Nieznane malowidło z 1805 r. pochodzące ze skasowanego klasztoru bernardynów w Barczewie

The collection of the State Archive in Olsztyn holds a highly unusual item: a decorative inscription concerning the monks and donors of the Franciscan Observants monastery in Barczewo. It is a 200 by 100 cm, oil-on-canvas painting, whose textual part is composed of a decorative title, an outline of the monastery’s history, the list of donators, as well as of the deceased fathers and friars covering the period between 1599 and 1817. The fundamental content is organised into five columns. The painting was decorated with a composition of a geometrical ornament, a vine, and a bordure of skull and bones suspended on a ribbon. The dissolution of the order, which took place in 1830, led to the dispersal of the Franciscan legacy. In view of a small number of extant sources from the suppressed monastery, the plaque seems all the more valuable. The inscription, due to a poor state of preservation, has not been made available for research so far, a situation which the restoration works currently in progress will help to change.