Diotima. Portrait of Jadwiga Luszczewska

Jozef Simmler

Basic information

ID: Ж-2211
Author: Jozef Simmler
Name: Diotima. Portrait of Jadwiga Luszczewska
Date of creation: 1855
Country: Poland
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 210 x 141

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture mythological painting
Provenance: Collection of Lviv City Gallery

Information about author

Author: Jozef Simmler
Artist's lifetime: 1823–1868
Country: russian empire
Biography: Jozef Simmler (March 14, 1823, Warsaw – March 1, 1868, Warsaw) was a Polish artist of German descent and a representative of realism. He was a co-founder of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He studied at the art academies in Dresden and Munich. He is primarily known as a portraitist and for his religious and historical compositions.

Object description

Jadwiga Luszczewska (1834–1908), known by her pen name Diotima, was an improviser, poet and writer of the Romantic era and the hostess of the most famous literary salon in Warsaw, which operated for about twenty-five years. She wrote poems, historical dramas, and reminiscences. The pseudonym Diotima ("honoured by God") was chosen for Jadwiga by her mother, Magdalena, as the name "Diotima" was trendy in the 18th and 19th centuries and often used in philosophical, artistic, and musical works. Diotima of Mantinea was a semi-legendary figure, an ancient Greek philosopher, priestess, and prophetess, and one of the central figures in Plato's dialogue "Symposium". In the painting by J. Simmler, Jadwiga Luszczewska is depicted in the guise of the legendary Greek figure Diotima, passionately improvising beside the walls of an ancient temple. She wears a long white chiton and a bright red cloak, fastened at the neck with a gold brooch. To her left, two girls carefully record her words. In the right corner, a lyre is visible, symbolising poetry.

Inscriptions

In the bottom centre is the artist's signature and date: "J. Simpler / 1855".

Portrayed person