The Dürer lioness that survived one exile and vanished in another
A sheet from a royal collection spent decades in Russia before returning to Warsaw. It disappeared again during the Nazi occupation, leaving only its documentary trail.
The University of Warsaw’s Print Room traces its origins to the collection of King Stanisław August Poniatowski. Its holdings included this pen drawing, a study of a lioness lying down on a sheet measuring 16.2 by 27 centimetres. After the November Uprising the collection was taken to St Petersburg, and it returned to the university in 1923.
In the Second World War the Print Room lost nearly sixty percent of its collection, according to the university. The losses included archival records, making the reconstruction of individual objects’ journeys especially difficult. The foundation links the drawing’s wartime disappearance to the confiscations overseen by Nazi official Kajetan Mühlmann, but treats his personal role in this particular loss as unconfirmed.
Poland’s Ministry of Culture records the drawing as a wartime loss. Its precise dimensions, its royal and university provenance, and the surviving reproduction are concrete points of comparison for any new lead. None of the reviewed sources reports a confirmed recovery.
Artwork Details & DocumentationIdentification, ownership history and supporting records
Individual artwork identification details have not yet been documented in this record. Missing specifications are not inferred from the photograph or report headline.
Not documented in this record: object type · materials & technique · measurements · inscriptions & markings · distinguishing features · artwork title · maker / attribution · creation date / period · subject.
Record sources
Identification details follow the Object ID categories where documented. Ownership history is recorded separately; this documentation is not an authentication or a certificate of ownership.
Documentary sources
- Monuments Men and Women Foundation · Wartime loss dossier ↗
- Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage · Official wartime loss record ↗
- University of Warsaw Library · History of the Print Room ↗
An original ArtTraceX synthesis. Sources checked .