About the Photographs of the Paintings by Saturnin Świerzyński Given to Józef Łepkowski

• Authors: Bednarek Anna

Title variants

PL

"Mała pamiąteczka", czyli o fotografiach obrazów Saturnina Świerzyńskiego ofiarowanych Józefowi Łepkowskiemu

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

In the Polish private and institutional collections we can find a large collection of photographs connected to the Cracow painter Saturnin Świerzyński (1820-1885). The aforementioned collection comprises at least 73 prints taken in the second half of the i9th century, on which 30 paintings of this artist were presented. However, this collection is incomplete sińce at least two other paintings by Świerzyński were photographed, which we know from his manuscript which includes for instance a list of his works and expenses. The following article discusses four photographs kept in the Photo Library of the Institute of History of Art of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, which were given by Świerzyński to the historian Józef Łepkowski. A problem of photographic reproductions of works of art in Poland, which has for years been neglected in the scientific research, reąuires a thorough analysis. The above-mentioned topie has been researched by photographs sińce the emergence of this techniąue, though in Poland not as often as in the West. It started to change in the 1850S owing to the Warsaw photograph Karol Beyer. The oldest photograph from the Photo Library discussed in this publication representing a painting The Second Hall, So Called Knights Hall, of the Antiąuities Exhibition in Cracow is exactly from this period, that is 1859. The author of the photograph is “Biazoni”, who I identify with the Cracow merchant August Biasion, hitherto unknown photographer-amateur and one of a few in this period. One or two other paintings by Świerzyński were photographed in the 1860S, and the remaining paintings already in the 1870S and the first half of the 1880S. This group includes three discussed photographs from the Photo Library with the paintings The Third Hall of the Antiąuities Exhibition (1873), Interior of the Bathory Chapel in the Cracow Cathedral (1881) and Interior of the Cracow Cathedral Treasury (1883). During this period there were morę photographic studios in Cracow than earlier, and some of them specialized in reproducing works of art and monuments. The author of a greater number of the reproductions of the Świerzyńskis paintings, taken sińce 1867, was Awit Szubert who ran one of such studios. With reference to the remaining photographs, his authorship appears to be probable, though no conclusive evidence exists. This long-term cooperation of the painter and the photographer constitutes one of a few examples of such cooperation in Poland. Nonetheless, insufficient research does not allow us to unequivocally State and locate them against the activities undertaken by other artists. There is every likelihood that the photographs of the Świerzyńskis paintings were taken to his order. However, the reasons for which he took photographs of them remain unknown. This act of taking photographs could have been linked to his care for documenting his own oeuvre. Most probably the photographs served as gifts for his family and friends, the example of which are the photographs from the Photo Library given to Łepkowski. Nevertheless, we do not know much about his acąuaintance with Świerzyński. The above-mentioned prints were kept in the collection of Łepkowski until 1892, when Konstanty Przezdziecki purchased it and gave it to the Archaeological Studio of the Jagiellonian University. In subseąuent years this Studio was numerously transformed, owing to which the analysed photographs became a part of the Photo Library of the Jagiellonian University.

• Publisher: Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Institute of History of Art
• Journal: Modus. Prace z historii sztuki
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 16
• Pages: 75-98

Contributors

author

Bednarek Anna

• Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa