Artur Potocki on his deathbed

The drawing, made by Johann Ender (signed and dated) depicts Artur Potocki (1787–1832) on his deathbed. Artur Stanisław Potocki, son of Jan Potocki and Julia née Lubomirska, one of the daughters of Princess Marshal Lubomirska, the owner of Łańcut, brother of Alfred, First Lord Ordynat of Łańcut, married to Zofia née Branicka, first representative of the “Krzeszowice” branch of the Potocki family. He was the adjutant to Prince Józef Poniatowski, and later to Tsar Alexander I. As the grandson of the Princess Marshal, after her death he received, by virtue of an agreement made at Raj near Brzeżany in 1817 (together with Alfred) the estate of Dźwinogród (a landed estate in the present-day Ukraine, in the Lviv oblast), which was divided in 1823; Arthur then received the Sandomierz and Krakow estates, including Krzeszowice, where he had a summer residence erected. In 1822, he and his wife purchased Pałac pod Baranami in Krakow, where Franciszek Ksawery Prek, a well-known diarist and painter, lived. Arthur Potocki was called “the father of the poor of Krakow”, and in his estate he received guests not only of noble birth. At the end of 1830, Arthur’s health began to deteriorate seriously, and in 1831 his condition visibly worsened. On 30 January 1832, he died in Vienna and was buried in Wawel Cathedral. Johann Nepomuk Ender (born 1793 in Vienna, died 1854 in Vienna), Austrian painter, popular among the aristocracy, famous for his paintings of historical subjects, miniatures and portraits, including deathbed portraits. The choice of him as the author of Artur’s posthumous portrait was probably due to the painter’s popularity and the fact that he created and worked in Vienna, the place of Artur Potocki’s death. As in the case of Roman Potocki on his deathbed, this image is part of a long tradition of coffin portraits, once very common among the Polish nobility.