Straipsnyje pristatomi trys naujai atributuoti įdėmesnio tyrėjų žvilgsnio dar nesulaukę vienos
garsiausių XIX a. pirmosios pusės Lietuvos moterų Antaninos Sulistrovskytės-Sniadeckienės (Antonina
z Sulistrowskich Śniadecka, 1805–1853) atvaizdai, saugomi Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Vrublevskių bibliotekos
Rankraščių skyriuje. Siekiant kuo išsamiau atskleisti šių kūrinių istoriją, daug dėmesio skiriama ir
pačiai herojei, jos biografijai. Tyrimas atskleidė, kad anksčiau atvaizdai priklausė iškiliai XIX a. skulptorei
Elenai Skirmantaitei-Skirmantienei (Helena Skirmunttówna-Skirmuntt, 1827–1874) ir jos palikuonims.
Dviejų piešinių pieštuku autore laikytina ši kūrėja, o vieno siluetinio pomirtinio portreto, datuojamo 1853
metais, – nežinoma XIX a. siluetistė. XIX a. 2-ajame dešimtmetyje Jono Damelio ( Jan Damel, 1780–1840)
nutapyto portreto – vienintelio žinomo aliejinės tapybos technika sukurto A. Sulistrovskytės-Sniadeckienės
atvaizdo – fragmento kopija, kurią eskiziškai pieštuku atliko E. Skirmantaitė-Skirmantienė, leidžia tikėtis,
kad bus atpažintas bei identifikuotas ir pats originalas, jei tik jis išliko Antrojo pasaulinio karo sūkuriuose.
The article presents three newly-attributed portrait images of one of the most famous women of early-
19th-century Lithuania, Antonina Śniadecka (or Antonina z Sulistrowskich Śniadecka, 1805–1853). These
images, which until now have not drawn much attention from researchers, are kept in the Collection of Drawings
and Sketches by Artists of Lithuania (F320) of the Manuscript Department of the Wroblewski Library
of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.
Antonina Śniadecka was a descendant of a well-known noble family; the daughter-in-law of the acclaimed
scientist, Vilnius University professor Jędrzej Śniadecki (1768–1838); and the mother of his four grandchildren.
A known philantropist and patriot of Lithuania, she was sentenced in a political case. Full of upheavals
and painful losses, her too-short life was, at first glance, hardly different from those of other women from
her social class: Śniadecka strove to be exemplary in fulfilling women’s most important, by the standards of
those times, social role, that of wife, mother, homemaker. Nevertheless, the name of this woman burned itself
deeply into historical memory. Her noble birth, active participation in philantropic movements, patriotism,
effort to preserve the memory of the radical democratic politician and participant in the 1830–1831 uprising,
Szymon Konarski (1808–1839), repressions by the Russian imperial authorities – all this actively contributed
to the emergence of her legend.
The iconography of Śniadecka is rather scarce. Three recently-attributed portrait images testify to her contemporaries’
efforts to honour this remarkable woman and to preserve her memory. Our research shows that
before 1940, the images belonged to a prominent 19th-century sculptor, Helena Skirmuntt (1827–1874) and
her descendants. Two portrait drawings may be attributed to the former, and another image, a posthumous
silhouette portrait dated to 1853, to an unknown 19th-century silhouettist.
One of the above-mentioned drawings by Helena Skirmuntt is a pencil-sketch copy of a fragment of the
only known oil-painted portrait of Śniadecka, which was created in the 1810s by Jan Damel (1780–1840).
Hopefully, the pencil copy could help to identify the original portrait, supposing that the latter survived
the vagaries of World War II.
