Paintings by Bernardo Bellotto, known as Canaletto, Marcello Bacciarelli or Angelika Kauffmann, valuable specimens of Meissen porcelain, antique furniture, silver, and military items; a total of 130 of the most important acquisitions, carefully selected from almost five hundred that enriched the collection of the Royal Castle in Warsaw in 2021-2022, can be admired as part of the unique temporary exhibition “Crème de la crème. Selected acquisitions 2021-2022”, which will be on display from 18 March to 14 May 2023.

Between 2021 and 2022, the collection of the Royal Castle in Warsaw has been enriched by nearly 500 high-class works of art, selected from the extensive offer of prestigious European galleries and antiquaria, as well as found at Polish and foreign auctions. Some of the acquisitions complemented the historic interiors of the Royal Apartments and the suite of Prince Józef Poniatowski in the Copper Roof Palace, while others found their place in the Masterpieces Gallery. 

Their purchase is part of a consistently pursued mission of the Royal Castle in Warsaw to acquire anew objects that once belonged permanently inside its walls, as well as to purchase new ones – those that fit into the profile of the castle’s collection due to their artistic value or specific historical heritage.

The exhibition presents around 130 of the most important and valuable works of art purchased in recent years. This unique juxtaposition of paintings, drawings and graphics, furniture, silverware, ceramics and militaria is divided into three thematically coherent groups: the first – related to the court of the kings of the Saxon dynasty: August II and August III, the second – related to the patronage of King Stanislaus Augustus, and the third – related to Prince Józef Poniatowski.

Adrian Andrzejewski