Konstanty Aleksander Wiktor Schmidt-Ciążyński (born February 18, 1818, died January 5, 1889, in Gorizia) was a Polish collector and art connoisseur, who donated a large collection to the National Museum in Kraków.
He likely studied in Dorpat. Then, from 1839 to 1851, he resided in Saint Petersburg, where he worked at the Hermitage Museum as a restorer of paintings by Italian old masters, among others. It was during this time that he began to create his private collection of engraved gems, paintings, and prints. From 1851 to 1859, he was involved in art trade in Paris, running a renowned antique shop. He obtained a patent as a supplier to the court of Napoleon III. In 1859, he moved to London, where he gradually sold off his collection, retaining only the engraved gems and some favorite paintings.
In his later years, he decided to donate his remaining collections to Polish museums. Initially, he planned to gift them to the Polish Museum in Rapperswil, but due to difficulties in negotiations with Władysław Plater, the collection ultimately ended up in the National Museum in Kraków, thanks to Karol Estreicher. In 1883, an exhibition was held in the Kraków Cloth Hall, showcasing the donated collections. They are currently housed in the Department of Artistic Crafts and Material Culture of the National Museum in Kraków.
Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński's father was Louis (Ludwik) Schmidt, a physician originally from Lorraine. As a surgeon, he served as a personal physician to Empress Joséphine and later as a doctor in Napoleon I's army. He was a fencer, a draftsman, a musician proficient in several instruments, and a polyglot fluent in twelve languages. He soon became a favorite of Napoleon and accompanied him on several campaigns. He was present at the cavalry charge in the Somosierra gorge and later fought in the war of 1812. After the defeat of the Grande Armée, he was imprisoned multiple times but managed to regain his freedom each time.
Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński's mother was Ludwika Rozalia Ciążyńska, a woman from Greater Poland described as a "famous beauty", which explains the second part of his surname, adopted later in life.
After their marriage, the parents first settled in Warsaw, where Louis worked as a visiting physician in military hospitals in Kraków, Radom, Miechów, and Warsaw. Later, he held the same position in Kiev and Kamianets-Podilskyi. Louis also participated in the Russo-Turkish War in 1828.
Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński was born on 18 February 1818. His godparents were Countess Aleksandra Lubomirska and Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, after whom Schmidt-Ciążyński received his name. This fact confirms the privileged social status of his parents among the Warsaw elite.
As a ten-year-old boy, he accompanied his father not only on medical journeys throughout the country but also on the Eastern campaign, i.e., during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, serving as a dragoman. His proficiency in languages such as French, Russian, Turkish, and Ukrainian was comparable to his command of his native Polish language. His talent for languages proved useful later in life when mastering additional important European languages opened up the whole world to him.
He studied at Dorpat (now Tartu in Estonia) from 1835 to 1839. However, archival records of students at the University of Tartu do not confirm this fact, raising speculation that he may have been a student there briefly, perhaps as an auditor.
Shortly thereafter, in 1839, he found himself in Saint Petersburg, where he became associated with the Hermitage Museum as an extraordinary, non-staff employee, having a free hand in choosing the objects of his work and the right to abandon them at any time.
His stay in Petersburg lasted for 12 years, until 1851. During these years, his artistic personality took shape, earning him a reputation as one of the few outstanding restorers of paintings of masters from the old Italian schools. He became an expert not only in painting but also in glyptics, the art of carving precious and semi-precious stones. During this time, he also became the owner of a private collection of rare and valuable paintings, prints, and a significant number of engraved gems. In his pursuit of financial independence, he was active in the art market, exchanging works of art. During this period, he embarked on an artistically inspired journey through Europe, organized an exhibition of prints acquired during this journey in Petersburg, and subsequently sold some of them at a significant profit. With the amount obtained, he gradually expanded his collection of ancient art. He also amassed an increasing number of rare and valuable paintings and engravings. At that time, his collections were estimated to be worth at least 500,000 francs.
During his time in Russia, Schmidt-Ciążyński married Leontyna, but there is no further information about his wife in the sources.
A serious illness forced him to change his surroundings in 1851. With a sum of 10,000 rubles obtained from the hastily sold collection, he traveled through England and France to Italy.
During his stay in France, which lasted from 1851 to 1869, encompassing almost the entire period of the Second French Empire, Schmidt-Ciążyński arrived in Paris on the eve of Louis Napoleon's December coup d'état, which soon led to his becoming Napoleon III. This period marked significant political changes posing serious threats to landowners. Valuable works of art were available on the antique market for small sums, as their owners considered leaving the capital or even the country. Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński wisely invested his funds from Russia, significantly enriching his collections (again, through several trips across Europe) and establishing an antique shop (named Schmidt Antiquaire at 3 Quai Voltaire, with branches in Vichy and Nice), which soon gained great renown, attracting even crowned heads as clients. Napoleon III himself appointed Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński as a supplier to the court in 1863.
During his time in Paris, on 15 March 1854, Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński was appointed corporal of the 8th company of the 17th battalion of the Seine Department National Guard (French: Garde Nationale de la Seine).
After the loss of his only son, a young man of great virtues and extraordinary talents who had already established his own position in the artistic world, Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński left Paris in 1869 and moved with his wife to London, where he found a permanent residence. During the census in 1881, the family, along with a servant, lived at 24 Trafalgar Square.
He gradually withdrew from business affairs, disposing of the accumulated collections, leaving himself only a collection of favorite paintings and engraved gems. The replenishment and improvement of this collection consumed him entirely and provided satisfaction to his troubled soul in lonely moments of life. Towards the end of his life filled with travels around the world, and with no close family, Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński decided to donate the fruits of his many years of work and sacrifices to his homeland, the country of his childhood. As he recalled: In the beginning of the year 1883, I fell seriously ill, which lasted for several months. Living abroad at that time, namely in London and being of advanced age, I feared that in case of my death, the rare collections of works of art and precious artifacts, which I had amassed over 50 years of my life spent in wandering, at the cost of hard work and all my fortune, and which had gained European fame among connoisseurs and enthusiasts of ancient monuments, would fall into foreign hands.
During this period, Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński had no direct connections with the country of his childhood and youth. Therefore, in February 1883, he wrote a letter to one of his Viennese friends, the antiquarian and antiquities expert Tobias von Biehler, inquiring whether there were any museums in Polish lands. He received a reply stating that such a museum did not exist, but since 1870, there had been the Polish Museum in Rapperswil, founded at the initiative of Count Władysław Plater and operating under his direction. On 6 April 1883, he wrote from London to Count Plater, declaring his readiness to donate his collections to Rapperswil, for perpetual ownership by the Polish Museum, the country in which I was born and to which I had always been, am, and will remain, a loving and grateful son. In this letter, he inquired about the possibility of receiving in return from the museum a place to live and a modest salary, declaring his willingness to provide services to the museum within the limits permitted by his health. Hoping that these modest conditions would be accepted, without waiting for a response, he sent paintings [...] and other items such as bronzes, books, etc., to Rapperswil. He sent the gifts in two shipments: on April 26 and May 19. He considered the engraved gem collection too valuable to entrust to the postal service and wrote that he would bring it with him. His arrival depended on the count's response to the letter and the acceptance of the conditions offered.