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

Vilna, draft design of a parish teachers’ training college, M. Knakfus, 1776

Stanislas Augustus art did not go through any violent revolutions, but developed regularly;
therefore, despite the changes that occurred in it in time, this art can be considered
a continuous phenomenon, distinct within the art of the Polish Enlightenment. The Stanislas
Augustus style was expressed not only in architecture but also in the painter’s and sculptorY
decoration of architectural interiors, in painting, sculpture and decorative arts. The term is
only fully justified when it is applied to complexes consisting of different complementary
fields of art, sińce the King, conscious of their mutual relationships, saw to all of them. This
specific trend of Polish neoclassicism which has been called the Stanislas Augustus style was
most fully expressed at the Royal Castle and Łazienki.
The reconstruction of the Castle, performed under the two Saxon Kings and including both
the external architecture and the interiors, was left unfinished. An inspection madę soon after
the death of Augustus III, in October 1763, showed that the Castle “had few rooms of the
main story, was somewhat better in the part closest to the Vistula River and barely good for
incidental residence; in the other wings there were only passageways and ordinary dwellings,
partly in ruin, also on the second floor; whereas the ground floor only held Stores, apart from
some used as offices and archives [...] the sordidness of the remaining rooms was indicated by
the dwellers as only the lower servants lived there then.” It was insignificant for the royal
court at that time. Augustus II and Augustus III had resided not only in Warsaw, but also in
Dresden, whereas in Warsaw they had kept their own residence in the Saski (Saxon) Pałace.
Now, the ąuestion of preparing residential apartments at the Castle for the King and suitable
reception halls became very urgent. Therefore the Convocation Seym (Parliament) passed
a resolution ordering the reconstruction of the Castle and an enlargement of the Castle area.
Jakub Fontana was asked to implement the building demands by a rapid adaptation and
decoration of the most necessary interiors, and also to design the reconstruction and
modernisation of the Castle.
As early as March 1764, it was certain that Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski would gain the
throne. The futurę King sent the Warsaw merchant Kazimierz Czempiński to Paris, tocarry

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