DOI Heft:
Recenzje
DOI Artikel:Kurzej, Michał: Jeannie Łabno, "Commemorating the Polish Renaissance Child": [Rezension]; Ashgate, Farnham 2011
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32431#0201
195
13. The figures of the deceased on the tombstone of the Tęczyński family, church of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (photo: M. Kurzej)
tesque present in some funereal rites (pp. 231-248) is entirely
absurd, all the more so that the author failed to demonstrate
their occurrence in Poland. In turn, the book contains no
references to Catholic eschatology, while discussing the
entire gamut of functions held by tombstones, the author
passes the most obvious one in silence - i.e. the religious,
limited to Catholic tombstones, and in practice most often
distinguishing the Polish examples she discusses from the
Silesian ones. It is possible to assume that the Catholic tomb-
stone of a child was not only to help preserve the memory
of the deceased child or come as an expression of parents’
grief, but also to encourage prayers for the deliverance of the
childs soul. Since children had little tiine to perpetrate many
sins, their souls could quickly leave Purgatory, and then they
would be able to intercede on behalf of the living members
of the family who took care to properly commemorate the
bodies they had left behind.
The author devotes most attention to tombstones with
representations of a putto reclining on a skull. This group
contains six examples already indicated by KołakowskaC
Łabno did not find any new works that could be classified
within this group, yet she attempted to incorrectly extend
it by examples which in fact represent another type of ico-
nography. These examples include the tombstone of Anna
Sułkowska, who was presented as an adult - in a long dress
and a cape, with covered head and holding a book in her
hand. The author, however, defined this representation as
“the clothed putto’\ claiming that it is a culmination of the
iconographic type being discussed (pp. 179,192,193). Yet,
she did not embark on an attempt to locate the tombstones
35 M. Kołakowska, Renesansowe nagrobki, p. 251. They are tomb-
stones of Rafał Ocieski in Kraków, Krzysztof Herburt in Felsztyn,
Katarzyna Pilecka in Pilica, Jan Modliszewski in Łomża, Stanisław
Radziwiłł in Ołyka, and Sebastian Lubomirski in Dobczyce.
with the representation ofputto in the context of other works
with similar iconography, despite the fact that she remarked
that this motif had become popular thanks to the graphic
patterns popular in all of Europe (p. 102). Admittedly, the
use of this pattern in the role of an image of a specific child
is an original solution indeed, with the earliest examples
hailing from Poland (p. 106), yet, as already mentioned,
it was known also outside of Poland [Fig. 7]. It is necessary
to remember as well that by the application of such ico-
nography, the death of a specific child was attempted to
be portrayed as a general allegory of vanity and transience,
therefore the function of the image of a putto with a skull
on a child’s tombstone does not in principle differ from its
use on tombstones of adults. Two Polish works of this type
had already been indicated by Kołakowska 36, and numerous
foreign examples can be added thereto. At least four such
tombstones can be found in Genoa alone: that of Cipri-
ano Pallavicino in the cathedral, dating from 1575, that of
Geronimo Chiavari in the church of the Holy Annunciation
from 1594, and that of the Iordano couple in the Dominican
church, dating from 1604 [Fig. 10]. Among North Euro-
pean examples it suffices to mention the epitaph of Richard
Benefeld, 11615, in Southwark [Fig. 11], or the family ofHans
Imhof in the Nuremberg’s church of St. Sebaldus from 1628
[Fig. 12].
Assuming that the author indeed wanted to discuss
children’s tombstones in the territory of Poland, one must
notice that she omitted several very interesting examples,
including the legendary tombstone of two children of the
36 M. Kolakowska, Renesansowe nagrobki, p. 250. They are tomb-
stones of the Branicki family in Niepołomice and the Firlej family
in Bejsce.
13. The figures of the deceased on the tombstone of the Tęczyński family, church of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (photo: M. Kurzej)
tesque present in some funereal rites (pp. 231-248) is entirely
absurd, all the more so that the author failed to demonstrate
their occurrence in Poland. In turn, the book contains no
references to Catholic eschatology, while discussing the
entire gamut of functions held by tombstones, the author
passes the most obvious one in silence - i.e. the religious,
limited to Catholic tombstones, and in practice most often
distinguishing the Polish examples she discusses from the
Silesian ones. It is possible to assume that the Catholic tomb-
stone of a child was not only to help preserve the memory
of the deceased child or come as an expression of parents’
grief, but also to encourage prayers for the deliverance of the
childs soul. Since children had little tiine to perpetrate many
sins, their souls could quickly leave Purgatory, and then they
would be able to intercede on behalf of the living members
of the family who took care to properly commemorate the
bodies they had left behind.
The author devotes most attention to tombstones with
representations of a putto reclining on a skull. This group
contains six examples already indicated by KołakowskaC
Łabno did not find any new works that could be classified
within this group, yet she attempted to incorrectly extend
it by examples which in fact represent another type of ico-
nography. These examples include the tombstone of Anna
Sułkowska, who was presented as an adult - in a long dress
and a cape, with covered head and holding a book in her
hand. The author, however, defined this representation as
“the clothed putto’\ claiming that it is a culmination of the
iconographic type being discussed (pp. 179,192,193). Yet,
she did not embark on an attempt to locate the tombstones
35 M. Kołakowska, Renesansowe nagrobki, p. 251. They are tomb-
stones of Rafał Ocieski in Kraków, Krzysztof Herburt in Felsztyn,
Katarzyna Pilecka in Pilica, Jan Modliszewski in Łomża, Stanisław
Radziwiłł in Ołyka, and Sebastian Lubomirski in Dobczyce.
with the representation ofputto in the context of other works
with similar iconography, despite the fact that she remarked
that this motif had become popular thanks to the graphic
patterns popular in all of Europe (p. 102). Admittedly, the
use of this pattern in the role of an image of a specific child
is an original solution indeed, with the earliest examples
hailing from Poland (p. 106), yet, as already mentioned,
it was known also outside of Poland [Fig. 7]. It is necessary
to remember as well that by the application of such ico-
nography, the death of a specific child was attempted to
be portrayed as a general allegory of vanity and transience,
therefore the function of the image of a putto with a skull
on a child’s tombstone does not in principle differ from its
use on tombstones of adults. Two Polish works of this type
had already been indicated by Kołakowska 36, and numerous
foreign examples can be added thereto. At least four such
tombstones can be found in Genoa alone: that of Cipri-
ano Pallavicino in the cathedral, dating from 1575, that of
Geronimo Chiavari in the church of the Holy Annunciation
from 1594, and that of the Iordano couple in the Dominican
church, dating from 1604 [Fig. 10]. Among North Euro-
pean examples it suffices to mention the epitaph of Richard
Benefeld, 11615, in Southwark [Fig. 11], or the family ofHans
Imhof in the Nuremberg’s church of St. Sebaldus from 1628
[Fig. 12].
Assuming that the author indeed wanted to discuss
children’s tombstones in the territory of Poland, one must
notice that she omitted several very interesting examples,
including the legendary tombstone of two children of the
36 M. Kolakowska, Renesansowe nagrobki, p. 250. They are tomb-
stones of the Branicki family in Niepołomice and the Firlej family
in Bejsce.