A painting from Royal Łazienki on display at the Belvedere in Vienna
A portrait of Catherina Gattai Tomatis from the Royal Łazienki collection was loaned to an exhibition at the Belvedere Museum. The family history of the Italian dancer, singer and actress, who for years belonged to the closest circle of King Stanisław August, became a major theme of the Viennese exhibition.
Caterina Gattai Tomatis and her husband arrived in Warsaw in 1764, when Stanisław August took the throne. The Italian artist became the monarch’s long-standing mistress, and Charles Thomatis was appointed by the king as director of the first public theatre in the capital. Caterina Gattai was portrayed twice by the royal painter, Marcello Bacciarelli, and the pictures depicting her enriched the collection of Stanisław August.
Now, one of them – which is permanently on display at the Palace on the Isle – has made its way to an exhibition at the Belvedere in Vienna. ‘IN-SIGHT: Johann Baptist Lampi The Elder and The Younger. Overpainted and Uncovered’ tells the story of the Tomatis family through, among other things, images. The main work among them is the one of Johann Baptist Lampi The Elder. The Austrian painter immortalised the Italian artist and her family several times when he was in Warsaw between 1788 and 1789. One of the portraits on display at the exhibition shows the two children of the Tomatis family, Caroline and Victor, standing on either side of a bust of a woman. During conservation work in 2016, X-rays and infrared images revealed that the composition had been repainted and that beneath the layers of paint was a portrait of their mother, Catherine, embracing her children. On a black and white photograph, which is part of the exhibition, visitors can see how Johann Baptist Lampi The Elder originally portrayed the Italian artist. The portrait from the Royal Łazienki completes the story of the Tomatis family, told through artworks.
Another surprise is a painting by Johann Baptist Lampi The Younger, which has also been repainted. In this case, a layer of black paint hid the figure of Cupid, accompanying Venus in the original composition. This helped explain why the painting was interpreted as a portrait of Emilie Victoria Kraus, one of Napoleon’s mistresses. At the exhibition, for the first time since Cupid was revealed, the work is presented to the public under its original title ‘Sleeping Venus with Cupid in Front of the Mirror’.
The Vienna exhibition features the significance of both paintings by the Austrian masters, so far hidden under a layer of paint. It shows that the meaning of a work can change significantly after leaving the artist’s atelier: a family portrait expressing a mother’s love for her children has been transformed into a depicted bust, and an idealised Venus has become a portrait of an Austrian noblewoman.
The exhibition can be viewed until 11 October 2026. The exhibition opening, attended by invited guests, including representatives of the Royal Łazienki Museum with Director Dr Marianna Otmianowska, took place on 12 May 2026 at the Belvedere Museum.
