Valentinas Vankavičius’ (Walenty Wańkowicz) works in Lithuanian collections

In the publication the author indicates that Valentinas Vankavičius, like a great number of other cultural and art figures, is considered their native both by Lithuanians and Belarusians. He was born in Kaluzica (Igumen county, Minsk province). After his studies at Vilnius University and the Peterburg Academy of Art, the painter lived on a small Malaya Slepyanka estate near Minsk. His life and work is closely connected with Lithuania, first of all its capital Vilnius. His mother Scholastika Goreckytė (Scholastika Górecka) comes from Lithuania, his mothers parents, brothers and a sister lived in Vilnius. The painter’s studies with Jonas Rustemas at Vilnius University and his personal contacts with Adomas Mickevičius and other members of the Society of Philomaths matured his personality and the born friendship lasted throughout his further life. Certain historical events (the closure of Vilnius University after the ill-fated 1831 uprising) changed the painter’s fate, and he lost a possibility of making use of the granted scholarship and serving at the University for ‘not less than six years’ as he had promised in the letter written before his departure to study at the Petersburg Academy of Arts. Vankavičius, however, would also return to Vilnius later, sometimes would stay for a longer time, visit his relatives and meet his friends. The best witnesses of such visits are the portraits of landowners from Vilnius and its environs painted in the fourth decade of the 19th century. Due to his permanent source of livelihood granted by the estate income, Vankavičius was independent of commissions, therefore, he was free to choose the portrayed persons. He painted his close people, relatives and friends never missed a chance to immortalize creative personalities with their marked characters. The portraits painted by Vankavičius graced the houses of quite a number of his acquaintances. As Vincentas Smakauskas (Wincenty Smakowski) put it ‘he would most often give them for nothing’. His portraits hung in the houses of the Piaseckis (Piasiecki), Chominskis (Chominski), Tyzenhauzas (Tyzenhauz), Puslovskis (Puslowski), Taujanskis (Taujahski), Gutas (Guty) and other families. In the 19th-first half of the 20th centuries, some of Vankavičius’ works were possessed by Vilnius- based collectors Jonas Kazimieras Vilčinskis (Jan Kazimierz Wilcziński), Antanas Tiškevičius (Antoni Tyszkiewicz), Vladislovas Fiorentinis (Wladislow Fiorenttini), the Society of Science and Art Museum in Vilnius, the Society of Science Lovers in Vilnius, Tadas Vrublevskis’ (Tadeusz Wrublewski) library, Vilnius University, ect. Part of Vankavičius’ works in Lithuania has survived, others were scattered during historical upheavals, entered foreign museums or private collections, or were destroyed during uprisings and wars. In this publication the author thoroughly discusses these works - the circumstances of their execution, artistic values and fate