Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki

Portrait of Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki A small size painting from the museum collection; it presents a portrait of a mature man (oval in a rectangle). The man is shown in bust length, with his body strongly turned and eyes fixed on the viewer. The subject is Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki of the Pilawa coat of arms (born in 1751 in Tartaków or Krystynopol, deceased in March 1805 in Tulczyn), a diplomat and a poet, a politician supporting Russia, a member of the Targowica, holding a number of military positions. He went down in history as Szczęsny Potocki the traitor. He was the son of Franciszek Salezy Potocki, a Kiev Voivode and Anna Elżbieta née Potocka. Stanisław Szczęsny was educated at home; however, he failed to accomplish satisfactory results. He had weak character and was unable to make decisions; he owed his first political functions to the protection of his father, one of the richest magnates of the time. His second wife was Józefina Amalia née Mniszech, with whom he had son Stanisław. He was the Knight of the Order of the White Eagle and Saint Stanislaus and the Russian Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle the First-Called and a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The Łańcut portrait is a copy of the painting of Johann Baptist von Lampi the Elder. The painting is in a modest frame, exhibited in the drawing room of the Gala Apartment on the first floor of the Łańcut Castle.