DOI issue:
Obituaries
DOI article:Dobrowolski, Witold; Mikocki, Tomasz [Honoree]: Tomasz Mikocki: 1954-2007
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42092#0020
OBITUARY
managerial experience and a knack for teamwork, virtues which stood him in good stead as long-term
director of the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw (1991-2002), deputy director
of the Center for Research on the Traditions of Antiquity (1992-1996) and head of the National
Center of Heritage Research and Documentation (2002-2003)· He combined candor and devotion
in friendship as well as at work with a sensual love of life. Innate diligence and extraordinary capa-
bilities for concentration allowed him to produce valuable scholarly work despite numerous time-con-
suming administrative and editorial duties (for years he was editor-in-chief of the Institute's period-
ical ”Swiatowit”). His research interests were concentrated mainly on iconographic studies; the tra-
dition of Classical Antiquity; ancient art collecting in Roland; portraits and sarcophagi of the
Roman age. Particularly deserving of mention is his “La perspective dans l'art romain” (Warsaw
University Publishers 1990), in which he studied the various types of perspective in Roman paint-
ing and relief through the prism of modern art-historian approaches. Then there is an iconological
study of Roman empresses and princesses represented as goddesses: “Sub specie deae” (Warszawa
1988), also published in Italy as “Sub specie deae. Les imperatrices romaines assimilees a des deesses”
(Suppl. RdA, Roma 1999). His books and articles on the Polish artistic and collecting relations
with Italy in the late 18th and early 19th century: “A la recherche de Part antique, les voyageurs
polonais en Italie dans les annees 1730-1830” (Wroclaw 1988); “Najstarsze kolekcje starozytnos'-
ci w Polsce (lata 1730-1830)” (Wroclaw 1990); “Collection de la princesse Radziwill. Les mon-
uments antiques et antiquisants dlArcadie et du chateau de Nieborow” (Wroclaw-Warszawa
1999), are an important contribution to a knowledge of the age, making excellent use of all kinds of
sources, from the newspaper dailies through private correspondence and travel reports to bills and
receipts. With regard to his work on Roman sculpture, one should mention foremost individual fasci-
cles of “Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani”, prepared in conjunction with other scholars (vol. 11,1
“Les monuments funeraires... ”, Warszawa 1990; vol. II, 2 “Les sarcophages et les fragments de sar-
cophages", Warszawa 1992) and independently: vol. Ill “Les sculptures mythologiques et decora-
lives” (Warszawa 1999) and vol. Ill,2 “Les sculptures decoratives” (Warszawa 1999). In recent
years he had been consumed by excavations, first in Dylewo in Poland, and then and primarily, in
Ptolemais in Libya, where he uncovered the ruins of a Roman villa of the 3rd century with excellent
mosaic floors and wall paintings. His death interrupted work on a monograph of a famous Italian
sculptor Adolf Wildt (1868-1931), whose statues had been discovered in the ruins of the Dylewo
palace destroyed during World War II. Neither was it given that he see in print a study of Polish
and European gardens which he had almost completed. There could have been so many more!
Witold Dobrowolski
18
managerial experience and a knack for teamwork, virtues which stood him in good stead as long-term
director of the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw (1991-2002), deputy director
of the Center for Research on the Traditions of Antiquity (1992-1996) and head of the National
Center of Heritage Research and Documentation (2002-2003)· He combined candor and devotion
in friendship as well as at work with a sensual love of life. Innate diligence and extraordinary capa-
bilities for concentration allowed him to produce valuable scholarly work despite numerous time-con-
suming administrative and editorial duties (for years he was editor-in-chief of the Institute's period-
ical ”Swiatowit”). His research interests were concentrated mainly on iconographic studies; the tra-
dition of Classical Antiquity; ancient art collecting in Roland; portraits and sarcophagi of the
Roman age. Particularly deserving of mention is his “La perspective dans l'art romain” (Warsaw
University Publishers 1990), in which he studied the various types of perspective in Roman paint-
ing and relief through the prism of modern art-historian approaches. Then there is an iconological
study of Roman empresses and princesses represented as goddesses: “Sub specie deae” (Warszawa
1988), also published in Italy as “Sub specie deae. Les imperatrices romaines assimilees a des deesses”
(Suppl. RdA, Roma 1999). His books and articles on the Polish artistic and collecting relations
with Italy in the late 18th and early 19th century: “A la recherche de Part antique, les voyageurs
polonais en Italie dans les annees 1730-1830” (Wroclaw 1988); “Najstarsze kolekcje starozytnos'-
ci w Polsce (lata 1730-1830)” (Wroclaw 1990); “Collection de la princesse Radziwill. Les mon-
uments antiques et antiquisants dlArcadie et du chateau de Nieborow” (Wroclaw-Warszawa
1999), are an important contribution to a knowledge of the age, making excellent use of all kinds of
sources, from the newspaper dailies through private correspondence and travel reports to bills and
receipts. With regard to his work on Roman sculpture, one should mention foremost individual fasci-
cles of “Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani”, prepared in conjunction with other scholars (vol. 11,1
“Les monuments funeraires... ”, Warszawa 1990; vol. II, 2 “Les sarcophages et les fragments de sar-
cophages", Warszawa 1992) and independently: vol. Ill “Les sculptures mythologiques et decora-
lives” (Warszawa 1999) and vol. Ill,2 “Les sculptures decoratives” (Warszawa 1999). In recent
years he had been consumed by excavations, first in Dylewo in Poland, and then and primarily, in
Ptolemais in Libya, where he uncovered the ruins of a Roman villa of the 3rd century with excellent
mosaic floors and wall paintings. His death interrupted work on a monograph of a famous Italian
sculptor Adolf Wildt (1868-1931), whose statues had been discovered in the ruins of the Dylewo
palace destroyed during World War II. Neither was it given that he see in print a study of Polish
and European gardens which he had almost completed. There could have been so many more!
Witold Dobrowolski
18