Jonas Rustemas – one of the most famous Lithuanian artists of the first half of the 19th century. Of French and Armenian (or Greek or Turkish) origin. Born around 1762 in Constantinople, buried on 21 June 1835 in Dūkšteliai (Old Dūkštės Cemetery).
He painted mostly portraits – self-portraits of Lithuanian high society and other prominent individuals: landowners, university professors, doctors, Vilnius intellectuals.
His works are exhibited in the Lithuanian Art Museum, the National Museum of Lithuania, the National MK Čiurlionis Art Museum, the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, the National Museums of Warsaw and Krakow, the Belarusian Art Museum, and the Ukrainian Art Museum.
Jonas Rustemas was a lecturer at the Department of Drawing and Painting at Vilnius University (1797–1832). From 1811 he was a professor, and from 1819 he was the head of the department.
The artist J. Rustem is buried in the basement of the church (which collapsed this year). The gravesite is marked by a concrete obelisk with a metal top, built in 1974 (architect Viktoras Kunickas).
The church basement is covered with a roof.
Information updated 2026-01-12
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