The Polish Baroque lasted from the early 17th to the mid-18th century. As with Baroque style elsewhere in Europe, Poland’s Baroque emphasized the richness and triumphant power of contemporary art forms. In contrast to the previous, Renaissance style which sought to depict the beauty and harmony of nature, Baroque artists strove to create their own vision of the world. The result was manifold, regarded by some critics as grand and dramatic, but sometimes also chaotic and disharmonious and tinged with affectation and religious exaltation, thus reflecting the turbulent times of the 17th-century Europe.
The 17th century in the history of Polish art was a very complex period, and as a result, a transitional period preceding the supremacy of mature Baroque. Coexistence and sometimes symbiosis of various, sometimes contradictory, artistic trends took place. Until around 1640, the guiding trend was the mannerism of the Italian and Dutch provenance. At the same time, alongside Mannerism, there is an early Baroque in the Roman editorial office. In addition to these styles, there was also Renaissance traditionalism. Polish guild painting was no longer a medieval painting, but it created a “gothic” canvas. In addition to innovative tendencies, there was conservatism, the reception of Venetian, Roman or Bologna art was intertwined with the influence of Flemish and Dutch art, and all these imports were generally not taken literally, but processed in their own way, “native” .
In Poland, the baroque appeared at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. It was the period of the reign of the first elective kings and Counter-Reformation. The time of conducting long-term wars with neighboring countries (Sweden, Russia, Turkey) and internal unrest (the Cossack rebellions: Kosinski, Nalewajko, Khmelnytsky). Years during which many battles were fought, capturing great victories and memorable defeats. A period in which the commander-in-chief of the army commanded the greatest publicity. People commonly known and growing up to be called national heroes. It was the restless years that brought Poland war destruction and moments of recovery and reconstruction. A specific element of the Polish art of the Baroque period was Sarmatism.
The duration of the Baroque, from its beginnings, in which it coexisted with the period of the late Renaissance to the end period in which it still appears despite the developing art of classicism, are the years covering the history of Poland from its glory to the moments preceding the partitions.
The precursors to the new trend were Italian artists working on behalf of the royal court and aristocracy associated with the activities of the Jesuit Order. In the second half of the 17th century, baroque art became popular and used in works from native artists and craftsmen. Under the patronage of the royal court, the aristocracy and the Church, so-called the mansion-church trend and, on behalf of the wider nobility, the Sarmatian stream.
Baroque stages periods overlapping with the reign of the rulers:
from the Waza dynasty, called the Vasa style, the baroque modeled on the works of Bernini
the period of reign of Jan III Sobieski, in which the baroque became the dominant style; In addition to Italian designs, a variation of the classicizing baroque is visible
the time of ruling the Saxon rulers, the period of the late Baroque, in which the Italian and Rococo French and Dresden designs dominate.
Counter-reformation
The Roman Catholic Church became one of the major patrons of the arts; another was the royal house, whose patronage was most visible in the new capital of Warsaw. There the pious Catholic king Sigismund III Vasa sponsored many Baroque sacral constructions. In its first phase, ecclesiastical Baroque architecture was primarily associated with the Jesuit Order, who arrived in Poland in 1564, as part of the counter-reformation, a trend which over the next century would triumph in Poland. The Jesuits established churches and schools in many major cities, slowly winning over the Protestant educational centers in Thorn (Toruń), Danzig and Elbing (Elbląg), and Leszno (where the Comenius school of the Bohemian Brothers was located). The eventual victory of the counter-reformation in Poland would eventually be one of the reasons that would contribute to its cultural stagnation.
Architecture
Early Polish baroque buildings were often designed by foreign (most often, Italian) architects. The first baroque structure in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the Corpus Christi Church in Nieśwież (now in Belarus). The first baroque building in present-day Poland was the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Kraków by Giovanni Battista Trevano. The Jewish population in this period was large and prosperous, and many handsome Polish Jewish synagogues were built in baroque style. A handful of these buildings survive, including the Włodawa Synagogue.
Secular Baroque architecture also grew. The royal Warsaw Castle was reconstructed between 1596 and 1619 by the Italian architects Giacomo Rotondo, Matteo Castelli and Jan Trevano. Outside the Castle, a column with the Statue of King Zygmunt, sculpted by Clemente Molli and cast by Daniel Tym was raised by his son, Władysław IV Waza, in 1644. Park Ujazdowski with a new palace, the palace of Ujazdów, was built by Trevano between 1619 and 1625. Palace of Ujazdów was soon overshadowed the Wilanów Palace, raised by King John III Sobieski between 1677 and 1696. Style of those new royal mansions was soon imitated by numerous magnates who did not want to fall behind the times, leading to numerous baroque residences springing throughout Polish countryside, such as at Kruszyna (1630, built for Voivode Kasper Doenhoff), Łańcut (1629–1641, rebuilt for Stanisław Lubomirski), Wiśnicz (1616–1621, also for Stanisław Lubomirski), Ujazd (Krzyżtopór built in 1628-1644 for Krzysztof Ossoliński).
Sculpture
In the first half of the 17th century, the fashion for black marble mined in Dębnik (the so-called Dębnik marble) became widespread. It was used to decorate the interior of churches and chapels, especially funerary ones. In the black marble, the decorations of the Vasa and Zbarski chapels were made. Tombstones were the most known. Designed, among others, by Trevana, Tencalla and Sebastian Sala, performed in Dębnik or Kraków and sent to many places in Poland. Tombstones representing the Roman variant of the Baroque were made using two basic materials: black marble – a background and white or yellow alabaster, used to make sculptural decorations. The figure of the deceased (of light material) depicted in the kneeling position before the cross or facing the altar often received architectural housing with columns, broken cornices. Some of the housings were similar to tombstones for altars or, in more elaborate forms, to church facades. This is how the bishops were presented: Andrzej Trzebicki and Piotr Tylicki on tombstones in the Wawel cathedral, or voivode Piotr Opaliński on the tombstone in Sieraków. In the mid-seventeenth century, the sculpture evolves towards more dynamic and expressive forms inspired by the works of Bernini and Alessandro Algardi. Wall tombstones more and more often take the form of a bust placed in a niche with a rich architectural setting. In Poland, architect Giovanni Battista Gisleni and sculptor Giovanni Francesco Rossi form in this period. Gisleni designed tombstones, theater sceneries and altars. Rossi’s portrait paintings were characterized by great attention to detail and the presentation of a person in motion with faithful devotion to the momentary state of emotions. His most famous works include the tombstone of bishop Piotr Gembicki in the Wawel cathedral and the gravestone of Jerzy Tyszkiewicz in the Vilnius cathedral. A similar type of solution (a bust in a niche adjacent to the wall, but with a much richer setting) is represented by the wall tombstone of Bishop Andrzej Trzebnicki in the church of St. St. Peter and Paul in Krakow. The eighteenth century brings the fashion for tombstones without architectural framing, with the form of a medallion with a sculptural or pictorial portrayal of the deceased placed in the hands of a putto or other allegorical figure. The figural composition is complemented by decorative elements in the form of tumbles, panoples, plinths and obelisks. This is how the tombstones of Michał Korybut and Eleonora, Jan III Sobieski and Marysieńka were composed in the Wawel cathedral, the work of Franciszek Placidi.
Sculptural works also include stucco work, integrally associated with architecture. Decorative linear compositions made in the stucco on the frames, beams, cornices and filling the vaulted fields, panels consisted of carved from shells, festoons, cartouches and rosettes. Stucco figural decorations decorating above all the interiors of churches and chapels were also made in the stucco. The themes were dominated by scenes from individual stages of life until death. In the grave chapel of Oleśnicki in the church of St. The trinity in Tarłów unknown artist immortalized the so-called Dance of death. The figures of various states in conversation with death reflect the realities of the period’s dress and customs. The best-known decorator of this period was Giovanni Battista Falconi, royal sculptor, creator of the decoration in the church of St. St. Peter and Paul in Krakow, the chapel of the Transfiguration in the cathedral in Zamość, the Lubomirski chapel in the church in Niepołomice, the chapel of St. Cross in the Dominican church in Lublin and some rooms in the palaces in Baranów Sandomierski (stucco on the vault in the office in the north-eastern tower) and Nowy Wiśnicz. The figural sculpture is represented by the works of Baltazar Fontana (interior decoration of St. Anne’s Church in Kraków), Giovanni Francesco Rossi, Giovanni Trevano (solution to the facade of the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, confession over the grave of Saint Stanislaus in the Wawel Cathedral). Among the outstanding sculptors was Andrzej Schlüter (decorations of the palace in Wilanów, tombstones of the Sobieski family in the façade in Żółkiew, crucifix of the church in Węgrów), cooperating with Tylman.
Sculptural works also include stucco work, integrally associated with architecture. Decorative linear compositions made in the stucco on the frames, beams, cornices and filling the vaulted fields, panels consisted of carved from shells, festoons, cartouches and rosettes. Stucco figural decorations decorating above all the interiors of churches and chapels were also made in the stucco. The themes were dominated by scenes from individual stages of life until death. In the grave chapel of Oleśnicki in the church of St. The trinity in Tarłów unknown artist immortalized the so-called Dance of death. The figures of various states in conversation with death reflect the realities of the period’s dress and customs. The best-known decorator of this period was Giovanni Battista Falconi, royal sculptor, creator of the decoration in the church of St. St. Peter and Paul in Krakow, the chapel of the Transfiguration in the cathedral in Zamość, the Lubomirski chapel in the church in Niepołomice, the chapel of St. Cross in the Dominican church in Lublin and some rooms in the palaces in Baranów Sandomierski (stucco on the vault in the office in the north-eastern tower) and Nowy Wiśnicz. The figural sculpture is represented by the works of Baltazar Fontana (interior decoration of St. Anne’s Church in Kraków), Giovanni Francesco Rossi, Giovanni Trevano (solution to the facade of the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, confession over the grave of Saint Stanislaus in the Wawel Cathedral). Among the outstanding sculptors was Andrzej Schlüter (decorations of the palace in Wilanów, tombstones of the Sobieski family in the façade in Żółkiew, crucifix of the church in Węgrów), cooperating with Tylman.
In addition to stuccos and stone, wood was used to make church equipment. The most wonderful examples of carving work are monumental, richly decorated with polychrome and gilt altars and organ prospectuses, stalls and pulpits. Great organ bindings are found, among others in: the basilica in Leżajsk, in the façade in Kazimierz Dolny, Oliwa cathedral, in the cathedral in Kamień Pomorski. A late-baroque boat-shaped pulpit and richly carved stalls are in the church of Corpus Christi in Krakow. The ship-shaped pulpits have also been preserved in the churches of St. Teresa (Carmelites) in Przemyśl and Saint. Andrew in Krakow (Poor Clares). Baroque stalls can also be seen in the cathedral in Włocławek, the churches of St. Antoniego Padewski in Poznań and the parish church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Żagań. These are just a few of the many examples of baroque monuments found in the interiors of churches in Poland.
Among the woodcarving artists, the names of Jerzy Hankisz (figures of saints in the altar of the Carmelite church on Sand in Krakow), Antoni Frąckiewicz (sculptures in the altar of the Kielce cathedral), Jan Jerzy Plersch (rococo pulpit in the shape of a boat in the Church of the Visitation in Warsaw) stand out, Antoni Osiński (Rococo sculptures, eg “Ecce Homo” in the chapel of St. Dominic in the church of St. Jacek in Warsaw, statues of Saint Thomas and Saint Augustine in Leżajsk), Piotr Kornecki (rococo altars of the church of St. Nicholas in Bochnia). In Gdańsk, Johann Heinrich Meissner, the creator of stone and wooden sculpture, was active in Gdańsk in the 18th century. The decoration of small organs in the church of St. John (partially preserved), the great organs in the St. Mary’s Church (preserved in the greater part), and also the missing pulpit from that church.
Painting
In painting of the 17th century religious subject matter of a didactic and moralistic nature dominated. Despite many restrictions introduced by the counter-reformation, painters presented religious content in the realities of the contemporary world, many times portraying still alive people. Apart from sacred works, allegorical paintings were made. Baroque themes were typical of death dance representations, symbolizing the study of the volatility of life, dying, resurrecting the dead and equating all states. In the mid-17th century, under the influence of Rembrandt’s art, works with much more intense colors and compositions underlined by chiaroscuro were created. The most outstanding figures of this period were Daniel Schultz, royal portraitist. Portrait paintings also include coffin portraits that are specific to Polish art. Their creation is connected with the Sarmatian system of funeral customs. Usually made in oil technique, on the sheet matched to the cross-section of the coffin, they depicted the face of the deceased. Coffin portraits were painted mostly by guild painters. Some of them have been preserved in churches or crypts.
During the Baroque period, apart from religious paintings, royal portraits, aristocrats and patricians, historical works with strong Polish accents were created. At the end of the 18th century, illusionistic sacred and secular paintings developed.
Baroque and Sarmatism
The Polish Baroque was influenced by Sarmatism, the culture of the Polish nobility (szlachta). Sarmatism became highly influenced by the Baroque style and produced a unique mix of Eastern and Western styles. “East” refers here to the Oriental culture of the Ottoman Empire, not the culture of the Orthodox Slavs of Eastern Europe. Those Oriental influences stemmed from a large border shared by Poland with the Ottoman Empire, and it frequent invasions.
Sarmatist thought had praised the idyllic countryside-existence, and the liberal Golden Freedom of the nobility, which stood against the absolute power of the monarchy. Sarmatism stressed the military prowess going back to the times when szlachta first emerged from the knight class; and its religious values, both associated with the historical mission of the Polish people as a bastion of Christianity. Sarmatian nobles felt superior to even the nobility of the other nations, whom they considered non-free and almost enslaved by their rulers (according to Poland’s constitution, the king was but the “first among equals”). With the progression of time, however, the Sarmatism ideals became corrupted. By the time of the 18th-century Enlightenment in Poland, Sarmatism was often regarded as a backward and ultraconservative relic of the past – an opposite of progress, leading the country to its downfall.
On a more material realm, Oriental influences were visible in nobles’ attire, arms, and decorations. New Polish costume was based on the Ottoman Empire’s robe, which spread from nobility to city dwellers and even peasants. A Polish nobleman wore long robe-like garment such as żupan, delia, and kontusz, often lined with expensive cloth; fitted with a sash belt (pas kontuszowy) and accessorized with knee-high boots from soft leather. Arabian horses were common in Polish cavalry. During the 17th century shaving one’s head in the Tatar fashion became popular. The symbol of the noble class was the curved blade weapon, the szabla, a cross between saber and scimitar. Ottoman daggers, sheaths, carpets, helmets, saddles, klims, rugs, tapestries and embroideries were also common: what was not acquired from trade came as loot from many military conflicts along the Commonwealth southern border. The manor (dwór, dworek) of the Polish nobleman was decorated with such war trophies. Some luxury items were of domestic produce, often imitating the Orient style; most were imported from the West via Danzig (Gdańsk) or from the East. Displaying one’s wealth was important, and excuses where many: from the name day of the patron saint to weddings and funerals, they be observed in extravagant fashion. A distinctive art of coffin portraits emerged during that period.
During the Baroque period the myth about the origin of the Polish nobility from the ancient Sarmatians became popular. The origin of the gentry, the universal conviction about inheriting from the ancestors of many positive traits such as bravery, patriotism, honesty, love of freedom and manifested religiosity gave rise to the formation and consolidation of the phenomenon called Sarmatism.
Reality, however, differed significantly from these beliefs. Education, despite dissemination, represented a fairly low level of education. Hospitality characterized by the common love of food and alcohol usually turned into gluttony and drunkenness. Freedom was associated primarily with the defense of the privileges obtained and bravery with the praise of the earlier victories. More and more superficial religiosity was accompanied by a lack of tolerance.
A specific model of moral behavior is associated with Sarmatism. Under his influence, the image of a knight-patriot was formed, which after the war struggle turned into a good-natured landowner who adhered to traditions that valued family life and socializing in the circle of neighbors. The richness of experiencing and willingness to share them has resulted in a memoir of a memoir. Representatives of the Sarmatian trend in literature are Jan Chryzostom Pasek and Wacław Potocki. Fashion for portraits usually ordered by local guild designers has become popular. Oil paintings on canvas appeared at the end of the 16th century. It is a realistic painting, initially linear, at the end of the seventeenth century it acquired more baroque features. A specific variety of the Sarmatian portrait were coffin portraits. The worship of tradition is also visible in the way it dresses. Szlachcic – Sarmata is associated with the image of a mustachioed man in żupanie, which he founded robe girded with a belt, with a carabine at his side and a specific hairstyle with shaved tufts. The growing demand for items of clothing, especially robe belts, influenced the development of artistic craft. The most famous persia were located in Słuck, (hence the usual name of the Słuck belts) Stanisławów, Nieśwież, Brody, and Lipków. The influence of the Orient is also visible in other craft products. Ornamentation of pressings on skins and weaving (fabrics and carpets), horse rows, elements of weaponry, especially richly decorated patents, goldsmith’s products abound in Turkish and Tatar motifs.
The architecture of wooden architecture is based on the architecture of a typical nobleman’s manor house – wooden or stone, one-storeyed with an axial symmetrical assumption with corner alcoves or breaks and a characteristic entrance in the form of a porch limited by columns. Sacral architecture was dominated by solutions referring to Gothic forms with a rich stucco decoration of vaults that continued the late Renaissance forms from the Lublin and Kalisz regions. The painting decoration originated from the moralizing directions, the most commonly used motif was the so-called death dances.
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