On display are 37 works of European art from the private collection of Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko, which is the core of the National Museum of Arts in Kyiv, popularly known as the Khanenko Museum.
In the wake of extensive damage to the museum during Russian attacks on Kyiv in the autumn of 2022, a part of the Khanenko collection was loaned to the Royal Castle for safe-keeping and the necessary conservation work on some of the paintings.
In her address during the opening ceremony, the director of the Royal Castle, Małgorzata Omilanowska-Kiljańczyk, described the artworks on display as “one of the most priceless collections of art in Ukraine, a carefully thought-out, rich and diverse body of Italian, Dutch, Flemish, French and Spanish art."
“It is the first ever such sizable presentation of the Khanenko collection outside of Ukraine,” Omilanowska-Kiljańczyk said.
Małgorzata Omilanowska-Kiljańczyk, director of Warsaw's Royal Castle. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
In her emotionally charged remarks, Yulia Vaganova, the director of the Bohdan and Varavara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kyiv, thanked Ukrainian Army soldiers for protecting the artworks and ensuring their safe removal from war-affected areas.
She said that some of her professional colleagues are these days fighting arms-in-hand in the defence of their homeland and its heritage.
Vaganova added: “The presentation of our collection in the Library of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, the only section of the building that survived the bombing of the Castle during WWII, carries a symbolic meaning."
Yulia Vaganova, director of the Bohdan and Varavara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
The paintings on show include Still Life with Pumpkins by 17th-century artist Michelangelo Pace, known as del Campidoglio; Winter Landscape by Flemish master Gijsbrecht Leytens; and a copy of the portrait of infant Margarita Teresa, daughter of King Philip IV of Spain, which comes from the workshop of Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo, an assistant and son-in-law of Diego Velazquez.
One of the focal points of the exhibition is the portrait of Polish King Stanisław August in the costume of Henry IV, painted by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun in 1797.
The king is depicted wearing a feathered hat, a dark blue doublet with a lace collar, and a black cloak. Around his neck, there is a golden chain with a medallion featuring the eye of providence.
The attire refers to Henry IV of Bourbon, whose ability to maintain peace between Calvinists and Catholics in 16th-century France served as a reference point for Poland’s last king in shaping his own image as an enlightened ruler.
Stanisław August was convinced of his physical and intellectual resemblance to Henry IV.
The exhibition runs until the end of March.
(mk/gs)