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"Margaret of Rochefort" as Judith by Hans Kemmer or circle

The highly idealized portrait of a lady disguised as Judith in the art collections of the University of Liège (panel, 51.8 x 39.2 cm, inv. 38) is traditionally known to be a disguised portrait of the unspecified Margaret of Rochefort (Margarete von Rochefort als Judith). Dated 1526 and inscribed IVDIT, this painting, although considered a work by Cranach or his circle, is closer to works attributed to Hans Kemmer. The small horn on her necklace might even indicate that she was a member of the Radziwill family (Barbara Kolanka?). It comes from the collection of Baron Adrien Wittert (1823-1903), bequeathed in its entirety to the University of Liège.

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Attribution by Marcin Latka (Artinpl).

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Statue of Saint Sigismund of Burgundy from the high altar of Warsaw Cathedral

According to Wiktor Czajewski (1857-1922), who gave a detailed description of the altar in his book published in Warsaw in 1899, the statue of Saint Sigismund of Burgundy on the right of the central painting by Palma il Giovane closely resembled King Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632). It is therefore likely that this was a crypto-portrait of the king in the guise of his patron. The altar was destroyed in 1944 during the bombing of the city by German forces …

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Photos 1-2: Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

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15th century tile from Gniezno depicting the Judgement of Paris

The tile depicting a mythological scene - the Judgment of Paris, was discovered in 1994 during excavations conducted on the shoreline of the former Holy Lake. It depicts a castle and three naked women led by a man in a long tunic. A sleeping knight can also be seen against the background of the building. The surface of the tile is unglazed and has a brick color (Museum of the Origins of the Polish State in Gniezno, 13 x 16.5 cm, inv. 1994:3/21, Open license as of 17.06.2025). It is considered the oldest known depiction of this scene in Polish art.

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Ebony cabinet, most likely from the collection of Sigismund III Vasa

This cabinet, one of two preserved, was created by David Altenstetter (d. 1617) in Augsburg in the 1600s (the other by Georg Jungmair). It was probably made for Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) and originally decorated one of the royal residences in Warsaw, such as the Royal Castle or Ujazdów Castle. The furniture is adorned with figurines of Roman gods, silver plaques depicting Mars and Venus, as well as personifications of the Four Seasons, winged chimeras, puttos, and fruit. The inside of the doors is decorated with enameled silver plaques.

After 1654, it was donated by Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga (1611-1667) to the newly established church and monastery of the French Order of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Warsaw, where it was adopted as a tabernacle (silver, gilt and enamel on ebony mounted on pearwood, 101.6 x 60 x 36 cm).

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In his translation of the work of Maciej Miechowita (1457-1523), dedicated to Severino Ciceri, published in Venice in 1561 under the title "History of the two Sarmatias", Annibal Maggi explains what the two Sarmatias were ...

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In 1572, Bartolomeo Rubini published in Venice a reprint of the legal thesis of the courtier Pedro Ruiz de Moros (d. 1571), "Decisiones […] De rebus In Sacro Auditorio Lituanico ex appellatione iudicatis", dedicated to King Sigismund Augustus. In this work, Ruiz de Moros presented a solution to five legal problems based on the principles of Roman law. In his poem "Roma de Polonis", he praised unconquered Sarmatia ...

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Self-portrait as Saint Francis of Assisi (?) by Palma il Giovane

In a small painting from the Bardisian collection in Venice (oil on slate, 30.5 x 24.5 cm), dating from around 1606, Palma depicts himself in the habit of a monk, probably Franciscan. However, on closer inspection, a halo around his head is clearly visible, suggesting that he intended to portray himself as a Christian saint, such as Saint Francis of Assisi …

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Self-portraits of Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (1477-1549), better known as Il Sodoma ("the sodomite"), in religious scenes

His presence in Rome is attested in 1508, when Pope Julius II commissioned him to decorate the ceiling of the Stanza della Signature in the Vatican. In Raphael's fresco The School of Athens (1509-1511), Sodoma himself is depicted at his side. The painter received this nickname during his lifetime. "He was also a gay and licentious man, who spent his time in pleasures and enjoyments. In doing so, he was always surrounded by boys and beardless youths whom he loved excessively, hence his nickname Sodoma; but instead of feeling ashamed of it, he gloried in it, writing stanzas and verses on it, and singing them to the accompaniment of the lute. He loved to fill his house with all sorts of curious animals: badgers, squirrels, monkeys …" says Giorgio Vasari, who also praised his drawings and vivid coloring, in his famous Lives, published in 1568 (Le vite de' piu eccellenti pittori scultori e architettori, p. 528) …

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AI-generated image - "Room of Queen Constance of Austria (1588-1631)"

According to Abraham van Booth, secretary of the Dutch delegation that visited Poland between 1627 and 1628, Queen Constance's room at the Royal Castle in Warsaw was upholstered in black velvet, as was the Queen's chair.

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Disguised portrait of Simone Cantarini

Around 1630, the painter from Pesaro, Simone Cantarini (1612-1648), painted a large painting of the Madonna and Child in glory with Saint Barbara and Saint Terence for the church of San Cassiano in Pesaro, where he was baptized in 1612 (oil on canvas, 350 x 180 cm, inv. Reg. Cron. 6002). The effigy of Saint Terence (Terentius), patron saint of Pesaro, is considered a self-portrait of the painter …

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AI-generated image - "Pearls of Queen Barbara Radziwill (1520/23-1551)"

According to Marian Rosco-Bogdanowicz (1862-1955), chamberlain to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, between 1914 and 1916, one of the curators at the British Museum in London discovered correspondence from Queen Elizabeth I of England, in which she ordered her agents in Poland to purchase Barbara's pearls for her …

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Chinese Salus Populi Romani (The Madonna Scroll) by Tang Yin (1470-1524)

In the context of disguised portraits, it is possible that this fashion also reached China with other Christian images, so the Madonna Scroll could in fact be a portrait of a member of the imperial family or an aristocrat disguised as a Madonna or Guanyin ...

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AI-generated image of Jewish lady Estera

In 1535 and before, the Jewish lady Estera from the court of Queen Bona Sforza, wife of Mojżesz Fiszel (1480-after 1543), rabbi of the Polish Jewish community from 1532, sewed the liturgical vestments for the Catholic clergy, including for Piotr Tomicki (1464-1535), Bishop of Kraków. This was Sarmatia, which many people abroad did not understand and some wanted to destroy …

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AI-generated image of female student at the Kraków Academy (Jagiellonian University) between 1414 and 1416

The abbot of the Benedictine "Scottish" abbey in Vienna, Martin of Spis (d. 1464), recalls the story of a female student at the Kraków Academy during the reign of Ladislaus Jagiello. The chronicler writes that, during his studies in Kraków, around 1416, he learned that a woman, probably from Greater Poland, had been attending classes with students for two years, dressed in men's clothes, and was about to obtain her bachelor's degree …

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"Aristotle for women" from 1535 in Polish

In the 16th and 17th centuries, many books were written or dedicated to Sarmatian women. Andrzej Glaber (c. 1500-1555) from Kobylin dedicated his "Problemata Aristotelis. Gadki z pisma wielkiego philozopha Aristotela …", the first Polish textbook of medicine and human anatomy, to Jadwiga Kościelecka, second wife of Seweryn Boner (1486-1549), court banker to King Sigismund I (published in Kraków in 1535). This dedication contains a very significant and insightful analysis of the reasons for the reluctance of Glaber's contemporary men to educate women: "[they] do it more out of jealousy […] fearing to lose their fame, lest women surpass them in intelligence, they forbid them to read profound writings, except for prayers and rosaries". The author, however, believed that all knowledge should be accessible to women and wrote this book: "so that women who know letters may, as it were, try the writings in which wisdom is enclosed" …

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The Wedding at Cana by Palma il Giovane, fourth quarter of the 16th century, Private collection (oil on canvas, 60.5 x 82.5 cm, Ansorena in Madrid, April 8, 2021, lot 88, inscribed on the back: Nº74 / Paolo Veronese).

The scene takes place in Venice (or more generally in the Venetian entourage) and the ladies seated at table table with Christ proudly display their splendid costumes. This painting is now attributed to Jacopo Negretti (1549-1628), better known as Palma the Younger (il Giovane), who painted works in Venice commissioned by King Sigismund III Vasa.

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Funerary monuments, such as those in Tarnów Cathedral, testify to the high standard of sepulchral art and sculpture in Sarmatia, as well as the quality of portraiture. Many of these funerary monuments were created after the death of the people to whom they were dedicated, the sculptor must therefore have drawn inspiration from their other effigies, usually painted portraits or miniatures.

(1-5) Monument dedicated to Father Marcin Łyczko of Ryglice (1508-1578), superior of the church in Tarnów, nobleman of the Sulima coat of arms. He held the position of provost of the collegiate church in Tarnów and he received his higher education at the Kraków Academy. Marcin also owned the villages of Zębowin, Grębocin, and Zerkowice in the Proszów district. Around 1560, he built a new two-story brick school building in Tarnów on the site of the old wooden one. He died on May 8, 1578, at the age of 70 ([…] MARTINO LYCZKO DE RIGLICZE […] OBIIT ANO / DNI M. D. LXXVIII ÆTATIS SVÆ LXX / DECESIT VIII MAII). His tombstone was founded by his relative Piotr Łyczko and grandsons and is attributed to Wojciech Kuszczyc.

In 1578, the Marcin Łyczko perpetual fund was established in Tarnów. Initially, Łyczko allocated a thousand Polish złoty for its foundation, a sum increased to 1,600 Polish złoty in 1633. It was managed by the Tarnów town councilors, the school principal, and the parish priest. It was intended to cover the expenses of three students who, after completing their studies, were obliged to return to Tarnów to work at the school. In his will, Father Łyczko left money, a gilded silver chalice made in Hungary, as well as valuable silk robes and furs. The portrait on which his statue was based was not mentioned in the will, probably due to its low value at that time, which does not mean that it was not a valuable work of art.

(6-8) Epitaph of Aleksander Wilierski (Wilerski, ca. 1568-1598), canon of the Tarnów collegiate church and official of Pilzno, made of brown marble, decorated with an engraved half-figure of the deceased. It strongly recalls a portrait from which it was inspired, including the Latin inscription: ALEXANDER / WILIERSKY / CANONICVS / TARNOVIENSIS / OFFICIALIS / PILZNENSIS / ÆTATIS SVÆ. 30 / A. D. 1598.

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© Marcin Latka

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