Rękawiczki z portretem Tadeusza Kościuszki w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie

• Authors: Monika Paś

Title variants

EN

THE GLOVES WITH A PORTRAIT OF TADEUSZ KOŚCIUSZKO IN THE COLLECTION OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN CRACOW

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Since 1891 the National Museum in Cracow has owned a pair of woman’s gloves decorated with a portrait of Tadeusz Kościuszko. The gloves were sewn by hand from lambskin (?) with silk thread. The right glove is decorated with a tondo with a copperplate portrait of Tadeusz Kosciuszko in left profile, showing him raising a sabre with the inscription: “Death or Victory”. Under the tondo there is a signature reading: J.[ózef] Łęski sc. [ulpsit] Varsaviae 1794, and underneath: “Let me once again fight for the Fatherland / TADEUSZ KOŚCIUSZKO / The Highest Commander of the armed forces of / THE POLISH NATION. The left glove is decorated with a copperplate engraved inscription: “A keepsake for a patriotic collector”, surrounded with a wreath of laurel and palm leaves (?) tied in a bow. A meticulous analysis of historic records and iconographic sources has uncovered the model of Kosciuszko’s portrait and the circumstances of producing the gloves. After the outbreak of the Kościuszko Uprising in March 1794, a violent battle took place in Warsaw on the 17th and 18th of April, as a result of which many inhabitants lost all their property and were left with nothing to live on. The municipal authorities initiated a collection of money which was conducted in Warsaw churches by ladies of noble and burgher families. The collection was commemorated with gloves. The originator of this idea was probably Reverend Onufry Kopczyński. The commemorative gloves were probably manufactured in Michał Grosse’s workshop and Kosciuszko’s portrait was most likely prepared by the engraver Jabłoński. It is certain that 82 pairs of such gloves were made. The pair kept in the National Museum in Cracow, which probably belonged to Anna Krajewska, is the only one surviving.

Keywords

EN

HISTORY OF ART

• Publisher: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 217-224

Contributors

author

Monika Paś

• Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, al. 3 Maja 1, 30-062 Kraków