Rozalia née Czacki Tarnowska

The painting from the museum’s collection depicts a bust portrait of an elderly woman, wearing a green dress with long sleeves, a bonnet on her head and a lace shawl over it. Her face and gaze are directed at the viewer. This is Rozalia Tarnowska, née Czacki (born April 1753 in Warsaw, died April 1821, Warsaw), daughter of Feliks Szczęsny Czacki and Katarzyna Karolina Grabińska. She was the second wife of Jan Jacek Tarnowski (born 1729, died 1808) and sister of Michał, a patriot and founder of the Lyceum in Krzemieniec. She is depicted in the Łańcut painting at the age of 62, when she was already a widow. The painting is dated, the inscription on the back reads: “Countess Rozalia Tarnowska, née Czacki, painted by her sister-in-law, Beata Czacka, née Potocka, 15 April 1815 in Siedlce”. Beata Czacka, née Potocka (born 1758, died 1824 in Sielce in Volhynia), was the daughter of Ignacy Potocki and Urszula Dzieduszycka, and from 1781 the wife of Michał Czacki. She was an amateur painter and miniaturist who studied in Rome under G. Landi and M. Bacciarelli. Under Landi’s direction in Rome around 1795, they created mythological and religious paintings. She painted large compositions, biblical paintings, and a couple dozen portraits for which family members posed after being “forced” to do so. She also designed the mansion in Sielce. The painting in question, framed in a wide, wooden, profiled, gilded frame decorated with pearl ornamentation and acanthus leaves, is exhibited in one of the rooms on the second floor of the Łańcut castle.