DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43489#0187
Częstochówka pod Jasną Górą jako ośrodek rzeźbiarski
181
monastery from ca. 1624 to 1630. The sculptors made, among other things, the group
of eight side altars (ca. 1624-1628), the magnificent choir stalls (1627-1629, until
1633), and the monumental main retable in the basilica of Jasna Góra (1632-1634,
completed before 1638). After G. Zimmermann had left for good and gone to
Cracow the workshop was taken over by T. Scholtz. The latter completed the later
orders from the religious in the years of 1630-1637, e.g. the side altars and the choir
organ prospect for the basilica. He probably took other orders in the surrounding of
Częstochowa. It was also Christian Kregel (documented in Częstochówka 1631- after
1674) who belonged to this workshop and became independent as a master in the
second half of the 1630s, the author of several smaller decorative elements for the
monastery at Jasna Góra. One his elder sons, Martin (Marcin Kregel), was also a
woodcarver. He was first taught by his father and worked in Pińczów between 1654
and 1669, also at the service of the then Pauline monastery. To the third generation
of the sculptors from Częstochówka belong the following: Jan Garlicki (settled here
probably ca. mid-17lh century, regularly documented between 1667 and 1683) and
Christian Gabe (after he moved to nearby Olesno in Opole-Racibórz Silesia he was
also documented there from 1670 on, d. in 1680). The first of them was, among
others, the author of the magnificent altar of the miraculous figure of the Mother of
God in the Dominican church in Gidle (1669-1670, the artist worked also for other
orders of the monastery until 1672). Christian Gabe is supposed to have worked on
the main altar in the church of the Regular Lateran Canons in Olesno (1668). The
long-term activity of the two artists exerted much influence on the whole milieu, and
the further representatives of the fourth generation of sculptors from Częstochówka
were recruited from J. Garlicki’s or Ch. Gabe’s workshops. They are the following:
the anonymous L‘Beszowa Master,” working from the mid-1670s to about 1690 in
Częstochówka and its surroundings (among other things, he was engaged in the
Pauline church in Beszowa, at Jasna Góra, and in Wielgomłyny), a Pauline brother-
layperson Andrzej Siarczyński (b. 1625/1626 - d. 1703), the first sculptor in this
religious order, the author of many decorative elements for their church in
Wieruszów (after 1680 - 1695), and a numerous group of lesser sculptors, imitating
until the beginning of the eighteenth century the style of small architecture and
sculpture from the circles of J. Garlicki and Ch. Gabe.
In terms of geography and with regard to the high class of the woodcarving works
from Częstochowa, spread over a large area of central and northern Little Poland,
the former Sieradz and Wieluń territories and the bordering territories of Opole-
Racibórz Silesia, have made us place this sculpture centre as one of the main that
had an influence on Polish woodcarving in the seventeenth century, and in particular
in the second half of this century. The text does not solve all problems connected
with its history or problems, nevertheless it is a ground for further comparative
research from analogous centres administered by religious orders or particular abbeys
or convents in Lower Silesia and in the countries of the Habsburg monarchy.
Translated by Jan Kłos
181
monastery from ca. 1624 to 1630. The sculptors made, among other things, the group
of eight side altars (ca. 1624-1628), the magnificent choir stalls (1627-1629, until
1633), and the monumental main retable in the basilica of Jasna Góra (1632-1634,
completed before 1638). After G. Zimmermann had left for good and gone to
Cracow the workshop was taken over by T. Scholtz. The latter completed the later
orders from the religious in the years of 1630-1637, e.g. the side altars and the choir
organ prospect for the basilica. He probably took other orders in the surrounding of
Częstochowa. It was also Christian Kregel (documented in Częstochówka 1631- after
1674) who belonged to this workshop and became independent as a master in the
second half of the 1630s, the author of several smaller decorative elements for the
monastery at Jasna Góra. One his elder sons, Martin (Marcin Kregel), was also a
woodcarver. He was first taught by his father and worked in Pińczów between 1654
and 1669, also at the service of the then Pauline monastery. To the third generation
of the sculptors from Częstochówka belong the following: Jan Garlicki (settled here
probably ca. mid-17lh century, regularly documented between 1667 and 1683) and
Christian Gabe (after he moved to nearby Olesno in Opole-Racibórz Silesia he was
also documented there from 1670 on, d. in 1680). The first of them was, among
others, the author of the magnificent altar of the miraculous figure of the Mother of
God in the Dominican church in Gidle (1669-1670, the artist worked also for other
orders of the monastery until 1672). Christian Gabe is supposed to have worked on
the main altar in the church of the Regular Lateran Canons in Olesno (1668). The
long-term activity of the two artists exerted much influence on the whole milieu, and
the further representatives of the fourth generation of sculptors from Częstochówka
were recruited from J. Garlicki’s or Ch. Gabe’s workshops. They are the following:
the anonymous L‘Beszowa Master,” working from the mid-1670s to about 1690 in
Częstochówka and its surroundings (among other things, he was engaged in the
Pauline church in Beszowa, at Jasna Góra, and in Wielgomłyny), a Pauline brother-
layperson Andrzej Siarczyński (b. 1625/1626 - d. 1703), the first sculptor in this
religious order, the author of many decorative elements for their church in
Wieruszów (after 1680 - 1695), and a numerous group of lesser sculptors, imitating
until the beginning of the eighteenth century the style of small architecture and
sculpture from the circles of J. Garlicki and Ch. Gabe.
In terms of geography and with regard to the high class of the woodcarving works
from Częstochowa, spread over a large area of central and northern Little Poland,
the former Sieradz and Wieluń territories and the bordering territories of Opole-
Racibórz Silesia, have made us place this sculpture centre as one of the main that
had an influence on Polish woodcarving in the seventeenth century, and in particular
in the second half of this century. The text does not solve all problems connected
with its history or problems, nevertheless it is a ground for further comparative
research from analogous centres administered by religious orders or particular abbeys
or convents in Lower Silesia and in the countries of the Habsburg monarchy.
Translated by Jan Kłos