UK
Collection

Portrait of Wartan Hunanian

Ostap Biliavskyi

  • Portrait of Wartan Hunanian 2
  • Portrait of Wartan Hunanian 3
Basic information
ID
Ж-4517
Author
Ostap Biliavskyi
Name
Portrait of Wartan Hunanian
Date of creation
1802
Technique
oil painting
Material
canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
85 x 65
Additionally
Type
painting
Genre
portraiture
Provenance
Lviv Historical Museum
Information about author
Author
Ostap Biliavskyi
Artist's lifetime
1740–1803
Biography
Ostap (Eustachy) Biliavskyi (1740–1803) was a Ukrainian artist who worked in Western Ukraine. He is known for portrait paintings and religious artworks. He was born in the village of Horodyshche near Berezhany. In the 1760s, Ostap studied at the Academy of St. Luke in Rome. The artist lived and worked in Lviv after 1771. He painted numerous portraits of burghers on order. In the late 1790s and early 1800s, he created a gallery of portraits of Armenian archbishops. In addition to portrait painting, Ostap Biliavskyi was engaged in monumental painting. A significant collection of works by Ostap Biliavskyi has been preserved nowadays.
Object description
Wartan Hunanian (1644–1715) was a Catholic priest, Catholic deacon, and Lviv archbishop of the Armenian Church. He came to Lviv from Etchmiadzin (Armenia) as a deacon in 1655. He was educated at the Lviv Armenian College of Theatine Fathers and also studied in Rome, where he received the degree of Doctor of Theology. In the late 1790s and up to the early 1800s, Ostap Biliavskyi created a gallery of portraits of Armenian Latin bishops, including the portrait of Wartan Hunanian. A waist-length image of the bishop is depicted on the dark background. He is shown with a book, a frequent attribute of the clergy, which attests to the education of the portrayed man. The artist managed to express the character of the man in the painting. The works by Ostap Biliavskyi are characterized by a masterful depiction of the individual features of the portrayed people.
Portrayed person
The name of the person portrayed
Wartan Hunanian
Lifetime of the person portrayed
1644–1715

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