Aukščiausios valdžios insignijos reprezentaciniuose Stanislovo Augusto Poniatovskio portretuose
Insignia of supreme power in representative portraits of Stanisław August Poniatowski

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the question of how an image of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Stanisław August Poniatowski was formed invoking insignia in the representative portraits. For analysis, there were chosen portraits painted by J. K. Werner, M. Bacciarelli, P. Krafft Sr, J. K. Heske, J. Pitschmann; in these portraits the ruler is depicted with insignia of a king, duke, and military power. Their meaning in the contemporary life and sense in the portraits is analyzed.Attention is focused on the circumstance that painting of the representative portraits was based on certain rules. It was attempted to create an ideal image of a ruler in these portraits. First of all, it was sought to convey the title of a ruler: the King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania. Unfortunately, the latter part of the title was not always expressed in the portraits. However, it should be noted that in the representative portraits of the rulers of the Republic of Two Nations grand ducal insignia appear after a certain interval of time. A portrayal of insignia themselves was quite liberal. Just in a few cases there were depicted the insignia that really existed. Stanislav August is the only King of Poland portrayed with real coronation insignia, i. e. in the portrait by J. K. Werner he is represented with the crown of Boleslaw the Brave and the Szczerbiec sword. In the portraits of this ruler, lay aspects of power show up. The image of a ruler by divine grace vanishes. In the coronation portraits he is dressed worldly. Also, an increasing distance from the image of a Sarmatian ruler is ovious: a Sarmatian costume was abandoned. Stanisław August Poniatowski is often emphasized as a military leader wearing a martial tunic with a regiment in his hand.

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