Constitution of 3 May 1791 is a large
Romantic oil painting by
Jan Matejko. It was painted in 1891 to commemorate the centenary of the Polish
Constitution of 1791, a milestone in the history of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the high point of the
Polish Enlightenment. Set in the late afternoon of 3 May 1791, the canvas shows a procession from
Warsaw's
Royal Castle, where the Constitution has just been adopted by the
Great Sejm, to
St. John's Collegiate Church. While the procession was a historical event, Matejko took many artistic liberties, such as including persons who were not in fact present or had died earlier, because he intended the painting to be a synthesis of the final years of the Commonwealth. Like many works by the same artist, the picture presents a grand scene populated with numerous historic figures, including King
Stanislaus Augustus;
Marshals of the Great Sejm,
Stanisław Małachowski and
Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha; and co-authors of the Constitution such as
Hugo Kołłątaj and
Ignacy Potocki. Altogether, some twenty individuals have been identified by modern historians. Originally displayed in
Lviv, the work now hangs at the Royal Castle of Warsaw. (Full article...)
Detail of a
half-timbered wall of the Holy Trinity Church in
Świdnica. It is one of the Churches of Peace constructed after the
Peace of Westphalia allowed
Lutherans to build three churches in the
Catholic parts of
Silesia. They were to be built outside city walls, without steeples and church bells, and made only of wood, loam and straw. The three churches were erected in Glogau (
Głogów), Jauer (
Jawor) and Schweidnitz (Świdnica), the latter of which two have survived to this day.
Constitution of 3 May 1791 is a large
Romantic oil painting by
Jan Matejko. It was painted in 1891 to commemorate the centenary of the Polish
Constitution of 1791, a milestone in the history of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the high point of the
Polish Enlightenment. Set in the late afternoon of 3 May 1791, the canvas shows a procession from
Warsaw's
Royal Castle, where the Constitution has just been adopted by the
Great Sejm, to
St. John's Collegiate Church. While the procession was a historical event, Matejko took many artistic liberties, such as including persons who were not in fact present or had died earlier, because he intended the painting to be a synthesis of the final years of the Commonwealth. Like many works by the same artist, the picture presents a grand scene populated with numerous historic figures, including King
Stanislaus Augustus;
Marshals of the Great Sejm,
Stanisław Małachowski and
Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha; and co-authors of the Constitution such as
Hugo Kołłątaj and
Ignacy Potocki. Altogether, some twenty individuals have been identified by modern historians. Originally displayed in
Lviv, the work now hangs at the Royal Castle of Warsaw. (Full article...)
Detail of a
half-timbered wall of the Holy Trinity Church in
Świdnica. It is one of the Churches of Peace constructed after the
Peace of Westphalia allowed
Lutherans to build three churches in the
Catholic parts of
Silesia. They were to be built outside city walls, without steeples and church bells, and made only of wood, loam and straw. The three churches were erected in Glogau (
Głogów), Jauer (
Jawor) and Schweidnitz (Świdnica), the latter of which two have survived to this day.