DOI issue:
Nr. 1-2
DOI article:Artykuły
DOI article:Kowalczyk, Jerzy: Znaczenie wzorów Giovanniego Battisty Montano dla architektury barokowej w Polsce i na Litwie
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49350#0053
The significance of G. B. Montano’s Designs in the Baroque Architecture of Poland
47
Montano ’s third volume present the designs which are,
so to speak, bozzetti of domed temples on a central
plan with characteristic triangular and semicircular
pediments. The design in tabl. 23 was used by G. B.
Gisleni to design a tabemacle for the funded by Queen
Louise Marie Gonzague for the church of the Visitant
Nuns in Warsaw (ca. 1654). This same model by
Montano became a source of inspiration for the
architect Baldassar Fontana, who designed the
tabemacle in the Poor Clares’ Church dedicated to St.
Andrew in Cracow (1701-2). The same Fontana drew
upon print no. 18 for his own tabemacle in the
collegiate church of St. Annę in Cracow (1701).
Whoever designed the wooden tabemacle in the
Cracow church of St. Thomas (beg. of 18th cent.) kept
morę precisely to the original pattem.
A11 a r s. In Montano’s second volume, devoted
to tombs and altars, the possibility of applying these
same compositions to two different functions was
underlined in the very title (depositi o altari). The
author of this article has been unable to find up to the
time of writing any example of a tomb executed in
accordance with one of the 40 designs from
Montano ’s book. On the other hand, the way in which
these models were received in altar construction
during the 17th and 18th centuries is interesting.
Montano’s design in print no.21 is clearly
compatible with the altar of black marble placed in
the Zbaraski family ’s chapel of the Dominican Church
in Cracow (1629). This work is characterised by a
composition of pseudo-ser/mno motifs, attributed to
the architect Matteo Castelli in Romę. The altar
designs in which - as in his pattems for tabemacle -
aedicules were created from the side bays, surmount-
ed by a broken segmented arch (b/vol. II, ills. 29, 33,
34) proved to be most fashionable. In Poland this
kind of design was propagated by Giovanni Battista
Gisleni, who created an ebony-black altar for a chapel
containing a painting of the miraculous Virgin Mary
in the Paulites’ basilica of Jasna Góra (Częstochowa).
The preliminary design (1627-32) and the one to be
ultimately carried out (1645 and 1649) are
characterised by side aedicules with semicircular
pediments. Gisleni clearly drew upon Montano’s
original conceptions in his design for the proto-
cathedral at Chełmża (ca. 1650).
The altar at Chorzelów near Mielec, featuring
mannerist ornamentation, was carried out earlier
(1637). Two wooden altars with characteristic
pediments above the aedicules at the lower and upper
levels in the Franciscan church at Poznań were
executed by the monastic sculptor Antoni Swach
(1688-93), as well as in the parish church at
Szamutały, also in Greater Poland (1701). A northern
influence, from Gdańsk (Danzig), is visible in the
church altars of the Bernardines in Kaunas (1703),
as well as in the iconostasis of the Basilian tempie at
Zhirovichi (Żyrowice, Belarus, 1732-3). Montano’s
altar design featuring the lowest lateral bays-cum-
aedicules, surmounted by pediments at the apex (b/
vol. II, ill. 34), certainly provided a source of
inspiration for the spacious altar in the Decalced
Carmelites’ church at Cracow (1685-8, arch. almost
definitely Jan Solari).
Montano ’s design for an altar repeating the form
of a smali tabemacle for the church at Rudawa (mid
17th cent.), as well as the sketch for a design by
Gisleni for the castrum doloris, perhaps for
Sigismund III (ca. 1632). The altar, designed as a
tabemacle, in the Decalced Carmelites’ church at
L’viv (L’vov, Lwów), received a similar structure and
is the only one of its kind in Polish art (ca. 1660,
almost definitely by Gisleni).
It is also as good as certain that Gisleni was the
designer of a perspective altar in the Bernardine
church at Budslavl (Budsłau) in Belarus (1649,
sculptor Piotr Gramel). Indirect evidence of the
authorship of this.precursive work is represented by
Gisleni’s unusual design for a church on a semi-
circular plan which figures in the architecfs so-called
Dresden sketchbook. The source of inspiration for
the altar design at Budsłau came from Montano’s
ideas presented in book I on temples and mausoleums
all ’ anticcr, particularly the first illustration. A double-
plan structure was repeated, featuring a retable and
half-open side wings, accentuated by columns and
filled with conchiform niches containing figures.The
height of the columns and figures decreased in
relation to their proximity to the retable. From the
end of the 17th century, altars with retables featuring
curved wings to form an arch were applied universally
under the influence of Montano’s designs; e.g. the
main altar in the Franciscans’ church at Poznań (prior
to 1690). The main altar of the Basilian Orthodox
church at Pidhajci (Podhorce, Ukrainę), designed in
1754 by the Jesuit architect Paweł Giżycki (carried
out in 1756-8) received its original spatial composit-
ion, relating to the perspective altar at Budsłau. A
number of Giżycki’s architectural works were
inspired by Montano.
Temples raised in the lands of Poland and
Lithuania under the influence of Montano’s illustrat-
ions took on diverse forms. The unusual shape of a
capriccioso was delineated by Gisleni in the above-
mentioned design for a church with semicircular nave,
closed by side faęades and featuring pediments
together with figures, as in the first illustration
contained in the book titled Tempietti... by Montano.
Gisleni’s design remained only on paper. A tempie
built according to this design is represented by the
church of S. Giovanni Battisto at Carignano (1757-
64).
47
Montano ’s third volume present the designs which are,
so to speak, bozzetti of domed temples on a central
plan with characteristic triangular and semicircular
pediments. The design in tabl. 23 was used by G. B.
Gisleni to design a tabemacle for the funded by Queen
Louise Marie Gonzague for the church of the Visitant
Nuns in Warsaw (ca. 1654). This same model by
Montano became a source of inspiration for the
architect Baldassar Fontana, who designed the
tabemacle in the Poor Clares’ Church dedicated to St.
Andrew in Cracow (1701-2). The same Fontana drew
upon print no. 18 for his own tabemacle in the
collegiate church of St. Annę in Cracow (1701).
Whoever designed the wooden tabemacle in the
Cracow church of St. Thomas (beg. of 18th cent.) kept
morę precisely to the original pattem.
A11 a r s. In Montano’s second volume, devoted
to tombs and altars, the possibility of applying these
same compositions to two different functions was
underlined in the very title (depositi o altari). The
author of this article has been unable to find up to the
time of writing any example of a tomb executed in
accordance with one of the 40 designs from
Montano ’s book. On the other hand, the way in which
these models were received in altar construction
during the 17th and 18th centuries is interesting.
Montano’s design in print no.21 is clearly
compatible with the altar of black marble placed in
the Zbaraski family ’s chapel of the Dominican Church
in Cracow (1629). This work is characterised by a
composition of pseudo-ser/mno motifs, attributed to
the architect Matteo Castelli in Romę. The altar
designs in which - as in his pattems for tabemacle -
aedicules were created from the side bays, surmount-
ed by a broken segmented arch (b/vol. II, ills. 29, 33,
34) proved to be most fashionable. In Poland this
kind of design was propagated by Giovanni Battista
Gisleni, who created an ebony-black altar for a chapel
containing a painting of the miraculous Virgin Mary
in the Paulites’ basilica of Jasna Góra (Częstochowa).
The preliminary design (1627-32) and the one to be
ultimately carried out (1645 and 1649) are
characterised by side aedicules with semicircular
pediments. Gisleni clearly drew upon Montano’s
original conceptions in his design for the proto-
cathedral at Chełmża (ca. 1650).
The altar at Chorzelów near Mielec, featuring
mannerist ornamentation, was carried out earlier
(1637). Two wooden altars with characteristic
pediments above the aedicules at the lower and upper
levels in the Franciscan church at Poznań were
executed by the monastic sculptor Antoni Swach
(1688-93), as well as in the parish church at
Szamutały, also in Greater Poland (1701). A northern
influence, from Gdańsk (Danzig), is visible in the
church altars of the Bernardines in Kaunas (1703),
as well as in the iconostasis of the Basilian tempie at
Zhirovichi (Żyrowice, Belarus, 1732-3). Montano’s
altar design featuring the lowest lateral bays-cum-
aedicules, surmounted by pediments at the apex (b/
vol. II, ill. 34), certainly provided a source of
inspiration for the spacious altar in the Decalced
Carmelites’ church at Cracow (1685-8, arch. almost
definitely Jan Solari).
Montano ’s design for an altar repeating the form
of a smali tabemacle for the church at Rudawa (mid
17th cent.), as well as the sketch for a design by
Gisleni for the castrum doloris, perhaps for
Sigismund III (ca. 1632). The altar, designed as a
tabemacle, in the Decalced Carmelites’ church at
L’viv (L’vov, Lwów), received a similar structure and
is the only one of its kind in Polish art (ca. 1660,
almost definitely by Gisleni).
It is also as good as certain that Gisleni was the
designer of a perspective altar in the Bernardine
church at Budslavl (Budsłau) in Belarus (1649,
sculptor Piotr Gramel). Indirect evidence of the
authorship of this.precursive work is represented by
Gisleni’s unusual design for a church on a semi-
circular plan which figures in the architecfs so-called
Dresden sketchbook. The source of inspiration for
the altar design at Budsłau came from Montano’s
ideas presented in book I on temples and mausoleums
all ’ anticcr, particularly the first illustration. A double-
plan structure was repeated, featuring a retable and
half-open side wings, accentuated by columns and
filled with conchiform niches containing figures.The
height of the columns and figures decreased in
relation to their proximity to the retable. From the
end of the 17th century, altars with retables featuring
curved wings to form an arch were applied universally
under the influence of Montano’s designs; e.g. the
main altar in the Franciscans’ church at Poznań (prior
to 1690). The main altar of the Basilian Orthodox
church at Pidhajci (Podhorce, Ukrainę), designed in
1754 by the Jesuit architect Paweł Giżycki (carried
out in 1756-8) received its original spatial composit-
ion, relating to the perspective altar at Budsłau. A
number of Giżycki’s architectural works were
inspired by Montano.
Temples raised in the lands of Poland and
Lithuania under the influence of Montano’s illustrat-
ions took on diverse forms. The unusual shape of a
capriccioso was delineated by Gisleni in the above-
mentioned design for a church with semicircular nave,
closed by side faęades and featuring pediments
together with figures, as in the first illustration
contained in the book titled Tempietti... by Montano.
Gisleni’s design remained only on paper. A tempie
built according to this design is represented by the
church of S. Giovanni Battisto at Carignano (1757-
64).