Marcjan Aleksander Ogiński


Marcjan Aleksander Ogiński was a Lithuanian nobleman, a military commander and a statesman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He advanced to colonel in 1657, served as Voivod of Trakai and Grand Chancellor of Lithuania. He was the signatory of the Eternal Peace Treaty of 1686 with the Tsardom of Russia, on the side of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Since the Oginski's birth, he was Orthodox, and participated in the religious life of the church, being a member of the Mogilev and Vilnius Church fellowships. However, in the struggle for Trakai Voivodeship demanded of him transition from Orthodoxy to Catholicism or Uniate Church, which he did in 1670 and became a commander.
He initiated the establishment of Dominicans in the Peninsula Castle of Trakai, which was approved in 1678. Since 1681, Ogiński was the owner of Vepriai and Deltuva, which were received from his aunt Barbara.
Marcjan Aleksander Ogiński may be the subject of a much debated work, Rembrandt's The Polish Rider. The image was painted at the time he was studying in the Netherlands. It has been suggested that Ogiński had the portrait painted on the eve of his return to his military unit during the devastating Swedish invasions in the Deluge.