DOI issue:
Nr. 4
DOI article:Białostocki, Jan: Esilio Privato: King Stanisław Leszczyński painted by Oudry
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18817#0113
3. Exil, from Cesare Ripa, Iconologic, ou la science des emblemes, I, Amsterdam, 1698 (Photograph:
Ikonologiscli Instjtuut, Utrecht)
Due esilij sono, un publico, e 1'altro privato, U publico e quando l'huomo b per colpa, b per so-
spetto e bandito dal Principe, b dalia Republica, et condannato a vivere fuor di palria perpetuo
b a tempo.
II privato e ąuando l'huomo volontariamente, b per ąualche accidente si elegge di vivere, e morire
fuor di patria, senza esserne cacciato, che cib significa Uhabito del pellegrino, et U bordone.
Et per U publico lo dinota ilfalcone eon i getti alli piedi."™
What the portrait represents, therefore, is an image of Stanisław Leszczyński as an allegory
of the 'private exile'. He is conceived as a man who is wandering over the worki not because
he was, or was suspected of being, guilty ('public exile', according to Ripa), but because he
himself decided to live outside his country as a conseeraence of accident or destiny. The right
hand held across the body with the palm upwards is a gesture demonstrative of self-evident
truth — 'perspicuitatem illustrat', to borrow a term from Bulwer's Chirology of 1644.17 This
gesture proclaims an indisputable fact: the king is in exile by his own will and as a result of
16. Ripa, 1611 edition, loc. cii.
17. John Bulwer, Chirologia, or lite Naturall Language of the Hand, London, 1644. His illustrations are also reproduced in
B. L. Joseph, Elizabetlian Acting, 2nd ed., London, 1964. Bulwer's language of gestures was used for the interpretation
of Rembrandtłs Staalmccsters by W. Gs. IlcUinga in "De Bewogenheid der Slaalmcestcrs,"Nederiands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek,
VIII, 1957, pp. 180 — 81, and by Hans van de Waal, wlio reproduces the gesture described as 'perspicuitatem illustrat'
in "The Mood of the Staalmeesters. A Note on Mr. de Tolnay's Interpretation," Oud Holland, LXXIII, 1958, p. 88.
99
Ikonologiscli Instjtuut, Utrecht)
Due esilij sono, un publico, e 1'altro privato, U publico e quando l'huomo b per colpa, b per so-
spetto e bandito dal Principe, b dalia Republica, et condannato a vivere fuor di palria perpetuo
b a tempo.
II privato e ąuando l'huomo volontariamente, b per ąualche accidente si elegge di vivere, e morire
fuor di patria, senza esserne cacciato, che cib significa Uhabito del pellegrino, et U bordone.
Et per U publico lo dinota ilfalcone eon i getti alli piedi."™
What the portrait represents, therefore, is an image of Stanisław Leszczyński as an allegory
of the 'private exile'. He is conceived as a man who is wandering over the worki not because
he was, or was suspected of being, guilty ('public exile', according to Ripa), but because he
himself decided to live outside his country as a conseeraence of accident or destiny. The right
hand held across the body with the palm upwards is a gesture demonstrative of self-evident
truth — 'perspicuitatem illustrat', to borrow a term from Bulwer's Chirology of 1644.17 This
gesture proclaims an indisputable fact: the king is in exile by his own will and as a result of
16. Ripa, 1611 edition, loc. cii.
17. John Bulwer, Chirologia, or lite Naturall Language of the Hand, London, 1644. His illustrations are also reproduced in
B. L. Joseph, Elizabetlian Acting, 2nd ed., London, 1964. Bulwer's language of gestures was used for the interpretation
of Rembrandtłs Staalmccsters by W. Gs. IlcUinga in "De Bewogenheid der Slaalmcestcrs,"Nederiands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek,
VIII, 1957, pp. 180 — 81, and by Hans van de Waal, wlio reproduces the gesture described as 'perspicuitatem illustrat'
in "The Mood of the Staalmeesters. A Note on Mr. de Tolnay's Interpretation," Oud Holland, LXXIII, 1958, p. 88.
99