The Sobieskis and Stuarts, Monument to Clementina Sobieska in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Bronisław Puc, 1883

carved by Bronisław Puc after Stanisław Holc
cross-grain woodcut on paper, 1883
National Museum in Warsaw 

Bronisław Puc’s woodcut, based on a drawing by Stanisław Holc, depicts the tomb of Clementina Sobieska, erected in 1742 in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. The tomb was commissioned by Pope Clement XII (1652–1740) and completed by his successor Benedict XIV (1675–1758). In the centre of the composition, a seated young woman gazes at a flame smouldering in her raised hand, a sign of her ardent love for God. With her right hand, she holds a massive oval frame with the portrait of Clementina, supported from the bottom by a standing putto. The pedestal is covered with a decorative fabric, the ends of which flow down on both sides of the pyramid-shaped composition. At the very bottom, two putti are holding royal attributes: a sceptre and a crown. 

The monument was designed by Filippo Barigioni (1672–1753) and sculpted by Pietro Bracci (1700–1773). The portrait of the queen visible in the finial, made as a mosaic by Pietro Paolo Cristofari (1685–1743), was based on a copy of the portrait of Clementina made by Lodovico Stern in 1740, which is on display at the exhibition. Stern’s work itself was made on the basis of a painting by Martin van Meytens, dating from 1725. Due to the technique used, some details in the mosaic portrait have been simplified. In 1745, Clementina’s body was transferred from a crypt to the basilica and placed in an urn that is part of the monument.

The woodcut by Bronisław Puc was made for Józef Łoski’s Jan Sobieski, jego rodzina, towarzysze broni i współczesne zabytki (Jan Sobieski, his family, comrades-in-arms, and contemporary monuments), published in 1883 and dedicated to Aleksandra Potocka, then-owner of the palace in Wilanów. The artist used as his model an 18th-century engraving by Rocco Pozzi, who was active in the years 1733–1780.

Puc was also the author of 18 woodcut illustrations for Henryk Skimborowicz and Wojciech Gerson’s Willanów. Album. Zbiór widoków i pamiątek oraz kopje z obrazów Galeryi Willanowskiej (Wilanów—album: A collection of views and memorabilia, as well as copies of paintings from the Willanów Gallery), published in 1877.