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

Adam Idźkowski (1798-1879), Wacław Ritschel
(1794-1872)
179 [175] Warsaw, Saski (Saxon) Pałace, vie\v from the
square (state before 1939), 1838-1842
At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries the bad condition
and the outdated architecture of the Saxon Pałace madę its
reconstruction necessary. The authors of designs included
Fryderyk Albert Lessel, Hilary Szpilowski and Wilhelm
Henryk Minter. In 1836 a competition was held for the
design of the reconstruction of the pałace, in which H.
Marconi’s works were most highly placed. The competi-
tors also included Józef Lessel, Alfons Kropiwnicki, Wac-

Painting
Franciszek Smuglewicz (1745-1807)
180 [177] Ariadna and Bacchus, piąte from the album
“Vestigia delle Terme di Tito e loro interne pitture”, Romę
1776; copperplate, 56x66.5, engraved by Marco Carloni;
National Museum in Warsaw, inv. no 145031
F. Smuglewicz studied in Romę under the supervision
of A. Maron and later, on a fellowship granted him by King
Stanislas Augustus, in St. Luke’s Academy. Over his
twenty-year stay in Romę he collaborated, for instance, on
a publication which contained reproductions of the paint-
ings of Nero’s Domus Aurea (which in the 18th century
were thought to refer to Titus’ Hot Baths) in Romę and
designs of this building; he also prepared drawings for an
engraved album of ancient monuments at the Vatiean
Museo Pio Clementino. The album “Vestigia delle Terme
di Tito...” played a particularly important role in the
history of decorative painting in Europę. Published in
a black and white edition and a in dozen-odd series of
engravings with added colour, it became a sort of pattern-
-book for painted wali decoration (e. g. the decoration of
the gallery at Packington or a pavilion at Tsarskoe Selo,
USSR). From Smuglewicz’s engravings the French
graphic artist N. Ponce edited the album “Descriptions
des Bains de Titus ou collection des Peintures trouvees
danslesRuines deThermes de cet Empereur”, Paris 1786.
Bibliography: Lorentz, Nero’s Domus Aurea and Villa Lauremina, pp.
314-324; D. Fitz-Gerald, A galleryafter the antiąue,“TheConnoisseur",
vol. 181, no 727, September 1972, pp. 3-13
Franciszek Smuglewicz
181 [XXVII] The Prozor Family, 1789, oil on canvas,
182 x 144; National Museum in Warsaw, inv. no 130885
The painting was madę in 1789, commissioned by Karol
Prozor, Lithuanian Camp Superintendent, one of the
eminent patriots of the times of Stanislas Augustus. Prozor

ław Ritschel and Antonio Corazzi. The design finally
accepted was the work of Wacław Ritschel; however, the
reconstruction followed Adam Idźkowski’s design, strictly
based on RitschePs conception. The latter’s ideas included
the monumental central colonnade on the arcading, which
linked the two parts of the pałace and determined its artistic
value. Ritschel and IdźkowskPs work concluded the almost
eighty-year-long period of the supremacy of neoclassical
architecture in Warsaw.
Bibliography: A Rottermund, Zwycięstwo i porażka historyczna, kon-
kurs a przebudowa pałacu Saskiego w Warszawie(Viclory and Historical
Defeat, Competition and Reconstruction of the Saxon Pałace in Warsaw),
(in:) Muzeum i Twórca (Museum and Creator-in Polish), Warsaw 1969,
pp. 433-441

himself took part in establishing the composition and
conception of the portrait. The painting was to be a sort of
glorification of the Witebsk Voivode Józef Prozor, Karol’s
father, who had died in 1788. The members of the Prozor
family, except the children, were painted from life. The
centre of the composition is taken by the medallion with
Józef Prozor. Karol Prozor stands on the left, pointing at an
inscription on the tree trunk, which was composed by
Franciszek Karpiński and dedicated to the late father. On
the right sits Ludwika, wife of Karol. Ignacy Prozor,
brother of Karol, stands behind her, and beside Karol
stand his two brothers-in-law, Franciszek Bukaty and
Stanisław Jelski. In the foreground there are the children of
Karol and Ludwika, Józef and Marianna. The artist
consciously used the fully expressive means of traditional
Sarmatian painting, in order to emphasize the memorial-
-like character of the work. Smuglewicz’s painting pro-
vides an excellent example of the individuality of the Polish
portraiture tradition against the background of the main-
stream of European portrait painting in the second half of
the 18th century and also constitutes an outstanding
example of neoclassicism in Polish painting.
Bibliography: Ryszkiewicz, Polish Group Portrait, pp. 101-103; Portraits
of Polish Personages, item 186, pp. 173-174.
Franciszek Smuglewicz
182 [178] Peasants by the Candle, c. 1794, oil on canvas,
47x59.5; National Museum in Cracow, inv. no 102304
One of themes which Smuglewicz repeatedly painted were
scenes of folk life in the area of Cracow and in Lithuania.
This was related to the political situation and the peasant
problem which was topical in the nineties of the 18th
century. His best known composition, which he repeated
several times, was the “Peasants by the Candle”. Smugle-
wicz painted it during his stay at Bronowice near Cracow.
Apart from the subject matter, it is interesting to notę the
painting values, particularly conspicuous in the figures of

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