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

decoration, often used in the decoration of the walls of
neoclassical interiors. A unkjue thing in the decoration was
the panorama of Warsaw. The painter used as his pattern
the well-known panorama of Warsaw from the Praga side
of the Vistula River, as painted by Bernardo Bellono,
called Canaletto.
Bibliography: Lorentz, Natolin, pp. 156—157; Kwiatkowski, MazoWan
Group of Palaces, pp. 159-163; Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce
(A Catalogue of Art Monuments in Poland), vol. X, woj. warszawskie
(Warsaw District), no 5, powiat grójecki (Grójec County - in Polish),
cdited by I. Galicka and H. Sygietyńska, Warsaw 1971, pp. 42-45
Vincenzo Brenna
86 [64] Łańcut (Rzeszów District), Castle, Brenna Room I,
mural, eighties of the 18th century
This interior in the north wing of the Castle, on the ground
floor, was rebuilt in the eighties of the 18th century and was
at that time given painted decoration designed by Brenna.
In Room I the decoration covered the four surfaces of the
walls and the spaces over the doorways. The themes of the
composition were ruins, ancient buildings and monuments
against the background of a landscape. On one of the
paintings there is the signature “V. BRENNA ROMAN
[us] PIN [xit]”. The composition of the decoration and the
themes of the paintings were characteristic of neoclassical
decorative painting based on knowledge of classical
murals.
87 [XVII] Brenna Room II, walls with paintings
In the room adjacent to the former the walls and the ceiling
were covered with grotesąue decoration; this type, which
was related to the so-called Pompeian Styles, was popular
in wali decoration as early as the eighties of the 18th
century. In decoration of this type, compositions were
symmetrical, with fields bounded by frames and border
bands beside larger surfaces. The most frequent motifs
were vases, sphinxes, dolphines, wound kerchiefs and the
figures of dancers in rhomboid or mandorla frames. In
addition, there was vegetal ornamentation in strictly sym-
metrical, often candelabral, arrangements. The type of
decoration which Brenna introduced in. the Łańcut inte-
riors was popular in the decoration of Polish neoclassical
palaces until the middle of the 19th century.
Bibliography: Lorentz, Natolin, pp. 34-64; Kossakowska-Szanajca, Ma-
jewska-Maszkowska, Łańcut Castle, pp. 144-145
Szymon Bogumił Zug
88 [67] Arkadia (Skierniewice District), Diana’s Tempie,
north elevation, 1783
Arkadia, a park with pavilions, 4 km from Nieborów, is
one of the most interesting Polish parks which was laid out
in the last quarter of the 18th century, on the orders and
under the personal supervision of Helena Radziwiłł, nee
Przeździecka, and was to be a dreamland of love and
happiness, which was, however, interrupted by the death

which was inevitable for alf men. The Diana’s Tempie,
situated on the pond, is the central point of the spatial
disposition of the park, and the free, asymmetrical
composition of the shape and plan of the building empha-
sized the romanticist ideas of the Arkadian park design.
89 [68] Arkadia, Diana’s Tempie, portico on the side of the
pond and south elevation, 1783
The Diana’s Tempie was built as the main pavilion in the
Arkadia park. Its particular role in the composition of the
design affected the careful selection of the finał form of the
Tempie. It was to close the axis of vision from within the
park, and on the other side of the building there was to be
a spacious view of the pond and the island. The architect’s
purpose was to combine two types of Roman temples,
monopleral building and porticoed tempie, enriched
further by an irregular triangular projection in the south
elevation. This way of shaping the outline form of the'
Tempie at Arkadia was an example of the tendency in
Polish neoclassicism towards the breaking up of the unified
composition of a shape.
Bibliography: J. Wegner, Arkadia (in Polish), Warsaw 1948, pp. 18,21;
Jaroszewski, Architecture in the Age of Enlightenment, pp. 144-145;
Kwiatkowski, S.B. Zug, pp. 244-251, 331-332, 389
Szymon Bogumił Zug
90 [65] Arkadia, Aqueduct, 1781-1784, reconstructed in
1950-1952
Antiquity was for the neoclassicism of the second half of the
18th century not only a pattern of forms, proportion and
ornamentation, but also a source of architectural struc-
tures, quite often in the shape of a ruin. The aqueduct was
one of the building types. In the Arkadia park it was an
essential element of composition, providing an optical
counterpart to the main pond viewed from the steps of the
Diana’s Tempie.
Bibliography: Catalogue of Drawings, part 2, Various Localities, item 35,
p. 27; Kwiatkowski, S.B. Zug, pp. 251, 331; Katalog zabytków sztuki
w Polsce(A Catalogue of Art Monuments in Poland), vol. IX, woj. łódzkie
(Łódź District), no 5, pow. łowicki (Łowicz County -in Polish), Warsaw
1953, p. 6
Szymon Bogumił Zug
91 [66] Arkadia, Greek Arch, 1783-1785
One of the most picturesque spots in the park of Arkadia
was the point from which there was the view towards the
Diana’s Tempie. On a path, near the Tempie, an arch in
the shape of an arcade was set from irregular Stones. The
use of this materiał was meant to emphasize the impression
of an old building. Apart from the irregular shapes of
pavilions, artifieial ruins and structures drawn from the
architecture of previous ages were the most frequent
elements in the parks in the second half of the 18th and the
beginnings of the 19th century.

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