Credit: Jan Matejko
In this 1862 work by Poland's preeminent historical painter, Jan Matejko, royal court jester Stańczyk appears to be the only person at a ball given by Queen Bona Sforza of Poland, to be troubled by the news of the 1514 capture of the Lithuanian city of Smolensk by Muscovite forces. Matejko, who in his works endowed Stańczyk with his own facial features, created the popular image of the Renaissance jester as a serious thinker concerned with his homeland's fate.