Stefan Czarniecki of the Łodzia coat of arms (1599–1665). Son of Krzysztof, starosta of Żywiec, and Krystyna née Rzeszowska. Voivode of Kiev from 1657; Voivode of Ruthenia from 1664, Crown Field Hetman from 1665. He rose to fame during the Swedish invasion, in particular during the defence of Kraków in 1655. The bust is part of the Royal Castle in Warsaw’s historic collections. Alongside the sculptures of Chronos and Fame, as well as a series of bronze busts of famous Polish personages and the painted decoration, it constitutes the iconographic scheme for the Knights’ Hall which was furnished in the years 1781–6 and was intended to commemorate distinguished individuals as well as glorious events in Polish history. The sculpture is one of four so-called great portrait busts. The iconographic model for the bust was most probably a painting by the studio of Marcello Bacciarelli (now in the National Museum in Warsaw), which itself is a copy of an anonymous, 18th-century likeness from the Wilanów collections. Both in the painting and bust under discussion, Czarniecki is depicted with hair shaved high up on the temples, a long beard arranged in locks, a wrinkled forehead and small, slightly pursed lips. The small scar visible on the right cheek may have been intended to recall the wound he suffered during the Battle of Monastyryska in 1653. Czarniecki, depicted wearing a cuirass, wears a cloak over his shoulders which falls in deep folds and is tied with a decorative rope. The arrangement of the sculpture, most probably Le Brun’s idea, is reminiscent of the composition of many official portraits made in French court circles in the early and mid-18th century. Signed by the bronze founder IOHANN EHRENFRIED / DIETRICH / GOSS MICH IN WARSCHAU / 1783 on back, under the bust. Inscribed STEPHANUS: CZARNIECKI. / + MDCLXV in gold letters on front of base. The busts from the Knights’ Hall remained at the Castle until 1833 when they were removed to Russia and housed in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow. Restituted to Poland under the Treaty of Riga of 1921, the busts were again placed in the Knights’ Hall. Several of the busts were (temporarily) exhibited in the King’s Cabinet in 1924. All the sculptures were removed to the National Museum in Warsaw after the outbreak of World War II from whence the Germans removed them to Wawel Castle; they were returned to Warsaw in 1946 and exhibited in the Portrait Gallery at the Palace in Wilanów. In 1986 the sculptures were reinstalled in the Knights’ Hall at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.