Artist not specified (Poland, 2nd half of the 17th century), Portrait of Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz

oil, duplicated canvas; dimensions 89 x 66 cm
after conservation

The painting depicts a man of mature age, with a thick, gray beard and mustache, and his gray hair combed upward. In his right hand, the portrayed man holds a Hetman's mace with a shaft and head decorated with silver buttons. His left hand is clenched on the handle of the saber. He is dressed in a dark żupan fastened with silver buttons. Over the żupan he has a delia imposed with a row of large decorative buttons on the edge, fastened at the neck with a clasp with a white stone. At the bottom of the painting, fragments of an inscription: on the left "FACTOR/STI", on the right "TEM/MICH".
On the reverse, on the original doublet canvas glued to the doublet of 2022, the inscription: "Joannes Carolus Chodkiewicz"/further three lines of signature rubbed off/Benefactor Templi Sti Michaelis".

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz was portrayed many times. His conterfects are in the collections of Polish and foreign museums, including those in Vilnius and Lviv. The National Museum in Warsaw has four images of him. Portraits of Chodkiewicz were painted by Marcello Bacciarelli, Jan Bogumił Plersch, Leon Kaplinski and Wojciech Gerson, among others. His likeness was also the subject of many engravings and publications. He was painted at various times in his life, but the vast majority of portraits depict him as a mature man, with his hair and beard dusted with gray. The prototype for these works is a well-known 1648 engraving by the Gdansk-based engraver Wilhelm Hondius, court engraver to King Wladyslaw IV Vasa. The portrait presented at auction belongs to this category, which allows it to be dated to the 2nd half of the 17th century.

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (1570/71-1621 Chocim)
Grand Hetman of Lithuania from 1605, Field Hetman of Lithuania from 1600, Voivode of Vilnius from 1616, one of the most outstanding European military commanders of the early 17th century. Chodkiewicz became famous for his brilliant victory over the Swedes at the Battle of Kircholm in 1605 during the War of Inflants. His four-thousand-man unit beat a fourteen-thousand-man Swedish corps. Nine thousand enemy soldiers suffered death, 60 banners and 12 cannons were captured. This victory made the name of Hetman Chodkiewicz famous all over the world. Congratulations were sent by Pope Paul V, Emperor Rudolf II, King James I Stuart of England and the Persian Shah Abbas I the Great, among others. During the Livonian War, Chodkiewicz also won other victories, including command at the Battle of Kokenhausen and White Stone. He took part in the Cossack and Moldavian wars and the Polish-Russian war. He was an excellent administrator of inherited or entrusted estates. He erected numerous fortifications, fortified cities, and founded churches and monasteries. Among them is the chapel of St. Raphael in Nesvizh, which with his support was expanded into a church, consecrated in 1629. - St. Michael's Church. A fragment of the inscription on the face of the painting and an inscription on the duplicate canvas refer to this foundation.