„Queen Barbora and her images“ 

It is iconographic studies of Barbora Radvilaitė’s images.

Barbora Radvilaitė is herself one of our most popular historical personalities. Withdrawn in her own world of intimate experiences, having no political aspirations and only rousing it among her relatives and contemporaries, she whipped up a real storm in the state those days, leaving a significant trace in it with her presence. It is no wonder that since those years, Radvilaitė has dotted interested researchers of the past, differently evaluating her role in history. Recklessly condemned by some and praised by others, she has given material for vast historical studies and sharp polemical discussions. A sensational story, like a film scenario about the love of a beautiful widow and a young sovereign, a secret wedding, the king’s persistent fight to legalise the wedding and the wife’s right to the throne, and the tragic early death of the ostensibly poisoned queen; never in the epoch of romanticism has such substance been offered for the creators of various profiles. To some purpose, the tragic fate of Žygimantas Augustas’ wife inspired many pictorial, graphic, statuary, poetic and prosaic works, and became a point of departure for operas, dramas and screenings.

Second edition.