DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22262#0070
Agnieszka Bender
lowing studies in Rome and Paris funded by Załuski, became one of the best Polish
painters of that age, another contribution of the bishop to the development of
Polish art.
Glaize's first recorded work for bishop Załuski is a chasuble made for the Płock Ca-
thedral, where it is still kept (Fig. 1). The lettering in the lower part of the chasuble
indicates the year and place it was made (1743, Warsaw). The same year saw the de-
cline of French tapestry workshops in Dresden, so Glaize had had to decide by then
to move to Warsaw to find a permanent job there. It seems he did not find employ-
ment with bishop Załuski immediately and the chasuble was a one-off commission.
Documentation confirms that in 1745 Glaize looked for a position with the coun-
try^ wealthiest men, Jan Fryderyk Sapieha. However, he still preferred to work for
Załuski, which he stated expressly in one of his letters, unfortunately undated. Con-
tacts between the two resulted in a long-term contract and the French tapestry
maker worked for the bishop until the death of the latter in 1758. What is more,
Załuski appreciated Glaize's work so much that he commissioned the artist in his
will to continue working on the tapestries intended for St Stanislas church in Rome
for two more years.
The output of almost twenty years in the service of bishop Załuski was an impres-
sive number of high ąuality, sometimes extraordinary, items of tapestry. As already
mentioned, liturgical vestments made in this techniąue are uniąue on a European
scalę. There are only fourteen of them that have survived in Polish and foreign col-
lections. Glaize and his workshop doubtless produced more tapestries, which, how-
ever, have either been lost or decayed over time.
In terms of style of decorations, Glaize's liturgical garments fali into five distinct
groups. The first includes two chasubles: one white, made in 1743, kept in the Di-
ocesan Museum in Płock; and the other violet, made in 1745, now at the Treasury
of the Wawel Cathedral (Fig. 2). Both can be accurately dated based on the mak-
er^ marks.
The back of the chasubles, ąuite similar on both, features a representation of the
Crucifixion. Both ends of the horizontal beam of the cross and a windblown part of
the perizonium reach outside the compositional frame delineated in golden galloon,
which separates the centrę from the sides. On the Płock chasuble, the scenę is pre-
sented with leaden-dark clouds and the town of Jerusalem in the background. The
Iow horizon makes the bright figurę of Christ stand out against a dark, cloudy sky On
the Cracow chasuble, the background behind Christ is plain, the original purple hav-
ing faded into green. An inspiration for an unknown designer of this tapestry was
clearly one of the numerous works by Anton Van Dyck picturing Christ on the Cross.
The picture of the crucified Christ painted in 1627 (today at the Koninklijk Mu-
seum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp) is considered the closest to the images on
68
lowing studies in Rome and Paris funded by Załuski, became one of the best Polish
painters of that age, another contribution of the bishop to the development of
Polish art.
Glaize's first recorded work for bishop Załuski is a chasuble made for the Płock Ca-
thedral, where it is still kept (Fig. 1). The lettering in the lower part of the chasuble
indicates the year and place it was made (1743, Warsaw). The same year saw the de-
cline of French tapestry workshops in Dresden, so Glaize had had to decide by then
to move to Warsaw to find a permanent job there. It seems he did not find employ-
ment with bishop Załuski immediately and the chasuble was a one-off commission.
Documentation confirms that in 1745 Glaize looked for a position with the coun-
try^ wealthiest men, Jan Fryderyk Sapieha. However, he still preferred to work for
Załuski, which he stated expressly in one of his letters, unfortunately undated. Con-
tacts between the two resulted in a long-term contract and the French tapestry
maker worked for the bishop until the death of the latter in 1758. What is more,
Załuski appreciated Glaize's work so much that he commissioned the artist in his
will to continue working on the tapestries intended for St Stanislas church in Rome
for two more years.
The output of almost twenty years in the service of bishop Załuski was an impres-
sive number of high ąuality, sometimes extraordinary, items of tapestry. As already
mentioned, liturgical vestments made in this techniąue are uniąue on a European
scalę. There are only fourteen of them that have survived in Polish and foreign col-
lections. Glaize and his workshop doubtless produced more tapestries, which, how-
ever, have either been lost or decayed over time.
In terms of style of decorations, Glaize's liturgical garments fali into five distinct
groups. The first includes two chasubles: one white, made in 1743, kept in the Di-
ocesan Museum in Płock; and the other violet, made in 1745, now at the Treasury
of the Wawel Cathedral (Fig. 2). Both can be accurately dated based on the mak-
er^ marks.
The back of the chasubles, ąuite similar on both, features a representation of the
Crucifixion. Both ends of the horizontal beam of the cross and a windblown part of
the perizonium reach outside the compositional frame delineated in golden galloon,
which separates the centrę from the sides. On the Płock chasuble, the scenę is pre-
sented with leaden-dark clouds and the town of Jerusalem in the background. The
Iow horizon makes the bright figurę of Christ stand out against a dark, cloudy sky On
the Cracow chasuble, the background behind Christ is plain, the original purple hav-
ing faded into green. An inspiration for an unknown designer of this tapestry was
clearly one of the numerous works by Anton Van Dyck picturing Christ on the Cross.
The picture of the crucified Christ painted in 1627 (today at the Koninklijk Mu-
seum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp) is considered the closest to the images on
68