At the Illuminator’s Workshop | Painting Workshop

Prayer books belonging to crowned persons, especially copies with their owners’ handwritten notes, are exceptional works of art that are rather rarely shown publicly. Among them is the Book of Hours that belonged to Queen Mary Stuart. This priceless work from the first half of the 16th century symbolically opens the narrative about the history of relations between the Sobieski family and the Stuart dynasty that ruled England, Scotland and Ireland.

During the workshop we will learn the story of the royal prayer book, read the monarch’s handwritten note and discover the beauty of miniatures created by one of the most esteemed artists at the court of King Francis I.

We will also visit the studios where such richly decorated books were made and learn the secrets of illuminators’ work and the plant, animal and mineral pigments they used. Based on the latter we will prepare paints, using as a binder a glue made from hen egg white prepared according to old recipes.

In the practical part of the workshop we will create a piece modeled on one of the miniatures from Queen Mary Stuart’s prayer book – either the scene of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane or the scene of the Deposition from the Cross.

• Leaders: Katarzyna Pietrzak and Monika Raciborska
• When: 15 March 2026, 11:30–14:00
• Place: meeting at the palace cloakroom (Museum of the Palace in Wilanów, Warsaw)
• Tickets: 30 zł (available online: https://wilanow-palac.pl/wydarzenia/indywidualne/termin/68/218/370431 and at the museum ticket office)
• For: youth and adults
• More information about the educational programme accompanying the exhibition “Sobiescy and the Stuarts – the shine and the shadow of the crown”: https://wilanow-palac.pl/wystawy/sobiescy-i-stuartowie-blask-i-widmo-korony