DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23631#0038
with trimmed crane feathers to which a horsetail in a red net is attached below. In 17th and 18th century
Poland the bunchuk served as the hetman's and deputy hetmans insignia of office and in itself was
a striking work of craftsmanship. The bunchuk bearer is followed by Deputy Hetman Stanislaw Potocki
riding a grey Arab stallion. He is attired in a crimson kontush (sec p. 36) with the ribbon ol the Order of the
White Eagle from the left shoulder to the right side. On his head he has a 'confederate' circular cap
with the white top and sable rim. In his right hand he holds a golden bulava mace, a hetman s insignia
of office. His steed, covered with a white satin caparison trimmed with a gold fringe, which reaches
down to the fetlocks, has trappings lined with gold and a panache of black ostrich feathers on its head.
Four janissary officers accompany the deputy hetman on foot as his personal bodyguard. Behind Potocki
ride senior army officers and dignitaries dressed in Western style wearing broad-brimmed plumed hats
and sleeved vests, among them His Majesty Augustus II and Prince August Czartoryski.
The second painting shows the king driving round the field in a long narrow cart with leather top,
used for buck hunting. The cart, drawn by four magnificent horses in breast-harness, is driven by
a coachman wearing the livery of the Saxon Court. His Majesty, in the uniform of the Saxon Grenadiers,
and wearing the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of the White Eagle, sits
leaning on his cane. On either side of the cart there arc running footmen in livery of long, sapphire-blue
silver-embroidered jackets, yellow knee-length breeches and white stockings, and grenadier caps, each
of them carrying "a silver-topped staff. The cavalcade is preceded by the royal bunchuk bearer in hussar's
armour, a coat of mail, a classical type helmet adorned with egret plumes, a leopard skin hung over the
armour, crimsom breeches and yellow boots with the spurs permanently attached. The staff of the bunchuk
is painted in blue and white stripes and its horsetail is white topped by a gold knob, with a wing of black
ostrich feathers. The bunchuk bearer's charger has a long red gold-embroidered caparison. Pomp and
splendour are visible at every step of this grand military parade: state armorial bearings are embroidered
on the walls of red tents; a specially built pedestal holds the colours of all regiments participating in the
manoeuvres, as well as hussar helmets and armour. The colour scheme demonstrates the painter's excellent
taste, and emblems, heraldic devices and armorial bearings are rendered with great attention to detail.
The Election of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, the last king of Poland, painted in two versions
by Bernardo Bellotto called Canaletto (one version at present in the Royal Castle in Warsaw and the other
in the National Museum in Poznan) may be called the swan-song of Sarmatian splendour. Canaletto was
not present at the election; he painted the two compositions eleven years later, but he had at his disposal
sufficiently trustworthy material to make a work of authentic documentary vaule. The centre of the canvas
is occupied by a timber lodge where the Senate met, and next to it there arc tents for foreign envoys.
Around the lodge stretched the so-called Knights' Circle where the gentry of all voivodships assembled
under their voivodship banners. Among the groups of electors depicted in the foreground, some are
portrayed in detail, their features, attire, weapons and attributes helping to relate them to real persons.
Equally faithfully the painter rendered horses and saddling, and other trappings appropriate for events
of such great political importance. The two courtiers seen shaking hands on the left-hand side of the painting
represent probably Stanislaw August Wilczewski, later to become a chamberlain, and his friend Brzezinski.
Nearby on horseback we see Colonel Arnold Anastazy Byszewski in a confederate' cap, and Michal
Poniatowski, currently Abbot of Czerwinsk and brother of the king-elect, sitting below in his coach.
Antoni Ostrowski, Bishop of Kuyavy, is shown near the centre of the painting, with, a little further in
the background, the Primate of Poland Wladyslaw Lubienski making a tour of the election field in an
open carriage drawn by eight horses. To the right, Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, on horseback,
is seen leading a detachment of troops. In the middle foreground, we can distinguish Fiszer, the king's
aide-de-camp. A little further an equerry is holding the magnificently apparelled charger of the king-elect.
In the bottom right-hand side of the painting, under the awning of a tent, Bernardo Bellotto depicted
himself with his three daughters, and Antoni Crutta, interpreter of the Royal Chancery. In the second
version of the event, preserved in the Warsaw Royal Castle, several figures which are not shown in the
first version have been added, probably at the request of the persons concerned. For example there are
the Master of Ceremonies at the Primate's court, Tadeusz Lipski, Castellan of Leczyca, and in the middle
foreground, two important personalities on horseback, Jozef Podoski, Voivode of Plock, handing the votes
of his voivodship to Jozef Sosnowski, Speaker of the Electoral Seym. Both versions show a multi-
tude of anonymous figures: members of the petty gentry, court janissaries, lackeys, valets, footmen, grooms,
coachmen, equerries, runners and couriers. Some of them are attired in Western style, the majority however
Poland the bunchuk served as the hetman's and deputy hetmans insignia of office and in itself was
a striking work of craftsmanship. The bunchuk bearer is followed by Deputy Hetman Stanislaw Potocki
riding a grey Arab stallion. He is attired in a crimson kontush (sec p. 36) with the ribbon ol the Order of the
White Eagle from the left shoulder to the right side. On his head he has a 'confederate' circular cap
with the white top and sable rim. In his right hand he holds a golden bulava mace, a hetman s insignia
of office. His steed, covered with a white satin caparison trimmed with a gold fringe, which reaches
down to the fetlocks, has trappings lined with gold and a panache of black ostrich feathers on its head.
Four janissary officers accompany the deputy hetman on foot as his personal bodyguard. Behind Potocki
ride senior army officers and dignitaries dressed in Western style wearing broad-brimmed plumed hats
and sleeved vests, among them His Majesty Augustus II and Prince August Czartoryski.
The second painting shows the king driving round the field in a long narrow cart with leather top,
used for buck hunting. The cart, drawn by four magnificent horses in breast-harness, is driven by
a coachman wearing the livery of the Saxon Court. His Majesty, in the uniform of the Saxon Grenadiers,
and wearing the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of the White Eagle, sits
leaning on his cane. On either side of the cart there arc running footmen in livery of long, sapphire-blue
silver-embroidered jackets, yellow knee-length breeches and white stockings, and grenadier caps, each
of them carrying "a silver-topped staff. The cavalcade is preceded by the royal bunchuk bearer in hussar's
armour, a coat of mail, a classical type helmet adorned with egret plumes, a leopard skin hung over the
armour, crimsom breeches and yellow boots with the spurs permanently attached. The staff of the bunchuk
is painted in blue and white stripes and its horsetail is white topped by a gold knob, with a wing of black
ostrich feathers. The bunchuk bearer's charger has a long red gold-embroidered caparison. Pomp and
splendour are visible at every step of this grand military parade: state armorial bearings are embroidered
on the walls of red tents; a specially built pedestal holds the colours of all regiments participating in the
manoeuvres, as well as hussar helmets and armour. The colour scheme demonstrates the painter's excellent
taste, and emblems, heraldic devices and armorial bearings are rendered with great attention to detail.
The Election of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, the last king of Poland, painted in two versions
by Bernardo Bellotto called Canaletto (one version at present in the Royal Castle in Warsaw and the other
in the National Museum in Poznan) may be called the swan-song of Sarmatian splendour. Canaletto was
not present at the election; he painted the two compositions eleven years later, but he had at his disposal
sufficiently trustworthy material to make a work of authentic documentary vaule. The centre of the canvas
is occupied by a timber lodge where the Senate met, and next to it there arc tents for foreign envoys.
Around the lodge stretched the so-called Knights' Circle where the gentry of all voivodships assembled
under their voivodship banners. Among the groups of electors depicted in the foreground, some are
portrayed in detail, their features, attire, weapons and attributes helping to relate them to real persons.
Equally faithfully the painter rendered horses and saddling, and other trappings appropriate for events
of such great political importance. The two courtiers seen shaking hands on the left-hand side of the painting
represent probably Stanislaw August Wilczewski, later to become a chamberlain, and his friend Brzezinski.
Nearby on horseback we see Colonel Arnold Anastazy Byszewski in a confederate' cap, and Michal
Poniatowski, currently Abbot of Czerwinsk and brother of the king-elect, sitting below in his coach.
Antoni Ostrowski, Bishop of Kuyavy, is shown near the centre of the painting, with, a little further in
the background, the Primate of Poland Wladyslaw Lubienski making a tour of the election field in an
open carriage drawn by eight horses. To the right, Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, on horseback,
is seen leading a detachment of troops. In the middle foreground, we can distinguish Fiszer, the king's
aide-de-camp. A little further an equerry is holding the magnificently apparelled charger of the king-elect.
In the bottom right-hand side of the painting, under the awning of a tent, Bernardo Bellotto depicted
himself with his three daughters, and Antoni Crutta, interpreter of the Royal Chancery. In the second
version of the event, preserved in the Warsaw Royal Castle, several figures which are not shown in the
first version have been added, probably at the request of the persons concerned. For example there are
the Master of Ceremonies at the Primate's court, Tadeusz Lipski, Castellan of Leczyca, and in the middle
foreground, two important personalities on horseback, Jozef Podoski, Voivode of Plock, handing the votes
of his voivodship to Jozef Sosnowski, Speaker of the Electoral Seym. Both versions show a multi-
tude of anonymous figures: members of the petty gentry, court janissaries, lackeys, valets, footmen, grooms,
coachmen, equerries, runners and couriers. Some of them are attired in Western style, the majority however