№ 34
Family Photograph, Early 20th Century

The Family at the Tea Table

At a wrought-iron garden table, just steps from the palace door, sit — most likely — the manor's own owners and their family. Count Vladislovas Tyszkiewicz had ruled the Lentvaris estate since 1892, living there with his wife, Princess Maria Krystyna Lubomirska, and their four children — perhaps one of them is the girl standing behind, cheerfully waving.

The scissors left on the table hint that the moment was caught mid-afternoon pastime — perhaps garden flowers or needlework. Such light, filigreed wrought-iron furniture on the terrace was a typical mark of Belle Époque luxury, common at European manors and summer residences of the era.

The animation is made as if the family were reacting to the observer itself: the standing girl cheerfully waves straight at the camera, while the seated man and the older woman on the left turn to glance aside — as if someone had just stepped up to the table. A hundred years later, the moment feels as if they've noticed us.

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