DOI issue:
Nr. 3
DOI article:Artykuły
DOI article:Pokora, Jakub: Nagrobek Jędrzeja Śniadeckiego w Horodnikach pod Oszmianą (1839): Kwestia typu programu ideowego
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71010#0682
672
Jakub Pokora
Jędrzej Śniadecki 's Tomb at Horodniki η. Oszmiana
(1839). Questions Related to the Ideological Programme
In the paper, an attempt is made to find the answer to
whether there exists, and if so, how is it reflected,
the connection between a piece a sepulchral art and
the deceased. The starting point for the analysis,
limited to Polish examples only, was found in the
tomb described in the title, preserved at a country
cemetery at Horodniki (from 1945 Grodno Province,
Belarus).
Jędrzej Śniadecki, an illustrious scientist: a
chemist, doctor, biologist, and philosopher, was born
in 1768. Following his studies in Kraków, Padua,
Edinburgh, and Vienna, as of 1797 almost until the
end of his life, he was a professor at the Wilno
universities. It was also in Wilno that he passed away
on 29 April 1838. In compliance with his last will he
was buried in the village of Horodniki, within the
Bołtup Parish (he actually owned both localities),
next to his earlier-deceased wife Konstancja. The
tomb commemorating both parents was founded by
their son Józef.
The monument of white Italian marbles (Carrara)
or Greek ones (Dionysos) is shaped as a large urn,
almost 1.5 metres high, placed on a pedestal
resembling a stocky square pillar (55-cm-long side),
which almost equals the urn in height; the pillar itself
stands on a several-step plinth. The urn and the pillar
are approximately equally wide. The whole work is
about 350 cm high, this including the marble cross
crowning the urn. The facility is surrounded with a
fence of metal bars (Fig.l). Three inscriptions and a
coat of arms were hewn in the pillar shaft, the front
inscription reading: 'Jędrzey Śniadecki / URO. 30
LISTO.1768 / + 29. KWJET. 1838'[Jędrzey
Śniadecki/ BORN 30 NOV. 1768/ + 29 April 1838].
The right side featured the Leliwa coat of arms on a
shield encircled by a laurel wreath. The left side bore
the inscription reading: 'Ku wieczney pamięci /
Drogich Rodziców /przywiązany / Syn / WZNIOSŁ
TEN POMNIK/R. 1839 [In everlasting memory/ of
my Beloved Parents/ fond/ Son/ RAISED THIS
MONUMENT/ 1839]. The back side featured the
following inscription: 'Konstancya / z
Mikułowskich / Śniadecka / + 2 WRZES. 1830'
[Konstancyja/ nee Mikułowski/ Śniadecka/ + 2 Sept.
1830].
The two-partite mass of the tomb seems a well-
balanced composition in which both the pedestal and
the urn harmoniously coincide. The monument is
decorated with bas-relief motifs typical of sepulchral
art (winged hourglasses, poppy heads, two crossed
torches, ouroboroses, and additionally an unclear
butterfly or bee), as well as with a pair of attributes,
emphasized due to their size and position (winged
rod of Asclepius: doctors' emblem, and a chemist's
lab). Undoubtedly, both the rod and the lab, shown
on the front and back walls of the urn respectively,
are the dominant motifs here (Figs. 2-3). The rod is
interconnected with the laurel wreath in an original
way, making the wreath look as if winged. The
chemist's lab is composed within a tondo, outlined
with an ouroboros: a bookcase, a stove with retorts,
a barrel-shaped tank, a low cupboard with a
spherical vessel on it are all clearly visible.
The applied motif of an urn in a tomb was
nothing genuine in Neo-Classicism and before. The
urn was often accompanied by a statue of a female
mourner, with the urn being covered with a pall. In
the discussed tomb these elements are missing, most
likely in order to allow a better exposition of the
attributes of the deceased. Moreover, for this very
reason the urn was given a unique shape, since it
featured an angular bowl. This solution should be
regarded as rather uncommon. The analysis of the
monument's artistic form and the relations of the
inscriptions with the representations above them,
allows to suppose that originally the tomb was to be
dedicated to one person only: the learned man
Jędrzej Śniadecki.
Jędrzej Śniadecki's iconography, if limited only
to sculpture work, was in majority created after the
scientist's death. It included a small monument (67
cm high) from 1874-75 by Ludwik Kucharzewski,
meant for the congress hall of the Medical Society at
9 Niecała Street, Warsaw (Fig. 5). The scientist was
presented as a professor giving a lecture, wearing a
gown, and bareheaded.
To conclude these considerations it is worth
recalling a monument of yet another scientist: Father
Krzysztof Kluk (1739-96) in Ciechanowiec, exe-
cuted in sandstone by Jakub Tatarkiewicz in 1847,
and unveiled a year later (Fig. 6). Kluk was an
illustrious botanist and biologist; in 1787, he was
conferred a PhD degree in liberal sciences and
philosophy at the Main School. The statue on a high
cuboid plinth presents the scientist standing, wearing
a gown over a cassock, a book in his left hand, a
plant (forged in metal) in his right hand: the one he
identified and named as scabiosa inflexa. The plinth
Jakub Pokora
Jędrzej Śniadecki 's Tomb at Horodniki η. Oszmiana
(1839). Questions Related to the Ideological Programme
In the paper, an attempt is made to find the answer to
whether there exists, and if so, how is it reflected,
the connection between a piece a sepulchral art and
the deceased. The starting point for the analysis,
limited to Polish examples only, was found in the
tomb described in the title, preserved at a country
cemetery at Horodniki (from 1945 Grodno Province,
Belarus).
Jędrzej Śniadecki, an illustrious scientist: a
chemist, doctor, biologist, and philosopher, was born
in 1768. Following his studies in Kraków, Padua,
Edinburgh, and Vienna, as of 1797 almost until the
end of his life, he was a professor at the Wilno
universities. It was also in Wilno that he passed away
on 29 April 1838. In compliance with his last will he
was buried in the village of Horodniki, within the
Bołtup Parish (he actually owned both localities),
next to his earlier-deceased wife Konstancja. The
tomb commemorating both parents was founded by
their son Józef.
The monument of white Italian marbles (Carrara)
or Greek ones (Dionysos) is shaped as a large urn,
almost 1.5 metres high, placed on a pedestal
resembling a stocky square pillar (55-cm-long side),
which almost equals the urn in height; the pillar itself
stands on a several-step plinth. The urn and the pillar
are approximately equally wide. The whole work is
about 350 cm high, this including the marble cross
crowning the urn. The facility is surrounded with a
fence of metal bars (Fig.l). Three inscriptions and a
coat of arms were hewn in the pillar shaft, the front
inscription reading: 'Jędrzey Śniadecki / URO. 30
LISTO.1768 / + 29. KWJET. 1838'[Jędrzey
Śniadecki/ BORN 30 NOV. 1768/ + 29 April 1838].
The right side featured the Leliwa coat of arms on a
shield encircled by a laurel wreath. The left side bore
the inscription reading: 'Ku wieczney pamięci /
Drogich Rodziców /przywiązany / Syn / WZNIOSŁ
TEN POMNIK/R. 1839 [In everlasting memory/ of
my Beloved Parents/ fond/ Son/ RAISED THIS
MONUMENT/ 1839]. The back side featured the
following inscription: 'Konstancya / z
Mikułowskich / Śniadecka / + 2 WRZES. 1830'
[Konstancyja/ nee Mikułowski/ Śniadecka/ + 2 Sept.
1830].
The two-partite mass of the tomb seems a well-
balanced composition in which both the pedestal and
the urn harmoniously coincide. The monument is
decorated with bas-relief motifs typical of sepulchral
art (winged hourglasses, poppy heads, two crossed
torches, ouroboroses, and additionally an unclear
butterfly or bee), as well as with a pair of attributes,
emphasized due to their size and position (winged
rod of Asclepius: doctors' emblem, and a chemist's
lab). Undoubtedly, both the rod and the lab, shown
on the front and back walls of the urn respectively,
are the dominant motifs here (Figs. 2-3). The rod is
interconnected with the laurel wreath in an original
way, making the wreath look as if winged. The
chemist's lab is composed within a tondo, outlined
with an ouroboros: a bookcase, a stove with retorts,
a barrel-shaped tank, a low cupboard with a
spherical vessel on it are all clearly visible.
The applied motif of an urn in a tomb was
nothing genuine in Neo-Classicism and before. The
urn was often accompanied by a statue of a female
mourner, with the urn being covered with a pall. In
the discussed tomb these elements are missing, most
likely in order to allow a better exposition of the
attributes of the deceased. Moreover, for this very
reason the urn was given a unique shape, since it
featured an angular bowl. This solution should be
regarded as rather uncommon. The analysis of the
monument's artistic form and the relations of the
inscriptions with the representations above them,
allows to suppose that originally the tomb was to be
dedicated to one person only: the learned man
Jędrzej Śniadecki.
Jędrzej Śniadecki's iconography, if limited only
to sculpture work, was in majority created after the
scientist's death. It included a small monument (67
cm high) from 1874-75 by Ludwik Kucharzewski,
meant for the congress hall of the Medical Society at
9 Niecała Street, Warsaw (Fig. 5). The scientist was
presented as a professor giving a lecture, wearing a
gown, and bareheaded.
To conclude these considerations it is worth
recalling a monument of yet another scientist: Father
Krzysztof Kluk (1739-96) in Ciechanowiec, exe-
cuted in sandstone by Jakub Tatarkiewicz in 1847,
and unveiled a year later (Fig. 6). Kluk was an
illustrious botanist and biologist; in 1787, he was
conferred a PhD degree in liberal sciences and
philosophy at the Main School. The statue on a high
cuboid plinth presents the scientist standing, wearing
a gown over a cassock, a book in his left hand, a
plant (forged in metal) in his right hand: the one he
identified and named as scabiosa inflexa. The plinth