Krystyna Radziwiłłówna

Portrait of Krystyna Radziwiłłówna This painting from the collection of the former owners of the castle, the Potoccy family, depicts Krystyna Magdalena Radziwiłłówna as a child (she died young), standing against the backdrop of a park (Arcadia?), with her arms crossed and a guitar resting on the ground. Krystyna Magdalena Radziwiłłówna (b. July 1776 in Warsaw, d. December 1796 in Petersburg) was a daughter of Heleny Radziwiłłowa nee Przeździecka (founder of Nieborów-Arcadia) and Otto Magnus von Stackelberg, Russian ambassador in Warsaw; officially accepted as a daughter by the mother’s husband, Michał Hieronim Radziwiłł. She spent her childhood at Arcadia, frequently visiting Warsaw afterwards. She supported the Kościuszko uprising, secretly in love with Tadeusz Kościuszko. At the end of 1795 encouraged by her mother, she went to Petersburg, where she became a lady of the court of empress Catherine the Great. At the death of Catherine in November of 1796, she participated in the burial proceedings, making her succumb to pneumonia (Russia experienced very cold weather at the time). The discussed painting is a copy of a portrait made by Józef Grassi, an Austrian painter and portrait creator, who was active in Poland in 1791÷1794. The copy was made by  Wincenty de Lesseur (Lesserowicz, b. 1754, d. 1813), a Polish painter, miniature artist, who specialised in pastel portraits. He came from a French family that was Polonised, and king Stanisław August Poniatowski was his protector. He studied at the court painting workshop under Marcell Bacciarelli. He became a master of miniature painting, and frequently created miniatures on the basis of works by Grassi and Giovanni Battista Lampi. He also painted portraits of the king and friendly noblemen.