Building Gediminas’ Castle

After Michał Elwiro Andriolli (1836–1893).

Michał Elwiro Andriolli (1836–1895) participated in the 1863 uprising against Imperial Russia, and was deported to Siberia. After he returned from exile in 1871, he settled near Warsaw, illustrated works by Adam Mickiewicz and other Polish authors, and painted patriotic pictures on historical themes. Andriolli painted Building Gediminas’ Castle in 1882, and Bronisław Puc, a craftsman from Warsaw, made a woodcut based on it. It has a complex composition with many figures, and tells a complicated narrative. The walls of the castle rise on the hill, a cart pulled by horses and pushed by slaves carries stones, a pagan fire is burning near the tower, and the priest Krivių Krivaitis and prophets are blessing the construction and asking the gods for help. In the foreground is Gediminas, the legendary founder of Vilnius, wearing a suit of armour and sitting astride a horse surrounded by servants and bodyguards. Next to him, a German foreman is kneeling and showing him the plan for the castle. All the action is seen from below, and this angle of view gives the composition a certain grandeur. The work is executed in the Historicist style, aspiring to represent a ‘real’ 14th-century scene, glorifying the foundation of the city and the strength of pagan Lithuania. It is very popular, and in the 19th and 20th centuries it was reproduced many times in various publications.

Text author Laima Laučkaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album DELINEATIO LITUÆ (2009). Text authors Jevgenij Machovenko, Algimantas Muzikevičius, VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė, RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė) "Vilnius Time", 5 June 2023 – 1 May 2024, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curators Ieva Burbaitė and Emilija Vanagaitė.

After Michał Elwiro Andriolli (1836–1893).

Michał Elwiro Andriolli (1836–1895) participated in the 1863 uprising against Imperial Russia, and was deported to Siberia. After he returned from exile in 1871, he settled near Warsaw, illustrated works by Adam Mickiewicz and other Polish authors, and painted patriotic pictures on historical themes. Andriolli painted Building Gediminas’ Castle in 1882, and Bronisław Puc, a craftsman from Warsaw, made a woodcut based on it. It has a complex composition with many figures, and tells a complicated narrative. The walls of the castle rise on the hill, a cart pulled by horses and pushed by slaves carries stones, a pagan fire is burning near the tower, and the priest Krivių Krivaitis and prophets are blessing the construction and asking the gods for help. In the foreground is Gediminas, the legendary founder of Vilnius, wearing a suit of armour and sitting astride a horse surrounded by servants and bodyguards. Next to him, a German foreman is kneeling and showing him the plan for the castle. All the action is seen from below, and this angle of view gives the composition a certain grandeur. The work is executed in the Historicist style, aspiring to represent a ‘real’ 14th-century scene, glorifying the foundation of the city and the strength of pagan Lithuania. It is very popular, and in the 19th and 20th centuries it was reproduced many times in various publications.

Text author Laima Laučkaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album DELINEATIO LITUÆ (2009). Text authors Jevgenij Machovenko, Algimantas Muzikevičius, VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė, RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė) "Vilnius Time", 5 June 2023 – 1 May 2024, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curators Ieva Burbaitė and Emilija Vanagaitė.