Portrait of Adam Rubach

Adam Rubach (1586-1638), son of Koszalin councillor Martin Rubach and Anna, née Podewils, entered the Gdansk Academic Gymnasium at the age of 18, where he completed courses in philosophy under Bartholomäus Keckermann (c. 1572-1609) and medicine under physician and anatomist Joachim Oelhaf (1570-1630). In 1608, he went to study medicine in Wittenberg and then in Montpellier, France. After receiving his doctorate in medicine there in 1613, he travelled around Italy spending a year in Padua to further his medical knowledge. Returning to Koszalin, he became a medical appointee of Duke Francis I (1577-1620) and Anna Maria Brandenburg (1567-1618), widow of Barnim X (1549-1603). He was also a municipal physicist, i.e. a doctor responsible for municipal hygiene and epidemiological surveillance. In 1618, when Francis I took over in Stettin, Rubach moved with him to the Pomeranian capital as court physician. After the duke's death, he also held this position alongside Bogusław XIV (1580-1637). In 1628, he became a member of the chapter of the St Mary's Foundation in Stettin and provost of the Princely Pedagogy.

The painting was painted in the convention of the representative court portrait developed in the 4th quarter of the 16th century. Adam Rubach stands stiffly erect, his right hand resting on his side, in an akimbo gesture expressing pride and ostentation, and his left on the handle of a rapier, an attribute of a nobleman. The high social standing and wealth of the portrayed is evidenced by the garment made of costly fabric, decorated with elaborate lace and impressively pinned gold chains and a medallion with a portrait of a prince, probably Francis I.

The museum's collection, under the number MNS/Szt/1165, also includes a portrait of Adam Rubach's first wife, Anna Maria Schultz (1597-1631).

Monika Frankowska-Makała