Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (3.2002)

worked for the Lvov Dominican nuns, raising a beli tower by their Church of St
Catherine of Siena, and participated in the reconstruction of the convent of the
Armenian Benedictine nuns. Urbanik enjoyed special favours with the Palatine
of Vilnius, Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł, nicknamed Rybeńko (Darling), through
whose good offices he was granted the position of the king's servitor and the title
of royal architect. In 1753, "following our architect's [Urbanik's] advice", the Do-
minicans decided to complete the construction of the Church of St Mary Magda-
lenę. Despite the suggestions that the work on the edifice was carried out by the
architect according to De Witte's design, it is Urbanik who should be recognized
as the author of the extension of the church. There is no reason for rejecting
source information; besides, what is eąually important, in terms of style the
church utterly differs from the other religious structures designed by De Witte.
Among Urbanik's "Lvov" accomplishments should also be counted his participa-
tion in the refashioning of the Sapieha/Lubomirski palące in Lvov, which started
in 1744 and which should be ascribed to Meretyn (as established by Piotr
Krasny). After Meretyn's death the work was continued until 1764 by Marcin
Urbanik. An iconographic record in the Art Collection of the W. Wernadski Scien-
tific Library in Lvov is probably connected with this period of Urbanik's activity.
The set of drawings which may have belonged to Marcin's son, Wincenty, a land
surveyor, includes the design of a triangular pediment with lavish sculptural dec-
oration, featuring the figurę of Hercules supporting a shield under a prince's coro-
net, with the Szreniawa coat of arms. In addition, the tympanum contains a tro-
phy and a rocaille cartouche with the initials "SL" (monogram of Stanisław
Lubomirski). This work may be ascribed to Urbanik. To him may also be attrib-
uted the Carmelite Church of St Martin in Lvov (consecrated in 1753, though the
work on completing the edifice was still going on in the second half of the 1750s),
whose stylistic features are identical with those of the Church of St Mary Magda-
lenę and of the beli tower of the Church of St Catherine of Siena.

An archival reference of 1761, in which Mikołaj Potocki, the starost of
Kaniów, on the basis of the list prepared by "my architect Urbanik" had applied to
the Lvov municipal authorities for permission to employ bricklayers, served as a
basis for ascribing to the artist the parish church at Buczacz (consecrated in
1764), the parish Uniate church at Horodenka (consecrated in 1766), the Domini-
can monastery at Bohorodczany (erected between 1742 and 1761), and recently
also the extension of the Armenian church at Horodenka. AU these structures
differ in their style from the above-mentioned Lvov edifices. They are character-
ized by extremely rigid, strong dwisions and by heavy, sąuat proportions. It is
surprising that Marcin Urbanik has been recognized as an architect carrying out
Mikołaj Potocki's foundations, sińce it is well known that Buczacz had a vigorous
circle of craftsmen and the military some of whom were surely engineers.

It must therefore be emphasized that the archival materiał confirms the ar-
tistfs authorship practically only in the case of building operations in Lvov: For
stylistic reasons the attributions of the beli tower by the Church of the Holy Ghost
and of the facade of the Carmelite Church of St Martin appear to be most likely,

25