DOI Heft:
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DOI Artikel:Artykuły
DOI Artikel:Nowiński, Janusz: Siedemnastowieczna polichromia kaplicy nowicjatu karmelitanek bosych w dawnym pa³acu Kazanowskich w Warszawie
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71007#0084
82
Janusz Nowiński
Seventeenth-century Polychrome in the Interior
of the Novitiate Chapel of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns
in the Former Kazanowski Palace in Warsaw
In the former Kazanowski Palace in Warsaw,
transformed into a convent of the Discalced Car-
melite Nuns in the latter half of the 17th century, in
one of the rooms on the upper storey (fig. 1) a rich set
of polychromes was discovered under a layer of
whitewash. They are composed of trompe-l'oeil
decorations in the architectural divisions of the
interior (L, figs. 2, 5); fruit and floral festoons
painted in grisaille (B, D, figs. 2, 14); and of the
decoration of a symmetrically composed acanthus
mesh filling the ceiling panels (M, N, figs. 5, 6). The
architectural decoration is completed with quotes
from the writings of St Teresa of Avila and other
Carmelite writers, given in Polish and preserved in
fragments.
Besides the architectural and ornamental
decoration, the painterly decor of the interior is
made up of a rich figural programme: St Joseph
(K), St Teresa of Avila (A, fig. 2), St John of the
Cross (B, fig. 8), St Mary Magdalene (E, fig. 2),
a kneeling Carmelite nun (H, fig. 4). The southern
gable end of the interior (G, fig. 9, 10, 3) is filled
with a complex painterly composition showing
a series of five scenes from the hagiographic legend
of St Euphrosyne, undoubtedly being one of the
richest painterly presentations of the saint's
hagiographic legend.
A cohesive character of the painterly decoration
of the interior, featuring a clear Carmelite undertone,
undoubtedly points out to the fact that its creation
was associated with the existence of the Carmelite
Nunnery in the former Kazanowski Palace. In 1686,
the nuns created a chapel of their novitiate in the
room.
The polychromes discovered in the interior of the
novitiate chapel of the Carmelite Nuns in the former
Kazanowski Palace constitute a unique and tremen-
dously precious set, both artistically and iconogra-
phically. A similar arrangement of a convent chapel
in the last quarter of the 17th century has no analogy
in Polish art, also unquestionably constituting a rare
example on the European scale.
Translated by Magdalena Iwińska
Janusz Nowiński
Seventeenth-century Polychrome in the Interior
of the Novitiate Chapel of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns
in the Former Kazanowski Palace in Warsaw
In the former Kazanowski Palace in Warsaw,
transformed into a convent of the Discalced Car-
melite Nuns in the latter half of the 17th century, in
one of the rooms on the upper storey (fig. 1) a rich set
of polychromes was discovered under a layer of
whitewash. They are composed of trompe-l'oeil
decorations in the architectural divisions of the
interior (L, figs. 2, 5); fruit and floral festoons
painted in grisaille (B, D, figs. 2, 14); and of the
decoration of a symmetrically composed acanthus
mesh filling the ceiling panels (M, N, figs. 5, 6). The
architectural decoration is completed with quotes
from the writings of St Teresa of Avila and other
Carmelite writers, given in Polish and preserved in
fragments.
Besides the architectural and ornamental
decoration, the painterly decor of the interior is
made up of a rich figural programme: St Joseph
(K), St Teresa of Avila (A, fig. 2), St John of the
Cross (B, fig. 8), St Mary Magdalene (E, fig. 2),
a kneeling Carmelite nun (H, fig. 4). The southern
gable end of the interior (G, fig. 9, 10, 3) is filled
with a complex painterly composition showing
a series of five scenes from the hagiographic legend
of St Euphrosyne, undoubtedly being one of the
richest painterly presentations of the saint's
hagiographic legend.
A cohesive character of the painterly decoration
of the interior, featuring a clear Carmelite undertone,
undoubtedly points out to the fact that its creation
was associated with the existence of the Carmelite
Nunnery in the former Kazanowski Palace. In 1686,
the nuns created a chapel of their novitiate in the
room.
The polychromes discovered in the interior of the
novitiate chapel of the Carmelite Nuns in the former
Kazanowski Palace constitute a unique and tremen-
dously precious set, both artistically and iconogra-
phically. A similar arrangement of a convent chapel
in the last quarter of the 17th century has no analogy
in Polish art, also unquestionably constituting a rare
example on the European scale.
Translated by Magdalena Iwińska