The ruins of Queen Barbara Radzviłł palace in Vilnius

The printmaker Tadeusz Byczkowski (1797– after 1857) came from a family of Lithuanian landowners, and studied painting under Jan Rustem at Vilnius University. He lived in Warsaw from 1828, and worked at the money printing shop of the Bank of Poland, where he made the lithograph The ruins of Queen Barbora Radvilaitė’s palace in Vilnius, for which he used his own drawing. According to the historian Birutė Vitkauskienė, Byczkowski probably depicted the palace stables in his drawing (B.R. Vitkauskienė, ‘Fragmentas iš Vilniaus miesto istorijos: Radvilų rūmų užgrobimas’, Atrasti Vilnių: skiriama Vladui Drėmai, compiled by G. Jankevičiūtė, Vilnius, 2010, p. 120). The building is seen from the River Neris, which is evidenced by the nearby shrine to St John Nepomucen. This saint was believed to protect people from accidents in water, and that is why sculptures like this were often put up near rivers and lakes. The historian Michał Baliński reproduced this lithograph in his book Pamiętniki o królowej Barbarze (Recollections about Queen Barbora, Warsaw, t. 2, 1837).

Text author Laima Laučkaitė.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album 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)

The printmaker Tadeusz Byczkowski (1797– after 1857) came from a family of Lithuanian landowners, and studied painting under Jan Rustem at Vilnius University. He lived in Warsaw from 1828, and worked at the money printing shop of the Bank of Poland, where he made the lithograph The ruins of Queen Barbora Radvilaitė’s palace in Vilnius, for which he used his own drawing. According to the historian Birutė Vitkauskienė, Byczkowski probably depicted the palace stables in his drawing (B.R. Vitkauskienė, ‘Fragmentas iš Vilniaus miesto istorijos: Radvilų rūmų užgrobimas’, Atrasti Vilnių: skiriama Vladui Drėmai, compiled by G. Jankevičiūtė, Vilnius, 2010, p. 120). The building is seen from the River Neris, which is evidenced by the nearby shrine to St John Nepomucen. This saint was believed to protect people from accidents in water, and that is why sculptures like this were often put up near rivers and lakes. The historian Michał Baliński reproduced this lithograph in his book Pamiętniki o królowej Barbarze (Recollections about Queen Barbora, Warsaw, t. 2, 1837).

Text author Laima Laučkaitė.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album 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)