The work forms the centrepiece of a new exhibition entitled “The King’s Rembrandt: The Polish Rider from the Frick Collection in New York."
Owned since 1910 by the New York-based museum and research centre, The Polish Rider used to belong to Stanislaus II Augustus, who reigned in late 18th century as the last king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The artwork itself, dated around 1655, “illustrates the Dutch painter’s masterful, mature style,” Royal Łazienki Museum officials said.
The museum’s director Zbigniew Wawer told reporters that “thanks to Rembrandt’s work, every military historian in the world is familiar with what a Polish nobleman looked like in the first half of the 17th century.”
The mystery of The Polish Rider
At the same time, it is not known whom exactly The Polish Rider depicts, according to art historians.
“The mystery of the painting and its extraordinary, poetic mood” are among the main reasons for “the extraordinary popularity of the work,” the Warsaw museum said.
The Frick said that “Rembrandt's painting of a youthful long-haired rider in Polish dress, armed with two swords, a war hammer, and a quiver of arrows, remains one of his most haunting works."
The Polish Rider is on display at the Royal Łazienki Museum’s Palace on the Isle from May 6 to August 7.
Later it will be showcased at Wawel Castle in the southern Polish city of Kraków, Deputy Culture Minister Jarosław Sellin announced.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, lazienki-krolewskie.pl, frick.org
Listen to an audio report in which Elżbieta Krajewska finds out more from Izabela Zychowicz, a curator with the Royal Łazienki Museum, and the Frick Collection's Xavier Solomon.