Antoni Portalupi

The medal honouring the Italian-born Theatine Antoni Maria Portulapi (1713-1791) was created on the initiative of King Stanisław August Poniatowski (1764-1795).

After receiving a thorough education in Italy, the monk arrived in Poland in 1740 as a teacher at the Theatine College in Warsaw, founded in 1737. Thanks to him, this school grew into a modern institution educating “citizens ready to fulfil their civic duties towards the Commonwealth, whether in times of peace or war”. Its alumnus and student of Portulapi was the future Polish king Stanisław August Poniatowski. Esteemed by the monastic authorities, Portalupi was appointed superior of the Theatines in Poland in 1750, a post he held until the mid-1780s. He was court chaplain to Augustus III (1733-1763) and after his death was in the closest circle of Stanisław Augustus, attending the “Thursday Dinners”. Bestowed with the monarch's trust, Portalupi became the king's confessor in 1774. That was also the year in which the medal in question was created.

The obverse of the work depicts the bust of Antoni Portulapi, shown in the right profile in a monastic dress with a headdress on his head, surrounded by the inscription: “ANTON[ius] PORTALUPI RECTOR COL[legii] NOB[ilium] WARS[aviensis] P[raepositus] P[atrum] THEAT[norum]”, translated as: “Antoni Portalupi, rector of the Warsaw Collegium Nobilium of the Theatine Fathers”. At the bottom, we see the author's signature: HOLZHAEUSSER.F[ecit]. On the reverse there is a figure of a monk sitting under a potted laurel tree. To the left, there is a watering can, with cypresses growing in the background. The vegetation seems to refer to Italy, from where Portalupi, already intellectually formed, came to Poland to serve his new homeland in accordance with the motto placed above the representation: “QUAM COLUI EA TEGOR”, translated as: “I discover that which I have instilled”. The inscription below includes a royal dedication to Portulapi: “INSTITUTORI IUVENTUTIS SUAE STAN[islaus] AUG[ustus] REX MDCCLXXIV”, translated as: “To the Teacher of His Youth, King Stanisław August, 1774”.

Stamps of this medal, now known in silver and bronze prints, were taken by the Russians to St. Petersburg in 1868. They were returned to Poland in 1924.

Tomasz Markiewicz