Paintings by Rembrandt

Rembrandt's two paintings at the Royal Castle are portraits: "Girl in the Picture Frame" and "Scholar at the Desktop", which are part of the heritage of the Lanckoronski family. Both works belonged to the gallery of Stanisław August, as evidenced by the signatures on them.

The history of paintings is turbulent, and at the end of the 20th century the works raised doubts as to the authenticity. The portraits belonged to the von Kamecke family, later to Stanisław August, Prince Józef Poniatowski and his sister, Kazimierz Rzewuski and his daughter Ludwika, married to Antoni Józef Lanckoronski. The works of the famous family were taken over by the Gestapo, and at the end of the war they found their way to the depot in Altaussee near Salzburg, and after liberation - to the Central Art Collecting Point in Munich. From here they came back to the Lanckoronski family. On October 26, 1994, Professor Karolina Lanckorońska donated them along with other works as a gift to the Polish Nation. After 1994, when the paintings were given to the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

Works painted on poplar boards were preserved several times, also in the studio of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The authenticity of the images was confirmed in 2006 after many years of research conducted by an outstanding specialist from the Rembrandt Research Project - prof. Ernst van de Wetering. These are two of the artist's three paintings in Poland.