Grisailles of Łukasz Smuglewicz on the theme of the battles of Alexander the Great

The article discusses three grisailles painted by Łukasz Smuglewicz (1709– 1780), which were transferred to Lithuanian Art Museum for permanent keep by the State Hermitage in 1959. The author of the paintings is the father of Franciszek Smuglewicz (1745–1807), a professor of the Department of Drawing and Painting at Vilnius University. He was born in Samogitia and spent most of his time in Warsaw, where he died. The paintings discussed are the only works of L. Smuglewicz at Lithuanian museums. They were painted according to the engravings made in 1672–1678 by a famous graphic artist of that time Girard Audran (1640–1703). The engravings belong to a cycle of Charles Le Brun (1619–1690), which depicts military campaigns of Alexander the Great. These are the compositions “Alexander the Great at the Tent of Darius”, “Alexander’s Triumphal Entry into Babylon” and “Alexander the Great and Porus”, painted and signed by the author in 1775. The artist’s approach to the prototypes was creative. The dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, as well as fading contours characteristic for 17th century Baroque art disappeared in the grisailles of L. Smuglewicz. The drawing became clearer, contours of figures – more expressive, the general view – lighter and calmer, closer to the new neoclassical aesthetics that formed in the late 18th century. Modelling the scope and creating the space L. Smuglewicz skilfully conveyed the impression of sculpture relief and polished marble surface. This shows L. Smuglewicz’s definite talent and perfect knowledge of his craft. Differently from the originals of Ch. Le Brun and G. Audran, all three grisailles of L. Smuglewicz are of the same size. Their size (101 x 67 cm) and illusory painted frames suggest that these were supraportes for palace decoration. Johann Benoulli, the Swiss astronomer and mathematician, who travelled around Poland, wrote in his travel journal that in 1777–1778 these paintings were in Warsaw, at the residence of Ignacy Potocki (1750–1809), the Grand Marshal of the GDL, politician, writer and one of the co-authors of the Constitution of May 3, 1791. As at that time only two years had passed since the creation of the paintings, it is likely that they were created exactly for that residence. The grisailles of L. Smuglewicz ended up at the State Hermitage in 1931 from St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. They were brought to Russia after the revolt of 1831 or 1863, as the property confiscated by the Russian Tsarist government from the rebels