Palemonides, the artwork of Alexander Guagnini's "Sarmatiae Europae descriptio " and antiquity

The first images of Palemon, his progeny and the first rulers of Lithuania, who stated that they originate from the Romans, are registered in 1581 in Speyer (Germany), in Alexandra Guagnini’s study "Sarmatiae Europae Descriptio", published in Bernard Albin’s printing house. The influence of the registered portraits was such big that even in the 19th – the 1st half of the 20th century the illustrations were mass circulated as the only portraits of the first characters of Lithuania’s history. Today the images are significant since they reveal the view of the society of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of the 2nd half of the 16th – the 17th century of their roots and are the first attempts to register the history of the land by visual means. The portraits are not autonomous paintings but illustrations of text. The portraits can be divided into two groups. The first covers the bust images, with the profile to the left of to the right, composed in medallion like circles; they are grouped into six subgroups of three in each. The group reflects the earliest characters, directly related with Palemon. The other group includes larger and more ornate portraits of Mindaugas, Vytenis, Gediminas, Algirdas, Jogaila, Skirgaila, Vytautas, Švitrigaila and Aleksandras, put in more oval frames, decorated with rollwerk cartouches. The characters are portrayed half length, enface or in three fourths. Both groups of illustrations characterize with the traits of mannerism art, i. e. round shape, feeling of rhythm and ornamentation. The images, which previously existed in other contexts and stylistically and iconographically related with the Roman numismatics were chosen for portraying the progeny of Palemon