Portrait of Stanisław Kostka Potocki

The portrait was made by a great German painter Anton Graff at the already quite fashionable spa resort of Karlsbad (today Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic). Stanisław Kostka Potocki  stopped in Karsbad en route to Italy. It was a happy, carefree period in his life: he took the cure for four weeks and enjoyed an active social life. He met distinguished luminaries including Goethe, Herder and Knebel, met such painters as Darbes and Graff, and even got in touch with one of the Bachs. Other Poles then at Karlsbad included Countess Izabela Lubomirska with her ward Henryk Lubomirski, Jan Potocki, Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, Stanisław Zabiełło and Grzegorz Piramowicz. Potocki provides details of his stay in the letters to his wife dated June and July 1785. On 11 July he makes a contented remark on Graff's work: "mon portrai fait par Graff, qui est vraiment beau" (my portrait by Graff, which is truly beautiful). The smiling face of the future "Polish Winckelmann" shows an effervescent, lively mind that testifies to Graff's remarkable artistic gift. With its deft and generous brushwork, varied textures and its rich palette of colour, this is one of the best works of the master. It should be added that it was bought at a bargain price of 30 Polish zloty, as recorded in a 1798 catalogue of Potocki's collections - the same as the amounts paid for portraits by the lesser artists Aleksander Kucharski and Anna Rajecka.