Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (18.2018)

1. Engraving of the frontis-
piece for the first volume
of the treaty Architektura
obeymujgca wszelki gatunek
murowania i budowania
[Architecture of all kinds of
masonry and construction]
(a copy personally donated
by Sierakowski to the uni-
versity library collections in
Kraków in December 1812),
Jagiellonian Library,
ref. 119929 iv
-> see p.68

and great grandson of the Polish Wettins), when the architecture, “decomposing
along with the homeland” of this “good governmenfwas also supposed to “stumble
towards downfall”. The Saxon epoch, however, witnessed the apogee of the magnate
oligarchy, which undermined the royal authority and led towards political dissolu-
tion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and which was accompanied by the
lush development of late Baroque in the version that was furthest removed from the
classical principles. The revival of architecture was to take place “only after the last
ruler before the partition of Poland, when the government s improvement was on
the rise”.21 The then king, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, known for his support
for classicism, at the same time madę propaganda efforts to rebuild the authority
of the monarch, pointing, among other things, to the multiplicity of historical
examples of collaboration between kings and their subjects, which resulted in the
empowerment and growth of the country.22 The direct inheritance of these pre-
partition efforts was the Duchy of Warsaw, when the rebirth and strengthening of
the institution of the Polish monarchy took place.
A visual expression of the monarchy-centric way of looking at architecture can
be found in the front-page engraving (see: Fig. 1), which was madę according to
the drawing by Michał Stachowicz (nearly full-time amanuensis of Sierakowskis at
that time23) by the Viennese engraver Joseph (sometimes known as Johann) Georg
Mansfeld. Choosing the fragment of the chalcography for his “background” to place
the title of the book, a “part of the Kraków castle”, that is, the arcaded courtyard
(whose structure “recommends itself with delicacy and lightness, combined with
durability nearly untouched for so many centuries”24), Sierakowski clearly linked
classically understood architectural quality with monarchical traditions. It was prob-
ably not a coincidence that he included the interior of the former “Hall of Judgment
and Deputies” (where “the squares can be seen in the ceiling”), uncovered by the
fanciful ruination of one of the walls. On this occasion, he did not only mention
the problem of “compartments of fiat and vaulted ceilings”25 (discussed later in the
treatise), but above all symbolically marked the historie role of monarchs as the
highest judges and at the same time the hosts of the sessions of Sejm. The Envoys’
Room at Kraków s Wawel Castle was a reminder of the communal character of the
Polish monarchy, and the role of the king as the nations leader (in the Duchy of
Warsaw, there was also a Sejm, and although it was of little political significance, it
still remained an important symbol of the continuation of the age-old Polish tradi-
tion of linking royal power with that of the parliament26). It seems that Senators’
Tower had a similarly symbolic dimension, also included in the illustration, and
described in the “explanation of the copper engravings” (Sierakowski also mentioned
other castle towers, which, however, are not shown in the illustration). There were
21 S. Sierakowski, Architektura, vol. 1, p. iii.
22 Zob. M. Getka-Kenig, Pomniki publiczne i dyskurs zasługi w dobie „wskrzeszonej” Polski lat
1807-1830, Kraków 2017, pp. 42-63.
23 On the subject of Sierakowskis cooperation with Stachowicz, see: Z. Michalczyk, Michał Sta-
chowicz (1768-1825). Krakowski malarz między barokiem a romantyzmem, vol. 1, Warszawa
2011, pp. 209-224.
24 S. Sierakowski, Architektura, vol. 1, unpaged (“Tłómaczenie kopersztychów”).
25 Ibidem, unpaged.
26 M. Getka-Kenig, Ojcowie „wskrzeszonej” ojczyzny. Senat w rzeczywistości społeczno-politycznej
Księstwa Warszawskiego, Warszawa 2013, pp. 95, 99.

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ARTICLES

Mikołaj Getka-Kenig