DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.38678#0046
artist. They were neoclassical paintings which derived from traditions of the Renaissance, the
painters of the Bologna school and the French neoclassicists of the 17th century, and were still
invested with the charm of rococo art.
When the Solomon Hall was finished in 1793, Bacciarelli began work on four tondoes which
were to be set in the dome of the adjacent Rotunda. The tondoes, painted in 1793-1795,
represented for the last time the motif of the personification of the virtues of an ideał ruler.
Much space has been devoted here to the work of Bacciarelli at the Castle and Łazienki, which
carried out reąuests and ideas of the King, satisfying.important political and social tasks. This
was necessary to explain the character and role of those sets of paintings which, together with
the architecture and sculpture, contributed to the formation of the two main centres of Polish
cultural life in the Age of Enlightenment.
Bacciarelli’s main sphere in painting were portraits painted from life, and it was in this field
that he achieved his best artistic results.
His painting was formed in Dresden, which in the 18th century was not a centre of native
Saxon art, but one of the cosmopolitan foci of European art, where, apart from Italians, the
French dominated. As a portrait-painter Bacciarelli owed most to French art, of which he was
fully conscious. His Polish contacts datę from 1756-1764 and as early as those years he came
in touch with the Poniatowski family; he then painted portraits of the małe and female
members of this family. How strong the effect of French painting was on Bacciarelli’s portrait
work was evidenced by his numerous images in which echoes of the portraiture of Nattier,
Maurice Quentine de la Tour or Franęois Boucher could be found.
What is very interesting and important is that in the portraits of men painted by Bacciarelli
from his early years in Poland it was possible to discern a very strong effect of the portraits of
the Sarmatian type. Also later this Sarmatian element penetrated into his art, by way of his
studies on the old Polish portrait-painters, which were necessitated by the reąuirements of
good work at the Castle.
Bacciarelli painted a large number of portraits of King Stanislas Augustus, even before he
came to the throne, and particularly later, during his reign - in armour, in coronation dress, in
the uniform of the mounted guards, in a hat with plumes. “The Portrait with an Hour-Glass”
of 1793, which was tragic in expression and almost preromanticist in form, was different and
of peculiar significance. Bacciarelli also painted self-portraits. The most popular of his
self-portraits was that in a sąuare-topped cap, which he painted after his return from ftaly. As
a portrait-painter he was inspired by a variety of influences and drew on various sources.
However, his portraits had an individuał character and his own style.
Was he an Italian in Poland, like Canaletto, or a Pole of Italian origin? There can be no doubt
that he can be considered a Polish citizen (who later became a Polish nobleman) closely
connected with Polish artistic culture, of which he was one of the creators in the Age of
Enlightenment. He often declared that he considered Poland his homeland; following the
partitions, he refused on principle to paint a portrait of the Prussian King, and in one of his
letters in 1803, when Poland was in terrible decline, he said explicitly that it was his country.
In a review of the history of painting in the Age of Enlightenment, this preface has paid
greater attention to only some phenomena - those related to the neoclassical movement and
those which constituted parts of great artistic compositions, particularly at the Royal Castle
and Łazienki in Warsaw. Therefore, the work of the eminent artist, Jean Pierre Norblin,
whose descendant was Aleksander Orłowski, was not discussed and Canaletto only men-
tioned. Of Franciszek Smuglewicz it should still be added that he painted interesting portraits
and scenes from peasants’ life. It is also necessary to mention a large group of portraitists
whose works often verged upon this version of painting which is called Sarmatian. The most
41
painters of the Bologna school and the French neoclassicists of the 17th century, and were still
invested with the charm of rococo art.
When the Solomon Hall was finished in 1793, Bacciarelli began work on four tondoes which
were to be set in the dome of the adjacent Rotunda. The tondoes, painted in 1793-1795,
represented for the last time the motif of the personification of the virtues of an ideał ruler.
Much space has been devoted here to the work of Bacciarelli at the Castle and Łazienki, which
carried out reąuests and ideas of the King, satisfying.important political and social tasks. This
was necessary to explain the character and role of those sets of paintings which, together with
the architecture and sculpture, contributed to the formation of the two main centres of Polish
cultural life in the Age of Enlightenment.
Bacciarelli’s main sphere in painting were portraits painted from life, and it was in this field
that he achieved his best artistic results.
His painting was formed in Dresden, which in the 18th century was not a centre of native
Saxon art, but one of the cosmopolitan foci of European art, where, apart from Italians, the
French dominated. As a portrait-painter Bacciarelli owed most to French art, of which he was
fully conscious. His Polish contacts datę from 1756-1764 and as early as those years he came
in touch with the Poniatowski family; he then painted portraits of the małe and female
members of this family. How strong the effect of French painting was on Bacciarelli’s portrait
work was evidenced by his numerous images in which echoes of the portraiture of Nattier,
Maurice Quentine de la Tour or Franęois Boucher could be found.
What is very interesting and important is that in the portraits of men painted by Bacciarelli
from his early years in Poland it was possible to discern a very strong effect of the portraits of
the Sarmatian type. Also later this Sarmatian element penetrated into his art, by way of his
studies on the old Polish portrait-painters, which were necessitated by the reąuirements of
good work at the Castle.
Bacciarelli painted a large number of portraits of King Stanislas Augustus, even before he
came to the throne, and particularly later, during his reign - in armour, in coronation dress, in
the uniform of the mounted guards, in a hat with plumes. “The Portrait with an Hour-Glass”
of 1793, which was tragic in expression and almost preromanticist in form, was different and
of peculiar significance. Bacciarelli also painted self-portraits. The most popular of his
self-portraits was that in a sąuare-topped cap, which he painted after his return from ftaly. As
a portrait-painter he was inspired by a variety of influences and drew on various sources.
However, his portraits had an individuał character and his own style.
Was he an Italian in Poland, like Canaletto, or a Pole of Italian origin? There can be no doubt
that he can be considered a Polish citizen (who later became a Polish nobleman) closely
connected with Polish artistic culture, of which he was one of the creators in the Age of
Enlightenment. He often declared that he considered Poland his homeland; following the
partitions, he refused on principle to paint a portrait of the Prussian King, and in one of his
letters in 1803, when Poland was in terrible decline, he said explicitly that it was his country.
In a review of the history of painting in the Age of Enlightenment, this preface has paid
greater attention to only some phenomena - those related to the neoclassical movement and
those which constituted parts of great artistic compositions, particularly at the Royal Castle
and Łazienki in Warsaw. Therefore, the work of the eminent artist, Jean Pierre Norblin,
whose descendant was Aleksander Orłowski, was not discussed and Canaletto only men-
tioned. Of Franciszek Smuglewicz it should still be added that he painted interesting portraits
and scenes from peasants’ life. It is also necessary to mention a large group of portraitists
whose works often verged upon this version of painting which is called Sarmatian. The most
41