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Martyrdom of Saint Apollonia

Szymon Czechowicz

Basic information

ID: Ж-6105
Author: Szymon Czechowicz
Name: Martyrdom of Saint Apollonia
Date of creation: mid-18th c.
Country: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions: 170 x 101 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: religious
Plot: Life of Saint Apollonia of Alexandria
Provenance: Lviv Historical Museum
Exposition: Zhovkva Castle

Information about author

Author: Szymon Czechowicz
Author in the original: Szymon Czechowicz
Artist's lifetime: 1689–1775
Country: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Biography: Szymon Czechowicz was born in an impoverished noble family in Krakow on July 28, 1689. He became an orphan at a young age. Thanks to the support of his patron and philanthropist Franciszek Ossolinski, the artist went to Rome, where he studied painting at the Academy of St. Luke under the guidance of Carlo Maratti. The first professional works of the artist were copies after famous painters, such as Rubens, Van Dyck and others; the artist drew upon their iconographic compositions. In 1765, at the invitation of Waclaw Rzewuski, he arrived at Pidhirtsi Castle in the Lviv region; by 1767, Czechowicz created 107 works that became part of the castle interior and a kind of the first museum of the artist. During the last period of his life, Szymon Czechowicz worked in Lithuania and Warsaw, where he opened his own art studio. The painter died on July 21, 1775. He was considered to be one of the best artists of the Baroque era in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Among the master's creative legacy, there are portraits and monumental paintings on sacred themes.

Object description

In the centre of the composition, there are two figures, namely a young woman tied to a column (pillar) of dark colour, and a man dressed in bright red shorts and a white shirt with a left sleeve pulled down. The female figure is dressed in a green chiton fastened with a round clasp. Her gaze is directed to the sky. In the raised right hand of the man, one can see a blacksmith's tongs with a human tooth in it. Behind the man, there is a figure of a judge dressed in white clothes who is sitting on a chair. The judge is surrounded by two men with bundles of firewood in their hands. Landscape elements serve as a background of the painting.

Portrayed person