Romanian Princes Represented in Lithographs Accomplished by Constantin Lecca in “Biblioteca Românească” (Buda, 1829, 1830): Truth or Fiction?

Between 1780 and 1830 the Romanian Section of the University Press of Buda printed four issues of the magazine “Biblioteca românească” [Romanian Library], edited by Zaharia Carcalechi. Each of them announced on the title page the portrait of a voivode: Dimitrie Cantemir, Radu Șerban, Mihai Viteazul [Michael the Brave], Ștefan cel Mare [Stephen the Great]. The images were portrayed in the technique of lithography and they represent official portraits (“portrete de aparat”). Even if they wore no signature, in the specialized historiography they were attributed to Constantin Lecca. The present study intends to analyse the four illustrations, namely to reveal how we have come across the portraits, to describe them and to find out their sources of inspiration. As regards Radu Șerban andMihai Viteazul, the author rendered other persons. A recent discovery has revealed that, as Radu Șerban is concerned, two versions used to circulate at the time.