DOI issue:
Nr. 1-2
DOI article:Polanowska, Jolanta: Ku tworzeniu instytucjonalnych podstaw historii sztuki polskiej
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48917#0161
HISTORIA SZTUKI POLSKIEJ W WARSZAWIE
TOWARDS THE CREATION OF INSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS
FOR THE HISTORY OF POLISH ART
The institutional beginnings of a "Polish history of
art" are usually considered to be the achievements of the
Cracow center inaugurated by the establishment of the
Chair of Archeology at the Jagiellonian University
(1866) and the Commission for the History of Art at the
Academy of Sciences (1873). The purpose of this
communiąue is to draw attention to the initiatives, efforts,
and accomplishments of Warsaw historians and scholars
who dealt with art of the past, and gathered around the
editorial board of the "Biblioteka Warszawska" (1859-
1862) during the so-called post-Sevastopol thaw - a
brief period of a liberalition of conditions for intellectual
life in the Russian partition area. An informal and semi-
official scientific society know as the "Scientific Coope-
ration with the Editorial Board of Biblioteka Warsza-
wska" was founded on 2 January 1859. Extremely active
members of its Historical Department included scholars
who studied old Polish art, particularly the historiograp-
hers of Polish art, Edward Rastawiecki (1805-1874) and
Aleksander Przezdziecki (1814-1871). The Scholarly
archive of Rastawiecki contains previously unexamined
documents conceming the Historical Department’s ac-
tivities from 1859 to 1860. In this light, it becomes
obvious that the Department was meant to be an infor-
mal national Historical Society whose goal was the
creation of a history of Polish art. Representatives of the
Department wrote dissertations on various fields of art,
and the Department itself initiated cooperation with
scholars in Vilno at the Vilno Archeological Commi-
sion, and in Cracow at the Cracow Scientific Society.
Józef Łepkowski (1826-1894) played a particularly lar-
ge role as a mediator in contacts with the latter organi-
zation in Cracow. He was many years a co-worker and
protegee of Rastawiecki and Przezdziecki.
In 1859 this group of Warsaw amateurs, collectors
and scholars proposed the idea of a local art museum
which would contain the rich collecions of Rastawiecki
and Przezdziecki. Eventually it would hołd works from
other collectors as well. The outbreak of the January
Uprising inl863 put an end to these plans. In 1869 and
1871 Rastawiecki and Przezdziecki offered conside-
rable parts of their collections to the Archeological
Exhibition Halls at the Jagiellonian University.
In 1861, aChairof Aesthetics and History of Art was
planned for the Philological-Historical Department of
the newly-opened Main School. The principal candidate
for the post of a lecturer in art history was Łepkowski
who enjoyed the support of Przezdziecki. This project,
however, was never realized and the first Polish lectures
in the history of art were given by Łepkowski in Cracow
from 1863 on.
The above mentioned initiatives (a significant part
of which can be ascribed to Rastawiecki and Przezdzie-
cki) constitute the second essential achievement of the
nineteenth-century Warsaw center regarding old Polish
art. The first was the development of the historio-
graphy of Polish art. The political situation occuring in
Warsaw at the time was the primary reason for local
scholars attempting to expand contacts and cooperation
with the Cracow center. They justifiably saw this as an
excellent opportunity for implementing their plans of
creating an institution that would examine art of the past.
Translated by Aleksandra Rodzińska-Chojnowska
151
TOWARDS THE CREATION OF INSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS
FOR THE HISTORY OF POLISH ART
The institutional beginnings of a "Polish history of
art" are usually considered to be the achievements of the
Cracow center inaugurated by the establishment of the
Chair of Archeology at the Jagiellonian University
(1866) and the Commission for the History of Art at the
Academy of Sciences (1873). The purpose of this
communiąue is to draw attention to the initiatives, efforts,
and accomplishments of Warsaw historians and scholars
who dealt with art of the past, and gathered around the
editorial board of the "Biblioteka Warszawska" (1859-
1862) during the so-called post-Sevastopol thaw - a
brief period of a liberalition of conditions for intellectual
life in the Russian partition area. An informal and semi-
official scientific society know as the "Scientific Coope-
ration with the Editorial Board of Biblioteka Warsza-
wska" was founded on 2 January 1859. Extremely active
members of its Historical Department included scholars
who studied old Polish art, particularly the historiograp-
hers of Polish art, Edward Rastawiecki (1805-1874) and
Aleksander Przezdziecki (1814-1871). The Scholarly
archive of Rastawiecki contains previously unexamined
documents conceming the Historical Department’s ac-
tivities from 1859 to 1860. In this light, it becomes
obvious that the Department was meant to be an infor-
mal national Historical Society whose goal was the
creation of a history of Polish art. Representatives of the
Department wrote dissertations on various fields of art,
and the Department itself initiated cooperation with
scholars in Vilno at the Vilno Archeological Commi-
sion, and in Cracow at the Cracow Scientific Society.
Józef Łepkowski (1826-1894) played a particularly lar-
ge role as a mediator in contacts with the latter organi-
zation in Cracow. He was many years a co-worker and
protegee of Rastawiecki and Przezdziecki.
In 1859 this group of Warsaw amateurs, collectors
and scholars proposed the idea of a local art museum
which would contain the rich collecions of Rastawiecki
and Przezdziecki. Eventually it would hołd works from
other collectors as well. The outbreak of the January
Uprising inl863 put an end to these plans. In 1869 and
1871 Rastawiecki and Przezdziecki offered conside-
rable parts of their collections to the Archeological
Exhibition Halls at the Jagiellonian University.
In 1861, aChairof Aesthetics and History of Art was
planned for the Philological-Historical Department of
the newly-opened Main School. The principal candidate
for the post of a lecturer in art history was Łepkowski
who enjoyed the support of Przezdziecki. This project,
however, was never realized and the first Polish lectures
in the history of art were given by Łepkowski in Cracow
from 1863 on.
The above mentioned initiatives (a significant part
of which can be ascribed to Rastawiecki and Przezdzie-
cki) constitute the second essential achievement of the
nineteenth-century Warsaw center regarding old Polish
art. The first was the development of the historio-
graphy of Polish art. The political situation occuring in
Warsaw at the time was the primary reason for local
scholars attempting to expand contacts and cooperation
with the Cracow center. They justifiably saw this as an
excellent opportunity for implementing their plans of
creating an institution that would examine art of the past.
Translated by Aleksandra Rodzińska-Chojnowska
151