DOI Heft:
Część I. Museum / Part I. The Museum
DOI Artikel:Ziemba, Antoni: Galerie w nowej odsłonie: Galeria Dawnego Malarstwa Europejskiego oraz Galeria Portretu Staropolskiego i Europejskiego
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45360#0036
Antoni Ziemba The Newly Refurbished Galleries...
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his social status as a ruler or political personality. The monumental court and aristocratic
portraits, common across sixteenth- to eighteenth-century Europe, reflected the formula of
representativeness and hierarchy and were rich with the attributes of power (showy dress,
insignia, coats of arms, etc.); according to the interpretation made popular by Titian and the
Venetian masters, the person was shown en pied (full figure, standing), with a thick curtain or
a fragment of an architectural column as background (figs 14-15). Within this genre was also
developed the less official portrait, with the person portrayed in informal, homey dress in a dy-
namic pose. But the art of portraits was born out of smaller and less representational forms:
the half-figural face and bust, the type created by the early Netherlandish and German and
Italian masters of the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries (fig. 16). All European centres used it widely,
and the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie accepted it, too (fig. 17). Unlike the profile portrait,
which recalled the model of renditions of rulers in antique and modern coins and medals, it
referred to the elevated tradition of antique sculpture busts and bust-shaped reliquaries. These
allusions elevated the model’s position, giving him social splendour. Its diminutive version,
which was often portable, also made it possible to carry one’s own or a dear one’s image; it led
to the development of the private, miniature, portrait.
The division of the galleries into groups and rooms reflects these functions and messages:
“Monumental aristocratic and court portraits” (Poland, Italy, Holland and Flanders, Germany
and Austria); “Patrician and bourgeois portraits of the sixteenth century” (Italy and Germany);
“Bourgeois, patrician and aristocratic portraits of the seventeenth century” (Holland, Flanders,
Italy); “Old Polish and Gdańsk portraits: images of royal power, fune-rary portraits, portraits
of the nobility-magnates and the bourgeoisie”; “Eighteenth-century portraiture: pictures of
prestige” and “Portraits of the eighteenth century: images of politicians and intellectuals of
the Enlightenment” (figs 18-19).
This narrative woven across the museum’s many exhibition spaces sends two important
messages to the viewer: the paintings’ social significance lying in their various functions, and
the integral ties between Old Polish art and the artistic culture of Western Europe of the time.
35
his social status as a ruler or political personality. The monumental court and aristocratic
portraits, common across sixteenth- to eighteenth-century Europe, reflected the formula of
representativeness and hierarchy and were rich with the attributes of power (showy dress,
insignia, coats of arms, etc.); according to the interpretation made popular by Titian and the
Venetian masters, the person was shown en pied (full figure, standing), with a thick curtain or
a fragment of an architectural column as background (figs 14-15). Within this genre was also
developed the less official portrait, with the person portrayed in informal, homey dress in a dy-
namic pose. But the art of portraits was born out of smaller and less representational forms:
the half-figural face and bust, the type created by the early Netherlandish and German and
Italian masters of the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries (fig. 16). All European centres used it widely,
and the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie accepted it, too (fig. 17). Unlike the profile portrait,
which recalled the model of renditions of rulers in antique and modern coins and medals, it
referred to the elevated tradition of antique sculpture busts and bust-shaped reliquaries. These
allusions elevated the model’s position, giving him social splendour. Its diminutive version,
which was often portable, also made it possible to carry one’s own or a dear one’s image; it led
to the development of the private, miniature, portrait.
The division of the galleries into groups and rooms reflects these functions and messages:
“Monumental aristocratic and court portraits” (Poland, Italy, Holland and Flanders, Germany
and Austria); “Patrician and bourgeois portraits of the sixteenth century” (Italy and Germany);
“Bourgeois, patrician and aristocratic portraits of the seventeenth century” (Holland, Flanders,
Italy); “Old Polish and Gdańsk portraits: images of royal power, fune-rary portraits, portraits
of the nobility-magnates and the bourgeoisie”; “Eighteenth-century portraiture: pictures of
prestige” and “Portraits of the eighteenth century: images of politicians and intellectuals of
the Enlightenment” (figs 18-19).
This narrative woven across the museum’s many exhibition spaces sends two important
messages to the viewer: the paintings’ social significance lying in their various functions, and
the integral ties between Old Polish art and the artistic culture of Western Europe of the time.