A prayer

The 1863 uprising affected many artists who were directly involved in the struggle for freedom or supported it in other ways. Edward Jan Römer (1806–1878), an active participant in social and cultural life, did not join the rebels, but he was clearly connected with the resistance movement and was not able to avoid persecution. He was arrested together with his son Izydor (1843–1910), and from July 1863 until the uprising was put down he was held under house arrest in Kaunas. The police later kept a constant eye on him. He did not consider himself to be a professional artist, but he had studied in the Department of Painting and Drawing at Vilnius University, and was a competent draughtsman. According to the note on the back of this watercolour, he painted A prayer under house arrest on 27 October 1863. It is not clear if this date bore any significance in the life of the Römers, or whether it was connected with political events. The rebels were defeated in battle by the Russian army near Kuflev in Poland on that day, but it is doubtful that the news could have reached Kaunas so quickly. In the watercolour, Römer expressed the general mood of the time, the desire for a miracle, and the last hopes placed in prayer and faith. The elderly man and the woman in Lithuanian national dress symbolise the entire country seeking support in the light emanating from a cross.

Text author Rūta Janonienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė

The 1863 uprising affected many artists who were directly involved in the struggle for freedom or supported it in other ways. Edward Jan Römer (1806–1878), an active participant in social and cultural life, did not join the rebels, but he was clearly connected with the resistance movement and was not able to avoid persecution. He was arrested together with his son Izydor (1843–1910), and from July 1863 until the uprising was put down he was held under house arrest in Kaunas. The police later kept a constant eye on him. He did not consider himself to be a professional artist, but he had studied in the Department of Painting and Drawing at Vilnius University, and was a competent draughtsman. According to the note on the back of this watercolour, he painted A prayer under house arrest on 27 October 1863. It is not clear if this date bore any significance in the life of the Römers, or whether it was connected with political events. The rebels were defeated in battle by the Russian army near Kuflev in Poland on that day, but it is doubtful that the news could have reached Kaunas so quickly. In the watercolour, Römer expressed the general mood of the time, the desire for a miracle, and the last hopes placed in prayer and faith. The elderly man and the woman in Lithuanian national dress symbolise the entire country seeking support in the light emanating from a cross.

Text author Rūta Janonienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė