DOI article:
Miodońska, Barbara: Rex regum i rex Poloniae w dekoracji malarskiej Graduału Jana Olbrachta i Pontyfikału Erazma Ciołka: z zagadnień ikonografii władzy królewskiej w sztuce polskiej wieku XVI
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26594#0232
REX REGEM I REX POLONIAE
tacie had not only a sacral sense but also a strictly defined legal sense of great social
consequence.
The miniatures complementing the text of the ceremony laid down in the Ponti-
fical also perform a "presentation of the State".
The Miniatures. Of the 62 miniatures in Ciolek's Pontifical, five have "royal" cere-
monies as their subject. Preceding the OrJo corcwvMb' there are two separate pictorial
compositions on leaves XXXV (verso) and XXXVI (recto) (ills. 88—91, 92—93).
The first is a full-page miniature painted on a blank leaf, which does not belong to
the sheets of the MS; the second is a half-page miniature preceding the text of the cere-
monial. None of the other texts of the Pontifical, with the exception of the canon
of the Mass, has been distinguished in this manner. The creator of the iconographic
plan of the Pontifical (probably Ciołek himself) chose as the subjects of these minia-
tures two moments still significant in the liturgical and legal content of the ceremony;
the culminating moment of the coronation, which in the Polish ceremonial was ac-
companied by the singing of the "Te Deum", and the ceremony of transmitting the
symbol of the State — the crown — to the king-elect.
226
„Te DeMłłł tuMłtMnms". The Enthronement of the King
(Folio XXXV'-) ills. 88,91, 136-144
Within the narrow field of a picture in the form of an upright rectangle (dimensions
30.4 X21.4 cm) is contained the enormous interior of a cathedral. The spaces of the
Gothic pseudo-hall are covered by a vault supported by six columns, and are filled
with a crowd of small figures. The centre of the action attracting the attention of the
assembled people lies in the distance, before the altar, where the king is sitting on his
throne surrounded by bishops and prelates under the gilded vaulting of the apse, from
which there hangs a canopy. Three youths bearing three naked swords with the blades
pointing upwards stand before the throne; State dignitaries stand in rows in the stalls
and before them. In the centre of the church, in front of the pulpit, two cantors are
conducting a choir of boys. Their singing is accompanied by trumpets from a flanking
choir and an organ situated on the opposite wall. Three angels, the celestial counter-
part of the earthly choir, are hying under the vault, bearing a scroll with the first
words of the "Te Deum". In the foreground there throngs a crowd of people, separated
from the State functionaries by the space of the empty floor. This picture is shown
within the aperture of a stone Gothic gateway, which fulfils the role of a "diaphragm
arch" (the term used by E. Panofsky). Two figures of knights in full armour stand on
the corbels of the archway. They bear maces and scarlet banners with the White Eagle
and the "Pogoń", the Armed Rider, the State emblems of the Kingdom of Poland and
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. These huge dynamic figures, neither statues nor living
men, by their latent life form a strange contrast with the crowd of people standing
stock still in solemn quiescence.
The miniaturist has represented the crowd taking part in the coronation in a lucid
and orderly manner, aided by the deep perspective of the interior and the placing of
the apparent eye-level so high that the individual groups of people are not screened.
The symmetrical lines of the intersection of the floor, the stalls, the capitals of the pil-
lars, the bases of the vaulting and the bosses converge not on a horizontal line but on
a common vertical axis running through the middle of the picture, of which the geo-
metrical and ideological centre is the figure of the King, also distinguished by its
larger scale. The picture is composed of minute contrasting spots of colour contained
tacie had not only a sacral sense but also a strictly defined legal sense of great social
consequence.
The miniatures complementing the text of the ceremony laid down in the Ponti-
fical also perform a "presentation of the State".
The Miniatures. Of the 62 miniatures in Ciolek's Pontifical, five have "royal" cere-
monies as their subject. Preceding the OrJo corcwvMb' there are two separate pictorial
compositions on leaves XXXV (verso) and XXXVI (recto) (ills. 88—91, 92—93).
The first is a full-page miniature painted on a blank leaf, which does not belong to
the sheets of the MS; the second is a half-page miniature preceding the text of the cere-
monial. None of the other texts of the Pontifical, with the exception of the canon
of the Mass, has been distinguished in this manner. The creator of the iconographic
plan of the Pontifical (probably Ciołek himself) chose as the subjects of these minia-
tures two moments still significant in the liturgical and legal content of the ceremony;
the culminating moment of the coronation, which in the Polish ceremonial was ac-
companied by the singing of the "Te Deum", and the ceremony of transmitting the
symbol of the State — the crown — to the king-elect.
226
„Te DeMłłł tuMłtMnms". The Enthronement of the King
(Folio XXXV'-) ills. 88,91, 136-144
Within the narrow field of a picture in the form of an upright rectangle (dimensions
30.4 X21.4 cm) is contained the enormous interior of a cathedral. The spaces of the
Gothic pseudo-hall are covered by a vault supported by six columns, and are filled
with a crowd of small figures. The centre of the action attracting the attention of the
assembled people lies in the distance, before the altar, where the king is sitting on his
throne surrounded by bishops and prelates under the gilded vaulting of the apse, from
which there hangs a canopy. Three youths bearing three naked swords with the blades
pointing upwards stand before the throne; State dignitaries stand in rows in the stalls
and before them. In the centre of the church, in front of the pulpit, two cantors are
conducting a choir of boys. Their singing is accompanied by trumpets from a flanking
choir and an organ situated on the opposite wall. Three angels, the celestial counter-
part of the earthly choir, are hying under the vault, bearing a scroll with the first
words of the "Te Deum". In the foreground there throngs a crowd of people, separated
from the State functionaries by the space of the empty floor. This picture is shown
within the aperture of a stone Gothic gateway, which fulfils the role of a "diaphragm
arch" (the term used by E. Panofsky). Two figures of knights in full armour stand on
the corbels of the archway. They bear maces and scarlet banners with the White Eagle
and the "Pogoń", the Armed Rider, the State emblems of the Kingdom of Poland and
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. These huge dynamic figures, neither statues nor living
men, by their latent life form a strange contrast with the crowd of people standing
stock still in solemn quiescence.
The miniaturist has represented the crowd taking part in the coronation in a lucid
and orderly manner, aided by the deep perspective of the interior and the placing of
the apparent eye-level so high that the individual groups of people are not screened.
The symmetrical lines of the intersection of the floor, the stalls, the capitals of the pil-
lars, the bases of the vaulting and the bosses converge not on a horizontal line but on
a common vertical axis running through the middle of the picture, of which the geo-
metrical and ideological centre is the figure of the King, also distinguished by its
larger scale. The picture is composed of minute contrasting spots of colour contained