DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.33086#0019
over the world in the period of Poland's partitions or were
destroyed during the last war.
Connected with Stanisiaw Augustus is the picture gaiiery
at Dulwich near London. Upon the King's commission, his
agent, Consul Desenfans, assembled in the years 1790—92
some 380 paintings for the Warsaw gallery. When, due
to the partitions of Poiand, Stanisiaw Augustus could not
buy the collection, Desenfans sold a part of it and used
the rest to establish a gallery of paintings at Alleyn's
Coiiege in Duiwich. Shortly after, severai years prior to
the establishment of the National Gallery, the collection —
enlarged by additions — was opened as London's first pubiic
galiery.
During the Enlightenment period the number of coilectors
in Poland was very impressive. They mainly acquired paint-
ings, drawings and prints, by foreign and Polish artists, and
works of ancient art. Misceiianeous collections of the Ca-
binet-of-curiosities type, were rarely to be found. On the
other hand, there began to appear specialized natural his-
tory collections, even in the provinces, e.g., in the paiace
of Princess Jabionowska at Siemiatycze near Biaiystok. Of
the latter, Bernoulli wrote appreciatively in 1778, mention-
ing that, apart from the natural history collection, there
was one of Etruscan vases and urns and other atniquities.
Some of the magnates' coliections were assembled and kept
in Warsaw but many were set up at country residences, such
as the Rzewuski coiiection at Podhorce, the Sapieha at
Dereczyn, the Branicki at Biaiystok or the Szczqsny Potocki
coliection at Tulczyn. In their palaces at Nieborow and
Arkadia near Warsaw, Michal Radziwiii had coliected a con-
siderable gallery of paintings, and his wife one of ancient
statues (inciuding the famous head of Niobe, the best
among the preserved Roman copies of the lost Greek original
from the end of the 4th century B.C.). When, at the beginn-
ing of the 19th century, the galiery of paintings was moved
to the "Krolikarnia" ("The Warren") Palace near Warsaw,
the catalogue printed subsequently listed 573 items. Niebo-
row and Arkadia, housing the remaining collections of
ancient sculpture, the remnants of the gallery of painting,
and the interior decoration including 18th-century furniture
and works of decorative art, are now a branch of the Na-
tional Museum in Warsaw.
Among the richest collections were those of the Mniszech
family at Wisniowiec in Volhynia, partly removed to Paris
in 1851. They are said to have included unspecified paint-
ings by Holbein, van Dyck and Rembrandt, that were sold
at that time. When an auction sale of a further part of
the Mniszech collection was held in Paris in 1902, it in-
cluded, among others, "Madonna" by Perugino, three paint-
ings by Frans Hals, five paintings by Govaert Flinck, five
paintings by van Goyen, five portraits by Largiiliere, two
paintings by C. van Loo and "The Prayer" by Goya.
Another superb collection of paintings, sculptures, antiquities
and objects of decorative art, belonging to the Baroque
castie at Lancut, has survived to this day, though it was
greatly depleted in 1944. In the second half of the 18th
century, Marshal Lubomirski's wife, a friend of Queen Ma-
rie-Antoinette, added considerably to this collection. During
the French Revolution, aristocratic French friends of Prin-
16
destroyed during the last war.
Connected with Stanisiaw Augustus is the picture gaiiery
at Dulwich near London. Upon the King's commission, his
agent, Consul Desenfans, assembled in the years 1790—92
some 380 paintings for the Warsaw gallery. When, due
to the partitions of Poiand, Stanisiaw Augustus could not
buy the collection, Desenfans sold a part of it and used
the rest to establish a gallery of paintings at Alleyn's
Coiiege in Duiwich. Shortly after, severai years prior to
the establishment of the National Gallery, the collection —
enlarged by additions — was opened as London's first pubiic
galiery.
During the Enlightenment period the number of coilectors
in Poland was very impressive. They mainly acquired paint-
ings, drawings and prints, by foreign and Polish artists, and
works of ancient art. Misceiianeous collections of the Ca-
binet-of-curiosities type, were rarely to be found. On the
other hand, there began to appear specialized natural his-
tory collections, even in the provinces, e.g., in the paiace
of Princess Jabionowska at Siemiatycze near Biaiystok. Of
the latter, Bernoulli wrote appreciatively in 1778, mention-
ing that, apart from the natural history collection, there
was one of Etruscan vases and urns and other atniquities.
Some of the magnates' coliections were assembled and kept
in Warsaw but many were set up at country residences, such
as the Rzewuski coiiection at Podhorce, the Sapieha at
Dereczyn, the Branicki at Biaiystok or the Szczqsny Potocki
coliection at Tulczyn. In their palaces at Nieborow and
Arkadia near Warsaw, Michal Radziwiii had coliected a con-
siderable gallery of paintings, and his wife one of ancient
statues (inciuding the famous head of Niobe, the best
among the preserved Roman copies of the lost Greek original
from the end of the 4th century B.C.). When, at the beginn-
ing of the 19th century, the galiery of paintings was moved
to the "Krolikarnia" ("The Warren") Palace near Warsaw,
the catalogue printed subsequently listed 573 items. Niebo-
row and Arkadia, housing the remaining collections of
ancient sculpture, the remnants of the gallery of painting,
and the interior decoration including 18th-century furniture
and works of decorative art, are now a branch of the Na-
tional Museum in Warsaw.
Among the richest collections were those of the Mniszech
family at Wisniowiec in Volhynia, partly removed to Paris
in 1851. They are said to have included unspecified paint-
ings by Holbein, van Dyck and Rembrandt, that were sold
at that time. When an auction sale of a further part of
the Mniszech collection was held in Paris in 1902, it in-
cluded, among others, "Madonna" by Perugino, three paint-
ings by Frans Hals, five paintings by Govaert Flinck, five
paintings by van Goyen, five portraits by Largiiliere, two
paintings by C. van Loo and "The Prayer" by Goya.
Another superb collection of paintings, sculptures, antiquities
and objects of decorative art, belonging to the Baroque
castie at Lancut, has survived to this day, though it was
greatly depleted in 1944. In the second half of the 18th
century, Marshal Lubomirski's wife, a friend of Queen Ma-
rie-Antoinette, added considerably to this collection. During
the French Revolution, aristocratic French friends of Prin-
16