Regency Portraits Catalogue

Joseph Boruwlaski (1739-1837), Travelling performer and memoirist

Polish dwarf (the 'Count' was an assumed title), much travelled, ‘of cultivated mind and high conversational poweres'; he settled in England giving occasional concerts and died near Durham aged 98.

'... my growth was slowly progressive till the age of thirty years, when I was three feet three inches high. This is the size at which I remained fixed' (Memoirs of Count Boruwlaski ... written by himself, 1788).

This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.