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DOI Artikel:Gębarowicz, Mieczysław: Prolegomena do dziejów lwowskiej rzeźby rokokowej
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27013#0073
PROLEGOMENA DO DZIEJÖW LWOWSKIEJ RZEŹBY ROKOKOWEJ
43
dates back to the period in which rococo already became outmoded in Western
■Europe, it appears to be a perfect, lacking analogy, embodiment of the ideological
and formal postulates of the style. However, these shocking paradoxes do not ex-
haust numerous questions which should be associated with the emergence of the
Lvovian School. The school began to take its shape on the ground of a relatively
new city constituted in the 13th - 14th centuries, situated on the route linking Con-
stantinopole, the Mediterranian Sea, Near East and the Balkans with the Baltic
Sea and Western Europe, the city which was above all the multinational centre
of industry and trade. In the field of art, during the first two centuries of the
existence of the city, Lvov had to import goods ahd artistic objects until the 16th
century when the city became a centre of artistic life progressing rapidly in each
decade especialy in the field of sculpture. The progress was connected with the
rebuilt of the city after the catastrophe of fire which ruined the city at the be-
ginning of the century; with the growing number of rich citizens and with the
discovery of new sources of highly recognized building materials such as alabaster
that was particularly appreciated at those times, and which not only covered the
local demands but became a means of wide export. Due to the local and numerous
incoming artists settling in this city the artistic contacts of Lvov expanded as far
as Wroclaw on the one side and Kijev, across the Carpathian region as far as
Gdansk on the other. That movement with varying intensity of different factors,
lasted throughout the 16th and the 17th centuries. It ended altogether only when
the northern war of Charles XII with his Swedish troops overran Lvov and brought
about a total economical and social destruction of the city. In such circumstances
•and in complete poverty there can be observed a rebirth of artistic life. There
also began the rapid growth of building activities connected with the changes of
the interiors of new churches as well as of the old ones. The position of the tra-
ditionally active city patricians was taken over by the patronage of the noblemen.
The process is manifested by the building campains, extending the residences and
the establishing new foundations as well as by the financial support of the mo-
nasters building churches. Often noblemen used to recomend their favourite crafts-
men who were trained in various fields of the artistic creativity. Thus we face the
situation where for example Bernard Meretyn, the Lvovian architect (whose name
is connected with the prominent works of rococo architecture such as the town-
hall in Buczacz and the orthodox church of St George in Lvov) permanently
working for Nicolaus Potocki and Leon Szeptycki, signed the contract for the fa-
cade decorations of the church mentioned above, although the true author of the
•design was Master Pinsel. Similar seems the case of the little church in Hodo-
wica where the recently discovered signature and the seal of that architect give
evidence to the fact that both the buildings and the altar — unique masterpiece of
the rococo sculpture •— had been executed under his supervision. The Lvovian
rococo sculpture does not present itself as a unity because the two trends are
clearly visible in it. The first trend was created by the few foreign court ar-
tists who worked exclusively for their noble patrons and left some works ordered
by. their protectors. Those artists passed and desappeared from the artistic scene
without leaving neither continuators nor followers. The second group which can
be called the Lvovian School of Sculpture was represented by a few dozen ar-
tists — craftsmen recruiting from three generations. They were the representatives
of the permanently settled citizens of Lvov, and they became in fact the true crea-
tors of the Lvov rococo sculpture. We have very limited knowledge about their
lives and education. The only source of information is the official one which
43
dates back to the period in which rococo already became outmoded in Western
■Europe, it appears to be a perfect, lacking analogy, embodiment of the ideological
and formal postulates of the style. However, these shocking paradoxes do not ex-
haust numerous questions which should be associated with the emergence of the
Lvovian School. The school began to take its shape on the ground of a relatively
new city constituted in the 13th - 14th centuries, situated on the route linking Con-
stantinopole, the Mediterranian Sea, Near East and the Balkans with the Baltic
Sea and Western Europe, the city which was above all the multinational centre
of industry and trade. In the field of art, during the first two centuries of the
existence of the city, Lvov had to import goods ahd artistic objects until the 16th
century when the city became a centre of artistic life progressing rapidly in each
decade especialy in the field of sculpture. The progress was connected with the
rebuilt of the city after the catastrophe of fire which ruined the city at the be-
ginning of the century; with the growing number of rich citizens and with the
discovery of new sources of highly recognized building materials such as alabaster
that was particularly appreciated at those times, and which not only covered the
local demands but became a means of wide export. Due to the local and numerous
incoming artists settling in this city the artistic contacts of Lvov expanded as far
as Wroclaw on the one side and Kijev, across the Carpathian region as far as
Gdansk on the other. That movement with varying intensity of different factors,
lasted throughout the 16th and the 17th centuries. It ended altogether only when
the northern war of Charles XII with his Swedish troops overran Lvov and brought
about a total economical and social destruction of the city. In such circumstances
•and in complete poverty there can be observed a rebirth of artistic life. There
also began the rapid growth of building activities connected with the changes of
the interiors of new churches as well as of the old ones. The position of the tra-
ditionally active city patricians was taken over by the patronage of the noblemen.
The process is manifested by the building campains, extending the residences and
the establishing new foundations as well as by the financial support of the mo-
nasters building churches. Often noblemen used to recomend their favourite crafts-
men who were trained in various fields of the artistic creativity. Thus we face the
situation where for example Bernard Meretyn, the Lvovian architect (whose name
is connected with the prominent works of rococo architecture such as the town-
hall in Buczacz and the orthodox church of St George in Lvov) permanently
working for Nicolaus Potocki and Leon Szeptycki, signed the contract for the fa-
cade decorations of the church mentioned above, although the true author of the
•design was Master Pinsel. Similar seems the case of the little church in Hodo-
wica where the recently discovered signature and the seal of that architect give
evidence to the fact that both the buildings and the altar — unique masterpiece of
the rococo sculpture •— had been executed under his supervision. The Lvovian
rococo sculpture does not present itself as a unity because the two trends are
clearly visible in it. The first trend was created by the few foreign court ar-
tists who worked exclusively for their noble patrons and left some works ordered
by. their protectors. Those artists passed and desappeared from the artistic scene
without leaving neither continuators nor followers. The second group which can
be called the Lvovian School of Sculpture was represented by a few dozen ar-
tists — craftsmen recruiting from three generations. They were the representatives
of the permanently settled citizens of Lvov, and they became in fact the true crea-
tors of the Lvov rococo sculpture. We have very limited knowledge about their
lives and education. The only source of information is the official one which