DOI issue:
Nr. 3-4
DOI article:Pokora, Jakub: Deo & Patriae: Portrety biskupów - kanclerzy Rzeczypospolitej w XVII-XVIII wieku
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49519#0248
238
Jakub Pokora
urzędu. Nie wiadomo bowiem, czy obowiązywały tu jakieś zasady. Przypuszczam jednak,
że w wypadku pieczęci nie miało miejsca zjawisko analogiczne, jak w przypadku buławy,
insygnium hetmana: „Bywali magnaci nie piastujący nigdy hetmańskich urzędów, którzy
dla nadania sobie splendoru nosili się i portretowali z buławami i nikt ich za to nie ści-
gał"36. Niechaj zacytowane stwierdzenie Zdzisława Żygulskiego jun. stanie się dodatko-
wązachętą do podjęcia na szerszą skalę studiów nad ikonografią duchownych i świeckich
urzędników Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów.
"Deo & Patriae": Portraits of bishop-chancellors
of the Polish-Lithuanian 'Respublica' from the 17th and
18th centuries
This article is about the portraits of bishops serving
the chancellor's office of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth during the two centuries preceding
the Partitions. The author's objective is to draw at-
tention to the iconography of these offices which
until now has largely remained overlooked.
In accordance with a Polish act of law dating from
1504, one of the Crown chancellors (that is the
chancellor or his deputy) had to be a member of the
clergy, as a result of which in the years 1505-1650
clerics accounted for 66% of the chancellery's
corporate body. From the latter year onwards it was
forbidden to combine the office ofchancellor with any
other dignitary official functions (incompatibilitas),
which in the case of the clergy affected the
archbishopric of Gniezno and five higher cathedrals,
meaning the bishoprics of Cracow, Włocławek,
Poznań, Warmia (Ermland) or Płock, and yet this ban
was very frequently not upheld.
The author chose a group of representative
historical monuments for his investigations dating
from the 17th century; i.e. portraits of Eustachy
Wołłowicz (a copperplate engraving by Lucas Kilian
from 1621, National Museum in Warsaw), Andrzej
Lipski (ca. 1631, in the valuable gallery ofbishopric
likenesses at the Franciscan Monastery in Cracow),
as well as Mikołaj Prażmowski (died in 1673,
tinplate epitaph in Łowicz Cathedral), and moreover
the heraldic banner of Jakub Zadzik (1633, National
Museum in Kielce). However, in the 18th century
the portraits of the Załuskis - one in relief of Andrzej
Chryzostom (predating 1721, epitaph in the Colle-
giate Church at Pułtusk) as well as a painted one of
Andrzej Stanisław Kostka from around 1758
(Tadeusz Kunze[?], in the Cracow Missionary
Church).
At the moment the above works arose only two
of their subjects (Zadzik and Andrzej Chryzostom
Załuski) would have still been in office, but in spite
of this in almost cases the official insignia was de-
picted in the form of a stamped badge.
The author endeavours to explain this identified
phenomenon. Initially, he points out that the bishops
are portrayed according to a convention typical of
representative portraiture, with emphasis being laid
on demonstrably manifesting the chancellor's insig-
nia, most typically with additional accessories such
as a casket for seals, diplomas and sheets of paper,
writing instruments, law manuals and such like.
In the Polish Kingdom the chancellor was always
referred to as the 'defender of laws', and so a bishop-
chancellor was know as 'defender of laws of the
Church and Respublica'. For this reason the episco-
pal and chancellors' themes went together.
In the ideological programme of Zadzik's heral-
dic banner the chancellor's theme is of greater im-
portance, while in that of Wołłowicz the State and
clerical aspects are on a par, as reflected in the motto
IN UTRUMQUE (Aeneid 11, 61) — a fact underlined
by emblems placed on the ox (in accordance with
the principle nomina loquentia obviously alluding
to the bishop's surname). This maxim is based in
Polish political iconography, an example ofwhich is
the stemmata in the coat-of-arms known as the
Pomian (insignia of a bison's head) in eulogies from
1627 and 1642 in honour of Maciej Łubieński,
bishop of Poznań, or in the later- 18th-century heral-
dic sign of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski (a bull-
calf) or that of Antoni Tyzenhauz, deputy treasurer
to the Lithuanian court (a buffalo).
In connection with the difficulties encountered
by the bishops in functioning on two levels at the
36 Z. ŻYGULSK1jun., Światła Stambułu, Warszawa 1999, s. 70.
Jakub Pokora
urzędu. Nie wiadomo bowiem, czy obowiązywały tu jakieś zasady. Przypuszczam jednak,
że w wypadku pieczęci nie miało miejsca zjawisko analogiczne, jak w przypadku buławy,
insygnium hetmana: „Bywali magnaci nie piastujący nigdy hetmańskich urzędów, którzy
dla nadania sobie splendoru nosili się i portretowali z buławami i nikt ich za to nie ści-
gał"36. Niechaj zacytowane stwierdzenie Zdzisława Żygulskiego jun. stanie się dodatko-
wązachętą do podjęcia na szerszą skalę studiów nad ikonografią duchownych i świeckich
urzędników Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów.
"Deo & Patriae": Portraits of bishop-chancellors
of the Polish-Lithuanian 'Respublica' from the 17th and
18th centuries
This article is about the portraits of bishops serving
the chancellor's office of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth during the two centuries preceding
the Partitions. The author's objective is to draw at-
tention to the iconography of these offices which
until now has largely remained overlooked.
In accordance with a Polish act of law dating from
1504, one of the Crown chancellors (that is the
chancellor or his deputy) had to be a member of the
clergy, as a result of which in the years 1505-1650
clerics accounted for 66% of the chancellery's
corporate body. From the latter year onwards it was
forbidden to combine the office ofchancellor with any
other dignitary official functions (incompatibilitas),
which in the case of the clergy affected the
archbishopric of Gniezno and five higher cathedrals,
meaning the bishoprics of Cracow, Włocławek,
Poznań, Warmia (Ermland) or Płock, and yet this ban
was very frequently not upheld.
The author chose a group of representative
historical monuments for his investigations dating
from the 17th century; i.e. portraits of Eustachy
Wołłowicz (a copperplate engraving by Lucas Kilian
from 1621, National Museum in Warsaw), Andrzej
Lipski (ca. 1631, in the valuable gallery ofbishopric
likenesses at the Franciscan Monastery in Cracow),
as well as Mikołaj Prażmowski (died in 1673,
tinplate epitaph in Łowicz Cathedral), and moreover
the heraldic banner of Jakub Zadzik (1633, National
Museum in Kielce). However, in the 18th century
the portraits of the Załuskis - one in relief of Andrzej
Chryzostom (predating 1721, epitaph in the Colle-
giate Church at Pułtusk) as well as a painted one of
Andrzej Stanisław Kostka from around 1758
(Tadeusz Kunze[?], in the Cracow Missionary
Church).
At the moment the above works arose only two
of their subjects (Zadzik and Andrzej Chryzostom
Załuski) would have still been in office, but in spite
of this in almost cases the official insignia was de-
picted in the form of a stamped badge.
The author endeavours to explain this identified
phenomenon. Initially, he points out that the bishops
are portrayed according to a convention typical of
representative portraiture, with emphasis being laid
on demonstrably manifesting the chancellor's insig-
nia, most typically with additional accessories such
as a casket for seals, diplomas and sheets of paper,
writing instruments, law manuals and such like.
In the Polish Kingdom the chancellor was always
referred to as the 'defender of laws', and so a bishop-
chancellor was know as 'defender of laws of the
Church and Respublica'. For this reason the episco-
pal and chancellors' themes went together.
In the ideological programme of Zadzik's heral-
dic banner the chancellor's theme is of greater im-
portance, while in that of Wołłowicz the State and
clerical aspects are on a par, as reflected in the motto
IN UTRUMQUE (Aeneid 11, 61) — a fact underlined
by emblems placed on the ox (in accordance with
the principle nomina loquentia obviously alluding
to the bishop's surname). This maxim is based in
Polish political iconography, an example ofwhich is
the stemmata in the coat-of-arms known as the
Pomian (insignia of a bison's head) in eulogies from
1627 and 1642 in honour of Maciej Łubieński,
bishop of Poznań, or in the later- 18th-century heral-
dic sign of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski (a bull-
calf) or that of Antoni Tyzenhauz, deputy treasurer
to the Lithuanian court (a buffalo).
In connection with the difficulties encountered
by the bishops in functioning on two levels at the
36 Z. ŻYGULSK1jun., Światła Stambułu, Warszawa 1999, s. 70.