Works painted by Józef Pitschmann are marked by strong realism compared with portraits by other Austrian artists working in Poland at that time. The artist had a flair for the keen observation of the facial features of his sitters and was capable of transferring them onto the canvas with great thoroughness and talent. He avoided idealization and elaborate ornamentation in the form of attributes or a landscape background, especially in the case of male portraits, sometimes even showing the character of the sitter through their facial features. However, it was possible only in the case of portraits of people from outside the court circles, because only then the painter was not expected to idealize the sitter or paint portraits stylized on the fashion of the day. On the other hand, representatives of the gentry from outside the court circles like Józef Dzierzbicki and his wife Joanna, née Siekierczyńska, used to the austerity of the Sarmatian portraits, did not oppose to realism. The combination of reddish accents, visible especially in the complexion of the face, with silvery whites is what a the portraits of the Dzierzbicki couple and Maria Theresa have in common.

Barbara Ciciora