DOI Artikel:
Przybyszewski, Wojciech: Nieznany portret Józefa Ignacego Kraszewskiego
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49352#0424
410
Wojciech Przybyszewski
Kraszewski”, while establishing the datę, aftercareful
consideration demanding further ascertainment, as
being „ca. 1844” (W. Przybyszewski, Antoni
Ziemięcki — artysta amator, Gazeta Antykwaryczna
1977, nr 11, s. 6).
At this stage there also remained another direction
for further investigations, leading de facto to Iwo basie
questions: confrontation of the two Ziemięcki portraits
with the other surviving graphic images of the writer
from that time (ill. 3-6) and research into Kraszewskie
biography concerning facts allowing the acceptance
or rejection of the dating of the portrait under
discussion. Even if the results of the former task did
not rule out earlier postulations, the latter proved a
very difficult exercise indeed and were quite possibly
bound to end in failure from the very outset. By
assuming the picture’s datę,,, 1844”, to be reliable, and
that the portrait was conceived in Antoni Ziemięcki’s
studio, it was also necessary to prove that Kraszewski
visited Warsaw at this time, something which nonę of
the writer’s biographers had ever established. However,
of greater significance to this demanding task of finding
support for such a hypothesis than the contents of one
of Kraszewskie letters (beginning with the words „I
am all ready for the journey, even in regard to monetary
matters [...]”, this being addressed to his father, datcd
15th and 16th November 1844 and posted from
Gródek), is to find confirmaton in the form of
additional and irrefutable proof.
In this situation solving the problem of dating the
portrait proved possible only after Halina Chybowska
from the Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Museum at
Romanów had drawn the author’s attention to a once
popular piece of printed rhyme by August Wilkoński
titled „Józef Ignacy Kraszewski w Warszawie”
(„J. I. Kraszewski in Warsaw”; Dzwon: Literacki
1846, vol. III, pp. 229-55), in which the author
prcwided information about the two portraits of the
writer executed at the end of 1846 in Warsaw in the
studios of „the most honourable and worthy artist
Smokowski”, „the bcloved master Wincenty”
[Wincenty Smokowski] and „honourable artist master
Z.”, master Antoni [Antoni Ziemięcki], And this in
turn madę it vitally necessary to carry out a second,
morę penetraling and critical inspection of the portrait
under discussion, as a result of which the datę was
corrected to that of „1847” rather than the previous
„ 1844”. This undertaking not only solved the problem
of dating this picture, but also allowed the drawing
of finał conclusions in relation to it. These may be
summed up in the statement that as the subject of the
Polish article Portrait of a man by Antoni Ziemięcki
bclonging to the collections of the National Museum
in Warsaw (ill. 2) is a previously unrecognized and
early oil-on-canvas version (dating from the winter
of 1846/1847) of W. Smokowski’s Portrait of Józef
Ignacy Kraszewski.
Translated by Peter Martyn
Wojciech Przybyszewski
Kraszewski”, while establishing the datę, aftercareful
consideration demanding further ascertainment, as
being „ca. 1844” (W. Przybyszewski, Antoni
Ziemięcki — artysta amator, Gazeta Antykwaryczna
1977, nr 11, s. 6).
At this stage there also remained another direction
for further investigations, leading de facto to Iwo basie
questions: confrontation of the two Ziemięcki portraits
with the other surviving graphic images of the writer
from that time (ill. 3-6) and research into Kraszewskie
biography concerning facts allowing the acceptance
or rejection of the dating of the portrait under
discussion. Even if the results of the former task did
not rule out earlier postulations, the latter proved a
very difficult exercise indeed and were quite possibly
bound to end in failure from the very outset. By
assuming the picture’s datę,,, 1844”, to be reliable, and
that the portrait was conceived in Antoni Ziemięcki’s
studio, it was also necessary to prove that Kraszewski
visited Warsaw at this time, something which nonę of
the writer’s biographers had ever established. However,
of greater significance to this demanding task of finding
support for such a hypothesis than the contents of one
of Kraszewskie letters (beginning with the words „I
am all ready for the journey, even in regard to monetary
matters [...]”, this being addressed to his father, datcd
15th and 16th November 1844 and posted from
Gródek), is to find confirmaton in the form of
additional and irrefutable proof.
In this situation solving the problem of dating the
portrait proved possible only after Halina Chybowska
from the Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Museum at
Romanów had drawn the author’s attention to a once
popular piece of printed rhyme by August Wilkoński
titled „Józef Ignacy Kraszewski w Warszawie”
(„J. I. Kraszewski in Warsaw”; Dzwon: Literacki
1846, vol. III, pp. 229-55), in which the author
prcwided information about the two portraits of the
writer executed at the end of 1846 in Warsaw in the
studios of „the most honourable and worthy artist
Smokowski”, „the bcloved master Wincenty”
[Wincenty Smokowski] and „honourable artist master
Z.”, master Antoni [Antoni Ziemięcki], And this in
turn madę it vitally necessary to carry out a second,
morę penetraling and critical inspection of the portrait
under discussion, as a result of which the datę was
corrected to that of „1847” rather than the previous
„ 1844”. This undertaking not only solved the problem
of dating this picture, but also allowed the drawing
of finał conclusions in relation to it. These may be
summed up in the statement that as the subject of the
Polish article Portrait of a man by Antoni Ziemięcki
bclonging to the collections of the National Museum
in Warsaw (ill. 2) is a previously unrecognized and
early oil-on-canvas version (dating from the winter
of 1846/1847) of W. Smokowski’s Portrait of Józef
Ignacy Kraszewski.
Translated by Peter Martyn