Portrait of Adam Szaniawski, coat of arms: Junosza

Adam Kazimierz Szaniawski of the Junosza coat of arms represented the minor gentry but from an old family from the Łuków region. The ancestor of the family was probably Mikołaj from Szaniawa. He was granted landed estates and the title of nobility in the first quarter of the 15th century for his merits on the battlefield. Many representatives of this family held important positions in the country and found a place in the pages of history. A prominent and respected member of the Szaniawski family was Adam Kazimierz, who held the office of Castellan of Lublin from 1705 until he died in 1725. His earlier merits in the service of the Republic of Poland were appreciated.

In 1702, together with the castle's garrison, he tried to stop Swedish troops from seizing Lublin, unfortunately without success. The Swedes, occupying the city, threatened to burn the municipal and tribunal books – crucial documents – which Szaniawski prevented '[...] having barely recovered, he suffered great and almost final ruin from the Swedes on his substance'. The Sejm awarded him a thousand thalers for his efforts to secure the documents. He held numerous offices, deployed armed knights, for example, an armoured unit in case of the need for a hasty retreat; he owned estates in the Lublin voivodship and manors in both Lublin and Kamieniec Podolski. He was also the founder of the parish church in Trzebieszów and donor to the Lublin Dominican and Piarist monasteries in Łuków after his relative, Feliks, had taken care of the completion of the Szaniawski chapel at the Lublin Dominican church.

Such numerous merits and titles could have influenced creating a Sarmatian portrait of Adam Szaniawski while he was still alive. It would suggest a very realistic portrait of the nobleman, with individual features and suggestive facial expressions. In the right part of the painting, above the figure, the Junosza coat of arms and the letters A. S. K. L. are arranged in a rectangle around the coat of arms, which refer to the function held by Adam Szaniawski – castellan of Lublin.

Magdalena Norkowska