Stefania Zamoyska

Portrait of Stefania Zamoyska This painting from the collection of the Potoccy family, the former owners of the castle of Łańcut, depicts the half figure of a young woman, with a slight smile, wearing an airy muslin dress, and a fur swung over her right arm. The portrait was made by T. Axentowicz in pastel, and is signed in black crayon in the upper left corner „T. Axentowicz”. Teodor Axentowicz (b. May 1859 in Brașov, d. in August 1938 in Kraków), a Polish painter, graphic and drawing artist. He came from an Armenian family, who received nobility in the 17th century, along with the Gryf [Griffon] coat of arms. He studied in Munich, the cradle of painting, in 1878-82, he later learned in Paris. He travelled to London and Rome, where he painted many members of the Polish aristocracy. It is at that time that the painting found in Łańcut might have been made. In Paris, he visited the salons of the Godebscy and of Sara Bernhard, and at the Hotel Lambert and the Chełmońscy. He remained in Kraków since 1895, where he became professor at the Fine Arts School as reorganised by J. Fałat (transformed into the Academy of Fine Arts in 1900), becoming rector of the Academy in 1910. He also founded a painting school for women in Kraków, with such lecturers as L. Wyczółkowski and J. Stanisławski. As a painter, he gained fame creating portraits of beautiful women, but also genre scenes from the life of Hutsuls. He was also an illustrator and exhibition poster designer. In his portraits of women, usually in pastel, he masterfully depicted clothing, jewellery and other female attributes, idealising the faces of his models. The colours of these portraits are usually limited to pinks, silvery whites, blacks and blues. A similar colour palette dominates in the portrait from Łańcut. The painting is displayed in the Veranda Salon, on the first floor of the castle of Łańcut.