Forgotten portraits of the Jagiellons - part V (1552-1572)

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Portraits of Sophia Jagiellon in Spanish costume

​Daughters of Bona Sforza d'Aragona, Queen of Poland, Grand Duchess of Lithuania and Duchess of Bari and Rossano by her own right were descendants of Alfonso V, King of Aragon, Sicily and Naples.

Contacts with Spain intensified after 1550. In 1550 and 1553, Gian Lorenzo Pappacoda (1541-1576), a courtier of Queen Bona, was sent to the emperor with unknown instructions given to him by the queen. In March 1554, he also went to London and Brussels. Pappacoda's task was to convince the emperor and king of Spain to intervene on Bona's behalf at the court of Sigismund Augustus in order to facilitate her leaving Poland, and to obtain for her the position of viceroy of Naples, vacant since 1553 after the death of Pedro Álvarez de Toledo y Zúñiga (after "Odrodzenie i reformacja w Polsce", Volume 44, p. 201).

In a letter dated May 11, 1550 from Valladolid, Juan Alonso de Gámiz, secretary of Charles V, informed King Ferdinand I of the arrival of the "secretary of the King of Poland with letters and gifts" (secretario del rey de Polonia con letras y presentes para sus altezas), including six horses with velvet tacks richly embroidered with royal emblems (seys cavallos portantes concubiertas de terciopelo morado y la devisa del rey bordada), as well as sable, ermine and wolf pelts for the king and queen (after "Urkunden und Regesten ..." by Hans von Voltelini, p. L-LI).

The letter dated December 31, 1560 from Vilnius (Datum Vilnae, ultima Decembris 1560) to Henry of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, husband of Sophia Jagiellon, is probably the earliest confirmed use of the Spanish title of infanta by Sophia's younger sisters, Anna and Catherine (Infantes Poloniae), who in an earlier letter to Henry dated October 18, 1559 from Przemyśl (Datum Premisliae, die XVIII. Octobris 1559) referred to themselves as Crown Princesses (Reginulae Poloniae). The document issued by King Henry of Valois on May 5, 1574 in Kraków refers to Sophia as "the Most Illustrious Princess Sophia, Infanta of the Kingdom of Poland, born of this same stock of Jagiellons" (Illustrissima Principe Domina Sophia Infante Regni Poloniae ex hac eadem Jagiellonum stirpe nata, after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku: Korrespondencya polska ..." by Alexander Przezdziecki, Volume 3, p. 309-310, 334). In an undated letter in Italian, probably from around 1556 (or before 1565), Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) also calls Sophia "Infanta of Poland" (Principessa Sofia Infante di Polonia, Dochessa di Brunschwig). 

In 1551, Queen Bona proposed that the Gdańsk merchant Hans von Werden be used to suggest Gustav Vasa (1496-1560), the recently widowed King of Sweden, to marry one of her daughters. Bona reproached his son Sigismund Augustus for his indifference to the fate of his sisters, and he reciprocated. The Queen Mother did not want to marry one of her daughters to the Bavarian prince who was asking for the hand of one of the princesses, while the king indifferently accepted the efforts of an Italian prince and "a lord of a noble Roman family" (pan rzymskiej zacnej familiej), probably Marcantonio II Colonna (1535-1584), commander of the Spanish cavalry. In a letter dated January 21, 1554, the Austrian envoy, Bishop of Zagreb Pavao Gregorijanec (Paulus de Gregoryancz), reports that Queen Bona received very well Archduke Ferdinand (1529-1595), son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), who accompanied his sister Catherine of Austria to Kraków, expecting that he was coming to ask for the hand of one of her daughters (after "Ostatnie lata Zygmunta Augusta i Anna Jagiellonka" by Józef Szujski, p. 299). 

The portrait of a blond lady in Spanish costume from the 1550s which exists in a number of copies, although idealized, bears a strong resemblance to the portrait of Sophia in French/German costume in Kassel by circle of Titian (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, inv. GK 496) and her miniature in German/Polish dress by Cranach (Czartoryski Museum, XII-544).

At least two paintings are preserved in Poland (one in Kraków and the other in Warsaw) and another, identified as Sophia, is at Wolfenbüttel Castle (deposit of the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover, inv. KM 105, also similar to the very idealized portrait of Barbara Radziwill at the Musée Condé, known as "Anne Boleyn", inv. PE 564). With reference to the 1828 catalogue of the Czartoryski collection in Puławy, the Kraków painting was purchased (between 1789 and 1791) by Princess Izabela Czartoryska in Edinburgh as a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots ("bought in Edinburgh", compare "Poczet pamiątek zachowanych w Domu Gotyckim w Puławach", item 456, p. 43), hence the inscription in French: MARIE STUART / REYNE D'ESCOSSE, added in about 1800 (Czartoryski Museum, oil on panel, 22 x 17 cm, MNK XII-296). Nevertheless, many similar inscriptions on the portraits from the Puławy collection are no longer considered credible today. They were clearly based on a general impression or general resemblance as in the case of the Portrait of a Man Holding Arrows, most likely Konrad von Lindnach (d. 1513), Landvogt in Aargau, previously identified as the effigy of William Tell, a folk hero of Switzerland, hence the inscription in French: GUILLAUME TELL (inv. V. 207) or the Portrait of a Man by a German painter (inv. XII-235), previously identified as Thomas More (1478-1535) and attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger, bearing the inscription: THOMAS MORUS / HOLBEIN.

Similar costume and hairstyle are found in several portraits of members of the ruling house of Spain and Portugal made between 1550 and 1555, such as the portrait of the Infanta Maria of Austria (1528-1603), Regent of Spain by Antonis Mor, painted in 1551 (Prado Museum in Madrid, inv. P002110, signed and dated: Antonius Mor pinx. / Año 1551), the portrait of her sister the Infanta Joanna of Austria (1535-1573), Princess of Portugal, aged 17, thus painted around 1552 by Cristovão de Morais (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. 1296, inscription: .AETATIS.SVE / .17.), the portrait of their close relative Catherine of Austria (1507-1578), Queen of Portugal by Antonis Mor from around 1552-1553 (Prado, inv. P002109) and portrait of Maria of Portugal (1521-1577), Duchess of Viseu, also by Mor, painted around 1550-1555 (Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid).

Knowing the history of Franco-Spanish rivalries in the 16th century, it is very unlikely that Mary Stuart, who was Queen of France between 1559-1560 and lived in France from 1548, wanted to show her attachment to Spain through her costume. Moreover, it is difficult to indicate any resemblance of the model to well-known effigies of the Queen of Scots, such as the miniature attributed to François Clouet (Royal Collection, RCIN 401229). The identification with Anna van Egmont (1533-1558), wife of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, is also difficult to maintain (compare with her beautiful portrait attributed to Anthonis Mor and studio, Dorotheum in Vienna, October 25, 2023, lot 25).

The 1696 inventory of the Wilanów Palace mentions under No. 296: "Painting on panel, Portrait of Reginae Scottorum, in black frames", which most probably depicted Mary Stuart. This painting, owned by King John III Sobieski, most likely came from older royal collections, which survived the destruction during the Deluge. As the Polish-Lithuanian monarchs owned portraits of the Queen of Scots, the monarchs or artitocrats of Scotland could receive or acquire a portrait of the Jagiellonian Princess-Infanta. Another possible hypothesis is that the painting was not acquired in Edinburgh, but in Poland, and that by claiming to have an authentic portrait of the famous Queen of Scots, the Czartoryskis wanted to raise the status of their collection.

An almost exact copy of the Kraków painting, attributed to circle of Jean Clouet, was sold in Zurich in 2011 (oil on panel, 23.3 x 18.2 cm, Koller Auctions, April 1, 2011, lot 3012). The Warsaw version is slightly different and was purchased in 1972 from the Radziwill collection (National Museum in Warsaw, oil on panel, 24.5 x 19 cm, M.Ob.654).

After marriage of Isabella Jagiellon in 1539, Sophia was the eldest daughter of Bona still unmarried. Three of Bona's younger daughters dressed identically, as evidenced by their miniatures by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger from about 1553 and inventory of dowry of the youngest Catherine includes many Spanish garments, like a black velvet coat with "53 Spanish buckles of 270 thalers worth", "buckles on (thirteen) French and Spanish robes", or "a robe of black velvet at the throat in Spanish style" with 198 buckles, etc. The fashion was udobtedly used in complex Jagiellonian politics.

A portrait from the private collection in Sweden (oil on panel, 26 x 19 cm, Metropol Auktioner in Stockholm, January 26, 2015, nr 938 5124), possibly taken from Poland-Lithuania during the Deluge (1655-1660), and created by the same workshop, showns Sophia in similar Spanish/French costume. ​

In the National Art Gallery in Lviv there is a portrait painted in the same style, apparently by the same painter (inv. Ж-277). It resembles the one traditionally identified as Mary Stuart (photogravure, after Henry Bone, published in 1902, National Portrait Gallery, NPG D41905). The painting comes from the Lubomirski collection and according to the inscription on the back it has been identified as possibly depicting the Queen of Scots: "Lubomirski Collection, probably portrait of Mary Stuart" (ZBIÓR LUBO/MIRSKICH / podobno: Portret Maryi Stuart).

Many similar paintings are now attributed to the circle of French painter François Clouet (d. 1572) and are probably part of collections of idealized portraits of ladies of quality, so popular at that time and in the 17th century in Europe (also as a model for fashionable costumes). Since many of them are based on originals by Anthonis Mor, as in the case of the portraits of Anna van Egmont (paintings in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam and the Ducal Palace in Mantua), the authorship of a Flemish workshop is also possible.

Portrait of Princess-Infanta Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in Spanish costume by circle of François Clouet or Flemish painter, ca. 1550-1556, Czartoryski Museum in Kraków.

Portrait of Princess-Infanta Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in Spanish costume by circle of François Clouet or Flemish painter, ca. 1550-1556, Private collection.

Portrait of Princess-Infanta Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in Spanish costume by circle of François Clouet or Flemish painter, ca. 1550-1556, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of Princess-Infanta Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in Spanish/French costume by circle of François Clouet or Flemish painter, ca. 1550-1556, Private collection. 

Portraits of Sigismund Augustus and Catherine of Austria as Adam and Eve from the Paradise Bliss tapestry 

"Adam and Eve, the parents of calamity, stood both painted according to true image and the word all over the tapestries woven with gold. And since those portraits of the first parents, in addition to the other things to be seen, were of admirable material and workmanship, I will show them like Cebetis, so that from thence the work itself of an excellent artist, as well as the genius of the best king, may be perceived [...]. In the first tapestry, at the head of the nuptial bed, we saw the bliss in the faces of our parents; in which, when they were happy, they were not ashamed to be naked. Moreover, the nakedness of both of them so moved the spirits, especially that of Eve's husband, that lascivious girls would smile at Adam as they entered. For when the man's womb was opened, the sex of a woman is fulfilled" (calamitatis parentes Adam et Eva ad effigiem veritatis stabant textu picti ambo per omnes Cortinas, auro praetextati. Et quoniam illae primorum parentum effigies praeter caeteras res visendas, admirabili fuerunt materia et opere, eas ad Cebetis instar demonstrabo, ut inde cum opus ipsum praeclari artificis, tum vero ingenium optimi regis pernoscatis [...]. In prima Cortina, ad caput genialis lecti, parentum nostrorum contextu expressa felicitatis cernebatur effigies; in qua felices illi cum essent, non erubescebant nudi. Porro utriusque nuditas ita commovebat animos, ut viri Evae, Adamo vero lascivae introingressae arriderent puellae. Aperta enim pube ille viri, haec foeminae sexum sinu ostendebant pleno), thus praises the veracity of effigies of the figures of Adam and Eve in the tapestry commissioned by king Sigismund II Augustus, Stanisław Orzechowski (1513-1566) in his "Nuptial Panegyric of Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland" (Panagyricus Nuptiarum Sigimundi Augusti Poloniae Regis), published in Kraków in 1553.

Orzechowski (Stanislao Orichovio Roxolano or Stanislaus Orichovius Ruthenus), a Ruthenian Catholic priest, born in or near Przemyśl, educated in Kraków, Vienna, Wittenberg, Padua, Bologna, Rome and Venice and married to a noblewoman Magdalena Chełmska, described the festivities and decorations of the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków during king's wedding celebrated on July 30, 1553. The bride was a sister of Sigismund Augustus first wife and widow of the Duke of Mantua, Catherine of Austria, daughter of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547). Wedding chambers were adorned with tapestries from the series of the Story of Adam and Eve, created in Brussels by workshop of Jan de Kempeneer after cartoons by Michiel I Coxcie, most probably on this occasion, including the described Paradise Bliss. The author emphasizes that they were depicted naked, while both Eve and Adam's womb on this tapestry are today covered with vine branches. "A closer look at the technique of the fabric in these places reveals that the vine covering Eve's womb, and the other vine covering Adam's womb, are woven or embroidered separately and applied to the fabric itself", states Mieczysław Gębarowicz and Tadeusz Mańkowski in their publication from 1937 ("Arasy Zygmunta Agusta", p. 23). Vine branches were probably added in 1670 when the tapestry was transported to Jasna Góra Monastery for the wedding of king Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki. Another intriguing aspect is the veracity of the images so underlined by Orzechowski. It is about the true image of the legendary first parents, a woman and a man or, most likely, the bride and groom?

Adam's facial features are very reminiscent of images of king Sigismund Augustus, especially the portrait by Jan van Calcar against the Mausoleum of Empeor Augustus in Rome (private collection), while the face of Eve is very similar to that of Queen Catherine of Austria, depicted as Venus with the lute player by Titian (Metropolitan Museum of Art). These two effigies can be compared to the naked effigies of French monarchs from their tombs in the Basilica of Saint-Denis - tomb of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany (1515-1531), tomb of Francis I and Claude of France (1548-1570), and especially the tomb of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici (1560-1573), all inspired by Italian art. 

Portrait of King Sigismund Augustus (1520-1572) as Adam from the Paradise Bliss tapestry by workshop of Jan de Kempeneer after design by Michiel I Coxcie, ca. 1553, Wawel Royal Castle.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Eve from the Paradise Bliss tapestry by workshop of Jan de Kempeneer after design by Michiel I Coxcie, ca. 1553, Wawel Royal Castle.

Tapestry with Paradise Bliss by workshop of Jan de Kempeneer after design by Michiel I Coxcie, ca. 1553, Wawel Royal Castle.

Portraits of Sophia Jagiellon and Catherine of Austria by Titian and workshop 

"My heart moves me to tell of forms changed into new bodies" (In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas corpora), states Ovid in the opening lines of his "Metamorphoses" (Transformations). If gods could turn into humans, why humans (and especially royals) could not turn into gods? At least in paintings. 

When in June 1553 Sigismund II Augustus married his distant cousin Catherine of Austria, widowed duchess of Mantua, his three younger sisters Sophia, Anna and Catherine were not married. At the same time Catherine's cousin, Philip of Spain (1527-1598), Duke of Milan from 1540, son of Emperor Charles V, was unmarried after death of his first wife Maria Manuela (1527-1545), Princess of Portugal. Philip undeniably received a portrait of his distant relative Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), the eldest of Bona Sforza's daughters, unmarried at that time. 

At the end of 1553 Philip's wedding to his second aunt, the Queen of England, Mary I (1516-1558), was announced. It turned out, however, that Philip was only a duke and there could be no marriage between the queen and someone of lower rank. Charles V solved the inconvenience by renouncing the Kingdom of Naples in favor of his son, so that he would be king. On July 25, 1554 Philip married the Queen of England.

Painting of Salome with the head of John the Baptist by Titian in the Prado Museum in Madrid is dated to about 1550 (oil on canvas, 87 x 80 cm, inv. P000428). Many authors underline an erotic dimension of the scene. The work was inventoried as part of the royal collection in the Alcazar of Madrid between 1666 and 1734, possibly acquired from the collection of the 1st Marquess of Leganés, between 1652-1655, who probaly bought it at the auction of collection Charles I of England. According to other sources "Salome, by Titian, painted around 1550, appears in an early inventory of the Lerma collection. In 1623 Philip IV gave it to the Prince of Wales, later Charles of England" (after "Enciclopedia del Museo del Prado", Volume 3, p. 805). 

Titian's workshop created several replicas of this painting transforming Salome into a girl holding a tray of fruit, most probably representing Pomona, a goddess of fruitful abundance and the wife of the god Vertumnus (Voltumnus), the supreme god of the Etruscan pantheon. According to Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (XIV), Vertumnus, after several unsuccessful advances, tricked Pomona into talking to him by disguising himself as an old woman and gaining entry to her orchard. The best version of this painting, acquired in 1832 from the Abate Luigi Celotti collection in Florence, is today in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (oil on canvas, 106.2 x 84.8 cm, inv. 166).

In both paintings the girl is wearing a rich jewelled tiara, so she is definitely a princess and the main fruit on her tray is a quince (or Cydonian apple), similar to that visible in watercolour paintings by Joris Hoefnagel from about 1595, one with Venus disarming Amor (National Gallery of Denmark), or less probably a lemon, a symbol of fidelity in love associated with Virgin Mary. A yellow lemon- or pear-shaped fruit, evocative of the female body, was sacred to Venus, herself often represented holding it in her right hand, as being the emblem of love, happiness, and faithfulness.

"Both the Greeks and Romans used quince boughs and fruit to decorate the nuptial bedchamber. The fruit became an integral part of marriage ceremonies with the bride and groom partaking of honeyed quince. Eating the fruit was symbolic of consummating the marriage" (after Sandra Kynes' "Tree Magic: Connecting with the Spirit & Wisdom of Trees").

According to Columella (4 - ca. 70 AD), a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire, "Quinces not only yield pleasure, but health". "Romans would serve quince to their loved ones to encourage fidelity and those newly married would share a quince to ensure a happy marriage" (after Rachel Patterson's "A Kitchen Witch's World of Magical Food").

Around that time Titian's workshop created another version of this composition, which was before 1916 in the Volpi collection in Florence (oil on canvas, 104 x 81 cm, Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 39297, Archivio fotografico Davanzati 1039), hence both Pomonas were possibly initially in the Medici collection. The woman's face and pose is identical as in the Raczyński Herodias, which is the effigy of Queen Catherine of Austria. 

The face of the princess in the Prado painting bears great resemblance to effigies of Princess Sophia Jagiellon by Cranach and in Spanish costume by Flemish painter. ​Some of the copies of this Salome and Pomona were created by Titian's workshop, such as the Knebworth House copy, sold in 2003, the paintng sold in 2006 in Zurich (oil on canvas, 111 x 90.4 cm, Koller Auctions, A138, September 22, 2006, lot 3048) or a reduced version, sold in 2020 (oil on canvas, 46.5 x 36 cm, Bonhams London, October 21, 2020, lot 3), which also indicate that she was an important person. Princess Sophia's Habsburg relatives also owned a copy, which is considered lost, as the "Young Woman with a Bowl of Fruit" was listed in the imperial collections before the Swedish occupation.

In another variant of Salome/Pomona by Titian's studio, the princess "metamorphoses" into another femme fatale - Pandora, now holding a rich jewelled box on her tray, like in later paintings by James Smetham (ca. 1865), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1871), John William Waterhouse (1896) or Odilon Redon (1910/1912). Pandora was to be created by Hephaestus (Vulcan) on the order of Zeus (Jupiter), as the first human woman, to whom each of the gods gave some special gifts - Athena (Minerva) gave her intelligence, talent and manners and Aphrodite (Venus), beauty of a goddess, and she was also given a box containing all the evils that could afflict humanity, with a warning never to open it. In modern times, Pandora and her vessel have become, among other things, a symbol of the seductive power of women. 

This painting, from the French royal collection, mentioned among the paintings of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (1674-1723), who was regent of the kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723, is today in a private collection in Milan (oil on canvas, 116.5 x 94.5 cm, Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 42005). In the 19th and 20th centuries, many paintings returned to their place of origin, although this does not at all mean that the model was Italian (however, it is worth mentioning that through her mother, Princess Sophia was Italian). 

​The fingers of her right hand, originally supporting larger tray in initial version (Salome) in this painting of Pandora, are eerily raised so that the girl is holding a heavy silver tray and a much heavier casket just by part of her hand. This is another proof that the painting was not taken from life, but based on study drawings sent from Poland-Lithuania, and it cannot be Titian's daughter posing for it, otherwise she would hurt herself holding these heavy objects like that.

A version of a painting entitled "A Useless Moral Lesson" (allegorical subject of the loss of virginity and dangers of love) by Godfried Schalcken from 1690 (Mauritshuis) was sold in the United Kingdom in December 2020 as Pandora. Some copies of the painting by Titian's studio were sold as "Pandora's Box" (Manner of Guido Reni, 2014 and British School, 19th century, 2010) and Helena Tekla Lubomirska née Ossolińska (d. 1687), daughter of Chancellor Jerzy Ossoliński (1595-1650) was depicted in guise of Pandora, holding a bronze vase bearing the Lubomirski coat of arms - Szreniawa and inscription in Italian SPENTO E IE [IL] LUME / NON L'ADORE (the light is out, not the ardor), which is a paraphrase of a line from the poem Adone ("Adonis", 1623) by Giambattista Marino (attributed to Claude Callot and circle, National Museum and Wilanów Palace in Warsaw). 

Helena Tekla particularly liked different disguises in her effigies. In her portrait by Mignard, thus ordered and created in France, she is depicted as Flora, Roman goddess of flowers and spring (inscribed on verso: Capitane Lubomirski / par Nic. Mignard., National Museum in Warsaw, M.Ob.1253 MNW) and inventory of Wiśnicz Castle from 1661 lists "a portrait of Her Highness, in the guise of Saint Helena" and "a full-length portrait of Her Highness, in the guise of Diana with greyhounds". 

Wanda Drecka interprets this representation of the widowed Princess Lubomirska "as the guardian of all virtues or Pandora who gives everything" (after "Dwa portrety księżnej na Wiśniczu", p. 386). It was not just a 17th century invention and such representations were known much earlier (Pandora from the French royal collection was considered to be the portrait of Titian's daughter Lavinia), also in Poland-Lithuania where Italian influences were so strong in the 16th century. Unfortunately, in Poland-Lithuania, the losses of cultural heritage during the Deluge (1655-1660) and the subsequent invasions were so great that everything was forgotten.

Portrait of Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Salome by Titian, 1550-1553, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Pomona by workshop of Titian, 1550-1553, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Pomona by workshop of Titian, 1550-1553, Private collection.

​Portrait of Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) as Pandora by workshop of Titian, 1550-1553, Private collection.

Portrait of Princess Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) by follower of Titian, after 1553, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Pomona by workshop of Titian, 1553-1565, Private collection. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Allegorical portraits of Queen Catherine of Austria by workshop of Titian

Another version of the Pomona in Berlin by workshop of Titian was before 1970 in private collection in Vienna, Austria (oil on canvas, 102 x 82.5 cm, Sotheby's London, April 10, 2013, lot 94; Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 39299), however, her facial features are slightly different, the face is more elongated and the lower lip is more protruding, as in most of the portraits of Catherine of Austria's relatives in Vienna. Her features are very similar to Saint Catherine of Alexandria in the Prado (inv. P000447) and in the Raczyński Herodias. The same face and pose was copied in a painting of a nymph and a satyr which was before 1889 in James E. Scripps collection in Detroit (oil on canvas, 99 x 80.6 cm, Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 45033), attributed to follower of Titian, possibly by his student Girolamo Dente. The nymph playfully tugs at the ear of the satyr, who probably has the features of a court dwarf. Satyrs were nature deities and part of Bacchus's retinue. They were considered symbols of natural fertility or virility and were frequently portrayed chasing nymphs, symbolizing chastity.

A good copy, or rather a version of the composition attributed to Dente, since some elements of the composition have been modified, was in Riga, the capital of Latvia, which between 1582-1629 was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and later became part of the Swedish Empire. This painting was considered to represent Vertumnus and Pomona and was attributed to a 17th-century Venetian painter, but it was also considered a work by Titian in the collection of photographs of the Italian art historian Federico Zeri (1921-1998), where it was noted as belonging to the "Coll. Bul[b]ets / (Latvijas Banka)" around 1936, so before World War II (cf. Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 58454). In this version, the woman has a thicker face, so it is possible that she commissioned another, more favorable painting (i.e. version from the Scripps collection).
​
Similar paintings were in royal and magnate collections in Poland-Lithuania. Inventory of the Kunstkammer of the Radziwill Castle in Lubcha from 1647 lists a painting of a "Naked lady with a satyr" offered by king John II Casimir Vasa and in 1633 a painting of "Diana with her maidens, the fauns laugh at" presented by his predecessor Ladislaus IV (after "Galerie obrazów i "Gabinety Sztuki" Radziwiłłów w XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska, p. 96).

Inventory of paintings from the collection of princess Louise Charlotte Radziwill (1667-1695), drawn up in 1671, lists many nude and erotic paintings, some of which may be works by Titian: A half-naked lady in sables (297, possibly a copy of a Girl in a fur by Titian in Vienna), Naked woman sleeps and two men watch (351), A naked woman sleeps and a lute and a flask with a drink is beside her and a man watches (370), A filthy image, Cupids and many naked people (371), Bacchanalia (372), Adonis wrestle with Venus (374, possibly a copy of Venus and Adonis by Titian in Madrid), A lady in flowers (375) and A lady with flowers (419, possibly a copy of Flora by Titian in Florence), Two naked women, one combs herself (420), A woman lying holding a glass, a man in front of her and Cupid embracing her (430), Three nymphs and Cupid (431), Two pictures on silver plates, one of Cupid with Venus, and the other with lustitia (628-629), Venus between two Cupids. A special image (762, most likely a painting from Bernardino Luini's workshop in the Wilanów Palace or a copy), A woman, naked, covered herself with cotton cloth, on a large panel (794, possibly a copy of a portrait of Beatrice of Naples as Venus by Lorenzo Costa in Budapest), Susanna and two old men, a large painting on canvas (815), Picture: a naked lady is sleeping and a satyr is next to her, this painting was given by King John Casimir (820), Three nymphs and Cupid (826), A lady with satyr, filthy (842), A lady lying. Small painting, golden frames (843), Naked lady with a swan, stone painting (844, possibly Leda by Alessandro Turchi, a pupil of Carlo Cagliari in Venice), A naked person in a red coat (863, possibly a copy of "Titian's Mistress" in Apsley House) (after "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska). The inventory also includes several paintings which could be identified as Lucretia or Salome by Cranach and this is only a part of splendid collections of the Radziwills that survived the Deluge (1655-1660).

Carlo Ridolfi (1594-1658) in his work Le Maraviglie dell'arte ..., published in Venice in 1648, confirms that after his stay in Spain (around 1550), Titian travelled to Innsbruck "where he portrayed Ferdinand, King of the Romans, his wife Queen Maria [Anna Jagellonica] and seven most noble maidens, daughters of her majesty, on the same canvas, almost composing a heaven of earthly deities; and it is said that every time these princesses went to have their portrait painted, they brought a gem as a gift to the painter" (Passato poi in Inspruch, ritrasse Ferdinando re de' Romani, la regina Maria sua moglie, e sette nobilissime Citelle, figliuole di quella Maestà in una stessa tela, componendo quasi un Cielo di terrene Deità; e raccontasi, che ogni fiata che quelle Principesse andavano a ritrarsi, recavano una gemma in dono al Pittore, p. 166). The author most likely confused Queen Anna Jagellonica, wife of Ferdinand, with her daughter-in-law Maria of Spain (1528-1603), who travelled through the Republic of Venice to return to Spain in 1581, however, from this fragment we can assume that Titian painted Anna's daughters, most likely including Catherine, as Roman goddesses (Cielo di terrene Deità).

"The Goddess Diana with the God Pan / That chaste breast, which perpetually / Had made itself a shelter of modesty / And fled the consortium of people / To avoid some illicit act" (la Dea Diana col Dio Pan / Quel casto petto, che perpetuamente / S'era di pudicitia albergo fatto / E fuggiva il consortio de la gente / Per non venir a qualche illecito atto) is the inscription in Italian under an erotic (even obscene by some standards) print with Jupiter transformed into Satyr and Diana from the series of 15 sheets depicting the Loves of the gods (Gli amori degli dei). The version in the National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst) in Copenhagen is attributed to Jacopo Caraglio, court goldsmith and medallist of King Sigismund II Augustus (inv. KKSgb7584). Between 1527 and 1537 Caraglio was in Venice and from about 1539 in Poland-Lithuania, where he worked until his death on August 26, 1565.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Pomona by workshop of Titian, 1553-1565, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as a nymph with a satyr by follower of Titian, possibly Girolamo Dente, 1553-1565, Private collection.

​Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as a nymph with a satyr by follower of Titian, possibly Girolamo Dente, 1553-1565, Private collection in Riga before World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Erotic print with Jupiter transformed into Satyr and Diana by Jacopo Caraglio, second quarter of the 16th century, National Gallery of Denmark.

Portraits of Sophia Jagiellon by circle of Titian and portraits of Catherine of Austria by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

"Most Serene Princess, my dearest sister! I have received the gracious letter of Your Illustrious Ladyship and have learned with great joy of your good health; [...] I then ask a favor of Your Illustrious Ladyship; since it pleases God that I cannot enjoy your gracious company: do me a great favor by sending me your portrait and also that of your husband; I will keep them before me as a souvenir of you. If I can be of any use to you, I beg you to order it from me only, and you will find me always ready to do so. Finally, I commend myself to Your Grace. Given at Vilnius, April 23" (Serenissima Principessa signora et sorella mia carissima! Io ho receputa la amorevola letera di V. Ill. S. et con grante alegreza intesso la bona sanita di quella; [...] Poi io prego V. Ill. S. per una gratia; essento che a Dio cussi piace, che io non possa goder la sua amorevola compangina: che quella si denga a farme tanta gratia a mantarme il suo retrato et anchora quello di suo consorte; io tengero in vita mia per sua memoria. Se io in contar possa servir in qualla cosa, prego a commandar mi, che me trouera sempre pronta, cussi faro. Fin in ne la sua bona gratia me ricommando. Dat. in Vilno, alli 23 di aprillo, after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku ..." by Aleksander Przezdziecki, p. 260, National Library of Poland, 68.338 A), wrote in Italian Catherine of Austria (1533-1572), Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania, to her sister-in-law Infanta Sophia Jagellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Alla Serma Principessa Sofia Infante di Polonia, Dochessa di Brunschwig), probably shortly after her departure from Poland-Lithuania in 1556.

Sigismund Augustus' third wife, before marrying the king in 1553, was Duchess of Mantua and Montferrat (between 1549 and 1550) and after only four months as the wife of Francesco III Gonzaga (1533-1550), who drowned in Lake Como on February 21, 1550, she returned to Innsbruck. The Habsburgs pretended that the marriage had not been consummated to increase Catherine's chances of obtaining a better second marriage. The double portrait of the young widow with her mother Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), Queen of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary, made at that time, i.e. between 1551 and 1553 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, oil on canvas, 140 x 130 cm, GG 8199), was probably intended to underline her connection to the Jagiellonian dynasty and to increase her chances of marrying her widowed relative, the King of Poland (the king's second wife, Barbara Radziwill, died on May 8, 1551). Anna died in 1547, before Catherine's marriage to the Duke of Mantua, when the Archduchess had no reason to display her attachment to her mother so ostentatiously. The parrot above her right shoulder in this painting is probably linked to the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary her destiny to give birth to Jesus, and symbolizes purity and wealth (compare "Nature and Its Symbols ..." by Lucia Impelluso, p. 302). 

Very similar to this effigy of Catherine is her full-length portrait at Voigtsberg Castle (oil on canvas, 176 x 112 cm), attributed to Titian. This portrait, basing on a miniature in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 4703) in which she is titled as the wife of the Duke of Mantua, is generally dated to 1549, therefore around her marriage to Francesco, however taking into account that the counterpart of this portrait, i.e. the portrait of Francesco, is not known and that the double portrait with her mother was most likely made after 1550, the painting could be considered a possible betrothal effigy before the marriage with the King of Poland. The little dog suggests to the groom that she is faithful and the zibellino, which she holds in her hands, that she is fertile. It is interesting to note that at that time the Cremonese painter Sofonisba Anguissola created a portrait, considered her self-portrait, in the same costume and pose as the Duchess of Mantua and the Queen of Poland (private collection, oil on panel, 29 x 22 cm). It is quite possible that Sofonisba received a painting by Titian to copy, which would explain the overall titianesque character and colouring of Voigtsberg painting. 

The double portrait is similar to the Family portrait of Maximilian II, son of Anna Jagellonica, which is also in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (GG 3448). The Family portrait was made around 1553 or 1554, which indicates the young age of the youngest child, Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553-1595). However, since it is attributed to Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593), the possible date of creation is considered to be 1563, because at that time the artist moved from Milan to Vienna (according to the traditional approach, the painter and the model must have had the opportunity to meet in person when the portrait was created). If Arcimboldo or his workshop created the double portrait of Catherine and her mother, he must have done so in Milan, where he met the Duchess's father, Ferdinand I (on November 28, 1551 he was paid for painting the five banners of the King of Bohemia), so both paintings could be based on study drawings sent from Vienna or Innsbruck.

Arcimboldo is also considered the author of the portrait of a daughter of Anna Jagellonica, now in the National Gallery of Ireland (oil on panel, 37 x 31 cm, NGI.902). This painting was purchased in Berlin in 1928 and Kurt Löcher considered it to be the effigy of Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545), Queen of Poland, by Jakob Seisenegger (after "Nieznane portrety ostatnich Jagiellonów" by Janina Ruszczyc, p. 75). According to the catalog note of the National Gallery of Ireland, this is an effigy of Archduchess Anna (1528-1590), Duchess of Bavaria (from 1550). Nevertheless, while the resemblance of the woman to the effigies of Elizabeth and Anna is general, the resemblance to Catherine from her portrait at Voigtsberg Castle is striking, as if Arcimboldo and Titian (or Sofonisba) had used the same set of study drawings to create both effigies. This depiction can be compared to Catherine's bust-length portrait inscribed in the upper part CHATARINA.REGINA.POLONIE.ARCHI: / AVSTRIE. The style of these paintings is similar and both relate to the series of portraits of the daughters of Anna Jagellonica preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, attributed to Arcimboldo, for example the portrait of Archduchess Joanna of Austria (1547-1578), future Grand Duchess of Tuscany (inv. GG 4513). 

As for the Duchess of Brunswick, very few portraits created during her lifetime (before this blog) were known. It is quite possible that her portrait for sister-in-law Catherine of Austria, former Duchess of Mantua, was commissioned from an Italian artist. The portrait of Sophia Jagiellon from the Von Borcke Palace in Starogard, which was lost during World War II, was most probably the only inscribed effigy showing her features the most accurately. It bears a strong resemblance to the features of a lady, painted by a Venetian painter from the circle of Titian, in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Kassel (oil on canvas, 120 x 96 cm, inv. GK 496).

The portrait in Kassel is tentatively identified as effigy of Sophia's relative Archduchess Eleanor of Austria (1534-1594), Duchess of Mantua (daughter of Anna Jagellonica), and wife of Guglielmo Gonzaga, due to great similarity of garments and location, the Gonzagas of Mantua frequently commissioned their effigies in nearby Venice. However the face lacks an important feature, the notorious habsburg lip, allegedly stemming from Cymburgis of Masovia, a hallmark of prestige in the 16th century and inherited by Eleanor from her father, the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The sitter's costume and features are very similar to these visible in a miniature showing Sophia's mother Bona Sforza (in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, inv. MNK XII-141), who visited Venice in 1556, the year of Sophia's marriage with the 66-year-old Duke Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. It is highly possible that the painting was commissioned in Venice by Sophia's brother, king Sigismund II Augustus or her mother.

In the same collection in Kassel, there are also two other portraits from the same period by Venetian painters, which are linked to Jagiellons, a portrait of Sophia's sister Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) and a portrait of a general, which according to Iryna Lavrovskaya, could be an effigy of influential cousin of Barbara Radziwill, Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (Heritage, N. 2, 1993. p. 82-84). A good copy of the Kassel painting is now in the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (oil on canvas, 115.6 x 97.2 cm, inv. 43.19). Because of some obvious influences from Flemish painting, especially the colors and softness, it is attributed to Peter Paul Rubens, who worked in Mantua around 1600, but Lambert Sustris, a Dutch painter active mainly in Venice, and a pupil of Titian, can also be considered an author. Rubens in turn worked for the Polish-Lithuanian Vasas, descendants of Sophia's sister Catherine.

The marriage of a 34-year-old princess with an old man was mocked in a painting, created by follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder and his son, preserved in the National Gallery in Prague (oil on panel, 44.7 x 49.8 cm, inv. DO 4323). The work was acquired in 1945 from the Nostitz picture collection in Prague (first probable record 1738, definite record 1818). The painter used earlier effigies of the Princess in the popular subject of the "grotesque marriage", dating back to antiquity when Plautus, a Roman comic poet from the 3rd century BC, cautioned elderly men against courting younger ladies. The inscription SMVST.A. on her bonnet should be therefore interpreted as a satirical anagram. ​Interestingly, the style of this painting resembles the mentioned works of Arcimboldo, so it is possible that he received a painting by Cranach to copy or that he created this composition based on Cranach's works.

Portrait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in a black dress by circle of Titian, ca. 1553-1565, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel. ​

Portrait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) in black dress by circle of Titian, probably Lambert Sustris, or Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1553-1565 or 1600s, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. ​​

Ill-Matched Lovers, caricature of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) and her husband Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1489-1568) by Giuseppe Arcimboldo after Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1556, National Gallery in Prague.

​Portrait of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), Queen of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary and her daughter Archduchess Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by workshop of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, ca. 1551-1553, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 

​Portrait of Archduchess Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by circle of Titian or Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1553, Voigtsberg Castle. 

​Self-portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola, 1550s, Private collection.

​Portrait of Archduchess Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, ca. 1553, National Gallery of Ireland. 

​Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by workshop of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, ca. 1554, whereabouts unknown.

Portraits of Zofia Tarnowska by Lambert Sustris and workshop of Titian

The Polish woman, one of the greatest muses and celebrities of 16th-century Europe? Why not, if 19th-century art historians could make a lesser-known lawyer's daughter, Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612-1642), one of the greatest celebrities of the 17th century? Apparently, every important art collector of the Baroque era was bound to own an effigy of the daughter of the mayor of Leeuwarden. Unlike Saskia, who, nota bene, through her uncle and brother-in-law, had connections with Poland, Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) was far more likely to become such a muse in her lifetime. Her father, the imperial count Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561), who had connections in Portugal, Spain, Italy and at the imperial court, was one of the richest and most powerful men in the country. Through her mother, Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551), she was the granddaughter of another prominent political figure, Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki (1466-1532), considered one of the greatest patrons of the arts in early 16th-century Poland.

​On January 18, 1553 the Sejm began in Kraków, but the proceedings were suspended immediately, as most of the deputies and senators went to Tarnów for the wedding of the nineteen-year-old daughter of Voivode of Kraków. Zofia was marrying Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), son of Constantine, Prince of Ostroh and his wife Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska. The Spanish poet Pedro Ruiz de Moros (d. 1571) dedicated a short poem to Zofia and her husband entitled "Newly Wed" (Novae nuptae), stating: "I, the virgin of Tarnów, have been united to a worthy husband, and our offspring will be born of a noble lineage" (I digno coniuncta viro Tarnovia virgo, Et nostrum subole suffice nata genus, compare "Petri Rozyii Maurei Alcagnicensis Carmina ...", ed. Bronisław Kruczkiewicz, part II, p. 58, poem VIII).

In 1550, the twenty-five-year-old Constantine Vasily received from King Sigismund II Augustus the office of marshal of Volhynia. A year later he participated in the fight against the Tatars, who burned down the town and the castle in Bratslav, and probably met the Grand Hetman, Jan Amor Tarnowski, who came to the city with Polish reinforcements.

Since the groom was Orthodox and the bride Catholic, the couple was blessed by priests of both rites. The celebrations must have been very impressive since Tarnowski borrowed 10,000 Hungarian zlotys from Queen Bona for this occasion or the wedding of his son just two years later. Emericus Colosvarinus (Imre Kolozsvár) from Cluj-Napoca, wrote a special speech, entitled De Tarnoviensibus nuptiis oratio, published in Kraków (he also published a speech on the occasion of the third marriage of King Sigismund Augustus that year). Taking Zofia Tarnowska as his wife, Constantine Vasily became the son-in-law of the highest secular dignitary of the Kingdom of Poland, the largest landowner, and a renowned military commander and military theoretician. Immediately after the wedding, Constantine Vasily and his wife went to his castle in Dubno in Volhynia. A year later, in 1554, Zofia gave birth to a son in Tarnów, who was named Janusz.

Zofia's younger brother, Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567), become formal successor of his father, ​just few months after birth, after death of his brother Jan Amor (1516-1537). At the age of eleven, he was sent to Augsburg with his tutor Jakub Niemieczkowski, canon of Tarnów, where during the Diet of Augsburg on 25 February 1548, he witnessed the grand ceremony of inauguration of Duke Maurice (1521-1553) as Elector of Saxony. That same year also Titian and Lambert Sustris arrived to Augsburg. In December that year the young Tarnowski went to Vienna to continue his education at the court of King Ferdinand I. A year later, in November 1549, his father Hetman Jan Tarnowski bought Roudnice nad Labem estate in Bohemia for him. Between 1550-1556 Jan Krzysztof built the Renaissance eastern wing with arcades of the Roudnice nad Labem Castle. In 1553 he set off on another educational journey, which, according to Stanisław Orzechowski, was to cost his father a huge sum of 100,000 zlotys. He visited Germany, Brussels, where he was introduced to Emperor Charles V, and London. Then he went to Basel and to Italy, where he met a poet Jan Kochanowski. In Rome, he was a guest of Pope Julius III and in Parma of the Farnese princes. 

On April 22, 1551, died Zofia Szydłowiecka and she was buried in the collegiate church in Opatów. The Flemish lawyer Petrus de Roeulcz (Petrus de Rotis) published a panegyric in Vienna praising the deceased and the Tarnowski family (Liber funerum domus Tharnoviae Petri à Rotis Belgae Cortraceni).

A painting of a nude woman attributed to Lambert Sustris in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is very similar to the portrait of Princess Isabella Jagiellon (Venus of Urbino), created few years earlier (oil on canvas, 116 x 186 cm, inv. SK-A-3479). In 1854 the painting, as by Titian, was in the collection of Joseph Neeld (1789-1856) in Grittleton House, near Chippenham. As in Venus of Urbino, all alludes to the qualities of a bride and the purpose of the painting. The pose of the woman, although inspired by Titian's painting, find its source in ancient Roman sculpture (e.g. statue of a young Roman lady from the Flavian period in the Vatican Museums). This pose was repeated in tomb monument of Barbara Tarnowska née Tęczyńska (d. 1521), first wife of Jan Amor in the Tarnów Cathedral, most probably created by Giovanni Maria Padovano in 1536 or earlier, monument to Urszula Leżeńska in the Church in Brzeziny by Jan Michałowicz of Urzędów, created between 1563-1568, and in the tomb monument of Zofia Tarnowska, Princess of Ostroh, daughter of Jan Amor, also in the Tarnów Cathedral, sculpted by Wojciech Kuszczyc, a collaborator of Padovano, after 1570. 

The face of a young woman with protruding ears greatly resemble the effigy of Zofia Tarnowska, Princess of Ostroh, most likely a 19th century copy of an original from the late 1550s (Museum of the Ostroh Academy), and portrait of Zofia's brother (National Museum in Warsaw, inv. MP 5249 MNW), mother (portrait by Cranach's workshop in the guise of Judith from the William Delafield collection) and father (Prado Museum, inv. P000366). 

Jan Amor Tarnowski, a world man, who on July 4, 1518 sailed from Venice to Jerusalem, who on February 20, 1536 organized a grand wedding in Kraków for Krystyna Szydłowiecka, a younger sister of his second wife, who was getting married to Duke of Ziębice-Oleśnica and who on July 10, 1537 hosted at his castle in Tarnów the king and queen Bona, could be planning an international marriage for his only daughter. 

A copy of this painting by workshop or circle of Titian, from the Byström collection, possibly taken from Poland during the Deluge (1655-1660), is in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (oil on canvas, 119 x 190 cm, inv. NM 95). Another copy is in the Borghese Gallery in Rome (oil on canvas, 118 x 180 cm, inv. 050), where there is also a portrait of Queen Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547) as Venus by Lucas Cranach the Elder. According to 1650 inventory of the Borghese collection it was one of a pair of similar paintings of Venus located in the same room (the small gallery, now room XI). The inventory of 1693 records them as two overdoor paintings in the same room (the sixth) as "a horizontal large painting of a naked woman on a bed with flowers on it with five other figures one that plays the cimbolo and the other that looks inside a chest" (un quadro bislongo grande una Donna Nuda sopra un letto con fiori sopra il letto con cinque altre figurine una che sona il Cimbolo e l'altra che guarda dentro un Cassa, number 333) and "a large painting of a naked Venus on a bed with a little dog sleeping with two other figures with her hand between thighs, 5 hand-palms high" (un quadro grande di una Venere nuda sopra il letto con un Cagnolino che dorme con due altre figure con la mano tra le coscie alto di 5 palmi, number 322), which was another version of Venus of Urbino - portrait of Isabella Jagiellon. 

There are several other versions and copies of this painting, some of which are related to Sustris and his followers. Among the most beautiful, probably created at the same time as the original or shortly after, are the following paintings from private collections: "Reclining Venus", considered to be a work of the early 17th century (oil on canvas, 101 x 150 cm, Bonhams London, December 10, 2003, lot 98), "Reclining Venus", attributed to the Modern Italian School (oil on panel, 28.5 x 39.5 cm, Nouvelle étude in Paris, November 21, 2022, lot 53), as well as three paintings on a dark background: "Reclining Venus", attributed to the circle of Lambert Sustris, auctioned in France on April 24, 2014 (oil on canvas, 112 x 172 cm), "A lady as Venus, reclining on a bed by follower of Titian", auctioned in London (oil on canvas, 90 x 131 cm, Christie's, July 11, 2003, Auction 9665, lot 199) and "Venus, manner of Lambert Sustris", auctioned in Rome (oil on canvas, 100 x 136 cm, Finarte Auctions, November 28, 2017, Auction 144/145, lot 62).

The same woman was also depicted in similar composition, this time more mythological due to presence of the god of war Mars and the god of desire Cupid, the son of the love goddess Venus and Mars, and a dove. "Romans sacrificed doves to Venus, goddess of love, whom Ovid and other writers represented as riding in a dove-drawn chariot". A white dove is a symbol of monogamy and enduring love, but also the regenerating and fertile powers of the goddess "arose from the conspicuous courtship and prolific breeding of the birds" (after "Animals and Animal Symbols in World Culture" by Dean Miller, p. 54). It is known from at least three different versions, one by circle of Titian, is in the royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 113.3 x 166.5 cm, inv. Wil.1547). The painting was most probably purchased by Stanisław Kostka Potocki before 1798 as the work of Agostino Carracci, although it cannot be ruled out that it was added to the collection much earlier. A smaller version in the style of Lambert Sustris is in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg since 1792 and it comes from the collection of Prince Grigory Potemkin (oil on canvas, 101.5 x 170.5 cm, inv. ГЭ-2176), who during his career acquired lands in the Kiev region and the Bratslav region, provinces belonging to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A miniature copy of the Hermitage version, painted on copper, was in private collection in Italy before 2015 (oil on copper, 20.5 x 29.2 cm, Sotheby's New York, October 30, 2019, lot 22). Another two versions, also attributed to Sustris or his circle, are in private collections in Florence (oil on canvas, 108 x 173 cm, Premier Auction, February 5, 2022, lot 434, earlier or later in Vienna) and in Rome (Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 42869), the version in Florence being close to the style of Bernardino Licinio (d. 1565). The shape of the castle in the distant background matches the layout of the Tarnowski Castle at the Saint Martin's Peak in Tarnów. 

​This Venus can be considered an alternative version of the best-known depiction of the goddess of love by Sustris, now in the Louvre, which clearly depicts the same woman (oil on canvas, 132 x 184 cm, INV 1978; MR 1129). This masterpiece by the painter uses the same elements, with the god Mars in the background. However, the references to love are even more direct here, with white pigeons copulating and Cupid pointing an arrow at them and looking at Venus. This painting probably comes from the Fugger collection in Augsburg, but the earliest confirmed provenance before entering the collection of Louis XIV of France in 1671 is the collection of his superintendent of finances Nicolas Fouquet (1615-1680). A comparable composition is that of Sustris representing the same model in the guise of Flora, goddess of fertility and blossoming plants, with a Cupid in a landscape, preserved in the Pinacoteca Egidio Martini in Venice (oil on canvas, 102 x 126, inv. 028).

The same model can also be identified in a series of paintings depicting the biblical heroine Judith, exemplary in virtue and in guarding her chastity. In a version from private collection in England, she is depicted in a green dress with the raised sword in a composition close to the effigy of Zofia Szydłowiecka as Judith by workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder (oil on canvas, 84.2 x 63.1 cm, Christie's London, April 30, 2015, lot 487). Another version of this Judith was in private collection in Mönchengladbach in Germany (Heinz Brandes collection, probably lost during World War II). A version from the Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands Park shows her in a blue dress before the naked body of Holofernes (oil on canvas, 121.5 x 100.5 cm, inv. 356). It was recorded in the posthumous inventory of the collection of a Swedish businessman born in Stockholm, Henrik Wilhelm Peill (1730-1797), as "Italian, Judith with the head of Holofernes". In a version from the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille she is depicted in a purple dress and accompanied by a servant (oil on canvas, 113 x 95 cm, inv. P 261). This painting was acquired by Louis XIV, in 1662, from a banker and collector Everhard Jabach, born in Cologne. A lower quality copy of the version in Lille is in the Münsterschwarzach Abbey (oil on canvas, 123.5 x 96 cm, inv. 10377). During the Middle Ages its influence reached as far north as Bremen and in the south to Lambach, near Linz in present-day Austria. Between 1631 and 1634 the abbot of Münsterschwarzach lived in exile in Austria, it is possible that he acquired the paining there from the collection of Queen of Poland, Catherine of Austria, who died in Linz on February 28, 1572. 

The representation of the same sitter in the guise of another biblical heroine, Susanna, epitome of female virtue and chastity, unjustly accused of sexual transgression, is similar. This painting was purchased in 1961 by the Museo de Arte de Ponce from the collection of the family Trolle-Bonde in the Trolleholm Castle in southern Sweden (oil on canvas, 105 x 125 cm, inv. 61.0200). The painter evidently used the same set of preparatory drawings to create the face of Susanna and Judith in Lille. 

​There are also two other paintings by Sustris depicting this sitter. One is a Madonna and Child, attributed to the 17th-century Venetian school, but very similar in style to Flora in the Pinacoteca Egidio Martini (oil on canvas, 82 x 68.5 cm, Pandolfini in Florence, Auction 290, February 26, 2019, lot 232). The other is a Portrait of a woman reading, attributed to Sustris, which was in a private collection in Rome in 1977 (oil on canvas, 83.5 x 77 cm, Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 42866). This image evokes the representations of the Cumaean Sibyl, a prophetess, supposed to have predicted the coming of Christ, such as those by Guercino and Domenichino. The Cumaean Sibyl was generally said to have come from the east.

Given the number of paintings in which her face was used, this woman was Sustris's greatest muse, and he likely wouldn't have wanted to paint a nude effigy of his wife or mistress for another man. If she was a famous courtesan, as some might claim, why has her name been forgotten?

The popularity of "obscene" images in Poland-Lithuana before the Deluge (1655-1660) was apparently so great that some authors urged against them. "Lascivious paintings and statues, speeches and songs full of obscenity [...], whom will they not lead to all kinds of debauchery?" (Picturae & statuae lascivae, sermones & cantilenae obscoenitatis plenae [...], quam aetatem quem sexum non contaminant?), wrote in his treatise "Commentaries on the Improvement of Commonwealth" (Commentariorvm de rep[vblica] emendanda) dedicated to king Sigismund Augustus and published in Kraków in 1551, his secretary Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503-1572). Half a century later Sebastian Petrycy, professor of the Kraków Academy in his commentaries to Aristotle's Oeconomicum libri duo (Oekonomiki Aristotelesowey To Iest Rządu Domowego z dokładem Księgi Dwoie), published in Kraków in 1601, wrote that children and young ladies "looking at the painted naked people will easily learn to be shameful" and confirmed his opinion in a gloss to "Politics" by Aristotle (published in 1605), writing that "indecent images are to be hidden from the youth [...] so that young people would not be scandalized" (partially after "Ksiądz Stanisław Orzechowski i swawolne dziewczęta" by Marcin Fabiański, p. 57-58). ​The same Sebastian Petrycy also complains about the patricians, who in their newly built houses "put expensive pictures", depicting Vulcan, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Cupid. According to Wanda Drecka, this "expensiveness" of the images would indicate imported paintings. The inventories of the collection of Boguslaus Radziwill from 1656 and 1657 include such paintings as "Cupid, Venus and Pallas", "Venus and Hercules" and "Venus and Cupid" (after "Polskie Cranachiana" by Wanda Drecka, p. 26-27) by Cranach or Venetian painters. ​The inventory of paintings belonging to his daughter mentions "A half-naked lady in sables" (297/6, after "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska), the register of paintings of the descendant of the Jagiellons John II Casimir Vasa, sold in Paris in 1673, mentions a painting of Judith with the head of Holofernes (396) and a painting of a naked woman (440), both on canvas, and the inventory of the picture gallery of the Radziwill Palace in Biała Podlaska from 1760 mentions "Portrait of a lady with two Cupids" (item 512, after "Zamek w Białej Podlaskiej ..." by Euzebiusz Łopaciński, p. 46). None of these paintings survived in the former territories of Sarmatia, just like most of the likenesses of Zofia Tarnowska created during her lifetime. 

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by workshop or circle of Titian, ca. 1550-1553, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by circle of Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Borghese Gallery in Rome.

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection (auctioned in London).

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by follower of Lambert Sustris, after 1550, Private collection (auctioned in Paris).

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection (auctioned in France).

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by Lambert Sustris or circle, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection (auctioned in London).

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) nude (Reclining Venus) by Lambert Sustris or circle, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection (auctioned in Rome).

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Venus with a dove by circle of Titian, ca. 1550-1553, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Venus with a dove by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, The State Hermitage Museum.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Venus with a dove by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Venus with a dove by circle of Lambert Sustris, ca. 1550-1553, Private collection in Rome. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Venus with a dove by circle of Lambert Sustris or Bernardino Licinio, ca. ​1550-1553, Private collection in Florence.

​Venus and Cupid with disguised portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Louvre Museum.

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Flora by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Pinacoteca Egidio Martini in Venice.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Private collection.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka​

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, The Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands Park.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lambert Sustris or follower, 1550s, Münsterschwarzach Abbey. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Susanna by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Museo de Arte de Ponce.

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as the Cumaean Sibyl by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Private collection. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570) as Madonna and Child by Lambert Sustris, 1550s, Private collection.

Portraits of Catherine of Austria and Zofia Tarnowska by Titian

Family events that took place in 1553 brought a great revival in the monotonous existence of the Jagiellons. In the spring, Queen Isabella arrived to Warsaw with her 13-year-old son, John Sigismund Zapolya, to live with her mother and sisters. Soon, Sigismund Augustus also visited Warsaw, and in June the whole family went to Kraków for his wedding with Catherine of Austria, widowed Duchess of Mantua. The dynastic marriage of the king with a daughter of Ferdinand I, just few months after the wedding of the only daughter of Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski, was decided to prevent the threat of an alliance of Tsar Ivan the Terrible with the Habsburgs against Poland-Lithuania. In July, Catherine's brother, Archduke Ferdinand, governor of Bohemia, escorted her to Kraków. The ceremony was attended by Duke Albert of Prussia, the Silesian dukes of Cieszyn, Legnica-Brzeg and Oleśnica, the papal legate Marcantonio Maffei from Bergamo (Republic of Venice), many foreign envoys and Polish magnates. The ceremonial entry to Kraków took place on July 29 and the coronation the next day. During the procession, Jan Amor Tarnowski, carried the royal crown. 

During his visit the Archduke demanded that the Habsburgs should be granted succession in Poland-Lithuania in the event of king's death without a male heir. Sigismund Augustus seemed willing to agree to this request, however the senators, inspired by Tarnowski, were to answer him that this would not happen, because the king had no right to do so (after "Panowie na Tarnowie. Jan Amor Tarnowski, kasztelan krakowski I hetman wielki koronny ..." by Krzysztof Moskal, part 8/9). 

The same year, Francesco Lismanini, a preacher and confessor of Sigismund Augustus, was sent to Venice to procure books for his library. Before his return in 1556, he also visited Moravia, Padua, Milan, Lyon, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Strasbourg and Stuttgart, while among books published in this period were two dedicated to Hetman Tarnowski, both by Italian physician Giovanni Battista Monte (Johannes Baptista Montanus), Explicationes, published in Padua in 1553 and In quartam fen primi canonis Avicennae Lectiones, published in Venice in 1556. 

In about 1553 died Giovanni Alantsee from Venice, a pharmacist from Płock, initially a supplier of the Dukes of Masovia and later of the court of Sigismund I, who remained in Bona's service (sent by her in 1537 on a secret mission to Vienna). One of the Italian envoys who traveled permanently to Venice on the orders of the Polish royal court was a certain Tamburino. On April 30, 1549, he received 1 ducat for an unspecified order. Before her departure for Italy, the Queen deposited in Venetian banks, and also borrowed at interest, her great income from Masovia, Lithuania and Bari. In November 1555 Queen Bona wrote to Hetman's wife, Zofia Tarnowska née Szydłowiecka, asking her to arrange for a mature lady (matronam antiquam) to accompany her daughter Sophia to her husband in Germany. 

In 1559 Sigismund Augustus admitted to his service in Vilnius two goldsmiths from Venice, Antonio Gattis and Pietro Fontana. If Philip II could commission paintings in Titian's Venetian workshop, the same could the king of Poland and Polish magnates. Kraków and Tarnów are closer to Venice by land then Madrid. 

Also some contacts of Princes of Ostroh with Venice and Italy are confirmed in sources. The teacher of Constantine Vasily's sons was, among others, a Greek, Eustachy Nathanael, from Crete. He was probably educated, like many Greeks from Crete, in Italy, probably in Venice. Other Greek, Emanuel Moschopulos, educated in Collegium Germanicum in Rome also settled in Ostroh. According to letters of Germanico Malaspina (ca. 1550-1604) from 1595, papal nuncio in Poland, Constantine Vasily even asked the Catholic patriarch in Venice to come to Poland: a riformare il suo dominio (to reform his domain). 

The inventory register of Catherine's dowry, drawn up in Kraków on August 8, 1553 and written in Latin by an Italian courtier of the queen, lists a large number of jewels, precious fabrics and costumes including dresses "in the Spanish manner" (more hispanico) as well as seven magnificent large tapestries from the series The Seven Virtues: Prudence, Temperance, Hope, Charity, Faith, Justice and Fortitude (Auleae uiridices septem cum figuris septem virtutum uidelicet fidei, spei, Charitatis, Iusticiae, Prudentiae, Temperantiae et fortitudinis, after "Wyprawa Królowej Katarzyny" by Józef Korzeniowski, p. 80-81, 83, 85). 

Catherine took them with her to Austria in 1565 and it is very likely that they were made to order or purchased by her. Even before her marriage to Sigismund Augustus, she had used the services of the Habsburg tapestry maker Jhan de Roy. In 1549, Catherine asked him to order and purchase tapestries in Flanders for three rooms at a cost of about 1,000 guilders. The tapestry maker received a passport from Ferdinand's court in Prague for free passage to Antwerp and for the transport by land and water of the canvases and tapestries to Innsbruck, where the court of the Roman king was supposed to stay and where Jhan de Roy was commissioned to deliver the purchased tapestries to count Joseph von Lamberg (after "Arrasy Zygmunta Augusta" by Mieczysław Gębarowicz, Tadeusz Mańkowski, p. 8, 10-11).

The tapestries were made under the direction of Frans Geubels in Brussels, probably before 1549, after a design by Michiel Coxcie, who also made cartoons for the famous tapestries of Sigismund Augustus at the same time. After Catherine's death in Linz, they were inherited by her brother Emperor Maximilian II (after "Inventar der im Besitze des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses befindlichen niederländer Tapeten und Gobelins" by Ernst von Birk, p. 229-230). They are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The tapestry with the Fortitude is one of the most beautiful (wool, silk and metal, 352 x 469 cm, inv. XVII, 7). It shows a personification of the Fortitude in the form of a seated female figure with a helmet and shield, similar to the Roman Minerva. To her right is a roaring lion and to the left the biblical Jael killing the sleeping Sisara. The inscription above reads FORTITVDO EST MEDIETAS / CIRCA TIMORES ET AVDACIAS ("Fortitude is the one in the middle, surrounded by fears and daring"). Jael's facial features resemble known effigies of Catherine, so it is possible that Coxcie depicted the Archduchess as a biblical heroine.

Herodias with the head of Saint John the Baptist, also known as Salome, by Titian is known from several versions. The best, the so-called Raczyński Herodias, was in the 19th century in the possession of the noble Raczyński family, according to the label on the back (oil on canvas, 114 x 96 cm, after "Nemesis: Titian's Fatal Women", Nicholas Hall, Paul Joannedes​, p. 17-19). The woman's face is identical with the face of Venus with the lute player by Titian in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Saint Catherine by Titian in the Prado Museum in Madrid, she is therefore Queen Catherine of Austria, third wife of Sigismund Augustus, in guise of the biblical temptress. A copy of this painting by Titian and workshop, which was by 1649 in the royal collection in England (Hampton Court), is today in the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. Another copy by workshop or follower of Titian from private collection in Germany was sold in Cologne (oil on canvas, 106 x 93.5 cm, Van Ham Kunstauktionen, May 19, 2022, lot 517). Also Parrasio Micheli (ca. 1516-1578), a painter profoundly influenced by Titian who belonged to the patrician Michiel family in Venice, copied this painting. It was owned by a Venetian family (oil on canvas, 104 x 93 cm, sold at Babuino Auction House, March 28, 2023, lot 18).

Such a composition depicting the Archduchess could have been commissioned in Titian's workshop around 1548, because the X-ray of the famous posthumous portrait of her aunt, Empress Isabella of Portugal (1503-1539), painted almost ten years after her death, shows a similar composition (Prado Museum in Madrid, inv. P000415). It is not known why the painter reused the canvas, perhaps the portrait of the Archduchess was not paid for.

In the early 1570s, as indicated by the model's costume (characteristic ruff), while Catherine was living in Linz in Austria, Titian also painted another version of this composition, which was in the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. This painting has been lost and is known only from a small copy painted by David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690), almost a century later around 1650 (Christie's London, auction 15495, July 6, 2018, lot 124). It was also reproduced in the Theatrum Pictorium (number 51), but from these copies it is difficult to tell whether they depicted the same woman, that is, Catherine of Austria in the guise of Salome.

There is also another similar painting by Titian of other biblical heroine, Judith, in identical pose. This painting was by 1677 in Florence in the collection of Marchese Carlo Gerini (1616-1673), today in the Detroit Institute of Arts (oil on canvas, 112.7 x 94.9 cm, inv. 35.10). According to X-ray examination it was painted upon other unfinished portrait of a monarch holding an orb and sceptre, possibly Sigismund Augustus. The woman depicted bears gret resemblance to other effigies of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570), Princess of Ostroh by Lambert Sustris and workshop of Titian, especially her effigies as Judith. 

​Fortitude, tapestry from the series The Seven Virtues of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by workshop of Frans Geubels in Brussels after design by Michiel Coxcie, before 1549, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Herodias (or Salome) with the head of Saint John the Baptist and servants (Raczyński Herodias) by Titian, 1553-1565, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist and servants by Titian, 1553-1565, National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist and servants by workshop or follower of Titian, 1553-1565, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist and a servant by Parrasio Micheli after Titian, 1553-1565, Private collection.

Portrait of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570), Princess of Ostroh as Judith with the head of Holofernes and a servant by Titian, 1553-1565, Detroit Institute of Arts.

Portrait of Constantine Vasily, Prince of Ostroh by Jacopo Tintoretto 

The man in a black costume lined with white fur in a portrait by Jacopo Tintoretto in the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, on loan to the Gallery since 1947, bears a strong resemblance to effigies of Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), Prince of Ostroh, including that visible in a gold medal with his portrait (treasury of the Pechersk Lavra and the Hermitage), and his mother Alexandra Olelkovich-Slutska from paintings by Cranach and his workshop. It is dated to about 1550-1555, the time when in 1553, at the age of 27, Constantine Vasily married Zofia Tarnowska. The painting comes from William Coningham's collection in London, exaclty as the portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) with a dog by Francesco Montemezzano in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 1559 Constantine Vasily became the voivode of Kiev. The economic power of his estates and his considerable political influence quickly earned him the title of "uncrowned king of Ruthenia". In 1574, he moved the princely residence from Dubno to Ostroh, where the reconstruction of Ostroh Castle began under the Italian architect Pietro Sperendio from Breno near Lugano. Cristoforo Bozzano (Krzysztof Bodzan) from Ferrara, called incola Russiae (resident of Ruthenia), who reconstructed the Ternopil Castle in 1566 for Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski, also most probably worked for Constantine Vasily.

Portrait of Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), Prince of Ostroh by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1553-1565, National Galleries of Scotland.

Portraits of Thomas Stafford, ambassador of the King of Poland by Giovanni Battista Moroni and workshop

The portrait of a man by Giovanni Battista Moroni presenting a letter dated in Italian September 20, 1553 (Di Settembre alli XX del M.D.LIII), is known from at least three versions. His left hand, holding another document, is very similar to Moroni's famous tailor in the National Gallery in London. One vesion, sold in 2015 in London, comes from the collection of Marquise de Brissac in France, the other in the Honolulu Museum of Art, was before 1821 in the collection of Edward Solly (1776-1844) in London and another from Scandinavian private collection, showing just the man's head, was auctioned in London (Sotheby's, 09.12.2003, lot 326). Two versions were painted on canvas and the smallest, attributed to Italian School early 17th century, was painted on wood. 

Apart from the date and abbreviation D V S, which could be Dominationis Vestrae Servitor (Your Lordship's Servant) in Latin or Di Vostra Signoria (of Your Lordship) in Italian, the rest is illegible and could be either in Italian or in Latin. The man is therefore showing his letter, most probably a response, to someone very important. 

On July 9, 1553, Mary Tudor, the eldest daughter of Henry VIII of England, proclaimed herself Queen of England. On August 3, she triumphantly entered London with her sister Elizabeth, and ceremonially took possession of the Tower. On September 27, she and Elizabeth moved into the Tower, as was the custom just before the coronation of a new monarch and on October 1, 1553, Mary was crowned in Westminster Abbey. While in a letter, in Portuguese, dated in Lisbon, September 20, 1553, king John III of Portugal announces the despatch of Lorenzo Piz de Tavora, a member of his council, as his ambassador to congratulate her Majesty on succeeding to the throne, Sigismund Augustus, king of Poland, sends a letter, in Latin, dated in Kraków, October 1, 1553, addressed to queen Mary. He despatches to Her Majesty's presence Thomas Stafford, grandson of the Most Noble Edward Stafford, late Duke of Buckingham, for that purpose. He prays the Queen to place unhesitating confidence in the said Stafford, of whom he speaks in the highest terms of praise, especially with regard to his cultivated and gracefully modest manners (Lat. State Paper Office, Royal Letters, vol. XVI. p. 9). Also king's newly wed wife, Queen Catherine of Austria, sends a letter on October 1, 1553 to queen Mary, congratulating her upon her accession, speaking in terms of high commendation of Thomas Stafford, and earnestly requests that he may be restored to the honours and possessions formerly possessed by his ancestors (Lat. State Paper Office, Royal Letters, vol. XVI. p. 11).

Shortly after Jan Łaski's departure from England, Hieronim Makowiecki came to London at the end of 1553 as an envoy of the Polish king, and in the following year Leonrad Górecki attended Mary's wedding to Philip II of Spain. According to a letter of Marc'Antonio Damula, Venetian ambassador to the Imperial Court, to the Doge and Senate, dated in Brussels, August 12, 1554: "It is being treated about, to give the government of the kingdom of Naples to the Queen of Poland [Bona Sforza], together with a council, and the Emperor has already said that he is content with this; and they are endeavouring to obtain the consent of the King of England, who is expected to give it readily, the kingdom of Naples being now weary and depressed by the many wrongs endured at the hands of the Spanish governors. The ambassador of the Queen aforesaid has purchased an organ at Antwerp for 3,000 crowns, as also goldsmith's work to the amount of 6,000, to give to the Queen of England, and will go thither to endeavour to arrange this business, which is supposed to be very near conclusion".

Thomas Stafford (ca. 1533-1557) was the ninth child and second surviving son of Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford and Ursula Pole. His maternal grandmother was Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury and the last direct descendant of the Plantagenets. This lineage made Thomas and his family particularly close to the throne of England. In 1550 he went to Rome, where his uncle Cardinal Reginald Pole (1500-1558) was nearly elected a pope in the papal conclave convened after the death of Pope Paul III, and where he remained for three years. He was resident in Venice in May of 1553 when the Signory permitted him to view the jewels of Saint Mark and to bear arms in the territories of the Republic. He arrived to Poland during the summer of 1553 when Sigismund Augustus was celebrating his third marriage with Catherine, daughter of Anna Jagiellonica. It was most likely on her initiative that Stafford became an envoy of Poland-Lithuania to England. The king's recommendation to restore him to the Dukedom of Buckingham appeared to have no effect, as in January 1554 he joined the rebellion, directed against Mary's plans to become the wife of Philip II. The rebels were defeated, Stafford was captured, but was able to escape to France, where he announced his claims to the crown of England. He returned to England in April 1557, but he was arrested and sentenced to death as a traitor. He was beheaded on May 28, 1557 on Tower Hill in London. 

The date on a letter in mentioned portraits match perfectly the time when Stafford could receive an ambassadorial nomination and send a response expressing his appreciation to the king of Poland. Also previous locations of the works match Stafford's journeys - one was in England, one in France and one in Scandinavia, possibly taken from Poland during the Deluge. The sitter bears a strong resemblance to effigies of Thomas' uncle Cardinal Reginald Pole by Sebastiano del Piombo and workshop, in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest and in the Hermitage Museum, and by unknown artist, in the Trinity College of the University of Cambridge.

Portrait of Thomas Stafford (ca. 1533-1557), ambassador of the King of Poland by Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1553, Private collection.

Portrait of Thomas Stafford (ca. 1533-1557), ambassador of the King of Poland by Giovanni Battista Moroni or workshop, 1553, Honolulu Museum of Art.

Portrait of Thomas Stafford (ca. 1533-1557), ambassador of the King of Poland by workshop of Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1553, Private collection.

Portrait of Abraham Zbąski by Jacopo Tintoretto

In 1553 died Stanisław Zbąski, castellan of Lublin, the father of Abraham and Stanisław (1540-1585), and on the basis of his last will written in the Lublin town book, Abraham was to receive Kurów estate with a stonghold near Płonki, and Stanisław the town of Kurów and compensation of 1000 florins. The same year the Catholic church in Kurów was turned into a Protestant temple. 

The castellan of Lublin, himself educated in Leipzig (1513/1514) and most probably in Italy, send his eldest son to a Protestant university in Wittenberg in February 1544, together with another Abraham Zbąski (D. Abrahamus / D. Abrahamus de Sbanski / poloni), identified as the son of Piotr Zbąski (d. 1543) from Greater Poland, the owner of Zbąszyń, who was most likely the same age as his friend Marcin Czechowic (born in November 1532) and the son of Stanisław. One Abraham Zbąski also studied in Królewiec (Königsberg) in Ducal Prussia in 1547 (as Abrahamus Esbonski. Polonus) and in Basel from May 1551. On November 30, 1550, Abraham Zbąski (the one from Kurów or from Zbąszyń) join the court of King Sigismund Augustus.

Perhaps under Abraham Zbąski's influence Celio Secondo Curione (Caelius Secundus Curio), an Italian humanist, dedicated to King Sigismund Augustus his work De amplitudine beati regni Dei, published in Basel in 1554 - on December 1, 1552, in a letter to Zbąski, he asked about the title of the Polish king, as he intended to dedicate his book to him. Celio dedicated to Abraham his Selectarum epistolarum librer II, published in 1553, and his handwritten dedication to Zbąski preserved in a volume of his M. Tullii Ciceronis Philippicae orationes XIIII, published in 1551 (Poznań University Library). This Abraham Zbąski frequently travelled to Italy, mainly to Bologna, in 1553/1554, in 1558/1559 and between 1560 and 1564. "I heard that this Abram, who recently arrived from Italy, could be quite a gem in this family" (Jakoż słyszę ten Abram, nowo z Włoch nastały, Że to może w tym domu klenot być niemały), wrote about the Zbąski family in his Bestiary (Zwierziniec/Zwierzyniec), published in 1562, the Polish poet and prose writer Mikołaj Rej. In 1554 he continued his studies at the University of Leipzig, where he enrolled for winter semester (as Abrahamus Sbansky) with Marcin Czechowic (Martinus Czechowicz), a Protestant thinker and a leading representative of Polish Unitarianism, and Stanisław Zbąski of Lublin (Stanislaus Sboxsky Lubelensis), his brother or cousin. 

The portrait of a young man by Jacopo Tintoretto in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham was acquired in 1937 from the collection of Francis Drey (1885-1952) in London, who recalled that the portrait was previously in a French private collection (oil on canvas, 121 x 93.3 cm, inv. 37.13). Basing on this, together with the style of the costume, it was suggested that the sitter is a Frenchman. His rich costume, more northern, sword and gloves indicate that he is a wealthy nobleman, like the Zbąskis of the Nałęcz coat of arms. According to Latin inscription in upper right corner, in the month of March (or May) 1554, the man was 22 years old (ANNO 1554 MENSE MA / AETATIS SUAE 22). This date and age match the age of one of the Zbąskis (both born in about 1531 or 1532), who was in Italy in 1553/1554 and in winter of 1554 enrolled at the University of Leipzig, further north of Venice. The man bear a resemblance to effigy of Stanisław Zbąski (1540-1585), from his tomb monument in Kurów, created by Italian sculptor Santi Gucci or his workshop, and to the distant descendant of the Zbąskis, bishop Jan Stanisław Zbąski (1629-1697) from his portrait in the Skokloster Castle in Sweden.

Portrait of Abraham Zbąski aged 22 by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1554, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

Portrait of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill by Agostino Galeazzi

​Titian's portrait of a general, held at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel (oil on canvas, 229 x 155.5 cm, inv. GK 488, signed: TITIANVS / FECIT, on the small rock on the left), is identified by Belarusian researcher Iryna Borisovna Lavrovskaya as the effigy of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565). According to the biographies of the painter and the model, it can be said with certainty that their paths crossed in the same year in Augsburg in 1547, where Radziwill received the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (confirmed by Sigismund Augustus in 1549). At the same time, he also concluded a very important political alliance with the Habsburgs. Ms. Lavrovskaya's forensic and cultural expertise (cultural contexts, practices, and norms) reinforces the hypothesis that the portrait of a general is the effigy of Nicolaus "the Black" (Heritage, No. 2, 1993, p. 82-84). This portrait is also considered to represent Ferrante I Gonzaga (1507-1557), governor of the Duchy of Milan between 1546 and 1554, who corresponded with the Radziwills (cf. "La trama Nascosta - Storie di mercanti e altro" by Rita Mazzei). Several other Italian aristocrats have been proposed as possible models, consistent with the hypothesis that the model must be Italian, although nothing speaks strongly in favor of this hypothesis, except the origins of the painter.

The painting was purchased in 1756 by Gerard Hoet in Paris for William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, at the auction of the Duke of Tallard's collection. It previously belonged to the collection of Monsieur de la Chataigneraye (or Châtaigneraie), Treasurer of the Chamber of the King and Children of France, "In Paris, at the Royal Abbey of Saint-Victor, his residence", included in the catalogue published in Paris in 1732 (Catalogue de tableaux [...] du cabinet de feu Monsieur de la Chataigneraye [...] A Paris, en l'abbaye Royale de Saint Victor, lieu de sa demeure, p. 23). It is not known how this important collection of paintings by the greatest masters of European painting came to the unknown Monsieur de la Chataigneraye. The clue concerning the earlier provence of the portrait of a general could be the possessions of King John II Casimir Vasa, at the Abbey of Saint-Martin in Nevers, at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris and at the Château de Cachan near Paris, part of which was sold at auction in the French capital on February 15, 1673. Among the "uninventoried furniture" (meubles non inventoriéz) in the minutes of the sale of King John Casimir's property is an unspecified "portrait of a Polish prince", purchased by Monsieur Corade (un portrait d'un Prince pollonnois, after "Uzupełnienie do inwentarzy pośmiertnych króla Jana Kazimierza ..." by Ryszard Szmydki, p. 85).

Nicolaus lost his father at a young age and was raised with his brother John (1516-1551) by his uncle George I "Hercules" Radziwill (1480-1541). In 1529, along with his brother and sister, he was taken to the royal court of Sigismund I and Bona, where he was raised and educated. In 1534, he entered the Kraków Academy (Jagiellonian University), but did not complete his studies; the following year, he participated in battles against the Muscovite army at the head of his banner. He opted for a diplomatic and state career. The rapid rise of Nicolaus "the Black" began after 1544, when Sigismund I transferred full powers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to his son, Sigismund Augustus. Radziwill received the position of district marshal and became a member of the highest state body: the Grand Ducal Council.

On the way back from Augsburg, on February 12, 1548 in Sandomierz, Nicolaus married the fifteen-year-old daughter of one of the greatest Polish patrons, Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki (1466-1532), Elżbieta Szydłowiecka (1533-1562), Countess of Szydłowiec. King Sigismund Augustus and Queen Bona attended the wedding. In 1550, he was appointed Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, a year later, Voivode of Vilnius. In 1553, he joined the Lutheran Church and, two years later, converted to Calvinism and began corresponding with prominent Calvinist theologians, including John Calvin himself.  

The establishment of the portrait gallery in Nesvizh is associated with Radziwill "the Black", who commissioned images abroad, including in Strasbourg (after "Monumenta variis Radivillorum ..." by Tadeusz Bernatowicz, p. 20). In one of the letters, the longing father instructed his son Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan", who was studying abroad, to commission a portrait and send it to Lithuania. The portrait, sent from Strasbourg, aroused dissatisfaction and at the same time biting remarks about his son's clothes. The voivode ordered a new life-size portrait of his son to be made so that he could see how tall he was. He also ordered a chain with the image of the king to be painted on his son's chest (after "Tylem się w Strazburku nauczył ... " by Zdzisław Pietrzyk, p. 164). The inventory of the Radziwill collection of 1671 probably mentions two portraits of the prince (items 10/10 and 12/2[?]), undoubtedly made during his lifetime. The painting depicting the granting of the title of Imperial Prince by Emperor Charles V to Nicolao Radziwił Palatino Vilnensis most likely depicted the scene involving Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill in 1547, because Nicolaus II Radziwill (1470-1521), nicknamed Amor Poloniae, received this title in 1518 from Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519), Charles's grandfather (item 91/10, compare "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska).

One of the most splendid Renaissance half-armors preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna was made for Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (inv. A 1412). It was made around 1555 in Nuremberg by Kunz Lochner, who also created armors for King Sigismund Augustus (Royal Armory in Stockholm, Kremlin Museum, and Polish Army Museum in Warsaw). The rich, colorful decoration, unusual for German armor, was probably made to the customer's specifications. This half-armor was once part of a field and tournament ensemble. Other pieces from this ensemble from the armory of Nesvizh Castle (Belarus), the Radziwill family residence, are preserved in Paris (sallet, Musée de l'Armée, inv. 3570) and in New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art, several pieces). The armor was presented by Radziwill to Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria (1529-1595), a relative of King Sigismund Augustus and Imperial Count of Tyrol. Its presence in the Archduke's collection dates back to 1593. At Wawel Castle there is a conical helmet from 1561, which, according to tradition, belonged to Nicolaus (inv. 1370, purchased in Paris in 1937).

The "general" in Titian's painting wears a chainmail and, over it, a splendid Renaissance doublet. His Renaissance costume is completed by a decorative burgonet helmet adorned with a dragon. This burgonet is held by Cupid, son of Mars, god of war, and Venus, goddess of love, which indicates that the man was depicted in mythological disguise. Considering the identification of the sitter with Nicolaus "the Black," this mythological costume could be that of Palemon (Publius Libon), legendary Roman founder of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and relative of Emperor Nero.

In 2019, a Portrait of a commander, attributed to the Brescian painter Agostino Galeazzi (1523-1576) was auctioned in Vienna (oil on canvas, 128 x 107.5 cm, Dorotheum, October 22, 2019, lot 40). Due to a certain similarity in facial features, pose, and armor to the Titian painting from the Potocki collection, now at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles (oil on canvas, 110 x 80 cm, inv. 2003.486), the portrait is considered to represent Alfonso d'Avalos (1502-1546), an Italian condottiero of Aragonese origin. Stanisław Krzyżanowski (1841-1881) described Titian's painting in his book published in Kraków in 1862 about the Potocki Palace in Tulchyn, Ukraine ("Tulczyn ...", p. 15). According to family tradition, the portrait of d'Avalos came from the collection of King John III Sobieski (1629-1696) or Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski (1732-1798) (after "Portret Alfonsa d'Avalos Tycjana z kolekcji Potockich" by Agnieszka Woźniak, p. 557), so it could have come from an earlier royal collection, such as that of the Jagiellons. Mieczysław Potocki (1799-1878) transferred the painting collection from Tulchyn to France. The portrait of d'Avalos is believed to have been painted between January and February 1533; the commander died in 1546. However, the man in Galeazzi's portrait is dressed according to later fashion, more typical of the late 1550s or early 1560s. Similar Spanish-style hose (calzas, chausses), codpiece (bragueta), and small ruff can be seen in a portrait of Don Carlos (1545-1568), son of King Philip II of Spain, in the Prado Museum in Madrid, believed to have been painted between 1555 and 1559 (inv. P001136). Similar armor and chausses with codpiece are also seen in a portrait of the 16-year-old Alessandro Farnese (1545-1592), painted in 1561 by Antonis Mor (Meadows Museum, inv. MM.71.04, inscription top right: ANNO ÆTATIS SVE. XVI. / 1561); the ruff is larger in Alessandro's portrait. According to Marco Tanzi, Galeazzi's portrait also lacks the Order of the Golden Fleece, which d'Avalos received in 1531, visible in a painting by Titian from the Potocki collection. Similar chausses and a ruff are also visible in a portrait by Titian in Kassel, which is considered to have been painted in the early 1550s. In the image of Radziwill "the Black" in the Hermitage Museum (inv. ОР-45841), Spanish-style chausses can also be seen, accompanied by a ruff and decorative armor. The same is true for the image of Nicolaus's brother John (inv. ОР-45844), while his father John "the Bearded" wears fantastically decorated armor (inv. ОР-45838).

As the most important political figure in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after the king in the 1550s and 1560s, his contacts undoubtedly extended to Italy and Spain. Although there is no direct evidence of these contacts, several facts attest to them. In April 1552, Radziwill met his "nephew" Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567). Together, they set off on horseback, then by barge on the Vistula River, for Gdańsk, from where the young Tarnowski embarked on a journey to Brussels, where he was presented to Emperor Charles V, then to London, Basel, and finally to Italy. In early 1553, Nicolaus "the Black" was sent to the court of Ferdinand I to dissuade him from forming an alliance with Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. During his stay in Vienna, he concluded the marriage of Sigismund Augustus to his relative Catherine of Austria (the king agreed to a third marriage on April 10, 1553). He also replaced the monarch during the marriage per procura, as well as on the symbolic wedding night, during which Catherine was ashamed to lie down next to Radziwill, but was forced to do so by her father Ferdinand, who grabbed her by the head, and by her elder brother Maximilian (1527-1576), who grabbed her by the legs (after "Ostatnia z rodu" by Paweł Jasienica, p. 88). From 1548 to 1551, during the absence of Prince Philip, Maximilian and his wife Maria of Spain (1528-1603) acted as regents of Spain and moved to live in Vienna in 1552. The Lutsk Regional Museum houses a large painting, painted between 1752 and 1759, depicting the scene of the marriage per procura in Vienna in 1553 with Radziwill "the Black" and Catherine (inv. Ж-260, КВ-26383). In 1556, Pier Paolo Vergerio (1498-1565), educated in Padua, dedicated a translation of the work of the Spanish reformer Juan de Valdés, "The Spiritual Milk" (Lac spirituale), to Radziwill's son, Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan". In October 1556, Vergerio stayed in Vilnius where he met Queen Catherine and Radziwill "the Black".

In Galeazzi's portrait, the man holds a simple military baton, typical of portraits of Spanish commanders. Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill holds a similar baton in his likeness, taken from Archduke Ferdinand II's Armamentarium Heroicum, the catalog of the arms in the Archduke's collection held at Ambras Castle, published in Innsbruck in 1601. The print was made by the Flemish engraver Dominicus Custos (1560-1612) after a drawing attributed to the Veronese draftsman and engraver Giovanni Battista Fontana (1524-1587), accompanied by Nicolaus's biography in Latin (British Museum, inv. 1871,0812.448). Moreover, the man in Galeazzi's portrait resembles Radziwill in Custos's engraving, the right eyebrow is very similar. The same applies to the portrait by Titian in Kassel, which clearly depicts the same man. The facial features are also comparable to those of Radziwill's son, Cardinal George Radziwill (1556-1600), painted by an Italian painter around 1592 (Lutsk Regional Museum, inv. Ж-31, КВ-16425). The dark black hair and beard in the paintings by Titian and Galeazzi also correspond to known effigies of Radziwill "the Black".

Agostino Galeazzi was a pupil of Alessandro Bonvicino, known as Moretto da Brescia. From his youth, he worked in Moretto's workshop alongside Giovanni Battista Moroni until the master's death in 1554. He may have collaborated with Moretto on the portrait of Nicolaus's cousin, Queen Barbara Radziwill, depicted as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (Museum of Nysa), which I have identified and attributed. Since Galeazzi was one of the most faithful followers of Moretto's style, critics tend to attribute to him the creation of certain paintings sometimes attributed to Bonvicino.

In one of his earliest solo paintings, the Adoration of the Magi from San Pietro in Oliveto, painted in 1551 (Centro Pastorale Paolo VI in Brescia), the central figure of Saint Melchior wears a crimson cloak lined with lynx fur, typical of the Sarmatian nobility of the time, while the Magi's servants in the background also evoke the typical effigies of the inhabitants of Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia. The full-length portrait of King Sigismund Augustus from 1563, now in the North Carolina Museum of Art (inv. GL.60.17.46), is also attributed to Galeazzi.

​Portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos (1502-1546) with a page from the Potocki collection by Titian, ca. 1533, Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

​Portrait of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565) with Cupid and a dog by Titian, ca. 1550-1552, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel.

​Portrait of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565) holding a baton by Agostino Galeazzi, ca. 1555-1560, Private collection.

Portraits of Halszka Ostrogska by Bernardino Licinio and workshop of Tintoretto

"What's happening to me? where I was taken? To France, or to Italy, or elsewhere? And after all, a neighbor invited me to his wedding, and I see a strange dress in this circle of female gender, and I don't see any Polish woman here, I don't know who I honor and welcome. This one sits, I see, she's from the domain of Venice, and this one in this robe, from the land of Spain. This one is supposedly French, and the other wears a Netherlandish outfit, or it's Florentine?", describes the great diversity of women's fashion in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in his satire "Reprimand of Women's Extravagant Attire" (Przygana wymyślnym strojom białogłowskim), published in Kraków in 1600, Piotr Zbylitowski (1569-1649), a poet and courtier.

From 1585, Zbylitowski was a courtier of Stanisław Górka (1538-1592), voivode of Poznań, then, in 1593, he participated in the Czarnkowski embassy to King Sigismund III, who was staying in Sweden. After returning to Poland, he married Barbara Słupska and settled in the village of Marcinkowice near Sącz in Southern Poland.

In addition to the diversity of dress, which has been confirmed in Poland-Lithuania since at least the sumptuous wedding ceremonies of Sigismund II Augustus in 1543, in this work, which he dedicated to his patroness starościna Zofia Czarnkowska née Herburt (d. 1631), he also criticize the great opulence of clothing and jewelry. Extravagant headdresses, crowns and ruffs on heads, pearls and rubies, necklaces of precious diamonds, dresses with "six sleeves" adorned with pearls and precious stones, Spanish and French farthingale (portugał jak się na niej koli), conical caps similar to Turkish kiwior, robes embroidered with gold, lead him to scathing remarks - "it's a pity that she doesn't hang anything on her nose either", "how the neck will not tear from these severe ruffs" of Flemish lace, "it would be hard for her to go to work" or "it is difficult to recognize them in such clothes". 

The women of Poland-Lithuania dressed according to the latest fashion from Italy, Spain and France, because due the high price of Polish grain "it is not expensive" and such a rich dress can be made just "for a heap of rye". To their conservative husbands wanting them to wear more modest or Polish clothes, the wives responded angrily: "I am your companion, not your handmaid, I am allowed as you, I am not a slave". The Synod of Protestants in Poznań convened in 1570, enacted a rule of reprimanding and punishing the "licentious clothes", which generally did not bring the desired results (after "Reformacja w Polsce" by Henryk Barycz, Volume 4, p. 39).

This opulence of costume was as in Italy, Spain and France undoubtedly reflected in portraiture, however, someone checking the portraits of women from Poland-Lithuania before the Delugue (1655-1660), and this article, will unmistakably have the impression that it was a poor country of old nuns. This would be correct because the majority of the portraits that survived the destruction during the wars and the subsequent impoverishment of the country were created by less skilled local artists for churches and monasteries. Such portraits were commissioned by wealthy women in their old age for the temples they founded or supported. Thus, they were depicted in a black outfit covering the whole body, a white bonnet covering the hair and ears and holding a rosary. A large number of these portraits have survived because either they were not of high artistic class, or they were created for provincial churches, far from the major economic centers of the country, which were destroyed, or both. Over a century of portraiture in Poland-Lithuania of mainly young women, disappeared almost completely.

In 1551, the richest bride in Poland-Lithuania - Elizabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh also known as Halszka Ostrogska (illustri virgini Elisabetae Duci Ostroviensi, Kxięzna Helska Ilijna Ostroska, Hałżbieta Ilinaja Kniażna Ostroskaja), reached the legal age of marriage (12) and the battle for her hand began. She was the only child of Beata Kościelecka (1515-1576), the illegitimate daughter of king Sigismund I and protegee of Queen Bona, and her husband Illia (1510-1539), Prince of Ostroh.

Halszka's huge fortune aroused so much interest that in 1551 the Sejm in Vilnius adopted a special resolution stating that "the widow [Beata] may not marry her daughter without the consent of close relatives", including guardians, her uncle Prince Constantine Vasily (1526-1608) and king Sigismund II Augustus. Two years later, in 1553, Constantine Vasily decided to marry Halszka to Prince Dmytro Sangushko (1530-1554), a hero of the defense of Zhytomyr from the attack of the Tatars and the eldest son of her other guardian Prince Fyodor Sangushko (d. 1547). Dmytro received written consent from Constantin Vasily and the mother for the marriage, however, when the king objected, the mother withdrew her consent. At the beginning of September 1553, Constantin Vasily and Dmytro arrived in Ostroh, where the widow lived with her daughter and stormed the castle. During the forced marriage ceremony on September 6, 1553, Halszka was silent and her uncle answered for her. Beata wrote a complaint to the king that the marriage took place without her consent and Sigismund II Augustus deprived Sangushko of the post of the starost and ordered him to appear in January 1554 in Knyszyn at the royal court. Despite the intervention of Ferdinand I of Austria, King of the Romans and future Emperor, who was constantly intriguing against the Jagiellons, in a letter dated December 11, 1553, blaming the incident on Halszka's mother, who "began to appropriate her daughter and, without her uncle's permission and consent, wanted to marry her off as she wished", Prince Constantine Vasily was deprived of the rights of guardian by the king and Dmytro was sentenced to infamy for failure to appear at the court, expulsion from the state, confiscation of property and an obligation to return Halszka to her mother. On January 20, 1554, a reward of 200 złotys was announced for Sangushko's head.

Dmytro and Halszka, disguised as a servant, fled to Bohemia, hoping to take refuge in the Roudnice castle, which belonged to the hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski, father-in-law of Prince Constantine Vasily. They were pursued by the Voivode of Kalisz Marcin Zborowski, who captured them at Lysá nad Labem near Prague and fearing that Ferdinand I would release Dmytro ordered his servants to kill him on the night of February 3 at Jaroměř near the Silesian border. For murder on the territory of a foreign state, Zborowski was arrested and imprisoned, however, thanks to the intercession of king Sigismund II Augustus, the Czech king soon ordered his release. Zborowski took Halszka to Poznań to her relatives, the Kościelecki and Górka families. On March 15, 1554, she saw her mother again, who arrived to Poznań.

The beauty and wealth of a young 14-year-old widow again attracted numerous suitors, including the sons of Marcin Zborowski, Piotr and Marcin, Calvinists. Beata opted for Orthodox Prince Semen Olelkovich-Slutsky (d. 1560). The king, however, decided to marry her to his loyal supporter count Łukasz III Górka (d. 1573), a Lutheran, which was announced in May 1555. With the support of Queen Bona, Beata and her daughter strongly opposed the will of the monarch and Halszka even wrote to Górka that she would rather die than marry him. However, with Bona's departure for Italy in 1556, the situation for them became increasingly difficult. 

Eventually the king lost his patience and decided to force the marriage. The wedding took place on February 16, 1559 at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, however, the marriage remained unconsummated (non consummatum). When the royal court moved to Vilnius, Princess Beata and her daughter fled secretly to Lviv, where they found refuge in a fortified male Dominican monastery. The king ordered Halszka to be separated from her mother and taken to her husband. Royal forces besieged the monastery but the women only gave up after their water supply was cut off. To the surprise of the Lviv starost who entered the monastery by order of the king, Beata announced that her daughter had just been married to Prince Olelkovich-Slutsky, who entered the monastery disguised as a beggar, and the marriage was consummated, so Górka would no longer be entitled to Halszka.

The young princess was delivered to Warsaw, where the king declared all agreements made with Prince Olelkovich-Slutsky to be null and void and she was handed over to Łukasz Górka, who, despite her resistance, soon brought her to his residence in Szamotuły. She often accompanied her husband, always dressed in black. When he died suddenly at the beginning of 1573, she intended to marry Jan Ostroróg, but her uncle Constantin Vasily did not allow her to do so. She returned to Ruthenia, where she died in Dubno in 1582 at the age of 43.

No signed effigy of Halszka preserved. In 1996, a Ukrainian artist created her imaginative portrait and depicted her like a nun holding a prayer book. 

In the Galerie Canesso in Paris, there is a painting depicting the "Young Lady and her Suitor", attributed to Bernardino Licinio, who died in Venice around 1565 (oil on panel, 81.3 x 114.3 cm). This painter made portraits of Halszka's mother, Beata, identified by me. It was sold in 2012 (Sotheby's New York, 26 January 2012, lot 21) and comes from the collection of Caroline Murat (1782-1839), Queen of Naples, sold in 1822, while she was in exile at the castle of Frohsdorf in Austria. She therefore probably acquired it in Austria, where resided king Ferdinand I or Naples, where collections of Queen Bona were moved after her death in Bari. It cannot be excluded that one of them received this painting as a gift.

The young lady with loose blond hair wears a green cloak, a color being symbolic of fertility. Her white linen chemise has fallen from her shoulder to reveal her breast. The bas relief behind her, showing a warrior in ancient armour, connotes mythology. It could depict Odysseus leaving Penelope, but at the later stage of the painting's creation, it was painted over and uncovered during a recent restoration of the work after 2012. The woman turns her face away while glancing at her suitor. In response, he places his right hand on her wrist and his left on his heart in a gesture imploring amorous passion and future promise. Echoing the beauties of Palma Vecchio and Titian, the painting is dated to around 1520, however, the costume of the suitor indicate that it was created much later. His crimson satin doublet and regularly slashed jerkin are almost identical to those seen in a portrait of Lodovico Capponi by Agnolo Bronzino (The Frick Collection, 1915.1.19), which is generally dated to around 1550-1555. His pose and his hat are reminiscent of King Edward VI holding a flower by William Scrots (National Portrait Gallery and Compton Verney), generally dated to around 1547-1550. 

​A workshop copy or by an unknown 17th century copyist, such as Alessandro Varotari (1588-1649), of this painting was put up for sale in 2023 in Mosta, Malta (oil on canvas, 112 x 87 cm, Belgravia Auction Gallery, December 9, 2023, lot 512). A reduced version of this composition is also known, showing only the man holding a document (a love letter?). It was in a private collection in Turin and was attributed to a Venetian painter of the first half of the 16th century (compare Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 39412). This painting was created either as a separate composition or, more likely, it is a fragment of the original painting that was cut and repainted later, so that the portrait of the woman and the man can be sold separately.

The same woman was depicted in another painting attributed to Licinio. It was confiscated during World War II from the collection of Van Rinckhuyzen in the Netherlands for Hitler's Führermuseum in Linz (oil on canvas, 80.5 x 81 cm). This painting is usually dated around 1514, but in this case the dating is also not very adequate because her black dress most closely resembles that seen in portrait of a poetess Laura Battiferri, also by Bronzino (Palazzo Vecchio in Florence), dated around 1555-1560. She is holding a feather fan, similar to that in the portrait of Catherine of Medici (1519-1589), Queen of France by Germain Le Mannier (Palazzo Pitti in Florence, inv. 1890, n. 2448), created between 1547-1559. 

She was also represented in a painting by workshop of Jacopo Tintoretto, today in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (oil on canvas, 102.9 x 86.4 cm, inventory number 180) from the 1550s. In all of mentioned effigies the model's face resemble the effigies of Halszka's mother and father by Bernardino Licinio, identified by me. Consequently the suitor in the Paris painting could be Dmytro Sangushko, Semen Olelkovich-Slutsky or Łukasz III Górka. 

​Portrait of Elizabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh (Halszka Ostrogska) and her suitor by Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1554-1555, Galerie Canesso in Paris.

​​Portrait of Elizabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh (Halszka Ostrogska) and her suitor by follower of Bernardino Licinio, after 1554 (17th century?), Private collection.

​Man with a love letter by workshop of Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1554-1555, private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of Elizabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh (Halszka Ostrogska) holding a feather fan by workshop of Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1555-1560, Private collection. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of Elizabeth (1539-1582), Princess of Ostroh (Halszka Ostrogska) by workshop of Tintoretto, 1550s, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Portrait of Adam Konarski by Jacopo Tintoretto

In 1552, a brilliant diplomatic career of a young nobleman from Greater Poland, Adam Konarski (1526-1574), began. King Sigismund Augustus sent him to Rome as an envoy to Pope Julius III. Perhaps the effect of this mission was the sending of the first apostolic nuncio to Poland in 1555, Bishop Luigi Lippomano.

Adam was a son of voivode of Kalisz Jerzy Konarski and Agnieszka Kobylińska. He studied at the Lubrański Academy in Poznań, then in Frankfurt an der Oder, from 1542 in Wittenberg and later in Padua, from where he returned to his homeland in 1547. He decided to devote himself to a career in the church as a priest, but as a result of refusal to receive the office of coadjutor of Poznań, he decided, upon the advice of his father, to pursue a secular career. In 1548 he became the secretary of King Sigismund Augustus and in 1551 he was appointed chamberlain of Poznań, the official responsible for supervising the servants and the courtiers of the king. In the same year, he finally received the Poznań provostry, but he did not quit his job at the royal chancellery.

On the occasion of the king's wedding with Catherine of Austria, he went to Kraków in June 1553 together with the nuncio Marco Antonio Maffei (1521-1583), Archbishop of Chieti (born in Bergamo in the Venetian Republic) and returned to Rome in November to stay there until April 1555 (after Emanuele Kanceff, ‎Richard Casimir Lewanski "Viaggiatori polacchi in Italia", p. 119). Upon his return, he received the post of canon of Kraków and scholastic of Łęczyca. He was again sent to Rome in 1557 after the death of Queen Bona and in 1560, also to Naples, regarding the inheritance of the Queen. In 1562, for his services to the king, he received the office of the bishop of Poznań, which he took upon his return to Poland in 1564. In 1563 Girolamo Maggi (ca. 1523-1572), an Italian scholar, jurist and poet, also known by his Latin name Hieronymus Magius, dedicated to Konarski his Variarvm lectionvm seu Miscalleneorum libri IIII, published in Venice (Venetiis : ex officina Iordani Zileti). In 1566-1567 Adam travelled to Padua.  

Bishop Konarski died on December 2, 1574 in Ciążeń and was buried in the Poznań Cathedral. His beautiful tomb monument there (in the Holy Trinity chapel) was created by royal sculptor (mentioned in the documents of the royal court in 1562), Gerolamo Canavesi, who, according to his signature, created it in his workshop at St. Florian's Street in Kraków (Opus Ieronimi Canavesi qui manet Cracoviae in platea Sancti Floriani). It was transported and installed in Poznań in about 1575. 

The portrait of a bearded man holding gloves by Jacopo Tintoretto in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin was purchased at Christie's, London, in 1866 (oil on canvas, 116 x 80 cm, inv. NGI.90). According to Latin inscription the man was 29 years old in 1555 (1555 / AETATIS.29), exactly as Adam Konarski when he was returning from his mission to Italy, undeniably through the Republic of Venice, to Poland-Lithuania. The man bears great resemblance to the effigy of Bishop Adam Konarski in the National Museum in Poznań and his tomb sculpture in the Poznań Cathedral.

Portrait of royal secretary Adam Konarski (1526-1574), aged 29 by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1555, National Gallery of Ireland.

Portraits of Franciszek Masłowski by Tintoretto

The years 1555-1557 were important in the life of the young nobleman Franciszek Masłowski (Franciscus Maslovius). In 1555 he was appointed counselor to the Polish nation at the University of Padua. The following year he undoubtedly participated with other Polish students in organizing the reception of Queen Bona Sforza who traveled to Bari via Padua and Venice. In 1557, at the age of around 27, he published in Padua his translation from Greek into Latin of Demetrius of Phalerum's treatise on rhetoric (Demetrii Phalerei, De elocutione liber a Francisco Maslovio Polono in Latinum conversus ...). 

In December 1555, Bona, who had taken her treasures with her and had previously sent money to Venice, was in Italy. Already in September 1555, her ambassador Arturo Pappacoda made efforts to obtain permission to pass through the lands of the Republic of Venice. The queen arrived in the city of Treviso, welcomed by the knight Giovanni Cappello (1497-1559), patricians of Treviso and Venice, who led her to the city of Padua. On March 27, 1556, she entered the city accompanied by her ladies traveling in twelve black velvet carriages each pulled by four horses. In each carriage sat three ladies dressed in Italian and Polish fashion, followed by other carriages for ladies and servants. The triumphal arch with Corinthian columns was built by the Veronese architect Michele Sanmicheli (1484-1559). Emblems and inscriptions adorned this gate and the figure of Bona represented as personification of Poland (la Polonia in figura di Reina) and provided with the inscription: Polonia virtutis parens et altrix, which could be translated as "Poland, nourisher and mother of virtue". A book by Alessandro Maggi da Bassano, a Paduan scholar and collector of antiquities, published in Padua in 1556, entitled "Description of the arch made in Padua on the arrival of the Most Serene Queen Bona of Poland" (Dichiaratione dell'arco fatto in Padova nella venvta della serenissima reina Bona di Polonia), describes the decorations. The allegorical statue of Bona was probably similar to the allegory of Poland from her tomb in Bari (Basilica of Saint Nicholas), in the form of a half-naked woman holding the arms of the kingdom (the eagle), sculpted by Francesco Zaccarella between 1589-1593.

The arrival of the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania was a very important event for the Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian community in Italy. The wealthy queen also distributed generous gifts, for example to several women from Padua, she presented each of them with a crucified Christ, carved from coral, and a hundred Hungarian gold coins (after "Il passaggio di regina Bona Sforza per Padova e Venezia" by Sandra Fyda, p. 29, 31). Thus, although she was the wife and mother of elected and not hereditary monarchs, her arrival was also important for the local population. The splendor of her reception was also noted by some foreigners, such as the Earl of Devonshire, who wrote on March 29, 1556 to John Mason, the English ambassador to the court of Charles V, that the Queen of Poland had arrived in Padua and had been received there with great solemnity (after "Polska w oczach Anglików ..." by Henryk Zins, p. 82). She was also received with great honors by the Duke of Ferrara, in whose palace she stayed. After a month-long stay in Padua, the queen arrived in Venice on April 26, 1556, where she was greeted with great pomp by a delegation of one hundred of the most distinguished patrician women. At the age of about 91, at the bequest of the Doge Francesco Venier (1489-1556), the Venetian writer Cassandra Fedele (ca. 1465-1558) gave her last public speech, an oration welcoming the queen. In Venice, Bona embarked for Bari, escorted by a fleet of galleys of the Serenissima. 

Masłowski dedicated his translation of Demetrius' work to Bishop Jan Przerębski (ca. 1519-1562), Vice-Chancellor of the Crown and royal secretary, with whose support he went to study in Italy in 1553. The dedicatory letter preceding his translation is dated from Padua on April 5, 1556 "when we were waiting for the arrival of Queen Bona" (Patauio. V. Cal. April. quo die Bonę reginę ad nos aduentum expectabamus. Anno à Christo nato MLLVI), however, this date is probably incorrect and should rather be March 1556 (compare "Kilka uwag o łacińskich przekładach traktatu Demetriusza ..." by Jerzy Starnawski, p. 201). He was helped in his work by a professor of philosophy and rhetoric Francesco Robortello (Franciscus Robortellus, 1516-1567), who encouraged Franciszek to translate the text when he took refuge from the plague at professor's country estate.

In 1557 another Pole Stanisław Iłowski (Stanislaus Ilovius, d. 1589), a nobleman of Prawda coat of arms, from Masovia, also published in Basel his Latin translation of the same treatise (Demetrij Phalerei De Elocutione Liber a Stanislao Ilovio Polono ...), which he dedicated to Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565), in dedicatory letter from 1556.

Franciszek actively participated in the life of Sarmatian students at the University of Padua, among whom were Jan Kochanowski, Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki (Andreas Patricius), Jan Grodziecki, Stanisław Warszewicki, Piotr Giezek (Petrus Gonesius) and Mikołaj Śmieszkowic (Nicolaus Gelasinus). His studies at the faculties of philosophy and law at the University of Padua lasted until 1558. Shortly after his return to Poland-Lithuania, he probably worked for Bishop Przerębski. He began his public activity as a deputy from the Sieradz Voivodeship to the Warsaw Sejm in 1570. In the same year, he became royal secretary to Sigismund Augustus and the Wieluń scribe. Later, he was also secretary to King Stephen Bathory. 

According to most sources, Franciszek was born around 1530 as the son of Piotr, a judge of Wieluń, and Anna Gawłowska (compare "Polski slownik biograficzny ...", 1935, Volume 20, p. 124). The noble Masłowski family of Samson coat of arms, from which he came, originated from the Wieluń region. His marriage to Konstancja Konarska left no descendants. He probably died after 1594, although according to some sources he died young in Padua. The epigram of his friend Jan Kochanowski Do Franciszka probably refers to his travels to Rome and Greece, and in 1573 he went to France with a Polish-Lithuanian delegation offering the throne to Henry of Valois.

In addition to Latin and Greek, he probably knew Italian well after five years of study in Italy and brought many souvenirs from his stay. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find any trace of the Masłowski family in Wieluń and the surrounding area today. The town was destroyed by fires in 1631 and 1644, but also by Swedish forces in 1656 and by Polish troops, who took revenge on its Protestant inhabitants for their support of the Lutheran Swedes. On September 1, 1939, the town was bombed by the German Luftwaffe.

Since Italy and especially Venice in the 16th century were famous for their painters, Franciszek most likely took many portraits with him. Kochanowski probably refers to such a portrait received as a gift from Masłowski in his In imaginem Franc. Maslovii, in which he comments that the "portrait is skillfully painted," but that the painter has not captured "the knowledge and the greatest talent" (Exiguam, Francisce, tui suavissime partem / Scita licet nobis ista tabella refert. / Agnosco faciem, verosque in imagine vultus, / Doctrinam et summum non video ingenium). These portraits were usually ordered in several copies, some of which the young student must have also given to his friends in Italy.

In the Fondation Bemberg, Hôtel d'Assézat, in Toulouse, France, is a "Portrait of a Gentleman" (Portrait de gentilhomme, oil on canvas, 107 x 88 cm, inv. 1167), attributed to Jacopo Robusti, better known as Tintoretto. A black embroidered velvet doublet, gloves, and a valuable sword held by the man indicate that he was a wealthy nobleman. The painting was acquired in Venice by an English amateur artist John Skippe (1741-1812) in 1784. Unfortunately, the identity of the sitter has long been lost. The family or friends of this young man, who owned the painting, did not affix any inscription or coat of arms to the portrait, indicating that he was probably a foreigner in the Venetian Republic. The date placed on the base of the column in the lower left corner of the painting, informs us in Italian that the man was 26 years old on March 12, 1556 (1556 / DI.XII MARZO / A.XXVI), exactly like Franciszek Masłowski, when with other members of the Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian community he was preparing for the arrival of Queen Bona.

According to my findings, Tintoretto often painted portraits of Bona's son, Sigismund Augustus; we can therefore assume with great probability that he also painted the portrait of his future secretary.

The same man, although older, was depicted in another painting attributed to Tintoretto, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 105.5 x 86 cm, inv. GG 1539). The painting can be verified in the 1720 inventory of the imperial painting collections of Stallburg in Vienna, so like other paintings in this collection, it most likely comes from former Habsburg collections. During the second interregnum (1575), Masłowski (together with his brother Gabriel) was a supporter of Emperor Maximilian II (1527-1576), son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), whose act of election he signed in 1575, against the Infanta Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) and her husband. In 1587, during the third royal election, he signed the election of the emperor's son, Archduke Maximilian III (1558-1618). The Habsburgs thus received an effigy of their supporter in the Commonwealth. The difference in eye color (blue and brown) is either the effect of the painter not having seen the real model at the time the Viennese painting was made around 1562 or later, or the use of cheaper pigments (common practice for copies). ​His dark hair and red beard were either natural or the effect of a certain fashion at the royal court.

​Portrait of a nobleman Franciszek Masłowski (ca. 1530 - after 1594), aged 26, holding a sword and gloves, by Tintoretto, 1556, Fondation Bemberg in Toulouse.

​Portrait of a nobleman Franciszek Masłowski (ca. 1530 - after 1594), sitting in a chair by Tintoretto, ca. 1562 or after, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Self-portraits and portraits of Sigismund Augustus by Lucia Anguissola

Provenance of a portrait of a lady sitting in a chair from the collection of the royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (inventory number Wil. 1602) is unknown. It was suggested that it comes from the collection of Aleksander Potocki or his parents - Aleksandra née Lubomirska and Stanisław Kostka Potocki, however it cannot be excluded that it comes from the royal collection. It may be tantamount to "The picture in which the Seated Lady" (No. 247. Obraz na ktorym Dama Siedzi), mentioned in the inventory of the Wilanów Palace from 1696 in the part concerning paintings brought from various royal residencies to Marywil Palace in Warsaw (Connotacya Obrazow, w Maryamwil, zostaiących, ktore zroznych Mieysc Comportowane były, items 242-303). The painting in Wilanów was attributed to Agnolo Bronzino and Scipione Pulzone. 

The woman was also depicted in other similar portrait in quarter-length, which is in Galleria Spada in Rome. This painting is attributed to Sofonisba Anguissola, while the costume is similar to that visible in Lucia Anguissola's self-portrait in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan. The latter painting is more a miniature (28 x 20 cm) and was signed and dated '1557' by the author (MD / LVII / LVCIA / ANGUISOLA / VIRGO AMILCA / RIS FILIA SE IP / SA PINX.IT). Lucia was Sofonisba's younger sister and was initiated into painting by Sofonisba and perhaps she perfected herself in Bernardino Campi's studio. Just two years earlier, in 1555, Lucia and her two other sisters Europa and Minerva were portrayed by Sofonisba in her famous Game of Chess, signed and dated on the edge of the chessboard (SOPHONISBA ANGUSSOLA VIRGO AMILCARIS FILIA EX VERA EFFIGIE TRES SUAS SORORES ET ANCILLAM PINXIT MDLV). The Game of Chess was acquired in Paris in 1823 by Atanazy Raczyński and today forms part of the collection of the National Museum in Poznań. The effigy of Lucia in the Game of Chess is very similar to mentioned two portraits in Wilanów and Galleria Spada. A copy of the portrait from Galleria Spada, in green dress, is in private collection. It was identified as effigy of Bianca Cappello, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and attributed to Alessandro di Cristofano Allori or as Sofonisba's self-portrait.

Also another portrait is similar to mentioned two works in Wilanów and Rome, a portrait of a lady as Saint Lucy, half-length, in a red embroidered dress and brown mantle, attributed to circle of Sofonisba Anguissola, which was sold in December 2012 (Christie's, lot 171). It was painted more from above, like a self potrait looking in the mirror above sitter's head, therefore the silhouette is more slender and the head bigger. She holds attributes of Saint Lucy (Latin Sancta Lucia, Italian Santa Lucia) - the palm branch, symbol of martyrdom and eyes, which were miraculously restored to her. 

The style of all these three larger effigies, in Wilanów, Galleria Spada and as Saint Lucy, is very similar to the best known work of Lucia Anguissola, the portrait of a physician from Cremona Pietro Manna holding the staff of Asclepius, today in the Prado Museum in Madrid. This work was also signed (LVCIA ANGVISOLA AMILCARIS / F[ilia] · ADOLESCENS · F[ecit]) and was probably sent to King Philip II of Spain to win the royal favor.

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus in armour in full-length in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, discovered by me in August 2017, is stylistically very similar to the portrait in Wilanów described above. In this portrait, however, the king has unnaturally big eyes, that were to become the hallmark of the Sofonisba's self-portraits and portrait miniatures by her hand. We can therefore assume that Lucia sent her self-portrait to Warsaw in order to enjoy royal favour and created some effigies of the royal family basing on miniatures created by her sister.

On November 29, 2017 another portrait attributed to Lucia Anguissola was sold at an auction (Wannenes Art Auctions, lot 657). This work is similar to Lucia's self-portrait in Castello Sforzesco, however her costume and coiffure are almost identical with the so-called Carleton Portrait in Chatsworth House, the portrait of Sigismund Augustus' second wife Barbara Radziwill (1520/23-1551) by circle of Titian. 

The Game of Chess by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1555, National Museum in Poznań.

Self-portrait in a dress of gold cloth by Lucia Anguissola, ca. 1555-1560, Galleria Spada in Rome.

Self-portrait in a green dress by Lucia Anguissola, ca. 1555-1560, Private collection.

Self-portrait sitting in a chair by Lucia Anguissola, ca. 1555-1560, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Self-portrait as Saint Lucy by Lucia Anguissola, ca. 1555-1560, Private collection.

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus by Lucia Anguissola, ca. 1555-1560, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

Portraits of the Jagiellons and Dukes of Pomerania by Giovanni Battista Perini and workshop 

"The most illustrious prince, a very dear friend. Not so long ago Johannes Perinus, our distinguished and faithful painter, complained to us, although the inheritance of his uncle the late Johannes Perinus had passed to himself and his brothers by a legitimate line of succession as the closest relatives, yet they discovered Franciscus Taurellus and his consorts, who from the donation they would contend that the same inheritance belonged to them" (Illustrissime princeps, amice plurimum dilecte. Conquestus est apud nos non ita pridem Johannes Perinus, pictor insignis ac fidelis noster, etsi haereditas patrui quondam Johannis Perini ad se fratresque suos legitimo successionis tramite tanquam ad proximos agnatos ab intestato devoluta esset, repertos tamen Franciscum Taurellum et consortes eius, qui (quod) ex donatione eandem haereditatem ad se pertinere contenderent), wrote Duke John Frederick of Pomerania (1542-1600) in a letter dated June 10, 1578 from Szczecin to Francesco I de' Medici (1541-1587), Grand Duke of Tuscany.
 
The duke intervened in favor of the Italian painter Giovanni Battista Perini (Parine) from Florence, his court painter. Before he become the "Princely Pomeranian portrait painter" (fürstlich-pommerischen Contrafaitmaler), he worked for the Electoral court in Berlin and in about 1562 he created the portrait of Electress Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573), known from a copy by Heinrich Bollandt (Berlin Palace, lost during World War II), and the portrait of her husband Joachim II (Berlin City Museum, VII 60/642 x). He probably became Joachim's court painter in 1524, as a certain painter Johann Baptista was mentioned as such at that date, and he was considered "the best painter of all in the Margraviate [of Brandenburg]" (der beste Maler überhaupt in der Mark). As he worked for the Electress and as it was customary in the 16th century to lend painters to other royal and princely courts, he probably also worked for the Jagiellons.

A certain Giovanni Battista Perini, son of Piero, is mentioned in Florence in 1561 and 1563, but the profession is not specified. If he was the painter of Joachim II, then either he returned to his homeland, or he worked on the orders of the Elector from Florence.

We generally think of "remote work" as a 21st century invention, however, already in the 16th century or even earlier many artists were working remotely. Cranach thus worked for several of his clients, as well as many Venetian painters, in particular Titian, copying other paintings and study drawings. For Charles V, in 1548 he painted his wife Isabella of Portugal, who died in 1539, using a mediocre painting as a reference. The Roman sculptor Bernini thus worked for Cardinal Richelieu of France and King of England. The so-called "Book of Effigies" (Visierungsbuch), lost during the World War II, was full of various preparatory drawings for the effigies of the Pomeranian dukes, mainly by Cranach's workshop, including the portraits of John Frederick and his brother Ernest Louis from 1553. They were most likely rendered by the painters with the ready-made portraits. 

The scenario that the Elector's lack of payment prompted Perini to leave Florence to personally claim his due and when he did not receive it he decided to enter the service of the Duke of Pomerania, is also possible. Joachim II died in 1571 and that year he painted the Electress Catharine (in a letter to the same, he asked 110 thalers for it, while she only wanted to give him 80 thalers), and passed at this period much of his time at Kostrzyn (Cüstrin), where he painted the celebrated Leonhard Thurneysser, as appears from one of his letters. Thurneysser paid him 20 thalers for it (after "Berliner Kunstblatt" by Ernst Heinrich Toelken, Volume 1, p. 143).

Perini was employed by the ducal house of Pomerania as early as 1575, because on September 6, 1575, the dowager Duchess Mary of Saxony (1515-1583) wrote in a letter from Wolgast to her eldest son, Duke John Frederick, that the painter complained to her about his salary which was not paid by the elector of Brandenburg (after "Baltische Studien", Volume 36, p. 66). In 1577 he created the retable for the ducal chapel in Szczecin, rebuilt in the Renaissance style between 1575-1577 and decorated with Italianate frescoes (destroyed during air raids in 1944). He undoubtedly made many portraits, however, only one mention, in the inventory of the estate of Duke Barnim X/XII (1549-1603), is known: "full-length effigy of the late Duke John Frederick and of his wife by Johann Baptist" (hochseligen Herzog Johann Friedrichs F. G. und derselben Gemahlin Contrafei per Johannem Baptistam ganzer Gestalt). He died on April 6, 1584 in Szczecin.

Duke John Frederick's contacts with his "very dear friend" Grand Duke Francesco were certainly not limited to a single letter. Monarchs of this era frequently exchanged their effigies and precious gifts and Francesco was a renowned patron of the arts.

In 1560, one of the most productive medalists of the Italian Renaissance, Pastorino de' Pastorini (1508-1592), who four years earlier (in 1556) created a medal with a bust of Queen Bona Sforza, made a medal with bust of Grand Duke Francesco (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974.167). On the obverse it shows the profile of the duke and on the reverse Tiberinus, the genius of the Tiber, and the inscription Felicitati Temporum S.P.Q.R. in Latin. Twelve years later, in 1572, he created another medal of the Duke and in 1579 a medal of his wife Bianca Cappello (Museo del Bargello and British Museum).

Perhaps Francesco recommended Pastorini to Duke John Frederick because the gold medal with his bust was clearly created in Pastorini's style (Münzkabinett in Dresden, BRA4086). Stylistically it is particularly similar to the medals of Gianfrancesco Boniperti and Massimiano Gonzaga, Marquis of Luzzara from the 1550s (both in the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and the medal of Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, from about 1534 (National Gallery of Art, Washington).

According to the date in Latin it was minted in 1573 (M.D.LXXIII). His age is also in Latin (Æ XXXII), his name, however, and the title abbreviation are in German (Hans Friderich H[erzog] Z[u] S[tettin] P[ommern]). Medal with bust of Gracia Nasi the Younger (la Chica) by Pastorini from about 1558 bears the name of the sitter in Hebrew characters and her age in Latin, therefore, such mixtures of languages were not new to Pastorini. Two shaking hands and the inscription "Remember Me" (Memento Me) on the back of John Frederick's medal suggest that it was a gift to his relatives in Saxony.

Between 1971 and 1984, the Royal Castle in Warsaw was rebuilt with funds collected by civil society committees organized throughout Poland and in many foreign countries with large Polish communities. The building, which was the seat of the Polish kings and parliament, was bombed by the Germans in September 1939. During the following years of German occupation, the castle was methodically robbed and looted by the occupier and deliberately left unrestored to cause further damage. In September 1944, shortly before the end of World War II, the Germans blew up the building.

In 1977, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany donated three full-length portraits of the Jagiellons - Sigismund I, his second wife Bona Sforza and his eldest daughter Isabella Jagiellon, Queen of Hungary, to the rebuilt Royal Castle (oil on canvas, 203.5 x 108, 210.5 x 111, 203.5 x 111.5 cm, inventory number ZKW/59, ZKW/60, ZKW/61). The paintings come from the Wittelsbach collection in Munich and may have been part of the dowry of Anna Catherine Constance Vasa, the great-granddaughter of Sigismund and Bona. The painter evidently used the same or similar set of preparatory drawings as the studio of Lucas Cranach the Younger to create miniatures of the Jagiellon family, dated variably between 1553 and 1565 (Czartoryski Museum). These miniatures were bought in London before the mid-19th century by a Polish collector, Adolf Cichowski and purchased by Władysław Czartoryski in Paris in 1859 at the auction of his collection. The provenance of Cranach's set in England is not known. Miniatures commissioned by Polish monarchs from a foreign artist in the 16th century were again purchased abroad in the 19th century.

At that time, Cranach's workshop created several full-length portraits, such as the effigy of Augustus, Elector of Saxony and his wife Anna of Denmark from around 1564 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna), from the imperial collection of the Stallburg in Vienna, therefore very probably a gift to the Habsburgs, or portraits of Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt and his first wife Agnes of Barby-Mühlingen, painted in 1563 (Georgium in Dessau). Thus the paintings of the Jagiellons could be part of a large order for the effigies of the royal family from different painters, including Cranach. Because of this general similarity to miniatures, the Warsaw full-length portraits are attributed to a German or Polish painter, but their style and technique indicate Italian influences.

The set in the Czartoryski Museum is made up of 10 miniature portraits, so at least 7 effigies from the Warsaw cycle are missing, assuming it reflected the Cranach miniatures. The portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (oil on canvas, 201 x 99 cm, Gm 622), destroyed during the Second World War, was probably part of this series as well as two other paintings from this museum - portraits of two wives of Sigismund II Augustus, Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545) and Catherine of Austria (1533-1572), daughters of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547). The composition of the two latter is slightly different from the four paintings described above. They have similar measurements (oil on canvas, 200 x 103 cm, Gm617 and 195.5 x 101.5 cm, Gm623), however, these two have inscriptions in German and in Latin, so either they were from another set or these two alone were made and sent to the sister of the two queens Anna of Austria (1528-1590), Duchess of Bavaria. 

Both paintings depicting the wives of Sigismund Augustus have a similar monogram PF, which is identified as the painter's monogram, but his identity remains unknown, hence he is called the Monogramist PF. The style of the two paintings resembles that of the portrait of Joachim II by Perini in Berlin. His portrait is unsigned and bears a Latin inscription, but its style indicates that the author was a German court painter. It is possible that in the portraits of two queens of Poland the inscription was also added later, and the monogram could be the abbreviation of Perini fecit in Latin, that is, made by Perini. Possibly also the full-length portrait of Sigismund II Augustus in armor by Lucia Anguissola, discovered by me in 2017 (oil on canvas, 200 x 118 cm, Alte Pinakothek in Munich, 7128), belonged to this or a similar cycle, although its composition is different and the painter does not copy the same effigy as Cranach in the Czartoryski series.

Another portrait that could be from the same workshop is the portrait of a bearded man in the Palace of Versailles (oil on paper mounted on canvas, 96 x 77 cm, inv. 893 / M.R.B. 172). It is generally dated to the 17th century, but its style and sitter's costume indicate that it dates from the mid-16th century. The man bears a strong resemblance to the effigy of King Sigismund II Augustus by Venetian painter Battista Franco Veneziano from around 1561 (print, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, RP-P-OB-105.261). Another possible author of this painting could be Giovanni del Monte, who was court painter to the king around 1557, however no signed work by this painter is known.

The only known portrait of Pomeranian rulers attributed to Giovanni Battista Perini was the effigy of Duke John Frederick in the Pomeranian Museum in Szczecin, which was lost during World War II. According to the Latin inscription, it was painted in 1571 (ANNO DOMINI 1571), four years before Perini is generally thought to have entered the Duke's service. Italianate portrait of Duke John Frederick and his wife Erdmuthe of Brandenburg as donors under the crucifix in the main altar of the Church of St. Hyacinth in Słupsk, was undoubtedly created in Perini's milieu. It was most probably founded by Erdmuthe and most likely painted by Jakob Funck in 1602, a painter and carpenter from Kołobrzeg, who signed it with a monogram I.F.F. (Jacobus Funck fecit) on the cross. He may have been trained in Perini's workshop.

In the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm there is a similar small portrait of a princely couple, also close to the style of Perini, although attributed to Lucas Cranach the Younger (oil on panel, 32 x 52 cm, NMGrh 94). It comes from the Gripsholm Castle and according to the 18th century Swedish inscription it depicts Christian IV of Denmark (1577-1648) and his wife Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (1575-1612), which is obviously incorrect as the couple is dressed in costumes from the 1590s, but when they married in 1597, Christian and Anne Catherine were in their twenties while the couple in the painting is much older and effigies do not match other portraits of the King of Denmark and his wife. It can also be compared to the portrait of John Frederick's younger brother Boguslaus XIII and his wife Anna of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg from 1600 and the effigy of a woman closely resembles the model medal with bust of Erdmuthe by Tobias Wolff from 1600 (Münzkabinett in Berlin). The man's face, apart from the mentioned portrait in Słupsk, also resembles the face of Duke John Frederick from his 1594 silver thaler (Münzkabinett in Berlin). Therefore, the painting was most likely transported to Sweden after 1630 during the Swedish occupation of Pomerania.

​Portrait of King Sigismund I (1467-1548) by workshop of Giovanni Battista Perini, 1550s or 1560s, Royal Castle in Warsaw.

​Portrait of Queen Bona Sforza (1494-1557) by workshop of Giovanni Battista Perini, 1550s or 1560s, Royal Castle in Warsaw.

​Portrait of Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), Queen of Hungary by workshop of Giovanni Battista Perini, 1550s or 1560s, Royal Castle in Warsaw.

​Portrait of Crown Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) by workshop of Giovanni Battista Perini, 1550s or 1560s, Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, lost. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portrait of Queen Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545), aged 16 by Giovanni Battista Perini, 1542 or after, Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.

​Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572), aged 24 by Giovanni Battista Perini, 1557 or after, Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) by Giovanni Battista Perini or Giovanni del Monte, ca. 1560, Palace of Versailles. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Gold medal with bust of Duke John Frederick of Pomerania (1542-1600), aged 32 by Pastorino de' Pastorini, 1573, Münzkabinett in Dresden (Photo: © SKD). 

​Portrait of Duke John Frederick of Pomerania (1542-1600) and his wife Erdmuthe of Brandenburg (1561-1623) by circle of Giovanni Battista Perini, possibly Jakob Funck, 1590s, Gripsholm Castle.

Portaits of Sophia Jagiellon, Duchess of Brunswick by Lucas Cranach the Younger, French and Flemish painters

​Following the Second Margraves' War (1552-1555), King Ferdinand I confiscated the estates of Albert II Alcibiades (1522-1557), Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, grandson of Sophia Jagiellon (1464-1512), and his lands were subject to imperial sequestration. Upon Albert's death on January 8, 1557 in Pforzheim, the inheritance was claimed by two other descendants of Sophia Jagiellon: her other grandson George Frederick (1539-1603), Margrave of Ansbach, and her son Albert of Prussia (1490-1568). By mid-February 1557, Margrave George Frederick already had the support of a large group of allies, including the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, the Duke of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Küstrin and the Landgrave of Hesse, as well as the Duke of Württemberg and the Margrave of Baden. These and their advisors jointly petitioned King Ferdinand, the Emperor's representative, to demand that George Frederick be immediately invested with the Principality of Kulmbach and, in lengthy speeches, described the current situation as a disgrace to the House of Brandenburg.

Having already assumed the government of the Principality of Ansbach in 1556, at the age of 15, George Frederick sought, after the death of Albert Alcibiades, who died without issue, to reunite the Kulmbach region, occupied by the Bohemian Governor, Count Schlick, under imperial sequestration, with the principality he had inherited. Thanks to the efforts of his family and allies, the young prince finally obtained the withdrawal of the Bohemian Governor, which allowed him to enter the city of Bayreuth on March 27, 1557. To the great displeasure of the Catholic Habsburgs, the Protestant George Frederick reunited in his hands substantial lands surrounding the imperial city of Nuremberg, as well as several possessions in Silesia.

As for Albert of Prussia's claims, although he was supported by Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia and Sigismund Augustus and his wife, Catherine of Austria, decided to write personal letters of support, it was claimed that, upon the election as the Grand Master, the Duke had renounced his claims to the Franconian inheritance. His Brandenburg relatives also opposed Albert's investiture (after "Das preussisch polnische Lehnsverhältnis ..." by Stephan Dolezel, p. 93). 

The complex case of the Franconian inheritance was undoubtedly discussed in Wolfenbüttel, where the aged Henry II (V) "the Younger" (1489-1568), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and his much younger wife Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575) hosted the electoral couple of Saxony - Augustus (1526-1586) and his wife Anne of Denmark (1532-1585), Prince Magnus of Denmark (1540-1583), Duke of Holstein, and two dukes of the House of Guelph - Otto II (1528-1603), Duke of Brunswick-Harburg and Ernest III of Brunswick-Grubenhagen-Herzberg (1518-1567), husband of Margaret of Pomerania-Wolgast (1518-1569). The Duke of Brunswick, who took command of the League's troops against Albert II Alcibiades, lost two eldest sons at the Battle of Sievershausen in 1553. His youngest son, Julius, destined to become a clergyman and infirm, became heir to the principality to the despair of his father, who noticed his fragile constitution and his sympathies for French culture and the Protestant faith (after "Wolfenbüttel: Geist und Glanz einer alten Residenz" by Friedrich Thöne, p. 43). Therefore, Henry, then sixty-seven years old and widowed since 1541, decided to marry the Jagiellonian princess (February 22, 1556). The Duke designated the future children of this marriage as his heirs, while Julius was to receive a life annuity. However, Henry's second marriage remained childless.

Sophia brought 32,000 florins as a dowry and a rich trousseau worth 100,000 to 150,000 thalers, silverware, carpets and jewelry and later inherited 50,000 ducats from Bona's inheritance. Shortly after the wedding, the duke decided to rebuild Wolfenbüttel Castle, as he indicated in his letter to Philip I (1504-1567), Landgrave of Hesse, dated June 25, 1556. The architect was probably Francesco Geromella (Chiaramella) da Gandino, who worked in Wolfenbüttel between 1556 and 1559 and who probably arrived in Wolfenbüttel from Venice (his presence there is confirmed in September 1554). The Langelsheim steelworks, founded by Duke Henry in 1556, was named Frau-Sophien-Hütte in Sophia's honor. Prince Julius, in turn, was a propagator of French culture. He studied first in Cologne, then in Leuven in Flanders, and from 1550 he traveled to France. After the initial tensions following Henry's death, Sophia's relationship with her stepson was friendly, as evidenced by a letter from Julius dated December 30, 1573, in which he offered her, as a New Year's gift, a carved alabaster and marble door frame (ein Thürgericht) and a vase (Kantel) made of the same material. These works were by the renowned French sculptor Adam Lecuir (Liquier Beaumont), who also created the funerary sculpture of Sophia in St. Mary's Church in Wolfenbüttel. Also at this time, the widowed duchess became friends with the Francophile Landgrave William IV of Hesse-Kassel (1532–1592) and supported the French bid for the Polish throne. 

Sophia also had Schöningen Castle, her widow's seat, rebuilt. She ordered large windows to be made in the main, residential part of the castle, overlooking the courtyard, from which an entrance in the form of a spiral staircase was built. In the "new tower", on the wall of the chamber intended for the castle chapel, a beautiful Renaissance bay window (more Italico) was constructed. In 1569, a bell funded by Sophia was hung in the eastern tower of the castle. The building had numerous bedrooms, service rooms, kitchens, pantries, a large dance hall (Dantz Sadell), a chapel and a magnificent fountain erected in the middle of the courtyard. Inventories from 1575 mention more than 100 pictures hanging on the walls of the rooms occupied by Sophia or placed on furniture. Most of them, up to 70, were devoted to religious themes, including the Passion, the Crucifixion, and effigies of the Virgin Mary. On the other hand, the absence of images of Saint Stanislaus, Saint Adalbert, and other patron saints of Poland in this collection is somewhat surprising, although Sophia owned paintings of Saint John, Saint Christopher, and Saint Bernard. She also owned a painting depicting the beheading in 1568 of the leaders of the anti-Spanish opposition in the Netherlands and 31 portraits, including Sigismund Augustus, the children of Catherine Jagiellon, Sigismund and Anna, and Henry of Valois, King of Poland and France. However, the list does not include the portrait of Bona Sforza promised to Sophia by her sister Catherine in 1572, and strangely enough, there are no images of the princess's sisters, nor finally a portrait of herself, although it is known that such a picture was painted in 1556 by Peter Spitzer (after "Zofia Jagiellonka ..." by Jan Pirożyński, p. 117, 130, 135). This indicates that some of the paintings depicting religious scenes were in fact disguised portraits. Sophia's German family was represented by a portrait of Duke Henry in full armor, and then portraits of his daughters from his first marriage - Catherine and Margaret, Duke Julius and his wife Hedwig of Brandenburg (1540-1602), daughter of Sophia's stepsister, Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573). According to the inventory of Wolfenbüttel Castle drawn up in 1589, it is known that in the large "Burgundy Hall" there were two portraits depicting Duke Henry the Younger with the Order of the Golden Fleece and his second wife Sophia Jagiellon. It can be assumed that these two paintings previously belonged to Sophia, although they are not mentioned in the Schöningen inventory of 1575.

A private collection holds a fragment of a painting, painted in the style of Lucas Cranach the Younger, depicting the head and bust of a reclining nude woman in a landscape (panel, 35.5 x 30.5 cm). The painting was confiscated in 1938 from the family of the Jewish art dealer Heinemann in Munich. It is considered a fragment of a larger composition depicting the reclining water nymph Egeria, a form of the Roman goddess of the hunt Diana, as in the disguised portraits of Queen Bona, mother of Sophia, that I have identified. In this respect, the painting can be compared with the one by Lucas Cranach the Younger in the National Museum in Oslo, dated "1550" (inv. NG.M.00522). Interestingly, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo owns another painting by Lucas Cranach the Younger, which appears to be a fragment of the same painting as the woman's face from the Heinemann collection (panel, 53 x 69 cm, inv. KM 100.320). The Otterlo fragment depicts a stag hunt and bears, in the lower center, the painter's mark and the year "1557". It comes from the Marczell de Nemes collection, auctioned in Paris in 1913. The fragment of a woman's hand wearing a bracelet, visible in the lower left, confirms that this is indeed a fragment of a composition depicting a naked water nymph. The stag hunt takes place near a large city, visible in the background on the left. This is Nuremberg, and the view corresponds perfectly to the panorama published by Braun and Hogenberg in 1575 (Wrocław University Library, 8-IV.B./2). This same panorama shows typical costumes of Nuremberg, but no hairstyle or women's cap matches that of the image from the Heinemann collection. Although the woman's forehead was shaved, as was the custom at that time in Germany and Poland-Lithuania, her hairstyle is typical of French fashion, as evidenced by the portrait of a lady dated "1557" in the upper right corner, painted by Catharina van Hemessen (Lempertz in Cologne, Auction 1197, May 21, 2022, lot 2011A). Several of the noble guests who visited Wolfenbüttel in 1557 were painted by Cranach the Younger and his workshop.

It is not known why the painting was cut into pieces and what happened to the other parts. It may have been cut up because of its poor condition or to sell pieces more profitably - landscapes and portrait. Another possible reason was that the painting was controversial, due to the woman's nudity, its meaning, or both. Why did the goddess, a wealthy aristocrat following French fashion, organize a hunt near Nuremberg? The events in 1557, the year the painting was created, provide a clue. Since hunting was usually organized on one's own lands or on the territories of friendly rulers, the woman wanted to demonstrate that the lands surrounding Nuremberg were her family estates. Her facial features bear a striking resemblance to known effigies of Sophia Jagiellon, such as the funerary sculpture by Lecuir in Wolfenbüttel or the miniature by Cranach the Younger in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków (inv. MNK XII-544). The image as a whole, like the disguised portraits of Sophia's mother, can therefore be interpreted as an important message to the Habsburgs and their supporters. In this context, this controversial portrait of the Duchess of Brunswick could therefore have been cut into pieces as early as the 16th century.

A very similar and idealized effigy of the same woman from the same period, attributed to the 16th-century School of Fontainebleau, is in a private collection (oil on panel, 49.6 x 38.1 cm, Christie's New York, Auction 1822, April 19, 2007, lot 11). In the early 20th century, the painting belonged to the D'Atri collection in Paris and Rome. Like in the painting by Cranach the woman is naked, she has a partially shaved forehead and red hair. She wears jewelry in her hair, resembling a diadem and an elaborate necklace. A similar painting of this woman, also attributed to the School of Fontainebleau, from the second half of the 16th century, depicts her as Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, fertility, and motherhood, holding a cornucopia. This "Portrait of a lady as Ceres" is also in a private collection (oil on panel, 101 x 79.5 cm, Bonhams London, December 7, 2005, lot 73). In this version, the lady wears a gold necklace and bracelets, however, the painter has marked the dark roots of her red hair, indicating that she had dyed it. Another version of the same effigy, also attributed to the School of Fontainebleau and known as a "Portrait of a young woman" or "Allegory of Beauty", could be a work by a Flemish painter, as its style indicates (oil on panel, 47.5 x 30 cm, Sotheby's Paris, June 26, 2014, lot 3). The versions at King's College, Cambridge (oil on panel, 47 x 34.5 cm) and Eton College, Windsor (oil on canvas, 48.5 x 37 cm, inv. FDA-P.38-2010) are traditionally identified as portraits of Elizabeth "Jane" Shore (ca. 1445 - ca. 1527), mistress of King Edward IV of England, following a rather simplistic belief that a naked lady must be a courtesan or the favorite of a monarch. The painting at King's College has been dendrochronologically dated to 1550-1560. The earliest reference to Jane Shore's likeness at King's College is in the 1660 inventory, while Eton's is mentioned in 1714. As both colleges were supported by the King of England, it is quite possible that one or both paintings were originally in the royal collection. In a portrait from a private collection in Genoa (Italy) – collections of works of art and furniture from three exclusive Genoese residences (oil on panel, 49 x 37 cm, Cambi Casa d'Aste, Auction 837, June 30, 2023, lot 687), the same model was depicted wearing a red French-style dress. This painting was auctioned with an attribution to the 17th-century English School (Scuola inglese del XVII secolo, Ritratto di gentildonna in abito rosso), probably due to the fact that many similar effigies are identified as portraits of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.

The Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover holds another portrait from the same period, painted in a similar style, probably by the same painter or his circle (oil on panel, 49 x 34.5 cm, inv. KM 105, exhibited at Wolfenbüttel Castle). This portrait comes from the collection of Sophia of the Palatinate (1630-1714), Electress of Hanover, where it was considered an effigy of Eva von Trott (ca. 1506-1567), mistress of Duke Henry II of Brunswick. In 1558, Henry ended this affair and offered Eva a residence at the Kreuzstift monastery in Hildesheim. Due to the Spanish clothing, the portrait is dated to the beginning of the second half of the 16th century. At that time, Eva von Trott was around fifty years old. The portrait, however, shows a much younger woman and, on this basis, is now identified as representing Sophia Jagiellon (after "Die deutschen, französischen und englischen Gemälde ...", ed. Angelica Dülberg, p. 87). The model's facial features closely resemble those of the woman in the portrait from the D'Atri collection and the portrait in the guise of Ceres. Her tiara is identical to that in the portrait from the D'Atri collection, while her Spanish dress is similar to that visible in the portrait of Sophia, depicted with blond hair, today in the Czartoryski Museum (inv. MNK XII-296), identified by me. This painting is attributed to Peter Spitzer, a pupil of Cranach, court painter to Duke Henry, active in Brunswick between 1533 and 1578. However, since its style is closer to the Flemish school, his authorship is unlikely.

Sophia and her half-sister Hedwig Jagiellon, Electress of Brandenburg, although they had lived in Germany for several years and knew the language, felt isolated and estranged there, as expressed in the letter from the Duchess of Brunswick to Sigismund Augustus from January 1571. "And because Her Grace [Hedwig Jagiellon] as well as myself are completely foreign and unknown in these countries and do not know where to look for consolation, advice, protection, and demands from anybody else but God and Your Royal Highness", Sophia wrote to her brother (after "Dynastic identity, death and posthumous legacy of Sophie Jagiellon ..." by Dušan Zupka, p. 797, 803). In a letter to her relative, Emperor Maximilian II, son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), dated from Schöningen on January 17, 1573, Sophia describes herself as "a poor, foreign widow and previously deeply troubled and abandoned, living among a foreign and unknown nation in these lands, destituted and deprived of almost all earthly and human comforts" (ausländische und zuvor hoch bekümmerte und verlassene arme Wittwe, unter einer frembden und unbekanten Nation diser Lande gesessen, fast alles Irdischen und Menschlichen trosts destituirt, und beraubt worden). This isolation further explains why the Duchess of Brunswick and her portraits are almost completely forgotten in Western Europe today.

S​tag hunt near Nuremberg, fragment of the portrait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick as Diana the Huntress-Egeria by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1557, Private collection.

​Fragment of the portrait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick as Diana the Huntress-Egeria by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1557, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick as Ceres by the School of Fontainebleau, ca. 1556-1560, Private collection.

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick by the School of Fontainebleau, ca. 1556-1560, Private collection.

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick by Flemish or French painter, ca. 1556-1560, Private collection.

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick by Flemish or French painter, ca. 1556-1560, King's College, Cambridge.

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick by Flemish, French or British painter, before 1714, Eton College, Windsor.

Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick in Spanish costume by Flemish or French painter, ca. 1556-1560, Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

​Portait of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick in French costume by Flemish or French painter, ca. 1560, Private collection.

Portraits of Sigismund Augustus and his third wife by Tintoretto and Lambert Sustris

After Sigismund I's marriage to Bona Sforza in 1518, the presence of Italian artists in Poland-Lithuania gradually increased.

In 1547 a painter Pietro Veneziano (Petrus Venetus) created a painting to the main altar of the Wawel Cathedral. Ten years later, on March 10, 1557 in Vilnius, King Sigismund Augustus issues a passport to the Venetian painter Giovanni del Monte to go to Italy, and according to Vasari, Paris Bordone has "sent to the King of Poland a painting which was held very beautiful, in which was Jupiter and a nymph" (Mandò al Re di Polonia un quadro che fu tenuto cosa bellissima, nel quale era Giove con una ninfa). The latter also created an allegorical portrait of royal jeweller Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio, receiving medallion with king's effigy as a proof of his nobilitation and royal patronage of Sigismund Augustus.

Giovanni Battista Ferri (Ferro) from Padua in the Venetian Republic worked in Warsaw in about 1548 and the royal accounts from 1563 provide information about the payment of over one hundred thalers to Rochio Marconio, pictori Veneciano for eight paintings made for the king.

Portrait of Sigismund the Old from around 1547 from the collection of the Morstins in Pławowice, today at the Wawel Castle (inventory number ZKWawel 3239), is considered by Michał Walicki as a very definite manifestation of the Venetian tradition (after "Malarstwo polskie: Gotyk, renesans, wczesny manieryzm", p. 33). It is possible that this paining, which is sometimes attributed to German painter Andreas Jungholz, was actually created by Pietro Veneziano or his circle.

Contacts with the Venetian milieu of Titian have very probably further intensified when in 1553 Sigismund Augustus married his cousin Catherine of Austria, widowed Duchess of Mantua as a wife of Francesco III Gonzaga. The high demand for paintings in the Venetian workshops required painters to complete their work quickly. This involved a change in technique which uses a series of fast brushstrokes to create the impression of faces and objects. For many prominent patrons, speed was very important as they required several copies of the same image to be sent to different relatives, like effigies of the Habsburgs by Titian. In a letter of 1548, Andrea Calmo eulogised Tintoretto's ability to capture a likeness from nature in a mere half hour and according to Vasari he worked so fast that he had usually finished while the others were just thinking about starting.  

On December 18, 1565 in Florence, Francesco I de' Medici, who since 1564 was regent of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in place of his father, married Joanna of Austria, the youngest daughter of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), Queen of Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, and sister of Catherine of Austria, Queen of Poland. According to preserved letters, that year Sigismund Augustus sent at least two envoys to Florence: letter of March 10, 1565 notifying Francesco about sending of the envoy Piotr Barzi (from a family of Italian origin), castellan of Przemyśl and two letters of October 2 and 6, 1565 about sending the envoy Piotr Kłoczowski, royal secretary, to attend the wedding (after "Archeion", Volumes 53-56, p. 158).

Around that time Florentine painter Alessandro Allori and his workshop created several portraits of young Francesco I de' Medici holding a miniature of his wife Joanna, which were undoubtedly meant to be sent to different European royal and princely courts. It is possible that also king of Poland, who sent his envoy for Francesco's wedding, received a copy and the version which was acquired before 1826 by Gustav Adolf von Ingenheim (1789-1855), later transported to Rysiowice in Silesia and today in the Wawel Royal Castle (inventory number 2175), may possibly be considered as such. Also the princes of Tuscany undoubtedly had images of the Polish-Lithuanian royal couple. 

Portrait of a man in a fur coat, attributed to Tintoretto, in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (oil on canvas, 110 x 91.5 cm, inv. Contini Bonacossi 33), was acquired in 1969 from the Contini Bonacossi collection in their Villa Vittoria in Florence. According to museum's description of the painting the relationships with Titian's portraiture appear evident in this work.

A man with a long beard in his forties or fifties wears expensive fur coat, which were imported to Western Europe mainly from the eastern part of the continent. Poland and Lithuania at that time were considered as one on the largest exporters of pelts of various animals: "the total number of hides exported from Poland in the second half of the 16th century amounted to about 150,000" (after "Acta Poloniae Historica"​, 1968, Volumes 18 - 20, p. 203). In 1560 Berardo Bongiovanni, Bishop of Camerino reported that, "The king [Sigismund Augustus] dresses simply, but has all kinds of clothes, Hungarian, Italian, of gold cloth, silk, summer and winter attires lined with sables, wolves, lynxes, black foxes, worth over 80,000 gold scudi". Five years later, in 1565, Flavio Ruggieri described the king: "He is 45 years old, of fairly good height, mediocre, great sweetness of character, more inclined to peace than war, speaks Italian by the memory of his mother, he loves horses and he has more than three thousand of them in his stable, he likes jewels of which he has more than a million red zlotys worth, he dresses simply, although he has rich robes, namely furs of great value".​

The man bear a great resemblance to preserved effigies of Sigismund Augustus, especially a minaiture by Lucas Cranach the Younger in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków (inventory number XII-538), created between 1553-1565. The same facial features were also captured in two other portraits attributed to Jacopo Tintoretto or his workshop, both in private collection. In one of them the man, much younger then in the version from the Contini Bonacossi collection, resemble greatly Sigismund Augustus from his effigy created by Marcello Bacciarelli (considered as the effigy of Jogaila of Lithuania), from the Marble Room at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, created between 1768 and 1771 (inventory number ZKW/2713). This portrait was sold in Munich, Germany (oil on canvas, 56 x 44 cm, Hampel Fine Art Auctions, April 11, 2013, lot 570), where there is also a full-length portrait of the king (Alte Pinakothek, inv. 7128). The other was in a private collection in the United States (oil on canvas, 48.9 x 38.8 cm, Christie's New York, May 31, 1991, lot 213). A similar portrait, attributed to Tintoretto, showing the same man from a different angle, is in the Miramare Castle, deposit of the Galleria nazionale d'arte antica di Trieste (oil on canvas, 46 x 41 cm, inv. 47). This "portrait of a man" was purchased from the collection of Pietro Mentasti in 1955 and it is generally dated between 1550 and 1553. In all the mentioned paintings, the model wears coats lined with various expensive furs.
​
It is quite surprising that in today's Italy (apart from my discoveries) it is difficult to find effigies of Sigismund Augustus, whose ties with his mother's native land were strong throughout his life and who was also the heir to the Duchy of Bari and could also claim the Kingdom of Naples and the Duchy of Milan.
​
A companion to the portrait in Uffizi is undoubtedly another portrait from the Contini Bonacossi collection with similar dimensions and composition, showing the man's wife, now in Belgrade (National Museum of Serbia, oil on canvas, 110 x 83 cm). Federico Zeri (1921-1998), noticed the great similarity of this portrait to minaiture of Catherine of Austria in the Czartoryski Museum (Fondazione Federico Zeri, card number 43428), created, like the effigy of Sigismund Augustus, by Lucas Cranach the Younger in his workshop in Wittenberg. However, the portrait is identified as depicting Christina of Denmark (1521-1590), despite bearing no resemblance to any confirmed effigy of widowed Duchess of Milan and Duchess of Lorraine, who dressed more according to French/Netherlandish fashion and not Central European, like the woman in the described portrait.

She is holding a compass in her left hand and her right hand on a celestial globe. Catherine's interest in cartography is confirmed by support to cartographer Stanisław Pachołowiecki, who was in her service between 1563-1566 (after "Słownik biograficzny historii Polski: L-Ż" by Janina Chodera, Feliks Kiryk, p. 1104). She was depicted in a black dress, most probably a mourning dress after death of her father Emperor Ferdinand I (died 25 July 1564), therefore the portrait should be dated to about 1564 or 1565, shortly before her departure to Vienna (October 1566).

A copy of the painting in Belgrade, painted on oak panel, is in Kassel (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, oil on panel, 45.5 x 35 cm, inv. SM1.1.940), where there are also several other portraits of the Polish-Lithuanian Jagiellons, identified by me. The style of the painting in Kassel is more Netherlandish and can be attributed to Lambert Sustris, a Dutch painter, presumably a student of Jan van Scorel, active mainly in Venice where he worked in Titian's studio.

King Sigismund Augustus established a permanent postal connection between Kraków and Venice. "The tasks of the post office included taking orders in the markets, sending very expensive and light goods [like paintings on canvas] and bullion coin" (after "Historia gospodarcza Polski do 1989 roku: zarys problematyki" by Mirosław Krajewski, p. 82). Merchants importing luxury goods, like Tucci, Bianchi, Montelupi, Pinozzo family, coming from Venice, Battista Fontanini, Giulio del Pace, Alberto de Fin, Paolo Cellari, Battista Cecchi, Blenci and many others, used it frequently. 

It was organized on the Italian model and for many years it was operated mainly by Italians. From 1558 it was run by Prospero Provano, then, from 1562, by Christopher de Taxis, former Augsburg postmaster and imperial court postmaster, from 1564 by Pietro Maffon, a native of Brescia in the Venetian Republic, and after him from 1568 by Sebastiano Montelupi, a Florentine merchant, who received an annual salary of 1,300 thalers. 

In 1562, a shipment from Kraków through Vienna to Venice took about 10 days, and from Kraków to Vilnius through Warsaw - 7 days. Royal mail was free of charge, private senders paid according to the agreed rate. Montelupi was obliged to carry royal and diplomatic mail, so he sent horse messengers every week. The royal post was under the management of the Montelupi family for nearly 100 years and they maintained the line between Kraków and Venice until 1662. 

In his book Hercules Prodicius ..., published in Antwerp in 1587, the humanist Stephanus Winandus Pighius (1520-1604) describes the visit of Prince Charles Frederick of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1555-1575), grandson of Queen Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), to his uncle's castle of Ambras, near Innsbruck, in September 1574. "Charles was particularly delighted when he saw in the spacious, magnificent dining room the pictures of the illustrious members of the House of Austria, the relatives of the Emperor Ferdinand and the most flourishing princes of our time, painted from life by the skilful hand of the excellent painter Titian. He was delighted to recognize among them his parents [Maria of Austria (1531-1581) and William of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1516-1592)] in their wedding finery, his grandfather Ferdinand and his wife Anna, mother of such a large family, his great-uncle Charles V with Eleonora, daughter of King Manuel of Portugal [Isabella of Portugal (1503-1539) or Eleanor of Austria (1498-1558)], then the emperor's son Philip with his wife Maria, daughter of King Henry of England [Mary Tudor (1516-1558)], and his uncle Maximilian with Charles V's daughter Maria [Maria of Spain (1528-1603)]. He also looked with delight at King Sigismund of Poland [Sigismund Augustus] in a fur coat, the mighty Duke Alexander of Etruria [Alexander Farnese (1545-1592), Duke of Parma] in shining armor, several aunts and related princes whom he had never seen before", read the description of the family portrait gallery (after "Hercules Prodicius seu Principis iuuentutis vita et peregrinatio", p. 235, Complutense University of Madrid, and "Die k. k. Ambraser-Sammlung: Geschichtliche Einleitung und die Rüstkammern", p. 14).

It seems that all these portraits from the collection of Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595), son of Anna Jagellonica, were made by Titian (principes in tabulis ad vivam effigiem Titiani peritissimi pictoris ingeniosa manu coloribus imitatos). The painter, who according to Carlo Ridolfi (1594-1658) visited Innsbruck after his stay in Spain, probably after 1547 or 1550 and before 1556, must have based all or the majority of these effigies, including the portrait of "King Sigmund of Poland in a fur coat" (Considerare iuuabat pellitum Polonum Sigismundum regem), on other portraits of Habsburgs and their relatives. In his Maraviglie dell'arte ... (p. 166), published in Venice in 1648, Ridolfi confirms that Titian painted portraits of King Ferdinand (emperor from 1556) and his wife Anna, whom he calls Maria, and her daughters in Innsbruck. If Ridolfi could have confused the name of the wife of the King of the Romans, he could also have forgotten or not known that the painter had visited Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia. If Titian's visit to Innsbruck actually took place after 1547, he could not have painted Queen Anna ad vivum (from life), because she died on January 27, 1547 in Prague. This sentence therefore refers more to the impression made by the paintings and not to the fact that all members of the Habsburg family (or the sovereigns who were related to them by marriage) posed directly for Titian in Innsbruck. 

​If the portrait of the Sarmatian monarch was actually painted by Titian in Innsbruck, he must have based it on other effigies or study drawings, just like Tintoretto, whose visit to Sarmatia is also not confirmed by the sources.

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) wearing a fur trimmed coat by Tintoretto, ca. 1550-1553, Galleria nazionale d'arte antica di Trieste.

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) wearing a black fur trimmed coat by Tintoretto, 1550s, Private collection. ​

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) by Tintoretto, 1550s, Private collection.

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in a fur coat by Tintoretto, ca. 1565, Uffizi Gallery. ​

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) with a globe and a compass by Tintoretto or Titian, ca. 1565, National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade. ​

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) with a globe and a compass by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1565, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel.

Portrait of Francesco de' Medici (1541-1587) by Alessandro Allori, ca. 1565, Wawel Royal Castle.

Portaits of Sigismund Augustus, Catherine of Austria and court dwarf Estanislao by Venetian painters

In 1553 Sigismund II Augustus decided to marry for the third time with a widowed Duchess of Mantua and his cousin Catherine of Austria. The wedding celebrations lasted 10 days and Catherine brought as a dowry 100,000 florins as well as 500 grzywnas of silver, 48 expensive dresses, and about 800 jewels. Somewhat distant marriage continued for a few years and Catherine became close with two yet-unmarried sisters of Sigismund, Anna and Catherine Jagiellon. 

The royal court travelled frequently from Kraków through Warsaw to Vilnius. In October 1558 the queen became seriously ill. Sigismund was convinced that it was epilepsy, the same disease that tormented his first wife and Catherine's sister. For this reason, the marriage has become even more distant and the king sought to obtain annulment. It was a matter of international importance, Catherine's father Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor ruled vast territories to the west and south of Poland-Lithuania and assisted Tsar Ivan the Terrible in expanding his empire on eastern border of Sigismund's realm, while Catherine's cousin King Philip II of Spain was the most powerful man in Europe, ruler of half the known world from whom Sigismund was claiming the inheritance of his mother Bona. The queen become attached to her new homeland and her family used their influence to not allow the divorce. The arch-Catholic king of Spain undeniably received portraits of the couple. 

The portrait of a lady in a dress of green damask attributed to Titian from the Spanish royal collection is very similar to Catherine's portrait by the same painter in the Voigtsberg Castle and to her portrait in Belgrade. It is recorded in the inventory of the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid of 1794 as a companion to a portrait of a soldier, now attributed to Giovanni Battista Moroni, a painter trained under Moretto da Brescia and Titian: "No. 383. Another [painting] by Titian: Portrait of a Madam: a yard and a quarter long and a yard wide, companion to 402. gilt frame" (Otra [pintura] de Tiziano: Retrato de una madama: de vara y quarta de largo y una de ancho, compañera del 402. marco dorado) and "No. 402. Another [painting] by Titian: half-length portrait of a man, a yard and a half high and a yard wide, with gilt frame" (Otra [pintura] de Tiziano: retrato de medio cuerpo de un hombre, de vara y media de alto y vara de ancho, con marco dorado). The effigy of "a soldier" bears great resemblance to portraits of the king and his costume is in similar style to that visible in a miniature by Cranach the Younger in the Czartoryski Museum.

The portraits of Sigismund Augustus (most likely) and his third wife were in the collection of the favorite residence of King Philip II - the Royal Palace of El Pardo near Madrid, among the paintings by Titian - "In another box was the portrait of the king of Poland, in armor and without a helmet, on canvas" (En otra caja metido el retrato del rey de Polonia, armado e sin morrion, en lienzo) and "Catherine, wife of Sigismund Augustus, king of Poland" (Catalina, muger de Sigismundo Augusto, rey de Polonia) (compare "Archivo español de arte", Volume 64, p. 279 and "Unveröffentlichte Beiträge zur Geschichte ..." by Manuel Remón Zarco del Valle, p. 236). 

Both paintings have similar dimensions (oil on canvas, 119 x 91 cm / 117 x 92 cm, inventory number P000262, P000487) and matching compostion, just as portraits of Pietro Maria Rossi, Count of San Secondo and his wife Camilla Gonzaga by Parmigianino in the same collection (Prado Museum), with the wife's portrait painted with "cheaper", simple dark background. The portraits of Sigismund and Catherine from Contini Bonacossi collection, although very similar, differ slightly in style, one is closer to Tintoretto, the other to Titian, therefore it cannot be excluded that just as in case of Sigismund's famous Flemish tapestries his large commission for a series of portraits was realized by different cooperating workshops from the Venetian Republic. 

​Copies of "The Venetian Officer", as it is sometimes called in literature, are in the castle of Monselice, also known as Ca' Marcello, near Padua (oil on canvas, Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 45161, from the Cini collection, with the original in Madrid dated 1560-1563) and in a private collection in England (oil on canvas, 126.1 x 95.5 cm, Sotheby's London, October 29, 1998, lot 445, as by an 18th century copyist after Moroni). A smaller version of the portrait of a woman from Prado, today in the Museo Correr in Venice (oil on canvas, 22 x 17 cm, inv. Cl. I n. 0091), is attributed to Domenico Tintoretto (1560-1635).

Sigismund Augustus reunited with his wife in October 1562 at the wedding of Catherine Jagiellon in Vilnius. The king's sisters and his wife dressed similarly and similar Venetian style dress to that visible in the portrait of queen Catherine is included in the inventory of Catherine Jagiellon's dowry: "Damask (4 pieces). A long green damask robe, on it the embroidery of gold cloth with red silk, wide at the bottom, covered with patterned green velvet, trimmed with gold lace on it with green silk. The bodice and sleeves along embroidered with the same embroidery."
​
Sigismund Augustus had his ambassadors in Spain, Wojciech Kryski, between 1559 and 1562 and Piotr Wolski in 1561. He sent letters to the king of Spain and to his secretary Gonzalo Pérez (like on 1 January 1561, Estado, leg. 650, f. 178). He also had his informal envoys in Spain, dwarves Domingo de Polonia el ­Mico, who appears in the house of Don Carlos between 1559 and 1565, and Estanislao (Stanisław, d. 1579), who was at the court of Philip II between 1553 and 1562, and whom Covarrubias cited as "smooth and well proportioned in all his limbs" and other sources described as a skillful, well educated and sensible person (after Carl Justi's "Velázquez y su siglo", p. 621). Estanislao is recorded back in Poland between 1563-1571. Apart from being a skilled huntsman he was also most probably a skilled diplomat, just as Jan Krasowski, called Domino, a Polish dwarf of Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France or Dorothea Ostrelska, also known as Dosieczka, female dwarf of Sigismund's sister Catherine Jagiellon, queen of Sweden. 

Queen Catherine of Austria sent Polish dwarves to her brother Ferdinand II (1529-1595), Archduke of Austria, and to her brother-in-law Albert V (1528-1579), Duke of Bavaria. In the gallery of Archduke Ferdinand II in Ambras, there was a portrait of a "great Pole" (gross Polackh) in a yellow coat with the inscription DER GROS POLAC, probably copied by Anton Boys from an original, mentioned in the inventory of 1621 (Aber ain pildnus aines Tartarn oder Polln mit ainem gelben röckhl, f. 358), while the inventory of the ducal art chamber (Kunstkammer) in Munich of 1598 by Johann Baptist Fickler mentions a portrait of a Polish dwarf Gregorij Brafskofski (Conterfeht des zwergen Gregorij Brafskofski so ain Poläckh, 3299/3268) (after "Die Porträtsammlung des Erzherzogs ..." by Friedrich Kenner, item 159).

In 1563 the king of Spain placed two portraits of Estanislao, one showing him in Polish costume of crimson damask, both by Titian, among the portraits of the royal family in his palace El Pardo in Madrid (included in the inventory of the palace of 1614-1617, number 1060 and 1070). It is also very probable that the king of Poland had his portrait. The portrait of unknown dwarf in Kassel attributed to Anthonis Mor (oil on panel, 105 x 82.2 cm, inventory number GK 39), although stylistically also close to Venetian school, seems to fit perfectly. In the same collection in Kassel there are also other portraits linked to Jagiellons. A pensive monkey in this painting is clearly more a symbol connected to deep knowledge and intelligence than joyfulness. 

​A drawing by Federico Zuccaro (Zuccari) in Cerralbo Museum in Madrid (inventory number 04705) shows a monarch receiving an emissary with a cardinal and figures in Polish costumes. The effigy of the monarch is similar to portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus in coronation robes from the thesis of Gabriel Kilian Ligęza (1628) and other effigies of the king. In the National Gallery of Ireland, there is another drawing by Zuccaro, showing king's mother Bona Sforza (inventory number NGI.3247). Between 1563 and 1565, the painter was active in Venice with the Grimani family of Santa Maria Formosa. It is highly probable that he was also employed on some large order from the king of Poland. 

In addition to the splendid gold-woven tapestries ordered in Flanders, the king purchased other luxury items from foreign merchants. In 1553, the Nuremberg merchant Kasper Niezler sold the king some jewelry for 1,500 zlotys. Similarly, Boneficus Hagenarus sold jewels for 1,264 zlotys and 7 groszy, and Nicolaus Nonarth for 956 zlotys. Nonarth personally brought the valuables to the king in Vilnius in 1554. Until 1560, the king's suppliers of clocks were mainly German merchants, including Andreas Wolprecht in 1549 and Hanus Hellzschmidt from Augsburg in 1558. A year later, a German merchant, whose name is not mentioned, brought the king to Piotrków a "large silver clock", for which he was paid 173 zlotys and 10 groszy. Among the royal suppliers of jewels until 1560, the account books mention two Italians. The first of them, the royal scribe Traiano Provana (Trojan Provano), delivered to Sigismund II Augustus in 1556 gold products set with precious stones, which he had acquired in Italy, as well as a painting by an unknown Italian painter. He received 478 zlotys and 12 groszy for the jewels, and 346 zlotys and 20 groszy for the painting. Three years later, the Italian merchant Antonio Borsano sold a gold box to the Crown Carver Mikołaj Łaski in Kraków, for which he was paid 400 thalers, equivalent to 440 zlotys. In the same year, 500 zlotys were paid to Claudio Moneste mercatori Lugdunensi (from Lyon) for the jewels that the king had personally collected from him (after "Dostawcy dworów królewskich w Polsce i na Litwie ..." by Maurycy Horn, Part II, p. 15). The portraits commissioned by such a splendid patron must have been of the highest class, but because of their relatively low value at the time we do not have many documentary traces. In July 1562, for the processional banner, painted on both sides, Moroni received 13.5 gold scudi, from Andrea Fachinetti and Alberto Vasalli (after "Giovan Battista Moroni ..." by ‎Simone Facchinetti, p. 100). 

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in crimson costume by Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1560, Prado Museum in Madrid.

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in crimson costume by follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1560, Castle of Monselice. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in crimson costume by follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, after 1560 (18th century?), Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) in a dress of green damask by Titian or circle, ca. 1560, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) holding a book by Venetian painter, ca. 1560, Museo Correr in Venice.

Portrait of court dwarf Estanislao (Stanisław, d. 1579) by Anthonis Mor or circle of Titian, ca. 1560, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel. 

Sigismund II Augustus receiving an emissary, with a cardinal and figures in Polish costumes by Federico Zuccaro, 1563-1565, Cerralbo Museum in Madrid.

Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland by Federico Zuccaro, 1563-1565, National Gallery of Ireland.

Portraits of Krzysztof Warszewicki by Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tintoretto

Krzysztof Warszewicki (Christophorus Varsavitius or Varsevitius in Latin), a nobleman of the Kuszaba coat of arms, was born in Warszewice near Warsaw as the son of Jan Warszewicki, castellan of Liw (1544-1554), and later castellan of Warsaw (1555-1556), and his second wife Elżbieta Parysówna. He was born in the first months of 1543, and the year of his birth was certainly determined by Teodor Wierzbowski on the basis of a note by Vincenzo Laureo (Lauro), bishop of Mondovì, papal nuncio in Poland-Lithuania. Describing the Warsaw Convention of 1574, Laureo mentions the attacks and accusations that Warszewicki received from opponents for his previous conduct, especially for the reckless act he committed in Italy fifteen years ago, in 1559, "at the age of sixteen". In his speech to King James I of England in the spring of 1603, Warszewicki states that he is "over sixty years old" (mihi-ultra quam sexagenario).

The old father and the young mother indulged his whims. They send him to the court of King Ferdinand I in Prague and Vienna, where little Krzysztof was admitted as a page. From there the eleven-year-old boy, probably with Ferdinand's envoys, was sent to London for the marriage of Philip of Spain to Mary Tudor, Queen of England. The splendid entry of the Spanish prince into the capital of England on July 25, 1554, despite Krzysztof's young age, already made a strong impression on him and contributed to his sympathies with the Habsburg dynasty. Returning from London to Poland, Krzysztof probably stayed at the court of Jan Tarnowski, castellan of Kraków, or at the court of Jan Tęczyński, voivode of Sandomierz, with whose family Krzysztof's grandfather and father had close relations. He also stayed in his parent's house. Piotr Myszkowski, having met his father at the Piotrków Sejm in 1555, persuaded him to send his son abroad, where he could receive a better education. The castellan decided to send his son to Germany. At the end of April 1556 Krzysztof, together with Franciszek Zabłocki and Jan Głoskowski, came to Leipzig and enrolled as students of the "Polish nation" for the summer term, but after two months they left Leipzig for Wittenberg, where they also enrolled at the university in July of that year. Then Krzysztof went to Prague and Vienna, probably because there he could get letters of recommendation needed for Italy. Leaving Vienna, he took money and a horse from an Italian, but he was caught in Villach and forced to return the stolen things, as Mikołaj Dłuski claimed eighteen years later.

14 years old Warszewicki went Bologna, where he spent over two years studying at the University until the autumn of 1559. The natural stop on his journey from Vienna was Venice, although the precise dates of his stay are not known. In a speech given in Venice in March 1602, he says "after forty years I returned to you" (post quadragesimum annum ad Vos appuli). He also visted Naples, Rome, Florence and Ferrara. Certain aspects of his stay in Italy were discussed at the Convention of Warsaw on September 2, 1574 before the parliament, when he was chosen as envoy from Masovia. Abraham Zbąski and Piotr Kłoczewski, starost of Małogoszcz accused Warszewicki of stealing a gold chain from Krzysztof Lwowski in Naples, that he borrowed money in many Italian towns, escaped and was condemned in absentia, while the Poles lost their reputation with the Italians because of this, and indecency "by debauching with men in a dishonorable way". 

From Venice he returned via Vienna to Poland and in the spring of 1561 he was in Warsaw. He returned to Italy in 1567 and 1571 with Bishop Adam Konarski (1526-1574), as his courtier and secretary. He became a priest in 1598 and thanks to the grant of 150 zlotys from the Kraków chapter and 100 ducats from the council of Gdańsk in October 1600, he returned to Italy again, passing through Prague, Munich, Augsburg and Innsbruck. He visits Mantua, Rome, Genoa, Bologna and stays more than four months in Venice accompanied by Giovanni Delfino (1545-1622), procurator of San Marco (after "Krzysztof Warszewicki 1543-1603 i jego dzieła ...", pp. 56-64, 129). 

Krzysztof's half-brother Stanisław (d. 1591), who studied in Kraków, Wittenberg (under Philip Melanchthon) and Padua, was secretary to King Sigismund II Augustus from 1556. Warszewicki was one of the most vocal critics of the elective system in Poland-Lithuania, although he acknowledged that it was rooted in old Polish customs.

His fascination with the Queen of the Adriatic is best reflected in his first major work, a narrative poem "Venice" (Venecia/Wenecia), first released in 1572 in Kraków, and later in 1587 also in Kraków. The poem applied the convention of a lament uttered by personified Venice, which painted a panoramic view of the relations between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Porte (after "Venice in Polish Literature ..." by Michał Kuran, p. 24). 

In the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, there is a portrait of a boy attributed to Paolo Veronese (oil on canvas, 30.5 x 21.7 cm, inventory number 2570 (OK)). In 1928 the painting was in the collection of Jacques Goudstikker (1897-1940) in Amsterdam (after "Paolo Veronese ..." by Adolfo Venturi, p. 120) and it was purchased by the museum in 1958. The significantly reinforced inscription in the upper part dates the work to 1558 (Anno 1558), when the painter worked on the decoration of the Marciana Library in Venice, painted frescoes in the Palazzo Trevisan in Murano and between 1560 and 1561 he was called to decorate Villa Barbaro in Maser. The inscription may have been added after it left the artist's studio and the boy was 15 or 13 years old (Aetatis 15[3]) because the last number is not clearly visible. At that time, wealthy Venetians preferred larger effigies, full-length or group portraits and frescoes (portraits of Francesco Franceschini, Iseppo da Porto and his son, Livia da Porto Thiene and hier daughter, Giustinia Giustiniani on the balcony), so this small effigy, easy to transport and sent to other places, is quite unusual.

Around 1558, when he was 15, Jan, Krzysztof's father, died and it is not known if he returned to Poland from Bologna, if so, he traveled through Venice or the vicinity. Such a small painting would be a good gift for his worried mother.

The same man, although older, is depicted in another painting from the Venetian school. This larger, half-length portrait by a red curtain was created by Jacopo Tintoretto (oil on canvas, 70.3 x 58 cm, sold at Christie's London on December 7, 2007, live auction 7448, lot 195). It comes from the collection of Oskar Ernst Karl von Sperling (1814-1872), a German major general in the Prussian Army, who stationed in Wrocław and died in Dresden (sold at the Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer in Berlin on September 1, 1931). Its earlier history is unknown.

The landscape behind him shows an imaginative waterside temple with large stairs, a triumphal arch-shaped doorway and a rose window. This is probably the temple of Apollo at Delphi on which the ancients had placed the inscription "Know thyself" (Gnothi seauton). "Let the diplomat, then, as instructed by Apollo of Delphi, and with my advice previously given, strive to know himself", advises Warszewicki in his De legato et legatione from 1595 (after "O pośle i poselstwach" by Jerzy Życki). In this work he also makes frequent reference to Venice. Early in 1567 he left for Rome. On March 21, 1567, he was in Padua and most likely returned to Poland with a letter of March 8, 1570 from Pope Pius V to the Infanta Anna Jagiellon. His letters to Konarski are addressed from Padua - May 18 and August 10, 1571.

In both cases, the only direct link to Venice is the painter, but that does not mean that the model was also Venetian.

​Portrait of Krzysztof Warszewicki (1543-1603) at the age of 15 by Paolo Veronese, 1558, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. 

​Portrait of Krzysztof Warszewicki (1543-1603) by Jacopo Tintoretto, ca. 1571, Private collection.

Portraits of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill by Lambert Sustris and Frans Floris

In 1554 the construction of a large fortess in Berezhany in western Ukraine, called the "Eastern Wawel", was accomplished and its founder Mikołaj Sieniawski (1489-1569), voivode of Ruthenia commemorated it on a stone plaque with Latin inscription above the southern gate. The architect of the building is unknown, however, the Renaissance decor suggests that he was Italian.

Descended from a noble family from Sieniawa in southeastern Poland, he raised the Sieniawski name to great power and importance. Under hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski, of the same clan crest of Leliwa, Sieniawski took part in the battle of Obertyn in 1531 and in as many as 20 other war campaigns. In 1539 with Tarnowski's intercession, he become the Field Hetman of the Crown and received from King Sigismund I the Medzhybizh Fortress, which he rebuilt in Renaissance style. 

Around 1518, he married Katarzyna Kolanka (d. after 1544), daughter of the Field Hetman of the Crown Jan Koła (d. 1543) and a niece of Barbara Kolanka (d. 1550), wife of George Radziwill (1480-1541), nicknamed "Hercules". Sieniawski was a Calvinist and raised his children as Protestants. Nevertheless his eldest son Hieronim (1519-1582), who became a courtier of the king Sigismund Augustus in 1548, married a Catholic, Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (d. 1565). The religion was unsurpassable obstacle in many countries of divided Europe at that time, but apparenly not in the 16th century Poland-Lithuania, the "Realm of Venus", godess of love. 

Hieronim and Elizabeth were married before May 30, 1558 as on this date Sieniawski bequeathed to his wife "for eternity" the estates, including Waniewo, which she had previously granted him "and bequeathed to him by particular Polish laws" (after "Podlaska siedziba Radziwiłłów w Waniewie z początku XVI wieku ..." by Wojciech Bis). Elizabeth, Princess of Goniądz and Medele (Myadzyel), was the youngest of three daughters of John Radziwill (d. 1542) and Anna Kostewicz of Leliwa coat of arms. As John had no son, the Goniądz-Medele line of the Radziwill family became extinct, and his domains were divided between his daughters, Anna, born in 1525, Petronella, born in 1526, and Elizabeth. 

On June 5, 1559, king Sigismund Augustus, orders Piotr Falczewski, Knyszyn leaseholder and Piotr Koniński, governor of Belz, to settle the matter between the royal subjects of the Tykocin Castle and the Kamieniec chamberlain Hieronim Sieniawski and his wife Elizabeth Radziwill. After Elizabeth's death her estates were inherited by her husband, who in 1577 sold Waniewo to the Princes Olelkovich-Slutsky.

In the 18th century, the Berezhany Castle was famous for its collection of paintings  parts of which are now kept in various museums of Ukraine. In 1762, the collection was located in 14 halls, other rooms and a library. The walls were covered with historical pictures. On the plafonds of two large halls there were battle compositions and the Great Hall was decorated with 48 portraits of the kings of Poland. 

In the "Viennese" halls, one with a large canvas on the ceiling showing the Relief of Vienna in 1683 and walls covered with red-gold brocade, there were portraits of Queen Jadwiga and Tsar Peter I, the other with Venetian style gilded ceiling and walls covered with green-red brocade was also hung with portraits. In the room with walls covered with Persian fabric with gold and silver, there were portraits of Hieronim Sieniawski, King Sigismund Augustus, Potocki, voivode of Kiev and a landscape painting. In the next room covered with green-red brocade and red portiere tapestries, there were Italian religious paintings. The gilded wooden ceiling of one of the rooms was decoarated with planets and carved human heads, most probably similar to the orginal coffered ceiling in the Chamber of Deputies at the Wawel Castle. There was a large pyramid-shaped chandelier there and several portraits of family members. Next was the library with other paintings and a room with gilded ceiling with 11 paintings showing the episodes from the Battle of Khotyn (1621) and several other portraits. In the fourth upper room there was a gilded ceiling filled with portraits (after "Brzeżany w czasach Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej: monografia historyczna" by Maurycy Maciszewski, p. 33-34). 

From 1772, after the First Partition of Poland, Berezhany belonged to Austria, while the descendants of the Sieniawski family were based in Russian partition. The abandoned castle gradually fell into disrepair. Many valuable items were sold at auction on August 16, 1784. When princess Lubomirska won the trial in Vienna against the Austrian government to recover the portraits of the Sieniawski family painted on silver and other valuables from the family tombs, it turned out that they were melted for coinage. Paintings and portraits were moved to the outbuildings, where they were rotting and crumbling to dust (after "Brzeżany w czasach Rzeczypospolitej ...", p. 54). The author of an article, published in Dziennik Literacki from 1860 (nr 49) recalled: "Today I will only add that there were very expensive Italian paintings in the chapel and castle halls in Berezhany. There are still people who remembered them. For some of these paintings, the Sieniawskis paid several thousand ducats. Years ago, when I asked the guardian of the chapel and the castle, a simple peasant, where are the paintings, he replied that the smaller ones were dismantled and stolen, and the larger canvases were cut into sacks on the order of the officialists. It happened 30 years ago. There were many historical portraits among the paintings, namely of the Sieniawski family". The deed of destruction was accomplished during the First and Second World War. The "Realm of Mars", god of war, left only ruins in Berezhany.

The portrait of lady in the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa, Ukraine (inventory number ЗЖ-112) was acquired in 1950 from Alexandra Mitrofanovna Alekseeva Bukovetskaya (d. 1956), wife of Ukrainian painter Evgeny Iosifovich Bukovetsky (1866-1948). In 1891 Bukovetsky made a trip to western Europe, returning to Odessa in the same year. In Paris he attended the Académie Julian and worked for some time in Munich. Nevertheless, he or his wife, most likely acquired the painting later in Ukraine. The effigy is considered the work of a 16th-century Venetian artist and dated between 1550 and 1560. In 1954, on the back of the main canvas, a piece of another canvas was found with the inscription: restavrir 1877. Interestingly, between 1876-1878 Stanisław Potocki started renovation and restoration works in Berezhany.

The costume of depicted woman is very similar to that visible in the effigy of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) in unknown collection (published on livejournal.com on June 2 2017). The portrait of the Queen is inscribed in Latin: CHATARINA.REGINA.POLONIE.ARCHI: / AVSTRIE, therefore should be dated to between 1553-1565, before the Queen's departure from Poland. It is also closely related to a portrait of an unknown lady wearing a red velvet gown with a V-shaped white lace front from the 1550s in the Apsley House. Another similar costume and pose of the sitter is visible in the portrait of a lady in red dress by Giovanni Battista Moroni in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, dated to about 1560.

The woman wears a heavy gold earrings with cameos with female busts and a belt with a large cameo with sitting goddess Minerva holding on her right hand a figure, the personification of victory. Similar cameos were set on the casket of Hedwig Jagiellon, created in 1533 (The State Hermitage Museum) and the casket of Queen Bona Sforza, created in or after 1518 (Czartoryski Museum, lost during World War II). A certain similarity can also be indicated with the cameo with bust of Queen Barbara Radziwill by Jacopo Caraglio, created in about 1550 (State Coin Collection in Munich). 

The style of the mentioned portrait in Odessa is very close to the portrait of Veronika Vöhlin, created in 1552 and to the portrait of Charles V seated, created in 1548, both in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and both attributed to Lambert Sustris, the same painter who created several effigies of Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570), the only daughter of hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski. 

The same woman was also depicted in another painting attributed to Sustris or his circle, and showing Venus and Cupid with the view of the evening landscape. It was painted on canvas (88 x 111 cm) and is today in the private collection in Germany. A smaller version of this composition (29.5 x 42 cm), painted on panel is today in the Hallwyl Museum in Stockholm. It was acquired in 1919 in Berlin, where before 1869 there was a Radziwill Palace (later Reich Chancellery). Basing on signature (F.F.) and style it is attributed to the Flemish painter Frans Floris, who traveled to Italy probably as early as 1541 or 1542. He spent several years there with his brother Cornelis. From 1547 until his death he lived in Antwerp, where he managed a large studio with many pupils. In 1549 Cornelis Floris was commissioned to make a funerary monument for Dorothea, wife of Albert, Duke of Prussia, cousin of King Sigismund II Augustus, in Königsberg Cathedral. Design for several tapestries with monogram of Sigismund Augustus (Wawel Royal Castle), created in about 1555, is attributed to Cornelis Floris. Until his death in 1575 he worked on an impressive series of sculptures at home and abroad, including the tomb for Duke Albert in Königsberg, carved in 1570. Königsberg, known as Królewiec in Polish, was the capital of Ducal Prussia, fief of Poland (till 1657) and one of the biggest cities and ports situated close to estates of the Goniądz-Medele line of the Radziwill family. Paintings by Frans Floris were imported to different countries in Europe already in the 16th century, like the Last Judgment, created in 1565, today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, which was verifiable in Prague in 1621, and he died while working on large paintings for a Spanish client. In Poland there is an Allegory of Caritas, acquired in 1941 for the Museum in Gdańsk (inventory number M / 453 / MPG) and a portrait of a girl as Diana in the National Museum in Wrocław (inventory number VIII-2247). The Holy Kinship by Frans Floris from the Łańcut Castle, dated to about 1555, was sold in 1945 in Zurich and tin sarcophagus of Sigismund Augustus with allegories of five senses (Wawel Cathedral) was created by Flemish/Dutch sculptors (Monogrammist FVA and Wylm van Gulich) in 1572 and inspired by engravings after drawings by Frans Floris.

The sitter from the described paintings by Lambert Sustris and Frans Floris, bear a resemblance to effigies of Anna Kostewicz and John Radziwill (a print and a portrait in the National Museum in Warsaw), parents of Elizabeth Radziwill. 

​Among paintings offered in 1994 by Karolina Lanckorońska to the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków, there is a small painting depicting the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (oil on panel, 94.5 x 69.6), painted in the style close to Lambert Sustris (inventory number ZKWawel 7954). Before 1915 it was in the Lanckoroński Palace in Rozdil (Rozdół in Polish), between Berezhany and Lviv in Ukraine, and later transported to Vienna.

Portrait of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (d. 1565) by Lambert Sustris, 1558-1560, Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa.

Portrait of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (d. 1565) as Venus and Cupid by Lambert Sustris or circle, 1558-1560, Private collection.

Portrait of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (d. 1565) as Venus and Cupid by Frans Floris, 1558-1560, Hallwyl Museum in Stockholm.

The Holy Kinship from the Łańcut Castle by Frans Floris, ca. 1555, Private collection.

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Lambert Sustris, third quarter of the 16th century, Wawel Royal Castle.

Portraits of Anna Jagiellon, Catherine Jagiellon and Catherine of Austria as Venus by Titian

In 1558 died Mary Tudor and Philip II of Spain, ruler of the half of the known world was widowed again. He decided to marry. The future wife should be fertile and bear him many healthy sons, as his only son Don Carlos was showings signs of mental instability. At the same time the contacts of the Polish court with Spain increased. It is possible that Sigismund Augustus proposed his two unmarried sisters Anna and Catherine and sent to Spain their portraits. The match with the king of Spain, apart from great prestige, would also allow Sigismund to claim the heritage of his mother and the Neapolitan sums.

In January 1558, the councilor of the king of Spain, Alonso Sánchez took possession of the goods of the late Queen of Poland Bona in the name of the Spanish Crown and sequestered everything that was in the castle in Bari. Wojciech Kryski was sent to Madrid to appeal to Philip II about Bona's inheritance. Instructions for Kryski (January 16, 1558) and a letter from Sigismund Augustus to Philip (April 17, 1558) were dated from Vilnius. 

A letter of Pietro Aretino to Alessandro Pesenti of Verona, musician at the royal court, dated 17 July 1539, is the earliest witness to Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio's presence in Poland. Pesenti had been the organist to Cardinal Ippolito d'Este before becoming a royal musician at the Polish court on 20 August 1521. He was Bona's favourite organist and Caraglio created a medal with his profile on obverse and muscial instruments on reverse (Münzkabinett in Berlin). 

There were also other eminent Italian muscicians in royal capella, like Giovanni Balli, known in Poland as Dziano or Dzianoballi, who in the 1560s was paid 25 florins quaterly and many others.

Among the lute players, the favourite of the king Sigismund II Augustus was Walenty Bakwark or Greff Bakffark (1515-1576), born in Transylvania who entered his service on 12 June 1549 in Kraków. He recieved many gifts from the king and his salary increased from 150 florins in 1558 to 175 florins in 1564. In 1559 he acquired a house in Vilnius and he travelled to Gdańsk, Augsburg, Lyon, Rome and Venice. From 1552 the court organist of the king was Marcin Andreopolita of Jędrzejów and Mikołaj of Chrzanów (d. 1562), an organist and composer. 

Most probably before his arrival to Poland Caraglio created numerous erotic prints, including sets of Loves of the Gods, which also contain very explicit scenes. One depicting Venus and Cupid (Di Venere e amore) is signed by him (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, RP-P-OB-35.614, · CARALIVS · / · FE · under Venus' foot). In April 1552, he made a brief return trip to Italy.

On October 18, 1558 in Warsaw, Sigismund Augustus issued a privilege to Prospero Provano (or Prosper Provana, d. 1584), a Piedmontese merchant, to arrange permanent post Kraków - Venice via Vienna (Ordinatio postae Cracowia Venetias et super eandem generosus Prosper Provana praeficitur). The company was subsidized by the king and Prospero was paid 1,500 thalers a year by the royal treasury. The post was to transport luggage and people.

Two paintings by Titian from the Spanish royal collection (Prado Museum in Madrid, oil on canvas, 138 x 222.4 cm, P000420 and 150.2 x 218.2 cm, P000421) and one from the Medici collection in Florence by workshop of Titian (Uffizi, oil on canvas, 139.2 x 195.5 cm, inv. 1890, 1431), shows Venus, goddess of love. They were created at the same time and they are almost identical, the protagonists however are different. In Prado versions the musician is interrupted in the act of making music by the sight of a nude beauty. He directs his eyes to her womb. In Uffizi version a musician is replaced with a partridge, a symbol of sexual desire. As in Venus of Urbino, all alludes to the qualities of a bride and the purpose of the painting. A dog is a symbol of fidelity, donkeys refer to eternal love, a stag is the attribute of the huntress Diana, a virgin goddess and protector of childbirth and a peacock, sacred animal of Juno, queen of the gods, sitting on a fountain refer to fecundity. A statue of satyr on the fountain is a symbol of the sexuality and voluptuous love. A pair of embraced lovers are heading towards the setting sun.

A copy of "older" Venus from Prado is today in the Mauritshuis in The Hague (oil on canvas, 157 x 213 cm, inventory number 343). This painting was created in the studio of Titian and at the beginning of the 19th century was in the collection of Lucien Bonaparte, the younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, and later, until 1839, belonged to Cardinal Joseph Fesch in Rome. Another, most probably a workshop copy and close to the works by Lambert Sustris, is in the Royal Collection in England (oil on canvas, 96.3 x 136.9 cm, RCIN 402669). It once belonged to King Charles I and it is also attributed to Spanish artist Miguel de la Cruz (Michael Cross, active 1623-1660).

Paintings from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (oil on canvas, 115 x 210 cm, inv. 1849), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (oil on canvas, 165.1 x 209.6 cm, inv. 36.29) and the Fitzwilliam Museum (oil on canvas, 150.5 x 196.8 cm, inv. 129) are similar, but the women are married. The musician directs his eyes to breasts of the goddess, a symbol of maternity, or her head crowned with a wreath. Her womb is covered and in Berlin painting the goddess is departing (carriage in the background) towards the peaks of the far north - a good quality copy of this painting, possibly from Titian's 19th century copyist, is in Kaunas, Lithuania (oil on canvas, 115.5 x 202 cm, National Museum of Art, inventory number ČDM MŽ 1217). The copy from the collection of the Jewish lawyer Gino Pincherle in Trieste, lost during World War II, was attributed to the school of Titian (oil on canvas, 40 x 60 cm). The copyist did not faithfully reproduce the original, replaced the organist with a large vase and omitted the Cupid. The lanscape with stags and dancing satires in paintings of crowned Venus allude to fecundity. ​

Despite the divine beauty of two sisters of king of Poland, Anna and Catherine Jagiellon, Philip decided for more favorable match with neighbouring France and married Elizabeth of France, who was engaged with his son. The younger Catherine married Duke of Finland in 1562 in Vilnius and departed to Finland. The painting in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin was acquired in 1918 from private collection in Vienna and the painting in the Fitzwilliam Museum was in the Imperial collection in Prague by 1621, therefore both were sent to Habsburgs. Lambert Sustris created a reduced copy of the version from the Fitzwilliam Museum without the lute player (or possibly cut later), which was sold in Rome in 2014 (Minerva Auctions, November 24, 2014, lot 18). 

The painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art was described in great detail in a 1724 inventory of the Pio di Savoia collection in Rome. Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, humanist and patron of the arts, was the favorite candidate of Philip II of Spain in the Conclave of 1559. Catherine of Austria, willing to save her marriage and give the heir to Sigismund Augustus, most probably sent her portait to Rome to get a blessing, just as her mother Anna Jagellonica in about 1531 (Borghese Gallery).

The effigy of Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Titian from about 1560 in the Prado Museum (oil on canvas, 135 x 98 cm, P000447) is very similar to other effigies of Queen Catherine and her portraits as Venus. The slashed wheel and the sword allude to the martyrdom of the saint and difficult marital situation of the Queen. Her royal status was appropriate for a foundation such as Royal Monastery of El Escorial (recorded as far as 1593). Despite her efforts she did not managed to save her marriage.

The painting of Venus in Berlin was acquired in 1918, the year when Poland regained its independance after 123 years, eliminated by neighbouring countries. Blond goddeses of European culture were rulers of the country that should not exist (in the opinion of countries that partitioned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), something totally inimaginable and inacceptable to many people back then. 

It is also worth noting here that one of the most important and one of the most beautiful male nudes in European painting, inspired by Renaissance and Baroque female nudes (such as Diego Velázquez's Venus del espejo), is found in Poland. The work, now kept at the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm, MP 2242 MNW), was painted by Aleksander Lesser (1814-1884), a Polish painter of Jewish origin, in 1837, during his studies in Munich (signed and dated lower right: 18AL37).

Portrait of Princess Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as Venus with the organ player by Titian, ca. 1558, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Princess Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as Venus with the organ player by workshop of Titian, ca. 1558, Mauritshuis in The Hague.

Portrait of Princess Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as Venus with the organ player by workshop or follower of Titian, possibly Lambert Sustris, ca. 1558 or after, The Royal Collection.

Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as Venus with the organ player by Titian, ca. 1558, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as Venus with a partridge (Venere della pernice) by workshop of Titian, ca. 1558, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as Venus with the organ player by Titian, ca. 1562, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

​Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) nude by the school of Titian, ca. 1562 or after, Private collection, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as Venus with the organ player by follower of Titian, first half of the 19th century, National Museum of Art in Kaunas.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus with the lute player by Titian, ca. ​1558-1565, Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus by Lambert Sustris, ca. ​1558-1565, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus with the lute player by Titian, ca. ​1558-1565, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Saint Catherine by Titian, ca. ​1558-1565, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Venus and Cupid by Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio, mid-16th century, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

​Reclining male nude by Aleksander Lesser, 1837, National Museum in Warsaw. 

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon in red by Giovanni Battista Moroni 

Renaissance painters often drew inspiration from real life to depict religious scenes and placed them in interiors and settings typical of their country. This is why Giovanni Battista Moroni's Adoration of the Magi is set in a ruined Renaissance house, whose architecture is typical of Lombardy (oil on canvas, 97 x 112 cm, Codice di catalogo nazionale: 0303270207). Interestingly, the painter dressed Saint Melchior, the oldest member of the Magi, traditionally called the King of Persia, who brought the gift of gold to Jesus, in a costume typical of Polish-Lithuanian nobles of the time. The man wears a velvet coat the color of crimson Polish cochineal lined with expensive white fur. Similar costumes can be seen in the Theatrum virtutum ac meritorum D. Stanislai Hosii ..., created by Tomasz Treter (1547-1610) in Rome before 1588 (National Library of Poland, Rps BOZ 130), where, according to Latin captions, Polish noblemen were represented (Nobilis Polonus). After 1617, the Venetian painter Tommaso Dolabella placed his religious scene depicting the 11th-century Saint Stanislaus at the court of Sigismund III and the saint is surrounded by notables from Poland-Lithuania in their national costumes, including one in a crimson coat lined with white fur (Church of the Assumption of Mary in Warta). This means that the rich eastern kingdom was also for Moroni an example of oriental splendor and he knew this costume from his everyday life. This painting is dated around 1555-1560 and was originally part of the collection of the notary Gian Luigi Seradobati of Albino, the master's hometown. A copy probably made by Moroni's workshop is also in a private collection (oil on canvas, 97 x 120 cm, attributed to School of Bergamo). 

​A young woman in the portrait of a lady, known as La Dama in Rosso (Lady in Red) by Moroni in the National Gallery in London (oil on canvas, 155 x 106.8 cm, inv. NG1023), bears great resemblance to Catherine Jagiellon's miniature in German costume by Lucas Cranach the Younger and her portraits by Titian and his workshop. 

The identification as a portrait of poetess Lucia Albani Avogadro (1534-1568) is manly based on engraved effigy of Lucia in profile, with generic resemblance, by Giovanni Fortunato Lolmo created between 1575 and 1588, therefore almost ten years after her death, and inventory of Scipione Avogadro's collection in Brescia, which describes "two portraits by Moretto [da Brescia], one of the count Faustino, standing, the other of the countess Lucia, his wife" (Due ritratti del Moretto, uno del conte Faustino in piedi, altro della contessa Lucia sua moglie). 

The painting was purchased from Signor Giuseppe Baslini at Milan in 1876 with other portraits from Fenaroli Avogadro collection, most probably from their villa in Rezzato, near Brescia. Its previous history is unknown, it is threfore possible that it was acquired when their villa was extened in the 18th century or that Filippo Avogadro, who greeted Queen Bona in Treviso in 1556, wanted to have a portrait of her beautiful daughter. 

The sitter is pointing to a simple fan of straw worked with silk, the main accessory as in the portrait by Titian in Dresden. The fan was regarded as a status symbol in ancient Rome and developed as a means of protecting the holy vessels from pollution caused by flies and other insects in the Christian Church (flabellum), thus becoming a symbol of chastity. In Venice and Padua a fan was carried by betrothed or married women.

Its specific octagonal shape might be a reference to renewal and transition as eight was the number of Resurrection (after "Signs & Symbols in Christian Art" by George Ferguson, p. 154), can then be interpreted as readiness to change marital status. In 1560, at the age of 34, Catherine was still unmarried and did not want be betrothed to a tirant, Tsar Ivan IV, who invaded Livonia committing horrible atrocities. This portrait would be a good information that she prefers an Italian suitor. It was commissioned around the same time as portraits of Catherine's brother and his wife by Moroni and Titian (Prado Museum). 

​The king opposed his sister Catherine's marriage to the Duke of Finland. In response to his mother's letters, which required him to help his sisters marry, Sigismund Augustus constantly repeated that he did not want to impose his will on them, but that he would comply with that of his sisters. He declared to the Duke of Finland, who was seeking to marry Princess Catherine: "Venetians came to the Kingdom of Cyprus offering a noble Venetian woman in marriage. The princess Her Majesty will be all the happier than her other sisters, for she will marry whomever she wishes; while they had to marry men they have never seen [in real life]" (after "Cnoty i wady narodu szlacheckiego ..." by Antoni Górski, p. 62).

​Less well known is the fact of the marriage negotiations which, with the mediation of Ludovico Monti, lasted for years, although conducted with little conviction on the part of both parties, between a son of Ferrante I Gonzaga (1507-1557), governor of the Duchy of Milan between 1546 and 1554, and the youngest daughter of Bona (after "La trama Nascosta - Storie di mercanti e altro" by Rita Mazzei). Perhaps they were undertaken thanks to queen's efforts. It is not clear why he wanted to marry Catherine, although her older sister Anna was unmarried. Perhaps Anna, aged thirty-three, seemed too old to the count of Guastalla, or perhaps he knew from somewhere that Catherine was prettier. However, Sigismund Augustus refused Gonzaga (February 1556), because he feared that the Italian, married to a Jagiellonian princess, would become Bona's heir and take over Bari (after "Jagiellonowie: leksykon biograficzny" by Małgorzata Duczmal, p. 340). The governor of Milan undoubtedly received several portraits of the Polish-Lithuanian Princess-Infanta. ​In a letter dated 20 February 1556, the king mentions other candidates and "the delay in efforts".

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) in red by Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1556-1560, National Gallery in London.

​Adoration of the Magi with a man in a costume of a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman by Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1555-1560, Private collection. 

Portraits of Catherine Jagiellon by circle of Titian ​

In the 16th century fashion was an instrument of politics and princesses of Poland-Lithuania had in their coffers Spanish, French, Italian and German robes. Their clothing also reflected the great diversity of Poland-Lithuania (and Ruthenia).
​
The inventory of dowry of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland includes many items similar to these visible in the portraits identified as likenesses of the Duchess of Urbino: "Necklaces with precious stones, 17 pieces (the most expensive 16,800 thalers)", "Pearl caps (13 pieces). From 40 thaler. to 335", "Buckles on (thirteen) French and Spanish robes", 17 velvet, long underneath garments, including one crimson with 72 French buckles (ferety), and "longitudinal pontały [jewels and ornaments sewn onto the dress, imitating embroidery] with blocks with the same white and brown-red enamel is pair 146", 6 satin underneath garments, one robe of white satin embroidered with gold and silver with 76 buckles, and a robe of brown-red satin embroidered along the length with gold thread (Opisanie rzeczy, które Królewna J. M. Katarzyna Polska a Księżna Finlandzka z sobą wziąść raczyła A. D. 1562 die octava mensis Octobris, compare "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI wieku. Korrespondencya polska ...", Volume 3, p. 312-314, 317, 320). The wealth of clothes of Catherine's brother, Sigismund Augustus, as well as the great diversity of the country, its fashions and customs were praised by Jean Choisnin de Chastelleraut in his "Speech in truth of all that happened for the entire negotiation of the election of the king of Poland", dedicated to Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) and published in Paris in 1574 (Ie diray d'auantage, qu'il a laisse plus de riches habillemens, & d'armes, & d'Artillerie que tous les Roys qui sont auiourd'huy viuans ne sçauroient monstrer, p. 123). The Duchess of Finland took with her from Vilnius many luxury clothes and household items, as well as plenty of clothing "for eight ladies and two female dwarves" (na ośm panien i na dwie karliczki) and servants.

As in other European countries, marriage plans and negotiations were often accompanied by portraits, so many portraits of the beautiful and wealthy daughter of Sigismund I and Bona Sforza must have been made during her lifetime. However, very few were known before this blog. Furthermore, very few sources confirming this practice within the ruling dynasty of Poland-Lithuania have been preserved. In a letter from 1562 to Gabriel Tarło (d. 1565), Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568), cousin of Sigismund Augustus, requests a portrait and information on the age and dowry of the king's youngest sister (der jüngsten Schwester des Königs) - Catherine, with a view to her possible marriage to the young Duke of Holstein. At that time, there were Italians at Albert's court, such as the horse trainer Antonio Arduvia from Ferrara (confirmed in 1558), a mason (in 1562), a lutenist (in 1565), a physician from Florence (in 1566) and most likely an Italian painter. According to a contract from 1561, several ships were to be built each year for the Venetians in East Prussia (compare "Die Kunst am Hofe der Herzöge von Preussen" by Hermann Ehrenberg, p. 118, 196). It is therefore quite possible that Italian artists were involved in creating the portrait of Catherine for the Duke of Holstein.

Friends and allies of Catherine's mother in Italy must also have received several portraits of the princess, who spoke Italian fluently. While mentions of portraits of kings, queens and hereditary princes of Spain, France and England are quite common in inventories of the Medici residences, such as "a painted portrait of the Queen of England, by the hand of Louis the Flemish" (Un quadro del ritratto della regina d'Inghilterra, di mano di Luigi Fiamingo), mentioned in the inventory of the Palazzo Vecchio from the 1560s (Guardaroba di Cosimo I de' Medici, Segnatura: ASF, GM 65, c. 160), the status of the elected monarchs of Poland-Lithuania probably contributed to the fact that their effigies were not considered worthy of mention or their identity was quickly forgotten after being received. The inventory of the Villa del Poggio Imperiale from 1646-1652 mentions "A small painting on panel, depicting a foreign lady, by Titian" (Quadretto in tavola, dipintovi una gentildonna forestiera, di Tizziano, Segnatura: ASF, GM 674, c. 2), as well as one of the oldest mentions of a portrait "representing a lady dressed in black in the old style, said to be the Duchess Eleonora of Urbino, by Titian" (dipintovi una signora vestita di nero all'antica, che dicono sia la Duchessa Leonora d'Urbino, di Tizziano, Segnatura: ASF, GM 674, c. 272). The number of mentions of portraits of kings, queens or princes of Poland increases in the inventories of the early 17th century, when the mothers of the young Medicis and the Polish-Lithuanian Vasas were related (Constance of Austria and her younger sister Maria Maddalena).

The portrait identified as representing Giulia da Varano (1523-1547), who married Guidobaldo II della Rovere (1514-1574), Duke of Urbino, in 1534, now preserved in the Pitti Palace in Florence (oil on panel, 113.5 x 88 cm, inv. 764 - Oggetti d'arte Pitti (1911)), can be considered a portrait of a bride or depicting a potential candidate for marriage. Numerous jewels and a bunch of roses allude to the purity and qualities of a bride. The necklace is a jewel in which three different stones are set, each with its own precise meaning: the emerald indicates chastity, the ruby indicates charity, the sapphire indicates purity and the big pearl is finally a symbol of fidelity in marriage. The portrait could therefore be dated to around 1534, but the woman looks older than 11 years old (Giulia's age at the time of her marriage). The identification as portrait of Giulia da Varano is mainly based on inventory of the Ducal Palace of Pesaro from about 1624, which says about the portrait of the Duchess in ebony frames with her coat of arms and interlaced monogram G.G. of Giulia and her husband (Quadro uno simile con cornici d'ebano con lauoro dell'arme di Casa Varana con G. G. legati insieme ne cantoni fog[li] e e ghiande di cerqua col Retratto della Duch[ess]a Giulia Varana).

The Duchess of Urbino died in Fossombrone, at the age of 24, in 1547, after two months of illness. She was buried in a gamurra satin ochre dress with stripes, displayed at the Brancaleoni Castle in Piobbico. The following year, the widower Guidobaldo remarried Vittoria Farnese (1519-1602). In the 17th century, a painter from the Marche created portraits of two of Guidobaldo's wives, both inscribed in Latin (private collection). While the effigy of Vittoria resembles other portraits identified as Guidobaldo's second wife, the portrait of a lady in a green dress inscribed in Latin IVLIA VARANI / I VXOR GVIDONIS VBALDI II VRB・DVC, could hardly be compared to the portrait in the Pitti Palace.

The monogram on the buckles of the woman's dress visible in the portrait is interpreted as that of Giulia and Guidobaldo, but it closely resembles the monogram of Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France, who was regent of France between 1560 and 1563. A similar interlaced CC can be seen on a plaque with miniatures of Catherine, her husband and other members of her family, painted by François Clouet around 1559. It probably belonged to Catherine herself, who would then have left it as an inheritance to her favourite niece Christine of Lorraine (1565-1637), married to the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand I (1549-1609), now preserved in the Uffizi Gallery (inv. 1890, 815). The dress of the Queen of France from her miniature portrait in the center is also decorated with buckles with the monogram of her and her husband HCC intertwined.

The Queen of France, the most powerful Italian woman of the time, was undoubtedly a model or idol for the woman in the portrait, as her dress and hairstyle bear a strong resemblance to French fashion of the time, visible in the portrait of Catherine de' Medici by an unknown painter, after original from the 1550s (Uffizi Gallery, inv. 4301 / 1890) and the miniature portrait of Mary Stuart (1542-1587), Queen of Scots by François Clouet, dated circa 1558-1560 (Royal Collection, RCIN 401229).

The famous pendant of the namesake of the Queen of France, Catherine Jagellon with her monogram C with which she was buried, commissioned by her father in Nuremberg in 1546 and made by Nicolaus Nonarth (now in the Treasury of Uppsala Cathedral), was not included in the mentioned inventory of her dowry, however the crimson dress with 72 French buckles or 146 pontały matches the portrait in Florence almost perfectly.

The Florentine museums have one of the richest collections of effigies of European monarchs, in particular of Catherine de' Medici, of various origins, some of which were probably sent from France or painted by Florentine painters. We can mention three others representing her before widowhood (Uffizi, inv. 21 / 1890 and inv. 2257 / 1890; Pitti, inv. 2448 / 1890), as well as four as a widow (Uffizi, inv. 2236 / 1890; inv. 441 / Poggio Imperiale (1860); Pitti, inv. 275 / Oggetti d'Arte Castello (1911); Pitti, inv. 5665 / 1890). Catherine Jagiellon, despite her links with the Italian peninsula, is not represented (according to the sources and identifications known before this blog).

The portrait preserved in the Pitti Palace is considered to be a copy of a lost original by Titian, which indicates that the painter and his workshop created several portraits of this bride intended to be sent to different places in Europe. The woman depicted strongly resembles the future Duchess of Finland, based on her known effigies in German-style costume (Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, inv. Gm 622, lost, and Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, MNK XII-543).

The same woman was depicted in another portrait thought to be a work by Titian's studio (oil on canvas, 39.4 x 31.1 cm, Christie's New York, Auction 2511, January 26, 2011, lot 115). She was shown in profile wearing a Spanish-style satin dress and a pearl snood or cap, a comparable example of which was depicted in the intaglio with the profile of Catherine's mother, Bona Sforza (Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, inv. 284). The portrait was sold with an attribution to the late 16th-century Venetian school, and the identification of the sitter as Giulia da Varano has not been maintained. The woman wears a pendant with an indistinct monogram (probably as a result of copying), which could originally be an intertwined I and C, thus Ioannes and Catharina for John of Finland and Catherine Jagiellon, four intertwined Cs as in the mentioned monogram of Catherine de' Medici or Christogram IHS. A somewhat similar late Gothic pendant with a Christogram from the second half of the 15th century adorns the Diamond Robe of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa (Jasna Góra Treasury).

In Florence, another portrait of the same woman, depicted in a black velvet dress embroidered with gold, is preserved, today in the Bardini Museum (oil on canvas, 73 x 54 cm, inv. Bardini, n. 1461). The work in the catalogue of the auction of the Bardini collection, which took place in London in 1922, was attributed to Paolo Veronese. This attribution was later corrected to the Venetian school of the second half of the 16th century. The inventory of the Duchess of Finland included four black velvet dresses, three of which were probably Italian or French in style, and a Spanish "under the throat" (pod gardło) with 198 trumpet-shaped buckles. ​The style of this painting resembles works attributed to Bernardino Licinio, who died in Venice before 1565.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) by Venetian school, most probably​ Bernardino Licinio, 1550s, Bardini Museum in Florence.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) in a pearl snood net by circle of Titian, before 1562, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) as a bride by circle of Titian, before 1562, Pitti Palace in Florence.

Portrait of a courtier, most likely the writer Łukasz Górnicki by Paris Bordone

​"It must be to Your Royal Majesty's good fortune, Most Serene and Gracious King, that under no other Polish king were there so many scholars in Poland as during the reign of Your Royal Grace: and it is not by chance, but precisely from Your Royal hands, that Poland possesses so many books in its own language, as there have never been before. [...] And I, a servant of Your Royal Grace, noting this, and understanding that all this is very pleasing to Your Royal Grace, what someone does for the Polish nation with a virtuous spirit, undertook a work, so that I could also show something. And according to the old custom, as did Count Balcer Castiglion, whose courtier I wished to translate into Polish, I recorded the conversations of Your Royal Grace's courtiers, from Prądnik. [...] Written in Tykocin, on the eighteenth of July in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-five from the Nativity of Our Lord", reads the dedication to King Sigismund II Augustus. It was published in 1566 in the best-known work of the writer Łukasz Górnicki (1527-1603) - "The Polish Courtier" (Dworzanin polski), a paraphrase of the treatise Il cortegiano by Baldassare Castiglione.

Unlike Castiglione, who, in his famous work, written at the court of Urbino between 1508 and 1516 and published in 1528 in Venice, propagated new rules of social coexistence, a culture of behavior and respect for women, Górnicki not included any female characters, which in the original reflected the atmosphere of the Italian court. He also removed homoerotic themes, adding: "As for de effeminatis [the effeminate] he speaks of, since this bad custom has not come down to us, it would be a shame to mention it as well". It should be remembered, however, that around 1554 Górnicki received minor clerical orders (Jan Kochanowski did the same) and obtained several ecclesiastical benefices in this capacity. As a member of the clergy at the time of the impending Counter-Reformation, he undoubtedly could not freely base his work on Castiglione's original. However, he included the following conversation between Stanisław Bojanowski (1507-1555) and Andrzej Kostka: "[...] and yet women always want to be men [...] This is indeed the case, but not because of our greater perfection, but because of the freedom we have taken from them" (białegłowy lepszego nie baczą, ale niebożątka radyby mężczyznami były dla swobody, chcąc ujść surowej naszej zwierzchności, którąśmy sobie sami nad nimi przywłaszczyli, i tą zniewoliliśmy niebogi nad przystojeństwo).

In 1554, Łukasz's uncle, Stanisław Gąsiorek, called Anserinus, better known as Stanisław Kleryka, cleric of the royal chapel on Wawel, made a will in his favor and bequeathed him the Wieliczka rectory and the canonship of the Kruszwica collegiate church, and then, in 1562, the rectory in Kęty. Górnicki did not personally perform the duties associated with his office, but, as was the custom at the time, simply drew on the income from these offices, using deputies. Having thus acquired greater financial resources, he left for Italy in 1557 for two years, where he began studying law in Padua. He returned to Poland in February 1559 and, although he did not obtain a university degree, he received the honorable rank of secretary of the royal secret chancellery, a position that, in practice, was reserved only for eminent individuals. On November 23, 1559, he was appointed librarian to Sigismund Augustus. He held this for nearly thirteen years, until the king's death in 1572.

Probably shortly after his return from Italy, he began adapting Castiglione's Il cortegiano in Vilnius and completed it in Tykocin, where the royal library was eventually relocated. He adapted Castiglione's work to the reality of the court of his former patron, the Crown Vice-Chancellor and Bishop of Kraków, Samuel Maciejowski (1499-1550). From around 1545 he stayed at the Bishop's Palace in Prądnik, near Kraków. At that time, the Orthodox, Protestant, and Jewish denominations dominated in many parts of the country, so claims that the views of a small group of courtiers at the court of the Catholic bishop perfectly reflected those of the entire nation are completely unfounded. The Polish Courtier was printed in Kraków in 1566 by one of the finest printers of the time, Maciej Wirzbięta (1523-1605). The work, however, was not among the widely read. Unlike the successive reprints of Kochanowski's works, no new edition appeared during Gornicki's lifetime, that is, before 1603 (after "Łukasz Górnicki, jego życie i dzieła" by Raphael Löwenfeld, p. 20-21, 23, 25, 28, 32, 35, 38, 45-47, 79, 94, 107, 164, 225).

Another important work by Górnicki in the context of his travels and education in Italy is "A Conversation between a Pole and an Italian on Polish Freedoms and Rights" (Rozmowa Polaka z Wlochem O Wolnosciach Y Prawach Polskich), a political dialogue written around 1588-1598 and published around 1616. The Pole is a representative of Sarmatian ideology, while the Italian recreates the views of the author himself, boldly criticizing the political system in Poland and in particular "golden freedom", the judicial system and the administration.

The writer's stay in Italy between 1557 and 1559 was not the only one. He probably stayed there between 1543 and 1548, although the precise dates are unknown. In many places Górnicki refers to Gasparo Contarini's work De magistratibus, et repub. Venetorum libri quinq., published in Basel in 1547, which he had evidently studied thoroughly. The Republic of Venice serves as his model everywhere. He probably also visited Rome, and even stayed there for a long time. 

With the royal court, he traveled through the lands forming Sarmatia, notably to Gdańsk and Królewiec in 1552, then to Kaunas and Vilnius the following year. Shortly after Easter 1553, Sigismund Augustus sent an embassy to Vienna to negotiate a marriage with his relative Catherine of Austria, widow of the Duke of Mantua and daughter of the Roman King Ferdinand. Przerębski headed the embassy, ​​and among the few courtiers who accompanied him was also Górnicki. Between 1559 and 1562, Łukasz lived mainly at the court in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1561, he was in Rudnik. In the same year, the king left Vilnius in November and arrived in Łomża, where Górnicki received "secret letters". In October 1562, he attended the wedding of Catherine Jagiellon, the king's sister, in Vilnius with the entire court, and then went to the Sejm in Piotrków.

The year 1561 was particularly important for Górnicki, as he obtained from the king written confirmation of his alleged nobility of the Ogończyk coat of arms (May 6 / July 2), which was questioned in 1555 by Łukasz Oleśnicki. He was actually the son of Marcin Góra (original name) and Anna Gąsiorkówna, poor townspeople from Bochnia. On February 13, 1561, the king also granted him an annual pension of 100 florins, paid around Easter from the tax office of the city of Kraków, and on May 15, a second sum of 100 Hungarian gold zlotys, which constituted the tax on Kraków's Jews. It is not known when he renounced his ecclesiastical benefices, but around 1570 Górnicki married Barbara Broniewska (1557-1587), 30 years his junior, daughter of Stanisław (1507-1582), equerry of Przemyśl and starost of Medyka. Barbara's father was a royal courtier who traveled to various courts in Europe.

The writer died on July 22, 1603, at the age of 76 (Obiit Anno Domini 1603. Die 22 mensis Julii, aetatis suae anno 76to), as evidenced by the commemorative plaque on his tombstone in the Bernardine Church in Tykocin. He was buried alongside his wife and children, and the tombstone was erected by his sons Jan and Łukasz. The church, located on an island in the Narew River, adjacent to the castle island, was demolished before 1771 due to the river waters undermining the buildings.

There are no known portraits of the author of "The Polish Courtier" from the time he lived. No information about his appearance has survived. According to information and portraits found on the internet, artificial intelligence depicts him as a dark-haired man. A description left by Górnicki in "The Polish Courtier" suggests that he was a connoisseur of painting: "Like a good Painter, he sets a thing in shadow and makes it opaque and with brightness he sets it far away, deep, lowers, shortens it, according to need: by putting different colors, he supports one thing against another; and knowing where to put something against something, he shows what he wants to the eyes of men".

In 2008, a portrait of a dark-haired man wearing a black fur-lined coat and holding a cap in his right hand, painted by Paris Bordone, was sold in London (oil on canvas, 94.5 x 78 cm, Sotheby's, December 4, 2008, lot 167). At the beginning of the 20th century, this painting was in a private collection in Florence. The man's pose and his rich costume suggest that he was a nobleman and courtier. In the lower right corner, we can see traces of inscription: ÆTATIS / ANNO / [..] III, while at the time of the Van Diemen sale in 1935, the catalog states that the inscription in the lower right was: ÆTATIS / ANNO / XXXIII and that the work was signed and dated in the lower left: O.P.B. [Opus Paris Bordone] 1561. The painting was therefore created in the year in which Górnicki received confirmation of his nobility and significant income.

The man depicted in this portrait was 33 years old at the time of its creation. Although the date on his tombstone indicates that Łukasz should have been 34 that year, this discrepancy is minimal and generally acceptable, as in the case of the portrait of Ferdinand I of Austria (1503-1564), aged 46 in 1548 (MDXLVIII / ANNO ETATIS SVE / XXXXVI), created by Titian's workshop or follower (Dorotheum in Vienna, June 9, 2021, lot 155). Since the inscription is damaged, it is possible that the original age was XXXIIII or that the painter, for some reason, did not add an "I". Moreover, the age of Łukasz's wife at the time of her death is very interesting in this regard. According to the poem dedicated to her by her husband, "She lived 29 years and three months and died in 1587, on the last day of February" (Żyła lat 29, miesięcy trzy, umarła roku 1587, dnia ostatniego Lutego, after "Żywot Łukasza Górnickiego" by Bronisław Czarnik, p. 48), she was therefore born around December 1557. Paris Bordone worked for King Sigismund Augustus and also painted a splendid portrait of his goldsmith Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio, now preserved in Wawel Castle.

There is no evidence that the painter and the model met around 1561 and, in general, Bordone's visit to Sarmatia is not confirmed. However, in the same year, a friend of Górnicki - Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki (1522-1587), who had also studied in Padua between 1557 and 1559 and returned to the country in May 1559, published in Venice fragments of Cicero with a dedication to Filip Padniewski (dated: Dat. Vilnæ, in Lituania, die XX. Iunii, anno Christi nati M. D. LX. [Vilnius June 20, 1560], Fragmentorvm M. Tvllii Ciceronis tomi IIII cum Andr. Patricii adnotationibus; Venetiis, apud Iordanum Ziletum [Giordano Ziletti], M. D. LXI.). Therefore, in the same way that the book finished in Vilnius could be printed in Venice, the portrait of the courtier living in Vilnius could be produced in Venice.

​Portrait of a courtier, most likely the writer Łukasz Górnicki (1527-1603) by Paris Bordone, 1561, Private collection.

Portrait of Jan Firlej by Titian

After his missions to Emperor Charles V in Worms in 1545 and to the court of King Ferdinand I of Austria in 1547, the brilliant career of Jan Firlej (1521-1574) continued. He was a courtier of the king (1545), secretary of the king (1554), castellan of Belz (1555), voivode of Belz (1556), voivode of Lublin (1561), grand marshal of the Crown (1563), voivode and starost of Kraków (1572) and marshal of the Sejm (1573). After 1550, he converted to Lutheranism, then to Calvinism and introduced Protestantism in his estates. He was one of the most prominent promoters of Protestantism in the Commonwealth and an ardent defender of Polish dissidents.

Before Queen Bona left for Italy in 1556, Jan was delegated by King Sigismund Augustus, together with several other castellans under the direction of Crown Chancellor Jan Ocieski, to collect important state documents from her. The description of their activities, preserved in the letter of the chancellor of January 27, 1556 from Warsaw to the king, is interesting: "When we came to receive the letters, Her Highness began with the words: Praise God that everyone should know about my business. In my lord's time no one knew what I had in my chest; now I have to open it. But I am really happy to do it, and I will gladly do it" (Laudetur Deus quod omnes debent scire res meas; tempore domini mei nemo scivit quid ego in cista mea habebam; nunc oportet me aperire. Sed vere ego sum contenta, libenter faciam). It was mainly Queen Bona's protection that helped the house of Firlej grow: "The one who ran away from us with an immeasurable catch / Cunning, greedy, lustful, Italian in a word, [...] With what she stripped from others, she dressed the Firlejs", wrote Ignacy Krasicki (1735-1801). Interestingly, this negative opinion about the queen was written by the Catholic bishop, who after the first partition of Poland became a close friend of Frederick II of Prussia, considered misogynist and homosexual (after "Dwie książki o Ignacym Krasickim" by Stefan Jerzy Buksiński, p. 62).

After the death of his brother-in-law Jan Boner (1516-1562), the castle of Ogrodzieniec passed into the possession of Jan Firlej, as husband of Zofia, daughter of Seweryn Boner. Zofia's father was a royal banker and baron in Ogrodzieniec, a title received from King Ferdinand I in 1540. Firlej was also the king's envoy to Moldavia, where he received the oath of allegiance from Bogdan IV (1555-1574), prince of Moldavia (from 1568 to 1572). During the first interregnum (1572-1573), the French court sent him rich gifts through a Pole, in order to obtain his support for the candidacy of Henry, Duke of Anjou to the throne of Poland-Lithuania, but Firlej rejected the gifts and severely rebuked the messenger. He allegedly wanted the throne for himself.

In the picture gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, there is portrait of a man in a coat lined with expensive lynx fur, painted by Titian (oil on canvas, 115.8 x 89 cm, GG 76). The painting comes from the the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and was recorded in the Theatrum Pictorium (number 95), after two paintings depicting Roxelana (numbers 93, 94), identified by me. David Teniers the Younger, court painter of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, created between 1650-1656 a small copy of this painting, now in the Courtauld Institute of Art (oil on panel, 22.6 x 17 cm, P.1978.PG.436). He also depicted the painting in several views of Archduke's Gallery in Brussels (Schleißheim State Gallery, 1819, 1840, 1841), however in an incorrect layout, thus probably copying the earlier version of Lucas Vorsterman's engraving or a drawing.

Titian's painting was previously thought to depict Filippo di Piero Strozzi (1541-1582), a member of the Florentine Strozzi family and condottiero, who in 1557 entered the French army and fought the Calvinist Huguenots, but this identification was rejected. Strozzi's miniature, possibly by Anton Boys, is also in the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

The Habsburg collections included many portrait paintings of notable figures, mostly sent as gifts, so the man in the Venetian painter's painting must have been an important international figure. This is more of an official portrait, so the man was rather not a warrior or military leader, like Strozzi portrayed in a suit of armor of an admiral. He was most likely a diplomat or politician.

The painting was initially larger in its upper part, as evidenced by old photographs and copies by Teniers. His face has also been changed. Possibly it was repainted by another painter because Titian does not render the likeness well and these alterations were removed in the 20th century. The man's pose and facial features, especially in the pre-restoration versions, resemble Jacopo Tintoretto's portrait in the Kröller-Müller Museum, depicting Firlej in 1547 at the age of 26. 

The painting is generally dated to around 1560, when Jan obtained important posts of voivode of Lublin (1561) and grand marshal of the Crown (1563). As a Calvinist close to Queen Bona, he can generally be seen as an opponent of the Habsburgs and their policies, but as an important dignitary, good relations with him, like for the French court, were undoubtedly important. So it was good to receive his beautiful portrait, but not necessarily to remember his identity.

​Portrait of Jan Firlej (1521-1574) by Titian, 1560s, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

​Portrait of Jan Firlej (1521-1574) by Titian, 1560s, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (before restoration).

​Portrait of Jan Firlej (1521-1574) by David Teniers the Younger after Titian, 1650s, Courtauld Gallery in London.

​Portrait of Jan Firlej (1521-1574) from the Theatrum Pictorium (95) by Lucas Vorsterman the Elder after Titian, 1673, Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon in white by Titian

In the first half of the 18th century, a Swedish painter Georg Engelhard Schröder, created copies of two portraits of Venetian ladies by Titian. These two portraits, in Gripsholm Castle near Stockholm, are undeniably a pair, pendants showing two members of the same family, sisters. They are the only two copies of Titian by Schröder in this collection, they have almost identical dimensions (99 x 80 cm / 100 x 81 cm), composition, the two women are similar and the paintings have even similar inventory number (NMGrh 187, NMGrh 186), a proof that they were always together. The woman holding a cross and a book is Anna Jagiellon, as in the painting by circle of Titian in Kassel, the other must be then her younger sister Catherine Jagiellon, Duchess of Finland from 1562 and later Queen of Sweden.
​
After 1715 the Gripsholm Castle was abandoned by the royal court and between 1720 and 1770, it was used as a county jail. In 1724 Schröder was made the court painter of Frederick I of Sweden, who highly valued him. It is very probable that the king ordered the painter to copy two old, damaged portraits of unknown ladies from Gripsholm, which were then thrown away, replaced with copies by Schröder. 

The portrait of a second lady, in white dress and holding a fan, considered to be Titian's mistress, his daughter as a bride or a Venetian courtesan, is known from several copies. The best known is that in Dresden (without a pattern on sitter's dress, which a pupil of Titian most probably forgot or didin't managed to add), acquired in 1746 from the collection of the d'Este family (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, oil on canvas, 102 x 86 cm, inv. Gal.-Nr. 170), which were friends and allies of "the Milanese princess", Bona Sforza, Catherine's mother. The other, now lost, was copied by Peter Paul Rubens, most probably during his stay in Mantua between 1600-1608, tohether with a portrait of Isabella d'Este, also by Titian and also considered to be lost (both in Vienna - Kunsthistorisches Museum, oil on canvas, 96.2 x 73 cm, GG 531) and another recorded by Anton van Dyck in his Italian sketchbook (British Museum) from the 1620s.

​In case of a copy by Rubens, it's also highly probable that Catherine's son, Sigismund III Vasa, who ordered paintings and portraits from the Flemish painter, also commissioned a copy of a portrait of his mother in about 1628. Another copy by a Flemish painter, holding a rose, can be found in Canterbury Museums and Galleries (oil on canvas, 54 x 40 cm, CANCM:4036).

The dress, as that visible in the portraits, is described among the dresses of the Duchess of Finland in the inventory of her dowry from 1562: "Satin (6 pieces). Satin white robe; on it four embroidered rows at the bottom made of woven gold thread with silver; the bodice and sleeves are also embroidered in a similar manner; buckles on them with red enamel 76" (after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku: Korrespondencya polska ..." by Alexander Przezdziecki, Volume 3, p. 317).

This likeness, as well as the best-known effigy of the princess, a miniature by Lucas Cranach the Younger (Czartoryski Museum, oil on copper, 19.5 x 17.5 cm, inv. MNK XII-543), and a full-length portrait in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (inv. Gm 622), destroyed during the Second World War, probably based on the same initial portrait, can be compared with two portraits of the Czech noblewoman Bohunka of Rožmberk (1536-1557). In the portrait in Nelahozeves Castle (inv. č. L 4766), Bohunka was depicted in a black outfit very similar to that of the best-known portraits of Catherine. In a later portrait, probably painted on the occasion of her engagement around 1555, now in the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague (inv. č. L 5185), she wears a rich dress in the Spanish-French style.

Even without Titian's idealization, Catherine, just as her mother, was considered a beautiful woman, which, unfortunately, is less visible in her portraits in German costume by Cranach the Younger. The Russian envoy reported to Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1560 that Catherine was beautiful, but that she was crying (after "Furstinnan : en biografi om drottning Katarina Jagellonica" by Eva Mattssons), unwilling to marry a man famous of his violence and cruelty.

The painting in Dresden, and its copies, was most probably commissioned by Sigismund Augustus or Anna Jagiellon and sent to the Italian friends. Another version of this portrait by circle of Titian, most probably from the collection of Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel is also in Kassel not far from Brunswick (Wilhelmshöhe Castle, oil on canvas, 99 x 79 cm, inv. 490). The three sisters Sophia, Anna and Catherine are therefore reunited in their portraits by circle of Titian in Kassel.

​In 1563, King Eric XIV of Sweden imprisoned his brother John and his consort Catherine Jagiellon in the Gripsholm Castle. Few years later Catherine granted authority to her sister Anna to fight for the Italian inheritance of Queen Bona.

​In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence there is also a miniature by an Italian painter, possibly Sofonisba Anguissola, showing the same blond woman in a costume similar to that visible in portraits of Catherine Stenbock, Dowager Queen of Sweden from the 1560s (oil on panel, 13 cm, inv. 1890, n. 3953). It depicts Catherine Jagiellon during the time of imprisonment in Gripsholm Castle between 1563 and 1567. Rather because of the appearance of the lady and her costume, than the style of the painting, it was initially attributed to the Northern School, to Hans Holbein the Elder. The miniature comes from the collection of Cardinal Leopold de Medici (1617-1675). The style of this work is also comparable to that of Sofonisba's master, Bernadino Campi (1522-1591), especially the portrait of Isabella Gonzaga (1537-1579), Princess of Francavilla (Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 63.43.1), identified by me. Both Sofonisba and Campi came from Cremona, just like Catherine's courtier, Paolo Ferrari, who had arrived in Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia before 1556 with the intention of serving Queen Bona, Catherine's mother. He was not part of the princess's retinue, but in Finland he was counted among the courtiers.

Sigismund Augustus, when marrying off this sister, foresaw that misfortune might befall her. This may be a later addition, but Łukasz Górnicki (1527-1603) expresses it this way: in Gdańsk, before Catherine's departure to Finland, the king "had some talks with his sister in the black chamber near us, the meaning of which was: that if anything happened to the princess, let her not blame the king, to which the princess gave a wonderful answer; and the duke [of Finland] was not present at this conversation. He got into the carriage with the princess, and the duke of Finland rode on a horse; and for quite a while the king sat in the carriage together with the princess, then he got out and said goodbye to the duke and the princess, who was bidding farewell to the king with tears" (partially after "Cnoty i wady narodu szlacheckiego ..." by Antoni Górski, p. 60-61).

​Althought considered a compassionate and loyal queen, the religious issues made Catherine unpopular with her contemporaries in Sweden. The Catholic queen maintained close relations with Poland-Lithuania and Italy. Her agent was Paolo Ferrari from Cremona, mentioned above, she also had her own ambassadors in Rome, a Dutch Catholic named Petrus Rosinus, and Ture Bielke. Catherine is considered to have had an influence on her husband John III of Sweden in many areas, such as his religious attitude, foreign policy and art. For her son (Sigismund III), she kept a Polish teacher and taught him perfect Polish. The names of her daughter and son, Isabella (in honour of her grandmother Isabella d'Aragona of Naples, Duchess of Milan) and Sigismund (in honour of her father), both contrary to Swedish tradition, indicates that, like her mother Bona Sforza, she had a much greater influence on politics than is officially claimed. 

​Miniature portrait of Crown Princess Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583) by Lucas Cranach the Younger or workshop, ca. 1553-1565, Czartoryski Museum.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland in white by Titian, ca. 1562, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland in white by circle of Titian, ca. 1562, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland in white by Peter Paul Rubens after lost original by Titian, ca. 1600-1608 or 1628, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland holding a rose by Flemish painter after Titian, after 1562, Canterbury Museums and Galleries.

Portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland in white by Georg Engelhard Schröder after original by Titian, 1724-1750, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. ​Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Miniature portrait of Catherine Jagiellon (1526-1583), Duchess of Finland by Italian painter, possibly Sofonisba Anguissola or Bernadino Campi, ca. 1563-1567, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Portrait of king Sigismund Augustus holding a buzdygan by workshop or follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni

In 1551 Georg Joachim de Porris (1514-1574) or von Lauchen, also known as Rheticus, a mathematician and astronomer of Italian heritage, best known for his trigonometric tables and as Nicolaus Copernicus's sole pupil, lost his job at the Leipzig University following the alleged drunken homosexual assault on a young student, the son of a merchant Hans Meusel. He was sentenced to 101 years of exile from Leipzig. As a result, he would come to lose the support of many long-time benefactors including Philipp Melanchthon. Earlier rumors of homosexuality forced him to leave Wittenberg for Leipzig. Constitutio Criminalis Carolina, a comprehensive criminal code, promulgated in 1532 by Emperor Charles V and binding for the Holy Roman Empire until 1806, mandated the death penalty for homosexuality. He fled following this accusation, for a time residing in Chemnitz before eventually moving on to Prague, where he studied medicine. He then moved to Kraków. Having settled there, where he lived in the Kaufman's tenement house in the Main Square, he erects a large obelisk in Balice near Kraków with the financial and technical assistance of Jan Boner (1516-1562), the king's advisor and the leader of the Lesser Poland's Calvinists. This gnomon of 45 Roman feet high (about 15 meters) used to indicate the declination of the sun, necessary for astronomical observations and calculations, was ready in mid-July 1554 (according to letter from Rheticus to Jan Kraton, a Wrocław naturalist, July 20, 1554). The obelisk's pyramidal shape was thought to be a link between heaven and earth and a symbol of heavenly wisdom. Rheticus' obelisk become a symbol of Oficyna Łazarzowa (Officina Lazari), printing house of Łazarz Andrysowicz (died before 1577) in Kraków.

Between 1562-1563, Rheticus was closely associated with the court of king Sigismund Augustus, making rare astronomical instruments for him on the occasion of the famous August conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 1563. After the death of Jan Benedykt Solfa (1483-1564), the court physician of the king, Rheticus assumed his position as well as the function of court astrologer.

According to accounts of Berardo Bongiovanni, Bishop of Camerino and Papal Nuncio to Poland (1560-1563), written in 1560, "the king keeps 2,000 horses in the stable, 600 of which I saw, the rest were in the villages for fodder, as well as the foals and the stud. I have also seen 20 royal armor, four of which are remarkable works, namely one with a beautiful carving and silver-clad figures, depicting all the victories of his ancestors over Moscow. It cost 6,000 scudi. There are other victories on others.

[...]

Finally, he has thirty saddles and horse tacks, so rich that it is impossible to see the richer elsewhere. Some are of pure gold and silver, it is not surprising, knowing that they belong to such a king, but that they are also a masterpiece of art, no one who has not seen it would not believe it.

[...]

In each craft, the king has skilled masters, Jacob of Verona for jewels and carving on them, several Frenchmen for casting cannons, a Venetian for woodcarving, a Hungarian expert lute player, Prospero Anacleri, a Neapolitan for dressage of horses, and then for any craftsmanship.

He allows all these people to live as everyone likes, because he is so good and gracious that he would not want to cause anyone the slightest pain. I just wish he was a bit stricter in the matter of religion" (after "Relacye nuncyuszów apostolskich", Volume 1, pp. 96-100).

In 1565 Flavio Ruggieri reported that, "The king has horses in Lithuania, brought from the Kingdom of Naples during the times of Queen Bona, when also many horses were brought to Italy from Poland".

Another Ruggieri (or Ruggeri), Giulio, Papal Nuncio from 1565, recalled at the beginning of 1568, drew up for the Pope's information a full report, which, after the manner of the Venetian reports, stated about the king: "now he usually lives in Lithuania, most often in Knyszyn, a small castle of this province on the border of Mazovia, where he has stables with lots of beautiful horses, some of which are Neapolitan, the other Turkish, the other Spanish or Mantuan, and most Polish. This love of horses is, in a way, the reason that the king likes to live here, and maybe also that this place, being almost in the center of his countries, it is more convenient in terms of domestic administration for the king and those who have an interest, than Kraków, located on the Polish border" (after "Relacye nuncyuszów apostolskich", Volume 1, p. 182).

Adam Miciński, the court equerry of the king, in his work published in Kraków in 1570 entitled O swierzopach i ograch (On mares and stallions), says that the royal herds consisted of Arab, Turkish and Persian stallions, and the Polish mares, and that Nicolaus Radziwill, brought the king stallions from the Archipelago (Greek Islands), including from Venetian-ruled city of Candia (modern Heraklion, Crete). In 1565 Giert Hulmacher, a burgher from Gdańsk, supplied the king with two Friesian horses, bought in the Netherlands.

Portrait of a man in armor in the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh is signed in lower left corner with a monorgam G B M and a date "1563", thence attributed to follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni (oil on canvas, 255 x 161.9 cm, inv. GL.60.17.46). The style of this painting is also very close to Moroni. In the early 19th century it was owned by the Lord Stalbridge in London. The man, in a partially gilded armor, is holding a gold flanged mace of Eastern origin, very popular in Poland-Lithuania in the 16th and 17th centuries and known as buzdygan. Similar maces were depicted in the magnificent funerary monument of Stanisław Maleszewski (d. 1555) in the cloister of the Dominican Church in Kraków, created around 1555 by the workshop of Bartolommeo Berrecci or Santi Gucci, and that of Piotr Boratyński (1509-1558), castellan of Belz and Przemyśl and secretary to King Sigismund II Augustus, in Wawel Cathedral, created around 1558 by the workshop of Bartolommeo Berrecci (founded by his wife Barbara Dzieduszycka). His crimson trunkhose of Venetian fabric are very similar to that visible in a portrait of Sigismund Augustus in crimson costume in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Behind the man, among antique Roman ruins, stand his white horse and an obelisk, similar to that visible in a reconstruction of the Mausoleum of Emperor Augustus in Rome published in 1575, on title page of Rheticus' Canon doctrinae triangulorum, published in Leipzig in 1551, several publications of Oficyna Łazarzowa, some sponsored or dedicated to Polish-Lithuanian monarchs, or in the portrait of royal jeweller Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio from about 1553. Facial features of a man bear a strong resemblance to effigies of king Sigismund Augustus by Tintoretto. 

​This painting is also attributed to the Brescian painter Agostino Galeazzi (1523-1576), pupil of Moretto da Brescia (after "Pittori intorno a Moretto ..." by Stefano Bonaldo, p. 24, 26), who according to my identification painted the portrait of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (Dorotheum in Vienna, October 22, 2019, lot 40).

Portrait of king Sigismund Augustus in armor holding a buzdygan by workshop of Giovanni Battista Moroni or Agostino Galeazzi, 1563, North Carolina Museum of Art.

Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus at the age of 43 by Tintoretto

"For the magnates, the elected ruler was only primus inter pares, to whom honor and respect were to be shown as a symbol of the state, but not necessarily obedience. Some magnates even allowed themselves to attack and ignore the monarch" (after "Obyczaje w Polsce ..." by Andrzej Chwalba, p. 203). In the great hall of his beautiful palace in Warsaw (Sandomierski Palace), among the portraits of the ancestors of Great Crown Chancellor Jerzy Ossoliński (1595-1650), there was a portrait of King Ladislaus IV Vasa with such inscription - Primus inter pares (First among equals). The term was introduced under Emperor Augustus to describe his position in the Roman state (Principate). Augustus wanted to use this designation to emphasize his subordination to the republican institutions, de facto, however, he was absolute ruler. According to Aleksander Bronikowski, the reign of Sigismund Augustus in Poland-Lithuania, a constitutional king with little power, shows the process of further limitation of monarch's prerogatives.

Such position of the Polish monarch also determined the iconography. The majority of people accustomed to the well-known effigies of Francis I, King of France and especially Henry VIII of England in rich fabrics and adorned with precious stones and jewels from head to toe, consider them an archetype of a Renaissance monarch. Despite the fact that his wardrobe was full of the most exquisite European and Oriental clothes, Sigismund Augustus usually dressed modestly, similar to the rulers of Europe's greatest power of the 16th century - Spain. In several of his portraits, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) is dressed in simple black attire. If not for the distinctive features and the Order of the Golden Fleece, such portraits could be considered effigies of a mere merchant (e.g. series by workshop of Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen). 

Some of the portraits of the Emperor's brother and successor to the Imperial throne Ferdinand I of Austria (1503-1564), husband of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), by workshop and follower of Titian, were even inscribed with a standard latin inscription, indicating only the age of the model and the date (Prado Museum in Madrid and Private collection in Vienna). According to mentioned inscription Ferdinand was 46 in 1548 (MDXLVIII / ANNO ETATIS SVE / XXXXVI), which is not entirely accurate as he was born on March 10, 1503, so generally speaking should be 45 in 1548. However, the version from Fugger Castle in Babenhausen provides the titulature (FERDINANDVS. D.G. ROMA. / IMP. ANNO. 1548) and the resemblance to many other of his preserved effigies is so obvious that the identification is not disputed. What is also noticeable in the mentioned portraits of Ferdinand is the color of his hair which is different in all versions. He has the darkest hair in the versions in Spain (Prado and Convent de Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, attributed to Anthonis Mor) and the brightest in the versions in Germany and Austria. Ferdinand commissioned his portraits from Titian's studio in Venice and one version was undoubtedly sent to Poland to a relative of his wife Sigismund II Augustus (also husband of two of Ferdinand's daughters).

Around 1538 Titian and his disciples realized also a series of portraits of King Francis I of France (1494-1547), allegedly inspired by a medal engraved by Benvenuto Cellini in Fontainebleau in 1537. Two of these portraits, in the Louvre and in the Harewood House are very similar, but many details differ (hairstyle, costume, background), so it is more likely that he painted these portraits based on study drawings of the king sent from France.

These portraits were gifts to various monarchs of Europe and were copied by various workshops. The portrait of Italian Duke of Savoy, Emmanuel Philibert (1528-1580), painted by circle of Antonis Mor in the Netherlands between 1555-1558, today in the Lviv National Art Gallery, could be a gift to Sigismund II Augustus. In a letter dated April 10, 1546 from Königsberg, Duke Albert of Prussia informs King Christian III of Denmark that the young King of Poland, Sigismund Augustus, had commenced building a new palace at Vilnius in Lithuania, for which he wished to have, among other things for its decoration, the portraits of the King and his family, and requesting that they should be furnished by his Majesty, whereupon the King, in a letter dated Kolding, the 6th of June, 1546, answers the Duke, that he willingly would have sent to the King of Poland the portraits wished for, but as they were not ready, and his Majesty's portraitist, Jacob Binck, whom he had some time before sent to the Duke, had not yet returned, he must rest contented until Binck came back and painted them (after "The Fine Arts Quarterly Review", Volume 2, pp. 374-375). In early 1570 a Swedish envoy arrived in Warsaw, where Sigismund Augustus settled for good from January 1570, with a portrait of Prince Sigismund (1566-1632), son of his sister Catherine. 

One of the few preserved, painted and inscribed effigies of "the last of the Jagiellons" is a portrait in the National Museum in Kraków (SIGISM. AUGUSTUS REX / POLONIÆ IAGELLONIDARUM / ULTIMUS, MNK I-21). It was probably created in the first half of the 17th century as a copy of a lost original by Lucas Cranach the Younger (known from a miniature from his workshop in the same museum, mirror view, Czartoryski collection, MNK XII-538). It was acquired in Sweden by a Pole Henryk Bukowski (1839-1900), who after the January Uprising settled in Stockholm and founded an antique shop. 

In 2022, a portrait of a gentleman by Jacopo Robusti known as Tintoretto from the Ferria Contin collection in Milan was auctioned (oil on canvas, 117 x 92 cm, Pandolfini Casa d'Aste, September 28, 2022, auction 1160, lot 21). According to inscription in Latin on the right the man was 43 in 1563 (AÑO ÆTATIS / SVÆ XXXX III / 1563), exacly as king Sigismund II Augustus (born on 1 August 1520), when workshop or follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, realized his portrait holding a buzdygan (North Carolina Museum of Art). The man bears a striking resemblance to other effigies of the monarch by Tintoretto identified by me and his squinted eyes make him look very much like his mother in her portraits by Cranach.

​The same man with a similar expression on his face was depicted in another painting by Tintoretto, now in the Rollins Museum of Art in Winter Park, Florida (oil on canvas, 57.46 x 46.35, inventory number 1962.2). He is, however, much older and wears armour adorned with gold, similar to that in the portrait of Sigismund Augustus at the age of 30 with a royal galley (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, GG 24). The face is also similar, as well as to the smaller "derivative" works of this portrait. The portrait was previously attributed to Paolo Veronese.

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572), aged 43 by Tintoretto, 1563, Private collection.

​Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in armour by Tintoretto, 1565-1570, Rollins Museum of Art.

Portraits of Georgia of Pomerania, countess Latalska by Paolo Veronese and circle

On October 24, 1563 in Wolgast, Georgia of Pomerania, granddaughter of Anna Jagiellon (1476-1503), Duchess of Pomerania, married Stanisław Latalski (1535-1598), count in Łabiszyn, starost of Inowrocław and Człuchów. On this occassion Philip I (1515-1560), Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast asked the court administration of his uncle Barnim IX in Szczecin for a larger series of tapestries to decorate the festive chambers, altogether 28 pieces.

Georgia was a posthumous daughter of George I, Duke of Pomerania and his second wife Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577). She was born on November 28, 1531 as the only child of the couple and named after her father. When her mother remarried in 1534, she was brought up at the court of her stepfather, prince John V of Anhalt-Zerbst (1504-1551) in Dessau. It was decided, however, that when she reached her eighth birthday, in 1539, she must be returned to Pomerania under the custody of her half-brother Philip I. Despite this, Margaret was able to have kept her daughter with her until May 1543, when she was finally sent to Wolgast. There were plans to marry her to Jaroslav of Pernstein (1528-1560), Prince Eric of Sweden (1533-1577), future Eric XIV, when she was just 10 years old and later to Otto II (1528-1603), Duke of Brunswick-Harburg. In the fall of 1562, negotiations were initiated with Stanisław Latalski, who was an envoy of Greater Poland to the Piotrków Sejm in 1562/1563. Latalski was a son of Janusz, voivode of Poznań and Barbara née Kretkowska. His father received the title of Count of the Holy Empire from Emperor Charles V in 1538 and in 1543 he was sent to Emperor Ferdinand in order to arrange a marriage of Sigismund II Augustus with Elizabeth of Austria. In 1554 young Stanisław, accompanied by Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski, son of Hetman Jan Amor, and Mikołaj Mielecki travelled to England, Switzerland and Italy. During this trip, they had the opportunity to meet Emperor Charles V in Brussels and his son Philip of Spain in London (after "Hetman Jan Tarnowski ..." by Włodzimierz Dworzaczek, p. 316).

The couple lived in Łabiszyn and in Człuchów, where Georgia was visited by her mother Margaret of Brandenburg. In 1564 Stanisław went to Wittenberg, to his wife's nephews, the Pomeranian princes Ernest Louis and Barnim, who were studying there. In the same year, under Georgia's influence, he converted to Lutheranism and brought the preacher Paul Elard (or Elhard) and his brother Hans from Szczecin, giving them in 1564 the castle chapel in Człuchów, and two years later also the parish church. Most of the city's population converted to Lutheranism. He also built a wooden Lutheran church in Łabiszyn. Between 1557 and 1564 Stanisław rebuilt the Inowrocław Castle in the Renaissance style with Italianate attics (ochędożone po włosku brandmury [literally firewall from Dutch/German/Polish - brandmuur, brandmauer, ogniomur]). The castle, however, was destroyed in 1656 during the Deluge. His father Janusz, voivode of Inowrocław and Poznań, corresponded with Protestant Duke George II of Brzeg (1523-1586) and Catholic King Ferdinand I (1503-1564). In a letter from 1550 to Duke George, Janusz thanks him for the two dogs he sent him and sends him in return two falcons trained for hunting and adds that he will send four of them to King Ferdinand (Serenissimo Regi Romanorum quatuor lectos falconas assignavi, cum iisque suae Sacrae Majestatis falconarius, qui eos tollat, in itinere expectatur). 

After the birth of her first child in 1566, three years after the wedding - a daughter named Maria Anna - Georgia lost her mind and never completely regained her sanity since. She died in childbirth in late 1573 or early 1574.

Portrait of a lady wearing an elaborate yellow silk dress in Kensington Palace was painted in the style close to Paolo Veronese (oil on canvas, 87.6 x 64.8 cm, RCIN 400552). It was previously attributed to Leandro Bassano and comes from the collection of the Capel family at Kew Palace in London (acquired in 1731). The coat of arms, which is unidentified, was painted in a different style, hence it is clearly a later addition. It is painted over an original inscription in Latin, which is still in part legible: AETATIS SVAE XXXII. / ANNO DNI / 1.5.6.3 / SIBI. The woman was therefore 32 years old in 1563, exacly as Georgia of Pomerania, when she married Latalski. The upper part of her dress is transparent and embroidered with white flowers of five petals, very similar to the Luther rose visible on the epitaph of Katharina von Bora (1499-1552), wife of Martin Luther, in the Marienkirche in Torgau, created in 1552. Around her neck is a string of pearls, associated with purity, chastity and innocence and a large green jewel-pendant on a long chain, a color being symbolic of fertility. She is holding a green parrot on her hand, a symbol of motherhood. The woman bear a great resemblance to half-brother of Georgia of Pomerania, Prince Joachim Ernest of Anhalt (1536-1586) in his effigies by Lucas Cranach the Younger (Georgium in Dessau and private collection) and to effigies of Georgia's mother Margaret of Brandenburg by Lucas Cranach the Elder, identified by me (Grunewald hunting lodge in Berlin and private collection). 

The same woman, although somewhat older, was depicted in another similar painting by Veronese, now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (oil on canvas, 117.3 x 100.8 cm, inv. 594). The painting comes from the Electoral Gallery in Schleissheim Palace near Munich, where it had been listed since at least 1748 (after "Alte Pinakothek: italienische Malerei", ed. Cornelia Syre, p. 280). From the same gallery comes the portrait of Queen Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) as a widow, painted by the workshop of Sofonisba Anguissola, attributed by me, now in the Royal Castle in Warsaw (inv. ZKW 64). The particular expression of the woman in the painting also correspond with reports that Georgia suffered from mental health problems.

In the Schorr collection in London there is another interesting portrait painted in 1563 (oil on panel, 117 x 82.5 cm, inv. SRR6370427). The man is holding a pair of gloves and wears a gold signet ring set with a precious stone on his index finger, suggesting that he was a man of some wealth. The painting is attributed to Anthonis Mor, also known as Antonio Moro, a Dutch portrait painter born in Utrecht, who painted many aristocrats and members of the ruling families of Europe. According to the date inscribed on the contemporary frame around the painting, the man was 28 years old in 1563, exactly like Latalski when he was elected to the Diet of Piotrków and married Georgia. The same man can be identified in a portrait by Tintoretto, painted two years later, in 1565, which once belonged to the imperial collection of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern (oil on canvas, 100.8 x 87.7 cm, Christie's London, Auction 11974, July 8, 2016, lot 159, signed and dated lower left: IAC·TENTORETO·F· / ·15·65·). This painting also bore another inscription in the upper left corner, invisible today.

The Latalskis were a wealthy family, although today very few traces of their prosperity remain in Poland. Among them, we can cite two books published in Leipzig in 1533 by Melchior Lotter the Elder (1470-1549), who printed works by Luther and Cranach, Age[n]da s[e]c[u]nd[u]m cursum et rubrica[m] eccl[es]ie cathedralis Posnaniensis ... and Eva[n]gelistaru[m] quatuor passiones D[omi]ni n[ost]ri Jhesu Christi. In ecclesia cathedrali Posnanien[si] ... (Kórnik Library, sygn.Cim.Qu.2953; sygn.Cim.Qu.2954). These books, intended to unify the liturgy in the Poznań diocese, were financed by Jan Latalski (1463-1540), Bishop of Poznań, favourite of Queen Bona and uncle of Stanisław. The title page of both books is decorated with a beautiful woodcut with the arms of Latalski - Prawdzic with the apostles Peter and Paul, signed with an indistinct monogram on the stone in the center of the composition. This woodcut is very much in the style of Cranach and comparable to the woodcuts with the effigies of the two apostles preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 21.35.5; 22.67.34) or the title page of Luther's book Von Jhesu Christo eine Predigt, published in Wittenberg in 1533. The study drawing with the arms of Latalski was probably sent to Wittenberg or to a collaborator of Cranach in Leipzig or made in Poznań by a member of Cranach's workshop. The same is probably true for the portraits of members of the Latalski family, especially Stanisław who travelled and had connections in different parts of Europe. As in the case of the portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-1574), Grand Duke of Tuscany, wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece, painted by the workshop or circle of Mor in the late 1560s (Sotheby's New York, January 27, 2007, lot 624), it would be difficult to prove how the painter and the model met, since they probably not met in person at the time the painting was created and the effigy was based on other portraits or study drawings. However, Count Stanisław undoubtedly had the opportunity to meet the painter personally in Brussels or London during his visit to that city in 1554. In 1604, Karel van Mander, in his biography of Anthonis, reports on the trip that the latter made to London at the request of Charles V to paint a portrait of Mary Tudor, one of his best-known works, now kept in the Prado Museum in Madrid (inv. P002108). The following year Latalski went to Italy, which also made possible a personal acquaintance with Tintoretto and other Venetian painters. His uncle Bishop Jan was also the initiator of the publication in Venice of the Kraków Breviary in 1538, which, however, bears the Abdank coat of arms of his successor Jan Chojeński (1486-1538) on the tile page (after "Przywileje drukarskie w Polsce" by Maria Juda, p. 37).

The Italian, Netherlandish and German influences in the Latalskis' patronage and portraiture perfectly reflect the diversity of the country.

Portrait of Georgia of Pomerania (1531-1573/74), countess Latalska, aged 32 with a parrot by circle of Paolo Veronese, 1563, Kensington Palace. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

​Portrait of Georgia of Pomerania (1531-1573/74), countess Latalska by Paolo Veronese, ca. 1570, Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

​Portrait of a man aged 28, most probably Count Stanisław Latalski (1535-1598) by Anthonis Mor, 1563, The Schorr Collection. 

​Portrait of a man holding a pair of gloves, most probably Count Stanisław Latalski (1535-1598) by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1565, Private collection. 

​Woodcut with the coat of arms of Prawdzic of Jan Latalski (1463-1540), Bishop of Poznań, Apostles Peter and Paul from Eva[n]gelistaru[m] quatuor passiones ... by circle or workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1533, Kórnik Library. 

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon holding a zibellino by Tintoretto ​

In 1562 on the occasion of the wedding of her younger sister Catherine in Vilnius, Anna ordered for herself three gowns: "one robe of red taffeta, and two hazuka dresses of red velvet" all sewn with pearls. The sisters dressed identically, as evidenced by their miniatures by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger from about 1553. Inventory of Catherine's dowry includes many items similar to these visible on the portrait of a lady holding a zibellino by Tintoretto from about 1565: a golden belt set with rubies, sapphires and pearls valued at 1,700 thalers, "a black sable stitched together from two, his head and four feet are golden, set with precious stones" of 1,400 thalers worth, a chain of large round, oriental pearls of 1,000 thalers worth, a neacklace of round, oriental pearls of 985 thalers worth, velvet long, crimson robe with three rows of pearl edgings with 72 French-style enameled buckles, velvet crimson hazuka dress lined with sables, four velvet outer garments for summer, eleven white linen shirts with gold sleeves, and even "one large yellow Turkish rug for the table".

By the mid-1560s, Anna's financial situation had improved. The assistance of an important Mazovian official, Wojciech Bogucki, an old friend of her mother, played an important role. Bogucki, as treasurer (podskarbi) and general intendent (ekonom) of Mazovia (and after his death his successor Marcin Falęcki), was largely responsible for the financial affairs of Anna's court. Her income increased considerably in these years. She now had a stable income from her Mazovian estates and Sigismund Augustus agreed to give her 1,900 Polish zlotys annually from the royal salt mines, and sometimes sent her an extra money. In 1564, for example, Anna's total income can be estimated at nearly 18,000 Polish zlotys, and she was now spending a lot (in 1564, her expenses reached 21,000 Polish zlotys). The accounts of 1564 allow us to estimate the number of her courtiers at about 70 people. The steward was Stanisław Wolski, castellan of Rawa, who was sent to Vienna in January 1564 to convey Anna's message to the emperor. Among the courtiers, the physician Casary (Caspary) was the best paid: his salary in 1564 amounted to the enormous sum of 854 Polish zlotys and 29 groszy. There were also the notary Andrzej Hincza, the bookkeeper Grzegorz Goryszewski, six coachmen, an "overseer of the silver" and two servants in charge of the silverware, a hairdresser, a pharmacist, one male and one female bath attendants (Raczek łaziebnik and kąpielowa Miliczina), a stove attendant, a servant in charge of the ladies-in-waiting, four doormen, and three servants in charge of the clothes. Among the important figures were Algismund, the cellar and wine overseer, and Jan, the trumpeter. There were nine cooks, mostly Poles, but Jerzy (Giorgio) Macarona was probably Italian, as his name suggests, while Jerzy Bohemus probably came from Bohemia. There was also a certain Gaspar, servant to the main cook. Among the matrons at the princess's court at that time were Elżbieta Maciejowska, Mrs. Świdnicka, Mrs. Bentkowska, as well as a "Italian maiden" Livia, probably an old lady-in-waiting of Bona, who had not married, and eight ladies-in-waiting. In 1564, the salaries of the court members amounted to almost 4,000 Polish zlotys (including arrears). The costs of sending special envoys and letters amounted to 140 Polish zlotys, which testifies to rich contacts. Considerable sums were spent on textiles and clothing for courtiers and servants. These clothes were made from various types of textiles, such as silk taffeta, satin, damask, Bohemian and English (luńskie) cloths of various colors. In one year (1564), Anna purchased 12 cubits of red silk taffeta and 1/2 cubit of black silk taffeta for a dress, as well as black satin to finish her damask dress. She had one of her old damask dresses altered and had five new ones made: one in black satin, three in damask, and one in black velvet with silver fringes. A damask cloak was also to be made for her. The greatest expenses, however, were incurred by the table. The rich list of products purchased for the kitchen suggests that meals at Anna's court were abundant and refined (after "The Court of Anna Jagiellon: Size, Structure and Functions" by Maria Bogucka, p. 95-98).

Apart from Cranach's miniature, there are no known portraits of the princess from this period, but sources confirm the existence of such effigies. In November 1569, a faithful portrait (wahrhaftig Conterfey) of Anna was made for Prince Barnim of Pomerania (1549-1603). At the initiative of Sigismund Augustus, negotiations on the marriage of Anna with Barnim were conducted in Drahim by Stanisław Sędziwój Czarnowski (1526-1602). However, they did not lead to any results, because the Pomeranian side wanted to expand its territory at the expense of the Polish crown, which Sigismund Augustus could not accept, since these issues were decided by the Sejm, and its consent was unlikely - the Pomeranians demanded several starosties as a dowry for Barnim's future wife. Sigismund Augustus, for his part, was ready to generously equip his sister, offering her the considerable sum of 400,000 Polish zloty, as well as a rich trousseau of clothes and equipment and a share of Queen Bona's inheritance. Despite the consent of the Princess and Barnim and the serious involvement of the Polish side in these negotiations, the planned marriage of Anna Jagiellon with the Pomeranian Prince did not take place (after "Książęta Pomorza Zachodniego ..." by Zygmunt Boras, p. 181). Earlier, in August 1557 in Vilnius, Antoni Wida painted portraits of princesses Anna and Catherine for Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568).

As with his sister Catherine's marriage, Sigismund Augustus did not want to impose his will on Anna regarding her marriage. On November 16, 1562, he replied to Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (1515-1565) from Warsaw that he had not yet discussed the candidacy of the Danish Prince Magnus (1540-1583) with her: "we do not know the opinion or will of Her Grace in this matter, and we would not want to act without the knowledge and consent of Her Majesty herself, otherwise than we have done with our younger sister, according to her own will" (after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku ..." by Aleksander Przezdziecki, Volume 3, p. 41). ​

In September 1565 arrived to Cracow count Clemente Pietra to announce the marriage of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany with a cousin of Sigismund Augustus and Anna, Joanna of Austria (a sister of Sigismund Augustus' first and third wife) and to ask for the hand of Anna for 16 years old Ferdinando, brother of Duke Francesco. It is highly probable that on this occasion the king commissioned in the workshop of Tintoretto in Venice a portrait of himself, his wife and his 42 years old sister, created just as earlier effigies of the Jagiellons by medalier van Herwijck or painter Cranach the Younger, basing on drawings or miniatures sent from Poland.

Experts frequently point out the uniqueness of this effigy, now at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 98 x 75.5 cm, inventory number GG 48), not only because of the frontality of the woman's posture, but also the unusual cut of her outfit - red velvet dress. For the authors of the exhibition "Titian and the image of women in 16th century Venice" at the Royal Palace of Milan (February 23 to June 5, 2022), "she is not a Venetian gentlewoman but from the Venetian hinterland" (Il vestito fa ritenere che non si tratti di una gentildonna veneziana ma dell'entroterra veneto) and her jewelry and the oriental carpet express good taste and high social status. 

Similar to the effigy of the second wife of Anna's brother, Barbara Radziwill, known as "La Bella" (Pitti Palace in Florence, Inv. 1912 no. 18), a zibellino on her hand is a fertility talisman, indicating that she is an unmarried woman. Weasel pelts (zibellino) were mainly imported to Italy from Poland-Lithuania and Muscovy.

This painting, sometimes also attributed to Marietta Robusti, known as Tintoretta (d. 1590), most probably comes from the collection of James Hamilton (1606-1649), 1st Duke of Hamilton, which after his death entered the collection of Archduke Leopold William of Austria in Brussels. Hamilton collected Venetian paintings through his agent, Viscount Basil Feilding, who was sent in 1634 as ambassador to Venice, where he remained for five years. It differs, however, from the work represented in the catalog of the Archduke's collection - Theatrum Pictorium (number 79). The print by Lucas Vorsterman the Younger shows a slightly larger image and fragments of architecture in the background and attributes the original painting to Titian. There is also no zibellino in this version. It is possible that the painting was modified or that it is one of the many versions belonging to the Habsburgs, relatives of Crown Princess Anna Jagiellon, who undoubtedly received her effigies. It was mentioned in the gallery in 1735. 

The portrait resembles Anna's miniature by workshop of Cranach from around 1553, her funerary monument from around 1584, and a portrait by Tintoretto in the Collegium Maius in Kraków.

Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) when Crown Princess of Poland-Lithuania holding a zibellino by Tintoretto, ca. 1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. ​

​Portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) when Crown Princess of Poland-Lithuania from the Theatrum Pictorium (79) by Lucas Vorsterman the Younger after Titian, 1660, Princely Court Library in Waldeck.

Portraits of Queen Catherine of Austria as Venus Verticordia by Titian and workshop

"Today I came to Radom, where the queen lives, and that same evening I visited Her Highness, comforting her in the name of the Holy Father after the loss of Emperor His Higness, although three months ago I had fulfilled this obligation by one of my secretaries, whom I sent to Radom. The Queen seemed to accept this very pleasantly, and in return she kisses His Holiness' most holy feet in the most humble way. She asked me to visit her the next morning for easier conversation", wrote about his visit on December 3, 1564 to Queen Catherine of Austria, Venetian bishop and papal nuncio Giovanni Francesco Commendone (1523-1584), in his letter to Cardinal Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), future saint. 

The next day this secret audience took place, a description of which we find in Commendone's next letter: "It was on it that she spoke of her unhappy condition, complaining that, apart from leaving her for no reason, there were also attempts to divorce her, and that this was the main cause of the Synod. She considered all the accusations made against her with such care, caution, and respect for the king that I do not know whether I felt more pity or admiration for her. Later she said extensively that she knew well how the ministers, especially the envoys of the courts, contribute to all this; so she begged me and beseeched me for the holy priesthood, in the name which I had until now, and for the kindness shown to me by her father, and by her brothers, and also the Bavarian prince, that I would have mercy on her; and then she opened up completely to me and said that she had been secretly informed about the efforts made with the Holy Father for divorce, and that His Holiness, with my advice and commitment, allows it. [...] She spoke all these words with bitter tears and sobbing so that I could hardly answer her. [...] I assured her, most honestly, that the king had not mentioned a word of divorce [...]. I wish and hope to convince the Queen someday that I did just the opposite; that I tried in various ways and under various appearances to dissuade from these intentions, to suppress these thoughts, and that the same is the opinion of the Holy Father. [...] At the supper (because she wanted me to dine with me) I saw her greatly comforted. Finally, bidding me farewell, she again took me aside and asked me to recommend her pious services to the Holy Father begging him to take care of her and not to forget in his holy prayers that God may console her in these worries. I understand that the Hungarian War increased the Queen's suspicions: some argue that for this divorce and for the Emperor's other practices with the Prussian Master and Moscow against the Kingdom of Poland, efforts were made to entangle him in these Transylvanian troubles. Whatever the answer to the matter of divorce, no matter how indifferent, I remind Your Majesty most humbly to write it with a key" (after Aleksander Przeździecki's "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku. Korrespondencya Polska", Volume 3, p. 104-107).

Undobtedly also works of art, paintings, were part of all these secret negotiations and political efforts. In May 1562, the queen settled in Radom alone, abandoned by the king. As a widowed Duchess of Mantua, daughter of Emperor and cousin of Philip II of Spain, she knew the power of image and allegory. 

In the Borghese Gallery in Rome, where there is also a portrait of Catherine of Austria's mother Queen Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547) as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder, there is a painting of Venus blindfolding Cupid by Titian, dated by Adolfo Venturi to about 1565. It was probably acquired in 1608 as part of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati's collection. 

According to Erwin Panofsky it shows Venus Verticordia between the blindfolded Cupid and Anteros, the one with his eyes open, symbols of contrasting aspects of love, the blind and sensuous, and the clear-sighted and virtuous, and two nymphs symbolizing Marital Affection and Chastity. The matrons of Rome, who were so renowned for good management that old Cato told the senate, "We Romans govern all the world abroad, but are ourselves governed by our wives at home," erected a temple to that Venus Verticordia, quæ maritos uxoribus reddebat benevolos (Venus the Turner of Hearts, who makes husbands well disposed to their wives), whither (if any difference happened between man and wife) they did instantly resort. There they did offer sacrifice, a white hart, Plutarch records, sine felle, without the gall (some say the like of Juno's temple), and make their prayers for conjugal peace (after Robert Burton's "The Anatomy of Melancholy", Volume 3, p. 310). Venus has the features of Queen Catherine of Austria, similar to her other effigies by Titian. The Queen probably commissioned it as a gift for the Pope or one of the cardinals.

A copy of this painting was in the collection of Cornelis van der Geest and is seen in two paintings of his art gallery in the 1630s, by Willem van Haecht. In 1624 Prince Ladislaus Sigismund Vasa, grandson of Catherine Jagiellon, visited his gallery in Antwerp. The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm has two workshop copies of this painting, out of four known previously. One, attributed to Andrea Schiavone (inventory number NM 7170), came to the Nationalmuseum with the collection of Nicola Martelli, a Rome art dealer, in 1804, the other was transferred in 1866 from the Swedish royal collection (inventory number NM 205). It is possible that some previously known copies were taken from magnate or royal residencies in Poland during the Deluge (1655-1660), or even from the Royal Castle in Radom, which was ransaced and burned in the spring of 1656.

Interestingly, in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, there is a painting of Adoration of the Magi by Titian from this period with figures in oriental costumes, very similar to contemporary Polish-Lithuanian attire. This work comes from the collection of Cardinal Federico Borromeo (1564-1631), cousin of Saint Charles Borromeo. It cannot be excluded that it was another luxury gift from the Queen of Poland commissioned in Venice. 

Some time later, most probably between 1566-1570, therefore after Queen's departure to Austria, Titian created another version of this composition. At some point after the painting's completion, most likely in the mid-18th century, its right side was cut away. Before 1739 it was in the collection of Charles Jervas or Jarvis in London (his sale, at his residence, London, 11-20 March 1739, 8th day, no. 543, as by Titian). In 1950 the painting was sold to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York and in 1952 offered to the National Gallery of Art in Washington. 

The blonde goddess seems younger and more beautiful and composition was modified. The inventories up to 1780 describe the picture as "Venus binding the eyes of Cupid, and the Graces offering a Tribute", similar to the painting in the royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (Wil.1548), in which Venus bears the features of Crown Princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa (1619-1651), granddaughter of Catherine Jagiellon, and to the painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where Venus has the features of Ladislaus Vasa's first wife Cecilia Renata of Austria. The figures bear attributes of the goddess of love: apples, a dove and flowers. They could also be interpreted as assistants of Fortuna Virilis, an aspect or manifestation of the goddess Fortuna, often depicted with a cornucopia (horn of plenty) and associated with Venus Verticordia. Fortuna Virilis, according to the poet Ovid, had the power to conceal the physical imperfections of women from the eyes of men.

The x-radiographs have revealed a number of alterations, especially in woman's face, which was initially less sublime and more close to the features of the Queen. It is possible that through this painting, Catherine wanted to convince Sigismund Augustus that her rightful place is at his side and that she should return to Poland.

Allegory with portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus Verticordia (Turner of Hearts) by Titian, 1563-1565, Borghese Gallery in Rome.

Allegory with portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus Verticordia (Turner of Hearts) by workshop of Titian, attributed to Andrea Schiavone, 1563-1565, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Allegory with portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) as Venus Verticordia (Turner of Hearts) by Titian or workshop, 1566-1570, National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Adoration of the Magi with figures in Polish-Lithuanian costumes by Titian, ca. 1560, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. 

Portraits of Anna Jagiellon and Catherine of Austria by Titian and workshop

After the return of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572), third wife of Sigismund Augustus, to her native Austria in 1565, Princess-Infanta Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), the king's only unmarried sister who remained in Poland-Lithuania, became the most important woman in the Realm of Venus.

Anna resided mainly in Masovia, in splendid residences built by her mother Bona and the Masovian dukes. The Princess-Infanta had a small court, but considering her position as the only living relative of the king, present in the country after Catherine's departure, her importance must have increased after 1565. However, very little is known about this period in the life of the future elected queen of the Commonwealth.

Magnificent fabrics were acquired for the Infanta and her ladies, from which dresses in Italian, Spanish, French, Polish and German styles were made, similar to those mentioned in the register of dowry of Catherine Jagiellon from 1562. The accounts confirm that on January 24, 1564, a piece of cloth for the princess's court was purchased from the Jew Józef in Płock for 6 zlotys, as well as two pieces of Krosno linen for 15 zlotys, from which shirts for the princess were sewn. In mid-April, this merchant delivered to the court of Princess Anna 5 and a half ells of black velvet for 18 zlotys 10 groszy, 4 ells of flesh-coloured Chinese silk and threads for sewing a letnik ("summer dress") for 24 groszy, and 7 ells of black velvet for 16 zlotys 10 groszy. According to a note prepared by the treasury scribe, the inferior quality velvet was used on May 10, 1564 to sew dresses for the court ladies of Princess-Infanta Anna (after "Dostawcy dworów królewskich w Polsce i na Litwie ..." by Maurycy Horn, Part II, p. 13).

Among the most important events in the life of the Warsaw court, besides the marriages of Anna's court ladies, were the visits of her brother. During one of these visits, the king arrived ill on a Sunday in Lent (March 10, 1567). Sigismund Augustus probably caught a fever on the way. He was so weak that he had to be carried from the carriage in a chair to the castle chambers, where, lying on a bed, he was often visited by Anna and the "old lady", the influential chamberlain of her court, Jadwiga Żalińska née Taszycka (d. after 1575). This lasted two weeks, then, feeling better, he left in April for the Sejm in Piotrków.

The Princess-Infanta, like her mother and brother, loved to surround herself with favourites and listen to the advice of secret advisers, whom her sister Sophia called "secretaries". The energetic chamberlain Żalińska, who was said to "snarl at the princess as if she were a servant" when angry, was generally disliked for her intrigues and greed. She was the wife of Maciej Żaliński, a favourite of the king, and the Żalińskis were reputed to be all-powerful at court. Anna showered her chamberlain with gifts, endured her anger and sulking, protected and financed the education of her son - Jan, an elegant young man, but with a rather dubious character. Along with Żalińska, among the influential women of the court were Zofia Łaska, Elżbieta Świdnicka and Katarzyna Orlikowa, who were admitted to great intimacy and sincerely devoted to the Princess-Infanta (after "Anna Jagiellonka" by Maria Bogucka, p. 79, 116, 153). 

The letter of Zofia Łaska, clearly reluctant towards Żalińska, to Sophia Jagellon, dated May 23, 1573 from Warsaw, in which she informs her of the election of Henry of Valois and that Anna will probably marry him, is very interesting. The lady-in-waiting also adds: "If anything were to please me, it would be that Your Ducal Highness be there yourself, and especially that Żalińska's son does not sleep there: ​​because everyone criticizes this and holds the Princess responsible for having allowed it. But the Princess does not care" (after "Jagiellonki polskie w XVI. wieku: Korrespondencya polska ..." by Aleksander Przezdziecki, Volume 4, p. 69). "Anna, having taken him under her protection, sent him to study at the Academy of Ingolstadt, then surrounded him with her favors", comments about Mr Żaliński Kasper Niesiecki (1682-1744) (after "Herbarz polski", Volume 10, p. 44). In February 1592, she wrote to Nicolaus Christopher Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616), asking for help for this "pupil of ours" in his efforts to marry Elżbieta (Halszka) Chodkiewiczówna. In the meantime, Żaliński had become the starost of Przedbórz.

The beautiful ladies of Anna's court often attracted her brother's attention, as was the case with Anna Zajączkowska, who was distinguished by her extraordinary beauty. Zajączkowska, "a very virtuous young lady of the purest morals," was the Infanta's favorite. Anna's court was famous for its nobility and all maiden virtues. It took a lot of courage and ingenuity to attack this "sacred gynaeceum" (in ancient Greece, it was a part of the house reserved for women), so the royal courtiers used an unusual trick. One day, a nobleman named Mikorski appeared at the Infanta's court, showed the recommendation of the Piotrków starost Andrzej Szpot, asked the Infanta for Zajączkowska's hand in marriage, and then, having received her consent, took the bride out of Warsaw. But instead of going to the altar, Zajączkowska went to the royal bed in Bugaj Castle near Witów. This was a terrible blow for Anna. "It is admirable," wrote a contemporary chronicler, "with what violence the pain pierced the heart of the Infanta, how many deep sighs she heaved, falling on the bed, accusing her brother, who had covered her honor and fame with such shame" (after "Zygmunt August: żywot ostatniego z Jagiellonów" by Eugeniusz Gołębiowski, p. 471).

Although her relationship with the young and handsome Jan Żaliński was very ambiguous, it seems that in Zajączkowska's case the Infanta needed to save face in public opinion and especially in front of the Habsburgs, who were well informed about the affairs of the Polish-Lithuanian court. Moreover, Catherine of Austria should not have believed that Anna supported her brother's behavior towards her. Although she lived in Austria, she was still the legal wife of Sigismund Augustus and the Queen of Poland, and, in addition to her family connections in the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, she had many friends in Italy. 

Having reluctantly left Mantua shortly after the death of Duke Francesco, Catherine of Austria remained very attached to the court of Mantua, which she had known for only a few months of marriage. Once she became Queen of Poland, she began a close correspondence between the two courts. Between Vilnius, where Sigismund Augustus liked to reside, and Mantua, an exchange of gifts and favors, recommendations and various courtesies intensified. Shortly after her marriage to the King of Poland, in 1554, Catherine promised to send a horse to Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga (1505-1563), a very precious gift at the time. From the surviving correspondence, we know that the horse left Vienna around October 22 and that a few weeks later, on November 10, the cardinal may have written to the queen to thank her for this gift.

In her letters to Mantua, the Queen only occasionally used the services of secretaries. In a letter to Duchess Margaret Palaeologa (1510-1566) in May 1564, Catherine justified herself thus: "It is no small displeasure that, finding ourselves on a journey to Lithuania, we cannot, as is our custom, reply in our own hand to the letter of Your Illustrious Ladyship" (Ne displace non poco che, per ritrovarne nel viaggio di Lituania, non possiamo secondo ch'è di nostro costume risponder di mano propria alla lettera di Vostra illustrissima Signoria). 

After the death of Catherine and Sigismund Augustus in 1572, Anna became the object of interest of candidates for the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, among whom were also Italians, including her distant relative, widowed Alfonso II d'Este (1533-1597), Duke of Ferrara. "The Infanta will openly favour both the Duke of Ferrara and Rožmberk [William of Rožmberk (1535-1592)], because she passionately desires the marriage: there is no other way to retain her favour", wrote Andrzej Dudycz to Emperor Maximilian II in November 1574.

The friendly court of the d'Este family, so dear to Anna's mother, Bona Sforza, was very involved in the first free elections of the Commonwealth. In 1574, several ambassadors from Ferrara arrived in Poland-Lithuania, including Taddeo Bottone, Antonio Semenza and Ascanio Giraldini. One of them, Alessandro Baranzoni, sent incognito, sought the support of the most eminent Tuscan merchants present in Kraków. Girolamo Mazza, a Venetian who had played a role in the election of Henry of Valois, and Filippo Talducci, an important figure in the Italian merchant community of Kraków, supported the candidacy of the Duke d'Este. Even after the election of Anna and Bathory in December 1575, Talducci did not give up cultivating his relations with Ferrara. In October 1578, a young man from his entourage, Luca Del Pace, who was going to Florence to see his family, passing through Ferrara, was commissioned to bring a portrait of Queen Anna as a gift that Giraldini had been unable to obtain, "because at that time His Majesty had forbidden her to be portrayed" (sendo che in quel tempo Sua Maestà haveva proibito l'essere ritratta). The Este court was therefore fully included in the network of relations of the Tuscan merchants operating in Poland, and Ferrara appears to us as an almost obligatory stop on the Kraków-Florence route (after "La trama Nascosta - Storie di mercanti e altro" by Rita Mazzei).

Ippolito Tassoni was sent as ambassador from Ferrara to Poland in the summer of 1553 on the occasion of the marriage of Sigismund Augustus with Catherine of Austria. Two years later, in October 1555, the Ferrarese envoy Antonio Maria Negrisoli was sent by Bona to Ercole II to ask permission to stay in "the palace he has in the city of Venice" (ricercare et pregare Vostra Signoria del palazzo tiene in la città di Venetia) and in the autumn of 1565, Taddeo Bottone was sent to Sigismund Augustus to invite the sovereign to the marriage of Alfonso II d'Este with Barbara of Austria (1539-1572), the younger sister of Catherine of Austria. All these links indicate that the portrait of Queen Anna sent in 1578 was undoubtedly not the only effigy of the member of the Polish-Lithuanian royal family that was in the possession of the Dukes of Ferrara. It is quite possible that the portrait of Alfonso II d'Este from the Popławski collection, attributed to Hans von Aachen, now in the National Museum in Warsaw (inv. M.Ob.1913 MNW) is connected with such family relations or with the duke's candidacy in the royal election of 1587.

In the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden there is a portrait by Titian, believed to represent his daughter Lavinia (oil on canvas, 103 x 86.5 cm, Gal.-Nr. 171). The painting comes from the former collections of the d'Este family in Ferrara, which were transferred to Modena in 1598 by Duke Caesar d'Este (1562-1628). In 1746, the painting, together with many other masterpieces from the Galleria Estense in Modena, was sold to Augustus III (1696-1763), elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Elector of Saxony, to enrich his collection in Dresden. The identification of the sitter and the attribution are based mainly on the inscription in the upper right corner, which reads in Latin: "Lavinia, daughter of Titian, painted by him" (LAVINIA. TIT. V. F. / AB. EO. P.). This inscription is unusual for Titian's works and was most likely added later, probably to sell this portrait at a more advantageous price as the original work of the famous Venetian master. Today, however, both the author of the portrait and the identity of the sitter are in doubt. In a 1993 publication by Jacob Burckhardt there is a question mark (Lavinia Vecellio?, Dresda, Gemäldegalerie, "Il ritratto nella pittura italiana del Rinascimento", p. 352) and in a 2001 catalogue of Titian's works it is listed as "Portrait of a noblewoman", additonally proven not to be autograph work. There are also suggestions that the person depicted is Bianca Cappello, the future Grand Duchess of Tuscany (after "Die bewegte Frau: Weibliche Ganzfigurenbildnisse in Bewegung ..." by Petra Kreuder, p. 70). 

The exact dates of birth of Lavinia, daughter of Titan, are unknown. She probably died in 1561. In 1555 she married the wealthy minor nobleman Cornelio Sarcinelli of Serravalle, while the woman depicted seems rather to be a member of the high aristocracy or even the ruling family given her pose and her rich costume. Stylistically and considering the costume, the painting is dated to around 1565, which is generally not disputed. The woman's green dress is not typical of Venice and the authors indicate strong inspirations from Spanish fashion - the costume of Elisabeth of Valois (1545-1568), Queen of Spain according to her portrait in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 3182), is similar in many elements. With this costume, the woman wanted to emphasize her ties to the Spanish monarchy. The Infanta Anna Jagiellon, through her mother, was descended from the kings of Aragon and the kings of Naples and had rights over the possessions that were part of the Spanish Empire at that time.
An ostrich feather fan, an accessory of noble ladies, which only married women were allowed to wear in Venice at the time, could in this case indicate the desire to marry. Queen Elizabeth I, whose unmarried status inspired a cult of virginity linked to that of the Virgin Mary, is often depicted with ostrich feather fans, notably in her famous "Armada Portrait". Thus, given that the woman in the Dresden portrait was not Venetian, she should not be considered already married. Furthermore, if the woman was married, the portrait would be accompanied by the portrait of her husband, which is not known. Given its provenance, the painting, commissioned in Venice on the basis of study drawings sent from Poland-Lithuania, could easily have been transported to Anna's relatives in Ferrara.

The resemblance of the woman in the Dresden portrait to the Princess-Infanta in the portraits by Venetian painters that I have identified is strong. The portrait by Francesco Bassano in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 33) is particularly similar in terms of facial features and costume. One can also point out the resemblance to the famous miniature of Anna by Lucas Cranach the Younger (Czartoryski Museum, MNK XII-545) (blond hair, small lips).

A portrait similar to the one in Dresden, also identified as representing Titian's daughter Lavinia, is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on canvas, 111 x 90.5 cm, GG 3379). The woman is different and due to the lack of resemblance to the Dresden portrait, the identification as Lavinia is questioned. The woman's costume in expensive green fabric is similar, but it is more in the Venetian style. We can identify the same woman in the painting attributed to Titian and his workshop in the Prado Museum in Madrid (inv. P000487), which was previously catalogued as Portrait of Titian's daughter Lavinia Vecellio by Paolo Veronese, and which, according to my identification, represents the third wife of Sigismund Augustus - Catherine of Austria. The resemblance to the portraits of Catherine by Titian's entourage or followers in Voigtsberg Castle and the National Museum of Serbia is also visible in the facial features. The Vienna painting is attributed to Titian and his workshop or to his nephew Marco Vecellio (1545-1611) and is also dated around 1565. It comes from the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and was listed in the Theatrum Pictorium under number 91, before Titian's portrait of Jacopo de Strada, dated between 1567 and 1568 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, GG 81). The painting was therefore commissioned shortly before Catherine's departure from Poland-Lithuania and probably sent to her Habsburg relatives.

Another interesting painting by Titian in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (oil on canvas, 183 x 200 cm, GG 71), depicts the mythological scene of Diana and Callisto. It is generally dated to around 1566 and is thought to have been acquired by Emperor Maximilian II, Catherine's brother and Anna's relative, in 1568. In 1559 Titian had sent an earlier version of this theme to King Philip II of Spain, when Maximilian II declined Titian's offer to paint it for him. In 1568, Veit von Dornberg, the imperial envoy in Venice, had written to Emperor Maximilian II that Titian was willing to provide him with seven "fables", including six versions of Philip II's poesie. However, this offer does not seem to have come to fruition (after "Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice ..." by Frederick Ilchman, ‎Linda Borean, p. 59). Additionally, there were complaints that Titian's portrait of the King of Portugal bore no resemblance to the subject (after "Emperor Maximilian II" by Paula S. Fichtner, p. 98). 

The painting from Philip's collection is now in the National Gallery in London and the National Galleries of Scotland (inv. NG6616). The painter altered several elements, including the faces of the main characters - the goddess Diana and her close servant. While in the painting made for the King of Spain their faces are indistinct, in the Viennese version they are very characteristic and Diana's servant looks at the viewer in a meaningful way, indicating that in addition to the reference to Ovid's Metamorphoses, the painting has an additional, hidden meaning. The woman depicted as the goddess of hunting and fertility, daughter of the king of the gods Jupiter, closely resembles the woman in Titian's "Venus with an Organist and a Dog" in the Prado (inv. P000420) and the woman in the portrait from Titian's entourage in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel (inv. GK 491), both of which represent the Infanta Anna Jagiellon according to my identification. Around 1568 Titian most likely paint the young king Sebastian of Portugal (1554-1578), whom he never met in person. 

The nymph Callisto had taken a vow of chastity to Diana. She broke her vow when Jupiter approached her in the guise of Diana. The painting shows the moment when the goddess discovered her subject's pregnancy. As punishment, Callisto was cast out and transformed into a bear by Juno, Jupiter's jealous wife. The painting can therefore be seen as a message to Maximilian and Catherine, who were staying in Austria at that time, that the "daughter of the king (of the gods)" does not tolerate disobedience from her ladies (as in the case of Zajączkowska). In his Zwierziniec, written in 1562 (version published in Kraków in 1574, p. 49v), Mikołaj Rej compares two daughters of Sigismund I - Anna and Catherine - to the goddess Diana (Jakoż ty dwie Dianie, bez pochlebstwa wszego, Umieją pięknie użyć stanu królewskiego, National Library of Poland, SD XVI.Qu.539). 

​Portrait of Princess-Infanta Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) by Titian and workshop, ca. 1564-1565, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. 

​Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) by Titian and workshop, ca. 1564-1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 

​Portrait of Queen Catherine of Austria (1533-1572) from the Theatrum Pictorium (91) by Jan van Troyen after Titian and workshop, 1660, Princely Court Library in Waldeck.

​Diana and Callisto with disguised portrait of Princess-Infanta Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596) by Titian and workshop, ca. 1566-1570, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 

Portrait of Jan Amor Tarnowski by Tintoretto 

In the Prado Museum in Madrid there is an interesting portrait attributed to Jacopo Tintoretto from the Spanish royal collection (oil on canvas, 82 x 67 cm, inventory number P000366). Because the painting was obviously created by a Venetian painter and the identity of the model is unknown, it is known as a "Portrait of a Venetian admiral". The man in rich armour etched with gold is holding a baton, that is traditionally the sign of a high-ranking military officer. 

This work was offered to King Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665) by Diego Felipez de Guzmán (1580-1655), 1st Marquess of Leganés, a Spanish politician and army commander, who fought during more than 20 years in the Spanish Netherlands and in 1635 was named Captain General and Governor of the Duchy of Milan. Such portraits of important military commanders were frequently exchanged in Europe at that time and sent to different places, so that Leganés could acquire the painting in Italy, but also in Flanders or Spain.

The portrait is astonishingly similar in features, pose and and style of armour to the well known effigy of Jan Amor Tarnowski commissioned by king Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski in about 1781 for his gallery of effigies of Famous Poles at the Royal Castle in Warsaw (ZKW/3409). The effigy, just as the rest, was undoubtedly based on some original portrait still preserved in the royal collection. It was painted by court painter of king Stanislaus Augustus, Marcello Bacciarelli, who also copied other effigies of famous Poles, including Copernicus (ZKW/3433).

During the Great Northern War, royal residencies of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a Venetian style republic of nobles created in 1569 with support of the last male Jagiellon, Sigismund Augustus, were ransacted and burned again by different invaders in 1702 and 1707. That is why some effigy of Sigismund Augustus, survived in the royal collection in about 1768, was confused with the effigy of the progenitor of the Polish-Lithuanian dynasty - Ladislaus Jagiello in the cycle of Polish Kings in the Marble Room at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, commissioned by Poniatowski. 

Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) was a renowned military commander, military theoretician, and statesman, who in 1518 became a knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and was accoladed by King Manuel I in Lisbon as a knight of Portugal. In the first half of the 1540s, the hetman was already well known to the Habsburgs as a military officer and politician, as evidenced by the letter King Ferdinand I sent to Juan Alonso de Gámiz. The King of Bohemia requested not only that Elizabeth of Austria reward Tarnowski, but also that "he receive a favor in the Iberian Peninsula through Her Majesty". In the account of the expedition that the maestre de campo Bernardo de Aldana made to Hungary in 1548, he is mentioned as "the very noble Count Tornoz". The hetman corresponded frequently with the court of Vienna and perhaps also with Spain with the aim of obtaining a high position in the imperial and Spanish army. In July 1554, Charles V wrote from Brussels to Prince Philip and Mary of Hungary, either in reference to Jan Amor Tarnowski or to his son Jan Krzysztof, to inform them that "the Count of Tarna, Polish (…) came here requesting that he be present at your nuptials and to then travel to Spain at the first opportunity in order to see that province. And being the person he is, and having been highly recommended to us by the King and Queen of Bohemia my children, it is only fair that he be given a warm welcome and good treatment. I kindly request you to treat him with the utmost care for the duration of his stay" (after "Jan Tarnowski and Spain" by Paweł Szadkowski, pp. 55-57).

The portrait finally bears a resemblance to the effigies​ of Jan Amor and his son on his monumental tomb in the Tarnów Cathedral, created between 1561 and 1573 by Venetian trained sculptor Giovanni Maria Mosca called Padovano, who also created tomb monuments of two wives of Sigismund Augustus.

According to the inventory, a fine parade burgonnet from the collection of the Krasiński Estate in Warsaw, belonged to Hetman Tarnowski (Polish Army Museum, 35128 MWP). It was richly decorated with engraved and embossed mythological and biblical scenes - the Rape of the Sabine women, the Romans fighting the barbarian tribes, the arrival of Judith at the camp of Holofernes, scenes of camp life and the stylized Jagiellonian eagle with the letter 'S' of King Sigismund I on its chest. It is considered a work of Parisian, Italian or Polish workshop, which indicates that the hetman commissioned the exquisite works of art from abroad.

The same man was depicted in another painting attributed to circle of Jacopo Tintoretto or Titian, standing three-quarter-length, in armour with a crimson tunic and holding a baton (oil on canvas, 120.7 x 94.9 cm). This "Portrait of a Venetian officer" comes from private collection and was sold in April 2006 (Christie's New York, lot 206). His velvet tunic with embedded metal plates is similar to so-called corazzina brigandine, a form of armour made of heavy cloth lined with small steel plates, such as that from the Royal Armoury in Warsaw, most likely made in Poland or Italy around 1550, now in the Livrustkammaren in Stockholm (Swedish war booty from 1655, 23167 LRK). Hetman's father-in-law, Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki, was depicted in a similar crimson brigandine and armour, in a painting by Titian (Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan). The overall style of this portrait resembles works attributed to Bernardino Licinio, who died in Venice around 1565.

His large codpiece, a prominent addition to the full suits of armour and the affirmation of virility, was "censored" and repainted, most likely in the 19th century. During the French wars of religion, which lasted from 1562 to 1598, Catholics mocked Huguenots as impotent ébraguettés (without virility) because they would not wear the prominent codpiece (after "A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in the Renaissance" by Elizabeth Currie, p. 70). In the 16th century, virility was considered a sign of God's blessing, which is why we also find representations of large codpieces in churches. One of the oldest is in the centre of the scene of the Crucifixion, a large fresco painted by Il Pordenone on the counter-façade of the Cathedral of Cremona in 1521. A knight, probably a notable of Cremona, with a large codpiece, holding a large sword, points to the crucified Christ. 

​In May 1543, when entering Kraków for the coronation of Elizabeth of Austria (1526-1545), the members of Hetman Tarnowski's army were dressed in Spanish style (after "Zygmunt August" by Stanisław Cynarski, p. 53), so all of them undoubtedly wore codpieces, with the exception of two Hungarian trumpeters.

"Tarnowski was worthy of being compared to ancient captains for his expertise in military discipline and seriousness of counsel" (Era il Tharnouio degno d'esser paragonato a capitani antichi di peritia di disciplina militare e di grauità di consiglio, after "l rimanente della seconda parte dell'historie del suo tempo ...", published in Venice in 1557, p. 201), praised the hetman Paolo Giovio (1483-1552), bishop of Nocera de' Pagani, whose museum filled with many portraits of notable figures was described in a letter sent by Antonio Francesco Doni (1513-1574) on July 17, 1543 to M[es]s[er] Jacopo Tintoretto Eccellente Pittore.

Portrait of Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) in armour holding a baton by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1550-1575, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) in armour with a crimson brigandine, holding a baton by Bernardino Licinio, 1550s, Private collection.​ ​

Portrait of Fedor Senyuta Lyakhovitski by Paris Bordone

​"An ancient jewel for great courage given to the Senyuts in Volhynia by the Ruthenian princes, which is in a red field, because they always bravely defended their homeland with their blood" is the description of the Senyuta family coat of arms in Bartosz Paprocki's "The Nest of Virtues, whence the coat of arms of the knights, dukes, and lords of the Polish Kingdom, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, and other States have their genesis" (Gniazdo cnoty zkąd herby rycerstwa slawnego Krolestwa Polskiego ..., p. 1126), published in Kraków in 1578.

Below the text is the woodcut with reproduction of this coat of arms in a multi-field version with different runic and tamga symbols, some of which are coats of arms of other important Ruthenian noble families like the Yelovitzki (Jełowicki). To the right of the coat of arms, Paprocki included a schematic effigy of the most notable member of the family at that time - Fedor Senyuta Lyakhovitski, tribune of Kremenets (Woyski Krzemieniecki), wearing armor, a shishak helmet and holding a saber (also used as an image of other figures).

Fedor, also known as Fiodor Hrehorowicz Sieniut, Teodor Sieniuta Lachowicki or Lachowiecki in Polish, is considered the first Protestant member of the family. He was lord of Lyakhivtsi, Tykhomel and other villages and married twice: to Katarzyna née Jeło-Malińska and to Katarzyna Firlejówna (married in 1588), daughter of Mikołaj Firlej (d. 1588), voivode of Lublin. Firlejówna was a zealous Protestant and probably under her influencee, he converted from Orthodoxy to Calvinism. Samuel Twardowski, in the 1661 epithalamium for Piotr Opaliński and Anna Sieniucianka, mentions that Katarzyna was a lady of "high connections" (koniunkcyj wysokich) and the heiress of large estates. Through this marriage, Fedor received Rudno, near Lublin. The Kórnik Library preserves his estate archives, including a will with a legacy for his wife Katarzyna (BK 1853). They had two sons, Abraham (1587-1632) and Paul Christopher (1589-1640), who studied at the universities of Heidelberg (1603) and Leiden (1605), and a daughter Catherine. Fedor and Malińska's son, Nicholas, was killed in Siwki in 1604 by peasants. In the mentioned epithalamium of Twardowski, which opens with a description of the arrival of Venus in Lesser Poland, Hymen presents the families of the bride and groom, including the military deeds of Fedor Senyuta and his sons (after "Samuel Twardowski: Epitalamia" by Roman Krzywy, p. 18-19, 84). He became tribune of Kremenets, an officer responsible for security, on March 29, 1572. His father, Gregory (Hryhorij, Hrycko or Grzegorz), who died around 1559, was in the service of Illia (1510-1539), Prince of Ostroh (after "Spis ważniejszych miejscowości w powiecie starokonstantynowskim ..." by Jan Marek Giżycki, p. 433-434). He married Anna Patrykiejówna, also called Patrykówna, with whom he had four daughters: Sophia, Anastasia, Catherine and Elizabeth, as well as two sons, Matthew, who was killed by his subjects on May 30, 1563, and Fedor. 

After his brother's death, Fedor became heir to the Lyakhivtsi estates and the village of Tykhomel. The town of Lyakhivtsi (now Bilohiria, Lachowce, or Lachowice in Polish), originally inhabited by settlers from Masuria, was first mentioned in 1441. Since 1520, the settlement belonged to Queen Bona Sforza, who granted it to Dashka Kalenkovych, whose daughter Anna married Fyodor's grandfather Jesko in 1538. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a wooden fortress existed in Lyakhivtsi on an island in the middle of a pond, and at that time the town was the center of Arianism.

In 1566, the Ruthenian prince Andrei Petrovich Massalski sued Fedor, accusing him of assault near the city gate of Lutsk (after "Honor among nobles ..." by Povilas Dikavičius, p. 263-264). Several documents from the period of October 5, 1568 (claim for payment of a monetary debt to Mr. Stepan Urumsky) to May 29, 1578 mention Fedor, including his complaints against Constantine Vasily (1526-1608), Prince of Ostroh. He died after 1595 and his burial place is unknown.

Very little is known about artistic patronage of the family and practically nothing remained of it. In this regard, the trip of Fedor's son, Paul Christopher, to Italy in 1613 is interesting: he visited Padua and Rome (after "Polski slownik biograficzny", Volume 37 [1935], p. 196). In his book published in Kyiv in 1914, Marian Dubiecki (1838-1926) describes the portrait of Paul Christopher, preserved in the Dominican Church of Lyakhivtsi, as "with magnificent and expressive features, perhaps the work of an Italian master" ("Na kresach i za kresami ...", p. 235). It depicted the lord of Lyakhivtsi wearing a crimson cloak lined with sable fur.

In 2019, "Portrait of a Gentleman, half length", attributed to the 16th-century North Italian School, was auctioned in New York (oil on canvas, 97.5 x 80 cm, Sotheby's, January 31, 2019, lot 256). The manner in which the velvet fabrics of the costume were painted is very characteristic of the Venetian painter Paris Bordone (1500-1571) and his workshop. A comparable portrait is the one in the Pitti Palace in Florence, depicting a noblewoman in a crimson robe, traditionally known as "The Medici's Nurse" (La balia dei Medici, inv. 1912, Palatina 109; 19th-century critics identified her with a wet nurse of the Medici family). The way the painter has depicted the model's left hand indicates that he may have been inspired by the late works of Titian, which place the painting in the 1560s or around 1570. Several paintings from old collections in the former Sarmatia are linked to Bordone and his workshop. His works were also well known during the partitions. The 1834 register of paintings from the Potocki collection in Wilanów, for example, mentions "A woman's head, Paris Bordone" ("Spis obrazów znaidujących się w galeryi i pokojach Pałacu Willanowskiego ...", p. 10, item 83). 

The costume of a man wearing a ruff is also more typical of the second half of the 16th century. His pose, one hand on his hip, the richness of his costume, gilded dagger, saber hanging from his belt, and the gold chain around his neck, indicate that he was a wealthy aristocrat. On the chain, we can see a diamond-shaped coat of arms: on a red background, four runic or tamga symbols in gold recall the coat of arms of Senyuta family published in Paprocki's "The Nest of Virtues ...". The man wears a steel gorget, which makes him a military man, like Fedor, whose career culminated in his appointment as tribune of Kremenets. In this respect, the portrait is comparable to the schematic portrait of him in Paprocki's work.

​Portrait of Fedor Senyuta Lyakhovitski, lord of Lyakhivtsi by Paris Bordone, ca. 1563-1570, Private collection.

Portrait of Jerzy Jazłowiecki by Lambert Sustris

In 1563 Stefan Tomsa, a descendant of Moldavian boyars, led a successful conspiracy against the Protestant ruler Iacob Heraclid, known as Despot Voda, who after a 3-month siege of the Suceava Castle was betrayed by mercenaries and personally killed by Tomsa. As a sign of submission to Sultan Suleiman I, Stefan ordered to send the captured Ruthenian Prince Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, who was involved in Moldavian affairs, to Istanbul, where Vyshnevetsky was tortured to death. Unable obtain recognition from the High Porte and to hold on to the throne, Tomsa fled to Poland, where King Sigismund II Augustus, in order to appease the Turks, ordered Jerzy Jazłowiecki (d. 1575), castellan of Kamianets to capture him. The Prince of Moldavia was imprisoned, then sentenced to death and beheaded in Lviv on May 5, 1564. 

Jazłowiecki, born in or before 1510, was the son of Mikołaj Monasterski of the Abdank coat of arms (ca. 1490-1559), castellan of Kamianets and his wife Ewa Podfilipska. He was brought up at the court of the bishop of Kraków, Piotr Tomicki (1464-1535), but soon he began his military career under the supervision of Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) and Mikołaj Sieniawski (1489-1569) and participated in many battles. Already in 1528, as an 18-year-old, he became famous as a royal cavalry captain in the battle with the Tatars near Kamianets. 

In 1546, under the influence of his wife Elżbieta Tarło, he converted to Calvinism, and later closed the churches on his estates and expelled the Dominican monks. In 1544, he purchased from Mikołaj Sieniawski the town and castle of Yazlovets (Polish Jazłowiec) with the surrounding villages for 6,400 zlotys. The sum was finally paid in 1546 and from 1547 he began to call himself Jazłowiecki.

Between 1550-1556 Jerzy rebuilt the Medieval fortress in Yazlovets in Renaissance style to design of Italian architects from the Lviv group of Antoni, Gabriel and Kilian Quadro, brothers of Giovanni Battista di Quadro, active in Poznań (after "Sztuka polska: Renesans i manieryzm", Volume 3, p. 120). It should be noted that the style of the stone portal above the entrance to the castle is similar to the one in the Mikołaj Sieniawski's Castle in Berezhany, created in 1554.

In April 1564, he was sent as royal emissary to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent for which he received a seat in the Senate from the king Sigismund Augustus. In 1567 Jerzy become the Voivode of Podolia, in 1569 the Voivode of Ruthenia and was appointed Field Hetman of the Crown and Grand Hetman of the Crown (without a formal nomination) that year. He also reorganized the defense of the southern borders against the Tatars. During the interregnum in 1573, Jazłowiecki was nominated by the Piast party as a candidate for the Polish throne and was supported by Sultan Selim II (after "Jak w dawnej Polsce królów obierano" by Marek Borucki, p. 69). 

In the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, there is a portrait of a general, attributed to Lambert Sustris (oil on canvas, 116.2 x 97.4 cm, inv. 418), similar in style to portrait of Princess Elizabeth Radziwill (Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa), daughter-in-law of Mikołaj Sieniawski, identified by me. This painting of unknown provenance was attributed to a Venetian follower of Titian in the gallery catalogs from 1881 to 1920. 

The 55-year-old man, according to Latin inscription in lower left corner of the painting (ETATIS / SVE AN / LV), is holding a heavy sword. His armour, beard and shaved head are strikingly similar to the statue of Mikołaj Sieniawski from his tombstone in Berezhany (destroyed during World War II). Behind him there is a view with the same man dismounted from the horse, standing before a body of another man, whose head was cut off. The killed man is wearing an Ottoman turban with pleated red velvet part, called külah, similar to that visible in a drawing by German School from the late 16th century and depicting Wallachian and Moldavian noblemen (inscribed ... reitten die Wallachen unnd Moldauer ..., Private collection). Michael the Brave (1558-1601), Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia, was depicted in similar turban in the Feast of Herod with the Beheading of St John the Baptist by Bartholomeus Strobel, created between 1630-1633 (Prado Museum in Madrid), as well as Alexander II Mavrocordatos Firaris (1754-1819), Prince of Moldavia, who is wearing a similar turban-like headpiece in his portrait created in 1785 or after (Private collection). The standing man in the view is not holding a sword, he did not execute the other man, he just captured him. The general from the painting bear a strong resemblance to portrait of Jerzy Jazłowiecki, when Field Hetman of the Crown, known from the photograph from the collection of the historian Aleksander Czołowski (1865-1944), most probably a 17th century copy of a painting created in about 1569. He was the same age (about 54 or 55) as Jazłowiecki when he captured the Prince of Moldavia in 1564. 

Portrait of Jerzy Jazłowiecki (ca. 1510-1575), castellan of Kamianets, aged 55 by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1565, Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe.

Portraits of Francesco Lismanini by Giovanni Battista Moroni and Bernardino Licinio

"Lismanini was with us as an envoy of the duke of Prussia; your reverence accuses that this man is not a Catholic, but the duke himself is not one and none of those whom he usually sends to us recognizes the authority of the church, and we, who receive other envoys of the said duke, as well as Tartar and Turkish envoys who are not Catholics and sent by non-Catholics, did not think that Lismanini could be refused an audience, however, he only had a short conversation with us and will take his dismissal without delay. We wish your reverence good health. Given in Grodno on September 1, year of our Lord 1565 of our reign 36", ends his letter to the Venetian cardinal Giovanni Francesco Commendone (1523-1584), King Sigismund II Augustus (after "Pamiętniki o dawnéj Polsce z czasów Zygmunta Augusta ..." by Mikołaj Malinowski, p. 271). That same year, mentioned Francesco Lismanini (Franciscus Lismaninus in Latin or Franciszek Lismanin in Polish) published in Królewiec/Königsberg his book "Short Explanation of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity" (Brevis explicatio doctrinae De sanctissima Trinitate ...), which he dedicated to the king (SERENISSIMO PRINCIPI ET DOMINO, DOMINO SIGISMVNDO AVEgusto Regi Poloniæ, Magno Duci Lithuaniæ, Russiæ, Prußiæ, Masouia, Samogitia, Liuoniæ &c. Domino hæredi, Franciscus Lysmaninus summam felicitatem præcatur). 
​
Born around 1504 to Greek parents on the island of Corfu, which then belonged to the Republic of Venice, Lismanini arrived in Kraków with his parents in 1515. He generally confirmed his Greek origin, but it is difficult to determine whether he was Greek by birth or whether he perhaps came from a family of settlers from the Serenissima (after "Odrodzenie i reformacja w Polsce", Volume 16, p. 38, 45). In the mid-1520s he joined the Franciscan order, becoming its provincial in 1538. Probably receiving his doctorate in theology in Padua around 1540, he soon became a preacher and confessor to Queen Bona Sforza (from 1545). In the 1540s he sympathized with the Reformation, and the Bishop of Kraków Samuel Maciejowski tried unsuccessfully to denounce Lismanini as a "heretic" to the newly elected Pope Julius III in 1549. Since the accession to the throne of Sigismund II Augustus, Francesco had been part of his immediate circle.

He left for Italy at the beginning of the summer of 1549, first to Rome to settle secret matters that were very dear to the queen, according to her letter to the pope, and then returned from Venice to Poland in March 1550 (after "Papiestwo-Polska 1548-1563" by Henryk Damian Wojtyska, p. 318). Upon his return from Italy, a rumour spread in Kraków that he was sending as much money and gold as possible to Italy, in order to build a house in Venice, settle there and marry, perhaps with his concubine whom he kept at the nuns of St. Andrew in Kraków. Lismanini spread Calvinist books and ideas among the nobility and at the royal court. He also maintained intensive contacts with Italian theologian Lelio Sozzini (1525-1562) in Switzerland and Poland. 

In 1553, the king entrusted him with the purchase of books for his library, and Lismanini undertook an extensive tour of Europe. Via Moravia he went to Padua and Milan, then visited the Swiss cities of Zurich, Bern and Basel. After stays in Paris and Lyon, Francesco stayed again in Switzerland in 1554-1555, in Geneva and Zurich, where he met John Calvin. It was in Switzerland that he broke definitively with the Catholic Church when he married, on Calvin's advice, a French noblewoman named Claudia (early 1555). On his return journey to Poland-Lithuania, he visited Strasbourg and Stuttgart in 1556. In 1557 and 1558, he considered settling in Królewiec/Königsberg with Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568), whom he had met at the funeral of duke's uncle Sigismund the Old in 1548. In the early 1560s, Lismanini, who was then living in Pińczów, was involved in serious conflicts with Francesco Stancaro (Franciscus Stancarus, Franciszek Stankar, 1501-1574). He spent the last years of his life, from 1563 to 1566, in Prussia as a ducal councillor (compare "Antitrinitarische Streitigkeiten ..." by Irene Dingel, p. 180-181). In the letter of April 29, 1563, the Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575) calls him "superintendent of the churches of Lesser Poland" (D. Francisco Lysmanino Corcyreo, superintendenti ecclesiarum Minoris Poloniae). Before September 1, 1565, according to the king's letter, he was in Lithuania and Ruthenia.

Although little recognized in literature, Lismanini was one of two important reformers of the Church linked to Queen Bona. In the spring of 1541, under the patronage of the queen, the Lithuanian jurist and church reformer Abraomas Kulvietis (Abraham Culvensis in Latin or Abraham Kulwieć in Polish, ca. 1510-1545) opened a school in Vilnius. Kulvietis studied in Louvain, then at the Lutheran University of Wittenberg (he matriculated as Abraham Littuanus Magister in May 1537), where he had the opportunity to attend the lectures of Melanchthon, and perhaps Luther, and then went to study in Italy. He travelled to Rome and Siena, where he received a doctorate in canon and civil law (in utroque iure) on November 28-29, 1540. Abraomas's propagation of Protestant doctrines soon led to his expulsion from Lithuania, and in September 1542, the year the Inquisition and the trials of heretics resumed in Italy, the Catholic Bishop of Vilnius ordered the arrest of Kulvietis' mother and some of his friends, and the seizure of the Kulvietis family's property. The queen advised him to flee Lithuania, as she herself had to leave Vilnius and would not be able to protect him. In Królewiec on June 23, Duke Albert, appointed Kulvietis as his counsellor. Through Jost Ludwig Decius the Younger (ca. 1520-1567), Bona Sforza strongly advised Duke Albert to keep Kulvietis at his side; under no circumstances ("even he had to be restrained by chains") was he to be allowed to leave Królewiec, because in Vilnius he would have been burned at the stake or imprisoned before the queen could help him (Et ita dicas patri tuo, ut scribat domino duci Prussiae, quod illum apud se teneat, nam ille voluit in Lithuaniam domum suam ire et metuendum est, ne illum comburant vel suspendant, nec dimittat, etiam si debeat nolentem in cathena retinere. Nam certe illum comburerent vel suspenderent, antequam ego rescirem, after "Abraomas Kulvietis and the First Protestant Confessio fidei in Lithuania" by Dainora Pociūtė, p. 41, 43-44, 47-50). 

Before the Second World War, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne held a "Portrait of an Elderly Gentleman" (Bildnis eines älteren Herrn, oil on canvas, 93 x 76 cm), attributed to Tintoretto. It was mentioned and reproduced in the 1910 catalogue of this museum ("Verzeichnis der Gemälde des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums der Stadt Cöln", p. 67, item 95). The painting was acquired in 1813 from the collection of Josef Truchsess von Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach (1748-1813), dean of the cathedral of Strasbourg, in Vienna and Nikolsburg. Before World War II, in the Wallraf-Richartz Museums there was also another portrait by Tintoretto, which most likely depicted the singer Krzysztof Klabon (inv. 516), a composer at the Polish-Lithuanian royal court, perhaps born in Królewiec around 1550 and possibly of Italian origin.

Although the "Portrait of an Elderly Gentleman" has been attributed to Tintoretto, based on an old photograph, it can be concluded that the style of the painting was closer to the style of another Venetian painter, Bernardino Licinio, similar to the signed work "Portrait of a Man" from 1532 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 6442, signed and dated: LYCINIO F P V / MDXXXII). Licinio, who probably died in Venice around 1565, was the author of the portraits of Queen Bona (for example the painting in the British Embassy in Rome, inv. 2280), identified by me. Not only the style of the painting is similar, but also the style of the inscription in the two paintings described. According to the Latin inscription in the lower right corner of the painting from the Truchsess collection, it was painted in October 1565, when the man was 61 years old (MDLXV. DIE ... / OCTOBRIS / ΑΝΝΟ ÆΤΑ ... / SVÆ LXI M ... / XI), exactly like Lismanini, when he published his book dedicated to Sigismund Augustus and visited the king, probably in Grodno.

Interestingly, the same man, although slightly younger, can be identified in a painting by Giovanni Battista Moroni, active in Lombardy, who painted portraits of Sigismund Augustus (Prado Museum in Madrid, inv. P000262; North Carolina Museum of Art, inv. GL.60.17.46), identified by me. This "Portrait of a man with a book" (Ritratto d'uomo con libro) is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (oil on canvas, 71 x 56 cm, inv. 1890 / 933). It was purchased in 1660 by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici (1617-1675) from the art dealer Paolo del Sera (1617-1672), as by Moroni. In the 1675 inventory and in all subsequent inventories, the work appears with an attribution to il Morazzone (1573-1626). The painting is generally dated between 1550 and 1553, which corresponds to Lismanini's visits to Venice and Milan. A damaged or unfinished copy (or modello) was sold in Milan in 2009 (oil on canvas, Sotheby's, October 12, 2009, lot 1491). ​A good copy is also in the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 39 x 32 cm, inv. Wil.1035). It was first mentioned in the inventory of the mid-19th century, so it is considered to be part of the acquisitions of August Potocki (1806-1867) and his wife Aleksandra (1818-1892). The reverse of the painting bears the inscription F. Vacini 1804, which is why it is believed to be a 19th century painting by an unknown painter depicting an unknown man. Another fine copy, also thought to be by the 19th-century painter, is in a private collection in France (oil on paper mounted on panel, 31,5 x 24 cm, Thierry de Maigret in Paris, July 9, 2020, lot 211). It is attributed to the French school, perhaps because of its resemblance to the style of 19th-century academic painters.

​Portrait of Francesco Lismanini (ca. 1504-1566) by Giovanni Battista Moroni or workshop, ca. 1550, Private collection.

​Portrait of Francesco Lismanini (ca. 1504-1566) by Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1550-1553, Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

​Portrait of Francesco Lismanini (ca. 1504-1566) by workshop or follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, after 1553 (1804?), Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

​Portrait of Francesco Lismanini (ca. 1504-1566) by workshop or follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, after 1553 (19th century?), Private collection.

​Portrait of Francesco Lismanini (ca. 1504-1566), aged 61, by Bernardino Licinio, 1565, Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Portraits of Mikołaj Rej by Sofonisba Anguissola and Giovanni Battista Moroni 

"Let Mantua be proud of Virgil, Verona of Catullus, You, Rej, her bard, let the country of Sarmatia [Poland-Lithuania] be proud. And all the more so that the land of Italy and Greece gave birth to many, You are almost the only one in Sarmatia" (Mantua Vergilium iactet, Verona Catullum: Te Rei, vatem Sarmatis ora suum. Hocque magis, multos quoniam tulit Itala tellus Graiaque: Sarmatiae tu prope solus ades) (after Polish translation in "Wizerunk własny ...", Part 2, by Helena Kapełuś, ‎Władysław Kuraszkiewicz, p. 97), praises the poet Mikołaj Rej, or Mikołaj Rey of Nagłowice, in his Latin dedication Petrus Roysius Maureus (i.e. Piotr Roizjusz the Moor, born Pedro Ruiz de Moros). The Spanish poet and courtier of King Sigismund II Augustus, included this short poem in Rej's "Faithful image of an honest man" (Wizerunk własny żywota człowyeka poczciwego), published in Kraków in 1558-1560 before the poet's printed effigy showing him at the age of 50 (therefore created in 1555). Under Rej's portrait there is another Latin poem by his friend Andrzej Trzecieski (Trecesius, d. 1584) in which he calls him the Polish Dante (Noster hic est Dantes). 

Considered the "father of Polish literature", Rej was one of the first poets to write in Polish (and not in Latin). He was born into a noble family at Zhuravne in Ukraine in 1505. In 1518 he was enrolled as a student of the Cracow Academy and in 1525 his father sent him to the magnate court of Andrzej Tęczyński. Between 1541 and 1548 he converted to Lutheranism, then to Calvinism. Rej participated in synods, founded churches and schools on his estates. The Catholics, who reproached him for the desecration of churches, the expulsion of Catholic priests and the persecution of monks, called him the unleashed Satan, the dragon of Oksza, Sardanapalus of Nagłowice and a man without honor and faith. In 1603, as an author, he was included in the first Polish Index of Forbidden Books. He maintained close contacts with the courts of Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II August. Rej was also the first in Polish literature to receive a substantial reward for his work. He received Temerowce from King Sigismund I, and Dziewięciele from Sigismund Augustus as a lifelong possession and two towns, one of them Rejowiec, founded by Rej in 1547. He died at Rejowiec in 1569. His grandson, Andrzej Rej, royal secretary and Calvinist, was painted by Rembrandt in December 1637, while he was visiting Amsterdam as an ambassador. 

Although he praised the wisdom of Queen Bona in his "Bestiary" (Zwierzyniec, 1562 - "A woman of wisdom, that even today she is famous in Poland, and long-remembered her words. She was from the Italian nation where wisdom is born"), beauty of her daughters Anna and Catherine and dedicated his "Life of Joseph" (Żywot Józefa, 1545) to her daughter Isabella, Queen of Hungary, he is perhaps the first author in Poland to oppose strong women and their inflences. In a dialogue between Warwas and Lupus on the cunning of women, written before 1547 and most likely published anonymously, he begins with an appeal to Venus (Wenera), the patroness of females. Women do not participate in local assemblies and parliamentary sessions (Sejm), they do not sit over books, and yet they lead men by the nose. All women are cunning and laugh secretly at men who drink even out of their shoes for their health (after "Mikołaja Reja, żywot i pisma" by Michał Janik, p. 36). He frequently criticizes women, their extravagant clothing and their excessive make-up - "looks like she's wearing a mask" (iż się zda jakoby była w maskarze).

In the second known effigy of the poet, published in later edition of his "Faithful image of an honest man" and in "Speculum" (Zwyerciadło), published in 1568, similar to that from 1555, he is not depicted in national costume (crimson żupan), as one would expect from the national poet of the time, but in rich foreign costume – embroidered Italian-style shirt, rich doublet, wearing a hat and several chains. In this last portrait, he is holding a book, just to remind us that he is a poet. Both portraits are woodcuts, created by an artist working for a Kraków-based printer and bookseller Maciej Wirzbięta and most likely they were created after an original painted effigy of the poet as was customary. Later, engravers began to add the relevant inscriptions, that they were authors, not a painter who created the original portrait (fecit, sculpsit, pinxit, delineavit, invenit in Latin). 

Educated Poles, besides books, also commissioned and acquired portraits of their favorite foreign authors. Portrait of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) by Pontormo or workshop in the Czartoryski Museum (inventory number XII-218) was most likely brought to Poland already in the 16th century (painted around 1530). Later it was acquired by Princess Izabela Czartoryska, who placed it next to those of Torquato Tasso (423), Francesco Petrarca (424) and Beatrice Portinari (425) in the Temple of Memory at Puławy, opened in 1801. In her collection, which she also enlarged by acquisitions abroad, there were also letters by Tasso (891), Ariosto (892), as well as portraits of French Renaissance poets François Rabelais (944), Clément Marot (945) and Michel de Montaigne (946) and even chairs of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1310) and William Shakespeare (1311) in special box-cases, included in the inventory of the collection published in 1828 (Poczet pamiątek ...). 

​Among the paintings belonging to the "Victorious King" John III Sobieski (1629-1696), which could come from earlier royal collections or those of his father Jakub Sobieski (1591-1646) and mentioned in the inventory of the Wilanów Palace from 1696, we find "A picture of Cicero in a black frame" (Obraz Cycerona wramach czarnych, No. 223), "A pair of paintings, one of which represents Petrarch and the other, Laura, his wife, in black frames" (Obrazow para na iednym Petrarcha, na drugim Laura zona iego, wramach czarnych, No. 223) and "A picture of Laura" (Obraz na ktorym Laura, No. 246). There is also the portrait of Petrarca with the Latin inscription: Franciscus Petrarcha - Magna Poetarum Petrarcha est gloria, sumpsit in Capitolino praemia tanta loco ... mentioned in the 1913 catalogue of portraits from the collection of the oldest Polish university, the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (oil on canvas, 87 x 66 cm, "Katalog portretów i obrazów będących własnością Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego ..." by Jerzy Mycielski, p. 9, item 45). A portrait of Luigi Alamanni (1495-1556), Italian poet and statesman, attributed to the 16th-century Italian school, is located in the former Potocki Palace in Lviv (National Art Gallery, inv. Ж-2021).

Why then couldn't the French or the Italians have the portrait of a famous Sarmatian poet? Especially when many Polish collections were transferred to France and Italy.

In the Museum of Fine Arts in Reims, in France, there is portrait of a man sitting in a chair and holding a book (oil on canvas, 115 x 96.1 cm, inventory number 910.4.1). He was interrupted while reading so he put his finger in a book so as not to miss the page. He gazes at the viewer and the romantic ruins behind him suggest he is a poet. Another book is lying on a table. The overall style of the painting suggests Giovanni Battista Moroni as a possible author, but the technique is different, so perhaps it was done by a painter from Moroni's workshop or circle. However, it can also be compared to some works by Sofonisba Anguissola, such as her self-portrait with Bernardino Campi (Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena) and self-portrait at the easel (Łańcut Castle), both from the 1550s. His eyes also indicate that she might be the author as she frequently enlarged them in her paintings. This portrait was earlier attributed to Lorenzo Lotto, who died in Loreto in 1556/1557, and can be dated to about 1550 at the earlierst (about 1560, according to some sources).

The painting was bequeathed in 1910 by French politician Louis Victor Diancourt (1825-1910), born in Reims, and its earlier provenance is unknown. Perhaps there was initially an oral tradition or documents indicating that the painting depicts a famous poet of the 16th century, so since the portrait was in France, it has been identified as depicting a French poet - François Rabelais (born between 1483 and 1494, died 1553), despite the fact that there is no resemblance to his other effigies.
 
Rabelais was in Italy, in Turin and Rome, in 1534, 1540, 1547-1550, as a physician and secretary to Cardinal Jean du Bellay, nevertheless, as a clergyman in majority of his confirmed effigies he is depicted wearing a large biretta of the Christian clergy, thus, because of this and the lack of resemblance, the identification is now rejected and the work is referred to as a "portrait of an unknown man". 

The man wears a crimson tunic, typical of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility of the time (Rej was a wealthy nobleman of Oksza coat of arms), and his hat, shirt and face looks very much like in the print showing Mikołaj Rej at the age of 50.

Another version of this portrait exists, this one however is by Moroni, now at the Pope John XXIII Hospital in Bergamo (oil on canvas, 86 x 71 cm, inventory number 57099). Coming from the collection of a lawyer Giacomo Bettami de-Bazini and donated to the hospital by his son Antonio, the painting was in storage at the Carrara Academy since 1879. It was probably purchased on the Bergamo market in the early 18th century. "An old man seated in an armchair, entirely titianesque, is one of the best of this painter in the Bettame house" (Un vecchio seduto sopra sedia d'appoggio tutto tizianesco è de' migliori dell'autore in casa Bettame), praised the quality of the painting Francesco Maria Tassi in 1793. 

It is generally dated to the 1560s and the man is much older. His pose and costume are almost identical to the Reims painting, as if the painter had used the same study drawings created for the previous painting and just changed the face. His frowning eyebrows and more hooked nose are more like in the portrait of Rej published in 1568. 

Mikołaj dedicated his "Faithful image" to hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561), one of the richest people in Poland-Lithuania, whose portraits were painted by Jacopo Tintoretto and tomb monument carved by Giammaria Mosca called Padovano. Rej's portrait, similar to that of another eminent Polish poet of the Renaissance - Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584) from 1565 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam), was therefore most likely created by Giovanni Battista Moroni from drawings sent from Poland.

The same background as in the painting in Reims was used in another portrait by workshop of Moroni, today in the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon (oil on canvas, 112.7 x 109 cm, inventory number 496). It represents an ecclesiastic in a black biretta, seated on a chair and holding an hourglass. His face resembles more the effigies of Rabelais, in particular his laughing portraits, than the Reims painting.

​Portrait of Mikołaj Rej (1505-1569) by Sofonisba Anguissola or circle of Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1555, Museum of Fine Arts in Reims. 

​Portrait of Mikołaj Rej (1505-1569) by Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1568, Pope John XXIII Hospital in Bergamo.

Portrait of Jan Kochanowski by Giovanni Battista Moroni

Almost all old churches in former territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth have at least one good quality tomb monument in Italian style with effigy of deceased, but portrait paintings are very rare. Wars and invasions impoverished the nation and majority of non-religious paintings that preserved in the country, were sold by the owners. 

The exact date of birth of Jan Kochanowski is unknown, however according to inscription on poet's epitaph in the church in Zwoleń near Radom, he died on August 22, 1584 at the age of 54 (Obiit anno 1584 die 22 Augusti. Aetatis 54), therefore he was born in 1530. He started his education at the Artium Faculty of the Kraków Academy in 1544. Presumably in June 1549, he left the Academy and, perhaps, went to Wrocław, where he stayed until the end of 1549. Between 1551-1552 he stayed in Królewiec (Königsberg), the capital of Ducal Prussia (fiefdom under the Polish crown). From Królewiec, he left for Padua in 1552, where he studied until 1555. Kochanowski was elected a counselor of the Polish nation at the University of Padua (presumably from June to August 2, 1554). He returned to Poland in 1555 and after several months in Królewiec and Radom, he left for Italy at the end of the summer of 1556, presumably to repair his health. He was back in Poland between 1557 and 1558 and in spring that year he left for Italy for the third time. At the end of 1558, Kochanowski went to France, and in May 1559, he finally returned to Poland.

The poet refers to his portrait made in Italy, probably in Padua, where he studied between 1552 and 1555, in his epigram In imaginem suam (foricenium 35), in which he expresses his concern that the portrait should not betray the feelings that accompanied the pose (Talis eram, cum me lento torqueret amore / Decantata meis Lydia carminibus. / Pictorem metui, cum vultum pingere vellet, / Ne gemitus una pingeret ille meos). He refers to the tradition of ekphrases (written description of a work of art), expressing the highest appreciation for the artistic talent of the painter who is able to perfectly reproduce his subject.

He created several epigrams of this kind praising the splendid portraits of his friends, probably also made in Italy, notably In imaginem Andr[eae] Duditii, on the portrait of Andrzej Dudycz (1533-1589), who studied in Venice and Padua, in which he compares the painter to Apelles (Quis te Duditi, novus hic expressit Apelles?), the same in In imaginem Mariani (Apellaea redditum in tabula). In the epigram In imaginem Franc[isci] Maslovii he comments on the portrait of Franciszek Masłowski, who studied in Padua between 1553 and 1558, and in the epigram In imaginem Andr[eae] Patricii, the portrait of Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki (1522-1587), who studied in Padua between 1553 and 1556. In several of his works he also addresses the issue of the impermanence of the painted image (Apelleum cum morietur opus, after "Jana Kochanowskiego wiersze „na obraz” ..." by Agnieszka Borysowska, p. 155-160, 164). 

In mid-1563, Jan entered the service of Deputy Chancellor Piotr Myszkowski, thanks to which he become the royal secretary of king Sigismund Augustus, before February 1564, the office he held untill his death. In 1564, he helped his friend Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki (Andreas Patricius Nidecicus), also secretary at the traveling court and chancellery of Sigismund Augustus (Kraków - Warsaw - Vilnius). Nidecki was preparing the second fundamental edition of Cicero's "Fragments" for printing. It was published in Venice in 1565 by the printer Giordano Ziletti (Andr. Patricii Striceconis Ad Tomos IIII Fragmentorvm M. Tvllii Ciceronis ex officina Stellae Iordani Zileti), who also published many other Polish-Lithuanian authors. In October 1565 another royal secretary and Kochanowski's friend, Piotr Kłoczowski (or Kłoczewski), left for Ferrara as king's envoy to attend the wedding of Alfonso II d'Este with Sigismund Augustus' cousin Archduchess Barbara of Austria. Kłoczowski, who apparently accompanied him during his first trip to Italy, offered him a new journey: "Piotr, I don't want to take you to Italy a second time. You will get there alone: it's time for me to deal with myself. If I am to become a priest, or better a courtier, If I will live at the court or in my land", wrote the poet (Xięga IV, XII.).

Jan Kochanowski, considered one of the greatest Polish poets, died in Lublin. His nephews Krzysztof (d. 1616) and Jerzy (d. 1633), founded him a marble epitaph in the family chapel in Zwoleń, created in Kraków in about 1610 by workshop of Giovanni Lucano Reitino di Lugano and transported to Zwoleń.

The portrait of a man holding a letter by Giovanni Battista Moroni in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (oil on canvas, 87 x 66 cm, inv. SK-A-3410), can be compared with poet's posthumous effigy in Zwoleń. It bears the inscription in Latin and artist's signature at the bottom of the letter: AEt. Suae. XXXV. Miii MDLXV. Giu. Bat.a Moroni ("Age 35. 1565. Giovanni Battista Moroni"), which match perfectly the age of Kochanowski in 1565. 

At the end of the 18th century the painting was probably in the Mosca House in Pesaro, and then in the collection of Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee (1747-1813), near Edinburgh. Between 1561 and 1573, Giovanni Maria Mosca, known as Padovano, born in Padua in the Republic of Venice and trained in Venice in the workshop of Tullio Lombardo and Antonio Lombardo, created the monumental tomb of Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) and his son Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567) in the choir of the Gothic cathedral in Tarnów. The idea for this Venetian-style monument is attributed to Jan Kochanowski, who dedicated several of his works to Jan Krzysztof. "Erect a magnificent monument of Parian marble, / Above the waters of the Vistula. [...] Also let the battles in which he used to disperse his enemies / Be reconstructed in gleaming stone by Phidias" (Quin tu illi Pario de marmore Mausoleum, / Vistuleas ponis nobile propter aquas. [...] Praelia , quosque olim devicit strenuus hostes, Fac spiret paries Phidiaca arte nitens), Kochanowski states in his "Elegy 2" (Elegia II), addressed to the lord of Tarnów (after "Giammaria Mosca Called Padovano ..." by Anne Markham Schulz, p. 154).

Portrait of Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584), aged 35, holding a letter by Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1565, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

Portraits of Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski by circle of Dosso Dossi and Lambert Sustris

Wars and invasions contributed not only to the looting and destruction of works of art, including paintings, but also to the resulting chaos and impoverishment, so many preserved images as well as documents confirming the author and the identity of the sitter have been lost. Deteriorating living conditions also had an impact on art collections, as good quality and well-preserved paintings were frequently sold and neglected paintings, even by great masters, due to deterioration, had to be disposed of.

This is probably the reason why, in the 18th century, an unknown local painter made a copy of the full-length portrait of Count Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567), today in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 229 x 114 cm, inventory number MP 5249 MNW). The original must have been of good Venetian work, as the painter was inspired by the blurred brushstrokes of painters from the circle of Titian, particularly visible in the upper part of the painting. The identity of the model is confirmed by a large coat of arms of the Tarnowski family - Leliwa, above his head on the right, and a lengthy inscription in Latin on the left - Joannes Christophorus Comes / In Tarnow Tarnowski ..., listing all his titles. The painting comes from the Tarnowski collection, deposited with five other portraits in the National Museum during World War II. 

His costume, although generally resembling the 16th century attire of Polish-Lithuanian and Hungarian nobles, which were very similar (fanciful szkofia, a hat decoration of Hungarian origin, and Polish delia coat lined with fur), is quite unusual. A similar tunic with a longer part in the back, embroidered on the front with vertical rows of buttons, is visible in the effigy of a Pole (Polognois, f. 41) from Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre by Lucas de Heere, painted in the 1570s (Universiteitsbibliotheek Gent). However, the wider sleeves, the silver color, the belt and the garters are not typical and it is possible that he wore the costume made in Lisbon in 1516 for his father Jan Amor Tarnowski, as suggested by some authors. A Polish nobleman in a Hungarian-Portuguese costume is just another confirmation of the great diversity of fashion in Poland-Lithuania of the Renaissance, confirmed by so many authors, which has been forgotten today.

King Manuel I of Portugal (1469-1521) was depicted in similar tunic in a disguised portrait as Saint Alexis in the scene of Wedding of Saint Alexis by Garcia Fernandes, painted in 1541 (Museu de São Roque in Lisbon), and Tarnowski's portrait and attire can be compared to some portraits of governors of Portuguese India - Francisco de Almeida (d. 1510) and Afonso de Albuquerque (d. 1515), created after 1545, both in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon.

Such diversity was not only the Polish specialty and also occurred in other countries in Europe. The full-length portrait of a Spanish noble lady Doña Policena de Ungoa (Polissena Unganada), daughter of Juan de Ungoa, Barón de Sonek y Ensek, Mayordomo del Emperador (Emperor's Steward) and Margarita Loqueren, Camarera de la Emperatriz (Maid to the Empress), governess to the children of Empress Maria of Spain (1528-1603) and wife to Don Pedro Laso de Castilla, depicts her dressed in the German/Austrian fashion of the imperial court in Prague and Vienna from the 1550s (not the Spanish fashion, like the Empress). Inscription in Italian: ILL. DONNA POLISSENA UNGANADA MOGLIE DI D. PIETRO LASSO DE CASTIGLIA ..., confirms her identity. This portrait comes from the Arrighi de Casanova collection in the Château de Courson near Paris and was variably attributed to the Italian, Spanish (circle of Alonso Sánchez Coello) and Austrian school (follower of Jakob Seisenegger).

In recent literature, the identification of the model in Warsaw portrait has been questioned due to the discovery of a miniature in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (GG 5338). According to short inscription in Latin (IOANNES / COMES / A SERIN), it depicts Count Jan Zrinský (ca. 1565-1612), a nobleman from the Zrinský (Zrínyi) family of Zrin (Serin), son of Nikola IV Zrinski (ca. 1508-1566) and Eva z Rožmberka (1537-1591). According to Jan K. Ostrowski ("Portret w dawnej Polsce", p. 34), the sitter should rather be identified as the father of Jan, famous commander Nikola IV, so this inscription is partially incorrect, therefore, its author had a vague knowledge of who was really depicted. If the first part of the inscription (IOANNES) could be incorrect, the second (A SERIN) could also be questioned and the model is not Jan Zrinský, but Jan Tarnowski.

This small miniature comes from a series of almost 150 contemporary and historical portraits of rulers of Europe and members of the imperial House of Habsburg, including many Polish monarchs. Many of them were created by Flemish painter Anton Boys for Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria (1529-1595), son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), after 1579, when he become his court painter. Boys copied many other effigies form the Imperial collection, representing the models on dark or brown backgound, however some mistakes happened and the effigy of Viridis Visconti (1352-1414), Duchess of Austria and a daughter of the Lord of Milan, Bernabò Visconti, is most likely the effigy of Isabella of Aragon (1470-1524), Duchess of Milan and mother of Bona Sforza as it resembles greatly her profile from the lunette in the house of the Atellani in Milan.

The miniature of Count Jan is different and shows a clear influence of Flemish (colors) and Italian (blurred brushstrokes) style. Unlike other miniatures in the series, it has a distinctive background - green fabric. Not only the technique is different, but also the composition. Thus, this earlier miniature by a different painter has just been adapted to the series by adding the inscription. What is also very important for the identification of the model is which man has been depicted on a larger version with a more detailed description. Mainly the person who ordered the portrait was interested in having the full version. The larger painting depict Count Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski. 

Only the possible author of the miniature remained and all the given factors speak for Lambert Sustris (d. 1584 or later), a Dutch painter active mainly in Venice, who in 1552 created full-length portraits of Hans Christoph Vöhlin and of his wife Veronika von Freyberg zum Eisenberg (Alte Pinakothek), as well as many effigies of Jan Krzysztof's sister Zofia Tarnowska (1534-1570), identified by me.

The same man, also against green fabric, but now in a more Italian attire, yellow doublet and embroidered shirt, was depicted in another portrait, sold in London in 2019 (oil on canvas, possibly reduced, 56.5 x 45.3 cm, Sotheby's, 5 December 2019, lot 109). It comes from the Addeo collection in Rome and it was identified as portrait of Duke Alfonso I d'Este (1476-1534) and attributed to Dosso Dossi (d. 1542). Both identification and attribution were later rejected and the painting was sold as by circle of Girolamo da Carpi (1501-1556), who collaborated with Dosso Dossi on commissions for the d'Este family.

The influences of Dossi's style are visible, thus the authorship of his pupils, such as Giuseppe Mazzuoli (d. 1589) or Giovanni Francesco Surchi (d. 1590), is possible. However, the style of this painting is also very similar to the head study of a young man, possibly being a portrait of the young Tintoretto, attibuted to Lambert Sustris (Slovak National Gallery, O 5116). 

The characteristic feature of the children of Zofia Szydłowiecka (1514-1551), protruding ears, visible in the funerary monument of Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski by Giammaria Mosca Il Padovano in the cathedral of Tarnów, as well as in the portraits of his sister by Sustris, is noticeable in both described paintings in Vienna and from the Addeo collection. Considering the age of the man, the two effigies were most likely created shortly before the death of Jan Krzysztof, who died of tuberculosis on April 1, 1567 as the last male representative of the Tarnów line of the Tarnowski family. 

Jan Krzysztof received his middle name in honor of his maternal grandfather Krzysztof Szydłowiecki (1467-1532), Grand Chancellor of the Crown, whose portrait by Titian is in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan. He received an excellent education and traveled extensively in his youth. He was imperial count and proprietor of Roudnice nad Labem in Bohemia and he visited the imperial court in Vienna in 1548. In 1554 he went to Italy. After the death of his father in 1561, the young count maintained the closest relations with Nicolaus Radziwill the Black (1515-1565), the husband of his aunt. After Radziwill's death, Jan Krzysztof managed his estates located in the Crown including Szydłowiec. He maintained a large court, and his main supplier was a Jew from Sandomierz, Jakub Szklarz, who brought goods from Gdańsk (after "Panowie na Tarnowie ..." by Krzysztof Moskal, part 9).

Between 1554 and 1555 Jan Krzysztof (il Tarnoskijno pollacco) stayed in Italy, moving between Padua, Bologna, Ferrara, Modena and Parma. Leaving Modena in the autumn of 1554, he asked Ludovico Monti to thank Cardinal Farnese to Cardinal Farnese, "and to the most illustrious Madam [Margaret of Parma] with Lord Alessandro for the courtesies" (et a la illustrissima Madama col signore Alessandro per le cortesie). A letter dated March 21, 1555 from Ludovico's brother Stefano Monti informs us that the Poles, with a large retinue, had then advanced as far as Tuscany, where in Florence the young Tarnowski was received by Cosimo I (after "La trama Nascosta - Storie di mercanti e altro" by Rita Mazzei).

It was probably Jan Krzysztof who commissioned the monument for his father from Padovano, modeled on the monuments of the Venetian doges, the concept of which could have been conceived by the poet Jan Kochanowski, who dedicated several of his works to Jan Krzysztof. Pedro Ruiz de Moros dedicated him his Carmen fvnebre in obitv, published in Kraków in 1561, and Stanisław Orzechowski his Panagiricus nuptiarum, published in Kraków in 1553.

Inventories of Tarnów Castle, like the castle itself, have not preserved, but the last will of the court physician and secretary to Count Jan Amor Tarnowski, Stanisław Rożanka (Rosarius), may give an idea of its wealth. Rożanka was educated at the University of Padua in the Venetian Republic. In his will of 1569, which was opened after his death in 1572, Stanisław, a Calvinist and the owner of a house in Saint Florian's Street in Kraków, mentioned many of his exquisite possessions. "And besides the things described above (these are valuables, dresses, utensils, etc.), I have old Roman and Greek numismatics, books, maps, pictures, etc. Of these, my brother, Dr. Walenty, all of my books and mappas and antiqua numismatics both gold and silver, to use and keep. [...] I want my second brother Mr Jan to be given a sable-lined damask szubka [fur coat], a silver cup with a lid, four precious cups and a silver ewer, and all flasks, and armours, also pictures, a chariot &c. &c." (after "Skarbniczka naszej archeologji ..." by Ambroży Grabowski, p. 65).

In 1542, Jan Amor, aged 54, the father of Jan Krzysztof, suffering from gout, traveled to Italy for treatment, probably to Abano Terme, a health resort located near Padua. He also visited the Duke of Ferrara Ercole II d'Este and returned via Vienna, where King Ferdinand was to offer him command of his army during the war with the Ottoman Empire, but he did not accept the offer because of the good relations between King Sigismund I and the Turks. Such journeys serve to describe the origins of many beautiful Italian works of art in their collections for many European museums. The collections of the counts of Tarnów were undoubtedly exquisite and comparable to those of the dukes of Ferrara, however, today no traces of this patronage are kept in Tarnów, everything has been looted, destroyed or scattered.

The Tarnowskis equaled or even surpassed the Venetian doges and the kings of Poland with their funerary monument and their portraits were equally splendid.

​Miniature portrait of Count Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567) by Lambert Sustris, ca. 1565-1567, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

​Portrait of Count Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (1537-1567) by circle of Dosso Dossi or Lambert Sustris, ca. 1565-1567, Private collection.

Portrait of Wawrzyniec Goślicki by Giovanni Battista Moroni

On January 3, 1567 Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki (Laurentius Grimaldius Goslicius) obtained the degree of Doctor Utruisque Juris (doctor of both laws - civil and church law) at the University of Bologna.

Goślicki was born near Płock in Masovia and after studying at Kraków's Academy he left for Italy after 1562. During his studies in Padua, in 1564, he published the Latin poem De victoria Sigismundi Augusti, which he dedicated to the victory of king Sigismund II Augustus over tsar Ivan IV the Terrible in the war of 1560. After receiving his doctorate in Bologna he visited Rome, and then Naples together with his friends. On the way back, Goślicki stopped in Rome for a while. In 1568, during his stay in Venice, he published his best-known work, De optimo senatore, also dedicated to king Sigismund Augustus. The book printed by Giordano Ziletti was later translated into English with the titles of The Counselor and The Accomplished Senator. After his return to Poland in 1569, he entered the king's service as the royal secretary. He later decided to become a priest and he was elevated to the episcopal dignity in 1577. In 1586 he was made bishop of Kamieniec Podolski and according to a document issued by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese entitled Propositio cosistorialis, he was 48 in 1586, therefore he was born in 1538.  

Wawrzyniec Goślicki died on October 31, 1607 in Ciążeń near Poznań as the Bishop of Poznań (from 1601) and was buried in the city's cathedral. According to his last will his tomb monument was to be modeled on the monument to his predecessor Bishop Adam Konarski, the work of Girolamo Canavesi, a sculptor from Milan, who had his workshop in Kraków. Goślicki's monument created in Kraków, most probably by workshop of Giovanni Lucano Reitino di Lugano, as Konarski's monument, was transported to Poznań after 1607.

The effigy of a young man by Giovanni Battista Moroni in Accademia Carrara in Bergamo (oil on canvas, 56.9 x 44.4 cm, inv. 81LC00174) is very similar to Goślicki's features in his statue in Poznań. According to inscription in Latin (ANNO . AETATIS . XXIX . / M . D . LXVII) the man was 29 in 1567, exactly as Goślicki when he earned his degree at Carolus Sigonius in Bologna. The painting entered the Academy in 1866 from the collection of Guglielmo Lochis with about two hundred other works. It was included in the 1846 catalogue of the painting collection of the Art Gallery and Villa Lochis in Crocetta di Mozzo near Bergamo under the number XVI, as "Portrait of a young man" (Ritratto di giovane uomo, compare "La Pinacoteca e la villa Lochis alla Crocetta di Mozzo presso Bergamo con notizie biografiche degli autori dei quadri", p. 12). ​Another version by workshop or follower of Moroni, also considered to be a 19th century copy, is in private collection in Florence (oil on canvas, 52 x 42 cm, Maison Bibelot in Florence, "Furniture and Old Master Paintings from a villa in Viareggio - II", October 5, 2018, lot 715).

Portrait of Wawrzyniec Goślicki (1538-1607), aged 29, by Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1567, Accademia Carrara in Bergamo.

Portrait of Wawrzyniec Goślicki (1538-1607) by workshop or follower of Giovanni Battista Moroni, ca. 1567, Private collection.

Portrait of royal secretary Jan Zamoyski by Tintoretto

"Carissimo Signore Valerio Montelupi, I have received a letter from my Ursyn [Niedźwiedzki] from Padua. He writes that, in accordance with my instructions, he went to Venice in the affairs of a painter. He looked at the paintings almost finished. From his description, I can see two things that should be given close attention. First of all - it was my intention that only two figures should be imagined clearly and decoratively, and this is the figure of the standing Savior and the figure of St. Thomas kneeling with his hand stretched to Christ's side", writes in Italian Chancellor Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605) in a letter of 1602 regarding paintings for the Collegiate Church in Zamość, commissioned in the workshop of Domenico Tintoretto in Venice (after "Jan Zamoyski klientem Domenica Tintoretta" by Jan Białostocki, p. 60). 

Zamoyski studied at the Universities of Paris and Padua, where he became Councillor of the Polish Nation and rector of the university in 1563. He also abandoned Calvinism in favor of Catholicism and discovered his love for politics. In the Archives of Venice there is a one-of-a-kind document in which the Venetian Senate congratulates the King of Poland on having such a citizen in his country, and expresses the highest appreciation for Zamoyski (Senato I Filza, 43. Terra 1565 da Marzo, a tutto Giugno): 

"It happened on April 7, 1565 at a session of the Senate. To the Serene King of Poland. Jan Zamoyski, the son of a noble starost of Belz, spent several years with great glory and honor at our University of Padua; last year, the most esteemed man was a gymnasiarch [the rector] [...] In this office he was doing so well and so excellently that not only the hearts of all young people who came to Padua to educate their minds with science, but also all citizens, especially our officials, he was able to win kindness in a special way. For this reason, we always welcomed him with the best will, and whenever there was an opportunity, we tried to surround him with favor and respect. There were various reasons for doing so; first of all, to your Majesty, whom we love greatly and to whom we are completely devoted, to please in the best possible way, and also, because we are deeply attached to the most noble Polish nation, finally in the conviction that Zamoyski's merits and virtues required us to do so".

After returning to Poland, Zamoyski was appointed secretary to King Sigismund II Augustus and in 1567, when he was 25 years old, he acted as the king's commissar entrusted with a responsible and dangerous mission. At the head of the court armed forces, he forcibly took away the illegally seized starosties of Sambor and Drohobych from the Starzechowski family.
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A painting by Jacopo Tintoretto from the Fundación Banco Santander in Madrid shows a young twenty-five year old man (ANN.XXV). His high social status is accentuated with gold rings, a belt embroidered with gold and a coat lined with ermine fur. He stands proudly with his hand on the table covered with crimson fabric. His hands and the table were not painted very diligently, which may indicate that it was completed in a hurry by the artist's studio working on a large order. The man bear a great resemblance to effigies of Jan Zamoyski, especially his portrait painting, attributed to Jan Szwankowski (Olesko Castle) and engraving by Dominicus Custos after Giovanni Battista Fontana (British Museum), both created in his later years. 

A portrait attributed to Tintoretto or Titian from the same period is in the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art. It represent Girolamo Priuli (1486-1567), who was a Doge of Venice between 1559-1567, when Zamoyski was in Venice. During the restoration of the painting, the inscriptions TIZIANO and the letters TI (over the shoulder) were discovered, however a very similar portrait in private collection and majority of larger versions are attributed to Tintoretto. 

The portrait of Priuli was transferred from the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg to the Odessa Museum in 1949. The painting comes from the collection of Prince Lev Viktorovich Kochubey (1810-1890), who distinguished himself in the storming of the Warsaw fortifications during the November Uprising (1830-1831), the armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The inventory number on the back '453' is sometimes interpreted as tantamount to an entry in the 18th century catalog of Gonzaga's collections, however, it is unknown where exactly Kochubey acquired the painting. 

After the collapse of the November Uprising the collections of magnates who sided with the insurgents were confiscated, e.g. painting of Madonna and Child by Francesco Francia in the State Hermitage Museum (inventory number ГЭ-199), created between 1515-1517, was confiscated in 1832 from the Sapieha collection in Dziarecyn, comprising 36 paintings of Old Masters and 72 portraits (after "Przegląd warszawski", 1923, Volumes 25-27, p. 266).

In this case the thesis that Priuli's portrait was originally offered to Zamoyski or king Sigismund II Augustus is very probable. 

Portrait of royal secretary Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605) aged 25 by Jacopo Tintoretto, ca. 1567, Fundación Banco Santander.

Portrait of Girolamo Priuli (1486-1567), Doge of Venice by Tintoretto or Titian, 1559-1567, Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art.

Portraits of Zuzanna Orłowska by Jacopo Tintoretto

"The King-Deceiver, of mixed Lithuanian and Italian blood, did not deal honestly with anyone. In repaying the shame with which he has covered me, I want to repay him bad for bad", noted the accusations made by Zuzanna (Susanna) Orłowska (or Szabinówna Charytańska, died after 1583), the mistress of King Sigismund II Augustus, historian Świętosław Orzelski (1549-1598) in his book Interregni Poloniae libri VIII (1572-1576).

The king's third marriage with his distant cousin and the Austrian Archduchess Catherine, concluded in 1553, was not happy from the very beginning. Even before his wife's departure in 1566, at the beginning of the 1560s, he allegedly had an affair with Regina Rylska, the wife of the courtier Jan Rylski.
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The romance of the king and Zuzanna, probably began in 1565, that is, before Queen Catherine left Poland. According to the account of the courtier of the King, Zuzanna was to be the illegitimate daughter of a canon of Kraków, other sources, however, indicate that her father was Szymon Szabin Charytański. The king and his entourage called her Orłowska (Lady of the Eagle or Mistress of the Eagle), possibly in reference to the king's coat of arms (White Eagle). Orłowska was suspected of knowing magic and together with her aunt, famous healer (or a witch-doctor) Dorota Korycka, she was to treat Sigismund Augustus, and received high remuneration for her services. With time, the feeling of the king towards Orłowska weakened, and after recovering, the king decided that "he would have no contact with demons and similar women", as he wrote in a letter to his courtier Stanisław Czarnotulski. He abandoned his mistress, and her place in the royal alcove was taken by Anna Zajączkowska, a lady of the court of Sigismund's sister Anna Jagiellon. Most likely the reason for Zuzanna's separation from the king was her betrayal. Although Orłowska herself was not faithful to him, she believed that it was the king who had disgracedly abandoned her and humiliated her. Apparently, every Thursday, "having invited the devils to a supper", according to Orzelski who knew it from the bed-chamber servant (łożniczy) of the King, Jan Wilkocki, she used magic and sprinkled peas on hot coals, saying: "Whoever has abandoned me, let him suffer so much and sizzle".

When in 1569, Sigismund Augustus became seriously ill, he ordered Korycka and Orłowska to be summoned. When both women refused to help him, he promised his former lover, a thousand zlotys as a dowry when she gets married.

After the king's death, Zuzanna Orłowska married the Polish nobleman Piotr Bogatko, who in 1583 bequeathed 2,400 florins to his wife as a dower and they had four sons.

Jacopo Tintoretto's Bathing Susanna in the Louvre (oil on canvas, 167 x 238 cm, inventory number INV 568; MR 498) shows a moment from the Old Testament story in which biblical heroine Susanna, epitome of female virtue and chastity, unjustly accused of sexual transgression, is watched by two elderly men, acquaintances of her husband, who desire her.

She sits naked in a garden beside a pool, while her maidservants are drying or brushing her hair and cutting her nails. A partridge at her feet is a symbol of sexual desire and three frogs is a symbol of fecundity and fertility. "The frog was also sacred for Venus, Roman goddess of love and fertility. Venus's yoni (female genitals) sometimes was depicted as a fleur-delis consisting of three frogs" (after Marty Crump's "Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog, Adder's Fork and Lizard's Leg: The Lore and Mythology of Amphibians and Reptiles", p. 135).

"Many medieval recipes for magical and medicinal potions and ointments included frogs and/or toads as ingredients, and the animals were used in rituals intended to cure drought. In addition, medieval and Renaissance people generally thought that witches could turn themselves into frogs and toads at will. The devil too was said to sometimes take the shape of a frog or toad" (after Patricia D. Netzley's "Witchcraft", p. 114). Two ducks represent constancy and rebirth and a rabbit symbolizes fertility. The outwardly turned face of the sitter gazing at the viewer is a clear information that she is someone important.

The work is an oil painting on canvas and is generally dated to the third quarter of the 16th century (1550-1575). Neoclassical frame is not original and was added in the 19th century. Bathing Susanna was acquired by King Louis XIV of France in 1684 from Marquis d'Hauterive de L'Aubespine. It is believed to have previously belonged by King Charles I of England (his sale, London June 21, 1650, no. 229), however, it could be also tantamount to "A picture painted on canvas, which shows a naked woman, without frame" (item 440) from the inventory of belongings of king John Casimir Vasa, great-grandson of Sigismund I, sold in Paris in 1673 to Mr. Bruny for 16.10 pounds. "Saint Susanna and two old men, a large painting on canvas" (815) is mentioned among the paintings from the collection of Princess Louise Charlotte Radziwill (1667-1695), inventoried in 1671 (after "Inwentarz galerii obrazów Radziwiłłów z XVII w." by Teresa Sulerzyska).

The same woman was also depicted in a portrait painting by Tintoretto, owned by Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed in Amersfoort (oil on canvas, 101.5 x 77.5 cm, NK1639), which was before 1941 in the collection of Otto Lanz in Amsterdam. She is sitting in a chair, dressed in a rich Venetian style costume of orange silk. "In ancient Rome, the wives of the priests of Jupiter [king of the gods] wore a flammeum, an orange and yellow veil. The young Roman women betrothed in marriage copied this style as a symbol of hope for a long and fruitful marriage" (after Leatrice Eiseman's "Colors for Your Every Mood: Discover Your True Decorating Colors", p. 49). Based on all these facts the sitter should be identified as king's mistress Zuzanna Orłowska. Just as royal effigies, the portraits of king's mistress were created in the Republic of Venice basing on drawings or miniatures sent from Poland-Lithuania. 

The so-called Marshal's Book, a register of official state expenses of the court of Sigismund Augustus between 1543-1572, which was described in a publication from 1924 by Stanisław Tomkowicz ("Na dworze królewskim dwóch ostatnich Jagiellonów", pp. 31, 32, 36), is silent about court painters, as are the bills. Tomkowicz suggests that perhaps their wages were recorded separately and adds that the king often bought paintings, mostly portraits, even in batches of 16 and 20 pieces, however, "over the course of several years, one expense was recorded for the purchase of a painting depicting... a naked woman". The accounts of 1547 also mention a payment to a prostitute (meretricem) Zofia Długa (Sophia Long), who dressed in armor was to fight with Herburt and Łaszcz in a jousting tournament at the expense of the court treasury.

Portrait of Zuzanna Orłowska, mistress of King Sigismund II Augustus, as Bathing Susanna by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1565-1568, Louvre Museum.

Portrait of Zuzanna Orłowska, mistress of King Sigismund II Augustus by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1565-1568, Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed.

Portrait of Stanisław Karnkowski, Bishop of Włocławek by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger

​In 2016, during the restoration of a painting of the Holy Family, now kept in the Karlskirche Museum in Vienna, the monogram and the date AD1520 were discovered in the upper right part of the image (after "Karl Borromäus Museum in der Karlskirche, Wien IV" by Alicja Dabrowska). This painting is attributed to Daniel Fröschl (1563-1613), an imitator of Albrecht Dürer, appointed in 1603 court painter and miniaturist to Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, although he worked in the service of the Medici in Florence until 1604. The work is characterized by the beauty of the execution and the particular appearance of some figures. The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John and Saint Joseph are venerated by Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) and Empress Bianca Maria Sforza (1472-1510). Fröschl copied an original by Dürer painted in 1520, as confirmed by the monogram, probably in Prague. Dürer in turn created the original painting 10 years after the death of the Empress and one year after the death of the Emperor, how could he have done so since according to the traditional approach, the model and the painter should have met at the time of the painting's creation? Furthermore, he was living in Nuremberg at that time and in July 1520 he went to Cologne and then to Antwerp, so he probably did not have the opportunity to meet Maximilian shortly before his death at Wels Castle near Linz in Austria. The effigy of the emperor and his wife was undoubtedly based on other effigies.

This practice of commissioning paintings from famous painters located elsewhere, based on other effigies or study drawings, was also widespread in Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia. The best example are the miniatures of the Jagiellon family preserved in the Czartoryski Museum (inv. MNK XII-536-545), acquired by Adolf Cichowski in London in the mid-19th century. The miniatures were clearly created by Lucas Cranach the Younger, as indicated by their style, and each of them is signed with his famous mark - the winged serpent, as if he wished to emphasize his authorship on this noble commission. Since Cranach's stay in Sarmatia is not confirmed by the sources, he most likely painted all these effigies based on other portraits.

Many paintings by Cranach, his workshop and his followers in the former territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were destroyed or lost during numerous wars and invasions, including a small painting of the Crucifixion from the Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, lost during the Second World War (panel, 53.5 x 52.5 cm, inv. 65, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 2268). The Crucifixion was purchased in 1804 by Stanisław Kostka Potocki (1755-1821), probably in Lviv, along with six other paintings, all considered to be works by Cranach (compare "Piękno za woalem czasu" by Teresa Stramowska, p. 56). Today, only three paintings remain in Wilanów: the Annunciation (inv. Wil.1860), the Last Supper (inv. Wil.1859) and the Lamentation of Christ (inv. Wil.1861). The Crucifixion, like the three paintings today in Wilanów, was not signed by Cranach's famous winged serpent, and its style was not typical for Cranach the Elder, which is why this traditional attribution was rejected in the catalogues of the Wilanów collection created after World War II and all the paintings are considered works of the German school of the second half of the 16th century. However, the style of the Wilanów Crucifixion, as can be seen from the surviving photograph, is very similar to that of the winged heart-shaped altarpiece, the so-called Colditzer Altar from 1584, now in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (inv. Gm1116), especially the panel with the Resurrection of Christ. It is interesting to note that only the central panel of the Colditzer Altar depicting the Crucifixion was signed with the artist's insignia and dated (on the shaft of the cross at Christ's feet). The other paintings, including the Resurrection, were not signed. If the Wilanów painting came from an altar or a pulpit, such as the one in Augustusburg made in 1573, which is very likely, only the central panel was signed by Cranach.

In the Higher Theological Seminary in Włocławek in northern Poland there is also a portrait from this period. It depicts Stanisław Karnkowski (1520-1603), Bishop of Włocławek (oil, 208 x 86 cm). The way in which the face and especially the hands were painted is very characteristic of Cranach and his workshop and comparable to the full-length portraits of Luther in the Veste Coburg (winged serpent and date "1575", lower right, inv. M.304) or to the painting in Meissen Cathedral (unsigned). The seminary in Włocławek was founded by Karnkowski on March 16, 1568 as one of the first theological seminaries in the Commonwealth. The painting does not come from the seminary, destroyed by the Swedes in 1655-1656 and in the years 1704-1705, but from the Karnkowski collection in Karnków near Lipno. It was acquired from there by Bishop Karol Radoński before 1939. Karnkowski obtained a doctorate in both laws (doctor utriusque juris) in Padua. Although he vigorously fought against the influence of Protestants in his diocese and is considered one of the first bishops of the Counter-Reformation in Poland, he also studied at Wittenberg (after "Krzysztof Plantin i Officina Plantiniana" by Barbara Górska, p. 291), where he undoubtedly had the opportunity to meet Cranach the Elder and his son. In 1574 Karnkowski commissioned in Paris the publication of a panegyric in honour of the Polish King Henry of Valois (Harengue publique de Bien-venue au Roy Henry de Valois, Roy eleu des Polonnes, prononcee par Stanislaus Carncouien Euesque de Vladislauie) with a splendid Polish eagle bearing the king's monogram H and his coat of arms. The Włocławek portrait could therefore be part of the series of portraits commissioned by the newly appointed bishop in 1567 (by the bull of Pope Pius V). The portrait bears four inscriptions. The original, perhaps made by the painter, is the inscription in the upper left corner confirming the bishop's age (ANNO ÆTATIS · / SVÆ · 47), which indicates that the original painting was made in 1567, when Karnkowski was 47 years old. The next inscription in the upper right corner is the year "1570" (ANNO DNI / 1570), perhaps indicating the date of the copy of the original portrait from 1567 or commemorating another important event, such as the so-called "Karnkowski Statutes" or "Constitutions of Gdańsk" (Statuta seu Constitutiones Carncovianae) approved by Parliament in 1570, intended to regulate the rights of the Polish kings over Gdańsk and their maritime law. The other two inscriptions confirm the identity of the sitter and that he was a benefactor of the chapter of Włocławek (STANISLAVS KARNKOWSKY / EPVS / CAPITVLI ISTIVS WLADISLAVIENSIS / SINGULARIS BENEFACTOR). They were probably added with the bishop's coat of arms - Junosza. 

It is also possible that a member of Cranach's workshop was active in Poland at that time, but since there is no confirmation of this, the hypothesis of the creation of Karnkowski's portraits in Wittenberg is more likely. However, the existence of another portrait of a clergyman in Cranach's style proves that the hypothesis of one or more of Cranach's pupils active in Sarmatia cannot be excluded. This is a portrait of Jeremias II of Tranos (1536-1595), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, now in the Museum of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, painted in 1588 (oil on canvas, 88 x 82.5 cm, inv. 3282, inscription: EREMIAS PATRIARCHA / CONSTANTINOPOLITAN: DV / EX MOSCOVIA BYZANTHIV / REDIBAT ANNO DOMINI / 1.5. / 88). Until 1887, the painting hung in the amphitheater of the St. Anne Gymnasium in Kraków. 

The first ecumenical contacts between Lutherans and Orthodox Christians took place during the reign of Jeremias, as evidenced by the lively correspondence between the patriarch and the Protestant theologians of Tübingen, conducted between 1573 and 1581. He also continued the dialogue with representatives of the Catholic Church. In 1588, he undertook a journey through the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to Moscow to raise funds. During his almost two-year journey, he crossed the territory of the Commonwealth twice, in 1588 and 1589, and stayed in Lviv and Vilnius. "At that time some painters strongly influenced by Cranach the Elder were active in Gdańsk and in the northern provinces of the Polish Commonwealth. Those artists also reached Vilnius" (after "Malarstwo obce w zbiorach Collegium Maius" by Anna Jasińska, p. 239-241). They could also be itinerant members of Cranach's workshop.

Cranach the Younger died in 1586. Although his son Augustin (1554-1595) continued the family professional tradition in Wittenberg, he died only nine years after his father. In 1588, Cranach the Younger's eldest son, Lucas III (1541-1612), sold a large collection of paintings and prints by various artists to the Electoral collection (Kunstkammer) in Dresden, indicating that the workshop was already in decline. The option with creation of the portrait of the Patriarch in Wittenberg in 1588 for customers from the Commonwealth is therefore also possible. The 1560 inventory of Wolgast Castle confirms that the original portrait of Philip I (1515-1560), Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast by the "painter Lucas" (Lucas Maler) made in 1541 (another version, attributed to Cranach the Younger, is in the National Museum in Szczecin, inv. MNS/Szt/1382) was painted on canvas (An Contrafej auff Tüchern, after "Neue Beitrage zur Geschichte der Kunst und ihrer Denkmäler in Pommern" by Julius Mueller, p. 32).

Portrait of a Catholic or Orthodox priest created in Lutheran Wittenberg? Although the church officials of Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia (Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Calvinists and others) were sometimes obliged to listen to or carry out orders from abroad, as confirmed by Jean Choisnin de Chastelleraut in his book published in Paris in 1574, respect was most important in the diverse and tolerant Sarmatia (Mais recognoissans entr'eux que la diuision apporteroit leur entiere ruyne, ils n'ont iamais voulu se courir sus l'vn à l'autre, "Discours au vray de tout ce qui s'est passé pour l'entière négociation de l'élection du roy de Pologne", p. 122, Lyon Public Library). In 1535 and before, the Jewish lady Estera from the court of Queen Bona, wife of Mojżesz Fiszel (1480-after 1543), rabbi of the Polish Jewish community from 1532, sewed the liturgical vestments for the Catholic clergy, including for Piotr Tomicki (1464-1535), Bishop of Kraków (after "Medycy nadworni władców polsko-litewskich ..." by Maurycy Horn, p. 9). This was Sarmatia, which many people abroad did not understand and some wanted to destroy. Sadly, the fact that all this seems unimaginable and sometimes unacceptable today is proof that they succeeded.

​Portrait of Stanisław Karnkowski (1520-1603), Bishop of Włocławek by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1567-1570, Higher Theological Seminary in Włocławek. 

​Portrait of Jeremias II Tranos (1536-1595), Patriarch of Constantinople by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1588, Jagiellonian University Museum in Kraków.

​The Crucifixion by Lucas Cranach the Younger or workshop, third quarter of the 16th century, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, lost during the World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portraits of Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski by Adriaen Thomasz. Key

In the summer of 1568 died Jakub Ostroróg, General Starost of Greater Poland, "a man endowed with extraordinary gentleness, piety and prudence, a lover of justice and equality before the law", in the words of the chronicler of the city of Poznań. Ostroróg was a prominent magnate and politician from Poznań and one of the main leaders of the community of Bohemian Brethren. The Protestant community in the city expanded under his protection. He was appointed Starost of Poznań and General Starost by King Sigismund II Augustus in 1566. 

The place of the dissident in the Poznań royal castle was taken by the Catholic Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski (1527-1578), and soon the Jesuits were provided with buildings in Poznań (after "Życie codzienne w renesansowym Poznaniu, 1518-1619" by Lucyna Sieciechowiczowa, p. 91). Czarnkowski, a nobleman of Nałęcz III coat of arms, studied in Wittenberg in 1543 and Leipzig in 1545 and he became a royal courtier in 1552. He and his older brother Stanisław Sędziwój (1526-1602), Crown referendary, were strong supporters of the House of Habsburg. Stanisław, educated at German universities in Wittenberg and Leipzig, stayed at the court of Charles V and in 1564 he was an envoy to the Pomeranian dukes, and in 1568, 1570 and 1571 to Sophia Jagiellon (1522-1575), Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1575, the brothers signed the election of Emperor Maximilian II of Austria against the Queen Anna Jagiellon and her husband. During the next royal election in 1587 his son Adam Sędziwój (1555-1627) and brother signed the election of Archduke Maximilian III of Austria (1558-1618) against the Queen's candidate, Sigismund III Vasa. The portrait of Adam Sędziwój, created between 1605-1610 and most probably sent to the Medicis, is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (inventory number 2354 / 1890). Later in his life he become a supporter of king of Sigismund III Vasa, he organized a confederation in Greater Poland in defense of the king during the Zebrzydowski's rebellion and in his portrait he was depicted in national costume (crimson żupan and delia coat).

In the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna there is a portrait of a man in Spanish costume attributed to Adriaen Thomasz. Key (oil on panel, 109 x 82.5 cm, inventory number GG 1034). It is identifiable in the treasury of the imperial collection in Vienna in 1773. The painting was most likely a gift to the Habsburgs. According to inscription in Latin in upper right corner of the painting the man was 41 in 1568 (A°.ÆTATIS.41 /.1568.), exaclty as Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski when he become the General Starost of Greater Poland. A reduced bust-length version of this portrait in oval is now in the Medeiros e Almeida Museum in Lisbon (oil on panel, 59.5 x 48 cm, FMA 65). Before 1931 it was part of the Oxenden collection at Broome Park in Barham, England and was sold on 20 November of that year in London as part of the collection of Muriel Dixwell-Oxenden, Lady Capel Cure (after "Catalogue of early English portraits, the property of Lady Capel Cure ...", as "Sir Antonio Mor, Portrait of Ferdinand 1st of Austria, in black dress with white collar", item 76, p. 17).

Netherlandish influences were increasing at that time in Poland-Lithuania, which is reflected in the architecture of cities of the former Commonwealth like Gdańsk, Elbląg, Toruń and Königsberg (at that time Duchy of Prussia was a fief of Poland). Some Netherlandish painters, like court painter Jakob Mertens from Antwerp or Isaak van den Blocke (born in Mechelen or Königsberg), also decided to settle in the Commonwealth. Others, like Tobias Fendt (Kraków, around 1576) and Hans Vredeman de Vries (active in Gdańsk between 1592-1595), went there temporarily or only took orders from customers from Poland-Lithuania.

Many famous artists were unwilling to travel, especially when busy with high local demand. In order to have a marble bust made by famous Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, active in Rome, King Charles I of England ordered his Triple Portrait painted 1635-1636 by the Flemish artist Sir Anthony van Dyck, showing the king from three viewpoints (Royal Collection, RCIN 404420). He also ordered a similar portrait and bust of his wife Henrietta Maria in 1638. In about 1640-1642 also Cardinal Richelieu of France sent his Triple Portrait by Philippe de Champaigne to Rome (National Gallery in London, NG798) as a study for his statue by Francesco Mochi and a bust by Bernini (Louvre, MR 2165) and in August 1650, Francesco I d'Este, duke of Modena and Reggio sent paintings by Justus Sustermans and Jean Boulanger as a study for his marble bust by Bernini (Galleria Estense in Modena). In 1552 marble blocks and statues created by Giovanni Maria Mosca called Padovano and Giovanni Cini in Kraków for monuments of two wives of Sigismund II Augustus were floated down the Vistula to Gdańsk and Königsberg, then up the Nemunas and Neris rivers to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - Vilnius, covering a total of over 1,500 km. Paintings were less heavy and easier to transport over great distances than the heavy and fragile sculptures.

Portrait of Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski (1527-1578), General Starost of Greater Poland, aged 41 by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, 1568, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Wojciech Sędziwój Czarnkowski (1527-1578), General Starost of Greater Poland by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, ca. 1568, Medeiros e Almeida Museum in Lisbon.

Portrait of doctor Wojciech Oczko by Venetian painter

In 1569 doctor Wojciech Oczko (1537-1599), called Ocellus, physician, philosopher and one of the founders of Polish medicine, who studied syphilis and hot springs, returned from his studies abroad to his hometown Warsaw and newly created republic of Poland-Lithuania - the Union of Lublin, signed on 1 July 1569, created a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He began to practice medicine at St. Martin's Hospital. 

Oczko's father was the Warsaw cartwright Stanisław (d. 1572), one of his brothers Rościsław (Roslanus) was a priest, and his sister Jadwiga married the painter Maciej. He left for the Academy of Kraków around 1559 or 1560, because in 1562 he received bachelor's degree there. He then received a master's degree at the cathedral school in Warsaw and a funding from the chapter in 1565 to study medicine in Italy. Wojciech studied at the Universities of Padua, Rome and Bologna, where he earned a doctorate in medicine. He also travelled to Spain and France, where he spent time in Montpellier. 

In order to keep him in Warsaw, the chapter of St. Martin's Hospital gave him a house close to the hospital without any payment, provided that he lived in it himself and did the necessary repairs. Later another resolution was passed in 1571 that Oczko should treat the poor free of charge in the hospital. At that time, his fame and renown was so great in the country that he became the archiater (a chief physician) of Sigismund Augustus and the royal secretary (D. D. Sigism: Aug: Poloniae regis Archiatro ac Secretario), according to inscription on his epitaph.

He then served for a time as personal physician to Franciszek Krasiński, bishop of Kraków, and from 1576-1582 (with some breaks) as the court physician to Stephen Bathory (the king and his predecessor Sigismund Augustus suffered from venereal diseases, among others). Wojciech also had literary interests and prepared the staging of Jan Kochanowski's "The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys", a play staged at the wedding of Deputy Chancellor Jan Zamoyski in the royal Ujazdów Castle in Warsaw - a note in the accounts of the Deputy Chancellor states on January 6, 1578: "I gave doctor Oczko for building, painting, etc., 151 (zlotys) for the tragedy".

His major work "French court disease" (Przymiot francuski), published in Kraków in 1581, is an extensive essay on syphilis, in which he denies the false views of his contemporaries - in Russia, where it certainly came at about this time, it was called the Polish disease (after Oliver Thomson's "Short History of Human Error", p. 328). In his other essay "Hot springs" (Cieplice), published in Kraków in 1578, he speaks about the importance and benefits of mineral waters.

From 1598 Oczko lived in Lublin, where he died a year later. He was buried in the Bernardine Church in Lublin, where his nephew Wincenty Oczko, canon of Gniezno, founded him an epitaph made of two-color marble. 

Portrait of a red-bearded man in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main was acquired on April 17, 1819 from the collection of Johann Friedrich Morgenstern (1777-1844), a German landscape painter, as a work of Titian. Morgenstern most probably purchased the painting during his studies at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, between 1797-1798 (in the first half of the 18th century Dresden was the informal capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as the main residence of the Saxon kings). 

The man in a courtly black costume in French/Italian style is holding his hand on books, so he must be a scholar. According to inscription in Latin on the base of the column he was 33 in 1570 ([A]NNOR[VM]. XXXIII / ANNO. MDLXX), exactly as Wojciech Oczko when he become the royal physician in Warsaw. The sign below the inscription is interpreted as showing a dragon, however it could be also Scorpio, the sign which rules the genitals, as in a German woodcut from 1512 (Homo signorum or zodiacal man) or a print created in 1484 depicting a person with syphilis. An outbreak of syphilis in November 1484 was assigned by Gaspar Torella (1452-1520), physician to Pope Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia, and Bartolomeo della Rocca known as Cocles (1467-1504), astrologer from Bologna, to the conjunction of the four great planets in Scorpio.

Oczko's portrait could have been created by a Venetian artist active at that time at the royal court or commissioned in Venice, basing on drawings, like the royal effigies. 

Portrait of doctor Wojciech Oczko (1537-1599), chief physician of king Sigismund Augustus, aged 33 by Venetian painter, 1570, Städel Museum.

Portrait of a man in eastern costume, possibly singer Krzysztof Klabon by Jacopo Tintoretto

The catalogue of Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne from 1927 ("Wegweiser durch die Gemälde-Galerie des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums", p. 70, number 516) includes a portrait painting of a man in eastern costume painted in the style of Jacopo Tintoretto, possiby lost during World War II (oil on canvas, 110 x 82 cm, inv. 516). His long inner robe of bright silk buttoned up with gold buttons is similar to Polish żupan and his dark coat is lined with fur, he also wears a heavy gold chain. This garment resemble greatly the costume of a horseman in the Crucifixion by circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder, created in 1549 (Salzburg Museum), the attire in the portrait of Jan Opaliński (1546-1598), created in 1591 (National Museum in Poznań) or costumes in Twelve Polish and Hungarian types by Abraham de Bruyn, created in about 1581 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam).

The inscription in Latin is only partially visible on preserved photograph, covered with a later frame: [...] VIII / [...]  NTOR / [...] MNI PRIN. / [...] D. / [...] XX. Presumably the text originally read: "His age 28, the chief singer of all, in the Year of our Lord 1570" ([ÆTATIS SVÆ XX]VIII / [CA]NTOR / OMNI[VM] PRIN.[CEPS] / [A.]D. / [MDL]XX). The sitter is holding a small book, which could be a psalter, a book containing a verse translation of the Book of Psalms, meant to be sung as hymns.

The man is therefore likely to be Krzysztof Klabon or Clabon (Christophorus Clabonius), who, according to some sources, came from Königsberg in what was then the Ducal Prussia, fiefdom of Poland (a note from 1604: Eruditus Christophorus Clabonius Regiomontanus S.R.M. chori musices praefectus) or he was Italian and his real name was Claboni. If he was born in 1542 (aged 28 in 1570), he could arrive to Poland in 1553 with Queen Catherine of Austria, widowed Duchess of Mantua. Prior to 1565, he belonged to a group of young singers in the royal chapel orchestra of King Sigismund II Augustus, and from 1565 to a group of instrumentalists (translatus ex pueris cantoribus ad numerum fistulatorum). On February 4, 1567, together with four other musicians, he was promoted to full wind-players (ad fistulatores maiores). Antoni Klabon, most probably Krzysztof's brother, was admitted into the king's service at court as a trumpeter in Lublin on June 25, 1569 (Antonius Klabon tubicinator. Susceptus in servitium Maiestatis Regiae Liublini die 25 Iunii 1569, habebit omnem provisionem similem reliquis).

In 1576, during the reign of Stephen Bathory, Krzysztof became the bandmaster of the court band and he was replaced by Luca Marenzio in 1596, during the reign of Sigismund III Vasa. He sang at the wedding of Jan Zamoyski with Griselda Bathory (1583), with a lute at two weddings of Sigismund III and at the ceremony on the occasion of the capture of Smolensk (1611). He traveled twice with Sigismund III to Sweden (1593-1594 and 1598). Klabon was also a composer, his extant works are "Songs of the Slavic Calliope. On present victory at Byczyna" (Pieśni Kalliopy słowieńskiey. Na teraznieysze pod Byczyną zwycięstwo) for 4 mixed voices, 3 equal voices, and for solo voice with lute, published in Kraków in 1588, one sacred piece, the five-part Aliud Kyrie (Kyrie ultimum) from the lost Łowicz organ tablatures and the soprano part of one other, Officium Sancta Maria.

"Numerous residences dispersed the courtiers of Sigismund Augustus. Many of them stayed away from the king. For example, in 1570 the superior of the royal band, Jerzy Jasińczyc, along with some of the musicians, lived in Kraków, while the rest were in Warsaw with the king, who, moreover, complained that there were not enough of them" (after "Barok", Volume 11, 2004, p. 23). Some famous musicians from the royal capella, like Valentin Bakfark, traveled extensively around Europe. According to accounts of the court of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria in Munich, a singer from Poland was paid 4 florins for a performance in 1570 (Ainem Sänger aus Polln so vmb diennst angehalten 4 fl. after "Beiträge zur Geschichte der bayerischen Hofkapelle", Volume 2, p. 47).

Portrait of a man in eastern costume, possibly singer Krzysztof Klabon by Jacopo Tintoretto, ca. 1570, Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka 

Portraits of Sigismund Augustus with his maritime fleet and at the old age by Tintoretto

Between 1655-1660 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a wealthy Venetian style republic of nobles created in 1569 with support of the last male Jagiellon, Sigismund Augustus was invaded by neighbouring countries from north, south, east and west - the Deluge. Royal and magnate residencies in Warsaw, Kraków, Grodno and Vilnius and other locations were ransacted and burned which resulted in the loss of works by the greatest Venetian painters, like Paris Bordone, Tintoretto or Palma Giovane and a loss of memory of the royal effigies and their patronage.

The portrait of a "Venetian admiral" in armour from the 1570s, acquired by the National Museum in Warsaw in 1936 from the Popławski collection (oil on canvas, 81 x 68 cm, inventory number M.Ob.635, earlier 34679) bears a great resemblance to the effigies of the king from the last years of his life, notably a miniature by workshop of Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn at the Czartoryski Museum (MNK XII-146), painted after the original from around 1570. 

According to Universae historiae sui temporis libri XXX (editio aucta 1581, p. 516), originally published in Venice in 1572, the king was about to set up an enormous fleet against Denmark, consisting of galleys with three, five and more rows on the Venetian model in order to protect "Sarmatia". In the spring of 1570 he entrusted the Maritime Commission with the construction of the first ship for the Polish-Lithuanian maritime fleet, while bringing in specialists Domenico Zaviazelo (Dominicus Sabioncellus) and Giacomo de Salvadore from Venice.

Shortly before turning 50 in 1570, the king's health rapidly declined. Antonio Maria Graziani recalls that Sigismund was unable to keep standing without a cane when greeting Venetian Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Commendone in November 1571 who was sent by Pope Pius V to join Venice, Papal States and Spain in the interest of a crusade against the Ottoman Empire.

During research carried out in 1996 at the National Museum, an x-ray revealed an unfinished portrait of another man or the same but younger, perhaps unpaid work or not accepted by the client. The painter used the earlier composition to paint a new image on it, which was a common practice in his studio.

In the Popławski collection the painting was attributed to Tintoretto. Jan Żarnowski, in the 1936 collection catalog, suggested Jacopo Bassano as a possible author, however, he pointed out the resemblance of this painting among others to two portraits by Tintoretto at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (after "Katalog wystawy obrazów ze zbiorów dr. Jana Popławskiego", number 19, p. 48). One is a portrait of Sigismund Augustus with a royal galley (GG 24), identified by me, the other is a portrait of an old man in a fur coat and carmine tunic, similar to the Polish-Lithuanian żupan (oil on canvas, 92.4 x 59.5 cm, GG 25). The receipt issued by Princess Anna Jagiellon after the death of Sigismund Augustus to Stanisław Fogelweder, in addition to Italian, German and Persian dresses, lists numerous fur garments, such as sable coats, made of leopards, wolverines, lynxes, wolves and black foxes and traditional costumes - żupany, kopieniaki, kabaty, kolety, delie (after "Ubiory w Polsce ..." by Łukasz Gołębiowski, p. 16), which were generally crimson.

The resemblance of the men in all the mentioned effigies, in Vienna and Warsaw, is striking. The image of a man in a fur coat is also dated around 1570, like the Warsaw painting, and comes from the collection of Archduke Leopold William of Austria in Brussels, included in the catalog of his collection - Theatrum Pictorium (number 103).

The intensity of Poland-Lithuania's contacts with the Republic of Venice around 1570 is attested by some preserved works of art. Portrait of a Venetian senator holding a letter by Jacopo Tintoretto of unknown provenance in the National Art Museum of Belarus in Minsk, was most probably transported to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at that time, possibly offered to the king Sigismund II Augustus or the Radziwills. The map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - "The Sarmatian part of Europe, which is subject to Sigismund Augustus, the most powerful king of Poland" (Partis Sarmatiae Europae, quae Sigismundo Augusto regi Poloniae potentissimo subiacet) by Andrzej Pograbka (Andreas Pograbius), dedicated to Mikołaj Tomicki, son of the castellan of Gniezno, was published in Venice in 1570 by Nicolò Nelli. In 1572, the reissue of the legal thesis of the king's courtier Pedro Ruiz de Moros (d. 1571) Decisiones [...] De rebus In Sacro Auditorio Lituanico ex appellatione iudicatis, dedicated to the king (RAECLARVM opus quoddam est, Sigismunde Auguste Rex ...), was published in Venice by Bartolomeo Rubini.

In a painting by Tintoretto from a private collection, the same man, although older, was depicted with a dark hat, very similar to those seen on many printed effigies of the last male Jagiellon - effigy by Frans Huys and Hieronymus Cock (1553-1562), at the age of 35 by Hans Sauerdumm (1554), by Battista Franco Veneziano (ca. 1561), in Jan Herburt's Statuta y przywileie koronne ... by Monogrammist WS (1570) or by Dominicus Custos (1601), as well as in the portrait painting at the age of 41, thus painted in about 1561, at the Wawel Royal Castle (inventory number 535).

Until the end of his life, the king continued to acquire sumptuous clocks and jewels. In 1569, an Augsburg merchant, Hanus Heuzschmidt, received 110 zlotys "for a large round clock, which His Majesty the King had taken to his chamber". On June 10, 1570, the royal treasurer Fogelweder paid 242 zlotys "to a French merchant named Baduero for a diamond ring and for a Turkish gold clasp with diamonds and rubies, which His Majesty the King bought from this merchant". On September 6, the same treasurer gave "Pancratio Henne, a merchant from Nuremberg", 1,544 zlotys for "two golden and stone-set apples for musk [a perforated apple-shaped box for musk and other perfumes] [...] for a diamond ring [...] for 6 small rings [...] and a diamond cross". A few months later (November 16, 1570), the same Fogelweder paid 680 zlotys to the "Frenchman Blasio Bleaus Gioiller for the jewels that His Majesty the King had purchased from him", for which the royal cashier received a receipt "signed by Peter [Pierre] Garnier, the goldsmith of His Majesty the King". In 1571 (June 18), two other French merchants "Blasius de Vaûls and Servatius Marel" delivered to the court of Sigismund Augustus "a pendant on which was depicted the figure of David and Goliath in gold, and on it 9 rubies, 18 diamonds, and 3 pearls" and 2 rings (after "Dostawcy dworów królewskich w Polsce i na Litwie ..." by Maurycy Horn, Part II, p. 16).
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In 1570, Piotr Dunin Wolski, the king's ambassador to Spain, received 2,000 zlotys per year, due to the high prices in that country, while Sigismund Augustus's agents in Naples, Paweł Stempowski and Stanisław Kłodziński, received 1,500 zlotys per year. A year later, Dunin Wolski received an additional 1,000 Neapolitan ducats, worth 35.5 groszy (after "Polska slużba dyplomatyczna ..." by Zbigniew Wójcik, p. 125). This comparison proves that the sums paid to foreign jewellers and clockmakers were significant. On March 9, 1565, Tintoretto received a payment of 250 ducats for his monumental Crucifixion in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco (536 x 1127 cm). In 1578 he received a total of 200 ducats for the four allegories in the Palazzo Ducale, and he sometimes received up to 20 or 25 ducats for his official portraits. The king, who spent such sums on luxury items from Western Europe, undoubtedly also spared no money for magnificent portraits, but probably because of the low value of these objects and the use of foreign agents, Italian and Jewish merchants, it is difficult to find relevant evidence in the documents.

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in armour with his maritime fleet by Tintoretto, ca. 1570, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in a żupan and a fur coat by Tintoretto, ca. 1570, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) from the Theatrum Pictorium (103) by Lucas Vorsterman the Younger after Tintoretto, 1660, Princely Court Library in Waldeck.

Portrait of king Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) in a hat by Tintoretto, ca. 1572, Private collection.

Portrait of a Venetian senator holding a letter by Jacopo Tintoretto, third quarter of the 16th century, National Art Museum of Belarus in Minsk.

Portraits of children of Catherine Jagiellon by Sofonisba Anguissola and Titian

In a letter of 8 January 1570 from Warsaw (in the imperial archives in Vienna), the imperial envoy, Johannes Cyrus, abbot of the Premonstratensian monastery in Wrocław, informs Baron Trautson von Sprechenstein that the king of Sweden, John III, has sent an envoy to the Polish-Lithianian court with a portrait of his son, Prince Sigismund, and that he will probably want to promote him to the throne of Poland-Lithuania. He also adds that a year earlier the Swedish monarch had received many letters from Germany (most probably from Sophia Jagiellon, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg), Prussia and Poland urging him to look after his son's interests and succession in Poland-Lithuania (after "Dyarysze Sejmów koronnych 1548, 1553 i 1570 r. ..." by Józef Szujski, p. 134).

In March 1569, Sigismund Augustus agreed to meet with the emperor about the succession. Maximilian II even fixed the date of the congress in Wrocław for August 1569, but the king asked for a delay. In the end, despite the efforts of abbot Cyrus, the congress did not take place at all, because Sigismund Augustus deliberately delayed its date.

Prince Sigismund, as the only son of the reigning King of Sweden, was first and foremost his successor, as Sweden was a hereditary monarchy, so the success of all these endeavors should be attributed primarily to the wife of John III, Catherine Jagiellon. With her siblings Sigismund Augustus, Sophia and Anna, she was most likely willing to create a peaceful union of different countries of Europe under one king, thus expanding the idea of the Commonwealth (Res publica), established by the Union of Lublin in July 1569. A very innovative project in 16th century Europe, when many people thought it was noble to invade other nations, kill people, loot, destroy, subjugate others and thus create primitive empires. Unfortunately, such peaceful coexistence never had a reliable chance in Europe before the tragedy of World War II.

Catherine ruled Sweden similarly to her mother Bona in Poland-Lithuania, in a way described by Mikołaj Rej in his dialogue between Warwas and Lupus, thus many of her decisions are attributed or signed by her husband. In many cultures, it is said that the man is the head, but the woman is the neck and she can turn the head any way she wants. It was therefore she who had her son's portrait painted and sent with official legation to Poland-Lithuania. The symbolism of this portrait must have been obvious to everyone in the country, so it can be assumed that, like the other effigies of the Jagiellons, it was commissioned from a renowned foreign workshop and that the prince was dressed in the national costume.

No other document concerning this painting has been preserved, like probably the effigy itself. However, such portraits were frequently created in series for different notables. It cannot be the full-length portrait of the 2-year-old prince, attributed to the Dutch painter Johan Baptista van Uther (Wawel Royal Castle, inventory number 3221, from the collection of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków), because according to the inscription it was created two years earlier, in 1568, when the prince had actually 2 years (ÆTATIS SVÆ 2 / 1568). What's more the more German or Flemish costume of a boy with a ruff, would not please the supporters of the national cause.

In the Zamość Museum there is a small oval portrait of a boy with a feathered hat, which at first glance may resemble the works by the great Polish painter Olga Boznańska (1865-1940), who was inspired by the works of Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) and also painted children, or a 19th century pastiche of portraits of the Spanish infantes by Velázquez, such as effigies of Philip Prospero, Prince of Asturias (1657-1661), however, according to museum experts, the painting is by the Italian school and it was created at the beginning of the 17th century.

It was recently included in the exhibition in late 16th century interiors above another importation from Italy, an oriental-style chest of drawers inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory and silver, the so-called Certosina technique, from the beginning of the 18th century. Many of the oldest paintings in the museum, such as the Putto with a tambourine by circle of Titian or Lorenzo Lotto from the first half of the 16th century, a copy of the original attributed to Titian from around 1510 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna), comes from the collection of the Zamoyski estate in Warsaw. In addition to purchasing the Italian paintings, the Zamoyskis also received them as gifts, such as in 1599 when Papal Nuncio Claudio Rangoni, Bishop of Reggio, gave Chancellor Jan Zamoyski and his wife a copy of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Reggio and in 1603 the same Rangoni also sent a portrait of Pope Clement VIII to Zamoyski. The 1583 inventory mentions two religious paintings of Mary Magdalene and Christ carrying the cross (after "Kultura i ideologia Jana Zamoyskiego" by Jerzy Kowalczyk, p. 97-98), possibly disguise portraits by Italian school. The 1604 print with effigy of Jan Zamoyski (British Museum) was created by the Roman engraver Giacomo Lauro (Iacobus Laurus Romanus) most likely from a study drawing or a miniature sent from Poland.

The boy's crimson outfit and characteristic hat are typical of the national fashion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. We can find similar costume in many works of art depicting Polish-Lithuanian nobles like miniature with Polish horsemen from the Kriegsordnung (Military ordinance) of Albert of Prussia from 1555 (State Library of Berlin), a copy of which most likely belonged to his cousin and overlord Sigismund Augustus, or a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman (Polacho) from Habiti Antichi Et Moderni di tutto il Mondo ... by Cesare Vecellio, published in Venice in 1598 (Czartoryski Library in Kraków).

A similar crimson costume and hat can also be seen in the effigy of a Pole (Polognois) from Lucas de Heere's Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre, painted in the 1570s (Universiteitsbibliotheek Gent), images of Polish-Lithuanian nobles in Theatrum virtutum ac meritorum D. Stanislai Hosii by Tomasz Treter, painted between 1595-1600 (National Library of Poland) or in a much later fragment of the Commonwealth's map (Poloniae Nova et Acvrata Descriptio) by Jan Janssonius, published in Amsterdam in 1675 (National Library of Poland).

The broad, blurry brushstrokes of Zamość's painting are characteristic of a one painter living near the beginning of the 17th century - Titian. He was one of the first to leave such visible stains of paint created through dynamic short brushstrokes, thus providing inspiration for many later artists, Velázquez and Rembrandt among them. A large number of orders required him to be quick and to simplify the painting technique. It is particularly noticeable in his late paintings, made between 1565 and 1576 - Boy with dogs in a landscape (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), Saint Jerome (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum) and the Crowning with thorns (Alte Pinakothek). The portrait of a boy was painted on cedar wood, a precious wood particularly appreciated by cabinetmakers, imported to Venice from Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria in the 16th and 17th centuries. Titian and his workshop are usually associated with canvas as the primary material, however, some of the master's smaller exquisite paintings for royal patrons were done on more expensive wood or even marble, such as Mater Dolorosa with clasped hands from 1554 (oil on panel, 68 x 61 cm, Prado Museum, P000443) and Mater Dolorosa with her hands apart from 1555 (oil on marble, 68 x 53 cm, Prado Museum, P000444), both commissioned by Emperor Charles V, and also the Penitent Magdalene, probably painted for Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, between 1533 and 1535 (oil on panel, 85.8 x 69.5 cm, Pitti Palace, Palatina 67) or portrait of Pope Julius II, painted between 1545-1546, from the collection of Vittoria della Rovere (oil on panel, 100 x 82.5 cm, Pitti Palace, Palatina 79).

The boy in the painting may be three or four years old, as Prince Sigismund, born June 20, 1566, and the effigy resemble the earlier painting and the portrait of Sigismund's sister, Princess Elizabeth "Isabella" Vasa (1564-1566), at Wawel Castle (oil on canvas, 94.8 x 54.7 cm, 3934). 

The latter portrait is another intriguing aspect of the patronage of the Queen of Sweden. The style of the painting is obviously Italian and due to the inscription ISABEL in Spanish (medieval Spanish form of Elizabeth) it was initially believed to represent Catherine's older sister, Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559) and dated about 1525. This painting comes from the collection of the Sapieha family in Krasiczyn. The costume of the young girl with a small ruff is much later and the effigy resembles the statue of Princess Isabella as depicted on the sarcophagus of her tomb sculpted by Willem Boy, carved around 1570 (Strängnäs Cathedral). As the eldest daughter of Catherine, she received the name in honor of her famous great-grandmother Isabella of Aragon (1470-1524), Duchess of Milan and suo jure Duchess of Bari. The style of this effigy most closely resembles the paintings attributed to Sofonisba Anguissola, who was court painter and lady-in-waiting to Elisabeth of Valois (Isabel de Francia, Isabelle de Valois), Queen of Spain, from 1560 until queen's death in 1568, and lived at the Spanish court in Madrid. Among the closest analogous paintings are the self-portrait with Bernardino Campi from the 1550s (Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena), the double portrait of the two young girls from around 1570 (Royal Palace of Genoa) and the portrait of a young woman from around 1580 (Lázaro Galdiano Museum). To be painted by the court painter of the Queen of Spain was a great prestige in the 16th century, moreover on the maternal side Catherine was a descendant of some Aragonese monarchs. Very wealthy Jagiellons could easily afford such "extravagance".

The style of this painting both in composition and technique resembles the series of paintings of children of Emperor Maximilian II (1527-1576), son of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547), in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna - Archduchess Anna (1549-1580) (95 x 60 cm, 8148), Archduke Rudolf (1552-1612) (95 x 55.5 cm, 3369), Archduke Matthias (1557-1619) (95 x 56 cm, 3372), Archduke Maximilian (1558-1618) (95 x 55.5 cm, 3370), Archduke Albert (1559-1621) (95 x 55.5 cm, 3267) and Archduke Wenceslaus (1561-1578) (95 x 55.5 cm, 3371). They were probably commissioned in Spain, as their mother was the Spanish Infanta Maria (1528-1603), daughter of Emperor Charles V and Isabella of Portugal.
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Also, the dimensions and style of inscription of all these paintings are similar, so the portrait of Isabella Vasa could be one of many paintings depicting the children of Catherine Jagiellon by Anguissola or her workshop. It is also possible that the Wawel Castle painting does not depict the Vasa Princess at all, because some paintings from the Habsburg series are missing, including the effigy of Elizabeth of Austria (1554-1592), future queen of France.

The style of the princess's portrait can also be compared to Sofonisba's self-portrait at the easel (Łańcut Castle), which was probably an advertisement of her talent or a gift to a generous client sent to Poland.

Catherine most likely commissioned the effigies of her children through her envoys, such as Ture Bielke (1548-1600), who visited Szczecin in 1570 and later went to Venice or Count Olivero di Arco, who entered into relations with the royal court of Sweden after the autumn of 1568 and in the summer of 1570 presented himself in Venice as official ambassador of the Swedish monarch (after "Le Saint-Siège et la Suède ..." by Henry Biaudet, p. 208). In November 1569, Venetian Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Commendone, papal legate to Poland, wrote to Princess Anna asking if it was possible for Anna's sister, as the new queen of Sweden, to influence the country's politics, while Catherine corresponded at the same time with the pope (e.g. letter from Pius V to Catherine Jagiellon, March 8, 1570). Intermediaries at the Spanish court could have been the Polish ambassadors, Piotr Dunin-Wolski (1531-1590), representing Commonwealth's interests between 1561-1573, or Piotr Barzy, starost of Lviv, sent in 1566 to Madrid, where he died in 1569.

Also the mentioned painting of a boy with dogs in a landscape (oil on canvas, 99.5 x 117 cm, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), could be related to Poland-Lithuania. Because the artist used the same study drawing of a dog as in a portrait of a general in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel, painted between 1550 and 1552, it is thought to have been commissioned by the same client or his family. According to Iryna Lavrovskaya, the portrait of a general could be an effigy of Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill (Heritage, N. 2, 1993. pp. 82-84). The effigy of a boy embracing the dog who looks at a second dog suckling two puppies on the left recalls the story of abandoned Romulus and Remus (Capitoline Wolf), the founders of the city of Rome and the children of the god of war Mars and the priestess Rhea Silvia. Interestingly enough, the eldest son of Nicolaus "the Black", Nicolaus Christopher (1549-1616) is said to have received the nickname "the Orphan" when King Sigismund Augustus found the child left unattended in one of the rooms of the royal palace. After his studies in Strasbourg, in mid-1566, the young 17-year-old Radziwill went through Basel and Zurich to Italy. He stayed longer in Venice, Padua and Bologna, he also visited Florence, Rome and Naples and, as he himself wrote, "everything worth seeing". He returned to the country in 1569 (after "Polski słownik biograficzny", 1935, Volume 24, p. 301). 

​After the death of his mother in 1562 and his father in 1565, at this time in his life he could really feel like an orphan, so an allegorical painting reminiscent of his father would be a good souvenir from Venice.

​Portrait of Princess Elizabeth "Isabella" Vasa (1564-1566), daughter of Catherine Jagiellon or Elizabeth of Austria (1554-1592), granddaughter of Anna Jagellonica (1503-1547) by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1560s, Wawel Royal Castle. 

​Portrait of Prince Sigismund Vasa (1566-1632), son of Catherine Jagiellon, in Polish-Lithuanian costume by Titian, ca. 1570, Zamość Museum. 

​Boy with dogs in a landscape, most probably allegorical portrait of Nicolaus Christopher "the Orphan" Radziwill (1549-1616) by Titian, 1565-1576, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Portrait of Infanta Juana de Austria with court dwarf Ana de Polonia by Sofonisba Anguissola 

"We have a great joy with them (...) each day this gift becomes more pleasant to us, for which we also offer our grateful appreciation to Vostrae Serenitati" wrote emperor Charles V on May 11, 1544 to Queen Bona Sforza, who sent him two dwarfs raised at her court, Kornel and Katarzyna. 

Dwarfs were present at the Polish court since the Middle Ages, however it was during the reign of Sigismund I and Bona that their presence was significantly strengthened. As servants of Osiris and their association with other Egyptian gods of fertility and creation, like Bes, Hathor, Ptah, dwarfs were also symbols of fertility, revival and abundance in Ancient Roman World and one fresco from Pompeii near Naples is a very special example of it (after "The meaning of Dwarfs in Nilotic scenes" in: "Nile into Tiber: Egypt in the Roman World", Paul G.P. Meyboom and Miguel John Versluys, 2007, p. 205). To secure the endurance of the dynasty in the times when child mortality was very high, fertility was very important to Bona, granddaughter of Alfonso II, King of Naples. 

There were Spanish dwarfs at the Polish court, like Sebastian Guzman, who was paid 100 florins, a cubit of Lyonian cloth and damask and Polish monarchs sent their dwarfs to Spain, like Domingo de Polonia el Mico, who appears in the house of Don Carlos between 1559-1565. The presence of Polish dwarfs was also significant at the French court. In 1556 Sigismund Augustus sent to Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France two dwarfs, called grand Pollacre and le petit nain Pollacre and in 1579 a dwarf Majoski (or Majosky) was even studying at her cost. 

A lot of female dwarfs were at the court of the Jagiellons, like a certain Maryna, an old dwarf of Queen Bona, who was paid salary by king Stephen Bathory or Jagnieszka (Agnieszka), female dwarf of Princess Sophia Jagiellon, who was her secretary. Queen Barbara Radziwill, had at her court a dwarf Okula (or Okuliński) and she received two female dwarfs from the wife of voivode of Novogrudok.

After her mother left for her native Italy, when all her sisters were married and her brother was occupied with affairs of state and his mistresses, Anna Jagiellon spent time on embroidery, raising her foster children and dwarfs. 

A portrait showing a little girl hiding under protective arm of a woman by Sofonisba Anguissola in Boston (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, oil on canvas, 194 x 108.3 cm, P26w15), due to appearance of her ruff can be dated to the late 1560s or early 1570s. The woman is Infanta Doña Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria), widowed Princess of Portugal, sister of king Philip II of Spain, ruler of one half of the world and mother of king Sebastian of Portugal, ruler of the second half of the world (according to Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494), sister of Holy Roman Empress Maria of Austria, as well as Archduchess of Austria, princess of Burgundy, a friend of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), one of the most influential religious orders of the Catholic Reformation, and whose confessor was her cousin Francis Borgia, third Superior General of the Jesuits. She was the most influential and powerful woman in Europe. 

The portrait which is said to depict Catherine Stenbock (1535-1621), Queen of Sweden from the Stenbock Palace in Kolga (Kolk) in Estonia, now in private collection (oil on canvas, 63 x 50 cm, sold at Bukowskis in Stockholm, Sale 621, December 11, 2019, lot 414), is de facto a copy or a version of Juana de Austria's portrait by Alonso Sánchez Coello from 1557 (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, inv. GG 3127), most probably created by Sofonisba in about 1560. Kolga Palace was once owned by Swedish soldier Gustaf Otto Stenbock (1614-1685), who during the invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was promoted to field marshal. The painting, once sent to Sigismund Augustus or his sister Anna by Juana, was therefore taken from one of the royal residences during the Deluge (1655-1660) and this unknown lady was later identified as a Queen of Sweden from the Stenbock family. A somewhat similar effigy of Juana, purchased from Andrzej Ciechanowiecki in 1981, is in the Royal Castle in Warsaw (oil on canvas, 107 x 79 cm, inv. ZKW/103/ab). The possible author of the Warsaw painting is the Flemish painter Roland de Mois (Rolán de Moys, ca. 1520-1592), active in Aragon since 1559, or his studio.

The portrait in Boston is also very similar to the portrait in the Basque Museum in Bayonne by workshop of Sofonisba or Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (oil on canvas, 170 x 120 cm, inventory number G 2). It depicts Isabel de Francia (Elisabeth of Valois, 1545-1568), Queen of Spain, daughter of Catherine de' Medici and third wife of Philip II, with a little girl, which could be her French female dwarf Doña Luisa. It was a portrait of Queen Isabel that Sofonisba sent to the Pope Pius IV in 1561: "I heard from the most reverend Nuncio of your Holiness, that you desired a portrait, from my hands, of her Majesty the Queen, my mistress", according to Sofonisba's letter dated Madrid, September 16, 1561 and "We have received the portrait of the most serene Queen of Spain, our dearest daughter, that you have sent us" according to Pope's letter dated Rome, October 15, 1561.

The girl in Boston portrait is holding in her hand three roses. The association of the rose with love is too common to require elaboration, it was the flower of Venus, goddess of love in ancient Rome. Three flowers symbolize also Christian teological virtues, faith, hope and love, with love pointed as "the greatest of these" by Paul the Apostle (1 Corinthians 13). 

She is therefore a foreigner at the Spanish court and the painting is a message: I am safe, I have a powerful protector, do not worry about me, I love you, I remember about you and I miss you. It is a message to someone very important to the girl, but also important to Juana. We can assume with a high degree of probability that it is a message to the girl's foster mother Anna Jagiellon, who to strengthen her chances to the crown after death of her brother, assumed the unprecedented but politically important Spanish title of Infanta: Anna Infans Poloniae (Anna, Infanta of Poland, e.g her letter to cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz, from Łomża, 16 November 1572). 

In the 16th century Spanish portraiture even members of the same family were rarely depicted together. Suffocating court etiquette made exception only to dwarfs and court jesters, like in the portrait of infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia with a female dwarf Magdalena Ruiz by Alonso Sánchez Coello from about 1585 (Prado Museum) or in the portrait of pregnant youger sister of Anna of Austria (1573-1598), Queen of Poland - Margaret, Queen of Spain with a female dwarf Doña Sofía (her name might indicate Eastern origin) from about 1601 by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz or Bartolomé González (Kunsthistorisches Museum). 

Blood connections and family ties were very important to Spanish Habsburgs, Ana de Austria (Anna of Austria, 1549-1580), fourth wife of Philip II, was his niece (her mother Maria was his sister and her father was his cousin).

Spanish sources mentions that in 1578 died Doña Ana de Polonia, court dwarf of Queen Ana de Austria (after "Ana de Austria (1549-1580) y su coleccion artistica", in: "Portuguese Studies Review", Almudena Perez de Tudela, 2007, p. 199), most probably the same mentioned in 1578 in Cuentas de Mercaderes (Merchant Accounts), M. 4, granting her a skirt and other clothing. If this girl is the same with that in the portrait of Juana, and after death of Juana in 1573 she joned the court of a foreign queen who arrived to Spain in autumn of 1570, this lovely green-eyed girl was probably someone more than an agreeable court dwarf. 

Her name might indicate, apart from the country of her origin, also her family, like Doña Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria, Joan from the House of Austria, the Habsburgs), who was born in Madrid and never visited Austria, hence Doña Ana de Polonia (Anna of Poland, Anna from the House of Poland, the Jagiellons). So was this girl an illegitimate daughter of Sigismund Augustus, who after death of Barbara in 1551 was desperate to have a child or his sister Anna, a vigorous (gagliarda di cervello) spinster? Such a bold hypothesis cannot be excluded due to its nature that rather should be concealed and kept secret, and lack of sources (in Poland apart from paintings, also many archives were destroyed during wars). 

The preserved sources, especially from the last years of reign of Sigismund Augustus are controversial. Imperial envoy, Johannes Cyrus, Abbot of the Premonstratensian monastery in Wrocław, in a letter dated March 3, 1571 states that "The king would even marry a beggar, if she only gave him a son" and Świętosław Orzelski, Sejm deputy and Lutheran activist, in his diary that "in the same castle [Royal Castle in Warsaw], where Infanta Anna lived, Zuzanna was lying in one bed, Giżanka in the second, third at Mniszek's, the fourth in the room of the royal chamberlain Kniaźnik, fifth at Jaszowski's" about "the falcons" (Zuzanna Orłowska, Anna Zajączkowska and Barbara Giżanka among others), mistresses of the king. He also allegedly had illegitimate daughters with them. Maybe a research in Spanish archives will allow to confirm or exclude the hypothesis that Ana de Polonia was a daughter of Sigismund or of his sister Anna and was sent to distant Spain.
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The painting was purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1897 from the collection of Marchese Fabrizio Paolucci di Calboli in Forli. Its earlier history is unknown. It was most probably aquired in Poland by cardinal Camillo Paolucci, born in Forli, who was a papal nuncio in Poland between 1727-1738. Also earlier provenance is possible through cardinal Alessandro Riario Sforza, a distant relative of Anna from the branch of the family who were lords of Forli and Imola, who was named papal legate in Spain in 1580, just two years after death of Ana de Polonia, and who could acquire a copy of painting made for the Queen of Poland.

Before World War II, the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław owned a magnificent full-length portrait, identified as depicting Don Juan of Austria (1547–1578), the illegitimate son of Emperor Charles V and therefore attributed to Alonso Sánchez Coello (oil on canvas, 197 x 111 cm, inv. kat. 220, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 11114). The painting came from the collection of Barthold Suermondt (1818-1887), a German entrepreneur and banker who owned significant shares in the Warsaw Steelworks (Towarzystwo Warszawskiej Fabryki Stali). It was purchased in 1874 by the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin and donated to the Wrocław Museum in 1878. Its early history is unknown. Although it can be assumed that Suermondt acquired the painting in Belgium, the Netherlands or Germany, the Polish provenance cannot be ruled out. The style of this painting is very reminiscent of the works of Sofonisba, while the model resembles the effigies of King Philip II of Spain. This painting was most likely based on other effigies and idealized, hence the resemblance is not so apparent at first glance.

In the country where some were fascinated by the Spanish Empire, such as Krzysztof Warszewicki (1543-1603), as he expressed in his De Optimo Statu Libertatis Libri duo, published in Kraków in 1598 and especially in his "Speech on the Death of Philip II, Catholic King of Spain" (In mortem Philippi II Hispaniarvm regis catholici oratio), also published in the same year in Kraków, nobles travelled to the Iberian Peninsula and grain and other products were exported from Gdańsk, there were also undoubtedly many effigies of the King of Spain. Warszewicki dedicated this speech to George Radziwill, Bishop of Kraków, as a token of gratitude for having appointed him to the Kraków Chapter, and also because Radziwill had once been the Polish ambassador to Spain and had known the deceased king personally. After the title page of Warszewicki's speech the printing house of Andrzej Piotrkowczyk reproduced a portrait of King Philip II, most likely based on an original painting belonging to the author.

​Interestingly, the portrait of Philip II in Wrocław was similar in size (197 x 111 cm / 194 x 108.3 cm) and composition to the portrait of his sister, now in Boston. Thus, both portraits most likely came from the same series.

​Portrait of Infanta Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria) by Roland de Mois or workshop, after 1559, Royal Castle in Warsaw.

Portrait of Infanta Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria) from the Stenbock Palace by Sofonisba Anguissola or workshop, ca. 1560, Private collection.

Portrait of Queen Isabel de Francia (Elisabeth of Valois) with a female dwarf by Sofonisba Anguissola or workshop, ca. 1565-1568, Basque Museum in Bayonne.

Portrait of Infanta Juana de Austria (Joan of Austria) with female dwarf Ana de Polonia by Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1572, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

​Portrait of King Philip II of Spain (1527-1598) by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1570s, Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Stanisław Reszka by Adriaen Thomasz. Key

In 1569 Stanisław Reszka (Rescius), secretary of cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz went with him to Rome. During his stay there, he assisted the cardinal in his public activities in the Roman Curia and during the conclave in 1572. That year he was also an envoy in his name to the Viceroy of Naples, Cardinal Granvelle ("On the third day after the election of Pope Gregory XIII, I left with the most eminent Cardinal Granvelle for Naples", wrote Reszka in a letter), and the following year to King-elect Henry of Valois. He helped the cardinal with organization during his journey and stay in the Eternal City. He was also increasingly active in the cultural and literary field. Rescius assisted in the publication of the works of Cardinal Hozjusz (Paris 1562, Antwerp 1566 and 1571, Cologne 1584). Opera qvae hactenus extitervnt omnia ... was published in Antwerp by the publishing house of the widow and heir of Joannes Steelsius (Antverpiae : in aedibus viduae et haeredum Ioannis Stelsij), shortly after Hozjusz's return to Poland after the 1565-6 papal conclave (20 December - 7 January) and Opera omnia was published by the same publishing house in 1571, hence the work was prepared and directed from Rome. The full-length portrait of Cardinal Hozjusz, offered by Pope John Paul II in 1987 to the reconstructed Royal Castle in Warsaw (inventory number ZKW/2207/ab, previously in the Vatican Library), was painted in 1575 by Flemish painter Giulio (Julius) della Croce, called Giulio Fiammingo. Reszka himself published in Rome portraits with biographies of popes (1580), Roman emperors (1583), Cardinal Hozjusz (1588) and Polish kings (1591) (after "Vademecum malarstwa polskiego" by Stanisław Jordanowski, p. 44).

Stanisław, educated at the Lubrański Academy (Collegium Lubranscianum) in Poznań, in Frankfurt an der Oder as well as in Wittenberg and Leipzig, came from a bourgeois family. He was born in Buk in Greater Poland on September 14, 1544. He obtained his doctorate in Perugia and in 1559 he became the secretary of Bishop Stanisław Hozjusz. In 1565 he was ordained a deacon in Rome and in 1571 he became a canon of Warmia. Two years later, in 1573 he was appointed by King Henry of Valois as the royal secretary and in 1575 he was ordained priest by Hozjusz in the church of St. Clement in Rome. From 1592 he stayed in Naples as an envoy of the Commonwealth. One of Reszka's greatest achievements in Rome was the founding of the Polish College. He recommended many Poles and Prussians to Marcin Kromer, Prince-Bishop of Warmia, like Leonard Neuman, an Olsztyn resident, who was not admitted to the Collegium Germanicum in Rome (after "Działalność polonijna Stanisława Reszki ..." by Aleksander Rudziński, p. 70, 72).

As a diplomatic agent in Rome, distinguished by his artistic taste, Rescius also becomes an artistic agent of the monarchs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was an important supplier of works of art for Sigismund III Vasa, who purchased them in Naples, Rome and Venice, along with Tomasz Treter, Jan Andrzej Próchnicki, Bartłomiej Powsiński, Spanish and Italian envoys and magnates traveling abroad (after "Malarstwo europejskie w zbiorach polskich, 1300-1800" by Jan Białostocki, ‎Michał Walicki, p. 19). He also corresponded with Queen Anna Jagiellon, to whom he sent from Rome on January 19, 1584 "the Indian stone".

In the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna there is a portrait of a man with a reddish beard by Adriaen Thomasz. Key (oil in panel, 85 x 63 cm, inventory number GG 3679, signed top left with the monogram: AK). This painting is verifiable in the imperial collection Prague in 1685 and was transferred ​​to Vienna in 1876.

Key, a Calvinist painter active in Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands, painted in 1579 several versions of effigy of William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch revolt, however some portrait paintings of William's opponent Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba, are also attributed to him, in collaboration with Willem Key (in Palacio de Liria in Madrid and in Museum Prinsenhof in Delft), as well as portraits of Margaret of Parma (1522-1586), Catholic Regent of the Netherlands (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, GG 768 and Museum Prinsenhof in Delft).

The man with a reddish beard is holding gloves in his right hand and his black costume and pose resemble the portraits of Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517-1586), when bishop of Arras, especially the painting by Antwerp painter Antonis Mor in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, created in 1549 (GG 1035) or a similar portrait of future cardinal by Titian, created a year earlier (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 30-15). According to Latin inscription in upper part of the painting the man was 28 in 1572 (1572 / Æ T A. 28), exacly as Rescius, when he accompanied Cardinal Granvelle to Naples. The diplomat died there in 1600.

Portrait of Stanisław Reszka (1544-1600), aged 28 by Adriaen Thomasz. Key, 1572, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.