In the halls of the Royal Castle in Warsaw stands a wooden sculpture depicting John III Sobieski, one example of the creation of a glorified image of the king in France. It is the starting point of a research and publication project, launched in 2024 at the Polonica Institute, which aims to research and develop the artistic links of Bishop Puy Armand de Bethune (a relative of Maria Kazimiera) with the Republic.

The authors of the project 'Art and Politics. Glorification of John III in the artistic activities of the Bishop of Puy, Armand de Bethune as an element of great European politics' are Dr Anna Olenska and Dr Katarzyna Kolendo-Korczak. The research objective is a new reading of the ideological programme of the Sobieski monument (c. 1683-1687), created by the bishop's court sculptor Pierre Vaneau, whose elements are scattered in collections in France and Poland. Other foundations of the bishop associated with John III - known from sources to be decorations of the flats of his two residences - will also be the subject.

The monument became the subject of interest to French and Polish scholars as early as the end of the nineteenth century, but fundamental questions concerning its direct commissioner, purpose and ideological programme remained unresolved. There was disagreement as to the intended location of the monument, and there was also divergence without a definitive conclusion as to whether it was a definitive work or a model. In more recent literature, both Polish and French, the subject has received little attention, either from the perspective of art historians or historians. Meanwhile, the dynastic programme of Vaneau's work, exposing the role of Prince James in the Vienna Victory, seems particularly weighty. Emphasising the roles of John III and James, while overlooking the merits of Emperor Leopold I, fits in perfectly with both the foreign policy pursued by France at the time, as well as the Sobieski family's pushing Jacob's candidacy for the Polish king (his participation in his father's military successes predestined the prince as a worthy successor to the Polish throne).

The aim of the project is to provide a comprehensive study of the bishop's artistic commissions related to the glorification of John III in a broad historical, cultural and political context and the iconography of power, particularly related to the shaping of the image of Louis XIV. Thanks to these commissions, the image of the Polish monarch became an important element not only for Polish art, but entered the imaginarium of European art.

The final result of the project will be the preparation for publication of a scientific study devoted to the artistic commissions of Bishop Puy Armand de Bethune related to the glorification of John III, which will be published as part of the publishing activities of the Polonica Institute.

Dr Anna Oleńska - art historian, graduate of the University of Warsaw, PhD at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2009); research worker at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, editor of the "Catalogue of Art Monuments in Poland" and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Deals with 17th/18th century art in a broad cultural context, with particular emphasis on the issue of art patronage in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and historical gardens. She is the author of numerous scientific articles, the book "Jan Klemens Branicki - "Sarmata nowoczesny". Creating an image through art" (2011), co-author of several volumes of the "Catalogue of Art Monuments in Poland" [Biała Podlaska County (2006); City of Białystok (2015); Białystok County (2016), Radzyń Podlaski County (2019)] and author of numerous monographs in the series "Materials for the History of Sacred Art in the Eastern Lands of the Former Republic of Poland". Since 1996, she has participated in inventory works in Roman Catholic churches in Belarus (from the areas within the borders of the Republic before 1939). Scholarship holder of, inter alia, Harvard University in Dumbarton Oaks and the Lanckoroński Foundation.

Dr Katarzyna Kolendo-Korczak - graduate of art history at the University of Warsaw (1998), PhD at the Art Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2009). Since 2000 employed at the Art Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences in the workshop of the Catalogue of Art Monuments in Poland, since 1996 she has participated in inventory works in Roman Catholic churches in Belarus (within the borders of the Republic before 1939). In 2015-2020, she participated as an expert in the conservation programme of the royal sarcophagi from the crypt of Wawel Cathedral. She is the author of, among others, 'Royal metal sarcophagi in royal tombs at Wawel. History, ideological eloquence, conservation and restoration', Kraków-Katowice 2022, (with Agnieszka Trzos); 'The sarcophagus of Stefan Batory and its graphic patterns or Res gestae regi Stephoni Bathory', Bulletin of Art History LXXV 2013 vol. 4, pp. 641-670; "Epitaph of Jerzy Rudomina and his companions in the fara in Novogrudok - sculpture inspired by literature and literature inspired by sculpture", [in:] "Literatura i rzeźba / Literatur und Skulptur", Warsaw-Krakow 2018, pp. 165-178; "Praecepta politica in the Torun Town Hall. The unpreserved cycle of paintings from the Council Hall from 1603 and its European context", Warsaw 2014; co-author of the volumes of the "Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce" [Biała Podlaska County (2006), City of Białystok (2015), Białystok County (2016), Radzyń Podlaski County (2019)] and author of many monographs in the series "Materials for the history of sacred art in the eastern lands of the former Republic of Poland". Scholarship holder of, among others, the Lanckoroński Foundation.