In Equestrian Portrait of Count Stanislas Potocki, how is the Stanisław Kostka Potocki (1755–1821) of the Historical context elucidated?
Potocki reportedly first met David in Italy during the artist's 1779–1780 Grand Tour. Potocki was a Polish nobleman who would later become an influential politician in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He traveled extensively around Europe, visiting Italy, France, Switzerland and Germany between 1772 and 1775. In 1776, he married Aleksandra Lubomirska, a member of the aristocratic Polish Lubomirski family, and began his political activity in 1778 as a deputy to the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the Lublin Voivodeship.Potocki was a patriot and would serve as a general during the Polish–Russian War of 1792, a decisive military conflict that precipitated the Second Partition of Poland in 1793. His contributions to the country were recognized by two state awards: the Order of Saint Stanislaus in 1780 and the Order of the White Eagle in 1781. Both distinctions would later be reflected in David's depiction of Potocki. A strong advocate for public education, he served as co-founder of the Warsaw Society of Friends of Science (Polish: Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk) in 1800 and the University of Warsaw in 1816. Potocki was also an avid art collector with a strong interest in classical antiquity. He translated History of the Art of Antiquity, a 1764 treatise by the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, into Polish. A comprehensive scholarly study of the history of Western ancient art, Winckelmann's book had a profound influence on the evolution of Neo-Classical art across Europe.
hat Aleksandra Lubomirska Polish–Russian War of 1792 University of Warsaw general Warsaw Warsaw Society of Friends of Science Potocki Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth classical antiquity Order of Saint Stanislaus nobleman patriot Neo-Classical Second Partition of Poland Stanisław Kostka Potocki art collector Grand Tour Lublin Voivodeship politician Johann Joachim Winckelmann Lubomirski Order of the White Eagle Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth