Medal “Aleksander Jagiellonczyk”

Wojciech Swiecki

Basic information

ID: С-II-602
Author: Wojciech Swiecki
Name: Medal “Aleksander Jagiellonczyk”
Date of creation: after 1860
Country: Duchy of Warsaw Kingdom of Poland
Culture: Modern times
Technique: moulding
Material: bronze
Dimensions (diameter, cm): 12.8

Additionally

Type: sculpture (relief)
Genre: portraiture
Plot: Portrait
Provenance: the Dzieduszycki collection

Information about author

Author: Wojciech Swiecki
Artist's lifetime: 1823–1873
Country: Duchy of Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland
Biography: Wojciech Święcki (1823–1873) was a sculptor, one of the first representatives of Romanticism in Polish art, and the author of numerous portraits, monuments, and medallions depicting Polish kings. From 1845 to 1848, he studied at the School of Fine Arts in the studio of Konstanty Hegel (1799–1876). After graduating, he collaborated with the foundry owned by Karol Juliusz Minter (1812–1892). In 1860, he was in Paris, and in the following years, he lived in Warsaw. In the fall of 1862, he left the city for good, moving to Rio de Janeiro. From there, he relocated to Paris in 1866, where he spent the rest of his life. He maintained regular contact with his homeland and exhibited his works at exhibitions organised by the Warsaw Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts and the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts. During his stay in France, he travelled to Brussels and London. He died on March 27, 1873, in Paris. W. Święcki is the author of memorial sculptures, portraits, statuettes, and medallions. His works are characterised by thematic and stylistic diversity, combining features of neoclassicism, romanticism, and realism. Only a small part of the artist's work has been preserved to this day.

Object description

Alexander Jagiellon (August 5, 1461 – August 19, 1506) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1492 and King of Poland from 1501. He was born on August 5, 1461, in the royal castle of Wawel in Krakow. In 1484, Aleksander Jagiellon's father, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Casimir IV, appointed him heir to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1492, he was elected Grand Duke of Lithuania at the Sejm in Vilnius, while the Poles elected his older brother, John I Albert, as their king. In 1494, he ended the Lithuanian-Muscovite War, resulting in the Lithuanians losing Vyazma and part of the Verkhovsky principalities. In 1495, the peace treaty was strengthened by Alexander's marriage to Elena, daughter of Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilyevich of Moscow. In 1499, he strengthened the union between Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland (the so-called Union of Krakow and Vilnius). In 1501, after the death of John I Albert, the Polish Sejm elected Alexander Jagiellon as king. From that time until 1795, a single monarch ruled the Polish crown and the Grand Duchy, and the term “Rzeczpospolita” began to be used in international relations. In 1505, Alexander Jagiellon introduced the Radom Constitution (Nihil Novi), which limited royal power in favor of the magnates. Ukrainian magnates, led by Mykhailo Hlynskyi, had a significant influence on the king's policies. King Alexander Jagiellon was a highly educated man and a patron of science and the arts. He died on August 19, 1506, and was buried in Vilnius.

Inscriptions

"ALEXANDER. / MODELOWAL W ŚWIĘCKI NAKLAD I ODLEW FABRYKI MINTERA".

Portrayed person