The international exhibition Old Lithuania in the Watercolours of Napoleon Orda

Napoleon Orda (1807–1883) was one of the most diverse Lithuanian artists and public figures of the 19th century. He earned renown in Paris as a pianist and composer, his musical works and abilities were appreciated by masters such as Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt and Stanisław Moniuszko. Orda actively gathered those fleeing political persecution from Russia around him, was personally engaged in publicistic activities writing articles and poems, and was close friends with the most famous poet of the day, Adam Mickiewicz. Nevertheless, the most valuable and richest part of Orda’s artistic legacy are his drawings and watercolours, presented here in this exhibition by the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and the National Museum of Kraków. 

 

This very colourful personality is an embodiment of the dilemmas faced by an intellectual, an inhabitant of Lithuania that had now lost its statehood: considered by all to be a Lithuanian, despite barely knowing the language; he had been suspended from Vilnius University for participating in anti-Russian youth organisations and could not pursue a higher education, but his high curiosity urged him to continue with academic activities, such as writing a grammar of the Polish language and a treatise on the composition of music. He loved his homeland dearly, yet was forced to emigrate and live abroad for several decades; he sought to memorialise the perishing state heritage yet constantly faced shortages of funds, illness, and a lack of interest from society. Despite this, in the final two decades of his life, Orda created an invaluable collection of watercolours and drawings in which his record of the disappearing markers of Lithuania’s statehood and greatness were a testimony of both the extraordinary desire to see it preserved, and the artist’s personal relationship with his land, its history, culture and faith. 

 

Orda’s artistic legacy consists of a little over a thousand watercolours, drawings and sketches. Many of them were inherited by the granddaughter of his sister Hortensja and her husband Aleksander, Konstancja Skirmunttowa, who was one of the most active participants of the Krajowcy movement seeking reconciliation between Lithuania and Poland in the interwar period. She interracted with the ambassadors of Lithuania’s independence struggle, especially Jonas Basanavičius. She gifted the main part of Orda’s legacy to the National Museum of Krakow. It holds as many as 989 works by this artist to this day. Almost 70 percent of the amassed works reflect the architecture and landscapes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, while the rest are images from Orda’s travels around France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Algiers.

 

At this international exhibition, visitors are invited to see for the first time a large collection of Orda’s most impressive works memorialising the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The exhibition consists of four parts. The first presents Orda’s life, work and how it developed; the second features religious buildings that were very important to this highly devout artist. The third part of the exhibition showcases sketches and watercolours in which we can see urban viewscapes, ideally revealing the author’s own creative searching in trying to express his creativity, to create works in different colour palettes. The largest fourth part introduces visitors to works featuring the castles, palaces and manors of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the legacy of those families who fought for Lithuania’s statehood.