Forgotten portraits of the Dukes of Pomerania, Dukes of Silesia and European monarchs - part II

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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.​

Portrait of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny (d. 1566), Margravine of Baden-Baden as Venus and Cupid by Hans Besser or workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1540, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

Portrait of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny (d. 1566), Margravine of Baden-Baden as Venus with a tiara by Hans Besser or workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1540, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. ​

Portrait of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny (d. 1566), Margravine of Baden-Baden by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1535-1549, Johannisburg Palace in Aschaffenburg. ​

Portrait of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny (d. 1566), Margravine of Baden-Baden by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1535-1549, Private collection. ​

Portrait of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny (d. 1566), Margravine of Baden-Baden by Monogramist HVK, 1535-1549, Private collection. ​

​Portrait of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny (d. 1566), Margravine of Baden-Baden by Lucas Cranach the Elder or his workshop, 1549, Private collection. 

Portrait of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny (d. 1566), Margravine of Baden-Baden as Salome by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1549, Friedenstein Palace in Gotha. ​

Ill-Matched Couple, caricature of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny (d. 1566), Margravine of Baden-Baden and her husband by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger or Cyriakus Roder, 1535-1566 or late 16th century, Private collection. ​​

​Ill-Matched Couple, caricature of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny (d. 1566), Margravine of Baden-Baden and her husband by Monogrammist CR, before 1553, Private collection. 

Portraits of Barnim IX of Pomerania-Szczecin, his wife and his three daughters by Lucas Cranach the Elder, his son and workshop

"Among his faults was his penchant for lust. His wife, Anna of Brunswick-Lünesburg, with whom he had two sons, Alexander [also considered as a daughter Alexandra, named after the Polish king Alexander Jagiellon (1461-1506)] and Boguslaus, who died in childhood, and five daughters, had died before him on November 7, 1568. Two of his daughters remained unmarried and predeceased him: Elizabeth in 1554 and Sybille on September 21, 1564. The other three were handsomely endowed upon their marriages", describes Barnim IX/XI (1501-1573), Duke of Pomerania-Szczecin, historian and mayor of Szczecin Johann Jacob Sell (1754-1816) in his book on the history of Pomerania, published in 1820 (Unter seine Fehler rechnet man seinen Hang zur Wollust. Seine Gemahlin Anna von Braunschweig Lüneburg, mit der er 2 Sohne Alexander und Bogislav, die aber in der Kindheit starben und 5 Tochter geszeuget hatte, war vor ihm am 7. Nov. 1568 gestorben; 2 seiner Tochter blieben unverheirathet und starben vor ihm, Elisabeth 1554 und Sybille am 21. Sept. 1564. Die andern 3 wurden bei ihrer Verheirathung ansehnlich ausgestattet, after "Geschichte des Herzogthums Pommern von den ältesten Zeiten ...", Volume 3, p. 66). 

In 1543 three daughters of Barnim, Maria (1527-1554), Dorothea (1528-1558) and Anna (1531-1592), reached the legal age of marriage (12). That same year on May 6, 1543, Barnim's young cousin, king Sigismund Augustus of Poland married Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545). 

Three of Sigismund Augustus' sisters Sophia, Anna and Catherine were also unmarried and Barnim's uncle Sigismund I hoped to find a suitable husband for each of them. Due to the kinship of the ruling families of Poland-Lithuania and Pomerania, they undoubtedly exchanged some effigies. 

Almost a year later on July 16, 1544 Maria, the eldest daughter of Barnim, married Count Otto IV of Holstein-Schaumburg-Pineberg (1517-1576). Dorothea had to wait ten years more to marry Count John I of Mansfeld-Hinterort (d. 1567) on July 8, 1554 and Anna married three times, first to Prince Charles I of Anhalt-Zerbst (1534-1561) in 1557, then to Burgrave Henry VI of Plauen (1536-1572) in 1566 and then to Count Jobst II of Barby-Mühlingen (1544-1609) in 1576.

A small painting of ​Hercules at the court of Omphale​ by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop in the National Museum in Warsaw is very similar to the painting from the Mielżyński collection in Poznań, showing the family of Sigismund I in 1537. Dimensions (48.7 x 74.8 cm / 48 x 73 cm), the composition, even the poses and costumes are very similar. This painting was most probably transferred during the World War II to the Nazi German Art Repository in Kamenz (Kamieniec Ząbkowicki), possibly from the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław (panel, 48.7 x 75.3 cm, inv. M.Ob.2536 MNW)​. Around 1543 the ruler of nearby Legnica was Frederick II, like Barnim a strong supporter of the Reformation and his distant relative. Both dukes had close ties with nearby Poland-Lithuania. Frederick's younger son George, future George II of Legnica-Brzeg, was unmarried at that time. It cannot be excluded that the ruling family of Legnica received this fashionable portrait of Barnim's family in guise of mythological heroes. The work match perfectly the ruling house of Pomerania-Szczecin in about 1543 and face features of Hercules and Omphale are very similar to other portraits of Barnim IX and his wife. 

The above described painting is a reduced version of a larger composition which was in the Stemmler collection in Cologne, now in private collection (panel, 83 x 120.8 cm)​. It is very similar to the portrait of Barnim's family as ​Hercules at the court of Omphale​ from 1532 in Berlin (lost). The effigy of Maria of Pomerania-Szczecin with a duck above her, a symbol of marital fidelity and intelligence, is almost identical with the effigy of her mother Anna of Brunswick-Lüneburg from the earlier painting. 

The whole composition is based on a preparatory drawing that preserved in the Museum of Prints and Drawings in Berlin (Kupferstichkabinett, paper, 14.6 x 20.9 cm, inv. 13712​), signed with a monogram L.G., most probably created by Cranach's pupil who was sent to Szczecin or Barnim's court painter. 

All of Barnim's daughters, including the youngest Sibylla, born in 1541, were depicted in a large painting created by Cornelius Krommeny in 1598 and showing the Family tree of the House of Pomerania, today in the National Museum in Szczecin. 

A portrait of a young lady as Salome in the bridal crown on her head in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (panel, 73.5 x 54 cm, inv. 145)​, is almost identical with the effigy of Maria of Pomerania-Szczecin in both of mentioned paintings of ​Hercules at the court of Omphale​. This portrait was recorded in 1770 in the Bratislava Castle, the formal seat of the kings of Hungary, and later transferred to the imperial collections in Vienna. The same woman was depicted as Lucretia in the painting by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, which was before 1929 in private collection in Amsterdam, today in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (panel, 74 x 53.5 cm, inv. 13257) and as Venus with Cupid as the honey thief from the collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein in Vienna, today in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo (panel, 174 x 66.5 cm, inv. KM 110.841)​. 

A portrait of a lady as Judith in green dress in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, purchased in 1879 from the collection of Mr. Cox in London (panel, 45.9 x 34.2 cm, inv. NGI.186)​, match perfectly the effigy of Dorothea of Pomerania-Szczecin in described paintings. Her pose and outfit is very similar to that of Dorothea's mother in both paintings of ​Hercules at the court of Omphale​. We can identify the same woman in a beautiful painting of Lucretia by Cranach, attributed to Cranach the Elder or his son, from a private collection (panel, 76.2 x 55.4 cm, Christie's London, July 7, 2009, lot 11). This work is considered to have been made around 1540-1545 and was in a private collection in Berlin before 1901. Several similar paintings derived from this Lucretia were created by Cranach's workshop, including the painting in the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (panel, 45 x 33 cm, inv. 1983.25.6), which was in various Viennese collections before 1930 (Stummer of Tavarnok, Baron of Tschirschky and Castiglioni). The version in the Universalmuseum Joanneum (Eggenberg Palace) in Graz was acquired in 1941 from the Attems collection in Gorizia (panel, 71.5 x 47.4 cm, inv. 106). Preserved fragment of Lucretia from a private Franco-Belgian collection, attributed to the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, was another version of the same disguised portrait of the same woman (panel, 36.6 x 20.4 cm, Koller Auctions in Zurich, September 20, 2024, lot 3016). There is also a similar painting on permanent private loan to Gottorf Castle since 1996/97, probably from a private French collection, but the pose is slightly different and the face also seems different. Another similar painting is in the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City (panel, 75.4 x 56.2, inv. 7031). It is also considered to be a work by Cranach the Elder or the Younger and it was in Florence in the 18th century. The face of another Lucretia, now in the Kunstmuseum Basel, is similar to that in the Museo Soumaya, while the woman closely resembles the central female figure in the group painting Hercules at the Court of Omphale from the Stemmler collection. The Basel painting was in a private collection in Paris before 1928 (panel, 79 x 64 cm, inv. 1628).​

Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist in the bridal crown, which was formerly in the collection of the King of Württemberg, now in the Bob Jones University Museum and Gallery in Greenville (panel, 56.8 x 34.3 cm), is identical with the effigy of the youngest daughter of Barnim in the Warsaw's painting. The painter evidently used the same template drawing to create both miniatures. Another very similar Salome, attributed to Cranach the Younger, comes from the collection of the Ambras Castle built by Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria (1529-1595), the second son of Anna Jagellonica and Emperor Ferdinand I. It was offered in 1930 by Gustaf Werner to the Gothenburg Museum of Art (panel, 75 x 49 cm, inv. GKM 0934)​. The painter added a fantastic landscape in the background. Finally there is a painting of Venus and Cupid as the honey thief from the same period in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, also atrributed to Cranach the Younger (panel, 175.4 x 66.3 cm, inv. Gm1097)​. Venus' face is identical with the portrait of Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin in the painting from Stemmler collection. The painting comes from the residence of the Catholic Bishops of Freising, where it was known as Saint Juliana. It cannot be excluded that it was originally in the Polish-Lithuanian royal collection and was transferred to nearby Neuburg an der Donau with the collection of Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa or brought by some other eminent Polish-Lithuanian lady.

In the National Museum in Warsaw there is also a painting showing a moralistic subject of the ill-matched couple by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder or his son from the third quarter of the 16th century (panel, 75.5 x 48.5 cm, inv. M.Ob.40 MNW)​. It was aquired by the Museum in 1865 from the collection of Henryk Bahré. The woman has slipped her hand inside the old man's purse, which leaves no doubt as to the basis of this relationship. Her face and costume is based on the same set of template drawings which were used to create portraits of Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin. The painting is of a high quality, therefore the patron who commissioned it was wealthy. While Georgia of Pomerania (1531-1573), daughter of George I, brother of Barnim, married in 1563 a Polish nobleman and a Lutheran, Stanisław Latalski (1535-1598), starost of Inowrocław and Człuchów, her cousin Anna opted for titular and hereditary German princes in her subsequent marriages. It is therefore possible that this painting was commissioned by the royal court or a magnate from Poland-Lithuania.

This painting is undated and, based on stylistic analysis, has been dated to around 1550. In 2005, a studio copy of this work was auctioned in London (panel, 73 x 49.5 cm, Christie's, Auction 5828, December 7, 2005, lot 124), which bears the signature and date "LC 1536" with the artist's snake mark (lower left on the man's robe). However, neither the date nor the (incorrect) serpent device appear to be genuine.

All of Anna's husbands were younger than her, and Henry VI of Plauen was born in 1536.​

Preparatory drawing for ​Hercules at the court of Omphale with portraits of Barnim IX of Pomerania-Szczecin, his wife and his three daughters by Monogrammist L.G. or workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1543, Museum of Prints and Drawings in Berlin.

​Hercules at the court of Omphale with portraits of Barnim IX of Pomerania-Szczecin, his wife and his three daughters by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1543, Private collection.

​Hercules at the court of Omphale with portraits of Barnim IX of Pomerania-Szczecin, his wife and his three daughters by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1543, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of Maria of Pomerania-Szczecin (1527-1554) as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1539-1543, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

Portrait of Maria of Pomerania-Szczecin (1527-1554) as Lucretia by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1543, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

Portrait of Maria of Pomerania-Szczecin (1527-1554) as Venus with Cupid as the honey thief by Lucas Cranach the Elder or his son, ca. 1543, Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo.

Portrait of Dorothea of Pomerania-Szczecin (1528-1558) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1543-1550, National Gallery of Ireland.

​Portrait of Dorothea of Pomerania-Szczecin (1528-1558) as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder or Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1545, Private collection.

​Portrait of Dorothea of Pomerania-Szczecin (1528-1558) as Lucretia by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1543-1550, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

Portrait of Dorothea of Pomerania-Szczecin (1528-1558) as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1543-1550, Eggenberg Palace in Graz.

​Fragment of portrait of Dorothea of Pomerania-Szczecin (1528-1558) as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1543-1550, Private collection.

​Portrait of Dorothea of Pomerania-Szczecin (1528-1558) as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder or Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1545, Museo Soumaya in Mexico City.

Portrait of Dorothea of Pomerania-Szczecin (1528-1558) as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1543-1550, Kunstmuseum Basel.

Portrait of Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin (1531-1592) as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1543, Bob Jones University Museum and Gallery in Greenville.

Portrait of Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin (1531-1592) as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist by Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1543-1550, Gothenburg Museum of Art.

Portrait of Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin (1531-1592) as Venus and Cupid as the honey thief by Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1543-1550, Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

Ill-matched couple, caricature of Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin (1531-1592) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder or his son, third quarter of the 16th century, National Museum in Warsaw.

​Ill-matched couple, caricature of Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin (1531-1592) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger, third quarter of the 16th century, Private collection.

Portrait of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk by Giovanni Cariani or Bernardino Licinio ​

In February 1546 arrived to London the envoy of Poland-Lithuania Stanisław Lasota (Stanislaus Lassota) of Rawicz coat of arms (ca. 1515-1561), courtier of Queen Bona Sforza (aulicus Bonae Reginae), valet, diplomatic agent and royal secretary. He presented Henry VIII with enticing proposals of cooperation with Poland and assured the English monarch that Poland did not intend to stop supplying grain to England which at that time was at war with France, and needed a constant supply of grain to the country and to the front.

Lasota, trusted by the royals, was used for discreet missions. He also presented a project (without an official authorization) of marrying Sigismund Augustus to Princess Mary Tudor (1516-1558). Henry VIII rewarded Lasota with a golden chain and appointed him a golden knight (eques auratus) in front of the entire court. There is even a document in the files of the Privy Council, which shows that the Council paid on "Aprilis 1546. To Cornelys, the goldsmith, for makeng a coler of esses for the gentilman of Polonia".

Lasota set out from Vilnius in 1545 and before he reached England, he also went to Vienna, Munich and Spain. In March 1546 Stanisław leaves London and arrives in Paris, where, in turn, he proposes the marriage of Sigismund Augustus with Princess Margaret of Valois (1523-1574), daughter of King Francis I. A year later Lasota went to England again with an official embassy (after "Polska w oczach Anglików XIV-XVI w." by Henryk Zins, p. 70-71).

Precious gifts were part of diplomacy at that time and Lasota undoubtedly also brought many valuable gifts. In 1546 Sigismund I offered Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara a gold chain worth 150 Hungarian gold florins. His wife Queen Bona, like her son later, had a special affinity for jewelery. In 1543 she gave her son 40 silver cups, many gold chains and other valuables. Exquisite jewels were ordered by the queen or for her from the best goldsmiths in Poland-Lithuania and abroad. At the beginning of 1526 a gold chain was ordered in Nuremberg for Bona and in 1546 Seweryn Boner paid 300 florins to Nuremberg goldsmith Nicolaus Nonarth for making necklaces for her daughters. Pearls were bought for huge sums in Venice and in Gdańsk and ready-made gems were purchased in Nuremberg and Turkey (after "Klejnoty w Polsce ..." by Ewa Letkiewicz, p. 57). In 1545 the court embroiderer Sebald Linck received Venetian gold and some other type of gold, which in the bills is described as aurum panniculare, to adorn the ceremonial robe of Sigismund I.

In 1554 envoy of the Queen purchased in Antwerp "goldsmith's work to the amount of 6,000, to give to the Queen of England", as reported Venetian ambassador to the Imperial Court Marc'Antonio Damula and two years later Pietro Vanni (often Anglicised as Peter Vannes), Latin secretary to King Henry VIII, describing Bona's departure from Poland and her stay in Venice, wrote that "she has conveyed out of the country, by divers secret ways, an infinite quantity of treasure and jewels" (to the Council, March 7, 1556, in Venice).

Portrait paintings were also an integral part of diplomacy. The rulers exchanged their likenesses, portraits of potential brides, family members, important personalities and famous people. In June 1529 a portrait of Duke of Mantua, Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540), was brought to Bona by his emissary and in 1530 a diplomat in service of Sigismund and Bona Jan Dantyszek sent to Krzysztof Szydłowiecki, Great Chancellor of the Crown, the portrait of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. In Warsaw preserved one of the best portraits of Henry VIII by circle of Hans Holbein the Younger, most probably painted by Lucas Horenbout (National Museum in Warsaw, oil on oak wood, 106 x 79 cm, inv. 128165). The portrait is a version of king's effigy created by Holbein the Younger in 1537 as part of a mural in the Whitehall Palace. It was earlier in the collection of Jakub Ksawery Aleksander Potocki (1863-1934) and Leon Sapieha (inscription verso: L. Sapieha) and in 1831 "Henry VIII of England by Holbeyn on wood in a gilded frame" is mentioned in a register of paintings of Ludwik Michał Pac by Antoni Blank (February 1, 1831, Ossolineum, Wrocław). Another catalogue by Blank, of the Radziwill collection in Nieborów near Łódź, published in 1835, lists five paintings by Holbein (items 426, 427, 458, 503, 505). The portrait of Gdańsk merchant Georg Gisze (1497-1562), knighted by the Polish King Sigismund I in 1519, was created by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1532 in London to be sent to his brother Tiedemann Giese, secretary to the King of Poland (today in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, oil on panel, 97.5 x 86.2 cm, inv. 586​).

In the private collection in Hamburg, Germany, there is a portrait of a wealthy nobleman (compare Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 39752)​. His facial features and costume are strikingly similar to these in the effigies of Thomas Howard (1473-1554), Third Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal and Lord High Treasurer, uncle of two of the wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, and one of the most powerful nobles in the country. Hans Holbein the Younger and his workshop created a series of portraits of the Duke of Norfolk (Windsor Castle, Castle Howard and private collection) aged 66, therefore created at the peak of his power in 1539. Although favored by Henry VIII for most of his life, his position became unstable after the execution of his niece Catherine Howard in 1542 and again in 1546 when he and his son were arrested for treason (December 12). This leading Catholic politician under Henry VIII and Mary Tudor was described by Venetian ambassador Ludovico Falieri in 1531: "[he] has very great experience in political government, discusses the affairs of the world admirably, aspires to greater elevation, and bears ill-will to foreigners, especially to our Venetian nation. He is fifty-eight years old, small and spare in person". 

The mentioned portrait in Hamburg shows an older man in his 60s or 70s in a costume from the 1540s. The shape of his gold sleeve buckles is reminiscent of a Tudor rose and he holds his right hand on the closed helmet of his Italian/French-style armour. In June 1543, Howard declared war on France in the King's name during the Italian War of 1542-1546. He was appointed Lieutenant-General of the army and commanded the English troops during the unsuccessful siege of Montreuil. On 7 June 1546, the Treaty of Ardres was signed with France. Everything indicates that it is a portrait of Howard, except for gold chain around his neck. In all portraits by Holbein and workshop he wears the Order of the Garter, an important order of chivalry related to the English crown. If we would consider the portrait as effigy of the Duke of Norfolk, therefore this different chain was a part of diplomatic efforts of the commander, who complained about the inadequate supply of his army during the French campaign. So it's like a message to someone, 'I like your gift, we could be allies'. Another intriguing thing about this portrait is its author. The painting was created by Italian painter in the style close to Giovanni Cariani and Bernardino Licinio. Federico Zeri attributed the work in 1982 to Cariani, who died in Venice in 1547, or to 16th century school of Ferrara. In 1546 Queen Bona commissioned a series of paintings for the Kraków Cathedral in Venice and contacts with Ferrara were increased due planned marriage of Sigismund Augustus with Anna d'Este (the portrait of the bride was supposedly sent via Venice by Carlo Foresta, one of the agents of the Kraków merchant Gaspare Gucci). Concluding, the portrait in Hamburg was commissioned in Venice for or by the Polish-Lithuanian court, basing on a drawing or miniature sent from England.

Despite their great wealth, the match with a distant, elective monarchy of Poland-Lithuania was not considered to be advantageous to the hereditary kings of England, especially when the war with France was over and they did not need an increased supply of grain and Sigismund Augustus decided to marry his mistress Barbara Radziwill. ​

Portrait of Georg Gisze (1497-1562), Gdańsk merchant by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1532, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

Portrait of Henry VIII of England by circle of Hans Holbein the Younger, most probably Lucas Horenbout, ca. 1537-1546, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of Thomas Howard (1473-1554), Third Duke of Norfolk by Giovanni Cariani or Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1542-1546, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk by workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger

It is said that Catherine Willoughby (1519-1580) was considered a candidate to marry Sigismund Augustus after the Polish ambassador failed to obtain the hand of Princess Mary Tudor in 1546, and between 1557 and 1559 she and her husband were "placed honourably in the earldom of the said king of Poland, in Sanogelia [Samogitia in Lithuania], called Crozen [Kražiai]" (after "Chronicles of the House of Willoughby de Eresby", p. 98). Catherine was a daughter and heiress of William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, by his second wife, María de Salinas, maid-of-honour to Queen Catherine of Aragon. She and her second husband Richard Bertie (1516-1582) were of the Protestant faith and in 1555 they were forced to flee England due to the Catholic rule of Queen Mary I and only returned to England under the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I.

Her first husband was Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, whom she married on 7 September 1533, at th age of 14. They had two sons, both of whom died young in 1551 - Henry (b. 1535) and Charles (b. 1537).

In the Metropolitan Museum of Art there is a portrait of a girl aged 17 (Latin: ANNO ETATIS·SVÆ XVII) by workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger, also identified as effigy of Catherine Howard, Queen of England from 1540 until 1542, hence dated to about 1540 (oil on panel, 28.3 x 23.2 cm, inv. 49.7.30). The painting was at the beginning of the 19th century in the collection of Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski (1763-1813), a nephew of king Stanislaus Augustus, who inherited many paintings from his collection and consequently also from historical royal collections. The main feature of her face is a chrchteristic upper lip, also visible in the picture of a painting before conservation when retouching were removed. A similar lip is seen in portraits identified as depicting children of Catherine Willoughby - Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (1535-1551) by Hans Holbein the Younger (Royal Collection, RCIN 422294) and Susan Bertie (b. 1554) by unknown painter (Beaney House of Art and Knowledge). Her face and pose also resemble those seen in the portrait drawing of the Duchess of Suffolk by Hans Holbein the Younger, created between 1532-1543 (Windsor Castle, RCIN 912194). The resemblance of a woman from the picture to the later image of Catherine's daughter is surprising.

A cameo brooch on her bust with two heads could be Castor and Pollux, the astronomical Gemini, interpreted by Renaissance mythographers in terms of shared immortality and the bond that unites two people even after death (after "Castor and Pollux", Cengage, Encyclopedia.com).

Portrait of Catherine Willoughby (1519-1580), Duchess of Suffolk, aged 17 by workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger, ca. 1536, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Portrait of King Francis I of France by Haydar Reis 

In a letter dated February 27, 1548 from Vilnius, which was in the State Archives in Königsberg before World War II, Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) thanks his cousin Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568) for "various portraits of illustrious men and women" (imagines diversas illustrium virorum et mulierum) sent through Piotr Wojanowski, the superior of 14 royal servants in private chambers (after "Zygmunt August: Wielki Książę Litwy do roku 1548" by Ludwik Kolankowski, p. 317, 329). The paintings were intended for the king's gallery in his splendid palace in Vilnius and were most likely destroyed during the occupation of the city by Russian and Cossack forces during the Deluge (1655-1660/1). 

It is very likely that the correspondence of the court painter of Duke Albert Hans Krell, residing in Leipzig, and Lucas Cranach the Elder in January 1546 (letters dated January 1 and 21) refers to the portraits commissioned by the King of Poland. Krell sent a list of the most sought-after portraits, including: 1) Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg (1368-1437), ancestor of Sigismund Augustus through Elizabeth of Austria (1436-1505), 2) King Christian II of Denmark (1481-1559), 3) Duke George of Saxony (1471-1539), husband of Barbara Jagiellon (1478-1534), with two sons John (1498-1537) and Frederick (1504-1539), 4) Duke Henry IV of Saxony (1473-1541), 5) King Francis I of France (1494-1547), 6) Duke Eric I of Brunswick (1470-1540) and his wife Elizabeth of Brandenburg (1510-1558), 7) Duke Ulrich of Württemberg (1487-1550), 8) Duke Francis of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1508-1549) and 9) Czech reformer Jan Hus (ca. 1370-1415), while there is also earlier mention of "other portraits of princes and kings which are not included in this list" (So Hr andere Conterfeiungen mehr von hern Fürsten und Königen, die in dieser vorzeichnus nicht weren, zuwegebringen könth, after "Das Leben und die Werke Albrecht Dürer's ..." by Joseph Heller, p. 4-5). Although Cranach had the opportunity to meet some of these people in person and portraits attributed to him have survived, such as the effigies of Christian II of Denmark, he cannot have met Emperor Sigismund and Jan Hus, so their portraits must have been based on other effigies. The same applies to King Francis I of France, as it is very unlikely that Cranach met the French monarch in person. No other paintings of Francis I by Cranach appear to have survived, however, the Harvard Art Museums hold two Ottoman miniatures by Haydar Reis (1494-1574), called Nigari, created between 1566 and 1574. One of these miniatures depict King Francis I, probably after a painting by Jean Clouet (inv. 1985.214.A), which belonged to Sultan Selim II (1524-1574), son of Roxelana. The distinctive appearance and the fleur-de-lis on the king's hat confirm that this is Francis I. The other image is thought to depict Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, perhaps after a lost painting probably by Cranach, as the composition indicates (opaque watercolor on paper, 22.9 x 12.8 cm, inv. 1985.214.B). The inscription below the portrait of Francis contains the artist's name and fictitiously proclaims that they (Francis and Charles) visited Sultan Selim II, who reigned between 1566 and 1574, to collect an imperial decree, although the two monarchs never set foot in the Ottoman capital. The alleged portrait of Charles V does not display any typical features of the portraits of this monarch, i.e. the protruding Habsburg jaw and lower lip and the Order of the Golden Fleece, however the facial features bear a striking resemblance to known portraits of Francis I, such as the portrait by Titian (Louvre Museum, INV 753; MR 505). It seems more likely that Selim II's father, Suleiman the Magnificent, received the portraits of his ally Francis I, one of which may have been made by Cranach as the portrait made for Sigismund Augustus, and later the portrait by the Wittenberg painter was mistaken for the portrait of Francis' opponent Emperor Charles V. The king's costume is typical of the 1540s and similar to that seen in the portrait of the young Edward VI of England (1537-1553), painted between 1546 and 1547 (Windsor Castle, inv. RCIN 404441). ​

Like Francis I and Charles V, Sigismund Augustus was a great art lover of high artistic taste and it is possible that other paintings acquired by the king at the same time were also by Cranach or his workshop. In January 1548, the king bought in Piotrków, during the Diet, for 140 złoty, 29 paintings of unknown content, and in April of the same year, Benedykt Koźmińczyk (1497-1559) bought for 50 złoty, 8 paintings depicting the journey of Abraham and 8 others depicting the story of Joseph.

​Portrait of King Francis I of France (1494-1547) by Haydar Reis after original by Lucas Cranach the Elder or workshop (?), ca. 1566-1574 after original from about 1546, Harvard Art Museums. 

Portrait of Marco Antonio Savelli by workshop of Giovanni Battista Moroni or Moretto da Brescia

The portrait of a gentleman, attributed to Alessandro Bonvicino (ca. 1498-1554), commonly known as Moretto da Brescia, from the Potocki collection in Łańcut Castle, which was exhibited in 1940 in New York (oil on canvas, 118 x 101 cm, catalogue "For Peace and Freedom. Old masters: a collection of Polish-owned works of art ...", item 24), shows a man holding an open book on a stone pedestal. This painting is a copy of larger composition, today in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon (inv. 92)​, acquired in Amsterdam in 1925, and originally most probably in the Uggeri collection in Brescia. According to Latin inscription on marble pedestal, the man was a member of a rich and influential Roman aristocratic family Savelli (· M · A · SAVELL[i] / EX FAM[ilia] · ROMAN[a]) and his name was most probably Marco Antonio Savelli. The portrait is attributed to Giovanni Battista Moroni and can be dated to the mid-16th century. 

​The attribution of the Lisbon portrait has long been controversial, and it was even mentioned in 1760 as a work by Titian. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was thought to have been painted by Moretto, while in 1943 it was judged as being consistent with Moroni's early work (after "Painting in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum", ed. Luísa Sampaio, p. 40). The portrait from the Potocki collection was auctioned on November 14, 1995 with an attribution to a follower of Flaminio Torri (1620-1661), a Baroque painter of the Bolognese school.

The most powerful member of the Savelli family around that time was cardinal Giacomo Savelli (1523-1587), who officially replaced Alessandro Farnese (1520-1589), Cardinal Protector of Poland (from 1544) during his absence from Rome from June 1562. From mid-1562 the royal chancellery more and more often turned with requests in Polish matters not only to the protector and vice-chancellor, but also to cardinal Charles Borromeo, protonotary apostolic, and to cardinals Giacomo Savelli and Otto Truchsess von Waldburg. It is possible that this unknown Marco Antonio Savelli, was sent by his relative the cardinal on a mission first to the Republic of Venice and then to Poland-Lithuania.

​Portrait of Marco Antonio Savelli from the Potocki collection by workshop of Giovanni Battista Moroni or Moretto da Brescia, mid-16th century, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Portrait of Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin by Lucas Cranach the Younger

​On December 21, 1556, Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin (1531-1592), daughter of Duke Barnim IX/XI (1501-1573), was betrothed to Charles (1534-1561), Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, son of John of Anhalt-Zerbst (1504-1551) and Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577). Charles's mother, Margaret, daughter of Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg (1484-1535), had previously married Anna's uncle, Duke George I of Pomerania (1493-1531). The couple married on May 16, 1557 in Zerbst (Slavic Ciervisti) in a lavish ceremony featuring 2,385 horses. Anna received, like her sisters, in addition to the trousseau of clothes, jewelry and silverware, 16,000 Reichsthaler as a dowry (after "Geschichte des Herzogthums Pommern von den ältesten Zeiten ..." by Johann Jacob Sell, Volume 3, p. 66). 

Charles studied at the University of Wittenberg and then stayed at the court of his uncle, Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg. After his father's death, he took over the government with his brothers Joachim Ernest and Bernhard VII, who were still minors and under the tutelage of their uncles George III (1507-1553) and Joachim I (1509-1561). Charles took over the government independently in 1556. He then resided in Zerbst, while his brother Joachim Ernest resided in Rosslau and Bernhard in Dessau.

The marriage remained childless, and Charles died four years after his marriage, on May 4, 1561 in Zerbst. Anna's second marriage was to Henry of Plauen (1536-1572), Burgrave of Meissen. The marriage took place on August 25, 1566, almost five years after the death of her first husband. The princess was widowed for the second time on January 22, 1572. Her third marriage was to Jobst II (1544-1609), Count of Barby-Mühlingen, and they married on September 23, 1576 at Schleiz Castle. Anna died in Rosenburg on October 13, 1592 and was buried in Barby, in St. John's Church.

Several portraits of Princess (Fürstin) of Anhalt-Zerbst must have been painted between 1557 and 1561, but none seem to have survived. Most of Anna's relatives mentioned were painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder, his son Lucas the Younger, and their famous workshop. The portrait of her father-in-law, Prince John of Anhalt-Zerbst, painted by Cranach the Elder's workshop in 1532, is in the Anhalt Picture Gallery (on permanent loan to the Gothic House in Wörlitz, inv. M17/2006). John and his wife Margaret of Brandenburg were depicted as witnesses to the Baptism of Christ in the scene painted by Cranach the Younger in 1556, now in the Grunewald hunting lodge in Berlin (inv. GK I 2087), just a few months before Anna and Charles's wedding. The 1556 painting depicts Dessau Castle and the city in the background. Behind John and Margaret, among the crowd, Elector Augustus of Saxony, Prince Joachim I, George III, Caspar Creuziger, Philip Melanchthon, Martin Luther, and Cranach the Elder, among others, can be seen. However, it is not known exactly when Cranach the Younger visited Dessau. In 1565 he painted the Last Supper for Prince Joachim, now preserved in St. John's Church in Dessau, in which Joachim kneels as a donor, Luther, Melanchthon, other reformers and George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, are depicted as apostles, and Cranach the Younger is depicted as a servant serving wine. George III, Joachim's brother, sitting near Luther, even touches Christ.

In 1895, in the Knights' Hall of the Gothic House in Wörlitz, there were full-length portraits of Prince Charles and his wife Anna, painted by Cranach the Younger (after "Anhaltische Fürsten-Bildnisse ...." by Egbert von Frankenberg und Ludwigsdorf, Volume 1, p. 116). They were most likely similar to the portraits of Joachim Ernest of Anhalt (1536-1586) and his wife Agnes of Barby-Mühlingen (1540-1569), painted in 1563, now preserved in the Gothic House (inv. M04/2003 and M05/2003). These paintings were probably transferred to Dessau Castle before the Second World War and are considered lost (tempera or oil on canvas, 212 x 95 cm, inv. 1401 and 1368). The portrait of Charles was dated 1559.

From 22 to 25 June 1895, a portrait of a woman by Lucas Cranach the Younger, from the collection of the German industrialist Henry Doetsch (1839-1894), was auctioned in London (panel, 85 x 66 cm, after "Catalogue of the highly important collection of pictures by old masters of Henry Doetsch ...", item 238). The painting came to England from Vienna in 1824, during the dissolution of the collection of the Austrian nobleman and banker Moritz von Fries (1777-1826). Because of the medal attached to the frame, bearing the inscription ELIZABET KRELERIN HET ICH DIE GESTALT VND WAS 47 JAR ALT, the painting was considered a "Portrait of Elisabeth Krelerin", allegedly the wife of the painter Hans Krell, in the catalogue of the Doetsch collection. The medal actually depicts Elisabeth Kreler, born around 1490, wife of Laux Kreler, a goldsmith from Augsburg. A wooden model of her medal, as well as that of her husband, are now kept in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich (inv. R 469, R 468). The Kreler medal is dated around 1537 (also 1520, according to the date on the Laux medal, or 1540), and since the portrait in the Doetsch collection is dated 1561, this identification is now rejected. According to the Latin inscription in the upper right corner, accompanied by Cranach's mark, the woman was 30 years old in 1561 (ANNO ÆTATIS XXX / ANNO CHRISTI SALVATORIS MDLXI), exactly like Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin, when she became a widow (born February 5, 1531). The corresponding portrait is unknown, and the woman's bonnet and black dress indicate that she was indeed a widow. A similar bonnet can be seen on Anna's tombstone in the Church of St. John in Barby. The woman's facial features resemble those of Anna from her portraits by Cranach and workshop - group composition from the Stemmler collection in Cologne and portrait as Venus (Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, inv. Gm1097), both identified by me.

The Anhalt Picture Gallery in Dessau houses another interesting female portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder (inv. 13). It depicts Margaret of Austria (1480-1530), daughter of Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) from his marriage to Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482). She was governor of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1507 to 1515, and again from 1519 until her death in 1530. The sitter is identified by correspondence with numerous similar portraits by Margaret's court painter, Bernard van Orley, painted after 1519. No one therefore wonders how and when Cranach met her shortly before her death, or why this influential widow wears such modest attire, reminiscent of a nun. The painting comes from the former collection of the Gothic House in Wörlitz, so it cannot be ruled out that it was made for another important woman of that time, Margaret of Ziębice (1473-1530), Princess of Anhalt, who was also painted by Cranach.

​Portrait of Anna of Pomerania-Szczecin (1531-1592), Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, aged 30, by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1561, Private collection, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Portraits of Duke Henry XI of Legnica by Flemish and French painters

In 1551 Frederick III, Duke of Legnica (1520-1570) visited the French and Polish royal court. The Duke joined a coalition of rebellious Protestant princes, and formed an alliance with King Henry II of France, a longtime enemy of the Habsburgs. Consequently, he was deprived of the Duchy in favor of his son Henry XI (1539-1588), who was still a minor and initially ruled under the regency of his uncle, Duke George II of Brzeg (1523-1586).

Despite being a fief of the Habsburgs, George II was in opposition to their absolutist policies in Silesia. Through his marriage to the daughter of the Elector of Brandenburg Barbara (1527-1595), granddaughter of Barbara Jagiellon (1478-1534), he was on good terms with the Electorate of Brandenburg. He also maintained friendly relations with Poland, corresponded with the Archbishop of Gniezno Jakub Uchański, King Sigismund II Augustus, and later with Stephen Bathory. 

Young duke Henry spent several years at the court of his uncle in Brzeg. Between 1547 and 1560 George II rebuilt the castle there in the Renaissance style. Italian architects Giovanni Battista de Pario (Johann Baptist Pahr) and his son Francesco added an arcaded courtyard, strongly inspired by the architecture of the Wawel royal castle in Kraków. Some of the tapestries that he commissioned were also inspired by famous Jagiellonian tapestries (Wawel arrases). Tapestry with Abduction of the Sabine women with coat of arms of George II and his wife, today in private collection, created between 1567-1586, is a copy of Wawel's The Moral Fall of Humanity from the series The Story of the First Parents, weaved between 1548-1553 in Brussels by Jan de Kempeneer after design by Michiel Coxie for King Sigismund Augustus. The weaver just rearranged a few figures in the composition. Two other tapestries made for the Duke of Brzeg are in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit. Heraldic tapestry with coat of arms of George II and his wife in the National Museum in Wrocław, was created in 1564 by his court weaver (from 1556) Flemish Jacob van Husen, who worked before (for ten years) in the workshop of Peter Heymanns in Szczecin. His successor was Egidius Hohenstrasse from Brussels, active in Brzeg from the 1570s and remaining there until his death in 1621 (after "Funkcja dzieła sztuki ...", p. 203). He created the heraldic tapestry with coat of arms of Barbara of Brandenburg (Church of Saint Nicholas in Brzeg).

At that time, Silesia became an important center in the European textile industry. In the first half of the 16th century Legnica merchants appeared more and more often at the Leipzig Fair, trading primarily Silesian canvas. Raw materials and ready weaving products, in particular Legnica cloth, were exported to other cities, while wool was brought to Legnica from Greater Poland. 

The export of Silesian linen began to be organized in the 1560s by Netherlandish merchants. It was the Flemish/Dutch merchants, who controlled about 80% of the Baltic trade at the time, who became the organizers of the export of Silesia linen to America and West Africa at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. According to a document of 1565 issued by King Sigismund Augustus merchants from Silesia and Moravia sold cloth in Poland. Against the competition of foreign merchants, especially the Scots, the English and the Dutch, who at the end of the 16th century began to flock to Silesia en masse, an imperial patent of August 20, 1599 was imposed, under which only local merchants could trade in Silesian products (after "Związki handlowe Śląska z Rzecząpospolitą ..." by Marian Wolański, p. 126). Painters in Venice and later in the Netherlands needed cloth for their paintings and by the 17th century canvas was imported on a large scale from Silesia to the Netherlands (after "A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings: Volume II: 1631–1634", p. 18).

In the artistic field, ties with Poland, Flanders and Dutch Republic were also strong. In 1550, the city council of Poznań pays 3 florins and 24 grossus to the council of Legnica in Silesia for a portrait of Emperor Charles V. It could have been a small likeness from the Skórzewski collection by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, today in the Gołuchów Castle (National Museum in Poznań, inv. Mo 473), however, this effigy could have been also by Flemish school, like the painting in Warsaw (National Museum in Warsaw, 183175 MNW) or Spanish, Flemish or Italian school after original by Titian, like the portrait in Kraków (Czartoryski Museum, MNK XII-259, purchased in Paris in 1869). The paintings were mainly imported from abroad and came from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. In 1561 Jan Frayberger, a merchant from Wrocław in Silesia, brought to Poznań twelve dozen of painted playing cards from Flanders and "2 paintings of the Saxon Elector", Stanisław Voitt had "11 Netherlandish paintings on canvas, new" and in 1559 Jan Iwieński brought two chests of books from Italy, several everyday objects and one painting imago quedam. A well-known goldsmith from Poznań, Erazm Kamin (d. 1585), had four paintings on canvas and 14 Italian paintings and a furrier from Poznań Jan Rakwicz (d. 1571) left "10 paintings in frames, 4 paintings without frames" (after "Studia renesansowe", Volume 1, p. 369-370).

According to preserved documents, the kings of Poland ordered tapestries (in 1526, 1533, between 1548-1553) and paintings (in 1536) in Flanders. The Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs commissioned tapestries with their effigies (Conquest of Tunis tapestries) and inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's works (Temptation of St. Anthony and the Haywain tapestries in Madrid), so did the rulers of France (Valois tapestries in Florence, one with Festivals for the Polish ambassadors in 1573) and Portugual (Deeds and triumphs of João de Castro, viceroy of Portuguese India in Vienna). Flemish portraitists were then considered to be among the best in Europe. Some of them were willing to travel, like Lucas de Heere, who designed tapestries for Catherine de' Medici and who created the triple profile portrait, said to be mignons (male lovers) of Henry of Valois (Milwaukee Art Museum), but others not. Today, rich people order such personalized things from very distant places like shoes, it was the same in the 16th century.

According to Latin inscription in upper part of the painting sold in Paris in 2019 (oil on panel, 35.5 x 27.6 cm, Artcurial, 27.03.2019, lot 294), the man depicted was 24 in 1563 (AN° DNI - 1563 - ÆTATIS - SVE - 24 -), exaclty as Duke Henry XI of Legnica (born on February 23, 1539 at Legnica Castle), when Emperor Maximilian II arrived to Legnica for the baptism of his daughter Anna Maria, greeted with great celebration and a magnificent feast. This small painting is attributed to Gillis Claeissens (or Egidius Claeissens), a Flemish painter active in Bruges, and comes from private collection in Paris. Almost an exact copy of this painting exist, however, the face and left hand are different, as well as the inscription. The painter has just "glued" the other face into the same body. This "copy" is now in the Museum Helmond in the Netherlands (oil on panel, 35.5 x 27.5 cm, inventory number 2007-015) and the man depicted was 22 in 1563 (AN° DNI - 1563 - ÆTATIS SVE - 22 -), therefore born in 1541. There is no resemblance between the red-haired man and the dark-haired man, hence they were not members of the same family. The man from the Helmond portrait is identified as Adolf van Cortenbach, Lord of Helmond from 1578, however, Adolf was born around 1540, so he would be 23 in 1563, not 22. This sitter bear a striking resemblance to a man born in 1541 whose face is known from many effigies painted by the best European painters - Francesco de' Medici, later Grand Duke of Tuscany and regent from 1564. Prior to his marriage to Joanna of Austria, daughter of Anna Jagiellonica (1503-1547) in 1565, Francesco had spent a year (June 1562 - September 1563) at the court of King Philip II of Spain, Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands. Around 1587 Hans von Aachen, who from 1585 lived in Venice, created a portrait of Francesco (Pitti Palace, OdA Pitti 767), and between 1621-1625 a Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens copied an effigy of the duke for his daughter Marie de' Medici, Queen of France (Louvre). Although in the majority of his portraits, Francesco has brown eyes, in this one, like in the painting by Alessandro Allori in the Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp (MMB.0199), his eyes are blue. 

The red-haired man from the Paris portrait was also depicted in another painting, today in the National Gallery of Art in Washington (oil on panel, 31.2 x 22.7 cm, inventory number 1942.16.1). He is older, his forehead is higher, he lost part of his hair and his costume and ruff in French style indicate that the painting was made in the 1570s. At the beginning of the 20th century this painting was part of the collection of art dealer Charles Albert de Burlet in Berlin, where many items from Ducal collections in Legnica and Brzeg were transported after 1740-1741. The portrait if attributed to French school and its style is very close to the portrait of Claude Catherine de Clermont, duchess of Retz in the Czartoryski Museum (MNK XII-293), attributed to follower of François Clouet, possibly Jean de Court, who died in Paris after 1585 and who in 1572 succeeded Clouet as painter to the king of France. Great similarities are also to be noted with portrait of Louis I de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1530-1569) by workshop of François Clouet (sold at Sotheby's, sale L14037, lot 105).

After the death of Sigismund II Augustus, Henry XI was a candidate to the Polish crown in the first free election in 1573, but he obtained only three votes and it was the French candidate Henry of Valois who was elected. At the beginning of 1575 he was in Poznań at the funeral of Bishop Adam Konarski and in July he went to Kraków, in order to hold talks with the local voivode, Piotr Zborowski, who was to help him in obtaining the throne.

In 1576 the Duke of Legnica took part in expedition to France of the exiled Henri I de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1552-1588), Louis' son, who fled to Alsace and rallied new Huguenot troops.

Henry's conduct became more and more prodigal, he undertook numerous costly journeys to various cities, doubling the debts left by his father. In 1569, he participated in the Sejm in Lublin, where the Union of Lublin was concluded. At a meeting with Sigismund II Augustus in Lublin, he presented the Polish monarch with two lions and precious jewels and this expedition cost 24,000 thalers, while the annual income of the duke amounted to less than 12,000 thalers. During his absence, he was deposed in 1576 by Emperor Maximilian II and his brother Frederick IV, who had been co-ruling until then, exercised the power alone. Four years later, in 1580, Henry XI was allowed to rule again in Legnica, but in 1581, he came into conflict with Emperor Rudolf II and was imprisoned in Prague Castle and then transferred to Wrocław and Świdnica. In 1585, Henry XI managed to escape and fled to Poland. With the help of elected Queen Anna Jagiellon and her husband, he unsuccessfully tried to regain control of his duchy. In 1587 he went to Sweden as a personal envoy of the Queen and he accompanied the newly elected King Sigismund III Vasa to Kraków, where Henry XI died in March 1588 after a short illness. Because he was a Protestant, the Catholic clergy of Kraków refused to give Henry a burial. Eventually his body was interred in the chapel of the Carmelite Church. This Gothic church, founded in 1395 by Queen Jadwiga and her husband Jogaila of Lithuania (Ladislaus II Jagiello) was seriously damaged in 1587 during the siege of Kraków by Emperor Maximilian. It was rebuilt with the financial help of Anna Jagiellon in 1588. 

In the National Museum in Warsaw (deposited to Palace on the Isle) there is a portrait of a bald man with a beard from the fourth quarter of the 16th century, painted by Flemish painter (oil on panel, 44.9 x 30.3 cm, inventory number Dep 629, M.Ob.2753, earlier 158169). It was acquired between 1945-1957. This man bear a striking resemblance to the man from the portrait in Washington and to the only known so far graphic representation of Duke Henry XI of Legnica, engraving by Bartłomiej Strachowski, published in Georg Thebesius' Liegnitzische Jahr-Bücher ... in 1733, after original effigy from about 1580. 

The style of a portrait of a bearded man in Warsaw greatly resemble the effigy of Alessandro Farnese (1545-1592), Duke of Parma and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, attributed to Antoon Claeissens, Gillis' brother, in the same collection (deposited to Palace on the Isle, Dep 630, M.Ob.2749). Farnese's likeness was purchased in 1950 from Czesław Domaradzki and has almost identical dimensions (oil on panel, 44.5 x 33.5 cm). In private collection, there is another portrait in similar dimensions (oil on panel, 46.4 x 35.6 cm), attributed to Adriaen Thomasz. Key (died after 1589), and similar to full-length effigy of King Philip II of Spain by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz in the El Escorial, while in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam there is a portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon, purchased in 1955 from the dealer Alfred Weinberger in Paris, attributed to Cologne school, close to works of a painter active in Lviv, Jan Szwankowski (d. 1602).

In the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna there are two miniatures of Duchesses of Legnica (inscription D. DE LIGNIZ) from the 1570s, painted by Flemish or Italian painter, which should be identified as Anna Maria (1563-1620) and Emilia (1563-1618), daughters of Henry XI.

​In conclusion, the rulers of Europe frequently exchanged their effigies, which were frequently created in different places, not necessarily by the "court painters".

Portrait of Duke Henry XI of Legnica (1539-1588), aged 24 by Gillis Claeissens, 1563, Private collection.

Portrait of Francesco de' Medici (1541-1587), aged 22 by Gillis Claeissens, 1563, Museum Helmond.

Portrait of Duke Henry XI of Legnica (1539-1588) by follower of François Clouet, possibly Jean de Court, ca. 1570-1576, National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Portrait of Duke Henry XI of Legnica (1539-1588) by Antoon Claeissens, 1580s, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) by Jan Szwankowski or Cologne school, ca. 1590, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

Portrait of King Philip II of Spain (1527-1598) by Adriaen Thomasz. Key or follower, ca. 1590, Private collection.

Portraits of Andreas Jerin by circle of Giovanni Battista Moroni and Gillis Claeissens

In the summer of 1566, young Andreas Jerin (also von Jerin, Gerinus or Jerinus) went to Rome to continue his philosophical-theological studies. From 1559 he studied at the University of Dillingen in Bavaria, where he earned a baccalaureate and a master's degree in 1563. As tutor to the brothers Gebhard and Christoph Truchsess von Waldburg, sons of Imperial Councilor, he continued his studies at the University of Leuven (Louvain) in the Spanish Netherlands in 1563 and was accepted as an alumne in the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum in Rome in October 1566 on the recommendation of Petrus Canisius, a Dutch Jesuit priest. Two years later he was ordained a priest in the sacristy of St. Peter's Basilica (December 15, 1568). He was then pastor to Swiss Guard. In 1571 he received his theological doctorate at the University of Bologna and Cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg gave him the parish of Dillingen.

As early as 1570 he received a canonship at the Wrocław Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Silesia, where he became a cathedral preacher in 1572. At the same time he was given the office of rector at the Wrocław seminary. From 1573 he was custodian of the Church of the Holy Cross (till 1538 Copernicus was a scholastic of this church). At that time Hieronim Rozdrażewski (d. 1600) was the provost of Wrocław. Rozdrażewski received the provostship in 1567, however, due to the strong resistance of the chapter, he took over it only in 1570. The provost, who in his childhood stayed with his brothers at the royal court in France and studied in Ingolstadt and Rome, become the royal secretary at the end of the reign of Sigismund Augustus. He took part in the political life of Poland and his duties in Wrocław were performed at his request by Andreas. In 1578, Rozdrażewski resigned from the provostship in favor of Jerin. On September 29, 1578 Jerin was elevated to the Bohemian nobility in Prague. For his services as an imperial envoy in Poland, Emperor Rudolf II elevated him to the imperial and hereditary Austrian nobility on February 25, 1583. After the death of Martin von Gerstmann, Bishop of Wrocław, the cathedral chapter elected Jerin, the emperor's candidate, as his successor on July 1, 1585. Despite some opposition to Jerin as a non-Silesian and of commoner background, he was consecrated on February 9, 1586. At the same time, the emperor appointed him senior governor of Silesia. 

Andreas celebrated important events in his life with portraiture. Two of his preserved portraits were created after his elevation to bishop of Wrocław. One, attributed to Martin Kober, is in the National Museum in Wrocław. The other showing him at the age of 47 (suae aetatis XXXX VII) and attributed to Bartholomeus Fichtenberger, was most likely offered by the bishop himself to the parish church of St. George in his hometown of Riedlingen on the river Danube in the south-west of Germany, approximately 400 km north of Bergamo and Milan. He also offered a silver chalice with his coat of arms to the church in Riedlingen (the portrait and chalice are now in the local museum). He was a patron of the sciences and arts. In 1590 he had the goldsmith Paul Nitsch (1548-1609) make a precious silver high altar for the Wrocław Cathedral, which was recently reconstructed after World War II destruction. In 1624, during his visit in the city, the altar was admired by prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa (future king of Poland as Ladislaus IV). Fichtenberger painted the wings of this retable in 1591 and the bishop was depicted in the scene of the Sermon of Saint John the Baptist and as Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and patron saint of this city, in the outer wings with the Fathers of the Church. In 1586 Nitsch also created a gold portable altarpiece for the bishop (Wrocław Cathedral).

On March 28, 2019 a portrait of a gentleman, half-length, in a black doublet, white ruff and black hat, attributed to circle of Giovanni Battista Moroni was sold on an auction in Munich (Hampel Fine Art Auctions, oil on canvas, 68.6 x 52.7 cm, lot 1045). According to original inscription in Latin, covered because of bad condition and repeated by the restorer on the reverse, the man was 27 in 1567 (ÆTATIS. SVE. 27. / ANNO DNI 1567, upper left), exacly as Jerin when he was studying in Rome. If he traveled there from Riedlingen, where he was born in 1540, or from Leuven via Riedlingen, his possible stop before October 1566 was Bergamo in the Venetian Republic or Milan, where he could order a portrait. The most famous painting workshop in this area at that time was that of Moroni, who in 1567 created a painting of Last Supper for the church in Romano di Lombardia and the portrait of Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki (Accademia Carrara in Bergamo). The man from the painting bear a strong resemblance to mentioned effigies of Andreas Jerin. 

Almost an exact copy of this portrait exist, three-quarter-length, which however was created by different workshop, more close to the Flemish school. It was also sold at Hampel, Munich (December 4, 2020, oil on wood, 43 x 33.5 cm, lot 1121) and comes from private collection in Paris. It is attributed to Flemish painter Gillis Claeissens (d. 1605) or his circle. Gillis, born in Bruges, was a member of a prominent family of artists and he is identified with the Monogrammist G.E.C. He was admitted as a master of the Guild of St. Luke of Bruges on 18 October 1566 and he remained in the workshop of his father Pieter Claeissens the Elder until 1570. Jerin seems to have commissioned a copy of his Italian portrait in Flanders for his friends in Leuven or elsewhere.

A portrait painted in a very similar style is in Lviv, Ukraine (National Art Gallery, oil on wood, 28.8 x 21, inventory number Ж-453). It shows a young girl in prayer and her costume indicate that the painting was created in the 1570s. It is attributed to a German or Sothern Netherlandish painter and comes, most likely, from the collection of the Princes Lubomirski. 

Before everything was destroyed by war and hatred, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, established by the Union of Lublin in July 1569, was a land of great prosperity for different people. Since the Middle Ages, Venetian, Genoese and other merchants coming to Lviv brought spices, silk fabrics, jewels, decorative weapons and morocco products from Kaffa, the great center of Genoese trade on the Black Sea. From there eastern goods were sent further to Kraków and Wrocław, and then to Nuremberg and as far as the port of Bruges in Flanders. Merchants in Lviv sold them cloth, amber, raw hides and herring (after "Prace Komisji Historycznej", Volume 65, p. 198). In the 14th - 15th centuries, there was a trading post of the Teutonic Order in Lviv and in 1392 Prussian amber was stored in the city in the cellar of the merchant Ebirhard Swarcze. From Lviv amber was exported to Constantinople (after "Z historii południowo-wschodniego szlaku bursztynowego" by Jarosław R. Daszkiewicz, p. 261).

Trade flourished in the second half of the 16th century - two Jews from Lviv paid fifty pounds of amber to Chaim Kohen of Constantinople for wine, rice and roots (cassiae), Armenian Christopher, translator of His Highness, takes from Chaskiel Judowy wine and gives him in return tin, cloth from Lyon and Gdańsk and karazye cloth, Greek merchant Konstantinos Korniaktos (Konstanty Korniakt) takes English and Dutch cloths from the Lviv merchant Wilhelm Boger, and pays him with alum, rye and wheat. The export of grain to Gdańsk in the second half of the 16th century in Lviv was dominated by two local merchants Zebald Aichinger and Stanisław Szembek and in the second row there was a whole colony of Englishmen who had settled in the city, such as Tomasz Gorny, Wilhelm Allandt, Jan Whigt, Wilhelm Babington, Jan Pontis, Ryszard Hudson and Wilhelm Moore. One of the principal buyers of grain in Lviv at that time was a London merchant, Richard Stapper, whose agent in Lviv was Jan Pontis (after "Patrycyat i mieszczaństwo lwowskie ..." by Władysław Łoziński, p. 43, 46-47). 

Foreign artists, like Italian architects Pietro di Barbona (d. 1588) and Paolo Dominici Romanus (d. 1618), architect Andreas Bemer (Andrzej Bemer, died after 1626) of German or Czech origin, and Dutch sculptor Hendrik Horst (d. 1612), were active in Lviv. It is possible that the girl depicted was a daughter of a merchant and her portrait was commissioned in Bruges and sent to Lviv. 

During his studies, Jerin had the opportunity to meet many Poles and during his stays in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as the imperial envoy (Lublin, 1589 and Kraków, 1592), he had the opportunity to admire some of the exquisit works of art from the royal collection, including the famous silver altar of Sigismund I in his chapel at the Wawel Cathedral, created in Nuremberg between 1531-1538, which probably inspired Andreas' foundation for the Wrocław Cathedral. On the occasion of peace negotiations with the Commonwealth in 1589 Andrzej Schoneus from Głogów (Andreas Glogoviensis), later rector of the Kraków Academy, published two odes in Kraków about "the Sarmatian peace" (De pace Sarmatica Odae II Ad Andream Gerinum), dedicated to Jerin.

Portrait of Andreas Jerin (1540-1596), aged 27 by circle of Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1567, Private collection. ​

Portrait of Andreas Jerin (1540-1596) in a black doublet by Gillis Claeissens, ca. 1567, Private collection. ​

Portrait of a young girl as donor by Gillis Claeissens, 1570s, Lviv National Art Gallery.

Portrait of Maria of Portugal, Duchess of Parma and Piacenza by Sofonisba Anguissola or workshop

In 1573, the young Alexander Farnese (1545-1592), aged 28, son of Ottavio Farnese (1524-1586), Duke of Parma and Piacenza, grandson of Pope Paul III, and Margaret of Austria (1522-1586), the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Charles V, participated as a candidate in the first free royal election held in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Thanks to the support of the Italian community, he was an important candidate and, with Alfonso II d'Este (1533-1597), Duke of Ferrara, he participated in three elections (in 1573, 1576 and 1587). "The ruler of Ferrara was considered somewhat advanced in age, and the Duke of Parma, a young and brave soldier, satisfied the ambitions of the Poles. However, he did not represent the appropriate political position and did not have adequate cash at his disposal. For these reasons, he could not be considered as a serious candidate" (after "Dwór medycejski i Habsburgowie ..." by Danuta Quirini-Popławska, p. 123).
​
His chances for the crown increased during the third election, he became governor of the Spanish Netherlands in 1578 and Duke of Parma and Piacenza in 1586, and he could count on the support of his uncle Philip II of Spain. As in every election, the candidates had to present themselves to the electorate, who were interested not only in their political connections, wealth and leadership skills, but also in their appearance and personal lives. The portrait of Alfonso II d'Este from the Popławski collection, attributed to Hans von Aachen, most likely commissioned in Venice, Augsburg or Prague, where the painter was then active, now in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 134 x 102 cm, M.Ob.1913 MNW), is probably linked to the duke's candidacy for the royal election of 1587. A fine portrait of the Duke of Parma, attributed to Antoon Claeissens, also probably made around 1587, is also in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on panel, 44.5 x 33.5 cm, M.Ob.2749 MNW). It was purchased from Czesław Domaradzki in 1950 and bears the inscription in Latin in the upper right corner: ALEXANDER FARNESIVS PRINCEPS PARMÆ. 

On November 11, 1565, Alexander married in Brussels the Infanta Maria of Portugal (1538-1577), granddaughter of King Manuel I and cousin of King Sebastian. The splendid celebrations of this marriage are commemorated in the so-called "Brussels Album", attributed to the circle of Francis Floris the Elder, now kept in the Library of the University of Warsaw (Print Room, zb.d.10255). The couple settled in Parma in 1566 and Maria bore her husband three children: Ranuccio (1569-1622), Margaret (1567-1643) and Odoardo (1573-1626). She died in 1577 at the age of thirty-nine, but in 1573 and 1575 she could see herself as a potential future Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania.

Before the Second World War, in the Potocki collection, probably in the splendid Łańcut Castle, there was a portrait of a lady, attributed to the French painter François Clouet (d. 1572). Before 1940, along with other paintings, it was evacuated to the United States and exhibited in the Polish pavilion at the New York World's Fair opened on April 30, 1939, included in the catalog: "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" (item 64).

This painting is now in the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Ponce, Puerto Rico (oil on panel, 50.5 x 39.7 cm, inv. 59.0072). It was purchased in New York in 1959. This "Portrait of a Lady with a Carnation" is attributed to the circle of the Spanish painter Alonso Sánchez Coello and dated to around 1566. The portrait is believed to depict Maria of Portugal, Duchess of Parma and Piacenza, whose husband also had his portrait painted by Sánchez Coello. The sitter was keen to emphasize that she is an exemplary wife, as the red carnation that hangs from the her neck probably serves as a symbol of love, marriage and fidelity. Her rich, jeweled costume testifies to aristocratic splendor and wealth. A perfect candidate for a queen.

The model resembles the Duchess of Parma from some of her portraits. The lips closely resemble well-known portraits of Maria, such as the painting in the Pinacoteca Stuard in Parma (inv. 23), attributed to the circle of Antonis Mor or Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, which probably shows her in her wedding dress, a prototype of which was most likely painted in Brussels in 1565. Copies of the portrait from the Pinacoteca Stuard are in the Galleria nazionale di Parma (inv. 1177/5), attributed to the Portuguese painter Francisco de Holanda, and in a private collection (Dorotheum in Vienna, June 9, 2020, lot 48), perhaps painted by Otto van Veen or his workshop around 1600.

The lady's dark complexion and costume resemble those from the portrait of Maria kept at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon (inv. 2094 Pint), purchased in Paris in 1957, attributed to Joris van der Straeten, who probably visited the Portugal in 1556 (hence the general dating of this portrait). However, the identification of the model and the attribution of the Lisbon portrait are now called into question after the discovery of a very similar portrait, attributed to Gillis Claeissens (1526-1605), brother of Antoon, a Flemish painter active in Bruges (Christie's London, sale 1165, December 4, 2013, lot 118, compare "Shopping for Global Goods. Portrait of a Gentleman" by Annemarie Jordan Gschwend and Hugo Miguel Crespo, p. 48). 

Although it is possible that the woman in the portraits attributed to Claeissens is not Maria of Portugal, the small differences in appearance could be the result of copying that frequently distorted the features, as in the case of the portraits of Emperor Charles V made by Italians, Flemish and German painters. According to the traditional approach, the painter and sitter must have met in person, so identifications and attributions are often based on this factor. It should be noted, however, that copies were frequently made from other effigies and that a skilled painter could adapt an older effigy and modify its appearance, costume, hairstyle and other elements according to fashion.

Another intriguing aspect of the portrait from the Potocki collection is its author. The style of the painting is very similar to paintings attributed to Sofonisba Anguissola, who from February 1560 until the summer of 1573 lived at the Spanish court, then in Palermo, Sicily, until 1579. Particularly similar is portrait of Catalina Micaela of Spain (1567-1597), Duchess of Savoy (Christie's New York, October 14, 2021, lot 101, inscription: . CATHARINA . AVST RIACA . INF . HISP / . DVCISSA . SAB). The manner in which the face and background were painted is also comparable to Sofonisba's self-portrait of 1558 (Palazzo Colonna in Rome, inv. 268) and portrait of Gustav Eriksson Vasa (1568-1607) (Van Ham Kunstauktionen in Cologne, June 2, 2021, lot 926), identified by me. In 2014 a copy, perhaps one of many of this or another painting, was sold in London with an attribution to the circle of Anthonis Mor (oil on canvas, 47.6 x 37.9 cm, Christie's, Auction 5953, April 30, 2014, lot 229). This painting is dated "1567" (upper left) and its style is comparable to the portrait of Isabella Gonzaga (1537-1579), Princess of Francavilla in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 63.43.1), which is attributed to Bernardino Campi (1522-1591), Sofonisba's teacher.

Besides this painting, the most famous painting from the Potocki collection in Łańcut Castle is another work by Sofonisba Anguissola, her self-portrait at the easel painting a devotional painting with the Virgin Mary, created in 1556 (inv. S.916MŁ). It first appeared in inventories from 1862 and survived many invasions of Poland, including World War II. Although it is believed that it was included in the castle's collections in the second half of the 18th century thanks to Princess Izabela Lubomirska (1736-1816), called the "Blue Marquise", who allegedly purchased it during one of her trips through Europe, it is also possible that it was transferred to Poland already in the 16th century and both paintings testify that Anguissola frequently worked for clients from Poland-Lithuania, directly or indirectly as in this case.

​Portrait of Maria of Portugal (1538-1577), Duchess of Parma and Piacenza, from the Potocki collection by Sofonisba Anguissola or workshop, ca. 1566-1575, Museo de Arte de Ponce.

​Portrait of Maria of Portugal (1538-1577), Duchess of Parma and Piacenza by Bernardino Campi or Sofonisba Anguissola, 1567, Private collection.

​Portrait of Alexander Farnese (1545-1592), Duke of Parma and Piacenza by Antoon Claeissens, ca. 1587, National Museum in Warsaw.

​Portrait of Alfonso II d'Este (1533-1597), Duke of Ferrara by Hans von Aachen, ca. 1587-1597, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portraits of Don Joseph Nasi, Duke of Naxos by Lorenzo Sabatini and circle ​

"While Selim was staying in Kütahya as the governor of the sultan, Don Joseph Nasi had just arrived at the sultan's court, and by his skilful manners, polite conversation and, above all, his riches, he captured the sultan's heart so much that he wrote a letter to Ercole II, Duke of Ferrara, asking him to allow Don Joseph's relative move with his property to Turkey, which also happened in 1558", writes Aleksander Kraushar in his "History of Jews in Poland", published in Warsaw in 1865 (Historya Żydów w Polsce, Volumes 1-2, p. 314). 

The author is referring to Prince Selim (1524-1574), son of Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana), wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who after death of his mother in 1558 engaged in an open struggle with his brother Bayezid for the throne. Prince Selim, who had the support of his father, emerged victorious and Bayezid escaped to the Safavid Empire with his sons and a small army. 

Don Joseph Nasi (ca. 1524-1579), mentioned in this fragment, was a Jewish diplomat, banker and financial advisor at the court of the Ottoman Sultans Suleiman I and his son Selim II. In his eventful life he went by different names: Portuguese João Miques in Portugal, Italian Giovanni Miches in Venice, Castilian Juan Miguez in Spain and Flanders and Joseph Nasi or Jusuff Nassy in Constantinople (Istanbul) and many variations of these names. He was born around 1524 in Portugal, where the family had fled from persecution in Castile. Joseph's father, Agostinho, was a doctor who taught at the University of Lisbon and his aunt was Gracia Mendes Nasi (1510-1569), also known by her Christianized name Beatrice de Luna Miques, wife of Don Francisco Mendes. The latter, in partnership with his brother Diogo, built a veritable commercial empire by trading mainly in spices. In the 1530s, following the establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal and the death of Don Francisco, Joseph fled with his aunt Dona Gracia, who took over the management of her husband's banking operations, to Antwerp. The enormous wealth enabled her to influence kings and popes. 

In about 1545 the family moved to Venice and from there to the more tolerant Ferrara. During this time, they more openly returned to Judaism. In 1553 a Judaeo-Spanish translation of the Hebrew Bible, one dedicated to Duke Ercole II d'Este (1508-1559), and one for the Jewish public dedicated to Gracia Nasi, was published in Ferrara - the Ferrara Bible. 

Soon, after disputes over control of the family properties with her sister Brianda and an agreement reached in 1552, ratified before the Senate of Venice, Gracia moved with her daughter Ana, who had adopted the name of Reyna, and her court to Istanbul, where she settled in the European quarter of Galata in 1553. In January that year, Joseph abducted his wealthy cousin Beatrice (Gracia la Chica, Little Gracia), Brianda's daughter, from Venice and married her in Ravenna. He was caught and permanently banned from Venetian territory, including all Mediterranean possessions of the Republic. Nasi then traveled to Rome to get the Pope to lift the ban and to have his wife and her fortune restored to him. His aunt sent a ship from Ragusa to Ancona to fetch him and his brother Samuel (Bernardo), and they embarked for Istanbul in November 1553. A few months after his arrival in Constantinople, he openly professed the Jewish religion and had himself circumcised, married his cousin Reyna (Ana) according to the Jewish rite and moved into a magnificent palace with her and his aunt, the Belvedere with a view of the Bosphorus.   

Nasi's political career began in the service of the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, who, in addition to his wealth, also appreciated his excellent economic and political connections throughout Europe and his familiarity with the mentality of the Christian empires. According to one report "There are few persons of account in Spain, Italy, or Flanders who are not personally acquainted with him". German merchant, Hans Dernschwam, who participated in the embassy of Ferdinand I to Constantinople (1553-1555), described Nasi and his family in his diary: "The aforementioned scoundrel arrived in Constantinople in 1554, with about twenty well-dressed servants, who follow him as though he were a prince. He wears silk clothing, with sable lining". Dernschwam criticizes his lavish lifestyle, his following the fashion of the European nobility, arranging tournaments and theatrical performances in his garden (after "The Long Journey of Gracia Mendes" by Marianna D. Birnbaum). 

In the meantime, in Italy, when Brianda and her daughter declared their intention to confess openly to Judaism, the Council and the Doge decided that the women should leave Venice. They moved to Ferrara, where in 1558 Gracia la Chica (Beatrice) was engaged to Samuel (Bernardo) Nasi, Joseph's brother. Nasi, through the sultan's emissaries, successfully negotiated the safe conduct of his brother and his former wife in Christian rite to join their family in Constantinople, after approval granted by the Duke of Ferrara on March 6, 1558 and by Venice in May that year (after "Italia judaica ...", p. 177).

Around that time or after the arrival in Istanbul, a bronze medal with the bust of Gracia la Chica at the age of 18 (A AE XVIII), commemorating the marriage or the engagement, was commissioned from an Italian medalist, active mainly in Florence and in nearby Siena - Pastorino de' Pastorini (British Museum, 1923,0611.23). Although it is claimed that he traveled extensively in Italy to create his medals, it is more likely that the majority of them were created from drawings sent from different places. Also Queen Bona ordered a medal with her bust, created in 1556 (National Museum in Kraków, MNK VII-Md-70), most probably commissioned from Bari. 

Joseph obtained the favor of Prince Selim who made him a member of his honor guard. When Pope Paul IV sentenced a group of converts in Ancona in the Papal States in 1556 to be burned at the stake, Gracia and Joseph organized a trade embargo of the port. Then Gracia signed a long-term lease agreement with Sultan Suleiman for the region of Tiberias in the Galilee. Starting in 1561 Joseph had the city walls rebuilt and encouraged the immigration of Jewish artisans from Venice and the Papal States. When Pope Pius V published the bull of February 26 , 1569 expelling the Jews from his state, many went to the Nasi fief.

After the death of Sultan Suleiman I in 1566 and the ascension of Selim II to the Sultanate, he rewarded Joseph with the Duchy of Naxos and the Cyclades for his services which he ruled through his governor Francesco Coronello, a Spanish Jew. Joseph was at the peak of his economic and political power. He supported the war with the Republic of Venice, at the end of which Venice lost the island of Cyprus. Nasi primarily ruled the duchy from his Belvedere Palace, where he also maintained his own Hebrew printing press, which was kept by his wife, Dona Reyna, after Joseph's death.

As an influential figure in the Ottoman Empire he corresponded with the most important monarchs of Europe and their representatives, including Sigismund II Augustus. He was introduced to the monarch of Poland-Lithuania in 1562 by Sultan Suleiman himself, in these words: "a gentleman worthy of all honor, faithful and favored by Us" (after "History of the Turkish Jews ... " by Elli Kohen, p. 74). According to some surviving letters, the two corresponded in Latin and Italian - "To Joseph Nasi the Jew. Brisk, grateful, dear to us" (Josepho Nasi Judaeo. Strenue, grate, nobis dilecte), wrote the king in Latin recommending his ambassador to the High Porte in 1567 the Calvinist Piotr Zborowski (d. 1580), castellan of Wojnicz. "Sacred Majesty! [...] I greatly desire to serve Your Majesty not only in this case of good and great value, but in every other thing that you commands me" (Sacra Magesta! [...] Essendo io desideratissimo servir Vestra Magesta non solo in questo si bene e di tanto valore, ma in ogni altera cosa che quella mi commandi), replied Nasi in Italian regarding friendly relations with Selim. 

In a letter of February 25, 1570 from Warsaw (Varsaviae, die XXV Februari) "To the Jew Nasi, King Sigismund Augustus: Distinguished sir, our beloved friend!" (Judaeo Nasi Sigismundus Augustus rex: Excelens domine amice Nr. dilecte), the king refers to a secret affair (negotii), probably a plan to buy the Principality of Wallachia from the sultan, "about which you will learn in detail from Our envoy Wancimulius, to whom we have orally entrusted this matter for security". This envoy was Zuane Vancimuglio of Vicenza (Joannes Vancimulius Vincentinus), who previously, as a spy for the Inquisition, tracked heretics in the Venetian possessions. Nasi sent him to Poland to let the king know that the Turks were ready to provide military support to obtain Bari and Rossano from Spain (after "Zuane Vancimuglio, agent wioski Zygmunta Augusta" by Stanisław Cynarski, p. 361). In September 1569 he was the king's envoy to Rome and after return to Poland he was sent to Turkey. In June 1570, Vancimuglio was in Poland and in the late autumn of that year he returned to Rome and was imprisoned there on charges of homosexuality (de Venere vetita) with a "boy who was already publicly flogged in Rome" (Chłopcza thego, quo abusus esse dicitur yuz chwostano publice po Rzimye), probably a male prostitute, and spying for Turkey, as informed Jerzy of Tyczyn (Georgius Ticinius), king's secretary, in a letter of December 2, 1570 to Bishop Marcin Kromer. The last mention of him comes from a letter of very reluctant to him Cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz to the king of March 31, 1571, in which he writes that "Vancimuglio has already received his reward" (Vancimulius iam accepit mercedem suam).

In a letter of March 7, 1570, also from Warsaw (Datum Varsaviae, die VII martii anno MDLXX), recommending his ambassador Jędrzej (Andrzej) Tarnowski, the king calls Nasi "Illustrious prince, our beloved friend" (Illustris Princeps amice noster dilecte) and assures him that "Your Illustriousness may be convinced that We are also ready to provide you with similar services whenever the opportunity arises". 

As a result of the special relations that developed between Don Joseph and Polish kings, especially Sigismund Augustus, several of his agents settled in Lviv, and the city served as a base for Polish-Turkish trade (after "Jewish history quarterly", Issues 1-4, 2004, p. 8). He also obtained commercial privileges from the king. Sigismund Augustus undoubtedly had a painted effigy of the Duke of Naxos and Joseph had a portrait of the Polish-Lithuanian monarch in his Belvedere Palace, as was customary in the 16th century for such important figures. 

Similar to the medal with the profile of his cousin Gracia la Chica, such effigies were commissioned in Italy, but probably not in Venice, since the relations of the Nasi family with the "Queen of the Adriatic" were not friendly. The opulent residences of Polish-Lithuanian kings and magnates, like the Koniecpolski Castle in Pidhirtsi (Podhorce) near Lviv in western Ukraine, were filled with the most exquisite works of art created by local, European and Oriental artists (paintings, sculptures, tapestries, silverware, parade weapons, horse tacks, carpets, Turkish and Persian jewelry, etc.). Elected king Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski (1732-1798), commissioned portraits of Chajka and Elia, two Jewish women from Zhvanets (National Museum in Warsaw), and from the time of Esterka, the Jewish mistress of king Casimir the Great, who reigned between 1333 and 1370, the Jews were close to the royal court as physicians, suppliers and bankers, so many portraits of them were also in the royal collection, unfortunately everything was looted, destroyed and dispersed. 

In 1567 Joseph made public his attachment to Spain. That year, negotiations for a truce between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire began, while Nasi began importing wool and merino sheep (for wool) from Spain and mulberry trees (for silkworms) from France, with the intention of starting a textile industry. In 1570, Joseph even asked for safe conduct for himself and his entire household to return to Spain. He asked to be pardoned for following Jewish law. It is not known if he was serious in this admission and his intentions are not clearly known (after "Joseph Nasi, Friend of Spain" by Norman Rosenblatt, p. 331).

After the defeat suffered by the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Lepanto (October 7, 1571), Joseph's influence at court gradually diminished. Selim II's death in 1574 caused him to retire from court, he was nevertheless allowed to retain his titles and income. Nasi died on August 2, 1579, leaving no descendants.

In 2017 a portrait of an old bearded man in a rich coat lined with fur, "probably Hercules II of Este, Duke of Ferrara and Modena", was sold in Barcelona, Spain (oil on canvas, 112.6 x 100.6 cm, Balclis, May 31, 2017, lot 1393). The painting is attributed to Italian school from the second half of the 16th century. It represents an old man sitting in a chair, and near a table covered with a red carpet. The man bears no resemblance to the Duke of Ferrara from his effigies, such as the Pastorini medal of about 1534 (National Gallery of Art, Washington), so this identification must be rejected. He is holding a letter and pointing to the recipient "To Ercole II, Duke of Ferrara and Modena, 1558" (A / Hercole II. / Duca di Ferrara e Modena / 1558). Dates were usually not added in the addressee field, so the letter and the portrait itself commemorate an important event in the sitter's life. In 1558 the sultan at the request of Joseph Nasi corresponded with Ercole II regarding the relocation of his relatives from Ferrara. 

An almost exact copy (or original) of this painting exists. It is now in the Galleria Estense in Modena (oil on canvas, 115 x 92 cm, inventory number R.C.G.E. 12) and before 1784 it was in the collection of the Dukes of Modena in their palace (Palazzo Ducale). This painting is of better quality, so the one from Spain could be a workshop copy. It is dated to around 1570-1576 and unanimously attributed to Lorenzo Sabatini (died August 2, 1576), a painter from Bologna in the Papal States, who moved to Rome in 1573 to work under Vasari in the Vatican.

The recipient of the man's letter is different. It is addressed to Quaranta Malvasia of Bologna, treasurer of Romagna (All Ill.re Sig.r mio prone oss.mo Il / sig.r Quaranta Malvasia Thes.ro di Romagna / Bologna), identified with a certain Cornelio Malvasia who was a member of the Council of forty senators (Consiglio dei Quaranta), which governed the city of Bologna. Sabatini worked for the Malvasia family in Bologna (around 1565 he painted the altarpiece and the frescoes in their chapel in the church of San Giacomo Maggiore, and he was the author of portraits mentioned in their house), however, why Quaranta Malvasia commissioned a portrait in which he points to his name on the letter? If this would be his portrait, he would prefer to hold a letter from the Pope, the Emperor, King of Poland or even the Sultan. He rather commissioned or received a portrait of a famous man holding a letter to him, which would be a sign of great respect. The man was most likely an important contractor to the treasurer of Romagna (Papal States, including the Duchies of Ferrara and Modena) and the letter concerned financial matters or the safe conduct of Jews from the Papal States. The man is therefore Don Joseph Nasi, who was around 52 in 1576 (born in 1524 or before) and died exactly 3 years after Sabatini.

​Portrait of Don Joseph Nasi (ca. 1524-1579), Duke of Naxos holding a letter to Ercole II, Duke of Ferrara by circle of Lorenzo Sabatini, ca. 1570-1576, Private collection.

​Portrait of Don Joseph Nasi (ca. 1524-1579), Duke of Naxos holding a letter to Quaranta Malvasia of Bologna, treasurer of Romagna by Lorenzo Sabatini, ca. 1570-1576, Galleria Estense in Modena.

Portraits of Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duchess of Pomerania and Dianora di Toledo by Giovanni Battista Moroni

On October 15, 1595, at the age of 22, Prince Philip (1573-1618), the eldest son of Boguslaus XIII (1544-1606), Duke of Pomerania and his first wife Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1550-1598), embarks on an educational journey through Italy and France.

He was accompanied by several people appointed by his father and traveled under the name of Christianus von Sehe. Through Meissen, Nuremberg and Augsburg, Philip reached Venice. Then he visited the whole of Italy and go as far south as Naples and Salerno. On the way, he stopped for a long time in Rome. The next stop of the journey was Florence, where he stayed for over three months. From there he set out again for Venice, from which he left for the ancient city of Forum Iulii (most probably Cividale del Friuli), to the cities of Styria and Carinthia. He also visited two powerful Venetian fortresses: Palma and Gradisca, which defended the Republic against the invasion of the Turks. From Milan he set out across Lake Como, where he admired the collections of Paolo Giovio, to Constance, where he found the place of the martyrdom of Jan Hus. The news of his mother's illness prevented him from further expanding his journey to the Netherlands, France and England. The prince, waiting for further news from his father, set off only to Besançon, and then to Lorraine, where he visited Nancy, and when more favorable news came from Pomerania - he set off through Alsace to Bohemia, to the court of Emperor Rudolf II. In Prague, he saw the relics of St. Wenceslaus and met Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, a major patron of the arts and sciences.

He returned home via Bohemia and Silesia, where in Legnica he met his relatives, and via Dresden arrived back in Barth at the end of November 1597 after over two years of journey. Soon, however, on January 26, 1598, after a short illness, the mother of Philip - Clara died at the castle in Franzburg. The 48-year-old Duchess probably died from the plague. 

As a child and adolescent, Philip enjoyed the education of a late Renaissance prince, as was customary at the time, but his artistic and scientific interests soon went beyond the ordinary. At the age of twelve he already had his own collection of books and paintings. He wrote his first scientific treatises at the age of 17 - Philippi II Pomeraniae Ducis De duarum in mediatore naturarum necessitate oratio, published in his father's printing house in Barth in 1590, and at the age of 18 he wrote: "It is my pleasure to collect the best, exquisite books, portraits from a master's hand and old coins of all kinds. From them I learn how to improve myself and at the same time how to be useful to the community" (Hoc est genus voluptatis meas, ut bonos selectissimos libros et artificiosas imagines et vetera omnis generis numismata maxime quaeram ex quibus me ipsum non solum corrigam, sed etiam, ut publice prodesse discam) (after "Die Kunst am Hofe der pommerschen Herzöge" by Hellmuth Bethe, p. 70). In order to give his numerous treasures an appropriate space, Philip commissioned his own art chamber, which was to be housed in the outer west wing of the Szczecin Castle and his library had approx. 3,500 volumes and was arranged like the great library in Florence. In exchange for the portraits of the Pomeranian dukes, he received such paintings for the Szczecin museum as the portrait of Charlemagne or Frederick Barbarossa. 

The bonds he forged during his travels and correspondence benefited in the many gifts he received and exchanged. In 1617, Philip's wife Sophia, received birthday gifts from friendly rulers, from Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria - a gold chain, and from Grand Duchess of Tuscany - a crystal mirror decorated with precious stones and an embroidered scarf to cover it. An important memento of the friendly relations of the Lutheran rulers of Pomerania with the Catholic Grand Dukes of Tuscany is a portrait of Philip's younger brother Boguslaus XIV (1580-1637), Duke of Pomerania from 1625, in the Villa di Poggio a Caiano, one of the most famous Medici villas (oil on canvas, 74 x 55 cm, inv. OdA Poggio a Caiano 234 / 1911), identified by me, which probably entered the Medici collection with the portrait of the "protector" of Pomerania, Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), King of Sweden (Pitti Palace in Florence, inv. 1890 / 5149). This portrait was created in about 1630 as the duke wears a miniature of Gustavus Adolphus, who invaded Pomerania in August 1630 and forced Boguslaus into an alliance. However, the relations of the ruling house of Pomerania with Florence and Venice had been important since the time of Duke Boguslaus X who visited Italy between 1496 and 1498. In the archives of Florence preserved a letter from Duke Boguslaus to the Signoria of Florence sent from Viterbo in 1498 (Ex Viterbio 1498). Consequently, the Pomeranian Griffin dynasty and the Medici, without a doubt, frequently exchanged their effigies.

In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence there is a miniature portrait of a lady in a ruff from the late 16th century (oil on copper, 7.5 x 5.5 cm, Inv. 1890, 1117). The miniature was identified with the one described in the inventory drawn up after the death of Ferdinando de' Medici (1663-1713), Grand Prince of Tuscany as: "a similar (copper oval) painted by the hand of Pietro Purbos the portrait of a woman with a ruff collar, dressed in the Flemish style" (un simile (aovatino in rame) dipintovi di mano di Pietro Purbos il ritratto di una donna con collare a lattughe, vestita alla fiamminga), thus attributed to Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569-1622), although the authorship of his father Pieter Jansz. Pourbus (circa 1523-1584) or his workshop is also likely.

A replica of this effigy, in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (oil on copper, inventory number 38.204, gift of the Abraham Jay Fink Foundation), is also attributed to Flemish painter. The sitter's costume with a larger ruff and hairstyle indicates about 1590 as a possible date of creation - similar to some effigies of Margherita Gonzaga (1564-1618), Duchess of Ferrara, portrait of Anna Caterina Gonzaga (1566-1621), Archduchess of Austria from 1587, portrait of Anne Knollys from 1582 or portrait of Anna of Austria (1573-1598), Queen of Poland from about 1592 (Royal Castle in Warsaw). 

The same woman was depicted in a portrait by Giovanni Battista Moroni, holding a fan of a newly married woman, now in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (oil on canvas, 73.5 x 65 cm, SK-A-3036). This painting is dated between 1560-1578 and was purchased in 1925 from the Grand Ducal Picture Gallery in Oldenburg (mentioned between 1804-1918). The earliest mention of this painting dates from 1682, when the work was listed in the collection of Gaspar Méndez de Haro (1629-1687), Viceroy of Naples: "841 Portrait of a woman holding a fan adorned with pearls by the hand of Lorenzo Lotti", confirmed by the initials "DGH, 841" on the reverse of the canvas (after "Giovanni Battista Moroni" by Simone Facchinetti and Arturo Galansino, p. 134). She wears a rich red dress and she places her right hand on a pendant representing an allegory of fidelity (a female figure on a throne with two dogs beside her). A copy of this portrait was sold in Vienna in 2015 (oil on canvas, 72 x 64.5 cm, Dorotheum, December 10, 2015, lot 58). The style of the painting indicates that Sofonisba Anguissola was probably the author of this copy, comparable to her famous Chess Game in Poznań (National Museum, inv. FR 434). Sofonisba probably lived at this time either in Spain or in Sicily. The provenance and geographical location of all the effigies indicate that the woman was an important international figure, a consort of an European ruler.

Erdmuthe of Brandenburg (1561-1623) wife of John Frederick of Pomerania (1542-1600) was depicted in similar red dress in a large painting depicting the Family tree of the House of Pomerania, painted by a Dutch painter Cornelius Krommeny in 1598 (National Museum in Szczecin). Krommeny most likely created his work in Güstrow where he worked as court painter to Ulrich III, Duke of Mecklenburg and his wife Anna of Pomerania, from some study drawings, as no other works for the Pomeranian dukes are known, his stay in Pomerania is unconfirmed and resemblance to the living dukes is very general. Erdmuthe was also depicted in very similar dress in a painting by Andreas Riehl the Younger, created around 1590, lost in World War II. 

It was however not Erdmuthe who ensured the continuity of the dynasty. She married John Frederick on February 17, 1577 in Szczecin, however, their marriage remained childless. It was the first wife of John Frederick's co-regent Boguslaus XIII, Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who gave birth to all male and female successors of the Dukes of Pomerania. In a painting by Krommeny she is also depicted in a red dress, but more German-style and no other effigy of her is known. The Dukes and Duchesses of Pomerania dressed similarly, as confirmed by the effigy of John Frederick and Erdmuthe as donors by Jakob Funck, painted in 1602 (Saint Hyacinth Church in Słupsk) and a similar portrait of Boguslaus XIII and his second wife Anna of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg by an unknown painter from 1600. Clara's eldest son, Philip II, born July 29, 1573, is depicted in a red doublet and hose in Krommeny's painting. 

Clara and Boguslaus were married on September 8, 1572 after the death of her first husband on March 1, 1570, which matches the general dating of the painting in Amsterdam. The couple had eleven children. After the wedding with the rich widow Boguslaus commissions the construction of a representative Renaissance palace in Neuenkamp named Franzburg in honor of his father-in-law Duke Francis of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He also established a city based on the model of Venice, a Venetian-like aristocratic republic with a thriving trade, especially with grain and beer, crafts and an academy to compete with the neighboring Hanseatic Stralsund (after "Von der Rückkehr Bogislavs X ..." by Friedrich Wilhelm Barthold, p. 423). This fascination for the Venetian Serenissima was undoubtedly also reflected in fashion and art. In 1592 the Duchess made an entry in the album amicorum of Alexander (1573-1627), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, before the Duchesses of Mecklenburg and Legnica, while the entry of her son Francis of Pomerania (1577-1620), made the following year, i.e. in 1593, is accompanied by a drawing showing a blonde woman in a somewhat similar red dress with a white underdress and holding a similar black fan (Stammbuch Herzog Alexander von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, pp. 36-38, 172, Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Stb 291).
​
The woman from the mentioned effigies bear great resemblance to daughters of Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg - Clara Maria (1574-1623) and Anna (1590-1660). Portraits of the Duchess of Pomerania were commissioned in the Republic of Venice and in Flanders, being the most important commercial, artistic and craft centers of Renaissance Europe.

Another similar portrait of a wealthy aristocrat by Moroni from the same period is now in the Frick Collection in New York (oil on canvas, 51.8 x 41.4 cm, inventory number 2022.1.01, acquired in 2022). The provenance of the painting was little known until relatively recently. In 1928 it appeared in a sale of antiques from the collection of Prince Gagarin of Saint Petersburg, thus provenance from the Ducal collection of Pomerania or the Polish royal collection is possible. The woman bears a striking resemblance to Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo or Leonor Álvarez de Toledo Osorio (1553-1576), more often known as "Leonora" or "Dianora", from her signed effigy (DIANORA DI TOLEDO) by unkown Florentine painter, now in the Medici Villa of Cerreto Guidi near Empoli. The villa was built between 1564 and 1567. On 15 July 1576 Isabella de' Medici (1542-1576), daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleanor of Toledo (Eleonora di Toledo), was murdered in the villa by her husband Paolo Giordano I Orsini in punishment of her alleged infidelity ("strangled at midday" by her husband in the presence of several servants, according to Ferrarese ambassador Ercole Cortile). A year earlier, in 1575, Orsini, who was a grandson of Felice della Rovere (illegitimate daughter of Pope Julius II) and Costanza Farnese (an illegitimate daughter of Pope Paul III) was depicted as a saint in a disguised portrait of the members of the Medici family by Giovanni Maria Butteri (Museum of the Last Supper of Andrea del Sarto). 

Dianora was Isabella's cousin and close friend and died of a similar "accident" only a few days before, on July 11, 1576, strangled with a dog leash by her husband and first cousin, Don Pietro de' Medici (1554-1604), in the Villa Medici at Cafaggiolo. 

The resemblance of facial features and hairstyle to another signed effigy of Dianora (LEONORA / VXOR / DI PIERO / MEDIC / CE), in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, can also be mentioned, as well as to portraits of her famous aunt Eleanor of Toledo, elongated nose, shape of the lips, whose features differ in the paintings by different painters and their workshops (Agnolo Bronzino, Alessandro Allori). 

In the spring of 1575, Dianora's husband was sent to Venice to meet Bianca Cappello, the mistress and future wife of his older brother, Francesco I, the new Grand Duke of Tuscany. This trip was the prince's first diplomatic mission and the date of his stay in the Republic of Venice corresponds to the general dating of the Moroni painting. A series of portrait paintings by a famous painter and his workshop, as was a practice for members of the ruling houses, would be a good gift for his young wife, known for her fine artistic taste, friends and relatives, hence a miniature or drawing was probably used to make it. In 1560 Moroni painted Gabriel de la Cueva, 5th Duke of Alburquerque, a Spanish nobleman who was appointed Viceroy of Navarre in 1560 and later Governor of the Duchy of Milan in 1564, a position that he held until his own death in 1571 (Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, 79.1). The painting was signed and dated in Latin "1560 / Giovanni Battista Moroni painted" (M.D.LX. / Io: Bap. Moronus. p.) and bears the original inscription in Spanish. How and when he and Moroni met is unknown, perhaps they did not meet at all and Moroni just copied facial features and pose from a painting by Spanish court painter, like Antonis Mor from Utrecht in the Netherlands, made on the occasion of becoming Viceroy of Navarre.

The same woman can be identified in a small tondo miniature at Tabley House, Knutsford (oil on copper, 10.2 cm, inv. 219.5). She was depicted wearing a crown and with the attributes of Saint Catherine of Alexandria: a wheel and a halo around her head. Because of her Florentine-style costume, the painting is attributed to the Florentine school. However, the style of the portrait is reminiscent of works by Sofonisba Anguissola, such as the self-portrait in the Fondation Custodia (inv. 6607) or the Portrait of a young woman in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (inv. 1890, 4047).​

After her tragic death, many people were undoubtedly keenly interested that Dianora and her effigies would be forgotten.

​Portrait of Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1550-1598), Duchess of Pomerania by Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1572-1575, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

​Portrait of Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1550-1598), Duchess of Pomerania by Sofonisba Anguissola​, ca. 1572-1575, Private collection.

​Portrait miniature of Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1550-1598), Duchess of Pomerania by workshop of Pieter Jansz. Pourbus or Frans Pourbus the Younger, ca. 1590, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

​Portrait miniature of Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1550-1598), Duchess of Pomerania by Netherlandish painter, ca. 1590, Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

Lady in a red dress, most probably Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1550-1598), Duchess of Pomerania, from album amicorum of Alexander (1573-1627), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (page 173), ca. 1593, Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar. 

​Portrait of Dianora di Toledo (1553-1576) by Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1575, Frick Collection in New York.

​Miniature portrait of Dianora di Toledo (1553-1576) as Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1575, Tabley House.

​Portrait of Boguslaus XIV (1580-1637), Duke of Pomerania with a miniature of King of Sweden by unknown painter, ca. 1630, Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka​

Portraits of Joachim Frederick of Brzeg by Adriaen Thomasz. Key

In 1574 Joachim Frederick (1550-1602), the eldest son of George II the Pious, Duke of Brzeg-Oława-Wołów, arrived to Kraków. He was sent there by his uncle Elector John George as a representative of Brandenburg during the coronation of the newly elected King of Poland, French Prince Henry of Valois. During his youth, Joachim Frederick spent several years at the court of his uncle. The next year, in 1575, he attended the coronation of Rudolf II as king of the Romans in Regensburg.

Joachim Frederick was a representative of the Silesian Piasts, descendants of the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. Also Emperor Maximilian II, whose son Archduke Ernest of Austria was a candidate for the throne in the free election of 1573, sent a delegation to the royal coronation entrusting it to another Piast - Wenceslaus III Adam, Duke of Cieszyn. Despite the disappointment of his son's defeat, it was necessary to strive to maintain good relations with Poland, mainly due to concerns about Silesia. "Towards the King of Poland he cannot help and his Majesty is filled with regret, seeing him occupy that office, which he designated for his son, [...], and also because this king, besides being powerful and bordering on a great distance, can lay claim to Silesia, a very important province", a Venetian envoy Giovanni Correr reported on May 30, 1574 (finally drawn up on August 29, 1578). Oratio Malaspina wrote from Prague to Cardinal Como on July 10, 1579, that the Polish envoy "came to renew the ancient confederations between the Kingdom of Poland and the province of Silesia" and Bishop Giovanni Andrea Caligari wrote to the same Cardinal Como from Vilnius on August 10, 1579 that "In addition to the things in Hungary, the king could easily take Silesia and Moravia from the emperor, and he would have help from all those German princes who do not love the house of Austria, and there are many of them" (after "Księstwo legnickie ..." by Ludwik Bazylow, p. 482).

​​The portrait of a man from a private collection in Pommersfelden near Bamberg in Germany (oil on panel, RKD Research 53973), painted in the style of Adriaen Thomasz. Key, proves that the painter's clientele was diverse. The man wears a typical French costume of the 1580s with a large ruff. This costume and the man's facial features are very similar to those of François de Bourbon (ca. 1542-1592), Duke of Montpensier, a French diplomat and military commander, as depicted in a drawing in the Château de Pau with a relevant inscription (inv. P.78.9.1.14). Montpensier could pose directly for the painter during his visit to Antwerp in 1582, but he was a Catholic, which means that Key did not only paint Protestants and Antwerp residents.

Abraham de Bruyn (d. 1587), a Flemish engraver from Antwerp, who established himself at Cologne about the year 1577, created several depictions of Polish-Lithuanian noblemen, however, only three engravings of people from other social spheres related to the territory of today's Poland are known. They represent the inhabitants of Gdańsk (four patricians from Gdańsk and nine women of different classes) and two Silesian women, which clearly indicate the main areas of Netherlandish presence in this part of Europe. While Martin Kober, a Silesian painter born in Wrocław become around 1583 the court painter of the Polish king Stephen Bathory, the leading artists working in Silesia in the second half of the 16th century were a Dutch painter Tobias Fendt (d. 1576), educated in the studio of Lambert Lombard in Liège and active in Wrocław since 1565, and sculptor Gerhard Hendrik (1559-1615) from Amsterdam, who between 1578-1585 lived in Gdańsk and after traveling to France, Italy and Germany, he settled in Wrocław in 1587.

On May 19, 1577, Joachim Frederick married Anna Maria of Anhalt. After the death of his father in 1586, he received the Duchy of Brzeg to which, however, his mother Barbara of Brandenburg (1527-1595) was entitled to as a widow.  

In the National Museum in Warsaw there is a portrait of a young man in French costume - black satin doublet and a ruff (oil on panel, 47 x 33 cm, inventory number M.Ob.819 MNW, earlier 186634). It comes from the collecting point of the Ministry of Culture and Art Paulinum in Jelenia Góra, Silesia and was acquired as a result of the so-called restitution campaign in 1945 (after "Early Netherlandish, Dutch, Flemish and Belgian Paintings 1494–1983" by Hanna Benesz and Maria Kluk, item 351). It is attributed to Adriaen Thomasz. Key, a Flemish painter active in Antwerp, who adopted the Key family name after taking over the workshop of his master Willem Key in 1567. Adriaen specialized in portraiture and worked successfully for wealthy merchants and the court. He was a Calvinist, but continued to live in the city after the Fall of Antwerp in 1585, when all Protestants were given four years to settle their affairs and leave the city. He died in Antwerp in or after 1589. According to inscription in upper part of the painting the man was 24 in 1574 (1574 / Æ T A 24), exactly as Joachim Frederick, born September 29, 1550 in Brzeg, when he arrived to Kraków for the coronation of French Prince Henry of Valois as King of Poland.

The same man, in similar costume, was depicted in another painting attributed to Key, today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (Gemäldegalerie, oil on panel, 98.5 x 71 cm, inventory number 808), verifiable in the gallery in 1720, therefore most probably coming from the old collections of the House of Habsburg. Because of similar dimensions, this portrait is considered to be a counterpart to the portrait of a lady dated '1575' (Gemäldegalerie, oil on panel, 99.5 x 70.8, inventory number 811), however, the composition is not matching. The woman is much larger when comparing the pictures, which is very unusual for a European portraiture, even if she was actually taller. As the numbers indicate, they were not included in the inventory at the same time and therefore were not previously considered a pair.

Small differences in these images (in Warsaw and Vienna) are noticeable, such as the color of the eyes, but a comparison with the portraits of Philip II, King of Spain by Anthonis Mor and workshop, proves that even the same workshop interpreted the same image differently.

The man bear a strong resemblance to Barbara of Brandenburg, Joachim Frederick's mother, from her statue above the main gate of the Brzeg Castle (created by Andreas Walther and Jakob Warter, between 1551-1553) and his grandmother Magdalena of Saxony (1507-1534), daughter of Barbara Jagiellon (1478-1534), Duchess of Saxony. In portraits by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop (Art Institute of Chicago, Grunewald hunting lodge in Berlin), the color of Magdalena's eyes is different (brown/blue). The shape of the nose is especially characteristic in these family members.

Portrait of Joachim Frederick of Brzeg (1550-1602), aged 24 by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, 1574, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of Joachim Frederick of Brzeg (1550-1602) by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, ca. 1575, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

​Portrait of François de Bourbon (ca. 1542-1592), Duke of Montpensier by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, 1580s, Private collection. ​

Portraits of Sigismund Bathory at a young age by Domenico Tintoretto

After failed plans to cede the throne of the Commonwealth to Archduke Ernest, as no monarch could do this without approval from the Diet, the Holy See had proposed the marriage of Princess Anna Vasa to Sigismund Bathory, who both could rule the country during the absence of the king (Sigismund III left for Sweden in 1593). 

Sigismund was the nephew of king Stephen Bathory, who on 1 May 1585 confirmed his legal age by dissolving the council of twelve noblemen who ruled Transylvania in his name and made János Ghyczy the sole regent. 

After death of his uncle in 1586, Sigismund was one of the candidates to the throne of the Commonwealth. In a letter dated February 15, 1591 from Alba Iulia to the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand I, Sigismund is described as "very Catholic", "prudent, chaste" and knowing several languages, including Italian and Latin (Virtuoso, possede molte lingue, et imparticolare l’italiana et latina con ogni facondia). The author of this letter is Simone Genga (1530-1596), an Italian architect who in 1584 left Tuscany and the service of the Medici to enter the service of Stephen Bathory and around 1591 he went to Transylvania.

In 1592 at his court in Alba Julia Sigismund had a large group of Italian musicians like Giovanni Battista Mosto, Pietro Busto, Antonio Romanini, or Girolamo Diruta among others. ​Besides musicians, there were also architects in Transylvania at that time, such as the Venetian Ottavio Baldigara in Oradea in 1584 and the mentioned Simone Genga from Urbino in the same city between 1585 and 1599 (probably traveling from Poland-Lithuania), as well as Achille Tarducci from Corinaldo and the Bolognese Giovanni Marco Isolani in 1598 and many others. The sources also mention merchants. In 1604, Emperor Rudolf II recommended the Venetian merchant Gaspare Mazza to the Baia Mare City Council and, according to a document dated September 1, 1604, this "Gaspar Mazsa negotiator italus" was in dispute with Gerhard Lyssibona, a merchant from Kraków, for a debt of 6,000 scudi (after "Italici in Transilvania tra XIV e XVI secolo" by Andrea Fara, p. 348, 350). No painter is mentioned, indicating that many paintings were imported.

According to the letter dated February 2, 1593, Grand Duke Ferdinand himself wrote to Giovanni di Agnolo Niccolini, a Florentine senator and Medici ambassador in Rome, that "the man who came from Transylvania" had purchased two portraits of the Duke's nieces, Eleonora de' Medici (1567-1611) and Maria de' Medici (1575-1642), painted by Jacopo Ligozzi with the intention of sending them to Spain, without the Grand Duke's knowledge or will (il quale contra nostra voglia li volse far fare e portar seco in Spagna, dando occassione al Ligozzi [Iacopo] pittore di venderne come pure senza nostra saputa et volontà fece l’anno passato all’huomo venuto di Transilvania et potria essere che degli altri havesse dati fuora). Already in 1591, Sigismund intended to marry the Tuscan princess. In June 1591, Fabio Genga returned from Italy to Transylvania with some galanterie and later with "a portrait of the noblewoman and a pair of horses" (un ritratto della nobildonna e una pariglia di cavalli) sent to Sigismund by Grand Duke Ferdinand. Fabio was, in 1594, Sigismund's ambassador to Rome, to Pope Clement VIII, with a view to the creation of the league that was to support Transylvania in the fight against the Ottomans (after "I rapporti tra il Granducato di Toscana e il Principato di Transilvania ..." by Gianluca Masi, p. 20, 216, 242, 250). 

In summer of 1593, he went to Kraków in disguise to start negotiations regarding his marriage with Anna Vasa. Possibly on this occasion either the Polish court or Sigismund himself ordered a series of portraits from Domenico Tintoretto. It is unknown why negotiations were eventually unsuccessful, possible reason might be his homosexuality. The elites were probably afraid of another "frivolous Valois", who will escape from the country after few months or it was Anna who refused to marry him. Three years later, however, on August 1595, Sigismund married Maria Christina of Austria, a sister of Anna of Austria (1573-1598), hence becoming brother-in-law of the king of Poland. It was regarded as a major political gain, but Sigismund refused to consummate the marriage.

In summer of 1596 he sent his confessor, Alfonso Carrillo, to Spain. The Jesuit asked Philip II for finacial aid, as well as the Order of the Golden Fleece for Sigismund. The king promised Carrillo, in addition to 80,000 ducats in aid and granting of high distinction, diplomatic aid to Poland.

On 21 March 1599 Sigismund formally abdicated receiving the Silesian duchies of Opole and Racibórz as compensation and left Transylvania for Poland in June. On 17 August 1599 Pope Clement VIII dissolved his marriage.

A young man wearing a ruff typical of European fashion of the 1590s, known from a series of portraits by Domenico Tintoretto, his workshop or followers, resemble greatly Sigismund Bathory from his best-known effigies - engravings by Dominicus Custos (after a portrait by Hans von Aachen) and Aegidius Sadeler. The prince was 21 years old in 1593. One version, at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel (oil on canvas, 100 x 78.5 cm, GK 497), bears an inscription: ANNO SALVTIS / .M.D.L.X.X.X.V. ("In the year of Salvation 1585") on a letter placed on a table beside him. It is undoubtedly a letter from Sigismond's uncle, King Stephen, confirming his rights to Transylvania and therefore his claims to king's inheritance. The other, in private collection in Marburg (oil on canvas, 96.6 x 76.4 cm), is inscribed TODORE del SASSO / CIAMBERLANO / AETATIS SVAE XXXVI with an image of a key, therefore claiming to depict Chamberlain Todore del Sasso, aged 36, however no such man is confirmed in sources, especially as a recipient of the Order of the Golden Fleece (version in Mexico), the inscription must therefore be false. It cannot be also Francesco Maria II della Rovere (1549-1631), Duke of Urbino, as suggested in some sources, as the effigy does not match with his features and he had his exquisit court painter Federico Barocci, who created his portraits. Another copy from the Swedish royal collection by Domenico's workshop is in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (oil on canvas, 99.5 x 80.3, NM 150). It was probably sent to Sigismund III, when he was in Sweden for his coronation (February 19, 1594). 

There is also another version at the Museo Nacional de San Carlos in Mexico City (oil on canvas, 69 x 54 cm). It is attributed to Giovanni Battista Moroni or Domenico Tintoretto, therefore stylistically also close to a painter born in Cremona, Sofonisba Anguissola, court painter to the Spanish monarchs. The effigy is very similar to previous portraits, just the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece was added. It was most likely commissioned by Polish court or Sigismund himself in about 1596 basing on effigy from 1593. 

In many of his effigies, Bathory wears traditional costumes that could be described as Hungarian-Croatian. He was depicted in such a costume in the Habiti Antichi Et Moderni di tutto il Mondo ... by Cesare Vecellio (Habito del Prencipe di Transiluania / Dacię Principis ornatus, p. 407), published in Venice in 1598 (Czartoryski Library in Kraków, 2434 I Cim), after the effigy of King Sigismund III Vasa (Rè di Polonia / Poloniæ Rex, p. 346) and Sultan Murad III (Svltan A Mvrhat, p. 358). The man wearing such a costume is depicted in the portrait from old papal collections, now kept in the Gallery of Paintings (Pinacoteca) of the Vatican Museums (Warehouse, 646 / CG 117, MV.40646). The painting was most likely made by an Italian painter, while the effigy of the man closely resembles printed effigies of the Prince of Transylvania such as the engraving by Lambert Cornelisz., made in 1595, the engraving by Crispin de Passe the Elder, showing him aged 26 (Aetatis suæ 26), therefore made around 1598, or engraving made in Venice by Giacomo Franco around 1596 (signed: Franco Forma.).

​Despite the striking resemblance to the mentioned engraving by Lambert Cornelisz., due to the presence of an Ottoman turban, the painting of the Prague School from the early 17th century was offered for sale not as a portrait of Sigismund but as a portrait of an ambassador of the Ottoman Empire to the Habsburg court (oil on panel, 111 x 89 cm, Sotheby's New York, June 11, 2020, lot 61) or of a young Ottoman. The same painting was later offered with the attribution to the Habsburg court painter Jeremias Günther, who from 1604 until the death of Rudolf II in 1612 was Kammermaler at the Prague court (Dorotheum in Vienna, May 11, 2022, lot 37). All the elements of this painting, including the splendid late Renaissance armour, probably made in Milan, the princely sceptre, oriental sabre and the turban (Transylvania was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire), indicate that the portrait represents Sigismund Bathory, who, like the Polish-Lithuanian court and magnates, commissioned works of art from the best European and Ottoman workshops.

Portrait of Sigismund Bathory (1572-1613), Prince of Transylvania at a young age by Domenico Tintoretto, ca. 1593, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel.

Portrait of Sigismund Bathory (1572-1613), Prince of Transylvania at a young age by Domenico Tintoretto or workshop, ca. 1593, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Portrait of Sigismund Bathory (1572-1613), Prince of Transylvania at a young age by Domenico Tintoretto or workshop, ca. 1593, Private collection.

Portrait of Sigismund Bathory (1572-1613), Prince of Transylvania with the Order of the Golden Fleece by Domenico Tintoretto or Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1596, Museo Nacional de San Carlos.

​Portrait of Sigismund Bathory (1572-1613), Prince of Transylvania by Italian painter, ca. 1595-1598, Paintings Gallery of the Vatican Museums.

​Portrait of Sigismund Bathory (1572-1613), Prince of Transylvania by Jeremias Günther, ca. 1595-1605, Private collection.