The University of Padua is celebrating its 800th anniversary. Its eminent rector was Jan Zamoyski, who was respected by all student nations over the centuries. The sculpted bust of the Chancellor and Grand Hetman of the Crown in the university building is a reminder of the shared history of Poland and Italy.

Jan Zamoyski at the University of Padua
Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605), Chancellor and Great Hetman of the Crown, is an important figure for Poles. At one time he was also admired by the whole of Europe. He is permanently inscribed in the pantheon of distinguished personalities of the Renaissance period. His services to culture and science are also unquestionable.

In 1561, he was elected consul of the Polish nation, i.e. its representative in the university authorities. However, just two years later (4 August 1563), he was elected Rector of the University of Padua's University of Jurisprudence. He performed this function superbly. He was skilful in winning over both students and professors.

History of the bust of Jan Zamoyski in Padua
. Since 1937, one of the rooms of the Palazzo del Bo, the main building of the University of Padua, has been decorated with a bust of Jan Zamoyski. The initiative to exhibit the sculpture originally in the Aula Magna was taken by Alfred Wysocki (1873-1959), a Polish lawyer and diplomat, ambassador of the Republic to the Quirinal. The ceremony of the donation of the work, which took place on 19 April 1937, was attended by representatives of the Italian government, Ambassador Wysocki and the Fifteenth Entailer, Count Maurycy Klemens Zamoyski (1871-1939) - the founder of the bust.

The artistic endeavour was intended to evoke the ancient historical and cultural ties linking Poland and Italy, and was intended as a gift from Poland honouring the memory of a famous Pole - Jan Zamoyski, an eminent rector of the University of Padua. The sculpture therefore promoted Polish history in Padua and at the same time was part of the activities of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences related to the 700th anniversary of the Paduan Athenaeum.

The choice of artist entrusted with the work on the sculpture was not accidental. Antoni Madeyski (1862-1939), had lived in Rome since 1898 and actively participated in the cultural life of the Polish community. His atelier was a kind of artistic salon of the emigration, a Polish 'embassy' in the Eternal City. He was known for his work on the sarcophagi of Queen Jadwiga and Władysław Warneńczyk in Wawel Cathedral or the sculpture of King John III Sobieski in the Polish Chapel of St Anthony's Basilica in Padua.

In the Italian Renaissance style - the bust of Jan Zamoyski in Pad ua
. Antoni Madeyski made the bust of Jan Zamoyski from white Carrara marble (85 × 72 × 40 cm) on the basis of available iconographic material, and fixed in stone the typical and recognisable features of the Chancellor and Great Hetman of the Crown. Around the neck of the dignified husband is a chain with a medal decorated with the image of King Stefan Batory. Madeyski set the bust en face on a high pedestal of red marble. In doing so, he achieved a harmonious combination of academic realism with manifestations of Italian Renaissance features. The sculpture is essentially worked on the front, with the back only partially modelled. The author's signature is situated on the side of the right arm: "Ant. Madeyski | Roma 1937'.

Originally, the bust of Jan Zamoyski was located in the Aula Magna of the Palazzo del Bo. Today, it is one of only a few busts on display in the Sala degli Quaranta (the so-called Hall of the Forty), which contains 40 painted images of the university's most distinguished alumni.

The present 2022 is special because we are celebrating a double jubilee: the 800th anniversary of the University of Padua and the 480th anniversary of the birth of Jan Zamoyski (19 March).