Royal Picture Gallery of Stanisław August

In contrast to the Royal Castle in Warsaw, which was the property of the King and the Republic, an official state residence and seat of the parliament, the Royal Łazienki was a private estate. The tone of its painted decoration was thus different – much more independent of the requirements of ceremonial and propaganda related purposes.

The ideological programme – intended to show the Polish ruler as an enlightened monarch – manifests in two interiors in the Palace on the Isle: The Salle de Salomon, known at the time as the Company Room (Salle de compagne), and the Rotunda. In the Salle de Salomon, the sequence of five canvases embedded in walls, depicting the history of the biblical king Salomon – a learned man and the builder of the Temple in Jerusalem – was a symbolic reference to Stanisław August – a wise ruler, but first and foremost an erudite and patron of fine arts, while in the Rotunda, the ideological programme is exhibited by the sequence of four allegorical tondi depicting the universal royal virtues of wisdom, courage, justice, and clemency. The paintings were painted by Marcello Bacciarelli, who also painted 12 oval portraits of Stanisław August’s family members for the display in the Bedchamber (later transformed into the Dining Room).

Palace on the Isle – a Museum Villa