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Gate of Dawn
Created: 1898.
Material / technique: oil, canvas.
Dimensions: 105 x 75 cm.
Signature: Vilno 1898, W Slendzinski (at the bottom left of the painting).
One of Lithuania's most famous 19th-century artists, Vincentas Slendzinskis, painted the image of the Vilnius Gate of Dawn in the autumn of 1889 during evening services, a painting that is currently kept at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art. It depicts one of the most important religious holidays of the Vilnius Archdiocese – the Feast of the Gate of Dawn, the Blessed Feast of the Mother of Mercy, which takes place every November. Among the artist's other landscapes, "Gates of Dawn" stands out with its night-lighting effect. Warm night light emanates from the festive illumination of the gates. Such lighting in the painting also has an allegorical meaning. The kneeling crowd of praying people, as a less significant participant on stage, is immersed in darkness, but it is concentrated on the light emanating from the image of the Mother of God – the intercessor of all the suffering and suffering. The painting, now kept at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, was purchased in 1892 by musicologist and linguist Jan Karłowicz (1836–1903) during a visit to Vilnius. Slendzinskis himself sent the painting to Warsaw at his own expense, hoping that it would be exhibited at the jubilee exhibition when it was effectively illuminated by a reflector. Unfortunately, history remains silent on whether this happened. It was believed that after Karlovičius's death, the canvas belonged to the Swedish-born publicist and poet, patron Baron Wawrzyniec Engeström Benzelstjerna (1829–1910), who lived in Poznań and was the head of the Poznań branch of the Krakow Society of Friends of Art, as he also had a painting with the same name in his collection. At the end of 2025, a slightly modified original version of the painting was unexpectedly discovered in California, created in 1898, that is, nine years after the original version was painted, changing the previous belief. The painting owned by Karlović returned to Vilnius at unknown times and by unknown routes, where it was sold. In 1983, it was purchased in an antiquarian shop on Dominikonų Street by the then Lithuanian Art Museum. Meanwhile, according to Olga Goodman, the former owner of the second version living in Santa Clarica, the painting she owned was brought back to the USA in 1950 by her grandfather Kazimieras Bandzevičius, a former Kaunas banker and Buik car dealer. In 1940, he moved with his family to Germany and lived in Poznań for a while. It was probably here that he acquired the painting that belonged to Engeström Benzelstjerna. Thanks to Dominykas Šaudys and Regina Šemiotaitė, the second version of the Gate of Dawn returned to Lithuania, was restored, and exhibited in the exhibition "With Heart and Eyes: Vincentas Slendzinskis (1838–1909)" together with a painting from the Lithuanian National Museum of Art. It was customary for Slendzinski not only to copy other artists' paintings but occasionally to repeat his own, who were popular among patrons, more or less modifying the original image. Slendzinskis became acquainted with Engeström Benzelstjerna as early as 1873 during a visit to Dresden and Poznan. That year, the patron acquired the second version of the painting "The Orphan" painted by Slendzinski in Dresden. It is likely that he did not miss the opportunity to have a replica of "The Gate of Dawn." In the latter painting, there is more light; above the chapel pediment, the illusionistic eastern gate facade shining with blue light can be seen, the praying figures are more pronounced and modified, and a closer viewing angle was chosen. Despite being a "secondary" version of the painting, it is equivalent, with artistic features and impact comparable to the originally conceived one. (Dr. Jolanta Širkaitė)
Exhibitions: A retrospective exhibition of the life and work of one of the most famous Lithuanian painters of the second half of the 19th century, Vincentas Slendzinskis, titled "With Heart and Eyes. Vincentas Slendzinskis (1838–1909)", March 3, 2026 – November 27, 2026, Vilnius Picture Gallery, Vilnius.
Photographs: Exhibition at the exhibition "With Heart and Eyes. Vincentas Slendzinskis (1838–1909)", March 3, 2026 - November 27, 2026, Vilnius Picture Gallery, Vilnius.