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    Published: 2023-12-30
    No. 7 (2023)

    Portrety Jana Karola Chodkiewicza: studium typologiczno-ikonograficzne

    Tojana Račiūnaitė
    Artifex Novus
    Section: Artykuły tematyczne
    https://doi.org/10.21697/an.13469

    Abstract

    Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (after 1570–1621), Voivode of Vilnius, Grand Hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, received copious verbal and visual representations. Nevertheless, Chodkiewicz's own portraits have not been comprehensively and systematically analysed. This article is one of the earliest attempts to present the portrait iconography of Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, aiming to classify it according to compositional-visual similarity or a common motif, for example, an armour, a window in the background, or the worn garments. Hopefully, such portrait analysis will confirm the hypothesis that, in some cases, groups of portraits that have a visual similarity or commonality of an iconographic element can be associated with a particular construction of a personal image, a selection and emphasis of certain features. The most fascinating element of the research is to identify the original examples, the most authentic images, which later on were replicated. Thus, it is worth highlighting once again the following works: the 1601–1605 portrait by an unknown author; an engraving by Peter van de Jode from the 1620s; a portrait painted by an unknown local master, which today is in the Jarosław Museum; and the image held in the Lviv National Art Gallery, created shortly after the hetman's death. These are some of the oldest portraits, closest to the life model. In addition, unmistakably imaginative images require distinction in Chodkiewicz's portrait iconography. Most of these portraits were created after the hetman's death, in the mid- and second half of the 17th century, end of the 18th century, and 19th century, usually replicating earlier images.

    However, there are also known imaginative images from the time of Chodkiewicz's life. A few of these are the emblematic woodcuts in the 1621 publication Sacra Lithothesis, where the hetman is depicted very generically as armoured Miles Christianus and can only be identified from the texts and heraldic symbols. Others are imaginative representations of mimetic nature. These include the engraving by Gerard Seghers 1609–1611, created to commemorate the military campaign to Russia, initiated by Sigismund III. Paradoxically, possibly because of its masterful execution and emotional impact, the work Godefridus Chodkiewicz Dux Moscovia is described in the historiography as a nature study. Yet, the research revealed that the engraver did not use Chodkiewicz as a life model, nor relied on other iconographic sources that conveyed hetman's appearance.

    Keywords:

    Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, portrait iconography, 17th-century portraiture, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, personal image of the Hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

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    Citation rules

    Račiūnaitė , T. (2023). Portrety Jana Karola Chodkiewicza: studium typologiczno-ikonograficzne. Artifex Novus, (7), 234–263. https://doi.org/10.21697/an.13469

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