Michał Walicki (1904-1966)

Michal Walicki (1904-1966) studied Art History at the University of Warsaw (1924-1929), where he received his doctorate for his dissertation on the murals in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity in the Castle of Lublin (1418), under the guidance of Prof. Zygmunt Batowski. He worked in the Department of Polish Architecture at the Warsaw Technical University, at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts (later the Academy of Fine Arts), at the National Museum, and the Art History Institute of the Warsaw University. In 1933, his earned his habilitation for his thesis on the stylistic development of panel painting in fi fifteenth-century Poland. During World War II, he participated in the resistance movement; he was arrested (in 1949) and put in prison. After his release (in 1953), he combined work at the Institute of History of Art at the Warsaw University and the State Institute of Art (later the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences). Michał Walicki’s academic activities encompassed a surprisingly wide spectrum of subjects, though his particular field of interest was painting. He had a ‘positivist’ temperament, concerned with a painstaking search for new works of art and the collecting of material, and above all with cataloguing and sharing the collections. In texts written before the war he built a fi rm foundation for the study of panel painting in fifteenth-century Poland, although his narrow national perspective is now certainly diffi cult to accept. After his employment at the National Museum in Warsaw, he changed his profi le of research, focusing on modern painting (particularly Dutch), but also on the best understood popularization and education through art. After the war, he initiated and coordinated the work on a series of syntheses, setting new standards of quality in Polish academic studies. He belonged to the narrow circle of great humanists who could write about art with passion, in a manner accessible and understandable to all. He developed his own, easily recognizable style, impressionistic in character, well-suited to aesthetic experiences. As an outstanding university lecturer and museum offi cial, he became one of the founders and most important authorities of the Warsaw school of art history, and as a personality had a profound impact on students and friends led by Jan Białostocki. Above all, he instilled in them a broad outlook on matters of art and the importance of publishing in foreign languages

The portrait miniature of Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki on a letter of indulgence issued in 1449 for the Church of All Saints in Cracow

A particularly interesting example of illuminated document is the indulgence granted to all who would visit the parish church of All Saints in Cracow on the major feasts of the liturgical year, issued by the Cracow Bishop, Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki (1423-1450) in 1449. A piece of parchment is decorated with the miniature composed of two juxtaposed fields, of which the upper one shows Christ with St Peter on His right, surrounded by the community of saints; the bottom field depicts the Pope seated between St Jerome and Cardinal Oleśnicki. This hierarch had been raised to the purple no fewer than three times. For the first time, Pope Eugene IV granted him this dignity with the accompanying title of St Prisca, but Oleśnicki did not accept it. Then Antipope Felix V, elected by the Council of Basle, elevated Oleśnicki to the cardinalate (with the title of St Anastasia), but the Cracow prelate likely did not accept the cardinal’s hat again and did not use the title, abiding by the orders of King Ladislaus the Jagiellon who was reluctant towards the Council. It was only in 1447 that Oleśnicki had relinquished the camp of the Council’s supporters, regarded by Rome as schismatics, and endorsed the rightful pope, Nicholas V. Oleśnicki received the cardinal’s hat sent from Rome in Cracow Cathedral, on 1 October 1449. The portrait composition on the Cracow miniature is complex and combining a few iconographic solutions popular in the late Middle Ages. Of particular significance seem to be the representation of the pope enthroned, the Traditio legis and Traditio clavium, as well as the juxtaposition of ecclesiastical hierarchy with the heavenly one. The Cracow miniature fitted perfectly in the then current problems of Church discussed anew in the mid-fifteenth century. Commissioned shortly after Oleśnicki had pledged obedience to Nicholas V and had received his cardinal’s hat, it is a public declaration by the former conciliarist of his new attitude. In the reality of ‘communis sanctorum’ showed in the upper part of the composition, Christ keeps repeating his blessing of St Peter, seated on his right, and gives him the power of the keys. The bottom part of the miniature testifies to the fact that the power had been given to the pope not ‘ministerialiter’, as conciliarists would have it, but in full

Reconsidering the origins of portraiture : instead of an introduction

This introductory essay discusses central issues of European portraiture in the period of its decisive transformation in the later Middle Ages. Starting with the notion of an individual in the Middle Ages it moves on to consider means of pictorial representation of men in the High and later Middle Ages, and to reflect on portraits’ power to make an absent man present. All these issues are considered based on Central European examples, namely, portraits of Casimir the Great, the king of Poland; those of Charles IV, the holy roman emperor and king of Bohemia, and a celebrated portrait of Rudolph IV, the archduke of Austria, thus stressing their relevance to the development of early modern portraiture

The Archconfraternity of the Rosary in the Dominican Churches of Kraków. Piety and Patronage of the Arts

Članek obravnava umetnostni milje nadbratovščine sv. rožnega venca v dominikanski cerkvi sv. Trojice v Krakovu. Dominikanci so goreče pospeševali rožnovensko pobožnost; ustanovili so številne bratovščine sv. rožnega venca, ki so bile običajno povezane z njihovimi cerkvami. Skoraj gotovo je dominikanski pridigarski red spodbudil ustanovitev takšne bratovščine v Krakovu že v 15. stoletju. Posredni dokaz za to je ohranjen v samostanskem arhivu v Krakovu v dokumentih, ki sta jih izdala papež Inocenc VIII. leta 1484 in general reda Avguštin Recuperati leta 1539 in se nanašajo na dominikansko rožnovensko bratovščino. Leta 1600 je bratovščino s sedežem v Krakovu, ki je takrat obstajala že ab immemorabilis tempore, Abraham Bzowski reformiral; ob tej priložnosti je izdal obsežno knjigo Rožni venec Device Marije, sedaj na novo reformiran v Krakovu pri Sv. Trojici (Kraków 1600 in 1606). Že takrat se družba omenja kot nadbratovščina. Dejstvo, da je nadbratovščina dobila eno najzgodnejših in najpomembnejših poljskih kopij Marije Snežne, čudodelne podobe v rimski baziliki S. Maria Maggiore, ki je veljala za pribežališče večnega mesta, je imelo velik pomen za njen nadaljnji razvoj in izjemni vpliv. Razprava govori o češčenju poljske ikone, o njenem okrasu in novem arhitekturnem prostoru, ki ga je dobila leta 1688.The essay deals with the artistic milieu of the Archconfraternity of the Rosary at the Dominican Holy Trinity Church in Kraków. Dominicans were zealous promoters of the rosary, and numerous Rosary brotherhoods were established, typically affiliated with Dominican churches. Therefore, it seems almost certain that in Kraków, as early as the 15th century, the Dominican Order of Preachers encouraged the formation of such a confraternity. Indirect evidence of this is preserved in the Convent’s Archive in Kraków, in documents concerning the Dominican Confraternities of the Rosary, issued by Pope Innocent VIII in 1484 and by the General of the Order, Augustine Recuperati, in 1539. In any case, in 1600, the Kraków-based confraternity—at that time already existing “ab immemorabilis tempore”— was reformed by Fr. Abraham Bzowski, who elaborated and published an extensive book on this occasion: Rosary of the Virgin Mary, now reformed anew in Kraków at the Holy Trinity (Kraków 1600 and 1606). Already at that time, the confraternity was referred to as an archconfraternity. The fact that the archconfraternity was given one of the earliest and most important copies in the former Polish Republic of Our Lady of the Snows, a miracle-working image in the Roman basilica of S. Maria Maggiore that was considered a palladium of the Eternal City, was of great importance to its development and extraordinary influence. The essay discusses the Polish icon’s veneration, decoration, and the new architectural space it received in 1688

Optimal Control Systems with Constrains Defined on Unbounded Sets

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L’Europa Jagiellonica a-t-elle existé ? Quelques nouvelles de la recherche sur l’art en Europe centrale et orientale (1386-1572)

La puissante dynastie des Jagellons, originaire de Lituanie et dont les membres sont restés païens jusqu’à la fin du xvie siècle, est entrée dans l’histoire de l’Europe latine avec le baptême et l’accession au trône du royaume de Pologne du prince Jogajla en 1386. En épousant Hedwige, une princesse de la branche hongroise de la maison d’Anjou couronnée reine de Pologne après l’extinction de la dynastie locale des Piast en 1370, Jogajla inaugura sous le nom de Ladislas II Jagellon le long et f..

Uroczystości pięćsetlecia kanonizacji św. Stanisława w Krakowie w r. 1753 okiem historyka sztuki

On September 8, 1753 a celebration took place in the Wawel Cathedral to commemorate the five-hundredth anniversary of the canonisation of St. Stanislaus. The main element of a specially prepared decoration was a structure of considerable size as sembled in the middle of the nave, opposite the martyr’s tomb. It served as a throne on top of which a late Gothic reliquary, made by a Cracovian goldsmith Marcin Marciniec, for Stanislaus’ head was placed. The structure was embellished with the Saint’s coats of arms and candelabras and over it a canopy with wings spread to the sides was hung. On both sides of the reliquary two eagles were placed. Two more, holding a mitre and a crosier, stood underneath. In the four comers of the structure four obelisks adorned with candelabras were placed, while the sides of the altar of St. Stanislaus had two more with lights and bishop’s insignia painted on them. Among various forms of relics veneration propagated by the Church after the Council of Trent, one was their solemn presentation to the congregation. The article analyses different examples of decorations connected with such presentations. As a close analogy to Cracow’s celebrations a jubilee of the nine-hundredth anniversary of the translation of St. Liborius from Le Mans to Paderbom celebrated in 1736 was chosen. The analysis includes annual celebrations inhonour of St. Florian at Sackingen and customs connected with the translations of relics from the catacombs in Rome to churches in the Habsburg countries. The examples listed and the analysis of the written sources about Cracow allowed a hypothetical  reconstruction of occasional architecture and an interpretation of its symbolic contents.W 1753 roku w katedrze wawelskiej świętowano obchody kanonizacji św. Stanisława Biskupa i Męczennika. Rocznicę celebrowano w dniu 8 września, w święto Narodzenia Matki Boskiej. Dzień wcześniejw udekorowanym i dobrze oświetlonym wnętrzu katedry obchody rozpoczęto od uroczystych nieszporów. Po ich  zakończeniu oddano salwy z 36 dział ustawionych w różnych częściach miasta leżących poza murami. Tuż po godzinie trzeciej po południu zaczął bić Zygmunt, a za nim wszystkie krakowskie dzwony. Podobnie stało się o godzinie siódmej wieczorem, a następnego dnia o godzinie siódmej rano i o  szóstej po południu na zakończenie uroczystości. Główną mszę świąteczną celebrował gościnnie biskup inflancki Antoni  Ostrowski, a ordynariusz krakowski czytał mszę przy grobie świętego. W czasie mszy głównej kazanie wygłosił profesor świętej teologii Antoni Krzanowski, kanonik kolegiaty św. Floriana. Na zakończenie obchodów, w których uczestniczyłcały krakowski kler oraz bractwa, odśpiewano Te Deum, a biskup udzielił zgromadzonym błogosławieństwa. Po nim uformowała się procesja, która przy wtórze antyfony Vir inclyte Stanislae wyruszyła od ołtarza głównego w stronę tronu w nawie głównej, gdzie od początku uroczystości spoczywała głowa świętego. Wraz z relikwią procesja przeszła obok grobu męczennika, a zakoń­czyło ją odśpiewanie Gaudę Mater Polonia. Po zakończeniu uroczystości w katedrze biskup przeszedł do kościoła Franciszkanów, gdzie odczytano bullę beatyfikacyjną Józefa z Kupertynu

Dekoracja rzeźbiarska kapitularza przy klasztorze oo. dominikanów w Krakowie

The history of the chapter house of the Dominican Friars in Cracow is not known in greater detail. Only two medieval documents with a mention of it are known. In in capitulo fratrum ordinis Praedicatorum Cracoviae of 1244 an endowment for the Cistercian monastery in Mogiła was confirmed. In Cracovie in capitulo fratrum predicatorum of 1306 the purchase of land in Dąbie, near Cracow, was certified. Marcin Szyma estimated that these notes cannot be ascribed to one building, which means that there were two gathering places for monks, one built after the other. Szyma locates the oldest chapter-house in the site of today’s sacristy and links it with a brick wall with a biforium window and portal remains, found in the western wall of the building. The older record marks terminus ante quern, and comparative chronology and analysis of style point to 1240s as the date of extension of the house. A new chapter house was built in Szyma’s assessment at the end of that century, and certainly before 1306. The building has fairly rich decorative carving, infrequently mentioned in historical records. The portal in the western wall of the chapter house has had three preserved, if tumbledown, consoles carved in yellowish, fine-grained sandstone. The closest analogies to these decorations are to be found in edifices built for the last members of the Premyslids dynasty, especially for king Premyslav Otokar II in the third quarter of the 13th century. In works connected with the “Premyslids building school” compact, block-like shapes of caps, ‘coated’ with tiny leaves and decorative ‘crowns’ at rib base were fairly common. Consoles in a portal of the oldest fragment of  Śpilberk in Brno or chapels in the castles in Bezdez, Horsovsky Tyn, Zvikov and Buchlov are of special importance for these considerations. Czech examples most often employ a variety of flora, yet, even here, in the portal caps of the monastery in Hradiśte on Jizerou (ca 1260) we come across a laciniated acanthus with characteristic folds. The connections described testify to the origins of the Cracow’s portal at the end of the third at the earliest or, most probably, the beginning of the fourth quarter of the 13th century. Until 1301 Czech Dominicans belonged to one province with Polish friars. Political expansion of Premyslav Otokar II in Polish territory, and especially in Cracow, led to a number of alliances with princes of the Piast dynasty, including Boleslaus the Chaste. The sandstone capital preserved in the Franciscan monastery can also cast light upon artistic connections between Cracovian and Czech sculptors. The capital, which has gone practically unnoticed in professional literature, is believed to be a fragment of an unfinished portal from the first tierce of the 14th century. The Cracow fragment is closest to the caps found in a Benedictine monastery at Ostrov, near Davie from ca 1260-1280 (Prague, National Museum), and the capital from St. Ludmila’s chapel, which until 1894 adjoined the sacristy of the Virgin Maiy’s church at Tyn in Prague (Prague, National Museum). Vault brick ribs are provided with stone leads at the base and are supported on stone consolas with three curved offsets. In each of the three bays there is a round keystone with an engraved decoration with a spatial, almost perfectly plastic character. Naturalistic character of the keystone with a floral pattern leads back to the French cathedral decorations. These decorations were introduced in the East by big workshops in the Reich, with the workshop of Naumburg Master in the first place. The spatial, openwork form, which consists of leaves rendered in a perfectly plastic way, approximates the Cracow carving to, for example, keystones in the body of the naves in the cathedral in Meissen. Figural reliefs seem to refer to works of the ‘expressive’ trend in sculpture of the second half of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century, which have unquestionable connections with the alternative Gothic painting or with the formula of the zigzag style (German Zackenstill). Angular breaking of folds was considerably softened here due to exceptionally fleshy treatment of matter. Huge piles of fabric are very plastic, which blurs the outline of the drawing and washes away its expression. The closest similarity links these sculptures with works that came from Saint Erminold Master workshop - one that played a key role in the development of stone sculpture in the territory of the Reich at the close of the 13th century. The style character of sculptures (especially this ‘underlying’ tradition of the zigzag style, readable amongst piles of fleshy matter) points to the times short after the year 1300 as their origin. Hie workshop that was completing the walling up in the Cracow Dominican monastery combined the solutions known in Central Europe, while the dominant role seems to be played by patterns from Austria and the southern parts of the Reich (Regensburg). Basic role in the artist’s choice could have been played by wide contacts of friars within the order, if only through going for general studies.Kapituły generalne braci kaznodziejów w Paryżu (1239), Bolonii (1240) i Kolonii (1245) zakazały umieszczania w kościołach dominikańskich dekoracji plastycznych. Wzrastająca popularność predykantów i wykraczające daleko poza zakonną obserwancję ambicje ich dobrodziejów sprawiły, że dość prędko zarzucono ducha prostoty i ubóstwa. Nikłe fragmenty rzeźbiarskiej dekoracji kościoła Dominikanów w Poznaniu, które zachowały się do naszych czasów, zdradzają niepospolite bogactwo i rozmach inwestycji. Dekoracja rzeźbiarska kapitularza dominikańskiego w Krakowie była najczęściej pomijana w opracowaniach z zakresu historii sztuki. Portal w ścianie zachodniej wzmiankowano zaledwie kilka razy. Leonard Lepszy i Stanisław Tomkowicz uznali go za dzieło schyłkowego gotyku („bogaty okrój późnogotycki...”), jednak nie starali się nawet sprecyzować czasu powstania.  Wobec nikłego stanu badań, najwyższy czas przyjrzeć się bliżej skromnym na pozór rzeźbom i zająć stanowisko w kwestii ich autentyczności