Helena Skirmunt

Life & Legacy

Helena Skirmunt (also Skirmuntt or Skirmuntowa; Belarusian: Гелена Скірмунт; 5 November 1827 – 1 February 1874) was a Polish painter and sculptor. She was mostly self-taught though she briefly studied under several German and Italian artists. For participation in the January Uprising, she was deported to the interior of Russia and spent her last years in Crimea. As a painter she created landscapes, portraits, and religious icons; as a sculptor she completed numerous portrait medallions and religious works. In her later years she turned to historical sculpture drawing inspiration from the history of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Her daughter Konstancija Skirmuntt was a well-known historian.