The Treaty of Khotyn belongs to a series of six paintings depicting events from Polish history, created by Bacciarelli in 1796 for King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who was staying in Hrodna after the third partition of Poland and the final collapse of the country. These works are downsized copies of the original paintings which decorated the Knights’ Hall of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. It was these paintings that were the graphic expression of an important theme for Stanisław August – the image of a perfect monarch in a series of embodiments of virtues in the form of successive Polish rulers. The painting entitled The Treaty of Khotyn focuses on the truce between Poland and Turkey signed in 1621 at Khotyn. The treaty put an end to the war which had raged since 1620. In the picture, we see Stanisław Lubomirski shaking hands with the Grand Turkish Vizier, Dilevar Pasha, in a symbolic gesture of agreement. Prince Wladyslaw Vasa, future king Vladislav IV, who took command of the battle together with Lubomirski after the death of the Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Lithuanian Hetman - or chief commander - stands above them. In a tent pictured in the background, one can make out King Jakub Sobieski, father of King John III, wearing thetypical nobleman’s attire of the time – a navy blue delia, or cloak, and a high-crowned cap known as a calpac.

Barbara Ciciora