MALOWIDŁA ŁUKASZA RAEDTKE W POCYSTERSKIM KOŚCIELE W LĄDZIE NAD WARTĄ
17!
77?e
yro/T? /7?6q/7&A m
CTs^rcm?? cA^rcA ć7^Zqć/-on-^A^-H^r^
Łukasz Raedtke, a convert from the Cistercian abbey
at Przemęt would have been one of the first painters
to work on commission for the abbey patron,
Mikołaj Antoni Łukomski, to decorate the abbey
church dedicated to the Virgin Mary at Ląd. Bom in
or around 1685, he would have entered the
Cistercian monastery in 1703 or 1704, while his
death is recorded as being 4th March, 1722. Two
known self-portraits of Raedtke, preserved in his
own frescos at Ląd and Przemęt, depict the painter's
appearance at about 10 and 20 years of age (ill. 6).
Up until this point, the artist has remained
completely absent from Polish art histoiy, while his
name has been associated exclusively with the mural
paintings at Ląd. It is elear that he was author of the
monumental decorative painting carried out around
1720 for the church of St. John the Baptist at
Przemęt, in which his frescos decorate the
presbytery walls, transept vaulting and canopies of
the illusory cupolas (ills. 1, 2).
As a result of meagre archival information,
Raedtke remains an artist whose biography is hidden
beneath the surfaces of his executed works. Eight of
these are preserved at Ląd, of which two were
signed. They include a group of six frescos, from
around 1710, in the vaulting of the transept's
northem arm (ill. 3), creating two cycles: one
dedicated to the Virgin Mary's protective ąualities
(ills. 7-9), while the other relates to the cult of St.
Ursula as patroness of the dead (ills. 10-14). The
decorative programme corresponds with the themes
of the two altars placed in the northem transept arm
dedicated to Saints Mary and Ursula. Through the
application of one of the fresco techniques, there
arose, in 1720, an illusory retable to the altar bearing
the dedication "Urgmas' Caph/u/as'" on the east
wali of the northem transept arm (ills. 4, 17-19), as
well as a scene depicting the Virgin Mary in heaven
surrounded by Cistercian monks (currently
concealed by an easel painting). This latter scene
would have been painted u/ over a fresco of an
illusory altar by Adam Swach from 1712, hidden by
the main altar's retable which comes from 1721 (ills.
5, 16). The artisCs premature death, at the age of 35,
would have interrupted any further development of
his promising talents, reflected in the last works
attributable to him that come from the Cistercian
church at Ląd.
7r<37rs7o/e<7 by /A/er /Wur/nr
17!
77?e
yro/T? /7?6q/7&A m
CTs^rcm?? cA^rcA ć7^Zqć/-on-^A^-H^r^
Łukasz Raedtke, a convert from the Cistercian abbey
at Przemęt would have been one of the first painters
to work on commission for the abbey patron,
Mikołaj Antoni Łukomski, to decorate the abbey
church dedicated to the Virgin Mary at Ląd. Bom in
or around 1685, he would have entered the
Cistercian monastery in 1703 or 1704, while his
death is recorded as being 4th March, 1722. Two
known self-portraits of Raedtke, preserved in his
own frescos at Ląd and Przemęt, depict the painter's
appearance at about 10 and 20 years of age (ill. 6).
Up until this point, the artist has remained
completely absent from Polish art histoiy, while his
name has been associated exclusively with the mural
paintings at Ląd. It is elear that he was author of the
monumental decorative painting carried out around
1720 for the church of St. John the Baptist at
Przemęt, in which his frescos decorate the
presbytery walls, transept vaulting and canopies of
the illusory cupolas (ills. 1, 2).
As a result of meagre archival information,
Raedtke remains an artist whose biography is hidden
beneath the surfaces of his executed works. Eight of
these are preserved at Ląd, of which two were
signed. They include a group of six frescos, from
around 1710, in the vaulting of the transept's
northem arm (ill. 3), creating two cycles: one
dedicated to the Virgin Mary's protective ąualities
(ills. 7-9), while the other relates to the cult of St.
Ursula as patroness of the dead (ills. 10-14). The
decorative programme corresponds with the themes
of the two altars placed in the northem transept arm
dedicated to Saints Mary and Ursula. Through the
application of one of the fresco techniques, there
arose, in 1720, an illusory retable to the altar bearing
the dedication "Urgmas' Caph/u/as'" on the east
wali of the northem transept arm (ills. 4, 17-19), as
well as a scene depicting the Virgin Mary in heaven
surrounded by Cistercian monks (currently
concealed by an easel painting). This latter scene
would have been painted u/ over a fresco of an
illusory altar by Adam Swach from 1712, hidden by
the main altar's retable which comes from 1721 (ills.
5, 16). The artisCs premature death, at the age of 35,
would have interrupted any further development of
his promising talents, reflected in the last works
attributable to him that come from the Cistercian
church at Ląd.
7r<37rs7o/e<7 by /A/er /Wur/nr