DOI Artikel:
Krzyżagórska-Pisarek, Katarzyna: Two portraits of the prince Ladislas-Sigismund Vasa from the Collections in Wawel Castle re-examined
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18668#0107
TWO PORTRAITS OF THE PRINCE LADISLAS-SIGISMUND VASA FROM THE COLLECTIONS IN WAWEL.
101
3. Circle of Peter Paul Rubens, Ladislas-Sigismund, Prince of Poland on Horseback, oil on canvas, after 1624,
Cracow, Wawel Castle, State Collection of Art
1628, with the above-mentioned portraits he painted of the Vasas for Infanta Isabella54. We do not know
if these works were commissioned by the Infanta, or were gifts from the Polish court. Soutman's stay in
Poland might have been prompted by a meeting with Prince Ladislas during his Grand Tour in Europe.
In fact, as many as seven portraits of the Polish Vasas hung on the walls of the Coudenberg Palace
in Brussels55. In the inventory of the Palace collection drawn up on 14 March 1643 by Juan de Benero56,
there were seven portraits connected with the Polish Royal family: two life-size portraits of Sigismund III
and his wife Constance of Austria, in pontifical clothes (two such portraits are now at the Alte Pinakothek
in Munich; 220.5 x 131.8 cm and 219 x 132.7 cm, considered as copies taken out of Poland in 1642
by the daughter of the King Sigismund III Anna Catherine as her dowry), probably painted by Soutman
(although no name of the artist was specified); a portrait of the Prince of Poland in Polish clothes, iden-
tified by Szmydki as the Royal Prince as the Conquering Ruler at the Battle of Chocim by Soutman
(a copy/replica or perhaps a much over cleaned original is currently in Wilanów); a portrait of the Prince
Ladislas knee-length wearing a hat, as n. 46, from the collection of Infanta Isabella Clara, with no name
of the artist specified, but in the later 1659 inventory it was decribed as by Rubens; two more portraits
of the King and Queen of Poland, dressed in Spanish clothes, according to Szmydki, probably by Frans
Luyx from Vienna; and an anonymous portrait of the Polish King dressed in red.
Let us quote the complète Coudenberg Palace inventory 1643 entry for the knee-length portrait
which interests us here: "Galeria: 18. Una retrato del Principe de Polonia Wladislaus, de algo mao de
media cuerpo, vestido de negro mangas eon ora, valona sombrero, la fałda levantada, y en ella un maco
de martinets eon una joya de diamantes, y una perla pendiente, espada dorata, de seys palmos de alto,
Szmydki, Artystyczno-dyplomatyczne kontakty..., pp. 118-120.
Szmydki, Kontakty..., p. 131; also Chrościcki, Rubens w Polsce..., Aneks 3, pp. 214-215.
Szmydki, Artystyczno-dyplomatyczne kontakty..., pp. 121-139.
101
3. Circle of Peter Paul Rubens, Ladislas-Sigismund, Prince of Poland on Horseback, oil on canvas, after 1624,
Cracow, Wawel Castle, State Collection of Art
1628, with the above-mentioned portraits he painted of the Vasas for Infanta Isabella54. We do not know
if these works were commissioned by the Infanta, or were gifts from the Polish court. Soutman's stay in
Poland might have been prompted by a meeting with Prince Ladislas during his Grand Tour in Europe.
In fact, as many as seven portraits of the Polish Vasas hung on the walls of the Coudenberg Palace
in Brussels55. In the inventory of the Palace collection drawn up on 14 March 1643 by Juan de Benero56,
there were seven portraits connected with the Polish Royal family: two life-size portraits of Sigismund III
and his wife Constance of Austria, in pontifical clothes (two such portraits are now at the Alte Pinakothek
in Munich; 220.5 x 131.8 cm and 219 x 132.7 cm, considered as copies taken out of Poland in 1642
by the daughter of the King Sigismund III Anna Catherine as her dowry), probably painted by Soutman
(although no name of the artist was specified); a portrait of the Prince of Poland in Polish clothes, iden-
tified by Szmydki as the Royal Prince as the Conquering Ruler at the Battle of Chocim by Soutman
(a copy/replica or perhaps a much over cleaned original is currently in Wilanów); a portrait of the Prince
Ladislas knee-length wearing a hat, as n. 46, from the collection of Infanta Isabella Clara, with no name
of the artist specified, but in the later 1659 inventory it was decribed as by Rubens; two more portraits
of the King and Queen of Poland, dressed in Spanish clothes, according to Szmydki, probably by Frans
Luyx from Vienna; and an anonymous portrait of the Polish King dressed in red.
Let us quote the complète Coudenberg Palace inventory 1643 entry for the knee-length portrait
which interests us here: "Galeria: 18. Una retrato del Principe de Polonia Wladislaus, de algo mao de
media cuerpo, vestido de negro mangas eon ora, valona sombrero, la fałda levantada, y en ella un maco
de martinets eon una joya de diamantes, y una perla pendiente, espada dorata, de seys palmos de alto,
Szmydki, Artystyczno-dyplomatyczne kontakty..., pp. 118-120.
Szmydki, Kontakty..., p. 131; also Chrościcki, Rubens w Polsce..., Aneks 3, pp. 214-215.
Szmydki, Artystyczno-dyplomatyczne kontakty..., pp. 121-139.