#jan rustem

Portrait of Maria Mirska, Barbara Szumska and Adam Napoleon Mirski

Biografy of Jonas Rustemas really resembles the biography of his famous student, Taras Shevchenko.

Jonas Rustemas (in Turkish - Jan Rustem) lost his parents from early childhood and, being an orphan, fell into slavery in Konstantinopol. His mother was French, and his father was Armenian. At the age of ten, Rustemas was bought out of slavery by the famous general Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, who was impressed by the boy's good command of the French language and drawing skills. In 1774, Czartoryski left Constantinople for Lviv (in some sources, Pulau) and took little Jonas there. In this city, J.Rustemas started his education.

Most of his life Jonas spent in Lithuania. In 1820, Jonas Rustemas organized the first art exhibition in Lithuania, where the works of art of his students were shown.

Jonas Rustemas was the founder of the Lithuanian National Art School and the professor of Vilnius University. He retired in 1826 but continued to lecture until his death (1835), which occurred near the city of Dūkštas (Lithuania).

He painted mythological and religious compositions, domestic scenes and landscapes. However, he became popular mostly for painting nobility. Almost all of his works have disappeared.

Portrait of Maria Mirska, Adam Napoleon Mirski and Barbara Szumska (c.1808). Jan Rustem (Armenian, 1762-1835). Oil on canvas. National Museum in Warsaw.