“The Polish Rider” (Lisowczyk), the masterpiece painted by Dutch artist Rembrandt, has returned to the Warsaw palace where it was last housed two centuries ago. Its current owner loaned it to one of New York’s most important cultural institutions, the Frick Collection.

“It is probably the most valuable loaned painting that has been exhibited in Poland in recent years,” the director of the Royal Łazienki Museum Zbigniew Wawer told Polskie Radio.

“The Polish Rider” belonged to Poland’s 18th-century king and the last ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanisław August Poniatowski. It used to be kept at his summer residence in the Łazienki Park.

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Poniatowski, an admirer of Rembrandt, received the artwork from the military commander Michał Kazimierz Ogiński in 1791 in exchange for several orange trees from the royal gardens. 

In the early 20th century, the painting’s last owner, Zdzisław Tarnowski, sold it to American financier and collector Henry Clay Frick. 

To this day, the identity of the “Polish Rider” remains unknown. The latter is often called “Lisowczyk” by Polish historians. He is believed to represent the courage of Polish soldiers in the 17th century while clashing with Moscow. 

The painting will be on display until the 7th of August in the Picture Gallery at the Palace on the Isle in the Łazienki Park, where it drew queues of visitors on the first weekend. It will later also be presented at the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków.

Image: Wikipedia, public domain

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen

From the editor: you can read more about the painting in the article The Polish Rider by Rembrandt written by the best art critic in the UK – Waldemar Januszczak.