Polish King's Dispersed Art Collection Now in US Museums

The vast art collection of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of Poland, was dispersed over a century due to his debts and imprisonment by the Russians in 1795. More than 2,000 paintings entered the art market, and today several works are held in American museums. The most famous is Rembrandt's The Polish Rider, purchased by Henry Frick in 1910 for $293,000 through agent Roger Fry. Other works include Henri Mauperché's Classical Landscape with Figures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Benjamin West's Romeo and Juliet at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and a portrait after Jean-Marc Nattier at the Hillwood Estate in Washington, D.C. Bernardo Bellotto's The Fortress of Königstein Courtyard with the Magdalenenburg is at the National Gallery of Art, while Per Krafft the Elder's portrait of Countess Teresa Kinska Poniatowska is at the Clark Art Institute. A Rembrandt self-portrait from the workshop is at the Harvard Art Museums. Experts from the Royal Castle in Warsaw are conducting a project to study these works as part of the "Inspiring Culture" program of the Polish Ministry of Culture.