Portrait of Frederick Augustus, Duke of Warsaw
Artist: Anton Graff (Swiss, 1736–1813)
Date: 1700-1800
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: National Museum in Warsaw, Poland
Frederick Augustus I of Saxony
Frederick Augustus I (1750 – 1827) was a member of the House of Wettin who reigned as the last Elector of Saxony from 1763 to 1806 (as Frederick Augustus III) and as the first King of Saxony from 1806 to 1827. He was also Duke of Warsaw from 1807 to 1815 (in 1812–1813 he was proclaimed, but unrecognized, King of Poland by the General Confederation of the Kingdom of Poland), a short-lived disputed Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1812, and a legitimate candidate to the Polish throne.
Throughout his political career Frederick Augustus tried to rehabilitate and recreate the Polish state that was torn apart and ceased to exist after the final partition of Poland in 1795. However he did not succeed, for which he blamed himself for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, his efforts at reestablishing an independent Polish nation did endear him to the Polish people.
