Polish Enlightenment
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The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in Western Europe, as the Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta culture together with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Portrait of the Prozor Family, by Franciszek Smuglewicz, 1789
Załuski Library, Poland's first public library, by Zygmunt Vogel, 1801
Roman theater on the Isle (1790–1793), a companion to the Palace on the Water.
Łazienki Palace, Warsaw, 1764–1795
Stanisław August Poniatowski
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Stanisław II August, known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, and as Stanisław August Poniatowski, was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1764 to 1795, and the last mon
Polish Enlightenment
…system (Golden Liberty) were in deep crisis. The period of Polish Enlightenment began in the 1730s–40s, peaked in the reign of Poland's last king, Stanisław August Poniatowski (1764–1795), went into decline with the Third Partition of Poland (1795) – a national tragedy inspiring a short period of sentimental writing – and…
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Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, Poniatowski's mentor, by John Giles Eccardt
Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeyevna, 1745, by Louis Caravaque
Stanisław August's 1764 election as king, depicted by Bernardo Bellotto