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

The spatial layout of the room dates from about the middle
of the 18th century when the wing of the Castle on the side
of the Vistula River was built. The earliest designs of the
room were the work of V. Louis (1765) and J.B. Plersch
(1765); in 1777 King Stanislas Augustus proposed an
architectural competition for its design. The competitors
included J.B. Plersch, S. Zawadzki, S.B. Zug, E. Szreger
and D. Merlini. Nonę of their designs was accepted and
finally the room was decorated to a new design by Merlini;
work was begun in 1777 and as it proceeded new details
of the interior decoration and new objects of art were
introduced. Kamsetzer contributed to their design. The
stucco work was by J.M. Graff, the ceiling painting “Jove
Brings the World Out of Chaos” by M. Bacciarelli and the
sculptures by A. Le Brun and J. Monaldi.
The architecture of the Ballroom was an outstanding wo k
in the “Stanislas Augustus style”; its combination of
architectural, painted and sculpted decoration achieved
a fuli harmony of composition. It is interesting to notę the
harmonious colour in the interior, where the yellowish
shafts of the columns and a frieze the same colour stand out
against the background of white walls; there was the
delicate outline of golden ornamentation and the whole was
dominated by a ceiling painting in warm colours.
Bibliography: Zamek Królewski w Warszawie (The Royal Castle in
Warsaw - in Polish), collective work, edited by A. Gieysztor, Warsaw
1972, pp. 139-140; Catalogueof Drawings,part 1, Varsaviana,pp. 82-83,
99-102, 106-108; M. Kwiatkowski, Problemy wystroju architektoniczne-
go wnętrz stanisławowskich - Louis, Fontana, Merlini i Kamsetzer
(Problems of the Architectural Decoration in Stanislas Augustus Interiors
- Louis, Fontana, Merlini and Kamsetzer), (in. ) Siedem wieków Zamku
Królewskiego w Warszawie (Seven Centuries of the Royal Castle in
Warsaw- in Polish), Warsaw 1972, pp. 186-187
Victor Louis, Domenico Merlini
48 [12] Warsaw, Royal Castle, Ballroom, the so-called
“doors with banners”, 1766, adapted for the Ballroom in
1777-1781
A great number of objects of the decoration of the interiors
of the Castle which Louis designed were executed and sent
from Paris to Warsaw. Louis designed the doors with the
banners for the Throne Room in 1766. Merlini used those
ready elements for the Room in his design.
Bibliography: F.G. Pariset, Jeszcze o pracach Wiktora Louisa dla Zaniku
warszawskiego (Morę about the Works of Victor Louis for the Royal
Castle - in Polish), BAH, 1962, no 2, pp. 136-137
Domenico Merlini
49 [11] Warsaw, Royal Castle, Ballroom, recessed
doorway
The recessed doorway was the most important element of
the composition of the Ballroom. Merlini used here an
architectural solution which resembled the one that he used
in the composition of the elevation of the Myślewice pałace.
Over the door there was a sculpted group representing the
allegorical figures of Peace and Justice (by J. Monaldi)
which supported a medallion with the profile of Stanislas

Augustus (by A. Le Brun). On either side of the door,
between columns, there were A. Le Brun’s statues, Apollo
on the left and Minerva on the right. As a result of a very
harmonious combination of the sculpture with the ele-
ments of architectural decoration, the recessed doorway of
the Ballroom can Be considered one of the most outstan-
ding architectural and sculpted designs of Polish neoclassi-
cism.
Bibliography: Zamek Królewski w Warszawie (The Royal Castle in
Warsaw - in Polish), co!lective work, edited by A. Gieysztor, Warsaw
1972, pp. 139-140
Domenico Merlini
50 [13] Warsaw, Łazienki, Myślewice pałace, front eleva-
tion, 1775-1776
The pałace was built in stages. The main body was
completed in 1775; the lateral pavilions were added in 1776
and linked to the main body with ąuarter-circular wings,
and in 1783 another storey was added to the wings. Before
the Pałace on the Island was expanded, the Myślewice
pałace had been the most imposing building at Łazienki. It
is one of the outstanding examples of early neoclassical
architecture in Poland. It is interesting to notę the good
proportions of the cubic outline of the main body and the
unusual design of the faęade with a recess over the whole
height.
51 [14] Myślewice pałace, Dining Chamber, 1778
The Dining Chamber is situated on the ground floor, in the
back suitę of the main body. In 1778 J.B. Plersch painted
on the walls three large compositions representing “The
View of St. MichaePs Bridge in Romę”, “The Casino of
Pius VI at the Vatican”, and “The View of Venice from St.
Mark’s Sąuare”. The type of decoration which included
large compositions with picturesąue views of towns, main-
ly Italian, was, apart from arabesque-grotesque decoration,
the most popular interior decoration in neoclassicism. In
their work painters drew on popular engraved publica-
tions.
Bibliography: W. Tatarkiewicz, Łazienki warszawskie (Łazienki in War-
saw - in Polish), Warsaw 1968, p. 18; M. Kwiatkowski, Łazienki (in
Polish), Warsaw 1972, pp. 60-69
Szymon Bogumił Zug
52 [15] Warsaw-Wilanów, Guardhouse, 1775-1776
At the request of Izabela Lubomirska, nee Czartoryska,
Zug built three buildings at Wilanów: Guardhouse,
Kitchen and Bath-house. These buildings are situated on
the right of the courtyard. Chronologically, the Guard-
house carne first; it was a two-storeyed building on a rectan-
gular plan with a smali inner courtyard. It is interesting to
notę the very individual form of the elevation. The whole
surfaces of the walls of the projections and corners were
rusticated and the motifs of Doric entablature, panels,

250