Miniature of Magdalena Agnieszka Sapieżyna née Lubomirska

Miniature from the collection of Stanisław August. It depicts the king’s long-time friend and mother of three of his children, wearing a daring décolleté revealing her breast; her hair, piled high up on her head, is characteristic of the fashion in the second half of the 1770s. It is most probably the work of the royal court miniaturist, J. Zeich (whose first name is not known). The stylistic features of the composition suggest that it was modelled on a lost and now unknown painting by Marcello Bacciarelli, under whose supervision Zeich worked in the Castle’s painting studio. [D.Juszczak]