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Abstract

Two Men in a Tavern The article addresses the theme of peasants in the work of Pranciškus Smuglevičius (Franciszek Smuglewicz, 1745–1807) and discusses the most significant works on this theme extant in the collections of Lithuania and Poland. Special attention is devoted to the compositions depicting two Cracowians in a tavern. It is noted that a group of paintings of a similar composition exists and most of them are attributed to P. Smuglevičius. In this article, an attempt is made to figure out which works were painted by P. Smuglevičius himself, which paintings should be attributed to copies, and how the abundance of versions of this small modest composition can be explained. A discussion of the examples of the image of Cracowian peasants in other fields of eighteenth-century culture revealed that, unlike P. Smuglevičius’s numerous earlier works on the peasant theme, Cracowians in a Tavern is not just a manifestation of his interest in the life and daily round of the third estate. This composition can be read as an allegoric painting that hides a generalised picture of the peasantry as an inseparable part of the nation under a “mask” of an everyday scene and a study of folk types. That is why it is not necessary to look for a portrait likeness or psychological characteristics in the images of the men depicted. The hidden meaning of these characters, as a generalised picture of the peasantry of the Republic of the Two Nations capable of rising up to fight for their rights and the freedom of their homeland, is revealed through the image of the peasants of the environs of Cracow as patriots ready to defend their homeland, which was spread at the end of the eighteenth century. P. Smuglevičius’s images of the Cracowians are in a way related to the images of the patriotic people developed in popular operas of the time. These linkups may also explain the popularity of the painting, as evidenced by the large number of copies. It is proposed to interpret the painting Cracowians in a Tavern as an allegorical painting of the people, with an encoded patriotic content. Keywords: Pranciškus Smuglevičius, Hugo Kołłątaj, painting of the Enlightenment, peasantry in art, Cracowians.