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13
Castle19.Itisdifficulttoestimatetheirartisticvalueduetotheirbadconditionandold
restoration,butgenerallytheyseemtobequiteclosetotheoriginals,likecopiesfrom
thePieskowaSkałaCastle.
Apairofetchingsexecutedaround1876inViennabyWilliamUngerareconsidered
tobethemostrecentcopiesoftheWarsawRembrandtpanels20.Judgingbytheetching
oftheGirl’sportrait,theyarearelativelyfreeinterpretationofRembrandt’soriginals.
MostofthoseeightcopiesoftheGirl’sandfiveoftheScholar’sportraitareexecuted
inoil;theyarerelativelysimilarinsize,mostdepictthemodelsinthesamescale.The
majordifferences,alsooccurringinothertechniques,concernthecopiesoftheGirl:her
armsareshorter.Doesthismeanthatalltheauthorsofthecopieshavemadethesame
alterationtoRembrandt’scomposition?Ordidtheyallfollowafirstcopywhichalready
hadthisalteration?Inaddition,someofthecopiesdifferinthedepictionoftheframe
andthesignature,whichmightconstituteanevidenceofchangesintheoriginalpaint-
ing’sappearance.
Duringthenineteenthcenturyandinthefirsthalfofthetwentiethcentury,Rem-
brandt’sliteraturerecognizedbothpaintings–TheGirlinapictureframeandTheSchol-
arathiswritingtable–astheartist’soriginalworks21.Since1902theRembrandtpaint-
ings,partoftheKarolLanckoroński’swellrecognizedcollection,weremetwithgreat
successwhiledisplayedtothepublicinhisViennapalace(ill.1).
AfterWorldWarI,whenPolandregaineditsindependenceafter123yearsofparti-
tions,theownerplannedtomovehiscollectiontohisnativeland.Unfortunately,World
WarIIbeganandthewholecollectionwasplunderedbytheNazisandhiddennear
Salzburg,withotherartobjectsstolenfromEurope.However,apartofthecollection
survivedandin1947itwasrecoveredbyitsowners;thefamilyonceagainmadeplansto
removethecollectionfromAustria,buttemporarilyitwasimpoundedintheHohenems
CastleneartheLichtensteinborder,wherein1950itwaspartiallydestroyedbyafire.
Afterthat,themostvaluableworksofart–theRembrandtsamongthem–weresecretly
movedtoSwitzerland.Bothpanelswereconsideredtobelostuntil1994(theyearof
theLanckorońskifamilydonation)22.Astheywerenolongeravailableforresearchafter
1950,theirauthorshipwasquestionedin1969byHorstGerson,whoknewthepictures
onlyfromphotographsandneverexaminedthem23.Forthisreasontheywereneither
19
Thefirsthalfofthenineteenthcentury(?),oiloncanvas;dimensionsofbothpaintings:102,5
×78cm,inv.Ż1735andZ1736.
20
M.Ch.LeBlanc,ManueldeI’amateurd’estampescontenantledictionairedesgraveursdetout
nations...,vol.4,Paris1890,no.28,29.
21
A.Ziemba,DwaobrazyzkolekcjiLanckorońskich:RembrandtiBol,
,,Ikonotheka”,1998,
p.11–26.Autorpresentssubjectliterature:W.Bode,C.HofstededeGroot,1901;W.R.Valentiner,
1921;C.HofstededeGroot,1925;A.Bredius,1935.
22
ThehistoryofLanckoroński’scollectionhasbeendescribedinthesourcepublicationsby
JoannaWiniewicz-Wolska.See.ie.:J.Winiewicz-Wolska,KarolLanckorońskiijegowiedeńskiezbio-
ry,Kraków2010;eadem,WiedeńskiezbioryKarolaLanckorońskiegosprzedstulaty,
,,FoliaHisto-
riaeArtium”,2002–2003,vol.VIII–IX,p.107–160;eadem,DziejekolekcjiLanckorońskichwlatach
1939–1946,„RocznikHistoriiSztuki”,2003,vol.XXVIII,p.19–45.
23
A.Bredius,Rembrandt:TheCompleteEditionofthePaintings,revisedbyH.Gerson,London
1969.
