Artwork
Monau, Sebastian
Monau, Sebastian is an unspecified painting by Rudolf (czynny we Wrocławiu 1933-1947), fot. Jagusch. It dates from 1945 and is held in the collection of the Library of the Wroclaw University. The portrait presents a three‑quarter view of Sebastian Monau, rendered within a vertical oval format.
About this work
Overview
The portrait presents a three‑quarter view of Sebastian Monau, rendered within a vertical oval format. The sitter is depicted with a solemn expression, his likeness framed by a coat of arms positioned in the lower left corner. Inscribed legends flank the image, providing dates of his tenure as starost of the Duchy of Wrocław and the year of his death.
Subject & Meaning
Sebastian Monau served as starost of the Wrocław duchy during the early 1530s, a role that placed him among the region’s administrative elite. The inclusion of his heraldic device and the precise dates underscores his status and commemorates his service, while the dignified pose conveys the authority expected of a provincial governor.
Technique & Style
The work is a reproduction of a mid‑seventeenth‑century oil painting, transferred onto an iron‑and‑silver print on paper measuring 21.2 by 16.8 cm. The original likely employed the sfumato technique, softening transitions between light and shadow to achieve a subtle modelling of facial features, a common practice in portraiture of the period.
History & Provenance
The image originates from a common negative (inventory photo 7273) and was photographed by R. Jagusch in Breslau. It now resides in the National Museum in Wrocław, within the Department of Documents, where it is catalogued as part of the museum’s collection of historical portraiture.
Context
Monau’s portrait belongs to a broader tradition of civic portraiture in Silesia, where local officials were commemorated through painted busts. Such works functioned both as personal memorials and as visual affirmations of municipal authority during the Renaissance and early Baroque periods.
Artist & collection
Artist
Rudolf (czynny we Wrocławiu 1933-1947), fot. Jagusch
Rudolf Jagusch worked in Wrocław between 1933 and 1947. He made photographs of city scenes and portraits during those years. His surviving prints show shopfronts, street corners, and local figures in black-and-white.…
