DOI article:
Mączyński, Ryszard: Mater Gratiarum Varsaviensis: Wizerunki Madonny łaskawej w sztuce polskiej
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16407#0316
314
RYSZARD MĄCZYŃSKI
Lubelskim) etc. Chętnie także dokonywano kontaminacji typu Łaskawej z Niepokalanie Poczętą, ukazując
Madonnę na ziemskim globie, opierającą stopę na półksiężycu i depczącą węża, popularność ta forma zyskała
zwłaszcza (choć nie wyłącznie) w Krakowie243.
MATER GRATIARUM VARSAVIENSIS.
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE GRACIOUS VIRGIN MARY IN POLISH ART
S um m ary
In this article I will debatę over the iconographie type of the Gracious Madonna (de Gratiis, Gratiarum) which comes from
the Italian town of Faenza and is depicted with broken arrows as a main attribute. The dissertation consists of two parts. The first
is devoted to cultural properties once belonging to the Piarists in Warsaw, where the first Polish image of the Our Lady Gracious
was found. The focus of the second part is the range and causes of the popularity of the Virgin's vénération in Poland. Simulta-
neously, I will review and re-interpret the preserved paintings, figures, and sculptures.
The initiative of bringing the vénération of the Gracious Virgin Mary to Poland was done by Hiacynt Orselli, the first
superior of the Warsaw Piarists convent, who himself came from the environs of Faenza. The 1651 original oil painting represen-
ting the Gracious Madonna has survived the cataclysms of war and can be found in the Jesuits church at Świętojańska Street in
Warsaw. A comparative analysis between the Warsaw painting and its archétype - a fresco in Faenza's cathedral, made about 1410
after a vision of pious Giovanna a Costumis, allowed to define the relation between the two. The Warsaw painting was not а сору
but a completely individual image of the Virgin, in keeping with the set type by the attribute: broken arrows in her hands. Also
in this case the author took liberties in placing in Mary's palms 7 instead of 6 arrows, as was usual in Italy. The reason for this
change - so a summary to a théâtre performance staged by the Piarists in Warsaw in 1664 - was that each of them symbolized
an element, rather than the severe anger of a Punishing God as in a médiéval Italian legend. Seven Planets were called together
by an Ardent Angel for the sake of conversion of sinful people before Merciful God. The picture is so distinct from the Italian
iconographie tradition, having for the modified form its own original interprétation invented by the Warsaw Piarists. It could not
have emerged in Italy, it is no doubt the product of a local artist.
The Cabinet of Prints at the Warsaw University library lists a delineation which, after a thorough analysis, turned out to be
an altar design for the Warsaw Piarists. The sketch clearly indicates that in the retable an oval painting of the Gracious Virgin
Mary was planned, the same size as the remaining monumental painting. The setting was composed in the form of a wali, four-
column aedicule, with the painting supported by a pair of angels. If its architectural structure accorded with the harmonious line
of the baroque art (with a model of e.g. the altar in Ss. Luca e Martina church in Rome (1634-1635) designed by Carlo Maderna),
the sculpture casing of the image referred to the émotive trend, especially to the héritage of Gianlorenzo Bernini. Naming the
designer (so far falsely thought to be Tylman van Gameren) suggested a notice that the sketch was supplied with two kinds of
scalę: elbow and metrical. The latter could have been applied only by Tytus Liwiusz Burattini (d. 1681) who was not only an
architect but also a before-his-time creator of the concept of metrical measure described in a treaty Misura universelle published
in 1675. The altar must have been designed soon after and the setting work was surely finished about 1682. The masterpiece
constituted a very early and at the same time mature example of the Polish réception of berninism.
Next to the proper setting, the delineation displays a sculpture asymmetrically set on a socle. The article included a sugges-
tion that so untypically a feretory of the Gracious Virgin Mary was fixed to carry around at processions on Lady feasts and during
épidémies. Written sources mention rituals of this kind - among others an excerpt in a 1705 Piarist chronicie or a later iconogra-
phie monument - a townscape by Bernardo Bellotto featuring the Krasiński Square (1778). The feretory has been sustained to date
in Warsaw church at Świętojańska Street. Contrary to the présent absolutely groundless tradition of attributing the sculpture to
Józef Szymon Bellotti, an architect and stuccoer, a more likely maker of the statue was found - Wilhelm Barsz. He was an owner
of a large carving workshop in Warsaw and it is documented that he later worked at the main altar of the Piarist church in Warsaw.
The style of the Madonna's Sculpture reminds of his other remaining artifacts. Therefore it is Barsz who should most determinedly
be recognized as the author of the feretory and at the same time of the entire altar of Mater Gratiarum designed by Burattini.
The church of the Piarists at Długa Street - located in the middle of the town has soon become in the popular conscious-
ness a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary the Gracious. However, for the sake of accuracy it should be stated that the real
title given to the church at the consécration in 1701 read: Our Victorious Tady. This particular patronage was a wish of the king
Jan Kazimierz in 1660 when the cornerstone was laid for the brick oblong temple. Its initial two-tower façade was since 1682
decorated by a statue of the Virgin, probably in the Gracious type with arrows in her hands. Also the second façade, this time
towerless, constructed after a minor extension of the church in the years 1758-1769, was designed by an architect Jacob Fontana
and decorated with a stone image of Mater Gratiorum. Jan Jerzy Plersch was a sculptor of the unnaturally large statue (now
without the original head and arms) which remains today in the parish church in Rokitno; the statue was made in 1764 and not
1762-1763, as presently assumed. The Piarist façade of the palladian form with two merging architectural orders: the grand and
243 Już w trakcie druku niniejszego artykułu zaszła dość istotna zmiana w wyglądzie dawnego pijarskiego obrazu Najświęt-
szej Marii Panny Łaskawej w kościele przy ul. Świętojańskiej. Na wizerunek została bowiem ponownie założona posrebrzana
sukienka (z 1938 г.), zdjęta niegdyś podczas konserwacji malowidła (w 1961 г.).
RYSZARD MĄCZYŃSKI
Lubelskim) etc. Chętnie także dokonywano kontaminacji typu Łaskawej z Niepokalanie Poczętą, ukazując
Madonnę na ziemskim globie, opierającą stopę na półksiężycu i depczącą węża, popularność ta forma zyskała
zwłaszcza (choć nie wyłącznie) w Krakowie243.
MATER GRATIARUM VARSAVIENSIS.
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE GRACIOUS VIRGIN MARY IN POLISH ART
S um m ary
In this article I will debatę over the iconographie type of the Gracious Madonna (de Gratiis, Gratiarum) which comes from
the Italian town of Faenza and is depicted with broken arrows as a main attribute. The dissertation consists of two parts. The first
is devoted to cultural properties once belonging to the Piarists in Warsaw, where the first Polish image of the Our Lady Gracious
was found. The focus of the second part is the range and causes of the popularity of the Virgin's vénération in Poland. Simulta-
neously, I will review and re-interpret the preserved paintings, figures, and sculptures.
The initiative of bringing the vénération of the Gracious Virgin Mary to Poland was done by Hiacynt Orselli, the first
superior of the Warsaw Piarists convent, who himself came from the environs of Faenza. The 1651 original oil painting represen-
ting the Gracious Madonna has survived the cataclysms of war and can be found in the Jesuits church at Świętojańska Street in
Warsaw. A comparative analysis between the Warsaw painting and its archétype - a fresco in Faenza's cathedral, made about 1410
after a vision of pious Giovanna a Costumis, allowed to define the relation between the two. The Warsaw painting was not а сору
but a completely individual image of the Virgin, in keeping with the set type by the attribute: broken arrows in her hands. Also
in this case the author took liberties in placing in Mary's palms 7 instead of 6 arrows, as was usual in Italy. The reason for this
change - so a summary to a théâtre performance staged by the Piarists in Warsaw in 1664 - was that each of them symbolized
an element, rather than the severe anger of a Punishing God as in a médiéval Italian legend. Seven Planets were called together
by an Ardent Angel for the sake of conversion of sinful people before Merciful God. The picture is so distinct from the Italian
iconographie tradition, having for the modified form its own original interprétation invented by the Warsaw Piarists. It could not
have emerged in Italy, it is no doubt the product of a local artist.
The Cabinet of Prints at the Warsaw University library lists a delineation which, after a thorough analysis, turned out to be
an altar design for the Warsaw Piarists. The sketch clearly indicates that in the retable an oval painting of the Gracious Virgin
Mary was planned, the same size as the remaining monumental painting. The setting was composed in the form of a wali, four-
column aedicule, with the painting supported by a pair of angels. If its architectural structure accorded with the harmonious line
of the baroque art (with a model of e.g. the altar in Ss. Luca e Martina church in Rome (1634-1635) designed by Carlo Maderna),
the sculpture casing of the image referred to the émotive trend, especially to the héritage of Gianlorenzo Bernini. Naming the
designer (so far falsely thought to be Tylman van Gameren) suggested a notice that the sketch was supplied with two kinds of
scalę: elbow and metrical. The latter could have been applied only by Tytus Liwiusz Burattini (d. 1681) who was not only an
architect but also a before-his-time creator of the concept of metrical measure described in a treaty Misura universelle published
in 1675. The altar must have been designed soon after and the setting work was surely finished about 1682. The masterpiece
constituted a very early and at the same time mature example of the Polish réception of berninism.
Next to the proper setting, the delineation displays a sculpture asymmetrically set on a socle. The article included a sugges-
tion that so untypically a feretory of the Gracious Virgin Mary was fixed to carry around at processions on Lady feasts and during
épidémies. Written sources mention rituals of this kind - among others an excerpt in a 1705 Piarist chronicie or a later iconogra-
phie monument - a townscape by Bernardo Bellotto featuring the Krasiński Square (1778). The feretory has been sustained to date
in Warsaw church at Świętojańska Street. Contrary to the présent absolutely groundless tradition of attributing the sculpture to
Józef Szymon Bellotti, an architect and stuccoer, a more likely maker of the statue was found - Wilhelm Barsz. He was an owner
of a large carving workshop in Warsaw and it is documented that he later worked at the main altar of the Piarist church in Warsaw.
The style of the Madonna's Sculpture reminds of his other remaining artifacts. Therefore it is Barsz who should most determinedly
be recognized as the author of the feretory and at the same time of the entire altar of Mater Gratiarum designed by Burattini.
The church of the Piarists at Długa Street - located in the middle of the town has soon become in the popular conscious-
ness a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary the Gracious. However, for the sake of accuracy it should be stated that the real
title given to the church at the consécration in 1701 read: Our Victorious Tady. This particular patronage was a wish of the king
Jan Kazimierz in 1660 when the cornerstone was laid for the brick oblong temple. Its initial two-tower façade was since 1682
decorated by a statue of the Virgin, probably in the Gracious type with arrows in her hands. Also the second façade, this time
towerless, constructed after a minor extension of the church in the years 1758-1769, was designed by an architect Jacob Fontana
and decorated with a stone image of Mater Gratiorum. Jan Jerzy Plersch was a sculptor of the unnaturally large statue (now
without the original head and arms) which remains today in the parish church in Rokitno; the statue was made in 1764 and not
1762-1763, as presently assumed. The Piarist façade of the palladian form with two merging architectural orders: the grand and
243 Już w trakcie druku niniejszego artykułu zaszła dość istotna zmiana w wyglądzie dawnego pijarskiego obrazu Najświęt-
szej Marii Panny Łaskawej w kościele przy ul. Świętojańskiej. Na wizerunek została bowiem ponownie założona posrebrzana
sukienka (z 1938 г.), zdjęta niegdyś podczas konserwacji malowidła (w 1961 г.).