Portrait of Michal Rzewuski
unknown
Basic information
- ID
- Ж-4057
- Author
- unknown
- Name
- Portrait of Michal Rzewuski
- Date of creation
- 18th c.
- Technique
- oil painting
- Material
- canvas oil
- Dimensions (height x width, cm)
- 185 x 85.5
Additionally
- Type
- painting
- Genre
- portraiture
- Provenance
- the Rzewuski-Lanckoronski collection (Rozdil Castle)
Information about author
Object description
Michal Florian Rzewuski was a Polish nobleman, official, diplomat, military figure, and Lviv treasurer. In 1670, he held the post of the elder of Chelm. He was a county clerk of Lviv and Marshal of the Sejm. Michal Rzewuski was a son of Stanislaw Beydo Rzewuski, a county judge of Lviv, and Anna Czernejowska. During the reign of Jan II Kazimierz, he took part in many great battles with the Cossacks, Turks and Muscovites. During the reign of Jan III Sobieski, he took part in the war with the Turks. In 1683, he took part in the battles of Vienna (he was a commander of the army of Crown Hetman Stanislaw Jablonowski) and Parkany. Starting from the end of the 17th century till the beginning of the 18th century, many examples of representative magnate and noble portraits were preserved. At that time, it was popular to have full-length portraits in palace halls of rich magnate residences, such as Pidhirtsi, Rozdil, Berezhany, Zhovkva, and others. These were mostly works made by provincial artists. The ceremonial and representative portrait of Michal Rzewuski was created according to the canonical scheme, in which the portrayed person was depicted in full length. A man dressed in knightly armor is depicted standing at the table. On top of the knightly armor, there is a long red cape lined with fur. His right hand points to the figure of a Turk, depicted below, with his hands folded behind his back. Perhaps, this is how, symbolically, the artist wanted to show the victories of Rzewuski over the Turks. Traditionally, in such paintings, there is a coat of arms and an inscription. On this canvas there is an inscription "MICHAL RZEWUSKI | PODSKARBI KORONNY | STAROSTA CHELMSKI".
Portrayed person
- The name of the person portrayed
- Michal Florian Rzewuski
- Lifetime of the person portrayed
- ?–1687
