Collection of portraits of Vilnius charity society

Straipsnyje pristatomas vienas iš nedaugelio Lietuvoje išlikusių visuomeninių organizacijų portretų rinkinių. Remiantis Vilniaus labdarių draugijos ataskaitomis aptariama draugijos veikla, daugiausia dėmesio skiriant portretuose pavaizduotų asmenų indėliui. Nesigilinant į kūrinių meninės formos ypatybes į rinkinį žvelgiama kaip į visumą, bandant atskleisti idėjinį ir memorialinį jo turinį, gerai žinomą ano meto vilniečiams, tačiau visai pamirštą šiandien. Pateikiamos žinios apie konkrečių kūrinių dovanojimą ar sukūrimo aplinkybes.Vilnius Charity Society, which was established in 1807 at the initiative of the bishop of Vilnius Jan Nepomucen Kossakowski and the physician and professor at Vilnius University Józef Frank, has been among the most active public organizations in Vilnius and among the few to continue its activity well into 1940 (along with Vilnius Medical Society that operated for the same period of time). Information on its activity and most generous benefactors was published in annual financial reports, association's newsletter Dzieje dobroczynności krajowej i zagranicznej, and popular daily newspapers of the region. The members emitent in civil merit and charitable activity as well as major benefactors were noted in the commemorative plaque embedded on the wall of the society's chapel and their portraits adorned the walls of the society's conference room. The collection of portraits of Vilnius Chanty Society took its beginning in around 1819. It was assembled largely from the portraits provided by society members (e.g. Dionizy Jakutowicz donated portraits of Antoni Tyzenhauz, Dominik Radziwiłł, and Andrzej Kłągiewicz), works presented by relatives of deceased members or from personally commissioned portraits of the members. Consisting of only І8 portraits on display in the conference room in 1859, the collection numbered around 50 pieces at the time of the closure of the society in 1940. The majority of the portraits are now contained in the holdings of the Lithuanian Art Museum (the author managed to identify 37 portraits previously included in this collection). Compared to other similar collections comprising mainly replicas, the collection of portraits held by Vilnius Charity Society stood out for its artistic quality. Most of the portraits were produced by such well-known Vilnius painters as Franciszek Smuglewicz, Jan Rustem, Andrzej Walinowicz, Polikarp Joteyko, Walenty Wańkowicz, Wincenty Smokowski, Jan Zenkiewicz, Henryk Kozlowski, Mikołaj Dawidowicz, Helena Spleszyńska- Kotwicz-Onichimowska. Only the portrait of the duke Michał Kleofas Oginski, which reflects cosmopolitan attitudes of the Lithuanian aristocracy, was done by the famous French painter Francois Xavier Fabre. The article analyzes the portrait collection of Vilnius Charity Society as a single whole and concentrates on its content without considering the artistic form of individual works. Drawing on written sources it discusses the contribution of the members to charity and to the activity of the society simultaneously revealing the principles underlying building of the collection and some associated history