DOI Artikel:
Starownik, Agata: "Śmiertelny Król nad wiekami": Jezus - Bóg w historii w Albumie Orbis II Cypriana Norwida
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51757#0112
110
AGATA STAROWNIK
“MORTAL KING OF THE CENTURIES” -
JESUS - GOD IN HISTORY FROM THE ALBUM ORBIS II BY CYPRIAN NORWID
Summary
The article examines the problem of the historicity of Jesus Christ - the incarnate God, in Cyprian Norwid’s Album Orbis,
a personal collection of cultural texts of mostly visual nature. The artist uses the material to present his own vision of the history of
the world. He thinks about it symbolically, every fact and historical vestige becomes a sign, which allows reading the fate of humanity
as a book about the human salvation. Its central figure is Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Ideal and the most perfect man’ The artist
accumulates the cultural texts that refer to Him the most in the second book. He shows the importance of Christ in history, both directly
and indirectly. He presents the views of the Holy Land and Sinai as well as the ancient artefacts such as the Titulus Crucis and the
Bezetha Vase. Norwid sees them as evidence of the naturalness, rationality and universality of Christianity, which combines valuable
elements of all cultures, especially the Greco-Roman and Jewish one. Norwid also collects portraits of Jesus, mainly in profile, sup-
posedly copied from an emerald gem made for the Emperor Tiberius (in fact, the tradition only goes back to the Renaissance). These
images are related to Norwid’s own theory of art and his definition of beauty, as the shape/profile of Love - that of the loving God,
Jesus Christ. The Saviour is also a model of humanity, and the best image of the Father, which everyone should imitate. The portraits
in profile illustrate the conception of the entire Album Orbis, the profile of the human history, and point to its most important figure.
fransi. Katarzyna Krzyżagórska-Pisarek
AGATA STAROWNIK
“MORTAL KING OF THE CENTURIES” -
JESUS - GOD IN HISTORY FROM THE ALBUM ORBIS II BY CYPRIAN NORWID
Summary
The article examines the problem of the historicity of Jesus Christ - the incarnate God, in Cyprian Norwid’s Album Orbis,
a personal collection of cultural texts of mostly visual nature. The artist uses the material to present his own vision of the history of
the world. He thinks about it symbolically, every fact and historical vestige becomes a sign, which allows reading the fate of humanity
as a book about the human salvation. Its central figure is Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Ideal and the most perfect man’ The artist
accumulates the cultural texts that refer to Him the most in the second book. He shows the importance of Christ in history, both directly
and indirectly. He presents the views of the Holy Land and Sinai as well as the ancient artefacts such as the Titulus Crucis and the
Bezetha Vase. Norwid sees them as evidence of the naturalness, rationality and universality of Christianity, which combines valuable
elements of all cultures, especially the Greco-Roman and Jewish one. Norwid also collects portraits of Jesus, mainly in profile, sup-
posedly copied from an emerald gem made for the Emperor Tiberius (in fact, the tradition only goes back to the Renaissance). These
images are related to Norwid’s own theory of art and his definition of beauty, as the shape/profile of Love - that of the loving God,
Jesus Christ. The Saviour is also a model of humanity, and the best image of the Father, which everyone should imitate. The portraits
in profile illustrate the conception of the entire Album Orbis, the profile of the human history, and point to its most important figure.
fransi. Katarzyna Krzyżagórska-Pisarek