Imants Lancmanis (born July 29, 1941) is a Latvian painter and

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

. He has also been the director of

Rundāle Palace Rundāle Palace (; ) is one of the two major baroque palaces built for the Dukes of Courland in what is now Latvia, the other being Jelgava Palace. The palace was built in two periods, from 1736 until 1740 and from 1764 until 1768. It is situated ...

Museum from 1976 until 2019.

Biography

Imants Lancmanis was born on July 29, 1941, in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

. In 1959 he graduated from J. Rozentāls Art High School and continued his studies in the painting department of the

Art Academy of Latvia The Art Academy of Latvia () is an institution of higher education and scientific research in art, located in Riga, Latvia. The neo-Gothic brick building is located on Krišjānis Valdemārs Street, next to the National Museum of Art. In aut ...

. In the 1960s as an Art Academy student, he visited Rundāle Palace for the first time. Later he met the director of the

Bauska Bauska () is a town in its Bauska Municipality, eponymous municipality, found in the Zemgale region of southern Latvia. Bauska is located from the Latvian capital Riga, 62 km (38.5 mi) from Jelgava and from the Lithuanian border on t ...

Local History Museum, Laimonis Liepa, who offered him an opportunity to work in the newly established Rundāle Palace Museum. After graduation in 1966 Lancmanis started his full-time job in Rundāle Palace. In 1972 Lancmanis became deputy director of Rundāle Palace museum and director in 1976. He has been primarily responsible for reconstruction and restoration work done in the palace from the 1970s until 2014. Lancmanis has also extensively researched art history in Latvia. He is an author of several books about

baroque architecture Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the late 16th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to ...

and 18th- and 19th-century art in Latvia. Due to his long career and experience, Lancmanis is one of the biggest experts on art history, architecture,

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

and

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

heritage in Latvia. Lancmanis is known also as a

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. During his studies in the Art Academy he mostly painted

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

s and

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

s and envisioned his future as a painter. Later he dedicated most of his energy to the restoration of Rundāle Palace, although he resumed painting in 1989 and in 1999 his first

solo exhibition A solo show or solo exhibition is an art exhibition, exhibition of the work of only one artist. Rather than a group of artists who collaborate to form an exhibition. The artwork may be paintings, drawings, etchings, collage, sculpture, or photogr ...

was held in Riga. For his work he has been awarded the

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars () is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is ''Per aspera ad astra'', meaning "Through hardships towards the ...

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

and several other decorations and prizes.

Awards

(1994) * ''Spīdola'' prize of Latvian Cultural fund. (1998) *

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

* ''Pro Europa'' prize of Cultural fund of Europe * EU Prize for Cultural Heritage Europa Nostra * Excellence Award in Culture (2019) * Presidential Medal of Honour (2020)

Selected bibliography

* ''Jelgavas pils'', (

Jelgava Palace Jelgava Palace () or historically Mitau Palace (, ) is the largest Baroque-style palace in the Baltic states. It was built in the 18th century based on the design of Bartolomeo Rastrelli as a residence for the Dukes of Courland in their capital o ...

), (1979), (1986) * ''Liepāja no Baroka līdz Klasicismam'', (

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

from baroque to classicism), (1984) * ''Mežotnes pils'', (

Mežotne Palace Mežotne Palace (, ) is a manor house located in the Mežotne Parish of Bauska Municipality, in the Semigallia region of Latvia. The palace is one of the most outstanding examples of Neoclassical architecture in Latvia. History In 1795, E ...

), (1983) * ''Rundāles pils'', (

) (1994) * ''Kaucmindes pils'', ( Kaucminde Manor), (1999) * ''Heraldika'', (

Heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

), (2007) * ''Rundāles pils'' I daļa. (

, Part I), (2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancmanis, Imants Living people 1941 births Latvian painters Latvian male painters 20th-century Latvian historians 21st-century Latvian historians Artists from Riga Recipients of the Legion of Honour Museum directors Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Art Academy of Latvia alumni