By Inna Pilevich: A picture of Anna Krystyna Radziwill of the Lubomirski family has been found. Prince Maciej Radziwill arrived in Minsk to see the portrait and help identify the person on it. For many years, art critics believed this is a portrait of Catherine II of Russia.
The hairstyle and clothes do not correspond to the fashion of the last quarter of the 18th century, though. The independent expert who pointed that out was Anatoli Sinilo, a chemistry and biology teacher from Bogushevichi. He was also the one who proved that the portrait pictures Anna Krystyna Radziwill of the Lubomirski family, and not the Russia empress.
The portrait was brought to the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus in 1963, at the time when the funds were being returned after WWII. There was a "268GKG" mark on the canvas stretcher. But for some reason, the Minsk museum workers thought it was a picture of the Russian empress and did not notice that such cipher listed other works from the collection of the Nesvizh Castle – the former residence of the Radziwill family. It is also possible that thanks to this post-war error the portrait remained in Belarus. Not many people know that in the Soviet era, a part of the Nesvizh collection was transferred to Poland.
Experts say, the portrait of Anna Krystyna was written around 1692, right when she became the wife of Dominik Mikolaj Radziwill, which probably explains why there is Amur in the picture – he holds Anna's hand and supposedly indicates a rapid wedding.
The portrait of Anna Krystyna is the 37th picture in the gallery of the Radziwill family. The collection is on displayed permanently in the National Art Museum. However, the portrait will not be displayed for some time, since it needs minor restoration works.












