DOI Artikel:
Kuczman, Kazimierz: Renesansowe glowy wawelskie. Stan wiedzy i postulaty badawcze
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19896#0096
probably consisted of rectangular coffers with cut-off corners, con-
taining heads, while the rectangular fields formed by the corners of
four coffers were filled with rosettes. The centre of the ceiling was
decorated with five coats of arms of the Jagiellonian and Sforza
families, surrounding a metal chandelier with a lion.
From 1796 the Wawel was occupied by Austrian troops, who
converted it into army barracks. The ceilings of the castle rooms were
destroyed in the first decade of the 19th century. Some of the sculp-
tured heads were rescued by Princess Izabela Czartoryska, who
placed them in her residence at Puławy. At a later datę six of them
passed to some other private owner and the rest were taken away
by the Russians to Moscow. In the years 1921-1922 thirty heads
returned to the Wawel. After their restoration they were set in the
new ceiling of the Audience Hall. In 1993 they were subjected to
another, thorough restoration carried out by conservators from the
Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow.
The heads were carved in linden wood and polychromed. Their
„expressive realism” undoubtedly stems from South German art -
according to Anna Misiąg-Bocheńska, from that of Heinrich Iselin
and Adolf Daucher. Despite their stylistic uniformity the sculptures
vary in artistic ąuality and in the treatment of details, this pointing
to their execution by morę than one artist.
Among several attempts at interpreting the significance of the
heads, nonę has been accepted unreservedly. Some scholars claimed
that the heads refer to some historical celebrations or illustrate
a literary work. Others, assuming the ceiling to be a symbolic celes-
tial sphere, regarded the heads as an illustration of either Neopla-
tonic or astrological content. Endowed with a great psychological
expression, the faces of mythological figures and representatives of
various social groups (rulers, dignitaries, courtiers and maids of
honour, noblemen and burghers, soldiers and artists) - in the present
author’s opinion - seem to convey the idea of the alliance of the
nations 1 iving under the rule of the Jagiellons and Sforzas. This was
then perhaps a sculptured panegyric in honour of King Sigismund
the Old and his spouse Bona Sforza, the apotheosis of the union of
the Houses of Jagiełło and Sforza. The presence of mythological
among real figures and their facial expression, indicating participa-
tion in some happening, bring to mind associations with the literary
works celebrating the nuptials of Sigismund 1 with Bona, especially
with the Latin epithalamia of Andrzej Krzycki and Jan Dantyszek as
well as a poem by an Italian, Carmignano. Apart from the main
content, the decoration of the ceiling may also have expressed some
Neoplatonic ideas and astrological lorę. According to the present
author, the thematic programme of the ceiling with the heads was
taining heads, while the rectangular fields formed by the corners of
four coffers were filled with rosettes. The centre of the ceiling was
decorated with five coats of arms of the Jagiellonian and Sforza
families, surrounding a metal chandelier with a lion.
From 1796 the Wawel was occupied by Austrian troops, who
converted it into army barracks. The ceilings of the castle rooms were
destroyed in the first decade of the 19th century. Some of the sculp-
tured heads were rescued by Princess Izabela Czartoryska, who
placed them in her residence at Puławy. At a later datę six of them
passed to some other private owner and the rest were taken away
by the Russians to Moscow. In the years 1921-1922 thirty heads
returned to the Wawel. After their restoration they were set in the
new ceiling of the Audience Hall. In 1993 they were subjected to
another, thorough restoration carried out by conservators from the
Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow.
The heads were carved in linden wood and polychromed. Their
„expressive realism” undoubtedly stems from South German art -
according to Anna Misiąg-Bocheńska, from that of Heinrich Iselin
and Adolf Daucher. Despite their stylistic uniformity the sculptures
vary in artistic ąuality and in the treatment of details, this pointing
to their execution by morę than one artist.
Among several attempts at interpreting the significance of the
heads, nonę has been accepted unreservedly. Some scholars claimed
that the heads refer to some historical celebrations or illustrate
a literary work. Others, assuming the ceiling to be a symbolic celes-
tial sphere, regarded the heads as an illustration of either Neopla-
tonic or astrological content. Endowed with a great psychological
expression, the faces of mythological figures and representatives of
various social groups (rulers, dignitaries, courtiers and maids of
honour, noblemen and burghers, soldiers and artists) - in the present
author’s opinion - seem to convey the idea of the alliance of the
nations 1 iving under the rule of the Jagiellons and Sforzas. This was
then perhaps a sculptured panegyric in honour of King Sigismund
the Old and his spouse Bona Sforza, the apotheosis of the union of
the Houses of Jagiełło and Sforza. The presence of mythological
among real figures and their facial expression, indicating participa-
tion in some happening, bring to mind associations with the literary
works celebrating the nuptials of Sigismund 1 with Bona, especially
with the Latin epithalamia of Andrzej Krzycki and Jan Dantyszek as
well as a poem by an Italian, Carmignano. Apart from the main
content, the decoration of the ceiling may also have expressed some
Neoplatonic ideas and astrological lorę. According to the present
author, the thematic programme of the ceiling with the heads was