Waleria Tarnowska (December 9, 1782, – November 23, 1849) was a Polish painter and a patron of the arts. She is known for her miniatures, numerous portraits, religious paintings and drawings.
Contents
Personal life
Waleria Tarnowska was a daughter of Walerian Stroynowski and Aleksandra Tarnowska. On 7 September 1800, Waleria married Jan Feliks Tarnowski. She was the mother of Kazimierz, Rozalia, Jan Bogdan, Maria Felicja, Walerian, Rozalia, Wiktoria, Anna and Tadeusz Antoni; and the grandmother of Jan Dzierżysław Tarnowski, Stanisław „Czarny”, Stanisław „Biały” and Władysław. Waleria was educated at home by governesses, and her teachers also included the archaeologist and historian Wawrzyniec Surowiecki, and the professor of chemistry and medicine Jędrzej Śniadecki, as well as her uncle, Hieronim Stroynowski, bishop and Rector of Vilnius University.
Waleria together with her husband Jan Felix created the collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, books and antiquities at Dzików, which included paintings by Lorenzo Lotto, Guercino, Guido Reni, Rembrandt, Annibale Carracci, Salvator Rosa, Hans Holbein the Younger, Anthony van Dyck, Anton Raphael Mengs, Bernini, Antonio Canova.
Career
First Waleria studied painting for three years in Horochów with Constantino Villani and the miniaturist de Hoflize, then with Wincenty de Lesseur 1800-1804 in Dzików and 1810 in Warsaw, at miniaturist Therese Maron and her husband, Antonio Cherubini in Rome, Domenico del Frate (who in 1806 depicted portraits of members of her family, and painted the Virgin Mary in the chapel in Dzików). Her next teacher was Filippo Giacomo Remondini; she then studied in Paris from 1824 to 1826.
Paintings and drawings
Waleria was a miniaturist, painting portraits and religious subjects. She often signed her works "V. T.", and depicted miniatures on ivory, usually with watercolour, sometimes with gouache and watercolour or only gouache. Her paintings are often miniature copies of paintings by other painters, and portraits of family members.
Madonna w białym welonie (Madonna in white veil; She may be the artist of the copy of a lost painting by Giovanni Battista Salvi zw. the Sassoferrato)
Madonna w błękitnej chuście (Madonna in blue scarf)
Aleksandra z Tarnowskich Stroynowska (Waleria’s mother)
Jan Bohdan Tarnowski (Waleria's son in children's age)
Ks. Julian Antonowicz (father Antonowicz was Waleria’s husband's tutor and friend of both)
Marianna z Tarnowskich hr. Scipio del Campo
Rozalia Tarnowska (1803-1804, Waleria’s daughter)
Portret Anny z Rakowskich hr. Bystry (c. 1805)
Portret Joanny Grudzińskiej (portrait of wife of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich)
Portret Jana Feliksa Tarnowskiego (several miniatures with husband's effigy)
Portret Waleryana Stroynowskiego (Waleria’s father portrait)
Portret kobiety z książką (The woman's portrait with book (the copy of painting by painter from Netherlandic school in collection of Dzików Castle in Tarnobrzeg)
Diaries
Mes voyages (A description of travel (1803-1804) written for daughter)
Mes journal (diary, 1804-1838)