EN
The author's objective is to draw attention to the iconography of these offices, until now largely overlooked, by selecting a group of portraits dating from the 17th century. At the moment these works arose only two of their subjects would have still been in office, but in almost each case the official insignia was placed on the portrait. The author endeavours to explain this phenomenon, indicating that the bishops were depicted according to a convention typical of representative portraiture. The duality of functions performed by such figures, state and clerical, was glorified in their coat-of-arms, in spite of the fact that a law of 1650 forbad any bearer of the status of Chancellor also being a member of the Catholic clergy. In conclusion, the author states full consideration is possible of the subject 'bishop as chancellor' by focusing on two fields of research: one general and the other specific in relation to administering the Polish-Lithuanian Respublica, but as a result of the current state of studies it is difficult to establish whether the dating of portraits based on the seal of office depicted is actually correct.