance to the portrait that Luis de Velasco painted of him in 1594 for the chapter house of the Toledo Cathedral" (after "The artistic relations of Cardinal Quiroga with Italy" by Cloe Cavero de Carondelet). The portrait of king Stephen Bathory by Tintoretto in the same collection (P000374) is stylistically very close to the effigy of the "Archbishop Peter", the two portraits were therefore probably created around the same time. The archbishop from the Prado painting resemble greatly the effigies of Primate Uchański, especially the lithography in the catalogue of archbishops of Gniezno by Julian Bartoszewicz (Arcybiskupi gnieźnieńscy ...), published in 1864 and his statue in Łowicz. Philip II of Spain was unquestionably interested in having a portrait of Primate of Poland and Archbishop of Gniezno who ruled the Commonwealth during the interregnum and proclaimed his cousin Maximilian the king.

Portrait of Primate Jakub Uchański (1502-1581), Archbishop of Gniezno by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1562-1580, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Cardinal Gaspar de Quiroga (1512-1594), Archbishop of Toledo by workshop of the Bassanos, after 1578, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Cardinal Henry I, King of Portugal by Domenico Tintoretto

In 1579 brothers of Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616), George (1556-1600), future cardinal, and Stanislaus (1559-1599), arrived in the capital of Portugal. "The coadjutor of Vilnius Radziwill, wrote to me from Lisbon on April 3 that he greeted the king dressed in cardinal's robes, but holding pleasantly a scepter in his old and weakened hand", wrote in a letter from Rome on June 6, 1579 the royal secretary Stanisław Reszka (1544-1600) about the audience before Cardinal Henry I (1512-1580), King of Portugal (after "Z dworu Stanisława Hozjusza: listy Stanisława Reszki do Marcina Kromera, 1568-1582" by Jadwiga Kalinowska, p. 221). Then, via Turin and Milan, the Radziwill brothers arrived in Venice in September 1579. From there they set off via Vienna to Poland and finally reached Kraków by the end of the year (after "Radziwiłłowie: obrazy literackie, biografie, świadectwa historyczne" by Krzysztof Stępnik, p. 298).

In 2022 the portrait of Cardinal-King of Portugal from private collection, created in Venice, Italy, was sold at the auction in Munich, Germany (Hampel Auctions, December 8, 2022, lot 238). It was painted by Domenico Tintoretto in 1579 as according to Latin inscription it depict the Cardinal-King at the age of 67 (HENR.S CARD.S / REX. PORTV / GALIAE. ETCZ [...] /. AETATIS / SVAE. LXVII.). Cardinal Henry, born in Lisbon on January 31, 1512, become the king of Portugal at the age of 66 (coronation in Lisbon on August 28, 1578) after death of his great-nephew King Sebastian, who died without an heir in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir that took place in 1578.

In January 1579 Jerónimo Osório da Fonseca (Hieronymus Osorius, 1506-1580), Bishop of the Algarve, Portuguese historian and polemicist, wrote a letter in Latin to "to the invincible Stephen Bathory, king of Poland" (inuictissimo Stephano Bathorio regi Poloniae) expressing his gratitude for reading his books (scripta namque mea tibi usque adeo probari ut in castris etiam, quotiens esset otium, otium illud te libenter in libris meis assidue uersandis consumere) (after "Opera Omnia. Tomo II. Epistolografia" by Sebastião Pinho, p. 214). Osório was a member of the royal council (Mesa da Consciência e Ordens), who advised the Cardinal-King on political matters.
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It cannot be excluded that the portrait of the Cardinal-King was commissioned in Venice by the Radziwill brothers, or by the Cardinal-King through their intermediary, as a gift to the royal couple of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Queen Anna Jagiellon and her husband Stephen Bathory. ​The painting was acquired by the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon (inventory number 2224 pint).

Portrait of Cardinal Henry I (1512-1580), King of Portugal, aged 67 by Domenico Tintoretto, 1579, National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon.

Portrait of Stanislaus Radziwill by Alessandro Maganza

The younger of the two Radziwill brothers who visited Portugal in 1579, Stanislaus (1559-1599), was considered a very religious person, hence his later nickname Pius, meaning pious in Latin. He was a thoroughly educated person and, apart from Lithuanian, he knew several foreign languages. He translated from Greek into Polish part of the work of the Patriarch of Constantinople Gennadius Scholarius, which was published in 1586. He was also the author of a work on the main truths of the faith entitled "The Spiritual Arms of the Rightful Christian Knight" (Oręże duchowne prawowiernego rycerza chrześcijańskiego), published in Kraków in 1591. 

Although the capital of Spain, Madrid, did not impress the prince ("here in Madril, apart from the royal court, there is nothing to see, a vile and filthy village", wrote Stanislaus to one of his brothers in the country), during this half-year stay on the Iberian Peninsula he and his brother were undoubtedly deeply marked by the highly religious and chivalric culture of the 16th century Spain and Portugal. 

The Orders of chivalry - Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa in Spain and Order of Christ and Order of Avis in Portugal, originally dedicated to the warrior knights of the crusade against the Moors, served to create an elite of specially favoured nobles. Admission to these aristocratic military brotherhoods was restricted and required purity of noble blood as well as the support of former noble members, thus all Spanish and Portuguese nobles proudly display the characteristic crosses of the great chivalric orders on their portraits. Foreigners were admitted to the order as honorary knights, however they were not subject to the statutes and were excluded from the participation in the revenues (after "The British herald, or Cabinet of armorial bearings ..." by Thomas Robson, p. 88). They were not permanent members of the order, therefore, for example in the Catalog of Knights of the Order of Christ (Catálogo dos cavaleiros da ordem, published in "La bibliografía de la Orden Militar de Cristo ..." by Juan de Ávila Gijón) between 1579-1631, there is no foreign name.

From Madrid, the Lithuanian travelers and their companions went on foot to Santiago de Compostela (one hundred Spanish miles), a major place of Catholic pilgrimage. Although there is no confirmation of this in the available sources, the reception of two Radziwill brothers by the King of Portugal was undoubtedly accompanied by an exchange of gifts and foreign noble guests were often honored in a special way, such as Jan Amor Tarnowski, knighted by King Manuel in Lisbon in 1516, together with two Polish companions (after "Jan Tarnowski ..." by Zdzisław Spieralski, p. 82).

Stanislaus died in Passau in Germany, in 1599, during his pilgrimage to Loreto in Italy. According to his last will, he was buried in the Bernardine Church in Vilnius. His tombstone was however created much later, between 1618-1623, most likely in the workshop of the Flemish sculptor Willem van den Blocke, who worked in Gdańsk. His funerary statue was therefore based on some earlier effigies sent to Gdańsk. This tombstone was heavily damaged during the Deluge (1655-1660), when Vilnius was occupied by Russian forces, who burned down the church and killed the monks and civilians hiding in the monastery.

In the National Museum of Art in Kaunas in Lithuania there is a portrait of a man with a cross of a chivalric order on his chest (oil on canvas, 61 x 48.5 cm, inventory number ČDM MŽ 139). His costume clearly dates from the 1570s and resembles some effigies of King Henry of Valois, elected monarach of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and his courtiers - tall black hat with a feather and a ruff, thus the portrait was initially considered to be his likeness.  

A similar cross is seen on a leaf from the Book of scriptures of the Order of Christ (Livro das escrituras da Ordem de Cristo) with the crowned coat of arms of King Sebastian of Portugal, created between 1560-1568 (Convent of Christ in Tomar) and closely resemble the badge of the order, the motto of which was "the Christian army" (Militia Christiana), gold and enamelled cross, today in the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon (inventory number 5190). Very similar crosses were depicted in several portraits, notably the portrait of a knight of the Order of Christ, presumed to be Vasco da Gama (1469-1524) by Portuguese or Flemish painter (Corneille de Lyon?), from the second quarter of the 16th century, and another by Portuguese painter from the second quarter of the 17th century, both in the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon (697 Pint, 71 Min). 

The painting can be attributed to the Flemish, Spanish or German school, however, its style is strikingly similar to the portrait of Marie de' Medici (1575-1642), Queen of France by Alessandro Maganza (1556-1632) in the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius (LNDM T 4018), identified by me. Similarities with the likeness of Bianca Cappello (1548-1587), Grand Duchess of Tuscany (private collection) and the Virgin and Child with Saints (Nationalmuseum in Stockholm) by Maganza, can also be indicated. Like the portrait of the Queen of France, the portrait of a knight in Kaunas probably also comes from the Radziwill collection, a powerful family with extensive possessions in many countries of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In 1572, Maganza moved to Venice, following the advice of his friend the sculptor Alessandro Vittoria. After his marriage in 1576 he returned to Vicenza, between Padua and Verona in the Venetian Republic. Assisted by his flourishing family workshop - in which his four children were employed - he worked for clients in the Venetian cities including Verona, Brescia and Padua and in Florence - portrait of a man with his son, from the collection of Leopoldo de' Medici (1617-1675) where it was attributed to Tintoretto (1588, Uffizi Gallery, inventory 1890, n. 940) or the Feast of Herod (Pitti Palace, Palatina 387).

Based on all these facts, the portrait could be identified as an effigy of a Portuguese knight by Maganza, if not a striking resemblance of the sitter to the portrait of Stanislaus Radziwill in the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (Wil.1222). This portrait is an 18th century copy of an earlier effigy that has not been preserved, possibly by a Venetian painter, and was signed in Latin (STANISLAVS RADZIWILL D.G.DVX IN OŁIKA ET NIESWIEZ ...). He was depicted in a ruff and armor engraved with gold, as in his other known likenesses - a drawing in the State Hermitage Museum (ОР-45854) from the mid-17th century and a painting in the Lviv Historical Museum from the late 18th century. The painting was most likely created or commissioned in Vicenza in 1579 during Stanislaus' trip from Milan to Venice. If from that date Maganza and his workshop worked mainly for customers from Poland-Lithuania, many of his works were destroyed due to the wars and invasions that the country experienced in the following eras.

​Portrait of Stanislaus Radziwill (1559-1599) with the cross of the Portuguese Order of Christ by Alessandro Maganza, ca. 1579, National Museum of Art in Kaunas. 

Portraits of Katarzyna Tęczyńska by Francesco Montemezzano and workshop of Alessandro Maganza 

Another portrait of the member of the Radziwill family close to the style of Alessandro Maganza (before 1556-1632) is now in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 133 x 88.5 cm, 128854 MNW). It depict Katarzyna (Catherine) Tęczyńska (1544/5-1592), daughter of Stanisław Gabriel Tęczyński, voivode of Kraków, and Anna Bogusz. The family of Count Tęczyński was one of the most influential and wealthy families of the Polish kingdom (Imperial counts from 1527). At the age of 14 or 15, in May 1558, she married Ruthenian Prince Yuri Olelkovich-Slutsky (ca. 1531-1578). Yuri was Orthodox, and Katarzyna, although Catholic, was well versed in Orthodox worship, as her mother was also Orthodox. Faith was not an obstacle in Poland-Lithuania before the Counter-Reformation. She received a rich dowry of 20,000 zlotys including silverware, pearls and jewelry worth 13,000 zlotys and 10,000 in cash. She bore 3 sons to her husband and when he died in 1578 she managed principalities and many estates until her sons come of age. In addition, she received additional lands from the king.

Three years later, in 1581, Katarzyna remarried. The wealthy widow chose younger Christopher Nicolaus Radziwill (1547-1603), nicknamed "the Thunderbolt", Field Hetman of Lithuania. She became his third wife and gave birth to two of his children. She died on March 19, 1592.

The Warsaw painting most likely comes from Tęczyn (Tenczyn) Castle and, like other portraits of members of the Tęczyński family kept in the same museum (128851, 128850, 139537), it passed after 1816 to the Potocki collection in Krzeszowice where it was enlarged and repainted. These modifications were removed during the conservation of the painting in 1986-1991.

The painting was attributed to local painters from Slutsk (anonymous) or Kraków (Martin Kober) or an unknown Polish-Lithuanian workshop, but its style with blurred lines is evidently Venetian and closest to Maganza. It is not as elaborate as other paintings by the master, indicating that it was probably from a series of paintings commissioned from his workshop. Stylistically, it can be compared to the work signed by Alessandro's son, Giovanni Battista the Younger (IO: BAPT. MAGAN. / P.) in the church of Santa Corona in Vicenza, depicting the League against the Turks in 1571. It was painted in the late 16th century or early 17th century, hence the portraits of King Philip II of Spain, Pope Pius V and Doge Alvise Mocenigo were modeled on other effigies.

Tęczyńska is dressed as a widow in a Polish-style black dress with white sleeves and a transparent veil called rańtuch or rąbek. She also wears a ruff, very similar to that in the portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon in Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum, SK-A-3891). The large Latin inscription above her head: "In the year of the Lord 1580. Catherine, Countess of Tęczyn, by the grace of God, Princess of Slutsk, 35 years old" (ANNO DOMINI M.DL XXX. / CATHERINA COMES A THENCZN DEI / GRATIA DVCISSA SLVCENSIS ÆTATIS / SVÆ XXXV AÑO.) and the coat of arms were probably added later. The painting was most likely commissioned by the widow as a gift for her relatives.

Although in the majority of her surviving effigies she is dressed as a widow (a drawing in the Hermitage Museum, ОР-45851 and a print from Icones familiæ ducalis Radivilianæ ...), similar to some effigies of Queen Bona Sforza and of Queen Anna Jagiellon, this does not mean that she was always a widow or that she always dressed as such. The list of jewels of Princess Olelkovich-Slutska written on April 16, 1580 in Slutsk (AGAD, 1/354/0/26/949), lists many of her jewels such as six necklaces, including "a necklace in which rubies twenty eight, diamonds seven, pearls twenty" and 21 pendant crosses set with precious stones. She undoubtedly also had more exquisite dresses.

Some surviving inventories of the Radziwill family indicate that they possessed the most elaborate works of art created in Europe and imported from the Orient. Silverware, weapons and fabrics prevail as the most valuable, but sometimes female dresses and paintings are mentioned.

Register of armours and jewels belonging to Katarzyna's second husband Christopher Nicolaus Radziwill from 1584 (Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw - AGAD, 1/354/0/26/5) contains only one portrait - the image of his third wife Katarzyna Tęczyńska (Obraz Jey Mći), as well as 10 large Venetian tapestries (Opon weneczkich wielkich iedwabnych - Dziesieć) and 12 tapestries "with faces", made in Poland-Lithuania (Opon s twarzami domowey roboty - dwanaseci). It also includes the dresses of two of his deceased wives Katarzyna Sobek - 4 black velvet dresses, one embroidered with silver thread (snurkiem srebrnym obwiedziony) and many other exquisite dresses of his second wife Katarzyna Ostrogska, daughter of Zofia Tarnowska, including a red velvet dress (Hazuka Axamitna wzorzysta czyrwona), Spanish dress of red gold cloth (Hazuka Hiszpanska złotogłowowa czyrwona), a Spanish robe of red gold cloth with a smaller pattern and 52 gold clasps (Szata czyrwonego złotogłowu drobnieyszego Hispanska ... w niey feretow zlotych piecdziesiat dwa) and 7 for summer, one of white satin embroidered with gold thread (Lietnik Atłassowy biały z bramami drobnemi ... złotym snurkiem obwiedzione) and two of silver and gold cloth - blue and dark brown (Lietnik srebrogłowowy blekitny czałowity, Lietnik złotogłowowy bronatny czałowity). Register of a part of belongings of the same Christopher Nicolaus, made in 1600 (AGAD, 1/354/0/26/7), lists 2 large Venetian tapestries (Opon weneckich wielkich II) and 3 small tapestries made in Poland-Lithuania (oponek domowey roboty ... 3), several old tapestries "with faces" (opon staroswieckich stwarzami) and female dresses (Szaty białogłowskie).

Register of property of Prince Boguslaus Radziwill (1620-1669) from 1657 (AGAD, 1/354/0/26/79.2), lists many paintings from his collection including several by Cranach, Italian and Dutch paintings and Ruthenian icons (Siedm obrazow ruskich). The mentions about the paintings are very general which confirms their lesser value: "Two Paintings of Saints on Copper", "23. Long Drawer with a picture of Susanna, a picture of a naked woman, the second picture also of a woman", "24. A drawer with different paintings in frames 28 pieces ...", "33. A drawer with five paintings", "34. A drawer with a battle painted on copper", "25. A drawer with a large painting of a woman on canvas, ebony frame", "19. A drawer with ten Italian paintings in frames and one of Queen Barbara [Radziwill], nine various paintings without frames", "45. A drawer with two small old paintings", "53. A drawer with six paintings of women without frames, one of a male Radziwill without frame, four paintings with frames", "57. A drawer with thirteen Italian paintings", "58. A drawer with fourteen different paintings", "Two images", "Nine pictures" ... etc. An effigy of "Katarzyna Tęczyńska, wife of Prince Christopher" (111) 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).

Tęczyńska's face can also be identified in another painting from the Venetian school. She has larger lips as in the Icones familiæ ducalis Radivilianæ ..., but the general resemblance of the face to the Warsaw painting is striking. She is dressed in a Venetian summer dress of very expensive gold cloth and holds a small dog, a symbol of marital fidelity. The landscape behind her probably symbolizes her vast lands. This painting, now in the Harvard Art Museums - Fogg Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts (oil on canvas, 125.5 x 105.8 cm, inventory number 1917.220), was donated in 1917 by Edward Waldo Forbes (1873- 1969), American art historian and the director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University from 1909 to 1944. Its earlier history is unknown. The work is dated around 1580 and was previously attributed to Antonio Badile (1516-1560), Paolo Caliari, called Veronese (1528-1588) and now to Francesco Montemezzano (1555 - after 1602), who painted the portraits of Queen Anna Jagiellon, identified by me. The same workshops (Maganza and Montemezzano) also painted the effigies of Princess Elizabeth Euphemia Radziwill née Vyshnevetska (1569-1596).

​Portrait of Katarzyna Tęczyńska (d. 1592), Princess of Slutsk, aged 35 by workshop of Alessandro Maganza, 1580, National Museum in Warsaw. 

​Portrait of Katarzyna Tęczyńska (d. 1592), Princess of Slutsk with a dog by Francesco Montemezzano, ca. 1580-1584, Harvard Art Museums. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portraits of Count Stanisław Górka by Anthonis Mor and Adriaen Thomasz. Key

On February 14, 1580 a synod of the Protestants was held in Poznań, presided over by Count Stanisław Górka (1538-1592), voivode of Poznań (Stanislaus Comes a Gorka Palatinus Posnanienis - according to inscription on his tomb monument), one of the leaders of the Lutherans in Greater Poland. German Paulus Gericius and Polish Jan Enoch, ministers of the Lutheran church in Poznań, opposed the merger and any unity with the Bohemian Brethren, the so-called Sandomierz Consensus (Consensus Sendomiriensis), an agreement reached in 1570 between a number of Protestant groups in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the synod, the Sandomierz Consensus was confirmed again, and the voivode rebuked the troublemakers (after "Wiadomość historyczna o Dyssydentach ..." by Józef Łukaszewicz, p. 103). 

Stanisław was a son of Barbara Kurozwęcka (d. 1545) and Andrzej I Górka (1500-1551), an envoy who has studied and traveled abroad and made a close friendship with Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568), who visited him in Poznań during his meeting with Duke Frederick II of Legnica (1480-1547). The Górkas were Imperial counts (title granted by Emperor Charles V in 1520 or 1534). Between 1554-1555 Stanisław studied at the University of Wittenberg. In 1557 he participated in the campaign of the Polish-Lithuanian army against the Livonian Order and in 1565 he took part in the Livonian War. After death of Sigismund II Augustus in 1572 he supported the candidacy of the High Burgrave of Bohemia William of Rožmberk and then the French prince Henry of Valois during the royal election. In 1573, after the death of his elder brother Łukasz III (d. 1573), Stanisław received the post of voivode of Poznań. In 1574 he met Henry of Valois on the border of the Commonwealth and he entertained him in Kórnik. 

He initially stongly opposed the the camp of "Cezarians" (imperial supporters), and sided with the nobles shouting that they prefer the devil to a Habsburg (after "Infuły i szyszaki ..." by Amelia Lączyńska, p. 188), but eventually he sided with them (from about 1578) and in 1588 he fought at Byczyna against Jan Zamoyski. From then on, he was in opposition to the king until the end of his life. His marriage to Jadwiga Sobocka remained childless and as a result the Górka family died out in the male line. His huge estates together with Kórnik became the property of his nephew Jan Czarnkowski (d. 1618/19).

Stanisław maintained contacts with leaders of the Lutheran community, like Philip Melanchthon and Duke Albert of Prussia and during the second interregnum, he was even considered as a candidate for the throne. In 1573, he came into conflict with the chapter of the Poznań cathedral. It was about refusing the burial of his brother Łukasz III, an ardent Lutheran, in the family chapel in the Poznań cathedral. He decided to build a new chapel in the family seat in Kórnik, a Protestant mausoleum modelled on royal Sigismund Chapel in Kraków (after "Rezydencja Stanisława Górki ..." by Katarzyna Janicka, pp. 93, 103, 105).

Eight years before his death, in 1584, he signed a contract with Dutch sculptor Hendrik Horst (d. 1612), active in Lviv, to whom he commissioned the execution of marble-alabaster tombstones for himself and his brothers Łukasz (d. 1573) and Andrzej II (d. 1583) and an alabaster crucifix. At that time, Horst and his workshop also worked on tombstones of voivodes of Ruthenia in Berezhany (1582-1586). Large quantities of Lviv alabaster were imported to Poznań and Kórnik - only in 1592 three coachmen from Skierniewice delivered to "Stheinszneider [stone cutter] Henryk [Hendrik Horst]" 30 pieces of "Ruthenian marble" for the mausoleum (after "Mauzoleum Górków w Kórniku" by Jan Harasimowicz, p. 290). This commission, completed after the death of Stanisław Górka by his nephew Jan Czarnkowski, has not survived in its original form as Kórnik suffered particularly severely during the Deluge (1655-1660), when the army of the Elector of Brandenburg stationed there. Later the mausoleum was transformed into a Marian chapel between 1735-1737. 

The count was one of the richest men of that time in the Commonwealth. His fortune consisted of the property of the Górkas in Greater Poland, Lesser Poland and in Ruthenia. Stanisław and his brother Andrzej also actively participated in the grain trade in the 1570s by sending transports to Pomerania (after "Studia z dziejów Ziemi lubuskiej" by Władysław Korcz, p. 116). Almost throughout the 16th century, Poland enjoyed an excellent grain boom, therefore Venice and the Duchy of Tuscany, affected by crop failures and famine in the western Mediterranean, became directly interested in import of Polish grain, however, the transport was organized by the Dutch (after "Ceny, płace i koszty utrzymania ..." by Antoni Mączak, p. 763), who also controlled the grain trade in Pomerania. 

Much of the grain also went to the Netherlands, so luxury goods were acquired and ordered there. Already in the Middle Ages, wealthy patrons from Poland recognized the quality of Netherlandish craftsmanship. Janusz Suchywilk (d. 1382), Chancellor and Archbishop of Gniezno and Andrzej Bniński (1396-1479), Bishop of Poznań, ordered their tomb slabs in Flanders (after "Polskie nagrobki gotyckie" by Przemysław Mrozowski, pp. 47, 90). The monument to Andrzej I and Barbara Górka née Kurozwęcka in Poznań Cathedral, founded by Andrzej II, was created in Kraków by Girolamo Canavesi from Milan and transported to Poznań. The Latin inscription on the cornice at eye level is an advertisement of his workshop in Kraków - "The work of Girolamo Canavesi, who lives in Kraków at St. Florian's Street, in the year of the Lord 1574" (Opus Hieronimi Canavexi qui manet Cracoviae in platea S. Floriani A.D. 1574). The residences of the Górkas in Poznań and Kórnik were also filled with exquisite works of art. "The house was decorated with so much gold, silver, and [Flemish?] tapestries that it would not easily be inferior to any prince's [abode] in all its ornamentation", describes the Górka Palace in Poznań a chronicler after the meeting concerning the situation of Protestants in Prussia, Germany, Greater Poland and Silesia in November 1543. 

Following the example of the kings, Stanisław maintained his own music band and his house in Poznań was called "the house of weddings and music" (dom godów i muzyki). German composer Hermann Finck (1527-1558) dedicated his five volumes of Practica Mvsica on musical theory and the performance of vocal music, published in Wittenberg in 1556, to Górka brothers (DOMINIS COMITIBVS A GORCA MAGNIFICO DOMINO LVCAE PALATINO BRZESTENSI, ANDREAE & Stanislao Buscensibus ...) and addressed a separate dedication to Stanisław (Fuit eximia erga me quoque liberalitas Celsitudinis tuae, Ilustris Domine Stanislæ).

In the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, there is a portrait of a man by Adriaen Thomasz. Key (oil on panel, 86 x 63 cm, inventory number 3621). It was signed by the painter (monogram on the book: ATK) and comes from the bequest of painter Paul Hamman, purchased from Thomas Agnew & Sons gallery in London in 1902. The man in a strict pose and attire, like a judge, holds his hand on a book, possibly a bible, as if indicating that what is written in it is the most important. There are several rings on a pointing finger of his left hand one of which is clearly a signet ring with his coat of arms (indistinct), so the man is a wealthy aristocrat. According to Latin inscription in upper part of the painting he was 42 in 1580 (1580. / ÆTA.42.), exaclty as Count Stanisław Górka, when he presided the synod of the Protestants in Poznań. Exact, reduced copy of this painting was sold in New York in 2003 (oil on paper on panel, 82 x 48.5 cm, sold at Christie's on January 24, 2003, lot 52).

The same man was depicted in a "Portrait of a gentleman" (Retrato de caballero) in a Dutch-style frame in carved, ebonized and polychromed wood imitating tortoiseshell, sold in Seville (oil on canvas, 44 x 33 cm, Isbilya Subastas, June 22, 2022, lot 80). The shape of his small ruff is typical of Western European fashion in the 1560s, similar to that seen in a portrait of a gentleman with a hunting dog by Anthonis Mor dated '1569' (signed upper left: Antonius mor pingebat a. 1569, National Gallery of Art in Washington, 1937.1.52). The painting is attributed to the Italian school of the 17th century, however, stylistically the closest is the portrait of Martín de Gurrea y Aragón (1526-1581), Duke of Villahermosa and count of Ribagorza, attributed to circle of Anthonis Mor, which was before 1935 in Vienna (Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, NM 3233). Similar soft brushstrokes are also seen in other works attributed to Mor - portrait of Giovanni Battista di Castaldo (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum) and portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos (Czartoryski Museum). The shape of the man's ear from the Seville portrait is slightly different from Key's paintings, however comparison with the portraits of King Philip II by Mor and his studio indicates that even the same painter and his entourage were not so strict in this regard.

The portrait ​sold in Seville is in fact a copy of a painting attributed to Mor, the existence of which was notified to me by ArteDelToro on February 2, 2024. This "Portrait of a Gentleman, bust-length, in a dark slashed doublet and ruff" was sold in 1998 in London (oil on panel, 42.5 x 32.4 cm, Christie's, auction 5944, April 24, 1998, lot 44). The monogram incised on the reverse testifies that it belonged to Don Gaspar Méndez de Haro (1629-1687), 7th Marquis of Carpio. The marquis, who died in Naples, was an important art collector and acquired many splendid paintings in Italy, including several works by Tintoretto, Christ Crowned with Thorns by Antonello da Messina (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 32.100.82) or the Adoration of the Child by Lorenzo Lotto with disguised portrait of Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus as Saint Catherine (National Museum in Kraków, MNK XII-A-639). He also owned the portrait of John Sigismund Zapolya, King of Hungary by Tintoretto and the portrait of Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1550-1598), Duchess of Pomerania by Giovanni Battista Moroni, identified by me.

Anthonis traveled widely and painted the most important monarchs and aristocrats of Western Europe. Perhaps his visit to Poland or Stanisław Górka's stay in Antwerp are yet to be discovered, but as with many of his portraits of monarchs, the painter and his studio had to rely heavily on preparatory drawings, similar to sculptors creating tombstones with carvings of the deceased. Wanting and expecting high quality, the count could send drawings by local or court artists, similar to Clouet's crayons, to Antwerp or painting workshops to sent their pupils to different places (including to Poznań), as Cranach and most likely Canavesi did, to create initial drawings.

The man in the described portraits bears a strong resemblance to the voivode of Poznań from his funerary monument in Kórnik, effigy of his great-grandfather Andrzej Szamotulski (d. 1511), voivode of Poznań as a donor (Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, Saint Andrew and Saint Jerome, ca. 1521, Collegiate Church in Szamotuły) and his grandfather Łukasz II Górka (1482-1542), general starost of Greater Poland as a donor (Annunciation by Master of Szamotuły, 1529, Kórnik Castle, founded by Łukasz II to the Górka Chapel at the Poznań Cathedral).

​Portrait of Count Stanisław Górka (1538-1592) by Anthonis Mor, 1560s, Private collection.

Portrait of Count Stanisław Górka (1538-1592) by circle of Anthonis Mor, 1560s, Private collection.

Portrait of Count Stanisław Górka (1538-1592), voivode of Poznań, aged 42 by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, 1580, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels.

Portrait of Count Stanisław Górka (1538-1592), voivode of Poznań by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, ca. 1580, Private collection.

Portraits of Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" by Domenico Tintoretto and Francesco Bassano 

Around 1550 in Lukiškės, a part of the city of Vilnius, located to the west and southwest of the Old Town, Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565), cousin of Queen Barbara, built a magnificent renaissance villa or a summer manor house, beautifully located in the bend of the Neris river, surrounded by the steep banks of the river and a pine forest. The estate was owned by the Radziwill family from 1522 and called Radziwill Lukiškės, later Vingis in Lithuanian or Zakręt in Polish, both meaning a bend or a curve.

Lukiškės (Łukiszki in Polish) took its name from the name of a merchant, Łuka Pietrowicz, most probably a Ruthenian, who founded a settlement here in the 14th century in the land given to him by Vytautas the Great. It was also here that Vytautas settled the Tatars, who had their mosque in Lukiškės, and in the 15th century the district was also called Tatar Lukiškės (after "Przewodnik po Wilnie" by Władysław Zahorski, p.83).

Nicolaus "the Black", the strongest supporter of the Reformation in Lithuania, arranged a chapel for the Calvinists in one of the rooms. Protestants were active in the manor in the years 1553-1561, and the estate became the cradle of the Reformation in Lithuania. "In a room covered with a pall, in front of a table on which there were branched candlesticks with three Graces of Greek mythology, Czechowicz with Wędrychowski, Catholic priests in the past, taught from the pulpit the Lithuanian nobility", wrote Teodor Narbutt in his work published in Vilnius in 1856 ("Pomniejsze pisma historyczne szczególnie do historyi Litwy odnoszące się", p. 66). In 1558 a reformed school also started operating in the palace. Nicolaus "the Black" died in Lukiškės in May 28/29, 1565 and the estate was inherited by his sons. The eldest, Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616), received his primary education in Lukiškės in the Protestant gymnasium founded by his father. "In the 1550s and the 1560s the palace in Lukiškės was one of the most important centers of political, religious and cultural life of the then Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth" (after "Miles Christianus et peregrinus: fundacje Mikołaja Radziwiłła "Sierotki" w ordynacji nieświeskiej" by Tadeusz Bernatowicz, p. 139). Between 1566-1574, the sons of Nicolaus "the Black" converted from Calvinism to Catholicism.

According to legend, Nicolaus Christopher received the nickname "the Orphan" in early childhood. Allegedly, once the King Sigismund Augustus found the child left unattended in one of the rooms of the royal palace, he caressed the child saying: "poor orphan". On June 20, 1569 he was granted the post of Court Marshal of Lithuania. Soon "the Orphan" became close to the king and carried out his personal assignments until his death.

In 1567, Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan" inherited his father's estate and became the guardian of his younger brothers and sisters. He was a capable diplomat and in 1573, he headed the embassy to Paris to Henry of Valois. The journey at the turn of 1573 and 1574 lasted six months. After returning to the Commonwealth, he fell seriously ill and vowed to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land as soon as his health allowed. It is believed that Nicolaus Christopher was ill with gout and some kind of venereal disease. He set out in the autumn of 1580 and after treatment near Padua and Lucca, he spent the entire spring of 1581 in Venice, also visiting Padua and Bologna. There was a plague in the Middle East at that time, so "the Orphan" changed his plans and returned the Commonwealth in April 1581. In 1582 he again left for Italy, from where in 1583 he went to the Holy Land. 

Together with his brothers Albert (1558-1592) and Stanislaus (1559-1599), he created the Nesvizh, Kletsk and Olyka entails in 1586, becoming the first Nesvizh ordynat. He was also Grand Marshal of Lithuania from 1579 and castellan of Trakai from 1586. In 1584 Stanislaus, nicknamed "the Pious", first ordynat of Olyka, offered part of the Lukiškės estate to the Jesuits and in 1593 he also donated the remaining part of the Lukiškės estate with the palace and other buildings. 

Jesuit Lukiškės became the intellectual and cultural center of Vilnius at that time. In the years 1593-1774, traditional ceremonies of conferring academic degrees were held there. From 1646, there was a garden of medicinal herbs, and tinctures and mixtures were sold in the Jesuit Academic Pharmacy. In March 1647 the Jesuits offered a sumptuous feast in the villa in Lukiškės to the royal couple, Ladislaus IV and Marie Louise Gonzaga, who visited the academy. Between 1655 and 1660, during the Deluge, like much of the capital of Lithuania, Lukiškės and Tatar estates were destroyed. In the place of a manor house or near to it, in the years 1757-1761, the Jesuits built a baroque three-story palace to design by Johann Christoph Glaubitz. According to Teodor Narbutt ("Pomniejsze pisma historyczne szczególnie do historyi Litwy odnoszące się", p. 66-67), in the chapel in the left wing of the palace there was a beautiful painting of the "Three Marys going to the tomb of the Savior, painted by the Italian school", possibly from the Radziwill collection, lost after 1793.

During his stays in Venice in 1580 or 1582 "the Orphan" commissioned a marble altar of the Holy Cross, created in 1583, which was originally intended for the parish church in Nesvizh, built in the years 1581-1584, later moved to the new Corpus Christi Church, constructed between 1587-1593 by Gian Maria Bernardoni. The altar is attributed to Girolamo Campagna (1549-1625), a sculptor from Verona and a pupil of Jacopo Sansovino, and a signature of his collaborator Cesare Franco (Franchi, Francus, Francho) from Padua is visible on the base: CESARE DE FRANCHI PATAVINO OPVS FEC ... /...CHI LAPICIDA VENETIIS 1583. The sculptures were probably transported to Nievizh in 1586, and the permit issued by the Doge of Venice, Pasquale Cicogna (1509-1595), for the transport of marbles probably concerns the altar of the Holy Cross (after "Rzeźby Campagni i Franco w Nieświeżu a wczesny barok" by Tadeusz Bernatowicz, p. 31) or other sculptures commissioned in Venice. 

Marble bust of a painter Francesco Bassano the Younger (1549-1592), the eldest son of Jacopo and brother of Leandro, from his tombstone in the church of San Francesco in Bassano (today in the Museo Civico di Bassano del Grappa), created in about 1592, is also attributed to Campagna as well as bust of Christopher Nicolaus Radziwill (1590-1607), Nicolaus Christopher's son, in the Corpus Christi Church in Nesvizh.

Letter from courtier Rafał Kos of February 1, 1594 (AGAD reference number: 1/354/0/5/7374) written from Venice, which mentions a painter named Mazzuola, confirms that paintings were imported from Venice by Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan" (after "W poszukiwaniu utraconej tożsamości" by Jolanta Meder-Kois, Izabella Wiercińska). 

Portrait of young man in a black coat lined with lynx fur and with a landscape visible in the distance through a window, was acquired by the Pushkin Museum in Moscow in the 1930s from an unknown source as the work of the painter from the Bassano circle (inventory number 2842). It is today attributed to Domenico Tintoretto (1560-1635), the eldest son of Jacopo, who from 1578 was already involved in Tintoretto's Gonzaga cycle and participated in the redecoration of the Doge's Palace between 1580 and 1584. 

The man presents his estate which resemble greatly the topography of the Vingis estate (Radziwill Lukiškės) in Vilnius, depicted on a map created in 1646 (collection of the Vilnius University), as well as on watercolor paintings by Seweryn Karol Smolikowski created in 1832 (National Museum in Warsaw, inventory number Rys.Pol.14339 MNW and Rys.Pol.14340 MNW), and by Marceli Januszkiewicz created in 1836 (National Museum of Lithuania). The architecture of his Italian-style villa is similar to the pavillons of the Radziwill Palace in Vilnius, the larger palace of the Calvinist branch of the family, depicted in 1653 medal by Sebastian Dadler. There is a church or a chapel far in the background with high tower, similar to that visible on 1646 map of Lukiškės (F), undoubtedly a Catholic temple. It can be assumed that it symbolizes the triumph of Catholicism over the cradle of the Reformation in Lithuania. The young man from the portrait is therefore the eldest son of Nicolaus "the Black", Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan". He was depicted in very similar costume and in similar compositon (window, table) in a print created by Tomasz Makowski in Nesvizh in 1604 - Panegyric of the Skorulski brothers (Jan, Zachariasz and Mikołaj) on the occasion of receiving the office of voivode of Vilnius by Nicholaus Christopher (National Museum in Kraków, inventory number MNK III-ryc.-36976).

The same man, in similar costume, was also represented in another painting which was attributed to Domenico Tintoretto - Portrait of a man holding his right hand on his heart. This work comes from the collection of Géza von Osmitz (1870-1967) in Bratislava (sold in Vienna, 12 March 1920, lot 68). The style of this painting is more close to the Bassanos, especially portrait of King Stephen Bathory by Francesco Bassano the Younger from the Ambras Castle, identified by me. 

The man from both described portraits bear a great resemblance to effigies of Nicolaus Christopher, all created in his later age, like engraving by Lukas Kilian, created in Augsburg in about 1610 (National Library in Warsaw, inventory number G.10401) or engraving by Dominicus Custos, published in 1601, after a drawing by the Veronese painter Giovanni Battista Fontana (1541-1587), who decorated the walls of the Spanish Hall at Ambras (Lithuanian Art Museum, inventory number LDKVR VR 667). 

​A two sided miniature in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (inventory number 1890, 4051, oil on copper, 10.2 cm) is on one side a reduced and simplified version of the painting by Bassano, showing the man in a similar pose but with a different hairstyle. Both portraits, although close to miniatures by the Bassanos in the Uffizi (1890, 4072, 9053, 9026), also relate to works of Sofonisba Anguissola, who moved to Sicily (1573), and later Pisa (1579) and Genoa (1581).

Portrait of Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616) with a view of the Vingis estate (Radziwill Lukiškės) in Vilnius by Domenico Tintoretto, 1580-1586, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.

Portrait of Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616) by Francesco Bassano the Younger or workshop, 1580-1586, Private collection.

Miniature portrait of Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616) ​by workshop of the Bassanos or Sofonisba Anguissola, 1580-1586, Uffizi Gallery.

Portrait of Gustav Eriksson Vasa by Sofonisba Anguissola

In 1575 another inconvenient royal child was sent to be raised abroad, this time from Sweden to Poland. In August 1563 King Eric XIV of Sweden imprisoned Catherine Jagiellon, Duchess of Finland in Gripsholm Castle. She was released in 1567, but during this four-year imprisonment she gave birth to a daughter and a son, future Sigismund III. Catherine was crowned queen of Sweden in spring of 1569, when Eric was deposed. In March 1575, the Swedish Council of State decided to separate the seven-year-old boy Gustav Eriksson Vasa, the only son of Eric XIV, from his mother Karin Månsdotter, as king John III feared that the deposed Eric's followers in Sweden would use Gustav to be able to carry out their reinstatement plans. At Catherine's request her sister Anna agreed to take care of him. 
​
He was well educated, attended the best Jesuit schools in Toruń and Vilnius and Collegium Hosianum in Braniewo. He knew many languages as well as astrology, chemistry and medicine. He travelled to Rome in 1586 and to Prague to meet Emperor Rudolf II, who learned about his chemical talent. As education and travel at that time were far more expensive than nowadays, he was not living in poverty as a prisoner or even a slave in chains in a poor and barbaric country, as some people want to believe. 

A small portrait of a child by Sofonisba Anguissola in profuse mannerist frame from private collection in Switzerland (oil on wood, 37 x 28 cm, Van Ham Kunstauktionen in Cologne, June 2, 2021, lot 926), shows a boy wearing an elegant black velvet doublet trimmed in gold, black hose and a black cape, like an attendant of the Jesuit school. The boy's features are very similar to these known from portraits of Eric XIV, his daughter Sigrid and to the portrait of a woman from Gripsholm Castle from about 1580, which is identified as Eric's step-sister Princess Elizabeth or his wife Karin Månsdotter. His pose and costume are almost identical with these visible in portrait of king John III of Sweden, husband of Catherine Jagiellon and Gustav Eriksson's uncle, in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, a copy of original portrait by Johan Baptista van Uther from 1582. Anguissola's portrait can be threfore dated to 1582, a year when Gustav Eriksson reached his legal age of 14, and it was commissioned by his foster mother, proud of her boy starting education, most probably as one of a series for herself, her friends in Poland and abroad. 

Portrait of Gustav Eriksson Vasa (1568-1607) by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1582, Private collection.

Portrait of the Beautiful Nana and her husband by Sofonisba Anguissola

Another mysterious portrait by Anguissola from the 1580s was acquired in 1949 by the National Museum in Warsaw from private collection (oil on canvas, 60 x 48.5 cm, inventory number M.Ob.1079 MNW). It was previously attributed to Giovanni Battista Moroni and it shows a man with his daughter. 

The girl is holding a flower with four petals, similar to a primrose considered as a symbol of true (faithful) love, just as in "The Primrose" by John Donne (1572-1631), to white Caucasian rockcress (Arabis caucasica) or myrtle, consecrated to Venus, goddess of love and used in bridal wreaths - Pliny call it the "nuptial myrtle" (Myrtus coniugalis, Natural History, XV 122).

She wears a coral necklace, a fertility symbol in ancient Rome (after Gerald W. R. Ward's "The Grove Encyclopedia of Materials and Techniques in Art", 2008, p. 145), as in portraits of young brides by Florentine painter Domenico Ghirlandaio and in Polish folk costumes, and a symbol of protection, meant to bring good luck, as in portraits of court dwarf Magdalena Ruiz. 

The red-haired man with blue eyes holds firmly a hand of young blue-eyed blond girl, this is not her father, this is her husband.

In 1581 Anna Jagiellon sent to her friend Bianca Cappello, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, one pretty, graceful female dwarf who could dance and sing. Monsignor Alberto Bolognetti, Bishop of Massa Marittima organized a travel for her from Warsaw through Kraków and Vienna. She was accompanied by "a Polish Gentleman named Mr. Giovanni Kobilmiczhi, and I [...] lingua Cobilnisczi, who is setting off in a carriage. I believe that the girl will feel comfortable, being highly recommended to the gentleman, and provided with whatever she needs to protect her from cold" (un Gentilhuomo Polaco nominato Signore Giovanni Kobilmiczhi, et mi [...] lingua Cobilnisczi, Il quale mettendo a viaggio in carozza. Mi credo che la fanciulla si condurrà comodamente, havendola lo massime al gentilhuomo molto raccomandata, et provista di qual che suo bisogno per difenderla dal freddo), according to the letter of February 15, 1581. The man was most probably Jan Kobylnicki, a courtier of king Stephen Bathory. 

Beautiful Nana (Italian for female dwarf) was probably married after her arrival to Florence, possibly even with Kobylnicki or other Pole, and it was probably the Queen who commissioned her portrait with her husband from Anguissola, who moved from Pisa near Florence to Genoa in 1581. Consequently a two-sided portrait miniature of a female dwarf and her husband in the Uffizi Gallery (oil on copper, 7.2 x 5.6 cm, Inv. 1890, n. 4086) painted in the style of Sofonisba from the same period, should be considered as effigy of parents of beautiful Nana.

Portrait of the Beautiful Nana and her husband by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1581-1582, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait miniature of mother of the Beautiful Nana by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1581-1582, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Portrait miniature of father of the Beautiful Nana by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1581-1582, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Portrait of Cardinal Alberto Bolognetti by Lavinia Fontana or studio

In a letter dated April 12, 1581 addressed to King Stephen Bathory, Pope Gregory XIII announced the appointment of Alberto Bolognetti (1538-1585), Bishop of Massa Marittima, as nuncio to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Shortly after his arrival in April 1582, Bolognetti was welcomed by Queen Anna Jagiellon at her rich wooden palace of Jazdów (Ujazdów) in Warsaw, where he admired the tapestries "made of silk and gold" left to her by her brother king Sigismund Augustus, the garden with "vines and other plants that the king had brought from Hungary", and a dining room "entirely decorated with beautiful arrases with plants and animals made of gold and silk, at the top of which was a royal canopy and under it two small tables joined together and covered with the same tablecloths" (mi condusse ad una parte ornata tutta di razzi bellisimi di boscaglie et animali pur d’oro et di seta, in capo della quale era un baldachino regale et sotto quello dui tavolini congiunti insieme et coperti dalie medesime tovaglie), which he described in a letter to Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio (1527-1607).

Alberto, born and educated in Bologna, where he obtained a doctorate in law on May 23, 1562 at the university, became a clerk and professor of civil law there. In 1574, he moved to Rome and was appointed apostolic protonotary by Pope Gregory XIII. Then he was nuncio to Grand Duke Francesco I in Florence from February 25, 1576 to September 10, 1578 and in the Republic of Venice from September 10, 1578. His departure from Venice, at the end of March 1581, was quite sudden and soon after he arrived in Rome, he left for Poland.

In 1582, Bolognetti persuaded King Stephen to implement the bull of Gregory XIII which established the Gregorian calendar and to found the first Jesuit house in Kraków. Pope Gregory XIII made him a cardinal during the consistory of December 12, 1583. However, he never received the red hat or a titular church since he died before he could come to Rome for the ceremonies. In its pride at the elevation of Cardinal Alberto, the Senate of Bologna granted him an annual pension of 500 gold scudi. The cardinal died of fever at Villach in Carinthia in May 1585, while returning from Poland to participate in the papal conclave of 1585. He was buried in his family tomb in the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Bologna.

In the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw there is a portrait of Cardinal Bolognetti (oil on canvas, 125 x 92 cm, Wil.6185) presenting a letter addressed to him (All Illmo. et Rev. Mons/re / Il S. Card. Bolognetti mio sig/re Oss./mo / In Polonia), most probably the letter of appointment to the cardinalate from the pope. Therefore, it must have been created in 1583 and before 1585. The painting is mentioned in the 1893 description of the palace - "Abelardus Bolognetti, cardinal and nuncio, in Poland in 1583 under Stephen Bathory" ("Willanów, Czerniaków, Morysin ..." by Wiktor Czajewski, item 807, p. 155), after a portrait of Cardinal George Radziwill (article 804). It is possible that it was initially in the collection of Queen Anna Jagiellon in Warsaw.

The painting is attributed to an Italian painter. Its style most closely resembles the portrait of Raffaele Riario, which was most likely in the Riario-Sforza collection in Rome (sold at Dorotheum in Vienna, April 24, 2018, lot 52). Raffaele holds a letter from the Duke of Bavaria in his hands and the writing style is also very similar. Riario's portrait was initially attributed to the Lombard school, then to Lavinia Fontana, a painter active in Bologna and Rome, who created the miniature portrait of King Stephen Bathory (National Museum in Kraków, MNK I-290). The pose of the model and the style of the painting are also comparable to two works signed by Lavinia - portrait of a man with a book, said to be senator Orsini, from 1575, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux (signed and dated: LAVINIA FONTANA DE ZAPPIS FACIEBAT MDLXXV, inventory number Bx E 197) and portrait of a young man at a table from Rohde-Hinze collection in Berlin, dated 1581 (LAVINIA FONT: DE ZAPPIS FAC. MDLXXXI). It is also similar to the unsigned work - portrait of Pope Gregory XIII with inscription GREGORIVS.XIII.PONT. OPT. MAX (sold at Christie's, May 18, 2017, lot 563). Therefore, as in the case of the portrait of King Bathory, the Bolognetti portrait was most likely painted by Fontana from study drawings sent from Poland.

​Portrait of Cardinal Alberto Bolognetti (1538-1585), Apostolic Legate to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Lavinia Fontana or studio, ca. 1583, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw. 

Portraits of Tomasz Treter by Lavinia Fontana

In 1583 Tomasz Treter (1547-1610), secretary to Cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz, published in Rome his major work Romanorvm imperatorvm effigies ... with effigies and short biographies of Roman emperors ending with Rudolf II, grandson of Anna Jagiellonica (1503-1547). He dedicated his book to King Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as husband of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596). The engravings in this work, among which the magnificent coat of arms of the king, were made by Giovanni Battista de Cavalieri, very probably after drawings by Treter. He was also a poet, philologist, heraldist, engraver and translator. His prints he sent to various European monarchs, including Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. He is the author of two famous engravings related to the Polish-Lithuanian monarchs - Castrum doloris of Sigismund Augustus in Rome from 1572 and Eagle with the galaxy of Polish kings also called Eagle of Treter with 44 medallions of Polish monarchs from Lech to Sigismund III, created in 1588. Together with Stanisław Pachołowiecki he developed a map of Polotsk (Descriptio Dvcatvs Polocensis), during the campaign of King Stephen Bathory in 1579, engraved by Giovanni Battista de Cavalieri (Joa. Baptista de Cauallerijs tipis aeneis incidebat Anno Domini 1580). 

Treter was the son of Jakub, a bookbinder from Poznań, and Agnieszka née Różanowska and after studies in Poznań and Braniewo, he went to Rome in 1569, where he studied theology and law. Tomasz obtained a doctorate in canon law and stayed in Rome for 22 years. He was the secretary of the bishops of Warmia: Stanisław Hozjusz and Andrew Bathory. He was a canon at the Lateran and the first superior of the Polish Hospice in Rome founded by Hozjusz and between 1579-1593 he was a canon at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome and a canon in Olomouc in Moravia. In July 1584 he returned to Poland and in December 1585 he was elected canon of Warmia. In 1586 Treter become secretary to Queen Anna Jagiellon. 

He then returned to Rome and was responsible for the construction of the mausoleum for queen's mother Bona Sforza in Bari. In a letter of May 26, 1590, Queen Anna informed Father Tomasz that a portrait of Bona had been sent to his address, according to which the sculptors were to recreate the features of the deceased. Father Treter was also an artistic agent of the Polish-Lithuanian monarchs. Together with Stanisław Reszka and Andrzej Próchnicki, he bought paintings for the queen and the king, collected information about their prices and new painting talents that appeared in Italy (after "Zamek Królewski" by Jerzy Lileyko, p. 113). 

Between 1595 and 1600 he created beautifully illustrated manuscript with 105 drawings - Theatrum virtutum ac meritorum D. Stanislai Hosii, showing the episodes in the life of Cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz (National Library of Poland, Rps BOZ 130), in some of which he probably took part, like 70. Cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz dining with his courtiers (ABSTRACTIO A SENSIBVS), 76. Cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz at the Lublin Council before King Sigismund Augustus (PRAESENTIA IN COMITIIS LVBLINENSIB) or 77. Departure for Rome (PROFECTIO ROMAM SVSCEPTA). Treter died on February 11, 1610 in Frombork in Prussia. 

In the collection of Michelangelo Poletti in the Castello dei Manzoli in San Martino in Soverzano near Bologna there is a portrait of a man holding a letter by Bolognese painter Lavinia Fontana (oil on canvas, 98 x 82 cm), who in about 1585 created a miniature portrait of King Stephen Bathory (National Museum in Kraków, MNK I-290). The model in the black costume sits next to a desk with an inkwell, pen and clock. The Latin inscription on the chair indicates that the painting was created in 1583 (LAVINIA FONTANA DE / ZAPPIS FACIEBAT / MDLXXXIII), when Treter published his Romanorvm imperatorvm effigies ..., at the age of 36 and shortly before his return to Poland. That year, Lavinia also painted Antonietta Gonsalvus (Antonia González), daughter of Petrus Gonsalvus ("The Hairy Man"), who was staying with her family in Bologna or Rome.

The same man was also depicted in another painting by the same artist, as the style indicates. This painting is now in the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius (oil on canvas, 36.5 x 27 cm, LNDM T 3991). It is attributed to the Venetian school of the 17th century. He also wears a black outfit, but this portrait is a less formal, private, and therefore less idealized. He has an unbuttoned collar and his ruff is smaller and more comfortable. This portrait, the owner could easily take with him to the north.

​Portrait of secretary Tomasz Treter (1547-1610) by Lavinia Fontana, 1580s, Lithuanian National Museum of Art.

​Portrait of secretary Tomasz Treter (1547-1610) by Lavinia Fontana, 1583, Castello dei Manzoli.

Portraits of King Stephen Bathory in national costume by Italian painters

The majority of the surviving effigies of the king are attributed to the only painter (or his entourage/workshop) whose stay in Poland-Lithuania is confirmed - a Silesian Martin Kober from Wrocław, although stylistically some of them are very far from his confirmed works. Kober arrived in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in about 1583 from Magdeburg and became court painter to elected Queen Anna Jagiellon and her husband Stephen Bathory of Transylvania.

Only two signed works by Kober are known, but the late 16th century portraits of Sigismund III and his family, painted in a very distinctive style, can fairly be attributed to him. The signed works are a life-size portrait of King Stephen Bathory, signed with a monogram and date (MK / 15.83, Museum of the Missionary Fathers in Kraków) and a miniature likeness of Sigismund III from 1591, signed on the reverse in German (MARTINVS KÖBER RÖ : KEI : MAI : / VNDER- THENIGSTER BEFREITER MALER / VON BRESSLAV . VORFERTIGET / ZV WARSCHAV . DEN 30 APRILL . 1591., Wawel Royal Castle). 

After Bathory's death in 1586, Kober went abroad - from about 1587 he worked for Emperor Rudolf II in Prague and returned to Poland around 1589. In 1595 he went to Graz.

The miniature portrait of King Stephen ​in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence is attributed to Kober (oil on panel, 17.5 x 14 cm, inv. 1890 / 8855). It was probably made in 1583 and sent to the Medicis. It is one of two known portraits of the Polish-Lithuanian monarch in this collection, the other, with the inscription: STEPHAN: / BATTORI / POL:REX, was painted by Cristofano dell'Altissimo in 1587 from an original effigy, probably by the Swiss-German artist Jost Amman (oil on panel, 59 x 42, inv. 1890 / 411). This last portrait is most likely equivalent to the mention in the general inventory of the Medici collection of 1595-1597: "N. 31 Paintings on wood with walnut frames around 1 ell high [Florentine ell - approx. 58.4 cm], that is, portraits of ordinary size [...] the Grand Captain King of Poland Stephen Bathory" (N. 31 Quadri in tavola con cornicie di nocie atorno alti braccia 1 incirca, cioè ritratti di misura ordinaria, entrovi in ciascuno li appresso ritratti, cioè [...] il Gran Capitano Re di Polonia Stefano Battorio, Inventario della Guardaroba Generale, ASF, GM 190, c. 132) among the portraits of members of the Medici family, portraits of the Duke of Bavaria, General Cappello, Pietro Aretino, Vittoria Colonna, "a prince in armor" (um Principe grande armato), a Sultana and Bianca Cappello.

Among the works attributed to Kober and his circle there is also a miniature of King Stephen Bathory in the National Museum in Kraków (oil on copper, 17.4 x 14.8 cm, MNK I-290), purchased in 1909. This undated portrait was made around 1585 because it shows the king at age of 52, according to the Latin inscription at the top left in the frame (STEPHAN[US] BATORİ DE / SCHVMLAİ ∙ REX POLO/NİÆ ∙ M:[AGNUS] DVX ∙ LITHVA/NİÆ ∙ PRİNCEPS ∙ TRAN/SİLVANİÆ ∙ ANNO ∙ÆTA/TİS Lİİ). The style of this painting is very distinctive and characteristic of Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614), a woman painter active at that time in Bologna in the Papal States and particularly close to her self-portrait in the studio, painted in 1579 (oil on copper, diameter 15.7 cm, Uffizi Gallery in Florence, inv. 1890, 4013). Even the inscriptions on both miniatures were created in the same style. Since Lavinia's stay in Poland-Lithuania is not confirmed, she probably received a miniature by Kober to copy. A miniature sold in 2024 in Bonn (oil on copper, 18 x 15 cm, Von Zengen Kunstauktionen, November 22-23, 2024, lot 1471), very similar in style and composition, should also be attributed to Fontana.

​The way in which the tablecloth and the king's shoe in his small-format portrait in Wawel Castle (oil on panel, 80.3 x 37.7 cm, inv. ZKnW-PZS 1784) were painted is also very characteristic of Lavinia and similar to the miniature in the National Museum in Kraków. The small dots of paint give a glittering impression. As in the portrait in the National Museum, the king is depicted with fair hair. This painting was probably painted after 1584, because Bathory proudly presents his new crown and the matching sceptre ordered that year in Gdańsk according to the design by Willem van den Blocke. The preparatory design for this crown is jealously guarded by the Museum of Prints and Drawings (Kupferstichkabinett) in Berlin. A very similar painting was probably in Warsaw before World War II and the National Museum in Warsaw has an old photo of it (inv. DI 40077 MNW). As we can judge from this photo, it was painted by other painter and the closest one seems to be works by another Italian female painter, Sofonisba Anguissola. Particularly comparable is Sofonisba's portrait of a lady holding a zibellino kept in the National Art Gallery in Lviv (inv. Ж-821), which, according to my identification, is a portrait of the king's niece Griselda Bathory (1569-1590), wife of Jan Zamoyski.

Another portrait of Bathory in Italian or more specifically Venetian style is in Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 108.5 x 73.8, Wil.1163, earlier 570), mentioned for the first time in an inventory from the mid-19th century. Its style is very close to the portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) kept at the National Museum in Warsaw (MP 5323) and portrait of Bianca Cappello (1548-1587), Grand Duchess of Tuscany, a friend of Anna (sold at Capitolium Art in Brescia on October 17, 2018), both by Alessandro Maganza (before 1556-1632).

Also Francesco Bassano the Younger, in 1586, the eldest son of Jacopo Bassano, who worked in the Bassano family workshop in Venice with his three brothers, received a portrait of the monarch by Kober to copy. This miniature, close in style to the earlier effigy of the monarch in Italian costume (Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, GG 5775) and the portrait of a Knight of Malta in the Civic Museum in Bassano del Grappa, both attributed to Francesco Bassano the Younger, was acquired by the Wawel Royal Castle in 2013 from a private collection. It bears the Latin inscription STEPHANVS I / REX POLONIE / ANNO / 1586 and because it reproduces the same known effigy of the monarch is it also linked to Kober or his circle.

This was a universal practice and two engraved effigies of Bathory by Italian engravers were created from such effigies, most likely by Kober or another artist permanently or temporarily active in Poland-Lithuania. An engraver and goldsmith active in Venice and Padua Domenico (Zenoi) Zenoni (inscription: Stepano Battori Re di Polonia ...) and another anonymous engraver, active in Italy (inscription: Questy in 2 giornate uenuto d'Alba iulia, fece solenne entrata in Cracouia ...), received such effigy in 1576 to reproduce it in their prints.

Several splendid books published in Italy during Bathory's lifetime were dedicated to him. For example, Gnomonices libri octo ... by Christophorus Clavius ​​​​(1538-1612), published in Rome in 1581, a treatise on gnomonics by a German Jesuit mathematician, head of the mathematicians at the Collegio Romano; Viridarivm Poetarvm ("In praise of the most serene and powerful D. D. Stephen, King of Poland") by Ippolito Zucconelli (Hippolytus Zucconelli), published in Venice in 1583; Romanorvm imperatorvm effigies ... by Tomasz Treter with engravings by Giovanni Battista de Cavalieri, published in Rome in 1583; Bernardini Parthenii Spilimbergii In Q. Horatii Flacci Carmina ... by Bernardino Partenio (1498-1588), complete text of the annotated works of Horace published in Venice in 1584; Antiqvitatvm Romanarvm (Treatise on Roman Antiquities) by Paolo Manuzio (Paulus Manutius, 1512-1574), published in Bologna in 1585, with a beautiful engraving with the portrait of the king made by the Venetian engraver Giacomo Franco (1550-1620); Iacobi Zabarellae Patavini Opera Logica in hac Secunda Editione ... (collected logical works) by Jacopo Zabarella (1533-1589), published in Venice in 1586. Based on lectures by the Italian philologist, physician and professor at the University of Padua Girolamo Mercuriale (1530-1606), Wojciech Szeliga of Warsaw (Albertus Scheligius Vbarschauiensis, d. 1585) developed a textbook of toxicology De venenis et morbis venenosis tractatvs ..., which was published in Venice in 1584, and was also dedicated to King Stephen Bathory. Presumed portrait of Mercuriale, which, besides Szeliga, also counted among its disciples Jan Hieronim Chrościejewski of Poznań (Iohannis Chrosczieyoioskii, d. 1627/28), was painted by Lavinia Fontana around 1589 (The Walters Art Museum, inv. 37.1106).

​Portrait of Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in national costume by workshop of Alessandro Maganza, ca. 1583, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

​Miniature portrait of Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, at the age of 52, in national costume by Lavinia Fontana, ca. 1585, National Museum in Kraków.

​​Miniature portrait of Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in national costume by Lavinia Fontana or studio, ca. 1585, Private collection.

​Portrait of Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in national costume by Lavinia Fontana or studio, ca. 1584-1586, Wawel Royal Castle.

​Portrait of Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in national costume by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1584-1586, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Miniature portrait of Stephen Bathory (1533-1586), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in national costume by Francesco Bassano the Younger, 1586, Wawel Royal Castle.

Portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon in coronation robes and portrait of King Stephen Bathory in armour

​The full-length portrait of the elected queen of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) in coronation robes in the burial chapel of the last Jagiellons - the Sigismund Chapel of Wawel Cathedral, is one of the best-documented portraits of the Jagiellon period. Two letters from the queen with several detailed information concern this portrait, it bears a detailed inscription in the lower part and can also be found in the inventories of the royal chapel. Despite that there are many ambiguities concerning this painting. In particular, the date of execution is unclear and the name of the painter is unknown.

On March 22, 1586, the Queen sent a letter from Warsaw to Father Stanisław Zając, the superior of the Rorantists at Wawel Cathedral, in which she wrote: "We are sending to Y.R. [Your Reverence] the image of our face through Czeleiowski [Celejowski, probably a member of the Celli family from Venice], Łobzów [royal palace] official. When you take this image, Y.R., without giving it anywhere from your home or showing it, but to craftsmen and at your home, not elsewhere, you will have frames made for it as shapely as possible". The Queen asked to add the coat of arms and an inscription at the bottom, a faithful reproduction of the inscription sent on a separate card with the letter. She also asked for a curtain (velum) protecting the portrait from dust and "for other reasons" (dla prochu i dla innych przyczyn), suspended from a golden rod and golden rings to be added in the upper part. All this must be done quickly (jakoby to wszystko dobrze, porządnie, grzecznie a rychło, after "Kaplica Zygmuntowska ..." by Antoni Franaszek, ‎Bolesław Przybyszewski, p. 55). In a letter dated June 19, 1586, the queen concludes: "The image that we sent, that it is ready, we see with pleasure; and what Y.R. spend for it, Sebastian Montelupi, to pay, we send him a letter. This image, as we have previously announced, we want it to be placed in the same place where we have ordered it. And so that no one bows before it, let it always be well covered, and never uncovered, unless someone insists very much to see it" (after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku ..." by Alexander Przezdziecki, Volume 4, p. 303-304). The work of several "craftsmen" lasted almost three months.

The mentioned inscription, which is visible in the lower part of the painting, states that "she looked like this" at her coronation on May 1, 1576 (TALİS APARVIT. / ANNO CHRISTI DOMİNİ M. D. LXXVI KAL. MAII. HORA, XVII.). Based on this, it is believed that the queen sent her portrait made in 1576 from Warsaw to which coat of arms and an inscription were added. However, all this information can also be interpreted to mean that a faithful portrait of the queen's face was sent to Kraków, on the basis of which a full-length portrait was made. The Latin inscription under the portrait could refer only to the costume and not to the face of the model. Another portrait of the queen has been preserved in the chapel, depicting her kneeling in widow's dress, made after the death of Anna's husband, Stephen Bathory (December 12, 1586). This portrait is similar to the painting now in Wawel Castle attributed to Martin Kober and purchased in 1936 from the Imperial collection in Vienna (inv. ZKnW-PZS 1424). While in the kneeling portrait and in the portrait from the Imperial collection the queen has blue eyes, in the portrait in coronation dress, as in the miniature by Lucas Cranach the Younger in the Czarotyski Museum (inv. MNK XII-545), her eyes are brown. Moreover, in the kneeling portrait, which was undoubtedly painted later than the coronation portrait, her face is fuller and she looks younger. A copy of the coronation portrait, probably from the 19th century, with several differences, including in the face of the model, the colour of the fabric in the background and the colour of the coat of arms, is in the National Museum in Wrocław (inv. MNWr VIII-270).

In contrast to the Italian school, where portraits of rulers, such as those of ancient Roman emperors, were often idealized, the German school and more generally the Northern school focused on the realism of the representation. The letters of the young Prince Barnim of Pomerania (1549-1603) to his brothers, sons of Philip I (1515-1560) and Maria of Saxony (1515-1583), about King Sigismund Augustus' plans to marry him to his sister Anna, indicate that the majority of portraits of the princess were idealized. In a letter dated November 4, 1569, Barnim writes that the princess is no longer so young (she was 46 at that time), but mentions her virtues and good character. He also adds that he would also like to receive a faithful image (wahrhaftig Conterfey) of his future wife, as soon as possible. The addition of the word "faithful" indicates that the portraits belonging to the Pomeranian dukes do not meet these requirements. The queen's demands that her "faithful" coronation portrait be shown only with a few exceptions are further confirmation that this was indeed the case.

Another interesting aspect of the coronation portrait is the obvious inspiration from Cranach's works, which is visible not only in the composition and technique, but also in the great realism of the depiction. The painter depicted the wrinkles on the queen's face, the veins on her temple, shaved forehead and rendered the details of her jewellery with great precision. It is because of this realism and certain resemblance to the signed and dated full-length portrait of Stephen Bathory kept in the Museum of the Missionary Fathers in Kraków (oil on canvas, 236 x 122 cm, signed and dated bottom left: MK / 15.83), that the painting has been attributed to the Wrocław painter Martin Kober. The portrait of the king was painted more softly and with less chiaroscuro, which is particularly visible on the hands in both portraits. The attribution to Kober is now rejected. The coronation portrait was probably painted in Kraków and similar contrasts between light and dark can be noticed in a painting attributed to the Kraków school - the epitaph of Jan Sakran (Sacranus, 1443-1527), created around 1527 and inspired by an original by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

The queen's garments are typical for the Sarmatian national fashion of this period, however her shaved forehead and the composition of the painting recall the full-length portraits of Anne of Denmark (1532-1585), Electress of Saxony, painted by Lucas Cranach the Younger in 1564, known from three versions preserved in the Armoury Chamber in Dresden (inv. H 0095), in the City and Mining Museum in Freiberg (inv. 79/14) and in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 3241). The portrait of the Electress preserved in Vienna was probably given to Emperor Maximilian II (1527–1576), son of Anna Jagellonica (1503–1547), but in the inventory of the imperial collection in the Stallburg in Vienna from 1772 it is mentioned as "Life-size portrait of a woman" (Ein Frauen Portrait in Lebens-Grösse). Since her Habsburg relatives received a copy of the portrait of the Electress, it is possible that Anna Jagiellon also had one. Another characteristic element of the coronation portrait, compared to that of the Electress of Saxony, is the Queen of Poland's corpulent posture, contrasting with her emaciated face. In this context, it seems very likely that her silhouette was inspired by an effigy from 1576, while her face reflects her appearance ten years later, in 1586, the anniversary of her coronation. If Anna was ill at this time, this would explain why, after her husband's death, she did not wish to impose her exclusive rule over the country, but supported her nephew in the election to the throne.

We do not know why the queen decided to commission such a portrait in 1586. The motives for such an order are explained by two portraits now preserved in Florence and Siena. One of them, now in the Palatine Gallery of the Pitti Palace in Florence, depicts the Queen's beloved nephew Sigismund Vasa (1566-1632), Duke of Finland (oil on canvas, 185 x 94 cm, inv. 1890, 2436). The young prince is depicted in a richly embroidered doublet and hose in the French style. The painting is attributed to the Dutch painter Johan Baptista van Uther, who was active in Sweden from 1562 as a court painter. This painting is undated, but depicts the prince at the age of 18, so it was most likely painted around 1584 (SIGISMVNDYS DVX FINLANDIÆ / REGNI SVECIÆ HARES ET ELECTVS / REX / ÆTATIS SVÆ XVIIII.). A similar portrait of Sigismund's father, King John III of Sweden (1537-1592), depicting him at the age of 45 (ÆTATIS SVÆ XXXXV), so painted in 1582 (or after the original from that date), is in the Royal Palace of Siena (former Medici Palace). The portraits of the Swedish monarch and his son are mentioned in the Medici Guardaroba generale as early as 1596, so it is likely that they were sent to Francesco I (1541-1587), Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his Venetian wife Bianca Cappello (1548-1587), at the initiative of Anna Jagiellon. The queen probably also owned copies of these portraits. It was mainly thanks to her support that Sigismund won the royal election after Bathory's death. A leaflet published in 1587 and entitled Newe Zeitung Von der Wahl des newen Königes in Polen ... concerning the election takes up the rumours circulating in the country about the corruption of the primate Stanisław Karnkowski (1520-1603) by Queen Anna Jagellon. The primate had always been a supporter of the Habsburgs, but after receiving a rich gift from Anna, he changed his position overnight and proclaimed Sigismund king (after "Prasa ulotna za Zygmunta III" by Konrad Zawadzki, p. 51). Already in June 1586, the queen sent her envoy, the Jewish merchant Mandl, to Austria with the mission of marrying the eldest daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria (1540-1590) to Sigismund in order to strengthen his position in the upcoming royal elections. The merchant arrived in Graz on July 12. He assured that Sigismund would inherit the Swedish crown and that his aunt had the opportunity to place him on the Polish throne (after "Polskie królowe: Żony królów elekcyjnych" by Edward Rudzki, p. 49). It was also the queen who, after his death, donated the full-length portrait of Bathory to his funeral chapel in Wawel Cathedral, from where it passed to the Missionary Fathers in the 18th century.

Seeing the naturalistic portraits of her nephew and brother-in-law in sumptuous costumes, as well as of the recently deceased Electress of Saxony, the queen probably wanted something similar for her funeral chapel. 

At that time, the cathedral was filled with portraits of various monarchs (including disguised portraits). The royal portraits of Sigismund I, Sigismund Augustus and Anna Jagiellon hanging in the Sigismund Chapel above the doors are first mentioned during the visit of Bishop Jakub Zadzik in 1638 (A Ecclesia maiori eadem capella crati aurichalcea eleganti distinguitur. Supra fores ab intra est imago pieta Sigismundi primi et contra Sigismundi Augusti, a parte vero Evangelii imago Ser[enissi]mae Annae Jagielloniae exposita habentur). The portrait of Sigismund Augustus was probably destroyed during the Deluge and replaced by the kneeling portrait of Anna, since such a group of portraits is mentioned during the visit of Bishop Andrzej Trzebicki in 1670 (after "Marcin Kober i portrety z jego kręgu" by Elżbieta Błażewska, p. 69-70, 84).

In summary, the coronation portrait includes influences from the Kraków school of painting as well as inspirations from the works of Cranach and Kober. The painter who perfectly combines all these aspects is the Kraków painter Dorota Koberowa (1549-1622), who married Martin Kober in 1586. Dorota's husband moved to Kraków around 1583 and in 1585 he was probably again in Wrocław, mentioned as Martinus Chober Magideburgensis. After the death of the king in December 1586, the couple left Kraków and settled in Wrocław, where Dorota gave birth to their two children, Melchior (1587) and Esther (1589). Martin was temporarily active in Prague, where he received the title of painter free of guild rights from Emperor Rudolf II on April 18, 1587. In 1589 the painter returned to Kraków, where he was appointed court painter to Sigismund III and received his share of the court fabrics. During Kober's absence and after his death, Dorota ran his painting workshop, and she was also mentioned as a court painter to Sigismund III in 1599. Unfortunately no signed work by Dorota has been preserved or perhaps it is waiting to be discovered.

Similarly, no paintings by Martin Kober made for Rudolf II are known, but since he was employed as a portrait painter, the portraits he made for the Habsburgs are probably waiting to be rediscovered. Very interesting in this respect is the horizontal portrait of King Stephen Bathory in armour, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 62 x 100 cm, inv. GG 4505). The painting is part of a series of similar portraits of mainly Habsburg rulers, documented at Ambras Castle near Innsbruck in 1621, all painted in the same style, evidently by the same painter. The inclusion of the portrait of Bathory indicates that the series was created after his coronation as monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, i.e. after 1576. The painter must have been familiar with the king's effigies because the portrait is very precise. Among the portraits are images of Emperor Maximilian I (inv. GG 4495), Emperor Charles V (inv. GG 4496), King Philip II of Spain (inv. GG 4497), Emperor Ferdinand I (inv. GG 4498), Emperor Maximilian II (inv. GG 4499), Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol (inv. GG 4500) and King Francis I of France (inv. GG 4506). With the exception of Philip II and Ferdinand II of Tyrol, all the monarchs mentioned had died before 1576, so the painter must have based them on other effigies. Although the fabrics in these portraits are painted with Venetian boldness and colouring, the faces and hands were painted in a style comparable to the mentioned portrait of Bathory in Kraków, painted by Kober, who both in Sarmatia and Prague had the opportunity to admire the works of the Venetian painters.

​Portrait of King Stephen Bathory (1533-1586) in national costume by Martin Kober, 1583, Museum of the Missionary Fathers in Kraków. 

​Portrait of Sigismund Vasa (1566-1632), Duke of Finland at the age of 18 by Johan Baptista van Uther, ca. 1584-1586, Pitti Palace in Florence.

​Portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) in coronation robes by Dorota Koberowa (?), ca. 1586, Sigismund Chapel of Wawel Cathedral. 

​Portrait of King Stephen Bathory (1533-1586) in armour by Martin Kober, ca. 1587-1589, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 

Portraits of Griselda Bathory and Elżbieta Łucja Gostomska by Sofonisba Anguissola

To strengthen the influence of the Bathory family in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, king Stephen planned the marriage of his Calvinist niece Griselda (née Christine) with the widowed Grand Chancellor of the Crown, Jan Zamoyski, one of the most powerful men in the country.  

They were married on June 12, 1583 at the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. Griselda came to Kraków with a retinue of 1,100 people, including six hundred soldiers guarding the her dowry. The wedding celebration with truly royal splendor lasted ten days. 

After Bathory's death in 1586, Zamoyski helped Sigismund III Vasa gain the Polish throne, fighting in the brief civil war against the forces supporting the Habsburgs.

Griselda died four years later on 14 March 1590 in Zamość, an ideal city designed by Venetian architect Bernardo Morando. The city was not far from the second largest city of the Commonwealth, Lviv, dominated by a Royal Castle. 

The portait of a young lady by Sofonisba Anguissola from the National Art Gallery in Lviv (oil on canvas, 115 x 92 cm, inventory number Ж-821) is very similar to the portrait of Anna Radziwill née Kettler from about 1586 in the National Museum in Warsaw. Anna Radziwill was a wife of a brother of first wife of Zamoyski. Their headdresses or bonnets are very much alike, as well as the dress, ruff, jewels and even the pose. The woman in Anguissola's painting is holding a zibellino, a symbol of a bride, and a small book, most probably a Protestant bible. The features of the woman's face are very similar to portraits of Griselda's uncle, cousin and brother. The painting comes from the collection of Countess Eleonora Teresa Jadwiga Lubomirska née Husarzewska (1866-1940) and was exhibited in Lviv in 1909 as "Portrait of a lady in Spanish dress" (after "Katalog ilustrowany wystawy mistrzów dawnych ..." by Mieczysław Treter, item 53, p. 19). According to the catalogs of this exhibition, the painting was signed and dated 1558 in the upper left corner (Sofonisba Angusciola F. MDLVIII.), but this date is unreliable because the model's costume is much later.

A miniature in Sofonisba's style in the Uffizi Gallery (oil on copper, 6.7 x 5.1 cm, Inv. 1890, 9048, Palatina 778), shows a girl in very similar dress inspired by Spanish fashion to that in Lviv portrait. Her jewelled headdress is not Western however, it is in Eastern style and similar to Russian kokoshnik (from the Old Slavic kokosh, which means "hen" or "cockerel"). Such headdresses carried the idea of fertility and were popular in different Slavic countries. In Poland they preserved in some folk costumes (wianek, złotnica, czółko) and become dominant at the court of Queen Constance of Austria in Warsaw in the 1610s and 1620s.

The girl is therefore Elżbieta Łucja Gostomska (later Sieniawska), who in about 1587 at the age of 13 (born 13 December 1573), entered the court of Anna Jagiellon and whose miniature the Queen could send to her friend Bianca Cappello in Florence. She was the child of a Calvinist Anzelm Gostomski (d. 1588), voivode of Rawa. Her mother, Zofia Szczawińska, fourth wife of Anzelm, who raised her in Sierpc was affraid that her beautiful and wealthy daughter would be abducted by suitors. In 1590, despite her aversion to marriage, she married the Calvinist Prokop Sieniawski, then the court cupbearer, whom Queen Anna and her relatives chose for her. The Queen had a reputation for caring for her people. Many young girls and boys at her court received an elementary education. Later, some boys were sent to school and received financial support to continue their studies (after "The Court of Anna Jagiellon: Size, Structure and Functions" by Maria Bogucka, p. 103).

Before World War II, in the Society of Friends of Learning in Poznań, there was another interesting tondo miniature of a child from the same period (oil on panel, 22 cm, inv. k 82, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 6111). This "Portrait of a Young Man from the Royal Family", as the work is titled, was attributed to the French painter François Clouet (ca. 1510-1572) and came from the collection of Seweryn Mielżyński (1804-1872) in Miłosław. The Latin inscription on the left near the boy's head indicated that he was 12 years old (ÆTATIS 12). It was followed by a date, probably added at the same time, but perhaps also later, since the numbers visible in the old photograph look most like "1656", which could be the date of the model's death. Due to the attribution to Clouet, this date is considered "1556", however the costume with the characteristic ruff is rather from the 1580s, so the date "1586" is more probable. The possible model for this miniature could therefore be Prince Jerzy Zbaraski, born on April 22 or 23, 1574 (Georgius Zbaraski nascitur anno Domini 1574 die 22 Aprilis feria quarta in vigilia S. Georgil post meridiem), because the boy resembles the later effigies of this Ruthenian magnate. Most interesting, however, is the style of the painting, which closely resembles works attributed to Anguissola, such as the portrait of a boy, said to be a member of the Gonzaga dynasty, in the Museo Urbano Diffuso in Mantua.

Consequently also other portrait, depicting a lady with a pendant with Allegory of Abundance, and attributed to Spanish school (Alonso Sánchez Coello) could be a work of Anguissola and identified as a court lady of Anna Jagiellon. She could be Dorota Wielopolska, lady-in-waiting of the Queen who in May 1576 married Piotr Potulicki, Castellan of Przemyśl. The queen organized for her a lavish feast and a tournament at the Wawel Castle. The painting was aquired by the National Museum in Kraków from a private collection in Gdów near Wieliczka, which was owned by the Wielopolski family (oil on canvas, 73 x 57 cm, inv. MNK I-929). 

In the 1596 painting by Alonso Sánchez Coello, whose works are sometimes confused with those of Sofonisba Anguissola, depicting King Philip II of Spain banqueting with his family and courtiers (The Royal Feast, signed and dated: ASC / ANNO 1596), the Spanish monarch is dining with his two deceased wives, Elizabeth of Valois (1546-1568) and Anna of Austria (1549-1580), his father Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), and his mother Isabella of Portugal (1503-1539). Thus, for a talented painter, it was not difficult to create a good effigy by drawing inspiration from other portraits. This painting comes from the Antoni Kolasiński collection and was purchased by the National Museum in Warsaw in 1928 (inv. M.Ob.295 MNW, earlier 73635). Even if Sofonisba's stay in Sarmatia will never find confirmation in reliable sources, she was a very talented portraitist, so creating effigies inspired by other portraits was certainly one of her main skills.

Portrait of Griselda Bathory (1569-1590) by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1586-1587, National Art Gallery in Lviv. 

Miniature portrait of Elżbieta Łucja Gostomska (1573-1624) by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. ​1586-1587, Uffizi Gallery in Florence. 

​Miniature portrait of a 12-year-old boy, probably Prince Jerzy Zbaraski (1574-1631) by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1586, Society of Friends of Learning in Poznań, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of a young woman with a pendant with Allegory of Abundance, most probably Dorota Wielopolska by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1580s, National Museum in Kraków. 

Portraits of Elizabeth Euphemia Radziwill by Francesco Montemezzano and Alessandro Maganza

Ruthenian Princess Elizaveta Yevfimiya (Elizabeth Euphemia) Vyshnevetska or Elżbieta Eufemia Wiśniowiecka, also known as Halszka, was born in 1569 in the Calvinist family of the voivode of Volhynia and starost of Lutsk, Prince Andriy Vyshnevetsky (1528-1584) and his wife Eufemia Wierzbicka (1539-1589), as the firstborn child. After her father's death, she inherited large estates near Minsk and according to her mother's decision, on November 24, 1584 in Dzieraunaja (Derewna) in present-day Belarus, she married Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616). She was 20 years younger than Radziwill and only 15 years old. Radziwill, who had just returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1582-1584 (via Venice), succeeded in convincing the future wife and her mother to abandon Calvinism and convert to Catholicism. A few months after the wedding, in a letter dated February 25, 1585, he personally informed Pope Gregory XIII about this fact. The formal conversion may have taken place later, since in 1587 in a letter of April 18, Cardinal Alessandro Peretti di Montalto (1571-1623), congratulates him for having made her change her faith. "The Orphan" became a staunch, not to say fanatical Catholic, when he contracted a venereal disease (probably syphilis) during his stay abroad and the intensive treatment that the prince underwent both in Poland and abroad (mainly in Italy) has proven to be effective (after "Elżbieta Eufemia z Wiśniowieckich ..." by Jerzy Flisiński, Słowo Podlasia). 

Elizabeth Euphemia bore her husband 3 daughters and 6 sons and their firstborn child Elizabeth was born soon after the marriage in 1585. In the spring of 1593 the prince and his wife went to Italy for treatment in the hot springs near Padua in the Venetian Republic. The place was also symbolic as the Radziwill family claimed lineage from an ancient mythical nobleman Palemon (Publius Libon) of Colonna (Column) coat of arms, who is sometimes described as a Roman or a fugitive from the Venetian lagoons. Medical advice was also at stake, which was sought from famous doctors in Padua and Venice. After few months of treatment, in October 1593, they returned directly to the country, disappointing Cardinal Montalto, Cardinal Protector of the Kingdom of Poland (from 1589), who was expecting a visit from Radziwill and his wife in Rome. 

Together with her husband Elizabeth Euphemia founded many churches and monasteries, some of which were designed by an Italian architect and a Jesuit Giovanni Maria Bernardoni (1541-1605). Very little information preserved about other members of the Radziwill court or the artists. In 1604, the prince's court physician was paid 400 zlotys a year, and the equerry, the Italian Carlo Arigoni, was paid 124 zlotys a year. Another Italian Bartol Faragoi was a page in 1604. In 1597, Nicolaus Christopher wrote a letter to the city council of Riga about Cornelius de Heda, a Dutch painter (as his name suggests) brought from Italy, who was to carry out painting work in Niasviz (Nesvizh), but he fled with money not fulfilling his obligations. In his last will "the Orphan" ordered foreign craftsmen to be paid and sent away (after "Lituano-Slavica Posnaniensia", Volumes 8-10, p. 202). The most important sculptures related to Radziwill and his wife were all imported from Venice - marble altar, marble epitaphs of Nicolaus Christopher, Elizabeth Euphemia and their son Christopher Nicolaus Radziwill (1590-1607) in Corpus Christi Church in Nesvizh were all created in Venice by Girolamo Campagna and Cesare Franco. 

Elizabeth Euphemia died on November 9, 1596 in Biała Podlaska at the age of 27. She was buried in the church of Corpus Christi in Niasviz, in the crypt of the Radziwill family. After her death, Nicolaus Christopher decided to remain a widower for the rest of his life.

In the Gösta Serlachius Museum of Fine Arts in Mänttä, Finland, there is a portrait of a noblewoman in elaborate Venetian costume (oil on canvas, 120 x 92.5 cm, inventory number 286). Based on the painting style, it was initially attributed to Giovanni Antonio Fasolo (1530-1572), a painter of the Venetian school, active in Vicenza and surroundings, thus dated to around 1572. It was believed that the woman depicted was the artist's daughter, Isabella, who married in 1572 and that the painting was a wedding portrait. New research claims that it was created around 1580 in the workshop of Paolo Veronese. The painting comes from the collection of a Finnish industrialist and art collector Gösta Michael Serlachius (1876-1942). It is not known where and when he acquired the painting. The possible location seems to be St. Petersburg, where his family owned a brewery and which at the time was the largest art market in the nearest region and where many art collections from the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were transferred after the end of the 18th century.

Comparison with Venetian costumes from the last quarter of the 16th century indicates that the portrait was created around the turn of the 1580s and 1590s and that this woman was a noble, as the closest similar costume was depicted in Cesare Vecellio's De gli habiti antichi, e moderni ..., published in Venice in 1590 (Spose nobili moderne, plate 310). Similar costumes were also depicted in the Book of Italian Costumes by Niclauss Kippell, painted in about 1588 (Walters Art Museum, W.477.15R) and in Pietro Bertelli's Diversarum nationum habitus, published in 1589. According to the Latin inscription in the upper right corner of the painting, the woman was 18 when the painting was created (Ao. ÆTATIS SVE. / XVIII.), exactly like Elizabeth Euphemia when her conversion was confirmed in Rome. The woman in the portrait bears a strong resemblance to Princess Radziwill from her partially imaginative portrait by the Polish-Lithuanian painter Wincenty Sleńdziński from 1884 (Mir Castle complex in Belarus), her effigy published in 1758 in Icones familiæ ducalis Radivilianæ ... as well as the facial features of her third son Albert Ladislaus Radziwill (1589-1636) from his portrait in the National Museum in Warsaw (MP 4431 MNW).

The style of the painting is very similar to the portrait of Elizabeth Euphemia's brother-in-law Stanislaus Radziwill (1559-1599) in the National Museum of Art in Kaunas in Lithuania (ČDM MŽ 139) and the effigy of Bianca Cappello (1548-1587), Grand Duchess of Tuscany (private collection), attributed to Alessandro Maganza (d. 1632), a pupil of Giovanni Antonio Fasolo. Maganza obviously worked for the Radziwills and many other clients from Poland-Lithuania, as many other paintings of a similar style exist in the former territories of the Commonwealth.

The same woman in a similar costume was depicted in another painting by the eminent Venetian painter Francesco Montemezzano (oil on canvas, 91.4 x 74.3 cm), who between 1575 and 1585 created Allegorical portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Czartoryski Museum, XII-227). The painting comes from a private collection and was sold in 2019 in New York (Christie's, May 1, 2019, live auction 17467, lot 303). She wears a crown of a princess and her hair is loose like on the effigies of young brides. Like for another Radziwill Princess, Katarzyna Tęczyńska (d. 1592), the effigies of Elizabeth Euphemia were painted by Maganza and Montemezzano from sketches sent from the Commonwealth.

Similar to the sculptures for their mausoleum that the Radziwills commissioned in Venice, their effigies and other paintings were therefore mostly created there as well. 

​Portrait of Princess Elizabeth Euphemia Radziwill née Vyshnevetska (1569-1596) as a bride in Venetian costume by Francesco Montemezzano, ca. 1584-1587, Private collection.

​Portrait of Princess Elizabeth Euphemia Radziwill née Vyshnevetska (1569-1596), aged 18, in Venetian costume by Alessandro Maganza, ca. 1587, Gösta Serlachius Museum of Fine Arts in Mänttä.

Portrait of Anna Kettler by workshop of Alessandro Maganza

Another Venetian-style portrait of the member of the Radziwill family from the same period is in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 156 x 103 cm, MP 2472, earlier 233159). It is a portrait of Anna Radziwill née Kettler (1567-1617), daughter of Gotthard Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (vassal state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) and Anna of Mecklenburg. On 20 January 1586, in Jelgava, she married Albert Radziwill (1558-1592), the younger brother of Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan". Her husband was a frequent guest at her father's court, and he also traveled frequently. In 1582 he was in Polotsk with King Bathory, at the beginning of July 1582 he left for Italy, and from January to May 1583 he stopped in Venice. In January he was in Kraków, from there he went to Kaunas and at the end of July 1584 to Lublin. In December he appeared at the royal court in Grodno and probably went to Warsaw (after "Polski słownik biograficzny", Volume 30, p. 137). 

In her portait Anna is dressed in more Northern fashion and holds a small dog, a symbol of marital fidelity. The style of this painting closely resembles the portrait of Katarzyna Tęczyńska (died 1592), Princess of Slutsk in the same collection (128854 MNW), therefore it should be attributed to the workshop of Alessandro Maganza.

The painting was donated in 1969 by Stanisław Lipecki and Róża Lipecka from Kraków and comes from Silesia. It was correctly identified by Janina Ruszczyc in 1975 because, according to an inscription in German, most likely dating from the end of the 18th century, it depicts the unknown Duchess Ludemilla of Legnica and Brzeg (Ludemilla! / Herzogin Vo: / Lieg: Bri: u Woh: / Mutter des Lezten / Herzog u Bau / erin der Fürsten / Gruft). The painting was probably part of the dowry of Anna's sister, Elizabeth Kettler, who on September 17, 1595 married Adam Wenceslas, Duke of Cieszyn or it was moved to Żagań in Silesia after 1786 when Peter von Biron, the last Duke of Courland and Semigallia, bought the Duchy from the Lobkowicz family.

A painting from the same period and painted in the same style also bears an incorrect inscription. It comes from a private collection in England and is attributed to an English school of the 17th century (oil on canvas, 76.2 x 63.5 cm). According to mentioned inscription the man in Italian or French costume from the 1580s is Edward VI (1537-1553), King of England, portrayed in 1553 at the age of 15 (EDWarD VI ÆTATIS . SUÆ . 15 / ANNO. DOMINO . 1553). This unusual mixture of English and Latin was probably added in the late 19th or 20th century to sell the painting more profitably. The original indications of his identity, if any, have most likely been removed, so perhaps we will never know his true identity. The man could be a nobleman from Poland-Lithuania or an Italian courtier at the court of elected Queen Anna Jagiellon or the Radziwills, painted like his patrons by the Venetian workshop of Maganza.

​Portrait of Anna Radziwill née Kettler (1567-1617) with a dog by workshop of Alessandro Maganza, ca. 1586-1587, National Museum in Warsaw.

​Portrait of a man in a ruff with a false inscription identifying the model as Edward VI (1537-1553), King of England by workshop of Alessandro Maganza, 1580s, Private collection. 

Portrait of Jan Tomasz Drohojowski by Leandro Bassano

Jan Tomasz Drohojowski (1535-1605) from Drohojów, near Przemyśl, was a son of Krzysztof Drohojowski, a nobleman of Korczak coat of arms, and Elżbieta Fredro. He had five sisters and two brothers, Kilian and Jan Krzysztof (died before December 12, 1580), the royal secretary. He studied at the University of Wittenberg (enrolled on June 21, 1555), with his brother Kilian in Tübingen, then alone in Basel in 1560. Well educated, knowing French, Italian and Latin, he began to serve the king Sigismund Augustus. He was sent by him with a mission to Italy. According to Krzysztof Warszewicki (1543-1603), he brought the king as a gift a horse of wonderful color and virtue (equum admirabilis coloris et bonitatis Regi donavit). After return he became the royal secretary and in 1569 in this capacity he signed three privileges. At the time of the king's death, he was in Knyszyn and prevented the royal property from being looted and at the Sejm of 1573, Jan Tomasz called for a punishment of those guilty of looting royal valuables. 

Shortly thereafter, Jan Tomasz went to Kraków to participate in the reception ceremony of king Henry of Valois. He stayed in Kraków, performing his duties as secretary and courtier of the king, and he even borrowed a certain amount to king Henry. Then he was sent on several ambassadorial missions, including to France. He was present at the anointing of king Henry at Reims on February 13, 1575. On March 2, 1575 in a letter from Prague to Infanta Anna Jagiellon he reported to her about the coronation of Henry and his marriage with Louise of Lorraine. The Infanta, in a letter of April 10, 1575, written from Warsaw to her sister Sophia, calls Jan Tomasz a courtier of the King.

After returning from the mission in Courland in 1578, he hosted king Stephen Bathory for 5 days in Przemyśl (for which he spent 911 zlotys) and become the starost of Przemyśl. Also in 1578, he founded octagonal chapel of St. Thomas (Drohojowski Chapel) at the Przemyśl Cathedral, built in the Renaissance style. To put up one tower at the Przemyśl castle he spent 180 zlotys. At the end of January 1579 he was sent by the king to Constantinople (Istanbul). 

In a letter of January 13, 1581 from Warsaw to Andrzej Opaliński (1540-1593), Court Crown Marshal, Mr Bojanowski calls Jan Tomasz, Gian Tomaso in Italian. In May 1583, princess Griselda Bathory, niece of the king, stayed in Drohojowski's Palace in Voiutychi, designed in Renaissance style by Italian architect Galeazzo Appiani from Milan, with her entire retinue of 500 infantry soldiers and 78 mounted knights. In 1588 he escorted to Krasnystaw, Archduke Maximilian of Austria (1558-1618), who stood as a candidate for the throne of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, taken captive at the Battle of Byczyna (24 January). Before December 20, 1589 Jan Tomasz was appointed the crown referendary because the letter of king Sigismund III from that date already gives him this title.

His career was facilitated by family ties with Jan Zamoyski, Great Hetman of the Crown, who entrusted the guardianship of his son Tomasz to him in 1589. He became friends with Mikołaj Herburt (1524-1593), castellan of Przemysl and he married his daughter, Jadwiga Herburt. From this marriage he had a son, Mikołaj Marcin Drohojowski, most probaly born in the late 1580s (he loses a trial in 1613 and in 1617 he sold Rybotycze estate to Mikołaj Wolski (1553-1630)). Jan Tomasz died in the Przemyśl castle on November 12, 1605 at the age of 70.

The portrait of a nobleman in a black French style costume lined with fur by Leandro Bassano, was offered to the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm in 1917 (oil on canvas, 119 x 98 cm, inv. NM 2059). The aristocratic tone of this portrait is accentuated by the verticality of the figure, his pose and gloves. The date in upper left corner of the canvas was not added very skillfully, therefore we can assmue that it was added later by the owner or at his request, not by the original painter. According to this inscription in Latin, the man was 53 in June 1588 (AET . SVAE . / LIII / MĒS . VI / 1588), exactly as Jan Tomasz Drohojowski. Below there is also another date in Latin: March 27 (27 mês martij), which could be the date of birth of Jan Tomasz's son Mikołaj Marcin. The man's costume and pose as well as facial features bears a striking resemblance to a portrait of Jan Tomasz's brother Jan Krzysztof (d. 1580), the royal secretary, in the Przemyśl Cathedral. This portrait, created in the first half of the 18th century, is a copy of other effigy and is a pendant to a portrait of his brother Jan Tomasz, who as a starost (capitaneus) of Przemyśl, administrative official, equivalent to the County Sheriff, was depicted in an armor and holding an axe. 

Portrait of Jan Tomasz Drohojowski (1535-1605), starost of Przemyśl aged 53 by Leandro Bassano, 1588, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Portrait of Sigismund III Vasa at a young age by Domenico Tintoretto

After the death of Stephen Bathory in December 1586, when 63 years old elected Queen Anna Jagiellon, could finally rule on her own, she was most probably too sick and too tired to do this. She supported the candidature of her niece Anna or her nephew Sigismund, children of her beloved sister Catherine, Queen of Sweden as candidates in next election. Sigismund was elected the ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on 19 August 1587.

Raised in Protestant Sweden, where Flemish Domenicus Verwilt and Dutch Johan Baptista van Uther with their stiff realism were chief portraitists at the court of his father and his predecessor, he found "degenerated", frivolous style of the Venetians not very appealing to him, at least initially. Although, he commissioned paintings in Venice, all most probably destroyed, no portrait is mentioned in sources. He supported Martin Kober, a Silesian painter trained in Germany, as his main court portraitist. It was therefore his aunt Anna Jagiellon, who could order a series of portraits of her protégé from Tintoretto for her and for her Italian friends. 

The portrait of a blond hair young man, wearing a tight black doublet in El Paso Museum of Art is very similar to other known portraits of the king, especially his effigy in Spanish costume by Jakob Troschel from about 1610 (Uffizi in Florence) and a portrait holding his hand on a sword, attributed to Philipp Holbein II, from about 1625 (Royal Castle in Warsaw).

Chronologically this portrait fit perfectly known portraiture of the king: portrait as a child aged 2 from 1568 (AETATIS SVAE 2/1568), created by Johan Baptista van Uther as gift for his aunt (Wawel), as a Duke of Finland aged 18 (AETATIS SVAE XVIIII), consequently from 1585, also created by van Uther in Sweden (Uffizi), next this portrait by Domenico Tintoretto from about 1590, when he was 24 and was already in Poland and then the miniature at the age of 30 (ANNO AETATIS XXX) from about 1596 by workshop of Martin Kober or follower (Czartoryski Museum). The painting was inscribed on the column (AETATIS…X…TORET), now mostly effaced. 

His left hand looks like if was posed on a sword at his belt, however no object is present. It was probably less visible in a drawing or miniature sent to Tintoretto, hence he left his hand strangely in the air, a proof that the sitter was not in painter's atelier. Forgetting of such an important object in the 16th century male portraiture, could be also a result of a rush to accomplish some big royal commission. The Order of the Golden Fleece, basing on which some of Sigismund's portraits were identified, was granted to him in 1600.

​It is highly probable that the painting showing the Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist in the National Museum in Warsaw, created by Domenico Tintoretto around that time (after 1588) was also commissioned by Anna. It was bequeathed to the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw by Piotr Fiorentini in 1858 and later purchased by the Museum. Its earlier history is unknown, therefore Fiorentini, born in Vilnius, who later lived in Kraków and Warsaw, could have acquire it in Poland or Lithuania. Anna was engaged in embellishment of the main church of Warsaw - Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist and she also built 80-meter-long corridor (covered passage) connecting the Royal Castle with the Cathedral.

Portrait of Sigismund III Vasa at a young age by Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1590, El Paso Museum of Art.

Baptism of Christ by Domenico Tintoretto, after 1588, National Museum in Warsaw. 

Portrait of princess Anna Vasa in Spanish costume by Domenico Tintoretto

In about 1583, after her mother's death, Anna Vasa like her aunt Sophia Jagiellon in 1570, converted to Lutheranism. Already in 1577, papal diplomacy proposed to marry her to an Austrian archduke, Matthias or Maximilian. 

She arrived to Poland in Ocober 1587 to attend her brother's coronation and she stayed until 1589, when she accompanied Sigismund to meet their father John III of Sweden in Reval and then followed John to Sweden. Anna returned to Poland to attend the wedding of Sigismund with Anna of Austria in May 1592. When just few months later, on 17 November 1592, John III died, Sigismund was willing to abdicate in favor of Archduke Ernest of Austria, who was about to marry his sister Anna. This was also intended to alleviate the Habsburgs, who already lost in two royal ellections.

Archduke Ernest, the son of Emperor Maximilian II and Maria of Spain, together with his brother Rudolf (Emperor from 1576), was educated at the court of his uncle Philip II in Spain. 

To announce this turn in country's politics, where Anna Vasa become a focal point, her aunt most probably commissioned a series of portraits of her niece. 

The portait by Domenico Tintoretto from the collection of Prince Chigi in Rome, now in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, shows a woman in black saya, a Spanish court dress, from the 1590s, similar to that visible in the portrait of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia by Sofonisba Anguissola in the Prado Museum from about 1597. However the white ruff collar, cuffs and her gold necklace are definitely not Spanish, they are more Central European and very similar to garments visible in portraits of Katarzyna Ostrogska from 1597 in the National Museum in Warsaw and in the portrait of Korona Welser by Abraham del Hele from 1592 in the private collection, they are not Venetian. The features of the woman's face are the same as in Anna Vasa's portrait from about 1605 and her miniatures from the 1590s identified by me. A book on the table beside her is therefore Protestant Bible, published in the small octavo format and landscape with rivers and wooded hills is how Tintoretto imagined her native Sweden. 

The portrait of a man with a red beard from the same period in the National Museum in Warsaw and attributed to Tintoretto's workshop is almost identical in composition, techinique and dimensions. He is holding a similar book. It is therefore an important royal court official. The royal secretary from 1579 and a staunch Calvinist Jan Drohojowski (d. 1601) fit perfectly. From 1588 he was also a castellan of Sanok, hence one of the most powerful protestants in the country. 

Drohojowski was the son of Stanisław Drohojowski, the promoter of Calvinism. His mother Ursula Gucci (d. 1554), also known as Urszula Karłowna, was also a protestant. She was a lady-in-waiting of Queen Bona and a daughter of Carlo Calvanus Gucci (d. 1551), a merchant and contractor, who arrived in Kraków in the retinue of Queen Bona and was later made Żupnik of the Ruthenian lands.

Portrait of princess Anna Vasa (1568-1625) in Spanish costume by Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1592, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Portrait of Jan Drohojowski, castellan of Sanok by workshop of Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1592, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portraits of Anna of Austria and Anna Vasa by Sofonisba Anguissola

In 1586, to strengthen her nephew's chances in royal election, Queen Anna Jagiellon proposed a marriage between Sigismund and Anna of Austria (1573-1598). The Habsburgs had strong influences in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and their claims to the throne were supported by part of the nobility. Due to the political instability and Maximilian of Austria's desire for the Polish crown, Anna's parents, preferred the match with Henry of Lorraine.

Already in 1585, the queen sent the first unofficial marriage proposals to Graz via Rome. In June 1586, she sent her envoy, the Jewish merchant Mandl, to Archduke Maximilian with a request for advice on whether it was worth negotiating with Graz regarding the engagement of her nephew to the eldest Archduchess. Maximilian immediately informed his uncle of the arrival of this unusual emissary, who ordered that Mandl be brought to Graz (July 12, after "Polskie królowe: Żony królów elekcyjnych" by Edward Rudzki, p. 49, 50). 

The plans resummed in 1590 when Anna's engagement with Duke of Lorraine was broken off. In Sarmatia, however, there were fears that Sigismund III would follow Valois' example and leave Poland to take the hereditary throne of Sweden. The expression of these fears and reluctance was the lament of an anonymous poet in 1591: "They are marrying the king with a German woman, they are sending him overseas" (Z Niemkinią króla swatają, za morze go wyprawiają). The marriage was opposed by Chancellor Jan Zamoyski and his powerful supporters, as well as by Stanisław Żółkiewski, but Sigismund Vasa was very pleased with the portrait of Anna sent from Graz. The portrait was then sent to Stockholm, where the Archduchess's appearance won the approval of her future father-in-law, King John III of Sweden. At this time, Sigismund's morganatic cousin Gustav Eriksson (1568-1607) also visited Graz. These efforts caused tensions in the multi-confessional Commonwealth, and particularly in Kraków. The nobility feared that the marriage of the Catholic couple would take place "in the Parisian style" (po parysku), meaning that Kraków would repeat the "Night of St. Bartholomew", that is, the massacre of Protestants (after "Najsłynniejsze miłości królów polskich" by Jerzy Besala, p. 143).

​In April 1592, the betrothal was formally celebrated in the Imperial Court in Vienna. Despite the opposition of the nobles, Sigismund and 18 years old Anna were married by proxy in Vienna on May 3, 1592. She arrived to Poland with her mother Archduchess Maria Anna of Bavaria and a retinue of 431 people. The young king welcomed his wife accompanied by the "old queen" Anna Jagiellon and his sister Princess Anna Vasa in Łobzów Palace near Kraków where four tents were set up, decorated in Turkish style for the feast. The young queen received rich gifts, including "Kanak necklace with large diamonds and rubies and oriental pearls, which are called Bezars 30" from the king, "a chain of oriental pearls and a diamond necklace, and two crosses, one ruby, the other diamond" from the "old queen" and "kanak necklace with a cross of rubies and diamonds pinned on one" from Princess Anna, among others. Also "the envoy from the Lords of Venice" brought gifts valued at 12,000 florins. 

Anna of Austria's Spanish connections become very important soon after her arrival, when after death of his father Sigismund left for Sweden and was willing to abdicate in favor of Archduke Ernest of Austria, who was about to marry his sister Anna Vasa. Two of Anna's effigies by Martin Kober from about 1595 were later sent to dukes of Tuscany (both Francesco I and Ferdinando I were half-Spanish by birth, through their mother Eleanor of Toledo).

Three miniatures and a portrait, all in Sofonisba Anguissola's style, can be dated to around that time. One minature from the Harrach collection in Rohrau Castle in Austria, possibly lost, identified as effigy of Anna of Austria, shows de facto Anna Vasa with an eagle pendant. The other in the Uffizi Gallery (oil on copper, 9.1 x 7.3 cm, Inv. 1890, 8920, Palatina 650) depict Anna Vasa in more northern costume. The latter miniature is accompanied by very similar miniature of a lady in Spanish cosume with a necklace with Imperial eagle (oil on copper, 6.4 x 4.9 cm, Inv. 1890, 8919, Palatina 649), it is an effigy of Anna of Austria, the young queen of Poland and relative of the Holy Roman Emperors and the King of Spain. 

The portrait by Sofonisba from private collection in Italy (oil on canvas, 61 x 50.5 cm, sold with this attribution on October 1, 2019), which shows a blond lady with a heavy gold necklace is very similar to other effigies of Queen Anna of Austria, especially her portrait in Kraków, most probably by Jan Szwankowski (Jagiellonian University Museum) and engravings by Andreas Luining (National Museum in Warsaw) and Lambert Cornelis (Czartoryski Museum in Kraków).

The miniature of a man from the collection of the Dukes Infantado in Madrid (oil on copper, Archivo de Arte Español - Archivo Moreno, 01784 B), painted in Sofonisba Anguissola's style, shows a man in eastern costume. His attire is very similar to these visible in a miniature with Polish horsemen from Albert of Prussia's "Kriegsordnung" (Military ordinance), created in 1555 (Berlin State Library) and in a portrait of Sebastian Lubomirski (1546-1613), created in about 1613 (National Museum in Warsaw). The features of the man's face are similar to miniature of Sigismund III Vasa (Bayerisches Nationalmuseum) and his portrait by Martin Kober (Kunsthistorisches Museum), both created in the 1590s. In the same collection of the Dukes Infantado, there is also a miniature attributed to Jakob de Monte (Giacomo de Monte) from the same period, showing king's mother-in-law Archduchess Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551-1608), ​as well as her miniature by Sofonisba from around 1580 (oil on copper, 01616 B), miniature of Emperor Rudolf II (oil on panel, 01696 B) and Sofonisba's self-portrait in Spanish costume (oil on canvas, 01588 B). All miniatures probably originally belonged to the Spanish royal collection.

Portrait of Queen Anna of Austria (1573-1598) by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1592, Private collection.

Miniature portrait of Queen Anna of Austria (1573-1598) in Spanish cosume by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1592, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Miniature portrait of Princess Anna Vasa (1568-1625) by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1592, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Miniature portrait of Princess Anna Vasa (1568-1625) with eagle pendant by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1592, Rohrau Castle. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Miniature portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa in national costume by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1592, collection of the Dukes of Infantado in Madrid. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Agnieszka Tęczyńska as Saint Agnes by Francesco Montemezzano

In October 1594, when she was just 16 years old, the eldest daughter of Andrzej Tęczyński, Voivode of Kraków, and Zofia nee Dembowska, daughter of Voivode of Belz, married the widower Mikołaj Firlej, Voivode of Kraków from 1589. The wedding feast with the participation of the royal couple took place in the "Painted Manor" of the Tęczyński family in Kraków, later donated to the barefoot Carmelites (1610). The groom, brought up in Calvinism, secretly converted to Catholicism during his trip to Rome in 1569. He studied in Bologna.

Agnieszka was born in the lavish Tenczyn Castle, near Kraków on January 12, 1578 as the fourth child. Both of her parents died in 1588 and most probably then she was raised in the royal court of Queen Anna Jagiellon. In 1593 she accompanied the royal couple, Sigismund III and his wife Anna of Austria, on their trip to Sweden. 

For some time, Tęczyńska's confessor was the Jesuit Piotr Skarga. After her husband's death in 1601, she took up the upbringing of her children, the administration of huge assets and she became involved in philanthropic and charitable activities. Widowed, Tęczyńska fell into devotion. She died in Rogów on June 16, 1644, at the age of 67, and was buried in the crypt at the entrance to the church in Czerna, she founded.
​
In the preserved paintings, offered to different monasteries, she is depicted in a costume of a widowed lady or in a Benedictine habit, like in a full-length portrait in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków from about 1640 (MNK XII-371), created by circle of royal court painter Peter Danckerts de Rij or in a three-quarter length portrait in the National Museum in Warsaw, created by Jan Chryzostom Proszowski in 1643 (129537 MNW). The latter portrait, very Italian in style, was most likely inspired by a portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon by Sofonisba Anguissola.

A portrait in the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston (oil on canvas, 86.4 x 74.9 cm, BF.1982.14) depicts a lady with a lamb, an attribute of Saint Agnes, a patron saint of girls, chastity and virgins. "During the Renaissance, women who were soon to be married often associated themselves with this saint because Agnes chose to die rather than marry a man she did not love", according to MFAH catalogue. She is holding a Catholic book, most probably a volume of Saint Thomas Aquinas' "On the truth of the Catholic faith" (Incipit liber primus de veritate catholicae fidei contra errores gentilium). A rose-bush is in this context a symbol of the Virgin Mary and of messianic promise of Christianity because of its thorns (after James Romaine, Linda Stratford, "ReVisioning: Critical Methods of Seeing Christianity in the History of Art", 2014, p. 111).

Woman's face is very similar to the effigies of Agnieszka Tęczyńska, later Firlejowa from the last decade of her life and to the portrait of her nephew, Stanisław Tęczyński in Polish costume, created by Venetian painter active in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Tommaso Dolabella (National Museum in Warsaw, inv. 128850 MNW).

The portrait was in von Dirksen's collection in Berlin before 1932 and stylistically is very close to portraits of Queen Anna Jagiellon by Francesco Montemezzano (died after 1602), a pupil and a follower of Paolo Veronese. The model's hands are painted in the same way in the portrait of the queen attributed to Montemezzano, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 29.100.104). The very finely painted portraits of Tęczyńska preserved in the National Museum in Warsaw (inv. 129537 MNW), attributed to the Kraków painter Jan Chryzostom Proszowski, and especially the painting in the Czartoryski Museum (inv. MNK XII-371), indicate that the authors could have known the works of Paolo Veronese and the artists of his circle.

Apart from the Allegorical portrait of Anna Jagiellon in the Czartoryski Museum (inv. MNK XII-227), no painting by Montemezzano appears to have survived in Poland. However, one painting in a private Polish collection could be attributed to him. It is a copy of the Choice between virtue and vice by Paolo Veronese, the probable original of which is now in the Frick Collection in New York (inv. 1912.1.129). The New York painting is dated around 1565 and comes from the collection of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague (mentioned in the 1621 inventory), from where it was looted by the Swedes in 1648. There are numerous copies of this composition. A copy, dated around 1600, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 108), was mentioned in the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614-1662) in 1659. Another copy, possibly by Montemezzano, is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (inv. 1890, 5929) and another in the Harvard Art Museums (inv. 1940.1), an anonymous gift in 1940. The copy in the Polish collection is also considered a later copy, from the 17th century, and bears in the lower part the number "63" and on the reverse a fragmentarily preserved paper label with the inscription "A. Caneru" (oil on canvas, 151 x 145.5 cm, Rempex in Warsaw, auction 294, October 12, 2022, lot 116).

Portrait of Agnieszka Tęczyńska (1578-1644) as Saint Agnes by Francesco Montemezzano, ca. 1592-1594, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

​The Choice between virtue and vice by Francesco Montemezzano, ca. 1600, Private collection (sold in Warsaw).

Portraits of Queen Anna Jagiellon by workshops of Alessandro Maganza and Sofonisba Anguissola

The new lifestyle came in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the new young king Sigismund III arriving from Sweden with his sister and his courtiers. However, at her court in Warsaw, the aged Queen Anna Jagiellon still favored the Italians and Italian culture. From around 1590 her personal physician was Vincenzo Catti (or Cotti) from Vicenza, apothecary Angelo Caborti from Otranto, called Andzioł, ennobled in 1590 and rewarded by Sigismund III with an estate in Samogitia, gardener Lorenzo Bosetto (Bozetho) and sculptor Santi Gucci. On May 5, 1594, the Queen concluded an agreement in Warsaw "with Florentine Santy Guczy, our bricklayer [...] to make the grave of King Stephen". No painters are mentioned in the sources, indicating that probably all paintings, including the portraits, were commissioned from foreign workshops or in Gdańsk, which become the main commercial center of the Commonwealth. When in August 1590 Riccardo Riccardi, the envoy of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, came to Poland, Anna welcomed him warmly and gave him letters of recommendation to the authorities of Gdańsk, to facilitate the purchase of grain for Italy (after "Anna Jagiellonka" by Maria Bogucka, p. 155). 

The newcomers from Italy spread the Counter-Reformation in the tolerant Commonwealth which gained popularity at Anna's court. Once two Capuchin fathers Francesco and Camillo appeared in the country with the intention of establishing a monastery in Poland. They showed letters of introduction from Ferdinand II (1529-1595), Archduke of Further Austria and recommendations of many bishops and abbots. They claimed to belong to the first Venetian families, Cornaro and Contarina, so they were welcomed everywhere. They preached, collected contributions, and distributed relics of the Holy Cross, which they allegedly had from Cardinal Farnese, but at the same time they behaved extremely indecently and even caused public scandals. During an audience with the queen, one of them undressed to show how thin his fasting had made him, so Anna, had to turn her face away, reports Alberto Bolognetti (1538-1585), papal nuncio in the Commonwealth (from 12 April 1581 to April 1585). Bolognetti ordered them to be imprisoned and placed temporarily in the Bernardine monastery in Warsaw. They soon confessed that they fled the Venetian province. They were visited by their compatriot, the royal physician, Lutheran Niccolò Buccella, who urged them to escape (after "Sprawozdania z posiedzeń Towarzystwa Naukowego Warszawskiego ...", Volumes 28-30, p. 40). Many Italians converted in the Commonwealth, such as Friar Hieronim (Girolamo) Mazza, a Venetian priest, who gave up his habit and married a woman with whom he had two children, a son and a daughter, and became an administrator of the Royal Post of the Montelupi in Kraków (after "Przegląd Poznański ...", Volume 27, p. 205). He is the author of the poem Epithaphium Ioannis Cochanovii from 1584.

Anna, like her siblings and her mother, loved luxury and the items she owned or gave as gifts were of the finest local and foreign craftsmanship. In 1573 she ordered a pendant with "a large emerald, a smaller ruby, two small diamonds, a small sapphire and a small ruby". To the Wawel Cathedral, she offered many exquisite textiles and church vestments made from rich Italian fabrics. On a picnic at her estate in Ujazdów in 1579, she rode in a rich scarlet carriage covered with gold cloth inside and eight horses with a leopard complex (according to the letter from nuncio Giovanni Andrea Caligari to cardinal Como dated May 2, 1579). To the family mausoleum - Sigismund Chapel, she offered large quantities of silver objects, such as in 1586 "a pair of silver-gilt cruets" with the Polish eagle and her monogram A, in 1588 silver candlesticks with her coat of arms, in 1589 she sent from Warsaw a silver bell with the Polish eagle and her monogram and in 1596, shortly before her death, she donated a silver lectern with the eagle and the letter A and the text around the coat of arms: Anna Jagiellonia D.G. Regina Poloniae M.D. Lituaniae. 

The portrait of the queen in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 103.3 x 77.5 cm, MP 5323) was in the 19th century in the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw. It is considered to be a variant of a portrait of Anna, also from the Wilanów Palace (Wil.1160), attributed to Martin Kober, most likely created in 1595 for which he was paid 14 florins and 24 groszy on the basis of the receipt of payment for three portraits of Anna Jagiellon, Sigismund III and his wife Anna of Austria. The Queen was portrayed as a founder and protector of St. Anne's Brotherhood, established in 1578 at Warsaw's Bernardine church of Saint Anne, with a gold distinctorium of the Brotherhood (introduced in 1589 after being sancioned by Pope Sixtus V) in the form of a gold medaillion with depiction of St. Anne and inscription SANCTAE ANNAE SOCIETATIS. The style of this painting is very Venetian and resembles the effigy of Anna's husband, Stephen Bathory, at Wilanów Palace (Wil.1163) and the portrait of her friend Bianca Cappello (1548-1587), Grand Duchess of Tuscany (private collection), both by Alessandro Maganza or his studio. 

The portrait of the queen in the Royal Castle in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 97.5 × 87.5 cm, ZKW 64) is closest to the works attributed to Sofonisba Anguissola and her workshop, such as the "Three children with a dog" (Corsham Court in Wiltshire), portrait of Joan of Austria (1535-1573), Princess of Portugal (private collection) and especially portrait of Don Carlos, Prince of Asturias (1545-1568), son of Philip II of Spain (Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias in Oviedo). This painting comes from the collection of Schleissheim Palace near Munich in Bavaria and was donated to the castle in 1973 by the government of West Germany.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Sarmatians did much more than have a distinctive national workshop or school of painting, they financially supported Europe's greatest artists, and their effigies adorn the world's greatest museums and collections.

​Portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as a widow by workshop of Alessandro Maganza, ca. 1595, National Museum in Warsaw.

​Portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as a widow by workshop of Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1595, Royal Castle in Warsaw.

​AI-generated view of the wooden villa of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), elected co-monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, of Ujazdów (Jazdów) in Warsaw, based on my hypothetical schematic drawing and 1606 plan by Alessandro Albertini (Il sito della villa di Jasdovia).

Portrait of Andrzej Kochanowski by Sofonisba Anguissola 

"To Mr. Andrzej Kochanowski, son of Dobiesław, heir of Gródek, famous for his birth and his own virtues, a man distinguished in life by God's great gifts, such as wisdom, diligence, temperance, piety towards God, kindness towards friends, immense generosity towards the poor, who, when with great sadness and pain of his relatives and noble people, at the age of 54, he ended his life in the year of the Lord 1596 on March 24, in this church, which he erected in the name and glory of God, according to the rite of the Catholic Church, whose principles he always followed in his life, he was buried. A monument, as a proof of love, was erected to him by Mr. Andrzej Kochanowski, nephew, son of Jan, vicecapitaneus of Stężyca", reads the Latin inscription on a late-Renaissance wooden epitaph in the Parish church in Gródek near Zwoleń and Radom in Masovia. The church was founded by the mentioned Andrzej from Opatki (de Opatki), son of Dobiesław, heir in Gródek and Zawada and his wife Anna Mysłowska, who completed the construction and furnished the temple. The permission to build the church was issued by cardinal George Radziwill on April 3, 1593 and the building was ready in 1595. It was consecrated by the cardinal two years after death of the founder in 1598 and the epitaph was erected in 1620. This church was plundered by the Swedes in 1657, the thieves in 1692, and again in 1707 from silver and more expensive apparatus. The second time, among other valuables, two thorns from Christ's crown were stolen, set in silver, which Cardinal Radziwill had left as a gift at the consecration. The village was burnt to the ground in 1657 (after "O rodzinie Jana Kochanowskiego … ", p. 161-168).

According to some sources Andrzej from Opatki had two sons – Eremian and Jan, according to other he died childless and as his heirs he named Kasper, Stanisław, Andrzej, Adam and Jerzy, sons of his brother. It was however not the heir in Gródek, but the brother of poet Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584), also Andrzej, who translated Virgil's Aeneid, published in 1590, and works by Plutarch (after "Wiadomość o życiu i pismach Jana Kochanowskiego" by Józef Przyborowski, p. 9-10). The younger brother of famous poet was born before 1537 and died in about 1599. In 1571 he married Zofia of Sobieszyn, daughter of Jan Sobieski, with whom he had 9 sons, one of whom, Jan from Barycz Kochanowski, was in 1591 transferred by his father from the queen's court in Warsaw to Jan Zamoyski.

The village of Gródek passed to the Kochanowski family as a dowry of Anna Mysłowska, who later married Stanisław Plicht, castellan of Sochaczew and after his death Abraham Leżeński. Cardinal Radziwill's favor indicates that the couple was associated with his multicultural court in Kraków as well as the court of Queen Anna Jagiellon in nearby Warsaw. A document issued by the cardinal to Anna Kochanowska née Mysłowska in Stężyca on October 30, 1598 was signed in presence of the members of his court, some of them have Italian and even Scottish names, like Jan Fox (1566-1636), scholastic of Skalbmierz, who studied in Padua and in Rome after 1590, Kosmas Venturin, secretary, Jan Equitius Montanus, parish priest, Andrzej Taglia, canon of Sącz and Jan Chrzciciel Dominik de Perigrinis of Bononia, chaplain.

Portrait of a man and two boys in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 80 x 66.5 cm, M.Ob.2484 MNW) is inscribed in Latin in the vicinity of each head. The first inscription above the head of the man indicate that the painting was made in 1596 and his age was 54 (AETATIS. 54: / ANNO 1596.), hence he was born in 1542, the older boy to the left was 10 and he died in 1594 (AETATIS. 10: / OBIIT 1594), thus born in 1584, and the younger was 10 in 1596 (AETATIS 10: / ANNO 1596), thus born in 1586. The dates concerning the man perfectly match the age of Andrzej Kochanowski from Opatki in 1596 and his effigy resemble greatly that of his relative Jan by Giovanni Battista Moroni (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam), identified by me. Therefore, the boys are either his sons or the sons of his brother and the painting was created shortly before his death or most probably commissioned by the widow to commemorate the death of all three. The convention of this portrait is very like an epitaph, additionally underlined by the postmortem effigy of the older boy, which was created two years after his death, but he was depicted living and embracing his father or uncle. It can be compared with mentioned painted epitaph of Andrzej from Opatki, created 24 years after his death and depicted sleeping in an armor. 

The described painting in Warsaw was acquired from Kraków as a result of the so-called restitution campaign in 1946 and it is attributed to a Flemish painter (after "Early Netherlandish, Dutch, Flemish and Belgian Paintings 1494–1983" by Hanna Benesz and Maria Kluk, Vol. 2, p. 40, item 817). Its style, however, is very much like in a portrait of Beautiful Nana and her husband by Sofonisba Anguissola in the same museum (M.Ob.1079 MNW) and another painting attributed to the Cremonese painter - portrait of Infanta Juana de Austria with female dwarf Ana de Polonia in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, both in terms of rather stiff Spanish composition and technique. We can conclude that similar to portraits of female court dwarfs of Queen Anna Jagiellon, also this portrait was created by Sofonisba, who on 24 December 1584 married sea merchant Orazio Lomellino and lived in Genoa until 1620. Lomellino's family had commercial contacts with Poland-Lithuania since the second half of the 15th century. Among the numerous names of Italian merchants who in the mid-15th century stayed temporarily or settled permanently in Lviv, capital of the Ruthenian Voivodeship, we can find the most eminent names from the history of Genoese or Venetian colonies, such as mentioned Lomellino (Lomellini), Grimaldi, Lercario and Mastropietro. The Lomellinos, one of whom was Carlo the Genoese admiral, the other Angelo Giovanni, podesta, i.e. the municipal chief of Pera, maintain relations with the Lindners in Lviv in the 1470s (after "Lwów starożytny", Vol. 1 by Władysław Łoziński, p. 126). Sofonisba's family who settled in Venice belonged to the patriciate of that city from 1499 to 1612.

Portrait of Andrzej Kochanowski (1542-1596) from Opatki and his two sons or nephews by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1596, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon by Sofonisba Anguissola

In about 1550, a young Cremonese painter, Sofonisba Anguissola, created her self-portrait (private collection) in a rich dress and in a pose exactly the same as that visible in a portrait of Catherine of Austria, Duchess of Mantua and later Queen of Poland. Catherine's portrait, in Voigtsberg Castle, is attributed to Titian. Sofonisba either created this portrait, participated in its creation or saw it somewhere, as Mantua is not far from Cremona. It could be threfore Catherine, who introduced her to the Polish court, when in June 1553 she married Sigismund II Augustus. Around that time Sofonisba created her self-portrait at the easel, one of the best of her self-portraits, which she could sent to the Polish court as a sample of her talent. This portrait is now in the Łańcut Castle (oil on canvas, 66 x 57 cm, inv. S.916MŁ). 

The portrait which was previously identified as effigy of Catharine Fitzgerald, Countess of Desmond and Duchess of Dorset (d. 1625) in Knole House (oil on panel, 41.6 x 33.7 cm, NT 129883), is very similar to effigies of Anna Jagiellon by Martin Kober and his workshop in coronation robes from the Sigismund's Chapel (1587) and in widow's clothing (1595) at the Wawel Castle. It was recently identified as portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola basing on a leaf from van Dyck's Italian Sketchbook (British Museum, inv. 1957,1214.207.110). The inscription in Italian was evidently added later, as the year 1629 is mentioned in the text (the painter was in Italy between 1621 and 1627). 

The drawing shows an old lady, similar to that from the Knole portrait. According to inscription it is an effigy of Sofonisba, whom the Flemish painter visited in Palermo: "Portrait of Lady Sofonisma painter made live in Palermo in the year 1629 on the 12th of July: her age 96 still having her memory and brain very prompt, very courteous" (Rittratto della Sigra. Sofonisma pittricia fatto dal vivo in Palermo l'anno 1629 li 12 di Julio: l'età di essa 96 havendo ancora la memoria et il serverllo prontissimo, cortesissima). However Sofonisba died on 16 November 1625 and according to sources she was born on 2 February 1532, hence she was 92 when she died. Van Dyck was in Palermo in 1624. If he could confuse the dates of Sofonisba's life, he could also confuse the portrait of Queen of Poland by her hand, created in about 1595, that she had, with her self-portrait (Keller Collection, 1610). He may also have seen the portrait elsewhere in Italy, or even in Flanders or England. The Knole portrait was most probably acquired from the English royal collection, therefore it is highly probable that Anna sent to Queen Elizabeth I her effigy, one from a series created by Anguissola.

In July 1589, English envoy Jerome Horsey, wanting to see Anna, sneaked into her palace in Warsaw: "before the windows whereof were placed pots and ranks of great carnations, gillyflowers, province roses, sweet lilies, and other sweet herbs and strange flowers, giving most fragrant, sweet smells. [...] Her majesty sat under a white silk canopy, upon a great Turkey carpet in a chair of estate, a hard-favored queen, her maids of honor and ladies attendants at supper in the same room". Queen Anna allegedly asked him, how Queen Elizabeth could "'spill the blood of the Lord's anointed, a queen more magnificent than herself, without the trial, judgment and consent of her peers, the holy father the Pope and all the Christian princes of Europe?' 'Her subjects and parliament thought it so requisite, without her royal consent, for her more safety and quiet of her realm daily endangered.' She shook her head with dislike of my answer", reported Horsey. 

Anna died in Warsaw on 9 September 1596 at the age of 72. Before her death she managed to accomplish tomb monuments for herself (1584) and her husband (1595) in Kraków, created by Florentine sculptor Santi Gucci, and for her mother in Bari near Naples (1593), created by Andrea Sarti, Francesco Zaccarella and Francesco Bernucci. She was the last of the Jagiellons, a dynasty that ruled over vast territories in Central Europe since the late 14th century, when Polish nobles proposed to pagan Duke of Lithuania, Jogaila, to marry their eleven-year-old Queen Jadwiga and thus become their king. 

Counter-Reformation, that she supported, and foreign invasions destroyed Polish tolerance and diversity, greedy nobles destroyed Polish democracy (Liberum veto) and invaders turned much of the country's heritage into a pile of rubble. The only portrait of the Queen in the nest of the Jagiellons - Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków was acquired from the Imperial collection in Vienna in 1936, just three years before World War II broke out. It was created by Kober in about 1595 and sent to the Habsburgs.

Self-portrait at the easel by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1554-1556, Łańcut Castle.

Portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon by Sofonisba Anguissola, or a copy by Anton van Dyck, ca. 1595 or 1620s, Knole House.

Portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon, a drawing by Anton van Dyck after lost painting by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1620s, British Museum.

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Pomeranian Cranachiana 

​As in Sarmatia and Silesia, the fame of Cranach's workshop in Pomerania was transmitted by merchants, students and followers of Luther and Melanchthon, but also by family connections of the ruling families of Europe. It is assumed that it was through such family ties that Cranach's works reached Sweden in the first half of the 16th century, thanks to the connections of the first wife of King Gustav Eriksson Vasa (1496-1560), Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (1513-1535) (afer "Die biblischen Historiengemälde der Cranach-Werkstatt" by Katharina Frank, p. 208). The paintings of Jesus and the adulterous woman, painted by workshop of Cranach after 1537, and The Multiplication of the Loaves, also by Cranach the Elder and workshop, painted between 1535 and 1540, both in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (inv. NM 253 and inv. NMGrh 2335), are considered to come from Gustav's collection mentioned in the 1548 inventory of Gripsholm Castle. The name of the painter is not mentioned, however.

The history of Pomerania was almost as turbulent as that of Sarmatia and Silesia, which is why few original paintings related to Cranach and his studio have survived. Two large paintings attributed to the painter's studio are now in the Kamień Pomorski Cathedral - Christ Carrying the Cross (panel, 214 x 147 cm) and The Crucifixion (panel, 218 x 144 cm). The first painting is signed with the artist's insignia (winged serpent) and dated "15/27" in the lower left corner. Until 1945, the paintings were in the church in Sielsko (Silligsdorf), in the estate of the von Borck family. The Gryfino Altarpiece, now in the National Museum in Szczecin (inv. MNS/Szt/1169/1-3), was painted by David Redtel (1543-1591) for the church in Gryfino (Greifenhagen in German) in 1580. Redtel, who arrived in Pomerania in 1574 from Torgau in Saxony, became court painter to Duke John Frederick. In this work, one can see the influences of Flemish and Dutch painting, as well as those of Cranach, in the composition and technique.

The most famous painting by Cranach, which is located in the former territories of the duchy, in Szczecin, is the portrait of Philip I (1515-1560), Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast (National Museum, oil on panel, 61.5 x 42.8 cm, inv. MNS/Szt/1382). It is interesting to note that this painting was probably never in Pomerania before 1935. In the 19th century it belonged to the Dukes of Saxe-Weimar in Weimar and before that probably to Gottfried Christoph Beireis (1730-1809) in Helmstedt, Kingdom of Westphalia. The painting was acquired in 1935 through the Berlin art trade for the Provincial Museum in Szczecin. It was lost during the Second World War and purchased in 1999 in Zurich by the National Museum in Szczecin. The most reliable provenance is that of the ducal collection in Weimar, so it could be a gift from Pomerania created in Wittemeberg or a painting commissioned for the collection of effigies of contemporary princes. After 1535, the late Gothic Weimar Castle was converted into a Renaissance palace for Cranach's patron, Elector Johann Friedrich I the Magnanimous (1503-1554). The Szczecin painting is thus one of many versions of the effigy created by Cranach's workshop, the prototype of which was probably the painting mentioned in the 1560 inventory among the paintings in Philip's residence in Wolgast as an original by Cranach (M. g. H. Herzog Philips zu St. P. – durch Lucas Maler mit Olie 1541), painted on canvas (An Contrafej auff Tüchern). The Wolgast painting was most likely destroyed in 1628 when the castle was plundered and damaged by Danish and imperial troops. The study drawing for this original is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Reims (distemper and charcoal on paper, 34.8 x 23.7 cm, inv. 795.1.266). Another copy was probably made by Cranach's workshop before February 1547 for the collection of King Sigismund Augustus in Vilnius. Although the original painting or study drawings are thought to have been made by Cranach in 1541, when Philip I stopped at the relatives of his wife Mary of Saxony (1515-1583) in Torgau or Wittenberg on his way to or from the Imperial Diet in Regensburg, there is no evidence of such a meeting.

The mentioned inventory of Wolgast Castle, taken "on Sunday Esto-mihi, February 25, 1560" (am Sonntag Esto-mihi den 25. Februar 1560) and the following days, lists several splendid paintings of the Pomeranian dukes made abroad, including bust-length portraits of Philip I and his father George I of Pomerania (1493-1531) on wood, painted in Leipzig (zu Leipzig gemacht), possibly by Hans Krell, as well as the portrait of Philip's mother, Amalia of the Palatinate (1490-1524), painted by Albrecht Dürer (Freulein Amalia, Pfalzgrevin am Rein, Herzog Georgens Gemhal, Dureri Contrafen und arbeit). The study drawing with the portrait of Amalia, probably sent to Dürer in Nuremberg and returned with the finished portrait, was included in the so-called "Book of Effigies" (Visierungsbuch). The inventory also mentions portraits of Philip's wife Mary of Saxony, sister of Elector John Frederick I, painted by Cranach's pupil Antoni Wida, who later worked for Sigismund Augustus (Frau Maria zu Sachsen, M. G. H. Herzog Philippen zu Stettin Pommern Gemhal, Anthonj de Wida arbeit), portraits of Philip's sisters Margaret (1518-1569) and Georgia (1531-1574), later Countess Latalska, and another portrait of Philip depicted at the age of 30, i.e. around 1545 (Herzog Philipß zu St. P. aetatis ao. 30), as well as portraits of other members of the family. Of the 27 canvas paintings, most were portraits, including aforementioned portrait of Philip by Cranach and the portrait of Emperor Ferdinand I (Ferdinandus, Romischer Kayser) as well as the Story of Judith (Historia Judit). Among the other paintings, the inventory lists two other "Stories of Judith", one of which was "Netherlandish" (Historia Judit, niderlandisch), an image of Jesus (Effigies Jesu Christi), two portraits of Emperor Charles V (Caroli Imperatoris Brustbilde, Effigies Caroli quinti), images of Martin Luther (Martini Lutheri), Johannes Bugenhagen (Johannis Bugenhagii) and Philip Melanchthon (Phil. Melandtonis), as well as an engraving depicting the city of Venice (Die Stadt Venedig, gedruckt, after "Neue Beitrage zur Geschichte der Kunst und ihrer Denkmäler in Pommern" by Julius Mueller, p. 31-33, 42, 46-47).

It is, however, very significant that one of the earliest and probably one of the most beautiful portraits of the Pomeranian dukes, made outside the borders of the duchy, was not made in Germany, but in Venice. There is evidence that Boguslaus X of Pomerania (1454-1523) was painted on his return from the Holy Land (1497) by a Venetian painter sent to meet him. Hellmuth Bethe (1901-1959) has suggested that it could be the work of Gentile Bellini (ca. 1429-1507) or Vittore Carpaccio (ca. 1465-1525/1526) and that the painting seems to have disappeared very early. In 1594, Boguslaus's great-grandson Philip II wrote to his learned friend Heinrich Rantzau or Ranzow (Ranzovius, 1526-1598): "But you must know that there are no portraits of the princes who lived before Boguslaus X, not even of Boguslaus himself, as far as we know" (Doch müßt Ihr wissen, daß es von den Fürsten, welche vor Bogislaw X. gelebt haben, keine Bildnisse gibt, selbst non Bogislaw selbst nicht, soviel uns bekannt ist, after "Die Bildnisse des pommerschen Herzogshauses", p. 5-7, 14-15). It is also possible that they were not destroyed but simply forgotten, if the majority of them were disguised portraits (as Christian saints or mythological characters) or included in religious scenes such as the portrait of the 38-year-old Venetian banker Girolamo Priuli seated to the right of Christ in Carpaccio's scene of the Supper at Emmaus, painted in 1513 (Church of San Salvador in Venice, inscription: M.D.XIII. / HIER. PRIOL.S / ANN.XXXVIII.).

According to the diary of Philipp Hainhofer (1578-1647), who visited Szczecin in 1617, in the corridor and near the Duchess's Oratory of the Szczein Castle Church there were "panels painted by L. Kronacher", i.e. by Lucas Cranach (Tafeln von L. Kronacher gemalt). He also saw in the castle portraits of Popes Pius II (Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini, 1405-1464), Pope Adrian VI (Adriaan Florensz Boeyens, 1459-1523), Leo X, Clement VII, Gregory XIII, Sixtus V, Clement VIII and portraits of cardinals Pietro Bembo (Petrus Bembus, possibly by Cranach or Titian), Ippolito de' Medici (Hipolitus Medices) and Ludovicus Cardinalis, possibly Louis II de Lorraine (1555-1588), cardinal de Guise. In the rooms of Duchess Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1595-1650), he admired a beautiful large mirror framed in pietra dura, a gift from the Grand Duchess of Tuscany (ainen schdnen großen mit Stainen gefaßten Spiegel von der Großherzogin von Florenz) and a large panel representing Caritas by Cranach (aine große Tafel charitatem bedeutend, von Luca Kronacher).

Several portraits of the Saxon princess Mary, wife of Philip I, were made by Cranach, some of which were certainly taken with her to Pomerania. The princess continued to use the services of the Wittenberg workshop after her marriage. The portrait of Mary by Cranach, brought by Bugenhagen to Pomerania in 1535, is confirmed in the documents. Mary and Philip married the following year, on February 27, 1536 in Torgau. Two similar portraits by Cranach from 1534, known as Portrait of a Saxon Noblewoman, are now identified as bridal portraits of Mary. The version in the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon was in Paris before 1892 (panel, 53 x 37.5 cm, inv. B-494), while the painting in the Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt was acquired in 1805 by von Perglas (panel, 51 x 36 cm, inv. GK 76). The princess wears a braided bridal wreath (although in 1534 she was not yet engaged), her necklace is decorated with a medallion representing her brother Elector John Frederick, and her bonnet is embroidered with the letters E.W.R.H., perhaps a motto. In the accounts of Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1538, there is mention of ten portraits of Saxon princes painted on wood, which the Elector sent to Duke Philip in Pomerania, in particular to decorate Wolgast Castle, which Philip had enlarged in 1537, the year after his marriage. Cranach mentions in particular the portraits of the electors Frederick the Wise and John the Constant, a portrait of John's second wife, Margaret of Anhalt (1494-1521), mother of Mary, portraits of John Ernest of Saxe-Coburg (1521-1553) and those of two of John Frederick's sons. Mary and her younger sister Margaret (1518-1535) are depicted in the Collection of portraits of Saxon princes (Das Sächsische Stammbuch, p. 107, Saxon State and University Library in Dresden, Mscr.Dresd.R.3) from around 1546, painted by Cranach, while few years later, in 1554, Melanchthon wrote a treatise on the education of Mary's son John Frederick of Pomerania (1542-1600) - Institutio Iohannis Friderici, inclyti Ducis Pomeraniae (Harmonia de ratione institutionis scholasticae, Wittenberg, 1565). Woodcuts by Lucas Cranach the Younger or his workshop with portraits of Philip (Philipp. zu Stetin ⁄ Pomern ⁄ der Cassuben und Wenden Hertzogen ⁄ etc., p. 47) and Mary (Maria Herzogin in Pommern etc., p. 49) were included in the "True Depictions of Several Most Honorable Princes and Lords ..." (Warhaffte Bildnis etlicher Hochlöblicher Fürsten vnd Herren ...) by Johannes Agricola (1494-1566), published by Gabriel Schnellboltz in Wittenberg in 1562, together with the portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (p. 19) and other important European monarchs. The woodcuts were probably based on original portraits dating from around 1540. 

The portraits of Duke Philip I and his uncle Barnim IX (1501-1573), Duke of Pomerania-Szczecin, painted by a follower of Cranach signing his works with the interlaced monogram IS, come from the series of princely portraits of the Gotha Chamber of Art of Ernest I the Pious (1601-1675), Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Altenburg. In 1638, the paintings were in the Lower Hall of the Weimar Palace, where Philip's portrait from 1541, now in Szczecin, was later located. They were probably created around 1560. The portrait of Philip by Master IS is now in Veste Coburg (panel, 49.5 x 35.8, inv. M.023, inscribed top right: PHILIIPVS DVX / POMENIÆ) and the portrait of Barnim was in a private collection and was probably lost during the Second World War (panel, 47 x 34 cm, inscribed top right: BARNIMVS DVX / POMERANIÆ). The same effigy of Barnim was reproduced in an engraving made by Georg Walch (1612-1656) in Nuremberg before 1654. Very interesting in this portrait of Barnim is the lack of apparent resemblance to other known effigies of the duke from earlier periods, namely that he has a much larger nose, which could be the result of a copy and that the painter did not see the original model in real life.

Barnim was educated in Wittenberg and initially ruled Pomerania with his elder brother George, but after his death he divided it into a part of Szczecin and a part of Wolgast with his nephew Philip I. In 1534 the dukes summoned the Wittenberg theologian Johannes Bugenhagen (1485-1558) to Pomerania to introduce the Reformation in both parts of the country. Bugenhagen, also called Doctor Pomeranus, was born in Wolin in the Duchy of Pomerania. Between 1517-1518 he wrote the history of Pomerania in Latin for Duke Boguslaus X and in March 1521 he went to Wittenberg. Three portrait paintings of Bugenhagen by Cranach and his followers are known, as well as some portraits in religious scenes, such as the image on the right wing of the Reformation altarpiece in St. Mary's Church in Wittenberg, painted between 1547 and 1548. The portrait mentioned in the 1560 inventory of Wolgast Castle was probably a copy of a 1537 painting by Cranach the Elder or Cranach the Younger, now in the Lutherhaus in Wittenberg (panel, 36.5 x 24 cm, inscription: EFFIGIES IOH BVGENHAGII POMERANI · / LVCA CRONACHIO PICTORE · / · M · D · XXXVII ·). A similar portrait of Bugenhagen was also included in the so-called Croy Tapestry, which is generally believed to have been made in Szczecin and completed in 1554. The tapestry was probably mentioned in the inventory of the estate of Duke Philip I from 1560 as "The Baptism of Christ with the Saxon and Pomeranian Lords, as well as the portraits of Learned in Scripture, made in Szczecin" (Die Tauffe Christi mit den Sechsischen und Pommerischen Herrn, auch der gelarten Contrafej, zu Stettin gemacht). Although it should be noted that there is no scene of the Baptism of Christ in this tapestry, it is therefore possible that another large tapestry with portraits of dukes in a religious scene was created.

This large tapestry, now in the Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald (wool, silk and metal threads, 446 x 690 cm) was created by Peter Heymans, the Dutch weaver in the service of Philip's uncle in Szczecin (the monogram PH is woven into the lower right edge of the tapestry). The tapestry depicts the interior of a church. On the pulpit is Martin Luther preaching, pointing to the crucified Jesus who is to the right of the coat of arms of the Electorate of Saxony, under which stand the Electors of Saxony of the Ernestine branch with their families. Elector John Frederick stands in the centre of the group and Philip Melanchthon behind the group. To the right are the Dukes of Pomerania under their coat of arms with Philip I in the centre of the group. The Latin inscriptions on the picture confirm the identity of the family members, which include Duke George I, Duke Barnim IX, Amalia of the Palatinate, Anna of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1502-1568), Barnim's wife, and Mary of Saxony, as well as Philip and Mary's children - John Frederick (1542-1600), Boguslaus (1544-1606), Ernest Louis (1545-1592), Amelia (1547-1580) and Barnim (1549-1603). Behind the group stands Bugenhagen. All the effigies were clearly based on Cranach's paintings, which is why it is believed that the Wittenberg workshop produced the cartoon for the tapestry. The composition is also based on works by Cranach, comparable for example to the woodcut "Luther Preaching with the Pope in the Jaws of Hell" (The False and the Good Church) from around 1546. Hans Krell in Leipzig and Gabriel Glodendon, appointed court painter to Barnim IX on February 10, 1554 for a period of five years, are also proposed as the authors of the cartoon for this tapestry.

A year earlier, in 1553, Duke Philip had probably commissioned a series of effigies of family members from Cranach's workshop, as evidenced by the study drawings for the portraits of his sons John Frederick, Boguslaus and Ernest Louis, from the "Book of Effigies" bearing this date. In this book were another study drawing in Cranach's style for another portrait of Ernest Louis, created around 1565, as well as two studies for the portraits of Barnim IX's sister Margaret of Pomerania (1518-1569) and his wife Anna of Brunswick-Lüneburg, both from around 1545, also from Cranach's workshop, bearing the annotations with the colours of the fabrics as well as detailed drawings of their jewellery. A beautiful effigy of Barnim with a long black beard from the "Book of Effigies" was attributed to Antoni Wida and also considered to have been created around 1545 (a commission for the court painter Anton Wied was issued by Duke Barnim on September 29, 1545). In the book there was also a drawing with a full-length portrait of Barnim holding a sword. Most likely by Wida was a magnificent portrait of George I bearing the Latin inscription on the hat: Georgius I. DuX Pomeraniæ. Another similar study bearing the inscription GEORG · H · Z · S in the upper part was probably also by Wida, as was the portrait of Philip I. The portrait of Philip's son Casimir (1557-1605) wearing a toll hat from around 1565 was probably also pinted by Wida or by a member of Cranach's workshop sent to Pomerania. The book also included a study for a portrait of John Frederick from the 1570s, his sister Anna (1554-1626) from around 1570, attributed to Cranach the Younger, and two good drawings of Boguslaus X and Amalia of the Palatinate (mentioned above), possibly studies for portraits by Dürer.

The "Book of Effigies" was lost during the Second World War, but despite being assembled in Szczecin, it returned there in 1913 thanks to a donation from Friedrich Lenz (1846-1930). Before 1893 it was in the Netherlands.

Finally, the splendid pendant portraits of Jobst von Dewitz (1491-1542), ducal councillor and chancellor of Pomerania-Wolgast, and his wife Ottilie von Arnim (d. 1576) from the Dewitz manor in Cölpin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are most likely 19th-century copies of lost originals by Cranach. According to the dates on both paintings, the original paintings were created in 1540 (ANNO M. D. XL. / ANNO 1540), while the inventory of Dewitz properties from 1728 confirms that the portraits were "both painted on wood by Lucas Cranach" (beyde von Lucas Cranach auf Holtz gemahlen, after "Das historische Pommern: Personen, Orte, Ereignisse" by Roderich Schmidt, p. 380).

​Study drawing for portrait of George I of Pomerania (1493-1531) from the "Book of Effigies" by Antoni Wida (?), after 1527, Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portrait of Princess Mary of Saxony (1515-1583) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1534, Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon. 

​Portrait of Princess Mary of Saxony (1515-1583) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1534, Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt. 

​Portrait of theologian Johannes Bugenhagen (1485-1558), Doctor Pomeranus by Lucas Cranach the Elder or Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1537, Lutherhaus in Wittenberg. 

​Portrait of Jobst von Dewitz (1491-1542), ducal councillor and chancellor of Pomerania-Wolgast by unknown painter after Lucas Cranach the Elder, 19th century after original from 1540, Private collection. 

​Portrait of Ottilie von Arnim (d. 1576), wife of Jobst von Dewitz by unknown painter after Lucas Cranach the Elder, 19th century after original from 1540, Private collection. 

​Study drawing for portrait of Philip I (1515-1560), Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast by Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1541, Museum of Fine Arts in Reims. 

​Portrait of Philip I (1515-1560), Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1541, National Museum in Szczecin. 

​Study drawing for portrait of Barnim IX (1501-1573), Duke of Pomerania-Szczecin from the "Book of Effigies" by Antoni Wida (?), ca. 1545, Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portrait of Mary of Saxony (1515-1583), Duchess of Pomerania and her sister Margaret of Saxony (1518-1535) from the Collection of portraits of Saxon princes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1546, Saxon State and University Library in Dresden. 

​Study drawing for portrait of John Frederick of Pomerania (1542-1600) from the "Book of Effigies" by circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1553, Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Study drawing for portrait of Ernest Louis of Pomerania (1545-1592) from the "Book of Effigies" by circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1553, Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Croy Tapestry by Peter Heymans after cartoon by workshop of Cranach, 1554, Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald. 

​Portrait of Barnim IX (1501-1573), Duke of Pomerania-Szczecin by Master IS, ca. 1560, Private collection, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of Philip I (1515-1560), Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast by Master IS, ca. 1560, Veste Coburg. 

​Woodcut with portrait of Philip I (1515-1560), Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast from the the "True Depictions of Several Most Honorable Princes and Lords ..." by Lucas Cranach the Younger or workshop, 1562, Saxon State and University Library in Dresden. 

​Woodcut with portrait of Mary of Saxony (1515-1583), Duchess of Pomerania from the the "True Depictions of Several Most Honorable Princes and Lords ..." by Lucas Cranach the Younger or workshop, 1562, Saxon State and University Library in Dresden. 

​Study drawing for portrait of Ernest Louis of Pomerania (1545-1592) from the "Book of Effigies" by circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1565, Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Disguised portraits of Anna Alnpeck and the patricians of Kraków and Wrocław

In 2022, the National Museum in Wrocław recovered an important painting from the workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder. It comes from the ducal chapel of Lubiąż Abbey and it shows the Lamentation of Christ (panel, 156 x 131.5 cm). In 1880 the work was transferred to the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław and in November 1945 it was evacuated to the Kamieniec Ząbkowicki Palace near Wrocław for safekeeping, from where it disappeared. In 1970 it was purchased by the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm from the estate of Sigfrid Häggberg.

Members of the family of the Saxon merchant Kunz von Günterode (1476-1536) and his wife Anna Alnpeck (1494-1541), as evidenced by the coats of arms in the lower part of the painting, were immortalized in the scene of mourning for Christ next to the biblical characters: Mary - the mother of Jesus and John the Evangelist. Kunz was a wine and cloth merchant and a city councilor of Leipzig. He served for several years in military campaigns and accompanied Duke George of Saxony, husband of Barbara Jagiellon, to Friesland. In 1510, in Freiberg, Kunz married Anna, who came from a local noble and patrician family of Hungarian origin. He was elected to the Leipzig city council in 1527. He had 9 sons and 4 daughters and died in Leipzig on June 29, 1536 (after "Melanchthons Briefwechsel ..." by Heinz Scheible, p. 204). 

According to Piotr Oszczanowski "the uniqueness of this work lies in the fact that in the immediate vicinity of the deceased Christ there appear secular figures, specific people known by the name, whose reaction to the event seems to be quite ambiguous. None of the secular heroes of the painting directs their eyes to the body of the dead Christ, which is almost veristically shown, and some of them - and in a truly provocative way - make eye contact with the viewer" (after "Obraz z pracowni Lucasa Cranacha st. w Muzeum Narodowym we Wrocławiu"). It should also be noted that the effigy of the Virgin Mary is like a mirror reflection of Anna Alnpeck holding the body of Christ. The earthly mother Anna Alnpeck therefore mourns her husband (or one of her sons depicted as Jesus) as the Virgin mourns her son.

The painting was made in the second half of the 1530s, probably in 1536 and before 1541, and it could be an epitaph, perhaps offered by a widow to her husband, by children to their parents or by a mother to her son. It is unsigned and is believed to have been made by the workshop of a follower of Cranach. If it was made in Wittenberg, which is very likely, the drawings by a pupil of Cranach made in Leipzig and representing the members of the family were taken by this pupil to Wittenberg. It is not known how this Lutheran painting ended up in a Catholic church in Lubiąż.

Similar to the disguised double portrait of Anna Alnpeck in a religious scene, such representations are found in 16th-century Silesian art, which draws inspiration from Saxony and Poland-Lithuania. Before World War II, the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław housed another interesting religious scene - the Last Supper from 1537 (panel, 79 x 124 cm, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 10465). This painting was considered to be the work of a local painter, possibly from the Cranach school. The oil painting on panel was kept in the Council's Senior Chamber of the Wrocław Town Hall and depicted the Wrocław patricians as participants in the Last Supper. The real names were inscribed above the figures, but only a few of them have survived, including those of Hans Metzler, nephew of Bishop Thurzo, Johannes Bockwitz, Nicolaus Jenkwitz, and Albrecht Sauermann depicted as apostles. Next to Jesus sits Heinrich Rybisch (1485-1544), also as an apostle, and Sebald Huber, who financed the painting, can be seen on the left by the window. The man standing behind the window is identified as the effigy of the painter. Johann Hess (or Heß, 1490-1547), a Lutheran theologian and pastor of the Church of Mary Magdalene in Wrocław, is considered to be depicted as Jesus, and the painting symbolises the conversion of most of the inhabitants to Lutheranism. 

According to another interpretation, Jacob Boner (d. 1560), a relative of the Kraków Boner family, is depicted as Christ, and the painting also illustrates the close ties between the citizens of Wrocław and Kraków. Huber, who founded the painting, was a student at the Kraków Academy, and the Wrocław patrician Mikołaj Szebicki (Nikolaus Schebitz, Schewitz or Schebitzki) is depicted in Polish costume (after "The Renaissance in Poland" by Stanisław Lorentz, p. 56). "All these 'apostles' enjoyed the favour of the Jagiellons: King Vladislaus and his governor of Silesia, Prince Sigismund. But they ultimately opposed the union of Silesia with the Commonwealth and helped the Habsburgs in the race for the inheritance of Louis Jagiellon" (after "Proces narodowościowej transformacji Dolnoślązaków ..." by Wiesław Bokajło, p. 279).

In many other Lutheran paintings by Cranach and his son from the third quarter of the 16th century, Martin Luther (1483-1546) and Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) stand or sit next to Christ. In the Weimar Altarpiece, made by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his son Lucas Cranach the Younger between 1552 and 1555 for the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Weimar, the older painter stands below the crucified Christ, between John the Baptist and Luther, and is depicted being washed by the blood of Jesus.

In this context, another important large painting by Cranach and his workshop from the 1530s, preserved only in fragments, can also be considered as containing cryptoportraits. This is Adam and Eve, a fragment of which depicting Eve is in the National Museum in Wrocław (panel transferred to canvas, 52 x 44.4 cm, inv. MNWr VIII-2285) and another fragment depicting Adam is in a private collection (panel, 37.2 x 24 cm, Sotheby's London, December 12, 2002, lot 45). Both fragments were originally in the collection of the noble family Kalau von Hofe in Świerzno (Schwierse) near Oleśnica in Silesia, and were deposited in the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław in 1933. The composition of the original painting undoubtedly resembled another Adam and Eve in this museum, now in private collection, dating from 1543 and painted by Wolfgang Krodel the Elder (oil on panel, 118 x 79 cm, Dorotheum in Vienna, April 24, 2007, lot 463, signed and dated: WK 1543, bequeathed in 1892 by Major-General z. D. Weber, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 63409). Probably at the beginning of the 17th century, the figures were cut out from a large-format painting, their faces were lightly repainted and their naked bodies covered with clothes, transforming the couple into portraits of the townspeople (after "Bo miłość, mój miły, to ja ..." by Sławomir Ortyl).

It is not known why this decision was taken, but if one considers the effigies of the biblical first parents as cryptoportraits, the naked effigies were probably controversial for someone. Such disguised portraits were particularly popular among Protestants as evidenced by Adam and Eve with the disguised portraits of Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1497-1546) and his wife Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1508-1541) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, made between 1528-1530 (KMSKA - Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, inv. 42), identified by me. Around 1570, Joachim Ernest (1536-1586), Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and his wife Agnes of Barby-Mühlingen (1540-1569) were depicted as Adam and Eve in paintings from the great hall of Dessau Castle (Gotisches Haus Wörlitz, inv. I-58 and I-59).

​The face of Eve from Wrocław is reminiscent of the face of the Madonna in Cranach's Madonna under the Fir Tree (Archdiocesan Museum in Wrocław), which, according to my identification, is a disguised portrait of Magdalena Thurzo. In 1551, the Calvinist Konrad Krupka Przecławski, husband of Magdalena's sister Margaret (or her son), was brought before the ecclesiastical court in Kraków, accused of heresy and even sentenced in absentia (Conradus Krupek ab E[piscopo] Crac[oviensi] Sebridowskij nomini pro herrettus conversa damnatus A 1551, after "Calendarium Prudens Simplicitas" by Iwona Pietrzkiewicz, p. 467). Krupka was involved in the financial ventures of his father-in-law John Thurzo and he and his son held shares in Anton Fugger's company in Kraków until 1560 (after "Jakob Fugger" by Götz von Pölnitz, p. 502). 

​Lamentation of Christ with members of the family of merchant Kunz von Günterode (1476-1536) and his wife Anna Alnpeck (1494-1541) by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1536-1541, National Museum in Wrocław.

​The Last Supper, a group portrait of the Wrocław patricians, by Wrocław painter, 1537, Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław, lost. 

​Adam, fragment of a larger painting, probably portrait of Konrad Krupka Przecławski, by Lucas Cranach the Elder or workshop, 1530s, Private collection.

​Eve, fragment of a larger painting, probably portrait of Margaret Thurzo, by Lucas Cranach the Elder or workshop, 1530s, National Museum in Wrocław.

​Adam and Eve from Wrocław by Wolfgang Krodel the Elder, 1543, Private collection.

Portraits of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny by Hans Besser and workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger

Streets, houses, temples, public baths and other edifices of Antient Greece and Rome were full of statues, frescoes and mosacis showing naked gods and rulers. Surely in such temperatures in the south of Europe, where Bona Sforza was raised, it was easier to undress than to get dressed. More to the north the situation was quite opposite, to protect from cold, people dressed up and rarely could see any nudity, thus become more prudish in this regard. Renaissance redisovered the nude statues and paintings of the ancient and today some televison programs reinvented the concept that is good to see a potential partner naked before any engagement, at least for some people. 
​
In 1549 Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) commissioned a bronze statue of himself as a naked ancient god and the detachable armour, so the statue could be dressed. The sculpture, created in Milan by Italian sculptors Leone and Pompeo Leoni, was presented to the Emperor in Brussels in 1556 and later transported to Madrid, today in the Prado Museum (inventory number E000273).

In 1535 Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny, a daughter of Count Charles I of Ligny and Charlotte d'Estouteville, married Bernhard III, Margrave of Baden-Baden. Françoise was a Countess of Brienne and Ligny and heiress of the County of Roussy. She was about 15 years old and the groom 61 at the time of their marriage. Almost a year after the wedding she bore her husband a son Philibert, born on 22 January 1536. Bernhard died on 29 June 1536 and their second son Christopher was born on 26 February 1537, posthumously.

Next years were filled with disputes over the custody of the children, which was claimed by their uncle Ernest, Margrave of Baden-Durlach who favored Lutheranism and Duke William IV of Bavaria, husband of Bernhard's niece Marie Jakobaea of Baden-Sponheim, a staunch Catholic. In agreement with Françoise, her eldest son Philibert spent part of his youth at the court of Duke William IV in Munich.

Françoise remarried on 19 April 1543 to Count Adolf IV of Nassau-Idstein (1518-1556), who was more of her age, and she bore him three children. 

In 1549 Hans Besser, court painter of Frederick II, Elector Palatine created a series of portraits of Françoise's eldest sons Philibert and Christopher (in Munich, from the collections of the Dukes of Bavaria and in Vienna, from the Habsburg collection). In 1531 Frederick of Palatine was a candidate to the hand of Princess Hedwig Jagiellon, he must have received her portrait, most probably in the popular "guise" of Venus and Cupid. 

A painting showing Venus and Cupid in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich from about 1540 is painted in the form typical for Cranach's Venuses (panel, 196 x 89 cm, inv. 5465). Its style, however, is not typical for Cranach and his workshop, hence this painting is also attributed to a Cranach's copist from the early 17th century Heinrich Bollandt. The painting was acquired in 1812 from Bayreuth Palace. In 1541, a grandson of Sophia Jagiellon, sister of king Sigismund I of Poland, Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach received Bayreuth. He assisted Emperor Charles V in his war with France in 1543 but soon deserted Charles, and joined the league which proposed to overthrow the Emperor by an alliance with French king Henry II. He spent the last years of his life in Pforzheim with the family of his sister Kunigunde, who was married to Charles II of Baden, nephew of Bernhard III. Albert Alcibiades was unmarried, so the match with a widowed Margravine of Baden, and a French noble, would be perfect for him. 

A slightly different and somewhat smaller repetition of the Munich motif was sold in Brussels in 2000 (Palais des Beaux-Arts, November 7, 2000, lot 265), although depicting a different woman.

Similar painting, from the Rastatt Palace, was cut into pieces before 1772 and preserved fragments are now in the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe - Venus with a tiara (panel, 46.7 x 42.3 cm, inv. 124) and Cupid with an arrow (inv. 811). The Rastatt Palace was built between 1700 and 1707 by an Italian architect for Margrave Louis William of Baden-Baden, a direct descendant of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny.

The same woman as in the above mentioned paintings was also depicted in a series of portraits by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger. Most probaly all depicted her as Salome and some of them were cut later, so that the upper part could be sold as a portrait and the lower part as Saint John the Baptist. Basing on the woman's outfit they should be dated to late 1530s or early 1540s, however one of these portraits from the old collection of the Friedenstein Palace in Gotha (panel, 84 x 57 cm, inv. SG 303), where there is an effigy of Hedwig Jagiellon as the Virgin (inv. SG 678), is dated 1549. A copy of the latter painting from the collection of the Dukes of Brunswick is in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum. The portrait now in the State Gallery in Johannisburg Palace in Aschaffenburg (panel, 63.1 x 48.8 cm, inv. 13259), comes from the art collection of Hermann Goering and other, sold in 2012, was in the collection of Prince Serge Koudacheff in St. Petersburg before 1902 (panel, 62 x 52.5 cm, Dorotheum in Vienna, October 17, 2012, lot 528). Another one, signed with the HVK monogram, was temporarily in the Veste Coburg collection before 1930 (panel, 23 x 19.2 cm, Koller in Zurich, September 27, 2019, lot 3017).

There is also a version as Judith with the head of Holofernes in the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam (inv. 71) and several paintings where the woman was depicted in the satirical scene of the ill-matched couple, some of which are attributed to another 17th century copist of Cranach, Christian Richter (1587-1667), or Cyriakus Roder (d. 1598), like the painting in a private collection in Switzerland (panel, 46 x 34.3 cm). Version from a Swedish private collection (panel, 42 x 32.3 cm, Christie's New York, April 14, 2016, lot 202) was attributed to the Monogrammist CR (1472-1553). The costumes are typical of the late 1530s.

Copies of this effigy of varying quality reappear on the art market from time to time, such as the painting sold at auction in Paris in 2006 (Boisgirard-Antonini, August 13, 2006, lot 1) or the magnificent painting on a gold background, sold in Paris in 2024 (oil on panel, 47.5 x 54 cm, Artcurial in Paris, November 26, 2024, lot 8), signed with the artist's mark and dated "1549". Like the similar painting in Friedenstein, also dated 1549, it also comes from the former ducal collections - having arrived in Gotha as part of the dowry of Duchess Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg (1619-1680). It was sold with attribution to Lucas Cranach the Elder or his workshop.

Facial features in all these effigies greatly resemble portraits of sons of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny by Hans Besser and stylistically some of these works are very close to portraits by this court painter. The geographical distribution of many of the paintings, in the surroundings of Baden-Baden, also confirms this identification.​