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I am very pleased to show you very interesting oil on canvas. This painting is extremely well done and is in excellent condition considering that it dates to approximately the 17th./18th. Century. The painting has been professionally restored. It is unsigned and measures 24" X 33". This allegorical composition is showing Saint Casmir who could have been king, but rather chose to help poor people. St. Casimir - Prince of Poland, born in the royal palace at,Krakow 3 October, 1458; died at the court of Grodno 4 March 1484. |
Casmir was thirteen he was offered the throne of Hungary by a
Hungarian faction who were discontented under King Corvinus. Eager to
defend the Cross against the Turks, he accepted the call and went to
Hungary to receive the crown. Casmir felt the whole expedition was wrong,
he was unsuccessful, however, and returned a fugitive to Poland. He was
later associated with his father who
initiated him so well into public
affairs that after his brother, Wladislaus, ascended to the Bohemian
throne, Casmir became heir- apparent to the throne of Poland. When in 1479
the king went to Lithuania to spend five years arranging affairs there, Casmir
was placed in charge of Poland with great prudence and justice. About this
time his father tried to arrange for him a marriage with the
daughter of Frederic III, Emperor of Germany, but Casmir preferred to
remain single. He participated in his true King's plans wholeheartedly by
praying, studying and helping the poor. It may be hard for us to imagine
royal luxury as a pressure, but for Casmir, the riches
around him were temptations to forget his true loyalties. Rebelling
against the rich, fashionable clothes he was expected to enjoy, he wore
the plainest of clothes. While on a journey to Lithuania, Casmir died at
the court of Grodno in 1484. Hi was buried with his favorite song, a Latin
hymn to Mary called " Omni die dic Mariae mea laudes anima"
After his death he was venerated as a saint, because of the miracles
wrought by him. Sigismund I, King of Poland, petitioned the pope for Casmir's
canonization, and Pope Leo X appointed the papal legate Z. Ferreri, Bishop
of Guardalfiera, the Archbishop of Gnesen, and the Bishop of Przemysl to investigate
the life and miracles of Casimir. This inquiry was completed at Turn in
1520, and in 1522 Casmir was canonized by Adrian VI. St. Casmir is the
patron of Poland and Lithuania. He is Lithuania's only saint and his feast
day- March 4 - was very popular among the people.