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The Architecture of the Pauline Monastery at Beszowa

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Grzęda M.

Modus. Prace z historii sztuki

2011

vol. 10-11

29-55

The Pauline monastery at Beszowa (a village located 60 km west from Sandomierz) was founded by Wojciech Jastrzębiec, bishop of Cracow and Chancellor of the Kmgdom of Poland, at the parish church of Sts Peter and Paul, on 6* February 1421. It was the fifth house of the order in Poland and the first which was obliged to maintain a parish. The Pauline order comes from Hungary, and its origins are closely related to the hermitic traditions, cultivated despite the changes that occurred in European spirituality in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The traditionalism of the order, which consisted in asceticism, daily work and prayer, was close to the rules of the Benedictines and Cistercians. The imposition by Wojciech Jastrzębiec of the new pastorał and educational duties on the Paulines of Beszowa marked a turning point which brought the Pauline monks closer to mendicant orders, and even more so, to the communities of canons. The architecture of Pauline monasteries in Hungary (e.g. the houses at Dedes, Szentpal and Talod), as well as in Croatia (Lepoglava, Kamensko) reflected the traditional character of the order which for the architecture of its monasteries had adopted a model close to those of the communities observing the rule of St Benedict. Hence, they formed complexes grouped around the traditional claustrum, that is, a rectangular cloister surrounded with other spaces, like the chapter house, refectory and some auxiliary rooms. In Poland, this "Benedictme" scheme was applied only in the monastery at Jasna Góra during its extension in the fifteenth century, whereas the monastery at Beszowa is an example of a reduced plan, without cloister, with only two wings arranged at a right angle to each other, joined by a raised covered walkway, supported on an arcade. Although in Cistercian (Sulejów, Wąchock) and mendicant (Dominicans in Sieradz) architecture there exist a few examples anticipating the two-wing model, it seems that throughout the whole Middle Ages such solutions were based on the traditional claustrum scheme, and this basie plan was reduced or modified

Fantasia and ritrarre. On the Beginnings of Portraiture in Lombardy around 1400

100%

Grzęda M.

Modus. Prace z historii sztuki

2014

vol. 14

99-122

The present paper investigates the beginnings of portraiture as an independent genre of art. Contrary to the Vasarian tradition, which associates the beginnings of portraiture with the birth of maniera moderna in Tuscany, the present author focuses his particular attention on two important centres of court art and culture, namely those of Pavia and Milan, which throve for the most part thanks to the patronage of the Visconti family. Thus the importance of Lombardy has been emphasised, as a place that had played a significant role in the birth of portraiture in Italy at the turn of he fifteenth century. Written accounts found, among others, in the works of north-Italian humanists and art collectors (e.g. Bartolomeo Fazio and Marcantonio Michiel) directly or indirectly testify to the crucial role played by the artists associated with the court of the Viscontis in the dissemination of the new art genre, that is, of portraiture. In this regard, the names of three artists: Giovannino de Grassi, Gentile da Fabriano and Michelino da Besozzo come to the fore, as of painters who enjoyed famę both in their lifetime and posthumously. Particular attention has been focused, however, on a text that originated outside the main humanist discourse, namely, on Cennino Cenninis treatise II Libro delTArte. It was written around 1400 by a Tuscan painter who, nonetheless, was well acąuainted with the reality of north-Italian courtly circles. The author of the treatise underscored that avere fantasia e hoperazione di mano’ were two ąualities indispensable for practising the art of painting. The term fantasia seems to have here a similar meaning to that of the Latin ingenium (mentioned, for example, by Theophilus Presbyter) or the Italian ingegno (which later occurred in the works of Vasari). Fantasia appears to be the artists main asset which allows him to bring together the things observed in naturę according to his own liking. What is, however, equally important is the fact that nonę of the transformations done by means of the fantasia would have been possible without a preceding observation of naturę. It is in this very context that the word ritrarre, used by Cennini, should be interpreted. For Cennini this word meant not that much a simple copying of a thing perceived, but, rather, a process taking place in the artists memory. A painter who follows the ‘triumphal gate of naturę does not act automatically, but uses his intellect: first he assimilates, or, to put it in other words, memorises, a given thing, and only later does he re-create it on paper. Finally, the author goes on to demonstrate, on the basis of the analyses of selected works of art and written tradition, that the success of Giovannino de Grassi, Gentile da Fabriano and Michelino da Besozzo in the courtly circles of Pavia and Milan, and later also in other parts of Italy, was due to a large degree to their skills in exhibiting the quality that Cennini had called fantasia, and to their ability to produce portraits, that is to immortalise in the visual medium things observed

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2 Modus. Prace z historii sztuki

1 2014

1 2011

2 Grzęda M.

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The Architecture of the Pauline Monastery at Beszowa

Fantasia and ritrarre. On the Beginnings of Portraiture in Lombardy around 1400