Old woman Anna

Portrait of old lady Anna This painting from the collection of the Potoccy family, the former owners of the Łańcut castle, depicts an older woman against a neutral background. The person is shown from the legs up, sitting, with a clay (stoneware) pot in her lap; bluish vapours are rising from it, she holds it by its ear with her left hand. In her right she is holding a wooden spoon, and reaches into the pot. The face of the woman, detailed very meticulously, artistically, precisely marking the deep wrinkles between the nose and lips, without teeth. The blood-shot eyes, the eye colour – faded (a sign of old age). The woman’s head and neck are clad in a cloth – the cap, from under which dark hairs are trying to escape. The skin of the face is wrinkled, like parchment, having a dark, golden-like tone. The old lady is dressed, or rather wound up, in a brown coat – a gown opening at the knees and showing a white shirt. The gown has many wrinkles, softly covering the person – and they stand out thanks to the blackness. On the reverse of the painting we find the inscription ”Anna aetatis 102 ano Varsavia picta ano 1713 Bergman”. Sadly, we know nothing about the painter that made the inscription on the canvas, and the mode of depiction of old age indicates great skills. The painting has a wooden, gilded, profiled frame, and is displayed in the north ground-floor corridor of the castle.