Trzy nieznane obrazy Marcella Bacciarellego z kolekcji ukraińskich
Three Unknown Paintings by Marcello Bacciarelli in Ukrainian Collections

Summary/Abstract: The focus of this article is a portrait by Marcello Bacciarelli (1731-1818) in the collection of the Regional Museum of Local Lore in Vinnytsia (Вінницький обласний краєзнавчий музей). This work, previously identified as a portrait of Prince Karl of Saxony, is unpublished in Bacciarelli scholarship. This article presents an alternative identification for the sitter. The portrait cannot depict the Wettin prince as the features of the sitter do not resemble Karl of Saxony. According to the authors, the Vinnytsia portrait depicts instead the same sitter as a portrait by Pietro Rotari in the Royal Castle in Warsaw: Jan Rzewuski (1732-1759). Because the sitter is wearing the Order of the White Eagle, the portrait is dated to 1758-1759. The authors also identify a print model for the portrait and set the painting within the chronology of Bacciarelli's oeuvre. The Vinnytsia portrait and its dating allow for a reconsideration of Bacciarelli's early chronology, since in the late 1750s and early 1760s Jan Rzewuski was not the artist's only client representing the Rzewuski family. Two portraits of Jan's sisters Anna and Antonina in the Regional Museum of Local Lore in Zhytomyr (Жито́мирський обласни́й краєзна́вчий музе́й), previously attributed to Alexander Roslin, are also here attributed to Bacciarelli. Around this time, Michał Rzewuski, the father of the three siblings, was portrayed by Bacciarelli. It can, therefore, be hypothesized that the Rzewuski family played a greater role than previously supposed in Bacciarelli's early career, similar to that of the Poniatowski family.

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