DOI issue:
Nr. 1-2
DOI article:Boczkowska, Anna: Geminae Veneres: motywy neoplatońskie w dekoracji reliefowej Kaplicy Zygmuntowskiej
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49519#0132
126
Anna Boczkowska
W wizerunku Wenus Niebiańskiej w typie Rodzicielki z Kaplicy Zygmuntowskiej, jako
alegorii płodności małżonki Zygmunta I Bony Sforzy, a jednocześnie neoplatońskiego
symbolu piękna, obfitości i bogactw, kryje się zatem idea kontynuacji polityki dynastycz-
nej i ogólnopaństwowej Elżbiety z Habsburgów i Kazimierza Jagiellończyka oraz złudna
nadzieja ich syna na przetrwanie i rozkwit dynastii.
Geminae Veneres. Neo-Platonic Motifs in the Relief
Decoration of the Sigismund Chapel
In 1986 the art historian Karolina Targosz carried out
an analysis on the iconographic programme of the
burial chapel of king Sigismund I (1506-1548) from
the Wawel Cathedral in Cracow, referring, as she
wrote, to: 'one interpretational key'. She perceived it
in the system of neo-Platonic philosophy, thus permit-
ting her to explain and link together virtually all the
structural and contextual elements of this building
(built in a mature Renaissance style in the years
1517-33 on the monarch's orders by Bartolomeo
Berrecci, the universally gifted Florentine artist of
philosophical interests with the work of assistants
brought over from Italy - mainly Tuscany). In her ar-
ticle Targosz paid particular attention to the influence
the works of renowned representatives of the Platonie
Academy in Florence exerted on the royal court and
academic thought in Cracow, recalling close contacts
between the former and Polish humanists alongside
politicians from the king's immediate entourage.
The comments presented in this article concern a
number of significant motifs contained in the relievo
decoration of the Sigisimund Chapel, which have
found no place in Targosz's article neo-Platonic
macro- and microcosm, and which in our opinion
need to be taken into account as a vital aspect of them.
The first of thesc motifs is the much discussed fig-
ure of a young woman presented between putti in the
middle section of the wall arch above the altar (ill. 1).
Jan Bia3ostocki recognised in it the figure of Venus
Anadyomene rising out of sea foam. Drawing atten-
tion to the figure's resemblance to the that of
Aphrodite as depicted in Coptic ornaments dating
from the 4th and 7th centuries, he recalled that to hu-
manists of the Renaissance age Venus was a symbol
of the highest spiritual values. Represented 'above the
altar of the ruler of one of the most significant Roman
Catholic countries of the world', Bia3ostocki saw it
'as a humanist expression aU'antica of fundamenta!
Christian ideas of eternal life and Salvation'.
Professor Lech Kalinowski was of another opin-
ion. He drew attention to the fact that this could not
be Venus depicted in the form of Anadyomene,
since she does not appear out of the foaming waters
on a shell, nor is she portrayed drying her hair by
lifting it upwards as she was used to doing in
Greco-Roman art. Moreover, in Renaissance art
Aphrodite-Venus was never depicted in the pose in
which she appears above the Chapel altar. This
figurine was identified, however, with the nymph
Daphne as portrayed in a similar pose to the one in
the Chapel and depicted in Coptic reliefs, this time
from the 5th and 6th centuries, personified in
Ovid's Metamorphoses as the virtue of Castitas
and the Christian spirit threatened by evil.
It should, however, be emphasised that in Renais-
sance art we do not encounter the figure of Daphne
depicted in such a way as in the altar wall. Beginning
with her likenesses placed in manuscripts of Ovid
Moralise and in the treatise of Conrad Celtis Quatuor
libri amorurn as illustrated by Durer's workshop, right
down to Antonio Pollaiuolo's celebrated painting in
London, Daphne is always portrayed at the moment
of her transformation into a laurel tree and branches
begin to sprout out of her hand; most typically when
she is making her escape from Apollo. The figurine of
the maiden from the Sigismund Chapel, nevertheless,
stands in a flower bowl and no signs of her organie
symbiosis with floral motifs are to be seen. Further-
more, on both sides of her figure are presented cupids
similar to likenesses pointed out by Bia3ostocki of
Venus, which are not to be found in any of the depic-
tions we are familiar with of Daphne, usually accom-
panied by Apollo.
All these motifs are to be found, however, in like-
nesses of Venus, although not in the anadyomne but
rather the genetrix form. As the primaeval mother of
the Julian family and all Romans, Venus as maternal
figure personified the feminine virtue of Fecunditas,
playing a key role in Roman marriage rites. She was
depicted in a standing position, surrounded by cu-
pids at the moment when she is bearing into the
world yet another Eros, holding onto the branch of a
Anna Boczkowska
W wizerunku Wenus Niebiańskiej w typie Rodzicielki z Kaplicy Zygmuntowskiej, jako
alegorii płodności małżonki Zygmunta I Bony Sforzy, a jednocześnie neoplatońskiego
symbolu piękna, obfitości i bogactw, kryje się zatem idea kontynuacji polityki dynastycz-
nej i ogólnopaństwowej Elżbiety z Habsburgów i Kazimierza Jagiellończyka oraz złudna
nadzieja ich syna na przetrwanie i rozkwit dynastii.
Geminae Veneres. Neo-Platonic Motifs in the Relief
Decoration of the Sigismund Chapel
In 1986 the art historian Karolina Targosz carried out
an analysis on the iconographic programme of the
burial chapel of king Sigismund I (1506-1548) from
the Wawel Cathedral in Cracow, referring, as she
wrote, to: 'one interpretational key'. She perceived it
in the system of neo-Platonic philosophy, thus permit-
ting her to explain and link together virtually all the
structural and contextual elements of this building
(built in a mature Renaissance style in the years
1517-33 on the monarch's orders by Bartolomeo
Berrecci, the universally gifted Florentine artist of
philosophical interests with the work of assistants
brought over from Italy - mainly Tuscany). In her ar-
ticle Targosz paid particular attention to the influence
the works of renowned representatives of the Platonie
Academy in Florence exerted on the royal court and
academic thought in Cracow, recalling close contacts
between the former and Polish humanists alongside
politicians from the king's immediate entourage.
The comments presented in this article concern a
number of significant motifs contained in the relievo
decoration of the Sigisimund Chapel, which have
found no place in Targosz's article neo-Platonic
macro- and microcosm, and which in our opinion
need to be taken into account as a vital aspect of them.
The first of thesc motifs is the much discussed fig-
ure of a young woman presented between putti in the
middle section of the wall arch above the altar (ill. 1).
Jan Bia3ostocki recognised in it the figure of Venus
Anadyomene rising out of sea foam. Drawing atten-
tion to the figure's resemblance to the that of
Aphrodite as depicted in Coptic ornaments dating
from the 4th and 7th centuries, he recalled that to hu-
manists of the Renaissance age Venus was a symbol
of the highest spiritual values. Represented 'above the
altar of the ruler of one of the most significant Roman
Catholic countries of the world', Bia3ostocki saw it
'as a humanist expression aU'antica of fundamenta!
Christian ideas of eternal life and Salvation'.
Professor Lech Kalinowski was of another opin-
ion. He drew attention to the fact that this could not
be Venus depicted in the form of Anadyomene,
since she does not appear out of the foaming waters
on a shell, nor is she portrayed drying her hair by
lifting it upwards as she was used to doing in
Greco-Roman art. Moreover, in Renaissance art
Aphrodite-Venus was never depicted in the pose in
which she appears above the Chapel altar. This
figurine was identified, however, with the nymph
Daphne as portrayed in a similar pose to the one in
the Chapel and depicted in Coptic reliefs, this time
from the 5th and 6th centuries, personified in
Ovid's Metamorphoses as the virtue of Castitas
and the Christian spirit threatened by evil.
It should, however, be emphasised that in Renais-
sance art we do not encounter the figure of Daphne
depicted in such a way as in the altar wall. Beginning
with her likenesses placed in manuscripts of Ovid
Moralise and in the treatise of Conrad Celtis Quatuor
libri amorurn as illustrated by Durer's workshop, right
down to Antonio Pollaiuolo's celebrated painting in
London, Daphne is always portrayed at the moment
of her transformation into a laurel tree and branches
begin to sprout out of her hand; most typically when
she is making her escape from Apollo. The figurine of
the maiden from the Sigismund Chapel, nevertheless,
stands in a flower bowl and no signs of her organie
symbiosis with floral motifs are to be seen. Further-
more, on both sides of her figure are presented cupids
similar to likenesses pointed out by Bia3ostocki of
Venus, which are not to be found in any of the depic-
tions we are familiar with of Daphne, usually accom-
panied by Apollo.
All these motifs are to be found, however, in like-
nesses of Venus, although not in the anadyomne but
rather the genetrix form. As the primaeval mother of
the Julian family and all Romans, Venus as maternal
figure personified the feminine virtue of Fecunditas,
playing a key role in Roman marriage rites. She was
depicted in a standing position, surrounded by cu-
pids at the moment when she is bearing into the
world yet another Eros, holding onto the branch of a