Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (39.1998)

In 1877-1896 Kolasiński worked closely with the Museum of Fine Arts in
Warsaw, whose director at the time was Cyprian Lachnicki (1824-1906).
During this period the museum purchased 66 paintings from Kolasiński (of
a total number of 100 purchased), and commissioned him to conserve many
of its works.4 During the Second World War 10 of them disappeared. It seems
that there developed a misunderstanding between Kolasiński and Lachnicki,
who was a collector as well, which resulted in the conclusion of the co-
-operation in a rather abrupt manner, to the museum’s great loss. The private
transactions between them are documented in receipts never published until
now, located in the archives of the National Museum in Warsaw (folder no. 13,
private documents of Lachnicki), testifying that Lachnicki purchased a beautiful
Study of a Małe Nudę by Jean-August Dominiąue Ingres, signed and dated
1801 (inv. no. M.Ob.292), from Kolasiński. Lachnicki beąueathed this painting,
along with his entire collection, to the museum. After concluding his co-
operation with the museum, “for some time, together with Władysław
Tyszkiewicz (a deputy to the Duma in 1906), Kolasiński ran his own antiąuariat,
Galerie Adalbert, located on Trębacka Street.”4 That enterprise deserves
separate study.

The high ąuality of his collection is astounding even today. It deserves
complete cataloguing and publication, so that it might be appreciated for its
true value: the passion, labour, circulation and achievement of this Warsaw
collector, whose famę and credit is often confused with those aristocratic
collections which very often are appreciated only because some subseąuent
heir did not sell some item, or “kindly madę something accessible” to the
public for charitable purposes, rather than having increased the collection as
a connoisseur. The anonymous author of the introduction to the auction
catalogue characterised Kolasiński’s expertise succinctly: ”Da er an die Objekte
mit dem Blick des Kiinstlers und Restaurators herantrat, so ging er nicht nach
der Art leienhafter Sammler auf das Erlangen beruhmter «Namen» aus, und
auch wissenschaftliche Kuriositaten, die nur den Kunsthistoriker interessieren,
reizten ihn nicht allzu sehr.”6

Due to the lack of space, I will describe, in order of acąuisition by the
museum, only 7 works from this collection. They are the works whose
authorship is difficult to determine and thus constitute both a problem and
a challenge for the art historian. With the exception of one, they were not
considered in the museunTs two-volume catalogue of European painting (The
National Museum in Warsaw. European Painting. Foreign Schools, I-II, Warsaw,
1969-70).

National Museum in Warsaw there are two volumes of: Sammlung des verstorbenen Herm A. von
Kolasiński - Warschaw, Erste Abteilung: Antiąuitdten, Kostume und Waffen; Zweite Abteilung:
Gemalde alter Meister ersten Ranges, Rudolph Lepke’s Kunst - Auktion Haus, Berlin 1917.

4 Stanisław Lorentz, “Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie. Zarys historyczny”, Rocznik Muzeum
Narodowego w Warszawie, I, 1938, p. 15.

Polski Słownik Biograficzny, op. cit.

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