The Emperor Paul I condescends to visit Tadeusz Kościuszko in prison

Copper engraving after Alexander Orłowski.

After being wounded and taken prisoner in a battle near Macejovice in Poland, Tadeusz Kościuszko was taken to St Petersburg. In view of his condition, Catherine II first allowed him to live in the two-room apartment of the superintendent of the Peter and Paul Fortress, and in the summer of 1795, he moved to a trader’s house on the embankment of the River Moyka. Her successor Paul I visited Kościuszko in 1796, twice offering him a house in Moscow, and inviting him to serve Russia. Kościuszko used the emperor’s visit as a chance to plead the cause of other rebels and to ask for their freedom. Europe perceived the emperor’s visit as a gesture of good-will. The Warsaw-based Alexander Orłowski (1777–1832), who also fought in battles in the rebellion, depicted the event in watercolours, based on reports he heard from St Petersburg. In 1801, the engraver Thomas Gaugain (1756–1812) produced some engravings from the watercolours that were meant to show the world the generosity of the emperor. The first scene shows the visit to Kościuszko, who, being injured, receives the emperor seated. A map on the wall shows the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Kościuszko’s black valet is depicted on the left of the composition, and the emperor stands on the right with his entourage, with soldiers guarding the door.

Text author Rūta Janonienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album DELINEATIO LITUÆ (2009). Text authors Jevgenij Machovenko, Algimantas Muzikevičius, RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė
Expositions: "The Age of Romanticism", 11 September 2019 – 6 August 2020, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curator Rūta Janonienė.

Copper engraving after Alexander Orłowski.

After being wounded and taken prisoner in a battle near Macejovice in Poland, Tadeusz Kościuszko was taken to St Petersburg. In view of his condition, Catherine II first allowed him to live in the two-room apartment of the superintendent of the Peter and Paul Fortress, and in the summer of 1795, he moved to a trader’s house on the embankment of the River Moyka. Her successor Paul I visited Kościuszko in 1796, twice offering him a house in Moscow, and inviting him to serve Russia. Kościuszko used the emperor’s visit as a chance to plead the cause of other rebels and to ask for their freedom. Europe perceived the emperor’s visit as a gesture of good-will. The Warsaw-based Alexander Orłowski (1777–1832), who also fought in battles in the rebellion, depicted the event in watercolours, based on reports he heard from St Petersburg. In 1801, the engraver Thomas Gaugain (1756–1812) produced some engravings from the watercolours that were meant to show the world the generosity of the emperor. The first scene shows the visit to Kościuszko, who, being injured, receives the emperor seated. A map on the wall shows the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Kościuszko’s black valet is depicted on the left of the composition, and the emperor stands on the right with his entourage, with soldiers guarding the door.

Text author Rūta Janonienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album DELINEATIO LITUÆ (2009). Text authors Jevgenij Machovenko, Algimantas Muzikevičius, RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė
Expositions: "The Age of Romanticism", 11 September 2019 – 6 August 2020, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curator Rūta Janonienė.