Portrait of Janusz Radziwiłł, Grand Hetman of Lithuania

The anonymous “Portrait of Janusz Radziwiłł, Grand Hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania”, in the collection of the Museum – Castle in Łańcut, shows the described person as a middle-aged man, against a background of a brown curtain and a landscape. Radziwiłł is presented slightly turned to the right. He has an face oval with high forehead and light moustache. He is wearing a nobleman's outfit: a white and grey żupan with a collar and chainmail armour. On her feet, he has red Morocco leather shoes. In his gloved right hand, he holds a mace – a blunt weapon of eastern origin, a symbol of military power and noble splendour. By his left side, we can see a hilt of a sabre, a bladed weapon identified with prowess on the battlefield.

Janusz Radziwiłł of the coat of arms of Trąby (born. 1612, died 1655 ) was a son of Lithuanian magnates Krzysztof Radziwiłł and Anna Kiszczanka. He spent his childhood in Lithuania where he received a thorough education. Before 1629, he left the country of his birth for Warsaw and Berlin. He continued his studies at the University of Leipzig. He travelled all over Europe. In October 1633, he participated in the Battle of Smolensk where the Polish army defeated the Russians. Radziwiłł cooperated closely with the Polish King Ladislaus IV Vasa and was called his favourite. After his father's death, he inherited a large estate in Lithuania and Podlasie. He supported the monarch's policy of seeking to start an armed conflict with Turkey. Following the death of Ladislaus IV Vasa, he tried to influence Lithuanian politics. The Lithuanian families led the Sapiehas (including those of the Olyka and Nyasvizh lines) acted against him. Janusz Radziwiłł appears in the novel called Deluge (Potop in Polish) by Henryk Sienkiewicz. The writer depicted him as a villain, a traitor to the Polish cause. He deliberately omitted, due to Tsarist censorship, some of the motives behind the Hetman's policy. He died on the night of 30–31 December 1655 in Tykocin Castle.

Yulia Dushka