DOI issue:
Nr. 1
DOI article:Artykuły
DOI article:Oczko, Piotr; Pluis, Jan [Contr.]: Błękit Marii Kazimiery? Holenderskie flizy oraz program ikonograficzny w Sali Fontany w krakowskiej kamienicy "Pod Gruszką"
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70770#0084
82
Piotr Oczko, Jan Pluis
Cobalt-blue of Marie Casimire?
Dutch tiles and the iconographical programme of Fontana s
Room in the “House Under the Pear” in Kraków
In the paper the authors deal with the Baroque interior
of the so-called Fontana’s Room in the “House Under
the Pear”, 1 Szczepańska Str., Kraków, decorated
with Dutch tiles and stuccoes made by an Italian
artist Baldassare Fontana in ca. 1698-1702. The
interpretation of the stuccoes (allegories of various
arts and sciences, peace and wealth, moreover, a
Polish eagle treading upon a Turkish crescent) leads
to the conclusion that a deliberate iconographic
programme has been applied in the interior in
question, referring to the Polish King Jan III
Sobieski who in 1683 defeated the Turkish army at
the gates of Vienna. The stuccoes show the glory of
the monarch under whose rule arts and sciences
could flourish - quite a conventional theme at that
time, deeply rooted in ancient Roman literature.
Dutch tiles decorating the walls consist of two
thematic groups: shepherd tiles (made in Harlingen
ca. 1690-1700) and landscapes and genre scenes
(made in the workshop of Willem van der Kloet in
Amsterdam ca. 1690-1700), the latter being possibly
added in the 19th century. Shepherd tiles,
constituting the majority in the room, may also
correspond to some official representations of
Sobieski’s rule of the time in which the emphasis was
often put on the joys of country life, an idea based on
Virgil’s Georgies and Eclogues. Owing to the fact
that the fashion for Dutch tiles was introduced to
Poland by the King’s French wife, Marie Casimire
Louise de La Grange d’Arquien, Fontana’s Room
actually follows the taste of the royal family and
imitates the types of decoration used in their palaces
(e.g., the Faience Room at the Wilanów Palace). The
authors trace the history of the room and the changes
in its interior. Finally, they describe its present
miserable state and urge its immediate restoration.
Piotr Oczko, Jan Pluis
Cobalt-blue of Marie Casimire?
Dutch tiles and the iconographical programme of Fontana s
Room in the “House Under the Pear” in Kraków
In the paper the authors deal with the Baroque interior
of the so-called Fontana’s Room in the “House Under
the Pear”, 1 Szczepańska Str., Kraków, decorated
with Dutch tiles and stuccoes made by an Italian
artist Baldassare Fontana in ca. 1698-1702. The
interpretation of the stuccoes (allegories of various
arts and sciences, peace and wealth, moreover, a
Polish eagle treading upon a Turkish crescent) leads
to the conclusion that a deliberate iconographic
programme has been applied in the interior in
question, referring to the Polish King Jan III
Sobieski who in 1683 defeated the Turkish army at
the gates of Vienna. The stuccoes show the glory of
the monarch under whose rule arts and sciences
could flourish - quite a conventional theme at that
time, deeply rooted in ancient Roman literature.
Dutch tiles decorating the walls consist of two
thematic groups: shepherd tiles (made in Harlingen
ca. 1690-1700) and landscapes and genre scenes
(made in the workshop of Willem van der Kloet in
Amsterdam ca. 1690-1700), the latter being possibly
added in the 19th century. Shepherd tiles,
constituting the majority in the room, may also
correspond to some official representations of
Sobieski’s rule of the time in which the emphasis was
often put on the joys of country life, an idea based on
Virgil’s Georgies and Eclogues. Owing to the fact
that the fashion for Dutch tiles was introduced to
Poland by the King’s French wife, Marie Casimire
Louise de La Grange d’Arquien, Fontana’s Room
actually follows the taste of the royal family and
imitates the types of decoration used in their palaces
(e.g., the Faience Room at the Wilanów Palace). The
authors trace the history of the room and the changes
in its interior. Finally, they describe its present
miserable state and urge its immediate restoration.