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Portrait of Teresa Lubomirska (née Czartoryska) as Hebe

Joseph Grassi

Basic information

ID: Ж-887
Author: Joseph Grassi
Name: Portrait of Teresa Lubomirska (née Czartoryska) as Hebe
Date of creation: 1807
Country: Germany
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 152 x 112

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture
Plot: Portrait
Provenance: the Lubomirski collection

Information about author

Author: Joseph Grassi
Artist's lifetime: 1758–1838
Country: Austria
Biography: Being a ten-year-old boy, Joseph Grassi began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He quickly gained popularity as a portrait painter and miniaturist. In 1791, he became a member of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Between 1792 and 1797 through J. B. Lampi’s influence, he stayed in Warsaw and became a court artist of S. A. Poniatowski. In 1800, he was appointed a Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden. Between 1808 and 1820, he lived and worked in Rome, and from 1821 until his death, he lived in Dresden.

Object description

The artist's best works are portraits of women, characterised by the idealisation of female beauty. From the middle of the 18th century to the end of the 19th century, mythological portraiture was a common type of representative complementary portraiture. It allowed the most spectacular features of the model's appearance and moral qualities to be highlighted. The image of Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera, the goddess of eternal youth, who provided the gods with nectar and ambrosia on Mount Olympus, was prevalent in art. She was usually depicted in a sleeveless white dress with a golden bowl in her hand, often with her father in the form of an eagle. This painting depicts Teresa Lubomirska (née Czartoryska) as Hebe against the background of a sky covered with light silver clouds. The girl is shown in a complex twist. She leans her knee on a cloud, elegantly lifting a bowl of nectar with her left hand and holding a golden cup in her right. A blue belt and a yellow shawl complement her white, Greek-style dress. The girl has a slight smile on her face. To her left is a giant eagle, a symbol of Zeus, Hebe's father.

Portrayed person

The name of the person portrayed: Teresa Lubomirska was the daughter of Dorota Jablonowska and Prince Jozef Clement Czartoryski, a statesman of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the last representative of the younger branch of the Czartoryski family in Korets. From 1807, she was the wife of Prince Henryk Lubomirski.
Lifetime of the person portrayed: 1785–1868

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Portrait of Teresa Lubomirska (née Czartoryska) as Hebe

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