Peter Paul Rubens developed a new type of equestrian portrait. The system that had been used up until then, in the Titian tradition (Horse portrait of Charles V), depicted a rider on a horse in profile. Rubens changed this, depicting the figure and mount slightly turned en trois quarts in a short perspective, so that they seemed to be heading directly towards the viewer.

The portrait was purchased in Cairo by soldiers of the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade during WW II. The face of the man is oval-shaped, with almond-like eyes with marked pupils, lashes and bushy eyebrows. He has a long moustache and a black beard encircling his face.

The present portrait depicts the Markowski married couple: Józef and Maria née Langelot. The painting was created during the second period of Peszka’s artistic activity in Kraków (from 1813). Józef Markowski (1758–1829), portrayed together with his wife, was one of the most important Polish scientists of that time.

This painting depicts the image of Stefan Bogusław Janota Bzowski known by the name of Bogusław. He was the son of Kazimierz and Marjanna née Dąbski, born in 1821 in Gruszów, who died in 1911 in Krakow. He was buried with his wife at the Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków. He managed estates in the villages of Droginia, Radwan and Buk. After autonomy had been granted to Galicia, he served as the first marshal of the District Council in Myślenice. At his own initiative, the District Savings Bank was established in this city. In 1854, he married Leonia, Countess Stadnicka, with whom he had nine children.

The portrait of a head comes from a bust of a Roman woman who lived in the mid–3^rd century. With a realistic expression of facial features, it depicts a middle-aged woman. The big eyes looking straight and thin, slightly tight lips suggest a firm character. The cheeks are fleshy but with visible zygomatic bones; the jaw is massive, with a clearly marked full chin. The hairdo expresses the fashion at the time, referring to a hairstyle introduced by Julia Domna, the wife of Emperor Septimius Severus.

The pride of the palace in Slavuta was a small pastel portrait which presented a charming teenage girl. It depicts Teresa née Czartoryska, the daughter of Józef Klemens, the founder of the china manufacturing plant in Korets. The girl’s mother was duchess Dorota née Jabłonowska, who was famous for her beauty. The author of the portrait was one of the most outstanding French painters, Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun /1755–1842/.

A small, barely 40 centimetre tall statuette depicts one of the greatest Krakow historians and journalists of the 19^th century: Professor of Kraków Alma Mater, Józef Szujski. The bronze bust depicts a middle-aged man with a distinctive look: a high forehead, combed hair, and a short beard with moustache. 

Prince Józef Poniatowski — nephew of the last king of Poland, general commander of the army of the Duchy of Warsaw — died in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. Death in the waters of the Elster River initiated the cult of his character, strongly associated with the legend of Napoleon. In 1817, the prince's body was placed in the St. Leonard's Crypt under Wawel Cathedral.
The bust is an original copy of a study for the famous Warsaw monument of Prince Józef Poniatowski, sculpted by Bertel Thorvaldsen. Jakub Tatarkiewicz, who — like Konstanty Hegel and Paweł Maliński — was Thorvaldsen's student at the Roman Academy of St. Luke, successfully adapted the cold neoclassicism of his teacher here.

The artist plays the image off against the text. He juxtaposes images of people with information about their job and the situational context. By these means he creates multidimensional portraits of well-known media individuals.

The group portrait of the Galician Jews belongs to the late works by Piotr Michałowski (1800—1855). It was created in a time when the artist — treating painting as a hobby — managed the estate in Bolestraszyce near Przemyśl. This painting, being actually an oil study, is similar in character to the 17^th-century Dutch portraits. From the dark, abstract space busts of five Jews emerge.