DOI issue:
Nr. 4
DOI article:Michałowski, Maciej Piotr: The Raczyński of Rogalin
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18940#0140
What paintings adorned the walls of the Rogalin palące? Even before Rogalin became fa-
inous due to Edward Aleksander's Gallery, it was known for its rich collections of old paintings.
And there must have been a lot of these Works, to judge by the following extract from Edward
Bernard Raczyński's memoirs: ,,When I think of Rogalin, more than anything else the pictures
appear in my mind's eye..."32
If we gather together and compare various reports, of which the most valuable by far are
the notes of Zygmunt Batowski,33 we see that there were about 130 pictures in the palące until
September 1939. Obviously, a large part of these consisted of family portraits (about 50), and
these make up a very varied collection.34 Since they were accumulated successively over the
generations, they include works from three c^nturies — from the beginning of the eightecnth
to the twentieth, which give us a kind of survey of the portrait painting, both native and f arcign,
of these epochs: beginning with the typical Old Polish (so-called Sarmatian) pictures, then
moving on through the baroąue style, paintings from the reign of Stanislaus Augustus, passing
on to the romantic and realistic periods, and finishing with works in the latest styles of the
tw-entieth century. A large part of these works was presserved in the collections of the Poznań.
Museum (including works by Batoni, Grassi, Gladysz, Fuhrmann, Lampi the Younger, Horowitz,
Malczewski, Boznańska, Bąkowski, and Czajkowski). Of the other portraits, whose presence
in Rogalin was recorded before the War, one — a fine likeness of Atanazy Raczyński — can
be found today in the collection of Edward Bernard Raczyński in London.35 On the other hand,
apart from the works by Fuhrmann mentioned earlier, the portraits of Kazimierz and Kons-
tancja nee Potocka from the brush of Giovanni Battista Lampi, that of Archbishop Ignacy
painted by Edward Czarnikow in 1845, and also two works by Johann Ender (the likenesses
of Irena and Teresa Potocka, the half-sisters of Roger Raczyński) — were all lost.
However, the best proof of the ąuality of the paintings in the Rogalin palące were the works
by masters of the European schools (more than 50 paintings), mainly by Italian and Dutch
painters. Works from the nineteenth and twentieth cmturies constituted a much smaller group
(26); these were chiefly by Polish artists. This collection suffered a particularly cruel fates. Today
we only know for certain about the existence of twelve of them, nine of which are in the National
Museum in Poznań.
Of the fifteen Italian paintings recorded, only two have been preserved in Poznań, one of
which is the sixteenth century scenę Saint Anne and Her Legendary Family (Fig. 4), which
tradition ascribes to Gaudenzio Ferrari.36 The Madonna delia Sedia, associated with the studio
of Raphael, which was probably a cartoon for a tapestry, repeats the well known camposi-
tion from the Galeria Pitti in Florence (but reflected in a mirror and with full-size figures);
in 1979 it was in a private collection in Great Britain.37 Nothing is known about the fate of
the other Italian paintings from Rogalin. It seems that the other Works included Giorgione's
Madonna with Child, Saint John and Saint Catherine (oil on panel, 55 X74 cm), and Giorgio Va-
sari's (?) Minerva after a drawing by Mich^langelo (panel, "the size of the figures enlarged").
32. K. Raczyński, Rogalin..., r>p. cii., p. 13.
33. Archives of the Po'ish Academy o.' Sciences, the Zygmunt Batowski Papcrs, Iii 2. unit "1 quarto, '>b>azy iv R.gtdinie
Ttatowski made the notes during his vi;it to Rogalin ;n c. 1911.
34. The collection of family portraits of the Raczyńskis has been given an extensive treatment, sec M. Pawlaczyk, Portrety.,
op. cii.
35. M. Pawlaczyk, passim, no. 82.
36. See Sztuka czasów Michała Anioła (exhibition catalocjue), National Museum in Warsaw, Warszawa, 1963/64, no. 28. Re-
cently, M. Skubiszewska thought that the picture should be associated witli Bernardino Lanino {oral communication.)
37. A drawing in black chalk, washed with tempera, paper on canvas, 116 x90 cm. Originally apperently in the collection.
of Cardinal Inghirami in Volterra, latcr (from c. 1860) in the Sierakowski collection (at Waplewo ?), la ter still in the Lu-
bomirski collection. It was presented by Jerzy Lubomirski to Raczyński, and then inherited by Ludwik Dembiński, ac-
cording to a letter written by W. Puzyna, London, 1979.
121
inous due to Edward Aleksander's Gallery, it was known for its rich collections of old paintings.
And there must have been a lot of these Works, to judge by the following extract from Edward
Bernard Raczyński's memoirs: ,,When I think of Rogalin, more than anything else the pictures
appear in my mind's eye..."32
If we gather together and compare various reports, of which the most valuable by far are
the notes of Zygmunt Batowski,33 we see that there were about 130 pictures in the palące until
September 1939. Obviously, a large part of these consisted of family portraits (about 50), and
these make up a very varied collection.34 Since they were accumulated successively over the
generations, they include works from three c^nturies — from the beginning of the eightecnth
to the twentieth, which give us a kind of survey of the portrait painting, both native and f arcign,
of these epochs: beginning with the typical Old Polish (so-called Sarmatian) pictures, then
moving on through the baroąue style, paintings from the reign of Stanislaus Augustus, passing
on to the romantic and realistic periods, and finishing with works in the latest styles of the
tw-entieth century. A large part of these works was presserved in the collections of the Poznań.
Museum (including works by Batoni, Grassi, Gladysz, Fuhrmann, Lampi the Younger, Horowitz,
Malczewski, Boznańska, Bąkowski, and Czajkowski). Of the other portraits, whose presence
in Rogalin was recorded before the War, one — a fine likeness of Atanazy Raczyński — can
be found today in the collection of Edward Bernard Raczyński in London.35 On the other hand,
apart from the works by Fuhrmann mentioned earlier, the portraits of Kazimierz and Kons-
tancja nee Potocka from the brush of Giovanni Battista Lampi, that of Archbishop Ignacy
painted by Edward Czarnikow in 1845, and also two works by Johann Ender (the likenesses
of Irena and Teresa Potocka, the half-sisters of Roger Raczyński) — were all lost.
However, the best proof of the ąuality of the paintings in the Rogalin palące were the works
by masters of the European schools (more than 50 paintings), mainly by Italian and Dutch
painters. Works from the nineteenth and twentieth cmturies constituted a much smaller group
(26); these were chiefly by Polish artists. This collection suffered a particularly cruel fates. Today
we only know for certain about the existence of twelve of them, nine of which are in the National
Museum in Poznań.
Of the fifteen Italian paintings recorded, only two have been preserved in Poznań, one of
which is the sixteenth century scenę Saint Anne and Her Legendary Family (Fig. 4), which
tradition ascribes to Gaudenzio Ferrari.36 The Madonna delia Sedia, associated with the studio
of Raphael, which was probably a cartoon for a tapestry, repeats the well known camposi-
tion from the Galeria Pitti in Florence (but reflected in a mirror and with full-size figures);
in 1979 it was in a private collection in Great Britain.37 Nothing is known about the fate of
the other Italian paintings from Rogalin. It seems that the other Works included Giorgione's
Madonna with Child, Saint John and Saint Catherine (oil on panel, 55 X74 cm), and Giorgio Va-
sari's (?) Minerva after a drawing by Mich^langelo (panel, "the size of the figures enlarged").
32. K. Raczyński, Rogalin..., r>p. cii., p. 13.
33. Archives of the Po'ish Academy o.' Sciences, the Zygmunt Batowski Papcrs, Iii 2. unit "1 quarto, '>b>azy iv R.gtdinie
Ttatowski made the notes during his vi;it to Rogalin ;n c. 1911.
34. The collection of family portraits of the Raczyńskis has been given an extensive treatment, sec M. Pawlaczyk, Portrety.,
op. cii.
35. M. Pawlaczyk, passim, no. 82.
36. See Sztuka czasów Michała Anioła (exhibition catalocjue), National Museum in Warsaw, Warszawa, 1963/64, no. 28. Re-
cently, M. Skubiszewska thought that the picture should be associated witli Bernardino Lanino {oral communication.)
37. A drawing in black chalk, washed with tempera, paper on canvas, 116 x90 cm. Originally apperently in the collection.
of Cardinal Inghirami in Volterra, latcr (from c. 1860) in the Sierakowski collection (at Waplewo ?), la ter still in the Lu-
bomirski collection. It was presented by Jerzy Lubomirski to Raczyński, and then inherited by Ludwik Dembiński, ac-
cording to a letter written by W. Puzyna, London, 1979.
121