Exhibition "HERITAGE COMING HOME. Paintings acquired in 2018–2025"

The National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania is constantly searching for and seeking to acquire objects of value associated with Lithuania that would not only supplement the museum’s expositions and collections but would also see the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that is currently scattered all around the world finally come home. Each year the museum’s collections are significantly enriched by objects of value acquired from foreign auctions, antique dealers and private individuals, as well as by supporters’ generous gifts.

 

The National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania always aspires to show to the public its latest valuable acquisitions, by supplementing permanent expositions, organising events and releasing publications. To date, two special exhibitions have been organised for this purpose, where gifts received and objects of value acquired during the period 2009–2017 were presented, accompanied by two top-level catalogues. The present exhibition continues this tradition, however, this time paintings will be showcased that enriched the collections of the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in 2018–2025. During this period, the museum accumulated other objects of value as well, though the painting collection is almost certainly the most impressive to date. Incidentally, in 2021 and 2023, patron Dr Pranas Kiznis kindly gifted his early painting collection to the museum. Thus, alongside the precious tapestries and furniture collections, the public can also now admire these astounding paintings at the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania.

 

The exhibition begins with the wonderful painting by the famous Italian artist and member of the academies of Bologna and Verona, Saverio Dalla Rosa (1741–1821), titled Saint Casimir in Adoration of the Madonna, bearing the author’s signature. This painter worked for the Jesuits in Polotsk and Vitebsk, so it cannot be dismissed that the work glorifying Lithuania’s patron saint may have at one time belonged to one of these cities’ churches. After the partitions of Lithuania and Poland, the churches were closed down by the occupant Russian authorities and converted into Orthodox shrines. All symbols of Catholicism were removed. It was probably then that this painting was taken from one of the churches, as it was next mentioned in a private collection in Germany in the early 20th century. The painting was acquired at a Munich auction in 2025 and restored in Lithuania.

 

Another two paintings also represent the religious theme in this exhibition. These are the works Christ and the Adulteress painted in around 1640 by an unidentified, talented Italian artist who worked in the city of Monticelli d'Ongina, and one attributed to the Milanese painter Melchiorre Gherardini (1607–1678) depicting the miraculous appearance of Saint James the Apostle at the Battle of Clavijo in 844, where the saint helped the Spaniards triumph over the Saracens. A similar legend tells us that Saint Casimir had helped the Lithuanian army in its battles against the Muscovites near Polotsk in 1518.

 

Portraits make up the largest part of the exhibition. Here, images of the rulers of Lithuania and Poland dominate. The exhibition features portraits of King of Poland and Hungary, Lithuanian Prince Ladislaus of Varna (reigned 1434/1440–1444), based on prototypes by the court artist of the rulers of Poland and Lithuania Augustus III (reigned 1733/1736–1764) and Stanislaus August Poniatowski (reigned 1764–1795), Marcello Bacciarelli (1731–1818), as well as of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund Augustus (reigned 1544/1548–1572; the artist thought him to be Jogaila).

 

There is also a painting gifted to the museum in 2018 by one of it patrons from the United States, Donatas Janutas, of the then prince and future ruler of Poland and Lithuania, John Casimir Vasa (reigned 1648–1668), whose authorship has been attributed to the court painter Pieter (Peeter) Danckers de Rij (1605–1660). Exhibited nearby is a portrait by an unidentified 17th-century artist said to portray John Casimir’s wife Ludwika Maria Gonzaga de Nevers (1611–1667). At the exhibition, visitors can also see a miniature created by an unknown 18th-century artist depicting King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania John Sobieski (reigned 1674–1696), and nearby – a portrait of this ruler’s wife, Marie Casimire d'Arquien (1641–1716), by the German-born Netherlandish artist Caspar Netscher (1639–1684)

 

This portrait gallery of rulers continues with paintings of both representatives of the Wettin dynasty who reigned over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Augustus II (reigned 1697–1733) the Strong and Augustus III, created by the court painter Louis de Silvestre (1675–1760) and masters from his circle. There is also an image of the final ruler of Poland and Lithuania, Stanislaus August Poniatowski. It was painted based on the portrait by the afore-mentioned Marcello Bacciarelli.

 

Pictures of Lithuania’s magnates appear alongside the portraits of these rulers: a painting of Lithuanian Vice-Chancellor Kazimierz Leon Sapieha (1609–1656) by Konstanty Aleksandrowicz (mentioned 1777–1794), who had studied under Łukasz Smuglewicz and Marcello Bacciarelli, and who had worked for the Radziwill princes, as well as a portrait of Lithuanian Artillery General Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha (1757–1798) created by an unknown local painter in the fourth quarter of the 18th century.

 

Rounding off the exhibition and supplementing this gallery of historical figures are three portraits of such personalities from other European lands. One is a work attributed to a representative of an infamous dynasty of Italian Renaissance artists, Giulio Campi (1507–1572), standing out for its highly elaborate frame. The painting depicts a musician playing the viola. This instrument would have been played very often at the Palace of the Grand Dukes in the 16th–17th centuries.

 

Nearby is a portrait of Prince Valdemar Christian (1622–1656) of Denmark, painted by an unknown 19th-century artist based on a prototype by the prominent Flemish portraitist Justus Sustermans (1597–1681). This prince visited the Palace of the Grand Dukes in Vilnius in 1643 where he met with the rulers of Poland and Lithuania Ladislaus Vasa (reigned 1632–1648) and Cecilia Renata (1611–1644). Another portrait, which could have been created in the second half of the 17th century by the brothers Valore (1590–1660) and Domenico (1588–1660) Casini, based on the painting of their teacher Justus Sustermans, shows Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand II Medici (reigned 1621–1670) – the cousin of the rulers of Lithuania and Poland Ladislaus and John Casimir Vasa – who organised a sublime reception for Ladislaus Vasa in Florence.