Lorentz, Stanisław; Rottermund, Andrzej: Neoclassicism in Poland (Warsaw, 1986)

Glosków, draft design of a villa for Piotr Tepper Sr., S.B. Zug, c. 1775-80

Silvestre the Younger or later Francesco Placidi and Marcello Bacciarelli - came they usually
arrived via Dresden, in passing, or when Saxony was at war. In Dresden, magnificent works
of art were collected and the famous painting gallery established.
When Stanislas Augustus came to the throne the royal court became again one of the centres
of Polish culture, indeed undoubtedly the main one. The cultural patronage of Stanislas
Augustus was supposed to satisfy the personal needs of the ruler and of the royal court, but it
also had broader significance. This patronage had an enormously larger rangę than that of the
magnates; it covered planning, architecture, sculpture, painting, applied arts and art
collection, at the heart of which was the great painting gallery. The royal sponsorship had the
features of State patronage. This could be seen above all in the care for the development of
national art, involving attempts to create a group of Polish artists and to improve their skills.
From the early years of his rule the King granted fellowships to Polish artists abroad and
encouraged their visits to European centres of culture. Such a fellowship was given to
Franciszek Smuglewicz, who spent 20 years in Romę; some royal assistance was granted to
Szreger when he left for Italy and France in 1766-1767; Aleksander Kucharski and Anna
Rajecka were on a fellowship in France. In turn, Kamsetzer was sent east to Turkey, i.e. to
the old Greek territory, and later to Italy and France.
At home, artists were to be educated at the Academy of Fine Arts. As early as 1766, Marcello
Bacciarelli was the first to draft a project of the Academy and in subseąuent years new plans
were proposed by Michał Jerzy Mniszech and August Moszyński. Like many other useful
ideas of the King, this was never put into effect. To some extent, the role of an educational
centre was played by Bacciarelli’s painting studio and the sculpture studios at the Castle. The
idea of establishing the Academy of Fine Arts was not an isolated enterprise. In 1773-1775 it
was proposed that an Academy of Sciences should be formed in Warsaw; in 1775 Mniszech
published his project for the Museum Polonicum which would have served scientific
purposes, and the idea of founding scientific institutions, both central and local, gained morę
and morę supporters. All these proposals doubtless involved the conviction that Sciences and
arts could be of assistance in sustaining the national identity. To a large degree, this also

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