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DOI Artikel:Kozak, Anna: Unknown portrait by Jan de Herdt
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18862#0053
Anna Kozak
UNKNOWN PORTRAIT BY JAN DE HERDT
The objective of the present paper is an attempt to establish the authorship of The Portrait
of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (fig. I)1, presented at the exhibition of The Polish Portrait
of the ITth and 18th Century and reproduced in the catalogue to the exhibition, written by
Janina Ruszczycówna. The author of the catalogue refers to the portrait as to a work of an
unknown painter, active in the second half of the 17th century. According to her, the portrait
was painted after 16502.
The portrayed man is presented standing, en trois quarts, against a background of a crimson
curtain. His armour is of a Western—European type, he wears a scimitar at his side and elk
gloves on his hands. His right hand rests upon a smali table, and in his left hand he carries
anornamented marshal's baton with the initials „ST" appearing twice on it. The representation
is complemented by a plumed helmot with an open visor, placed in the background, on the
table. The colour scheme is dominated by various shades of gold, brown, and red, emphasizing
the representational character of the portrait which in its principal elements (the posturę of
the portrayed man, his being presented in an armour, and the presence of a pinned-up curtain)
draws upon the formal portrait of Western—European courts, and especially on the version
which was particularly popular at the Imperial court.
The apparently conventional representation is noteworthy for the exquisite psyehological
description of the sitter: his robust face, folded with wrinkles, his thinning brow, bushy whiskers,
and the penetrating gaze of his puffy eyes, all these elements indicate a restless naturę, fuli
of internal contradictions.
Extremely valuable clues for the estabilishment of the author of this interesting portrait
are contained in the etching done after it. The print comes from the book Historia di Leopoldo
Cesare by Gualdo Priorato, a famous Italian historiographer. The book was published in Vienna
between 1670 and 1674 (fig. 2)\ It is a reversal of the portrait, the figurę of the portrayed
man has been cut down to the size of a bust and the background is neutral. The whole is contai-
ned within an oval frame and provided with an inscription. It says: GIORGIO SEBASTIANO
LVBOMIRZKI, Conte di Wiśnicz, e Iaroslau/Principe del Sacro Romano Imperio Gran Mares-
ciałloj del Regno di Polonia Generale di Campo Generale delia jminor Polonia, Gouernatore di
Craccouia Chmielnicz) Nizqn, Olstąn, Pereus lauia e Casimiriaj. At the bottom on the left there
is the designer's signature (I: D :Herdt del :), on the right, the engraver's signature (F :v: Steen
S.C.M. Sc:fec:).
1. Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, division: the Royal Castle, Inv. no. 6915 Tc/76, oil on canvas, 102x87; purchased
in London in 1976.
2. Portret Polski XVII—XVIII wieku. Catalogue of the exhibition held at the National Museum in Warsaw, ApriI -
June 1977, Warsaw, 1977, p. 40, No. 44, Fig. 16.
3. Copperengraving, 262x 180, in: Gualdo Priorato, Historia di Leopoldo Cesare, 1, Vienna, 1670, in the copy at the National
Library in Warsaw. W. 3874 reproduced after p. 410. A few copies survived at the National Museum in Warsaw (Inv.
no. Gr. pol. 3461,M.N. 170999, 3580 R). It probably served as a model for the engraving representing Lubomirski in
L. Crasso's book, Elogii de Capitani illustri, Yenezia, 1683.
45
UNKNOWN PORTRAIT BY JAN DE HERDT
The objective of the present paper is an attempt to establish the authorship of The Portrait
of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski (fig. I)1, presented at the exhibition of The Polish Portrait
of the ITth and 18th Century and reproduced in the catalogue to the exhibition, written by
Janina Ruszczycówna. The author of the catalogue refers to the portrait as to a work of an
unknown painter, active in the second half of the 17th century. According to her, the portrait
was painted after 16502.
The portrayed man is presented standing, en trois quarts, against a background of a crimson
curtain. His armour is of a Western—European type, he wears a scimitar at his side and elk
gloves on his hands. His right hand rests upon a smali table, and in his left hand he carries
anornamented marshal's baton with the initials „ST" appearing twice on it. The representation
is complemented by a plumed helmot with an open visor, placed in the background, on the
table. The colour scheme is dominated by various shades of gold, brown, and red, emphasizing
the representational character of the portrait which in its principal elements (the posturę of
the portrayed man, his being presented in an armour, and the presence of a pinned-up curtain)
draws upon the formal portrait of Western—European courts, and especially on the version
which was particularly popular at the Imperial court.
The apparently conventional representation is noteworthy for the exquisite psyehological
description of the sitter: his robust face, folded with wrinkles, his thinning brow, bushy whiskers,
and the penetrating gaze of his puffy eyes, all these elements indicate a restless naturę, fuli
of internal contradictions.
Extremely valuable clues for the estabilishment of the author of this interesting portrait
are contained in the etching done after it. The print comes from the book Historia di Leopoldo
Cesare by Gualdo Priorato, a famous Italian historiographer. The book was published in Vienna
between 1670 and 1674 (fig. 2)\ It is a reversal of the portrait, the figurę of the portrayed
man has been cut down to the size of a bust and the background is neutral. The whole is contai-
ned within an oval frame and provided with an inscription. It says: GIORGIO SEBASTIANO
LVBOMIRZKI, Conte di Wiśnicz, e Iaroslau/Principe del Sacro Romano Imperio Gran Mares-
ciałloj del Regno di Polonia Generale di Campo Generale delia jminor Polonia, Gouernatore di
Craccouia Chmielnicz) Nizqn, Olstąn, Pereus lauia e Casimiriaj. At the bottom on the left there
is the designer's signature (I: D :Herdt del :), on the right, the engraver's signature (F :v: Steen
S.C.M. Sc:fec:).
1. Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, division: the Royal Castle, Inv. no. 6915 Tc/76, oil on canvas, 102x87; purchased
in London in 1976.
2. Portret Polski XVII—XVIII wieku. Catalogue of the exhibition held at the National Museum in Warsaw, ApriI -
June 1977, Warsaw, 1977, p. 40, No. 44, Fig. 16.
3. Copperengraving, 262x 180, in: Gualdo Priorato, Historia di Leopoldo Cesare, 1, Vienna, 1670, in the copy at the National
Library in Warsaw. W. 3874 reproduced after p. 410. A few copies survived at the National Museum in Warsaw (Inv.
no. Gr. pol. 3461,M.N. 170999, 3580 R). It probably served as a model for the engraving representing Lubomirski in
L. Crasso's book, Elogii de Capitani illustri, Yenezia, 1683.
45