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Adoration of Saint Francis

Szymon Czechowicz

Basic information

ID: Ж-6142
Author: Szymon Czechowicz
Name: Adoration of Saint Francis
Date of creation: mid-18th c.
Country: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions: 266 x 171 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: religious
Plot: Life of Saint Francis of Assisi
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

Most of the composition is taken by the figure of a kneeling monk with his arms wide apart. The robe is girded with a thick cord. The Holy Spirit depicted as a pigeon is shown in the upper left corner of the painting; five rays of light come out of it, touching the monk's hands. In the lower right corner are images of a human skull and a bush of white flowers (camomiles ?). The wooden cross, fixed with a cord, is behind the monk's left hand. The effulgence is over the monk's head. To the man's left is a figure of an elderly monk lying on the grass, resting his elbow on an open book. The images of angels are above the monk's head in the clouds. The mountain landscape serves as a background for the painting.

Portrayed person