Ignacy Błażej Franciszek Krasicki, from 1766 Prince-Bishop of Warmia and from 1795 Archbishop of Gniezno, was Poland's leading Enlightenment poet, a critic of the clergy, Poland's La Fontaine, author of the first Polish novel, playwright, journalist, encyclopedist, and translator from French and Greek.
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz was a military commander of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, who was from 1601 Field Hetman of Lithuania, and from 1605 Grand Hetman of Lithuania. He was one of the most prominent noblemen and military commanders of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth of his era. His coat of arms was Chodkiewicz, as was his family name.
Stanisław II August, known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1764 to 1795, and the last monarch of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Prince Jerzy Ossoliński h. Topór was a Polish nobleman (szlachcic), Crown Court Treasurer from 1632, governor (voivode) of Sandomierz from 1636, Reichsfürst since 1634, Crown Deputy Chancellor from 1639, Great Crown Chancellor from 1643, sheriff (starost) of Bydgoszcz (1633), Lubomel (1639), Puck and Bolim (1647), magnate, politician and diplomat. Famous for being extensively educated, he was a skillful politician and a persuasive public speaker.
Stanisław Wawrzyniec Staszic was a leading figure in the Polish Enlightenment: a Catholic priest, philosopher, geologist, writer, poet, translator and statesman. A physiocrat, monist, pan-Slavist and laissez-fairist, he supported many reforms in Poland. He is particularly remembered for his political writings during the "Great (Four-Year) Sejm" (1788–92) and for his large support towards the Constitution of 3 May 1791, adopted by that Sejm.
Hugo Stumberg Kołłątaj, also spelled Kołłątay, was a prominent Polish constitutional reformer and educationalist, and one of the most prominent figures of the Polish Enlightenment. He served as Deputy Chancellor of the Crown, 1791–92. He was a Roman Catholic priest, social and political activist, political thinker, historian, philosopher, and polymath.
Thursday Dinners were gatherings of artists, intellectuals, architects, politicians and statesmen held by the last King of Poland, Stanislaus II Augustus during the Enlightenment period in Poland.
The House of Lubomirski is a Polish princely family. The Lubomirski family's coat of arms is the Drużyna coat of arms, which is similar to the Szreniawa coat of arms but without a cross.
Count Józef Kajetan Piotr Maksymilian Ossoliński known as Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński was a Polish nobleman, landowner, politician, novelist, poet, historian and researcher into literature, historian, translator, lexicographer, bibliophile, a forerunner of Slavic studies and a leading figure of the Polish Enlightenment. He founded the Ossoliński Institute in Lwów to which he donated his immense library and other collections of manuscripts and coins.
Franciszek Smuglewicz was a Polish-Lithuanian draughtsman and painter. Smuglewicz is considered a progenitor of Lithuanian art in the modern era. He was precursor of historicism in Polish painting. He was also a founder of Vilnius school of art, his most prominent students were Jan Rustem, Jan Krzysztof Damel, Gaspar Borowski and Józef Oleszkiewicz. His father Łukasz Smuglewicz and brother Antoni were also painters.
The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in Western Europe, as the Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta (nobility) culture (Sarmatism) together with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth political system were in deep crisis. The period of Polish Enlightenment began in the 1730s–40s, peaked in the reign of Poland's king, Stanisław August Poniatowski, went into decline with the Third Partition of Poland (1795) – a national tragedy inspiring a short period of sentimental writing – and ended in 1822, replaced by Romanticism.
Wojciech Romuald Bogusławski was a Polish actor, theater director and playwright of the Polish Enlightenment. He was the director of the National Theatre, Warsaw,, during three distinct periods, as well as establishing a Polish opera. He is considered the "Father of Polish theatre."
Józef Andrzej Załuski was a Polish Catholic priest, Bishop of Kiev, a sponsor of learning and culture, and a renowned bibliophile. A member of the Polish nobility (szlachta), bearing the hereditary Junosza coat-of-arms, he is most famous as co-founder of the Załuski Library, one of the largest 18th-century book collections in the world.
Franciszek Ksawery Lampi, also known as Franz Xaver Lampi, was a Polish Romantic painter born in Austria of ethnic Italian background. He was associated with the aristocratic circle of the late Stanisław II Augustus, the last Polish king before the foreign partitions of Poland. Lampi settled in Warsaw around 1815 at the age of 33, and established himself as the leading landscape and portrait artist in Congress Poland soon after Napoleon's defeat in Russia.
Stanisław Masłowski, born Stanisław Stefan Zygmunt Ludgard Masłowski was a Polish painter of realistic style, the author of watercolor landscapes.
Władysław Orkan was a Polish writer and poet from the Young Poland period. He is known as one of the greatest Polish writers from Podhale region and Góral folk; the most famous of his works portray the common people from that region.
Wiktor Zin was a Polish architect, graphic artist, professor, architectural preservationist, cultural activist, and promoter of Polish history and culture.
Józef Feldman was a Polish historian of Jewish ethnicity, professor of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and a member of the Polish Academy of Learning.
Franciszek Ksawery Niesiołowski was a colonel in the 6th Lithuanian Foot Regiment, general in the Kościuszko Uprising, the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw, and the Army of the Kingdom of Poland, served during the November Uprising, became a member of the Sejm in 1830, and was Senator-Castellan of the Kingdom of Poland from 8 August 1831.
The Collegium Nobilium was a Jesuit foundation in Warsaw between 1752 and 1777. It was intended to provide an élite education for the sons of Magnates of Poland and Lithuania, and other leading Szlachta families, likely to run the country or represent it abroad. It is sometimes confused with another longer established educational institution with the same name, run by the Piarists order in the capital.
