Albert Stanisław Radziwiłł

Portrait of Albert Stanisław Radziwiłł Belonging to the collection of the Potocki family (now owned by the Castle Museum in Łańcut), the painting depicts a portrait of Albert Stanisław Radziwiłł (born in July 1593 in Olyka – died in November 1656 in Gdańsk), Grand Chancellor of Lithuania. Author of the painting is unknown; it dates back to the 1st half of the 19th century and represents the Sarmatian style. Albert (Albrycht) Radziwiłł of the Trąby coat of arms was a politician, diarist and writer. He studied abroad, which was a fashionable thing at the time, when the children of wealthy families were sent abroad for further education and to gain refinement. He was a fervent Catholic who supported St Andrew Bobola, and under his influence proclaimed that Our Lady wished to become the Queen of Poland. In 1635 he published a booklet entitled Dyskurs nabożny z kilku słów wzięty o wysławianiu Najświętszej Panny Bogurodzicy Mariey (A devotional discourse in a few words on glorifying the Blessed Virgin Mary), and left in manuscript a Latin diary from the years 1632¬55, which is an excellent political reflection of the 17th century (published in 1980 as Pamiętnik o dziejach w Polsce [Diary of the Polish events]). He was also the author of several works with religious content. The portrayed is depicted according to the rules of Sarmatian painting – in full figure, dressed according to the Swedish fashion, standing by the table covered with sheets of paper (symbolising a writer), with a curtain hung up in the background. On the frame of the painting there is a plaque informing who the portrait depicts.