The Lost Portrait of Aniela Zamoyska née Potocka by Jan Matejko

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the lost portrait of Aniela Konstantowa Zamoyska, née Potocka, by Jan Matejko. Completed in 1872 and presented twice to the general public at exhibitions at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw, the painting represents a period in Matejko’s oeuvre when the artist departed from the realistic presentation of models. Fearing the approaching front, the work was transported in 1944 from the Zamoyski Palace in Kozłówka to the Brzozowski Palace in Warsaw, where it was destroyed during the war. Fortunately, a black and white photograph from 1872, a glass negative made after 1923, a print in the so-called Matejko Album and a recently found copy of the painting by Florian Cynk (?). This article summarises currently available sources and outlines the countess’s biography, including a correction of the year of her birth, which has so far been given incorrectly.