DOI Artikel:
Prószyńska, Zuzanna: "Fidem fati - virtute sequemur": The portrait of Stanislaus Augustus with an hourglass
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18942#0004
It shows the King (Fig. 1), to quote Zygmunt Batowski "in a pale blue velvet coat, lined with
grey squirel fur, in a lace-trimmed shirt seen from beneath the coat, seated at table, slightly bent
over the papers on which his left hand rests; his head is turned to the right, and his gaze fixed on
astormy landscapeseen through the window. Astreak of light oozesfrom behind the clouds. The
King's right hand covers a sand-giass inside a chevroned crown. An inkpot with a pen immersed
in it on a tray indicate that he has interrupted his work. In the middle ground, behind the King's
head, the outline of a globe is seen. A black wali with a red curtain constitute the background.
The colour scheme is blurred, pale, and saturated with golden-hued light; the texture is fine and
soft."6 The inscription in Latin on the edge of the table, " QUAESIVIT COELO LUCEM. AENEID.
IV/STANISLAUS. AUGUSTUS REX POL MDUX LITH MDCCLXXXXIIV, is complemented
with the signature Marcello Bacciarelli pinx. Me Aprilis.
It is significant that Stanislaus Augustus invariably described this particuiar image as "mon
portrait allegorique", thereby stressing its semantic value. He was successf ul in his endeavours to
have the portrait reproduced in large numbers, having in mind not only people dear to him and
familiar with the intricacies of the drama surrounding the royal person, but also futurę
generations. It was to such people that he dedicated his portrait, convinced that through it they
would learn the truth of a man who had to give up constitutional reform for the sole reason of
preserving his state from annihilation. Sadly enough, the camouflage was necessary considering
the circumstances in which the work was executed: Poland's defeat in the 1 792 war, the Russian
Army's presence in the Polish Commonwealth, the inglorious rule of the signatories of the
Targowica Confederation, but first and foremost the signing of the Russo-Prussian partition
convention in St. Petersburg on 23 January, 1793 followed by the Prussians' occupation of
Wielkopolska one day later.7 In effect, the King was on the edge of a political abyss,
condemnation and humiliation. Accused of inefficiency by the foremost parliamentarians,
headed by Hugo Kołłątaj, loathed by the corrupt magnates of the Targowica Confederation, and
ignored by the Russian ambassador, Yakov lvanovich Bulgakov, who followed the King's every
movement, Stanislaus Augustus had found himself in a truły exceptional position.8
In the light of this predicament, what is the significance of the King's image; what message
does it convey?The question has long preoccupied researchers, e.g. thestudies of Wincenty Łoś9
Raymond Foumier-Sarloveze,10 Zygmunt Batowski," and Alina Chyczewska.12 The scholars
relate the portrait to the actual historie moment and perceive the King's attitude in terms of
theatrical pathos evoked by a dramatis persona who seeks to interpret the Latin verse of Virgil's
Aeneidwith his own self, and tracę poetic values in the throughly symbolic motifs (the hourglass
inside the crown, the globe, and the storm). It has to be admitted that the earliest interpretative
attempts failed to penetrate the King's message. As pointed out above, Stanislaus Augustus
himself very clearly defined the actual significance of his portrait, which was only recognised as
late as 1962 by the organizers of an exhibition entitled Warsaw Art who observed in the
catalogue that "What ought to be decoded is also the symbolic content of the painting,
underlined by thequotation from Book IV of Virgil's/Aene/d(also oceurring in replicasand copies
in altered arrangements of the world changing, to some extent, the meaning of the quotation),
6. Z. Batowski, op. cit., pp. 19, f.
7. Cf. R.H. Lord, The Second Partition of Poland. A Study in Diplomatic History, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.,
1915.
8. The King's position at that time was excellently characterised by E. Rostworowski, Ostatni Król Rzeczypospolitej. Geneza
i upadek Konstytucji 3 Maja ( The Last King of Poland. Hise and the Fali of the Constitution of 3 May). Warszawa, 1966.
9. W. Łoś, op. cit, pp. 15, f.
10. [R.] Fournier-Sarloveze, Les peintres de Stanislas-Auguste 11 Roi de Pologne. Bacciarelli, Antoine Graff..., Paris, 1 907, p. 18.
11. Z. Batowski, op. cit., pp. 1 9-32.
12. A. Chyczewska, Marcello Bacciarelli pierwszy malarz..., op. cit. pp. 230, f.; id. Marceli Bacciarelli. Zycie-twórczość-dziela
{Marcello Bacciarelli. Life-Art-Works), National Museum of Poznań, National Museum of Warsaw, catalogue, II, Poznań,
1970, item 184; id. Marcello Bacciarelli 1731-1818, Wroclaw-Warszawa-Kraków-Gdańsk, 1973, p. 103.
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grey squirel fur, in a lace-trimmed shirt seen from beneath the coat, seated at table, slightly bent
over the papers on which his left hand rests; his head is turned to the right, and his gaze fixed on
astormy landscapeseen through the window. Astreak of light oozesfrom behind the clouds. The
King's right hand covers a sand-giass inside a chevroned crown. An inkpot with a pen immersed
in it on a tray indicate that he has interrupted his work. In the middle ground, behind the King's
head, the outline of a globe is seen. A black wali with a red curtain constitute the background.
The colour scheme is blurred, pale, and saturated with golden-hued light; the texture is fine and
soft."6 The inscription in Latin on the edge of the table, " QUAESIVIT COELO LUCEM. AENEID.
IV/STANISLAUS. AUGUSTUS REX POL MDUX LITH MDCCLXXXXIIV, is complemented
with the signature Marcello Bacciarelli pinx. Me Aprilis.
It is significant that Stanislaus Augustus invariably described this particuiar image as "mon
portrait allegorique", thereby stressing its semantic value. He was successf ul in his endeavours to
have the portrait reproduced in large numbers, having in mind not only people dear to him and
familiar with the intricacies of the drama surrounding the royal person, but also futurę
generations. It was to such people that he dedicated his portrait, convinced that through it they
would learn the truth of a man who had to give up constitutional reform for the sole reason of
preserving his state from annihilation. Sadly enough, the camouflage was necessary considering
the circumstances in which the work was executed: Poland's defeat in the 1 792 war, the Russian
Army's presence in the Polish Commonwealth, the inglorious rule of the signatories of the
Targowica Confederation, but first and foremost the signing of the Russo-Prussian partition
convention in St. Petersburg on 23 January, 1793 followed by the Prussians' occupation of
Wielkopolska one day later.7 In effect, the King was on the edge of a political abyss,
condemnation and humiliation. Accused of inefficiency by the foremost parliamentarians,
headed by Hugo Kołłątaj, loathed by the corrupt magnates of the Targowica Confederation, and
ignored by the Russian ambassador, Yakov lvanovich Bulgakov, who followed the King's every
movement, Stanislaus Augustus had found himself in a truły exceptional position.8
In the light of this predicament, what is the significance of the King's image; what message
does it convey?The question has long preoccupied researchers, e.g. thestudies of Wincenty Łoś9
Raymond Foumier-Sarloveze,10 Zygmunt Batowski," and Alina Chyczewska.12 The scholars
relate the portrait to the actual historie moment and perceive the King's attitude in terms of
theatrical pathos evoked by a dramatis persona who seeks to interpret the Latin verse of Virgil's
Aeneidwith his own self, and tracę poetic values in the throughly symbolic motifs (the hourglass
inside the crown, the globe, and the storm). It has to be admitted that the earliest interpretative
attempts failed to penetrate the King's message. As pointed out above, Stanislaus Augustus
himself very clearly defined the actual significance of his portrait, which was only recognised as
late as 1962 by the organizers of an exhibition entitled Warsaw Art who observed in the
catalogue that "What ought to be decoded is also the symbolic content of the painting,
underlined by thequotation from Book IV of Virgil's/Aene/d(also oceurring in replicasand copies
in altered arrangements of the world changing, to some extent, the meaning of the quotation),
6. Z. Batowski, op. cit., pp. 19, f.
7. Cf. R.H. Lord, The Second Partition of Poland. A Study in Diplomatic History, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.,
1915.
8. The King's position at that time was excellently characterised by E. Rostworowski, Ostatni Król Rzeczypospolitej. Geneza
i upadek Konstytucji 3 Maja ( The Last King of Poland. Hise and the Fali of the Constitution of 3 May). Warszawa, 1966.
9. W. Łoś, op. cit, pp. 15, f.
10. [R.] Fournier-Sarloveze, Les peintres de Stanislas-Auguste 11 Roi de Pologne. Bacciarelli, Antoine Graff..., Paris, 1 907, p. 18.
11. Z. Batowski, op. cit., pp. 1 9-32.
12. A. Chyczewska, Marcello Bacciarelli pierwszy malarz..., op. cit. pp. 230, f.; id. Marceli Bacciarelli. Zycie-twórczość-dziela
{Marcello Bacciarelli. Life-Art-Works), National Museum of Poznań, National Museum of Warsaw, catalogue, II, Poznań,
1970, item 184; id. Marcello Bacciarelli 1731-1818, Wroclaw-Warszawa-Kraków-Gdańsk, 1973, p. 103.
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