The Sobieskis and Stuarts. The Wedding of Clementina Sobieska and James III/VIII, Anton Fritz, 1719

engraved by Anton Fritz after a drawing by Agostino Masucci
copperplate on laid paper, 1719 
National Museum in Warsaw

This copperplate engraving depicts the wedding of James and Clementina in the episcopal palace in Montefiascone near Viterbo on the evening of September 1, 1719. The couple receive a blessing from Bishop Sebastiano Bonaventura, accompanied by a small group of courtiers. In the coving are depictions of scenes from the Old Testament—the Sacrifice of Isaac and the Slaying of Abel. The Latin inscription emphasises that the sacrament was administered in the name of Pope Clement XI and that Clementina was the granddaughter of “the famous Jan III, King of Poland.”

The engraving by German artist Anton Fritz (active 1718–1755) is based on a drawing by painter Agostino Masucci (c.1691–1758), preserved in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. The work was published by Giovanni Maria Salvioni (1676–1755). Masucci painted the same composition in oil on cardboard (currently in the collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery). It differs from the drawing in details of the costumes and decorations—for instance, the scenes from the Old Testament are replaced with the depiction of the tale of Constantine the Great.

Until 1746, the Sobieski family seat in Żółkiew (today Zhovkva) housed a “Four-foot Painting with the Expression of James, King of England, Marrying Clementina, Princess of Poland, sub Nro 372’, which was subsequently transferred to the Radziwiłł collection in Nyasvizh, where its presence continued to be recorded until 1778.