DOI issue:
Nr. 4
DOI article:Michałowski, Maciej Piotr: The Raczyński of Rogalin
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18940#0136
Wincenty Raczyński's collection is undoubtedly worthy of a separate study. We will only
mention the most important artists whose Works are found in his collection. From tlie Manteuffels
he acąuired four beautiful portraits by Marcello Bacciarelli (of Maria Duhamel and Julia Du-
hamel-Manteuffel), and he brought from Warsaw six portraits of his friends from various fo-
reign embassies (all painted by Johann Niedermann in 1792). The many views of Malta and
the depictions of Maltese folk costumes are a souvenir of his stay on the island. The works by
old masters must be the fruit of his contacts with Fidanza (Guido Reni, Scipione Gaetani, an
old copy of Titian, a few works by Salvator Rosa, the Portrait of Beatrice Cenci after Reni —
according to family tradition, the work of Raphael Mengs). The collection also included Works
by Schiffner, Lohrmann and C. L. VogeI. Naturally, there are many family portraits from the
nineteenth century, mainly from the brush of local Courland artists (J. C. Dorner, J. L. Eggink,
J. Doring). All of these pictures came to Obrzycko and Gaj in Great Poland after 1899, when
Atanazy's estate was joined to them.
Let us return noW to Rogalin. In 1845 it passed to Roger Maurycy Raczyński (1820—64),
the son of Edward and Konstancja nee Potocka, who was the daughter of Szczęsny Potocki
and the widów of Jan Potocki, the well-known explorer and writer. His father forced him to
take a degree in law, although his real passions were literaturę, philosophy and politics. During
his short life, which coincided with the stormy period of the uprisings of 1848 and 1863, he showcd
himself to be first and foremost an indefatigable political acthdst and an able propagandist
(he wrote exclusively in French and German). He supported the widows of those who fell during
the 1848—49 revolutionary period, and he gave financial assistance to the insurgents in 1863.
He also gave freely of his time in the cultural sphere, continuing his father's work: he was the
president of the board of curators of the Raczyński Library in the years 1845—64, in 1857 he was
one of the founders of the poznań Society of Friends of Sciences and also acted as its vicc-presi-
dent. He was one of the most generous patrons of the Society of Scholarly Aid and the Polish
school in Batignolles.22
However, these were not very happy years for the palące in Rogalin. Roger, absorbed by
political activity, spent most of his time abroad, mainly in Paris. During his sporadic visits
to Rogalin he would lock himself dowdy from the world, taken up with philosophy andarticles',,
writing "he had time to ponder on the bitter experiences he had had, and his unfulfilled plans".23
He did not trouble himself too much about the palące; he was only concerned about the library
which he had inherited from his father, and the family archive, whose contents he was constantly
supplementing.24 In contradinstinction to literaturę, painting did not interest him enough to
feel the need to add new works to the collections of his family seat. So the isolated case of his
accrairing a certain picture is all the more striking, sińce this was a purchase which by the aptness
of its choice and the class of the work places Roger among the top connoisseurs of old paintings.
For in 1854, at an auction in Paris, Roger bought Rembrand's Christ25 painted in 1661, one
of the last of the master's works, and also one of the most wonderful and profund. Unfortunately
this painting is no longer in Rogalin or in Poland; it was sold by the Raczyńskis in 1928 and
became part of Jules Bache's collection in New York where it now adorns the Matropolitan
22. He also financed expensi\e instruments for a Polish orchestra set up in 1848 in Poznań by the Harmonia society, which
played charity concerts, see M. and L. Trzeciakowski, W dziewiętnastowiecznym Poznaniu, Poznań, 1987, p. 243.
23. E. Raczyński. Rogalin....op. cii., p. 176.
24. The Rogalin collections containcd at that time works by Słowacki and Norwid, who were friends of Raczyński's.
25. C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschrcibendes und krilisches Vcrseichnis der Werke der hereorragendsten holldndischen Maler des
XVII. Jahrhunderls, VI, Esslingen—Paris, 1915, no. 164.
26. K. Bauch, Rembrandl. Gemdlde, Berlin, 1966, no. 241.
117
mention the most important artists whose Works are found in his collection. From tlie Manteuffels
he acąuired four beautiful portraits by Marcello Bacciarelli (of Maria Duhamel and Julia Du-
hamel-Manteuffel), and he brought from Warsaw six portraits of his friends from various fo-
reign embassies (all painted by Johann Niedermann in 1792). The many views of Malta and
the depictions of Maltese folk costumes are a souvenir of his stay on the island. The works by
old masters must be the fruit of his contacts with Fidanza (Guido Reni, Scipione Gaetani, an
old copy of Titian, a few works by Salvator Rosa, the Portrait of Beatrice Cenci after Reni —
according to family tradition, the work of Raphael Mengs). The collection also included Works
by Schiffner, Lohrmann and C. L. VogeI. Naturally, there are many family portraits from the
nineteenth century, mainly from the brush of local Courland artists (J. C. Dorner, J. L. Eggink,
J. Doring). All of these pictures came to Obrzycko and Gaj in Great Poland after 1899, when
Atanazy's estate was joined to them.
Let us return noW to Rogalin. In 1845 it passed to Roger Maurycy Raczyński (1820—64),
the son of Edward and Konstancja nee Potocka, who was the daughter of Szczęsny Potocki
and the widów of Jan Potocki, the well-known explorer and writer. His father forced him to
take a degree in law, although his real passions were literaturę, philosophy and politics. During
his short life, which coincided with the stormy period of the uprisings of 1848 and 1863, he showcd
himself to be first and foremost an indefatigable political acthdst and an able propagandist
(he wrote exclusively in French and German). He supported the widows of those who fell during
the 1848—49 revolutionary period, and he gave financial assistance to the insurgents in 1863.
He also gave freely of his time in the cultural sphere, continuing his father's work: he was the
president of the board of curators of the Raczyński Library in the years 1845—64, in 1857 he was
one of the founders of the poznań Society of Friends of Sciences and also acted as its vicc-presi-
dent. He was one of the most generous patrons of the Society of Scholarly Aid and the Polish
school in Batignolles.22
However, these were not very happy years for the palące in Rogalin. Roger, absorbed by
political activity, spent most of his time abroad, mainly in Paris. During his sporadic visits
to Rogalin he would lock himself dowdy from the world, taken up with philosophy andarticles',,
writing "he had time to ponder on the bitter experiences he had had, and his unfulfilled plans".23
He did not trouble himself too much about the palące; he was only concerned about the library
which he had inherited from his father, and the family archive, whose contents he was constantly
supplementing.24 In contradinstinction to literaturę, painting did not interest him enough to
feel the need to add new works to the collections of his family seat. So the isolated case of his
accrairing a certain picture is all the more striking, sińce this was a purchase which by the aptness
of its choice and the class of the work places Roger among the top connoisseurs of old paintings.
For in 1854, at an auction in Paris, Roger bought Rembrand's Christ25 painted in 1661, one
of the last of the master's works, and also one of the most wonderful and profund. Unfortunately
this painting is no longer in Rogalin or in Poland; it was sold by the Raczyńskis in 1928 and
became part of Jules Bache's collection in New York where it now adorns the Matropolitan
22. He also financed expensi\e instruments for a Polish orchestra set up in 1848 in Poznań by the Harmonia society, which
played charity concerts, see M. and L. Trzeciakowski, W dziewiętnastowiecznym Poznaniu, Poznań, 1987, p. 243.
23. E. Raczyński. Rogalin....op. cii., p. 176.
24. The Rogalin collections containcd at that time works by Słowacki and Norwid, who were friends of Raczyński's.
25. C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschrcibendes und krilisches Vcrseichnis der Werke der hereorragendsten holldndischen Maler des
XVII. Jahrhunderls, VI, Esslingen—Paris, 1915, no. 164.
26. K. Bauch, Rembrandl. Gemdlde, Berlin, 1966, no. 241.
117