Józef Prince Czartoryski

Portrait of prince Józef Czartoryski Painted by an unknown painter from the 18th century, it depicts the portrait of Józef Klemens Czartoryski (born in 1740, died in March 1810 in Warsaw), the Lithuanian Pahonia coat of arms, prince of Korzec and Oleksińce, politician and diplomat, member of the Four-Year Sejm, member of the Targowica Confederation, from 1764 Pantler of Lithuania. In the same year he supported the election of Stanisław Poniatowski as King of Poland, and a little later signed a letter of thanks to Catherine II for the introduction of Russian troops to Poland. In the years 1789 –90 he was an envoy in Berlin, where he became involved in an alliance with Prussia. In 1767 he was made a knight of the Order of the White Eagle, and in 1765 of the Order of St Stanislaus. He was a skilful politician, a worldly man but naive, believing in untested alliances. Being the father of five daughters, he became the last male descendant of the line of the Czartoryski family from Korzec. One of his daughters, from a marriage with Dorota Jabłonowska, was Józefina Maria Czartoryska, who became the wife of Alfred Potocki, the First Entailer of Łańcut, and was thus mistress of the Łańcut castle. Józef Klemens was also the founder of the famous faïence and porcelain manufacture in Korzec (its products can be found in the Łańcut castle), and after it burnt down in 1797, of the Korzec kontusz belt manufacture. The portrait, belonging to the collection of the Potocki family, refers to Sarmatian painting, but the Pantler is shown in half-figure, wearing armour and a red coat lined with ermine and on his head he we can see a powdered wig à la lion following the new fashion of that time. The representation is not accompanied by explanatory inscriptions, only a plaque on the frame identifying who the portrayed person is. The portrait was probably painted by a Polish painter, possibly from circles close to the Potocki family, who considered a splendid idea having a portrait of the First Entailer’s father-in-law.