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    Published: 2025-12-18
    Vol. 32 No. 63-64 (2025)

    The Decoration of the Choir of the Capuchin Church in Warsaw during the Lying in State of John III Sobieski, Maria Kazimiera, and Their Grandson John in 1733

    Renata Sulewska

    Abstract

    Before their transfer to Kraków for final interment in Wawel Cathedral, the bodies of John III
    Sobieski, Maria Kazimiera, and the coffin containing the remains of their grandson John were dis-
    played on 15 May 1733 in the Capuchin Church in Warsaw. The reconstruction of the setting of this
    ceremony, organized on the order of Jakub Sobieski, is made possible by two complementary sources:
    its description published by Michał Baliński in 1840 – most likely based on a now-lost printed
    account – and a drawing preserved in the Dresden collections, probably executed by J.D. Jauch.
    The drawing presents the plan of the lower monastic choir of the church and the elevations of its
    walls, as well as the decoration prepared for the lying in state of the Sobieskis. The arrangement
    combined elements used during the posthumous display of a body with decorations typical of funer-
    ary ceremonies. While the fabric-draped walls, catafalque, candlesticks, canopy, and carefully
    arranged regalia were elements of the décor of the hall in which the ruler’s body was presented,
    the programme of the gueridons, the decoration of the vault, and the inscriptions can be derived
    from the mourning décor of churches where funeral services were held. The surviving drawing
    makes it possible to identify which elements of the setting prepared in 1733 were later reused
    during the ceremonies held in the Warsaw Capuchin Church for the obsequies of Augustus II, and
    which survived into the twentieth century. It also constitutes a valuable supplement to the corpus
    of iconographic sources concerning royal funeral ceremonies in Poland.

    Keywords:

    King John III Sobieski, Maria Kazimiera Sobieska, Joachim Daniel Jauch, Capuchin Church in Warsaw, lying in state

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