DOI article:
Artykuły i komunikaty
DOI article:Kowalczyk, Jerzy: Traktat o ogrodach Tomasza Antoniego Zamoyskiego z około 1750 roku
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49351#0198
192
Jerzy Kowalczyk
figures of speech which were universally applied at
the time. Gardens are supposed to be a paradise on
earth, a consolation for human beings once banished
from the garden of paradise. At this point, examples
taken from the Bibie and ancient history of wonderful
gardens and the most famous of people who were as-
sociated with the history and planning of gardens are
cited. This foreword was intended to justify by means
of historie truths that great lords should also actively
involve themselves in gardening. This may also be an
argument for attributing the treatise to Tomasz Antoni
Zamoyski himself.
Each of the chapters of the treatise is composed
of «a hundred observations». In the chapter titled «A
hundred observations on the economy of gardens»
(Sto obserwacji ekonomicznych ogrodowych, pp.
171-7), apart from practical indications on the sub-
ject of cultivating vegetables, known from such Eu-
ropean treatises as, among others, Louis Ligefs Le
jardinier fleuriste (T. A. Zamoyski owned his own
copy), the Polish author claimed that the beginning
of much of this kind of work was dependent on the
configuration of the stars. An important chapter on
the cultivation of flowers was barely begun; it com-
prises no morę than five of the author ’s first «obser-
vations», but among these reference was already madę
to relating gardening to the phases of the moon. Of
potential interest is the third chapter, titled «A hun-
dred observations relating to the grafting, planting
and caring of treesw (Sto obserwacji koło szczepienia,
sadzenia i starania koło drzew). The reader’s atten-
tion is drawn to a variety of interesting points, in-
cluding the enriching of the fruit by placing inside
the flower a pearl or alternatively clay or plaster figu-
rines, of decorating the tree with a variety of flowers
by actually drilling holes and planting them in the
trunk. There are comments on the artistic forming of
trees into geometrie shapes but also the outlines of
animals and other figures. The concluding table ti-
tled Indeks nazwisk różnych, listing the names of
herbs and flowers in eight languages, which in itself
was something of an event for the whole of Europę,
has a comprehensive character. These languages
were: Latin, Polish, Greek (in its original form), Ital-
ian, German, Spanish, French and Arabie (in tran-
scription). In the finał short section titled Curiositates,
placed at the end of the book (p. 209), Information
was proffered about an exotic and sad tree that grows
in the Goa and blossoms only in the night.
Illustrations included in the course of compiling
the book were placed in four groups. The first of these
comprised 43 garden beds occupying four pages.
There is no doubt that the drawings are copies of
illustrations from various 16th- and 17th-century trea-
tises. A precursor in the publication of pattern books
for gardens was Sebastiano Serlio’s book of 1537.
Drawings in the Polish treatise are similar to French
models of garden parterres; e.g. to C. Estienne and J.
Liebault in L 'Agricułture et maison rustique, a work
republished on numerous occasions between the first
edition of 1565 and 1762, as well as N. ChomeFs
Dictionnaire Oeconomique (Ist ed. 1702).
A successive group of illustrations was composed
of six prints glued onto three pages (pp. 35-9), de-
picting garden parterres designed by the French ar-
chitect and engraver Daniel Marot. These are loose
prints, identical to those which are to be found in
Marofs album published in 1712 in Amsterdam.
Three designs for gardens drawn by hand are to
be found towards the end of Zamoyski’s book, one
of which depicts a garden with flowerbeds on an is-
land surrounded by canals. This may have been a
lovers’ garden, as is suggested by the drawing in one
of the plots of a Tovers’ alcove’ (komórka miłosna),
with the names of an amorous couple and love sym-
bols. In the remaining sketches three concentrically
arranged sąuare plots are also depicted, evidently
modelled on one of Marofs prints.
The last pictures include the design for a smali
garden pałace characteristic of a maison depłaisance.
This pałace consisted of two series of rooms with a
piano nobiłe and diagonally placed pavilions at the
corners, for which viewing platforms were intended.
The architectural forms were evidently based on
French ones. The nai’vely composed drawing of the
palace’s faęade was clearly produced by the hand of
an amateur who had studied civil architecture, as
though it could have been Tomasz Antoni Zamoyski
himself. The treatise was never finished because of
its authofs unforeseen and premature death.
Transłated by Peter Martyn
Jerzy Kowalczyk
figures of speech which were universally applied at
the time. Gardens are supposed to be a paradise on
earth, a consolation for human beings once banished
from the garden of paradise. At this point, examples
taken from the Bibie and ancient history of wonderful
gardens and the most famous of people who were as-
sociated with the history and planning of gardens are
cited. This foreword was intended to justify by means
of historie truths that great lords should also actively
involve themselves in gardening. This may also be an
argument for attributing the treatise to Tomasz Antoni
Zamoyski himself.
Each of the chapters of the treatise is composed
of «a hundred observations». In the chapter titled «A
hundred observations on the economy of gardens»
(Sto obserwacji ekonomicznych ogrodowych, pp.
171-7), apart from practical indications on the sub-
ject of cultivating vegetables, known from such Eu-
ropean treatises as, among others, Louis Ligefs Le
jardinier fleuriste (T. A. Zamoyski owned his own
copy), the Polish author claimed that the beginning
of much of this kind of work was dependent on the
configuration of the stars. An important chapter on
the cultivation of flowers was barely begun; it com-
prises no morę than five of the author ’s first «obser-
vations», but among these reference was already madę
to relating gardening to the phases of the moon. Of
potential interest is the third chapter, titled «A hun-
dred observations relating to the grafting, planting
and caring of treesw (Sto obserwacji koło szczepienia,
sadzenia i starania koło drzew). The reader’s atten-
tion is drawn to a variety of interesting points, in-
cluding the enriching of the fruit by placing inside
the flower a pearl or alternatively clay or plaster figu-
rines, of decorating the tree with a variety of flowers
by actually drilling holes and planting them in the
trunk. There are comments on the artistic forming of
trees into geometrie shapes but also the outlines of
animals and other figures. The concluding table ti-
tled Indeks nazwisk różnych, listing the names of
herbs and flowers in eight languages, which in itself
was something of an event for the whole of Europę,
has a comprehensive character. These languages
were: Latin, Polish, Greek (in its original form), Ital-
ian, German, Spanish, French and Arabie (in tran-
scription). In the finał short section titled Curiositates,
placed at the end of the book (p. 209), Information
was proffered about an exotic and sad tree that grows
in the Goa and blossoms only in the night.
Illustrations included in the course of compiling
the book were placed in four groups. The first of these
comprised 43 garden beds occupying four pages.
There is no doubt that the drawings are copies of
illustrations from various 16th- and 17th-century trea-
tises. A precursor in the publication of pattern books
for gardens was Sebastiano Serlio’s book of 1537.
Drawings in the Polish treatise are similar to French
models of garden parterres; e.g. to C. Estienne and J.
Liebault in L 'Agricułture et maison rustique, a work
republished on numerous occasions between the first
edition of 1565 and 1762, as well as N. ChomeFs
Dictionnaire Oeconomique (Ist ed. 1702).
A successive group of illustrations was composed
of six prints glued onto three pages (pp. 35-9), de-
picting garden parterres designed by the French ar-
chitect and engraver Daniel Marot. These are loose
prints, identical to those which are to be found in
Marofs album published in 1712 in Amsterdam.
Three designs for gardens drawn by hand are to
be found towards the end of Zamoyski’s book, one
of which depicts a garden with flowerbeds on an is-
land surrounded by canals. This may have been a
lovers’ garden, as is suggested by the drawing in one
of the plots of a Tovers’ alcove’ (komórka miłosna),
with the names of an amorous couple and love sym-
bols. In the remaining sketches three concentrically
arranged sąuare plots are also depicted, evidently
modelled on one of Marofs prints.
The last pictures include the design for a smali
garden pałace characteristic of a maison depłaisance.
This pałace consisted of two series of rooms with a
piano nobiłe and diagonally placed pavilions at the
corners, for which viewing platforms were intended.
The architectural forms were evidently based on
French ones. The nai’vely composed drawing of the
palace’s faęade was clearly produced by the hand of
an amateur who had studied civil architecture, as
though it could have been Tomasz Antoni Zamoyski
himself. The treatise was never finished because of
its authofs unforeseen and premature death.
Transłated by Peter Martyn