Self-portrait
Created: mid-19th century.
Material / technique: oil on canvas.
Dimensions: 55x44 cm.
Tadas Goreckis (Tadeusz Gorecki, 1825–1868) was a 19th-century Lithuanian painter, representative of academic art, who created portraits, historical, religious, and genre compositions. His work is closely connected with the artistic environment of Vilnius, Saint Petersburg, and Western Europe.
The artist was born in 1825. At the Dusinėnai manor, near Vilnius, to the family of Antanas Goreckis. His father was a participant in the 1830–1831 uprising, a poet, satirist, and public figure. Goreckis grew up in an educated environment influenced by Romantic ideas, where art, literature, and social life held an important place.
He acquired his first drawing skills in Vilnius while studying at the Valentinas Vankavičius and Vincentas Dmachauskas Painting School. From 1841 to 1849, he studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, where his teacher was Karl Briulov, one of the most prominent masters of romantic and academic painting of that time. During his studies, Goreckis also worked as Briulov's assistant decorating St. Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. His talents were recognized with several academy awards, and in 1849 he received the Grand Gold Medal, which opened the opportunity to further develop abroad. In 1854, Gorecki was awarded the title of Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.
After finishing his studies, Goreckis moved to Western Europe. He visited France, Spain, Italy, and other European countries, familiarized himself with the collections of major museums, and studied and copied works by the old masters. His visits to Spain and Italy were especially significant, where the artist deepened his painting knowledge and honed his skills. In 1855, he was entrusted with painting Raphael's "St. Cecilia" in Bologna.
While staying in Italy, Gorecki became more closely acquainted with the Mickiewicz family. The acquaintance with the poet Adam Mickiewicz's daughter, Maria Mickiewicz (1835–1922), gradually developed into a close relationship, and in 1857, they married in Paris. After marriage, Gorecki settled in Paris, where he continued his creative work, painting portraits, religious and genre compositions, and worked as a painting and drawing teacher. The artist's life ended early – in 1868, he died at just 42 years old.
The discussed work is a self-portrait by Tadas Goreckis, painted in oil on canvas (55 × 44 cm). The exact date of its creation is unknown, but the age of the portrayed subject, the nature of the painting, and stylistic features allow the work to be associated with the mid-19th century. It is an intimate, restrained portrait in which solemn representation is abandoned and the focus is on the artist's own personality. Goreckis depicts himself without additional attributes, and the main means of expression become the face and direct gaze.
A dark brown background and garments almost blending with it emphasize the illuminated face of the subject. A restrained palette of ochre, brown, black, and grayish shades prevails. The light subtly shapes the forehead, nose, and cheekbones, distinguishing the eyes and mouth. Soft transitions of light and shadow give the face plasticity, and the precise depiction of its features shows the artist's attention to the individual's appearance. The painting reflects the 19th-century academic portrait tradition, characterized by drawing precision and consistent form modeling. At the same time, the portrait is no stranger to the romantic painting's interest in the inner world of a person.
An important source for identifying the work is a photograph of Tadas Gorecki taken around 1867 by Wiktor Skrzyński at the National Library of Poland (Narodowa Library) (sign. F.2089). In it, the artist is captured at a more mature age, but despite the age difference, a striking facial similarity can be seen in both images. The elongated face shape, high forehead, arrangement of eyes and eyebrows, nose proportions, mouth and chin shape also coincide. Attention is also drawn to a slight asymmetry in eye size, noticeable both in the photograph and in the painted portrait. The combination of these individual features provides a strong basis to identify the person depicted in the painting with Tadas Goreckis.
Equally important is the history of the work's origin. To this day, the painting was kept in the Mickiewicz–Gorecki family, where it was passed down from generation to generation as a self-portrait of Tadas Goreckis. Along with the artwork, family information about its author and the person depicted has also survived. This family tradition is an important historical testimony, allowing the work's identity to be directly linked to the artist's own close circle.
The origin of the painting, its family-preserved identification, its physiognomial resemblance to historical photography, and the nature of the painting form a consistent basis for attribution. The combination of these circumstances justifiably allows the work to be considered a self-portrait by Tadas Goreckis.
According to available data, this is the only currently known surviving painted self-portrait by Tadas Goreckis. Its value is determined not only by the rare image of the artist himself but also by the preserved connection to the Mickiewicz–Gorecki family history. The work complements the little-known creative legacy of Gorecki and offers an opportunity to view the artist not through his portraits of other people, but through his own chosen self-representation. (Regina Šemiotaitė, art historian)
Photographs: Tadeusz Gorecki.