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"Gotyckie malarstwo ścienne w Europie środkowowschodniej" - konferencja w Poznaniu i we Wrocławiu

100%

Karłowska-Kamzowa A.

Ochrona Zabytków

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1976

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issue 2

139-140

2

POLSKA POŁUDNIOWO-ZACHODNIA (ŚLĄSK)

100%

Karłowska-Kamzowa A.

Ochrona Zabytków

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1980

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issue 2

119-125

EN

More than 30 complexes of Gothic wall-paintings, often quite large, have been uncovered in Silesia after the Second World War. The following paintings got destroyed : a cycle of St. Hedwig’s legend in the church of St Barbara in Wrocław, paintings in Pępice and fragments in Świętów Polski. In the Middle Ages nearly all churches in that region were decorated with paintings, sometimes every few tens of years. That is why we can find two or three Gothic layers under new plasters. The oldest well-known paintings come from the 13th century and at present are being uncovered at Świerzawa. The first half of the 14th Century left objects made in a drawing-like style, with a prevailing round line filled up with almost a flat coloured blotch. The oldest item is the Crucifixion, a kind of an enlarged miniature of the Mass Canon painted in a tomb’s niche in the valuts of the Franciscan church in Opole. A series of knightly scenes, a picture of the alive and the dead as well as that of St Christopher were executed in the second quarter of the 14th Century in the hall of an inhabited tower in Siedlęcin. Delicate, luminous scumbles forming the folding of the robes of the Saint (existing only in details) speak for a somewhat later time of the creation of this oldest secular wall decoration in Poland. Their form represents a method of painting known from such paintings as in Stein-on-the Danube in Austria or from Czech’s Strakonice, but they are examples of a broader artistic trend found in the European painting to the north from the Alps in the first half of the 14th century. A monumental figure of St Christopher at Pełcznica in a rigid two-dimensioned composition betrays the traditions of the 13th century. An untypical iconographie rendering (the Saint is represented in the prince’s coronet) is of Austrian origin This impuls might have come through family affinities. The wife of the Prince of Świdnica and Jawor come from the Habsburgs. The first group of paintings was created about the mid-14th century and in the third quarter of that century. The oldest of the objects, i.e.The painting at Strzelce near Sobótka, show analogies to figurative textiles. Their narrative character is particularly worthy of notice. One should also pay attention to the fact that the most important representations (from an ideological point of view) were shown on the eastern wall — in front of the eyes of the onlookers. Decorations in the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Ząbkowice (phase I) and at Jasiona were executed at a somewhat later date. A crearly-marked geometrization of the decorations was introduced there, while at Jasiona the emphasis was put on the representation of the Redemption and the Adjudication through enlarging their sizes. In the third quarter of the 14th century there appeared in Silesia works of the painters educated in the Prague artistic centre. These are pictures of the organ-left in the church at Małujowice (phase I), in St Anne’s Chapel attached to the Franciscan cloister at Opole (now transferred on a new groundwork) and the figure of St Christopher in the church at Strzegom. The representations were painted exclusively in a modelled coloured blotch andw ere moulded in relief. The idea of the idealization ofjthe figure, characteristic of the works created in the first half of that century, was abandoned. The next groups of local works began to appear in the 4th quarter of the 14th century. Paintings at Kalków and Modliszów were performed locally. Narrative zonal renderings are characterized by expanding the so-called „spatial dais” in which the figures were placed. Their tiny, narrow, lively figures differ from the figures found in earlier objects. The dating and links with local paintings determine analogies with Silesian illuminated manuscripts. Apart from them, one can also see painted decorations based on static compositions (Wilczków, Stare Bielsko), enriched only with narrative pictures (e.g. the fight of St George with a dragon at Wilczków). The representations were imbued with descriptive details. For instance, it was in a large self-contained picture of the fight of St George found in the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Ząbkowice (phase II) that an enlarged rendering, introduced by Simone Martini of Avignon, was applied. The picture of the castle, of the Royal couple and of the Princes were known from the European paintings from the 3rd quarter of the 14th century, while in Poland it appeared at the end of the century. Only few paintings from the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries have been preserved. In that field of art a fine style was not found on a broad scale. An exception was ,,The Annunciation” painted in the organ-loft of the church at Gościszów. It is supposed that the author of paintings at Brzeg, Krzyżowice and in the organ-loft of the church at Strzelniki (phase II) arrived to Silesia from Burgundy, together with the court of Prince Ludwig IT. He introduced a new way of forming the space painted on a broad scale, in which processions of horses and people moved. At the same time a big number of articles of everyday use, costume realities, etc, were shown. The way of painting was also new in Silesia : a free line — together with a modelled coloured blotch — formed a threedimensional space in the representations. The group of these represents an artistic level higher than that found in the objects created by local artists. In Silesia the images of the interiors and the landscape were shown in a more simplified way (e.g. Lubiechowa, phase II, Strzelniki, the nave, phase II) ; Pogorzela — the organ loft (phase II), keeping up however this kind of enriching the composition. A specific method of moulding the form of paintings was also employed. The base was provided by a line — broad, rigid, water-coloured in light shades or run along the contour, which intensified the impression of a graphicality of paintings. It could still be seen in the 3rd quarter of the 14th century (in Sieroty, Jamielnica). The rendering of figures showed some features of gruffness and deformation of face features. In the second half of the century the paintings were imbued with realistic details in the stylization of figures and of the articles surrounding them (e.g. Hajduki Nyskie, phase II, Kałków, phase II). This evolutional process, ,»natural” for the art of the 15th century, was accelerated seemingly by new impulses coming from the West. This is proved by Netherlandic elements found in wall-decorations in St Mary’s Chapel at Ziębice or south-German elements in the paintings of a post-Franciscan church at Jaworów. A big group of paintings uncovered in Silesia, dating from the 1st half of the 16th century (Ząbkowice — organ-loft of the parish church, Świdnica — Market Hall, chapel at the church at Kłodzko, Modliszów —■ phase II, Pełcznica, phase II — porch, Tymowa, Pieszyce, Mojęcice — phase II, Niwiska and other smaller details) make it possible to study the accumulation of modern elements in this field of art. Of utmost significance was to adjust the scale of images to the size of the architectonic interiors and to the place of watching by recipients. It should be harmonized in such a way that the illussion of the space painted was so real that it would give a truly realistic impression. Quite often, however, small quarters were used which segmented the wall (Tymowa — the nave, Niwiska — the nave, Pieszyce), while their geometric divisions always levelled elements of the ralism contained in individual compositions. The architectonic wall maintained its flatness in its optical sense ; the decorative system remained medieval. There were no painted décoratives of big churches left in Silesia, although written sources show that they existed. The most numerous and well-known objects come from chapels or village churches which were decorated with zonic paintings divided in quarters. Human figures placed within these frameworks either monumentalized the interiors with static renderings or, which was found more often, represented pictured tales. In Silesia, the human figure provided the basic material of painted decorations. A geometric and plan ornament played there a much smaller role than, e.g. in East Pomerania. The quartered cycles emphasized chosen subjects through enlarging the composition (e.g. in Strzelniki — the nave, phase II ; Pogorzela — the organ-loft, phase I ; Jemielnica). Well-known in that region were also painted imitations of sculptures in tympanum (Krzyżowie), on the walls of the Stone Sacrarium (Ziębice), as well as, paintings on the elevation of Roman churches (Świerzawa and Świerz — already entirely faded). Moreover, one could also find self-contained compositions, occasionally imitating table pictures (Wroclaw — the cathedral, St Mary’s Church at Piasek — the porch), altar retabulae (Tymowa, the nave) and decorations of niches in the sacrarium. The latter kind of paintings could be seen in a number of variants ranging from the simple head of Christ (Strzelce near Sobótka, Wilczków) to the compositions imitating store constructions (Niwiska). Silesian paintings represent expanded and consitently „edited” catechetic subjects illustrating the creation of the world, man, sin (excerpts from the illustration of Genesis), e.g. in Strzelniki in the nave (phase II), Lubiechowa (phase II), through well-developed cycles of the Redemption (scenes from the childhood and Christ’s passion) and of the Adjudication. Next to that theme, there are illustrations of succourers : Mater Misericordiae and St Christopher. Numerous are also representations of the lives of the saints or their static renderings (e.g. St Hedwig, St John the Baptist, St Catherine), as well as specific rare images (unseen in other paintings in Poland) such as the Annunciation with a unicorn (Ziębica — St Mary’s Chapel) apocaliptic Madonna with a crown of rays (Wilczków), St Joseph in a carpenter’s workshop — from the Greeting of the Three Kings. Numerous variants of the latter subjects, e.g. three processions of the Kings meeting in Christ’s crib where Mary adorns the Child (Tymowa — the organ loft), Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin (Tymowa — the organ loft), the face of Christ in the closed garden (Strzelniki, the nave), the Passion according to Dominican Contemplations (Jawor), man’s faults in the form of scenes sham in the jaws of Leviathan. In the majority of cases it was possible to find original copies. Silesian painters created painted decorations outside the borders of the Odra Land, e.g. in Przyczyna Górna in Great Poland or Łany Wielkie in Little Poland. Future investigations may bring further findings in this field.

3

Gotyckie malowidła ścienne w Polsce. Wyniki badań przeprowadzonych w latach 1974-1979. Wstęp

100%

Karłowska-Kamzowa A.

Ochrona Zabytków

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1980

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issue 2

116-118

EN

For the last forty years Gothic wall-paintings in Poland have not been made the subject of a synthetic study. The knowledge of historic materials in that period has changed to a large extent thanks to the conservatory works. A number of new wall-paintings have been revealed, which are important to the studies on the history of art in individual regions. On the other hand, a few paintings have been plastered up because of a very bad condition, while others have been rescued by their transfer on a new ground-work. In order to reconstruct the picture of all problems connected with the existence of this field of art in Poland the Institute of Art History attached to the A. Mickiewicz University in Poznań (from 1975 in cooperation with the Historical Monuments Documentation Centre in Warsaw) has worked out a catalogue of Gothic Wall-Paintings. Apart from the recording of objects, the work on the catalogue covered also the determination of a degree of authenticity of works, quite often repeatedly preserved, as well as the compiling of literature and all information contained in the available conservatory acts. This gave concrete results, particularly with regard to the wall-paintings in Eastern Pomerania. In the hitherto synthetic elaborations the problem of originality of wall-paintings has often escaped the notice of research workers. The knowledge of old descriptions of the paintings and of conservatory expertises from the time of their unveiling can exclude in future the uncovery of the objects previously regarded as destructs. Gothic wall-paintings have often been preserved in a vestigial form only. After carrying out conservatory works there arises occasionally a problem of the so-called arrangement, i.e. of the intiegraton of historic monuments with the interior and adjusting them to the needs of contemporary users. It was one of the reasons for the necessity to consider the problem of the so-called decorative systems of wall-paintings which always played specific functions in the interiors, adorning them in various ways. A theoretical reconstruction of the original painted decorations is indispensable when making conservatory decisions. It has also some significance in studies on Gothic architecture. In Poland this architecture was deprived of great complexes of portal sculptures and was decorated rather with wall-paintings than with stained-glass windows. The wall-painting played also didactic functions for a large public. The study of the subject programmes of wall-paintings which enrich and make up our knowledge on the formation of the mentality of the society and also on the methods of pictorial teaching in that time. Hence, along with possibilities, there exists the necessity of reading not only the subject but also the content of the paintings and occasionally their reconstruction. It is possible to determine the date of the creation of objects and to distinguish works created by individual artists or their workshops on the basis of studies covering individual territorial groups ; however, the studies made in connection with the Catalogue reveabd also a unity of the style development, the identity of nur erous decorative systems and the occurrence of certain analogous subjects in the entire territory of Poland. One can also observe specific local phenomena in three regions with the greatest number of historic monuments : in Little Poland, Silesia and Eastern Pomerania.

4

POLSKA CENTRALNA

100%

Karłowska-Kamzowa A.

Ochrona Zabytków

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1980

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issue 2

163-164

EN

Owing to the post-war presentation works in that area two Romanesque paintings and a few painted Gothic decorations have been uncovered. Worthy of note is the link between some compositions decorating Warsaw tenement houses (2 buildings) and eastern parts of the church at Czerwińsk with table painting, especially with regard to compositional expressions and privacy of their work. Long-known representations painted on the pillar of the church at Szadek should be regarded as an enlargement of the codex illustration. The evidence of this is the type of the fringe and the method of painting. Besides, Gothic ornamental motifs and compositional types can also be seen in the 16th century paintings found in that region.

5

POLSKA PÓŁNOCNO-ZACHODNIA (WIELKOPOLSKA I KUJAWY)

100%

Karłowska-Kamzowa A.

Ochrona Zabytków

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1980

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issue 2

130-131

EN

New paintings have been uncovered on the historical site of Great Poland, i.e. at Pyzdry and at Ostrzeszów (3 phases). Painted decorations in that region are rather rare and it is difficult to present a line of the development of this branch of art. Still, they can be used for the analysis of somewhat different nature. Paintings in the organ-loft in St John’s Church at Gniezno (ca mid- 15th century) provide the example of the emphasis put on architectonic divisions through wall decorations. It was also there that the picture of 4 Holy Virgins and Vir Decorum was applied in the wall-painting for the first time. Paintings in the chapel at the Cistercian cloiser at Ląd (the seventies of the 14th century) are the example of the introduction of themes associated with a knightly founder and with a clearly politically pronounced ideological programme. A spatially expanded scene of the Greeting of Three Kings was also shown for the first time in Poland. On the eastern wall of the niche (most probably originally the chapel), next to the galleries of the Franciscan cloister at Pyzdry a wooden altar retable was imitated. Then, decorations in the organ-loft in the church a t Przyczyna Górna (phase I), most probably the work of a Silesian artist, contain an interesting didactic programme, expressed by atypical iconographie renderings. In the aisle of the church, next to the representation of the Crucifixion, there were placed symbolic representations of deadly sins (at present badly preserved), coming from the late Gothic period (phase П). And so, just like in Ląd, a significance of these paintings (phase I and II) comes down mainly to iconography and ideological contents, while painted decorations in the aisle of the parish church at Ostrzeszów (phase II and III) are the example of inprinting Gothic forms employed in the 16th century in the artistic vision of guild artists.

6

Badania konserwatorskie obrazu Madonny z kościoła św. Jakuba w Toruniu

63%

Michałowski Z., Karłowska-Kamzowa A.

Ochrona Zabytków

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1980

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issue 3

232-244

EN

Part I. Workshop Problems The painting is done in distemper and oil, on an oak board. An ovalshaped format is the result o f the former remaking. Numerous features of the technical construction (such as kind of the wood used for underpainting, chalk and glue mortar, local oil grounding with Cremnitz white and a multi-layer moulding of the flesh tints) place the object in an East European school. The painting’s rendering shows analogies to other Pomeranian pictures from 1390— 1450. The latest element of the school is the mode o f painting a blue robe by means of ultramarine, known in Polish painting from the end o f the first half o f the 15th century. A historic interpretation of the results of technological studies speaks for the creation o f the picture in East Pomerania in the fourth decade of the 15th century, in the studio with well-developed traditions in painting craftsmanship. Part II. Historic and Artistic Problems As far as iconographie and compositional rendering o f the painting is concerned, this is a replica of the Świętowidzka Madonna in Prague, some elements o f which were adopted (like the arrangement o f the right hand and the representation o f St Mary’s fingers plunged into the body o f the Child). However, apart from that he following motifs patterned after figures of beautiful Madonnas were introduced: the characteristics and arrangement o f Christ’s body, a form of buttoning the coat and uncovering o f St Mary’s neck as well as the expression o f her face (en face), encircled with numerous festoons of maforium. The execution of part o f her hair and ears is known from Netherlandian and Lower Rhenish paintings. Still, the painting acquired values different from the originals. Mary, with a delicate and lyrical face, is staring at the looker-on; she is in no contact with the Child, who touches her chin with his hand in a gesture well-known from Italian paintings. The picture is not a realistic image o f motherhood shown in numerous Franco- Flemmish and Netherlandian paintings devoted to that theme. Neither is there any reference to a symbolic representation o f Mary as another Eve and Christ as another Adam, like in figures of beautiful Madonnas. The crowned Mary presents Christ. A timeless rendering has an emotional expression, which makes easier a spiritual contact o f the viewer with a sacral reality o f the painting, the subject of which is Mary. Using elements of a diversified genesis the author created a unique work of art. It must have been a local artist, because this kind of the synthesis o f artistic values coming from the south and west can be found more frequently in wall and table paintings o f that region. The presence o f a Netherlandian factor shows that most probably the object was created in ca 1440. It provides the proof o f the permanent fascination in the discussed region with forms o f a beautiful style.

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6 Ochrona Zabytków

5 1980

1 1976

6 Karłowska-Kamzowa A.

1 Michałowski Z.

"Gotyckie malarstwo ścienne w Europie środkowowschodniej" - konferencja w Poznaniu i we Wrocławiu

POLSKA POŁUDNIOWO-ZACHODNIA (ŚLĄSK)

Gotyckie malowidła ścienne w Polsce. Wyniki badań przeprowadzonych w latach 1974-1979. Wstęp

POLSKA CENTRALNA

POLSKA PÓŁNOCNO-ZACHODNIA (WIELKOPOLSKA I KUJAWY)

Badania konserwatorskie obrazu Madonny z kościoła św. Jakuba w Toruniu