For Marianna Skorzewska

The artwork was created in a dialogue with the space of the neoclassical palace in Lubostron, designed by Stanislaw Zawadzki and commissioned by Frederick Skorzewski. It was installed in the rotunda, which is a representative hall of the palace, and refers to Marianna Skorzewska (1741-1791), the mother of Frederick and one of the Polish women savants of that time, such as Izabela Czartoryska or Izabela Lubomirska.

Marianna was married at the age of 13 to Franciszek Skorzewski who was about 20 years older than her. After the birth of two daughters, she decided to develop her intellectual skills. She went to Berlin, where she quickly became popular at the royal court. Her knowledge and intellect were admired by Frederick the Great himself. She was also his close friend.

Her ability to think strategically and take care of her own interests was controversial for her contemporaries. Also, her role in the first partition of the Polish Commonwealth was unclear. Marianna Skorzewska, at the beginning, was a great advocate of Polish interests at the court in Berlin. However, when she realized that the partition was inevitable, she is alleged to have begged Frederick the Great to include her properties in Prussia (instead of in Russia). There was also gossip that she assisted during the settling of the new borders. Therefore, despite the efforts of her son Frederick, Marianna is not regarded as a Polish patriot together with Czartoryska or Lubomirska. However, the iconographic programme of the main hall in the Lubostron Palace is a specific apotheosis of Frederick's mother as a progressive woman represented as one who had played an honourable role in the history of Poland.

The artwork installed in the main room consists of two quotes. They can be translated as "The woman was a leader in this marriage", and "It is astonishing that she such developed herself without any help". The first sentence is the opinion on the Skorzewskis' marriage by their contemporaries. The author of the second quote is Frederick the Great, who made this remark because Marianna had received only provincial education at a Polish convent school.

The quotes were placed on a sash and apron - the attributes of membership of the Freemasons and symbols of self-improvement and broadening of one's knowledge. Polish ladies, including Skorzewska, were great advocates of this movement.