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Adoration of Saint Francis

Szymon Czechowicz

Basic information

ID: Ж-4211
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: 170 x 101 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

In the lower right corner of the picture there is a figure of a kneeling monk with his hands raised at chest level; he is dressed in a brown robe. The angel depicted as a young man is shown behind the monk; he holds a basket with pink flowers in his hands. To the left of the monk there are two angels; one of them is holding a cross in his hands and the other one – a book. In the upper left corner of the painting there are figures of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Christ is dressed in light clothes, and the Virgin Mary in pink and blue ones. The Virgin Mary is passing the monk a letter missive.

Portrayed person