Artwork
Säbisch, Samuel von
Säbisch, Samuel von 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 Samuel von Säbisch, who served as president of the Wrocław city council from 1658 until 1670.
About this work
Overview
The portrait presents Samuel von Säbisch, who served as president of the Wrocław city council from 1658 until 1670. Rendered within a tall oval format, the figure is shown in a hat, his expression solemn, and a heraldic shield occupies the lower left corner. Inscriptions above the bust record his term of office and the year of his death, anchoring the image in its historical moment.
Subject & Meaning
Samuel von Säbisch (1597–1671) was a prominent municipal leader in 17th‑century Wrocław. The inclusion of his coat of arms and the explicit dates of his council presidency underscore his civic authority and the esteem in which he was held. The portrait functions as both a personal likeness and a visual record of municipal governance during the post‑Thirty Years’ War period.
Technique & Style
The oval frame and the modest scale suggest it was intended for private or official display rather than a grand public setting.
The work is a reproduction of a seventeenth‑century oil painting, transferred onto paper as a print measuring roughly 19.5 by 14.9 cm. The original likely employed chiaroscuro to model the sitter’s features against a subdued background, a common approach in Baroque portraiture that emphasizes volume and gravitas. The oval frame and the modest scale suggest it was intended for private or official display rather than a grand public setting.
History & Provenance
The print derives from a common negative (catalogued as inventory photos 7306 and 7307) and bears a seal on the reverse indicating a photographic source by R. Jagusch in Breslau. It is part of the National Museum in Wrocław’s Department of Documents, where it is preserved as a documentary image of the city’s administrative history.
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.…
