Rembrandt’s masterpiece “The Polish Rider” will be on display at Łazienki in Warsaw more than two hundred years after it left the King’s residence. The canvas of the brilliant Dutch painter is on display from 6 May to 7 August 2022 as a part of the exhibition “The King’s Rembrandt. The Polish Rider from the Frick Collection in New York.”
Rembrandt’s “The Polish Rider” was part of an extensive collection of paintings by the last Polish king, Stanisław Augustus. The painting was sold over time by the heirs of the ruler and passed into the hands of other owners and is now part of the Frick Collection in New York.
It is one of the most famous canvases of the artist. The enigma of the painting and its unusual poetic mood as well as the purely painterly qualities – the masterful, typical Rembrandt brushstrokes technique and the refined colour tonality – have determined the extraordinary popularity of the work. The “The Polish Rider,” painted around 1655, is an example of the artist’s mature style.
“The Polish Rider” was offered to King Stanislaw in August 1791 by Michał Kazimierz Ogiński, Grand Hetman of Lithuania, composer and writer, in exchange for orange trees from the Royal Gardens.
The painting hangs in the Hall on the first floor of the Palace on the Isle in the Royal Łazienki, the monarch’s beloved summer residence, where he collected the most valuable works from his collection of paintings. After the King abdicated in 1795 and left the country, the painting remained in Łazienki. Towards the end of the 1790s, the painting was moved to the Picture Gallery on the ground floor of the Palace, where it will now be presented to the public.
The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual publication with essays by the curators. In the Old Guardhouse, a specially designed educational area will be opened where activities for children will take place.
The whole story of the painting is available on the official Royal Łazienki website