DOI issue:
Nr. 1
DOI article:Artykuły
DOI article:Sobczyńska-Szczepańska, Mirosława: Malarz Joseph Prechtl: Przyczynek do monografii artysty
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71010#0088
86
Mirosława Sobczyńska-Szczepańska
The Painter Joseph Prechtl.
Contribution to the Artist 's Monograph
The painter Joseph Prechtl (Vienna 1737 - Brahiłów
1799), in the Trinitarian Order lay Brother Joseph of
St Theresa, active mainly in Lesser Poland, Volhy-
nia, the Zamość Land, and Podolia, created about
130 easel paintings and some dozen monumental
decorations. His scarce preserved works and those
known merely from archival photographs, allow to
consider him one of the most outstanding painters
active on the territories of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth in the latter half of the 18th century.
In the paper the views on the beginnings of the
artist's career have been verified; moreover, the
revision of the works attributed to him, completed
with new attributions, has been conducted, with their
dating having been made more precise.
In the light of the monastic sources, Joseph
Prechtl arrived in the Polish-Lithuanian Common-
wealth neither in 1757 nor in 1758 as had been
assumed, but in 1754. He joined the Trinitarian Order
in Lviv on 20 September 1754, however initiating his
novitiate only in March 1757. Therefore, it can be
concluded that he participated in the works on the
decoration of the Lviv Triniatarian Church of the
Holy Trinity, started at the latest in 1753 and headed
by Stanisław Stroiński at least as of spring of 1756.
Following his novitiate and monastic vows on 4
March 1758, he went to Cracow where he assisted
Joseph Franz Piltz in creating the fresco decoration
of the Order's church there. It is to the early 1760s
that his oil paintings: Immaculata and St Thecla of
the Mielec Trinitarian monastery have to be dated.
The unpreserved polychrome of the monastic church
in Tomaszów Lubelski may have been executed
around the same time. After 1764, a polychrome
associated with Joseph Prechtl and Stanisław
Stroiński in the Bernardine church in Dubno was
created. In 1766, Brother Joseph was busy working
for the Trinitarian Convent in Cracow (frescoes in
the refectory and sacristy, oil painting St John of
Matha), following which he worked for the
Trinitarian Convent in Tomaszów Lubelski (oil
paintings: St Cajetan of Thiene, St Anthony of Padua,
and Immaculata), as well as in Lutsk (fresco on the
library vault, over 30 oil paintings). The Trinitarian
friar may have authored the polychrome of the
Trinitarian church in Bursztyn from 1769-70. In 1773,
he decorated the Dominican church in Szarawka with
frescoes, while in the mid-1770s, he created the
decoration of the Trinitarian church in Kamieniec
Podolski. From ca 1776 to 1778, he created a
polychrome in the Beresteczko church and 16 retable
paintings. Jan Jakub Zamoyski, as of 1765 owner of
Beresteczko, certainly did remain impressed by the
church's furnishing; in 1779-84, he commissioned
Prechtl to execute a fresco decoration in the Łabunie
palace, in the Parish Church of St Stanislaus and in
the nunnery of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent
de Paul in Gródek Bedrychowski, as well as the
painting of Resurrected Christ and St Thomas for the
high altar of the Collegiate Church in Zamość. In
around 1785, the Trinitarian worked for his Order in
Brahiłów (church polychrome, 20 retable paintings,
around 30 paintings at the monastery). It was most
likely in the 2nd half of the 1780s that his works for the
cathedral churches in Kamieniec Podolski (two
trompe-l'oeil paintings for side altars, the oil
paintings: St John of Nepomuk and Holy Trinity) and
Lutsk (the oil paintings: St John of Nepomuk and St
Reces), as well as for the Parish Church of St Michael
Archangel in Hołoby (possibly the polychrome of the
presbytery and the nave were created). The Trini-
tarian Church in Krotoszyn was enriched with the oil
paintings: Blessed Simón de Roxas and the Mystical
Heart Being Swapped between Christ and Blessed
Michael of the Saints, painted in 1779 at the earliest.
It is known that Brother Joseph of St Theresa had
his secular disciples who, having become inde-
pendent artists, soon won fame as good painters.
Several years before his death, the artist gave up
painting due to his eye illness.
Translated by Magdalena Iwińska
Mirosława Sobczyńska-Szczepańska
The Painter Joseph Prechtl.
Contribution to the Artist 's Monograph
The painter Joseph Prechtl (Vienna 1737 - Brahiłów
1799), in the Trinitarian Order lay Brother Joseph of
St Theresa, active mainly in Lesser Poland, Volhy-
nia, the Zamość Land, and Podolia, created about
130 easel paintings and some dozen monumental
decorations. His scarce preserved works and those
known merely from archival photographs, allow to
consider him one of the most outstanding painters
active on the territories of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth in the latter half of the 18th century.
In the paper the views on the beginnings of the
artist's career have been verified; moreover, the
revision of the works attributed to him, completed
with new attributions, has been conducted, with their
dating having been made more precise.
In the light of the monastic sources, Joseph
Prechtl arrived in the Polish-Lithuanian Common-
wealth neither in 1757 nor in 1758 as had been
assumed, but in 1754. He joined the Trinitarian Order
in Lviv on 20 September 1754, however initiating his
novitiate only in March 1757. Therefore, it can be
concluded that he participated in the works on the
decoration of the Lviv Triniatarian Church of the
Holy Trinity, started at the latest in 1753 and headed
by Stanisław Stroiński at least as of spring of 1756.
Following his novitiate and monastic vows on 4
March 1758, he went to Cracow where he assisted
Joseph Franz Piltz in creating the fresco decoration
of the Order's church there. It is to the early 1760s
that his oil paintings: Immaculata and St Thecla of
the Mielec Trinitarian monastery have to be dated.
The unpreserved polychrome of the monastic church
in Tomaszów Lubelski may have been executed
around the same time. After 1764, a polychrome
associated with Joseph Prechtl and Stanisław
Stroiński in the Bernardine church in Dubno was
created. In 1766, Brother Joseph was busy working
for the Trinitarian Convent in Cracow (frescoes in
the refectory and sacristy, oil painting St John of
Matha), following which he worked for the
Trinitarian Convent in Tomaszów Lubelski (oil
paintings: St Cajetan of Thiene, St Anthony of Padua,
and Immaculata), as well as in Lutsk (fresco on the
library vault, over 30 oil paintings). The Trinitarian
friar may have authored the polychrome of the
Trinitarian church in Bursztyn from 1769-70. In 1773,
he decorated the Dominican church in Szarawka with
frescoes, while in the mid-1770s, he created the
decoration of the Trinitarian church in Kamieniec
Podolski. From ca 1776 to 1778, he created a
polychrome in the Beresteczko church and 16 retable
paintings. Jan Jakub Zamoyski, as of 1765 owner of
Beresteczko, certainly did remain impressed by the
church's furnishing; in 1779-84, he commissioned
Prechtl to execute a fresco decoration in the Łabunie
palace, in the Parish Church of St Stanislaus and in
the nunnery of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent
de Paul in Gródek Bedrychowski, as well as the
painting of Resurrected Christ and St Thomas for the
high altar of the Collegiate Church in Zamość. In
around 1785, the Trinitarian worked for his Order in
Brahiłów (church polychrome, 20 retable paintings,
around 30 paintings at the monastery). It was most
likely in the 2nd half of the 1780s that his works for the
cathedral churches in Kamieniec Podolski (two
trompe-l'oeil paintings for side altars, the oil
paintings: St John of Nepomuk and Holy Trinity) and
Lutsk (the oil paintings: St John of Nepomuk and St
Reces), as well as for the Parish Church of St Michael
Archangel in Hołoby (possibly the polychrome of the
presbytery and the nave were created). The Trini-
tarian Church in Krotoszyn was enriched with the oil
paintings: Blessed Simón de Roxas and the Mystical
Heart Being Swapped between Christ and Blessed
Michael of the Saints, painted in 1779 at the earliest.
It is known that Brother Joseph of St Theresa had
his secular disciples who, having become inde-
pendent artists, soon won fame as good painters.
Several years before his death, the artist gave up
painting due to his eye illness.
Translated by Magdalena Iwińska