Antoni Radziwiłł

Painting from the former collection of the Potocki family, taken abroad by the last Entailer of Łańcut, Alfred Potocki, was bought for the castle by the Ministry of Culture and Art in 1981 from the Heim Gallery in London. The portrait depicts a young man, shown in half-figure, wearing a Polish-style outfit. It is Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł, using the Trąby coat of arms, (born in June 1775, in Vilnius and died in April 1833 in Berlin) Prince – Governor of the Grand Duchy of Poznań, politician, 12th Entailer of Nieśwież, great-grandfather of Elżbieta Potocka, nee Radziwiłł, wife of Roman, the Third Entailer of Łańcut. Radziwiłł spent his youth in Berlin, and by marrying Frederica Dorothea Louise Hohenzollern, he started the so-called Berlin branch of the Radziwiłł family. In his policy, he supported Prussia, and being of rather unstable nature, he did not prevent the germanisation. On the other hand, he was a patron of the arts and managed to have Niccolo Paganini play a concert in Poznań. He was also a composer, musician (he played guitar and cello) and he used to sing. Among his friends, there were Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Felix Mendelssohn. In his hunting lodge in Antonin, he hosted Fryderyk Chopin, who composed for him the piece Trio in G minor. Radziwiłł himself was a composer of many airs, and was also a draughtsman and engraver; known for etching portraits of people from his closest circle. The painting is framed in a wide, gilded openwork frame with a plaque informing about the portrayed person. It is exhibited in the White Corridor on the first floor of the castle.