The Temptation of Christ by Napoleon Iłłakowicz: A Vision of the Struggle Between Good and Evil

Abstract

The article discusses the painting The Temptation of Christ by the 19th-century Lithuanian artist Napoleon Iłłakowicz (Napoleonas Ylakavičius, 1811–1861), which has been known so far only from mentions in literature and a description given by Adam Honory Kirkor in the artist’s obituary in 1862. The collected facts of the history of this canvas and Kirkor’s description allowed the author of this article to establish that the same painting was captured in Mečislovas Sakalauskas’s photograph of 1968, which today is held in the collection of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art. At the time of photographing, the painting was held in the Church of Saints John in Vilnius; its present location is unknown. Thus, the surviving photograph is the only iconographic source offering us a possibility to discuss this painting, which is quite extraordinary in the context of Iłłakowicz’s work. The ideas embodied in the painting are discussed through their relation to the artist’s worldview. Many facts of the artist’s public and personal life are published for the first time in this article.