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VOL. 19

VOL. 19

Spis treści / Table of Contents [PL/ENG]  Read More o

Dorota Zaprzalska, Jagiellonian University Art History Students’ Scientific Society, Jagiellonian University, Institute of Art History, ul. Grodzka 53, 31-007 Kraków

Summary

The composite icon at Vlatadon monastery in Thessaloniki - its iconographic and compositional form as well as ideological and devotional function

The article is devoted to a bilateral icon from the Monastery of Vlatadon in Thessaloniki. The icon, which has already been presented at numerous exhibitions and studied by individual scholars, has an interesting detail – in the central part of the obverse there is another smaller inlaid painting. Rather than on the stylistic differences between the two icons and their dating, this study focuses entirely on the act of insertion itself and seeks to investigate the aspect of re-using an older icon and incorporating it into a larger one. The icon is compared to other examples of composite icons – a phenomenon first described by Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos – in which one icon is a part of a larger picture and at the same time the central icon is not a painted element but an earlier one inserted in to another panel. Special attention is paid to the frame – as this element not only separates them visually, but also conceptually, simultaneously creating a hierarchy of more significant space within one piece of art. The technique of inserting one image into a larger one can be seen as a type of conservation method employed to keep the smaller image in the best possible condition. Nevertheless, it not only enlarges the smaller icon, but also emphasizes its value. The analysis of the composition and theological meaning of the inlaid icon in conjunction with the iconography and dogmatic ideas of the larger icon shows that they form a coherent whole. The size and the complexity of the larger icon, and the special care that was taken to harmonize it with the one inlaid, indicate that the act of inserting should be reconsidered and seen not only as renovation. It is possible that the smaller icon was considered a precious object or somehow connected with the history of the monastery. Examples of composite icons that are still venerated in the monasteries which house them are presented as a comparison and therein proposed is a new interpretation of the act of re-using Byzantine icons in composite icons – the inserted panel is considered as a relic and the new panel as its reliquary container, which enables the sacred object to be transported and more effectively presented.

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Katarzyna Chrzanowska MA, IRSA International Institute for Art Historical Research, pl. Jana Matejki 7/8, 31-157 Kraków

Summary

Panelling in the chancel of the church of Saint John the Baptist in Skalbmierz 

The wood paneling on the north and south walls and the paintings decorating them have not yet been devoted to monographic work. In the literature they are only mentioned twice. The paneling structure was dated to the 17th century, while the five paintings decorating it distinguished those created in the 17th century and the group described as "new". In the archives, information about the paneling in the presbytery appears only in the visit files from 1824. Information about the paneling that is still in the presbytery was first published in 1927 by priest Jan Wiśniewski. In 2017, the paneling on the southern wall of the presbytery was renovated, along with the two paintings therein. It was found then that the wooden structure of the paneling was built in 1907, which was associated with a fire that broke out in the church in February this year, and was cleaned of painting from the 17th century painting layer. Analyzing the painting decoration covering the structure of the paneling located on the north wall of the presbytery, a number of similarities were found connecting it with the decoration of the music choir and the now defunct stall and paneling on the opposite wall of the presbytery. This allowed the recognition of its implementation as one of the stages of archival confirmed renovation works carried out in the church and determining its dating.

The identification of graphic designs by Matthäus Merian the Elder, on which the compositions of the paneling on the south side of the presbytery of Saint Peter and John the Evangelist and the pictures of Death on the opposite side of the presbytery based on the death of Ananias and the Baptism of Cornelius, were based on, allowed for more precise dating of the mentioned works. Composing the background for the main scene depicted in the paneling on the north side of the presbytery, the painting Saint Paul teaching in Athens, painted in the 20th century, used the performance of the Pantheon by Piranesi.

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Weronika Nowak MA, Jagiellonian University, Institute of Art History, ul. Grodzka 53, 31-007 Kraków

Summary

Fabrica ecclesiae of the church and convent of Norbertine Nuns in Imbramowice in 1711-1740. New findings regarding the financing and organisation of the works, and the artists contracted

This article is an attempt to analyse the reconstruction process of the eighteenth-century Norbertine monastery in Imbramowice destroyed by a conflagration in 1710 and being rebuilt for almost thirty years. The researchers considered the monastery and its church as an example of the bel composto which was projected by a Polish architect Kacper Bażanka who was educated in Rome and founded by bishop Kazimierz Łubieński. The sources record that the bishop’s visits’ documentation, an eighteenth-century chronicle wrote by the Norbertine abbess Zofia Gorthówna and the nineteen letters by monastery commissioner Dominik Lochman, provide new facts about the monastery in Imbramowice. The information included in the chronicle and the letters allowed for the recostruction of an organisational issues as well as the circumstances connected with building a new monastery, the direction and organisation of the „factory” and queries related to the monastery’s financing and individuals involved in the erection. As a result, the research allowed to consider the rebuilding of the monastery in Imbramowice as a complex and multi-faceted process, created through support from many founders and closely associated with the Cracovian bishop’s power.

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Konrad Niemira MA, Warsaw University Institute of Art History, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warszawa and École Normale Superieure, 45 Rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris, France

Summary

Augustyn Mirys: new findings and hypotheses

The above considerations, although of a contributing nature, allow the setting of new research perspectives. First, the postponement of Mirys's arrival to Poland from 1730 to 1739 (and hence the postponement of the "adventurous" period in Mirys's life at the turn of the 1830s and 1940s) can serve as an argument in dispelling attributive doubts. We can say, for example, that Mirys's work is neither the Portrait of Jan Fryderyk Sapieha (Regional Museum in Smolensk; dated after 1736 and before 1740), nor the Portrait of Konstancja Poniatowska with her son (National Museum in Warsaw, dated at the end of the 1930s). 18th century). Secondly, Lviv pastel and Hennin's mention of the sujets galantes painted by Mirys give us hope that in the future we will be able to find the artist's next works. This applies primarily to pastels, which as a research field remain to this day terra incognita. Thirdly, the case of Mirys, a "multi-tasking" artist, painting in oil, pastel, fresco technique as well as on fabrics (uncovered curtain of the Białystok theater), creating - depending on the client's wishes - portraits, religious, historical, mythological and galantes scenes tells us a lot about the local art scene. In Mirys's time, only a few artists (like the pastel artist Marteau) decided on a narrow specialization. Those who tried it, like Marcello Bacciarelli, were eventually forced by their patrons to expand their offer with new species and new techniques. Both in Saxon times and during the reign of Stanisław August, a proven "chance of success" was the diversification of services. Therefore, although Mirys did not make his name on the pages of art history as a talented artist, considered in the context of the career paths and strategy of the painters' strategies he appears to be particularly interesting. Mirys, who worked almost exclusively for magnates and created the appearance of being a court artist, was in fact guided by the same laws of demand and customer pressure that his contemporary artists working on the free market dealt with. The fact that he excelled in fashionable techniques (pastel) and genres associated with the urban modus (sujets galantes) suggests that in his case we are dealing with an artist who is consistently trying to instill in Warsaw alternative standards to those applicable in guild environments, or from guilds originating. This is important because there is no evidence to this day that Mirys received academic education. The fact that he consistently tried to "intellectualize" his work, and consistently tried to build his image as a worldman and philosopher shows that academics did not have a monopoly on artistry. Perhaps further research on the artist's biography and work will show that the transformations of the local art scene that took place in the Saxon era went beyond the opposition of "guild painters" - "academic painters" and contained a third, usually marginalized element: energetic self-made men.

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Tomasz Dywan PhD (ORCID iD), Wrocław University, Institute of History, ul. Szewska 49, 50-139 Wrocław

Summary

From “Berlin school” to Art Nouveau: contribution to the study of architecture of municipal public utilities in Lviv in the years 1858-1914 

The text aims to show the evolution of the buildings of Lviv municipal industrial plants, from the moment of launching the first complex of this type - gas plant (1858) until the outbreak of World War I. Based on the preserved design documentation, iconographic materials, as well as preserved remains of industrial complex buildings, the materials, constructions and construction techniques used, as well as the architectural forms used in the projects were analyzed. By the end of the 19th century, the municipal government entrusted the implementation of the necessary municipal infrastructure to private investors, in return for which it granted them a monopoly on gas supply and transport services. Complexes created during this period (gas plant, horse tram and electric tram) were of small scale and resulted from the need to reduce construction costs. That is why cheap building materials and techniques as well as modest architectural forms were used. From the end of the 19th century, we can observe a significant change in terms of the scale of the complexes being built (modernization of the gasworks, municipal slaughterhouse in Gabrielówka), the materials and structures used (iron, reinforced concrete) and the increasingly sumptuous architectural forms. This was the result of the municipal authorities undertaking the effort to build these plants and, as a consequence, expressing their aspiration for modernity through their architecture. It was understood as making available to Lviv people products and services on a massive scale, which contributed to the improvement of living conditions in the city. The height of these trends was the development of the Persenówka power plant and the depot at Gabrielówka, which received fancy Art Nouveau facades.

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Professor Andrzej Betlej (ORCID iD), Jagiellonian University, Institute of Art History, ul. Grodzka 53, 31-007 Kraków

Chronicle of the Jagiellonian University Institute of Art History for the year 2018

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Affiliation and contact addresses Read More o

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Improving international impact of the “Modus. Art history journal” by translating volumes 18 and 19 into English – task fi nanced under contract no. 606/P-DUN/2018 from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education grant for the promotion of science.