DOI article:
Frey-Stecowa, Beata: Rola grafiki w powstaniu renesansowych fryzów podstropowych w Zamku Królewskim na Wawelu
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19893#0092
Na podkreślenie zasługuje fakt, że wśród ma-
larzy wykonujących wawelskie fryzy podstropowe
największą popularnością cieszyły się ryciny arty-
stów niemieckich, choć sporadycznie korzystano
również z rycin włoskich. W dużej mierze wpłynęło
to na charakter większości malowideł; oba fryzy
o tematyce rycerskiej, a także fryzy w salach
pierwszego piętra i malowidło w „izbie wielkiej"
noszą wyraźne piętno sztuki niemieckiej.
Badania zmierzające do ustalenia stopnia zależ-
ności wawelskich fryzów od grafiki nie tylko pozwoliły
na wskazanie graficznych pierwowzorów dla niektó-
rych fryzów lub ich fragmentów; wyniki owych badań
dają też podstawy do weryfikacji dotychczasowych
poglądów na temat czasu powstania malowideł w po-
mieszczeniach pierwszego piętra zamku, które
w dotychczasowej literaturze przedmiotu datowano
na lata przed rokiem 1530 lub około tego roku71.
Fakt wzorowania się twórców tych fryzów na ryci-
nach z lat trzydziestych XVI wieku (jedna z nich
pochodzi z roku 1538) świadczy, że fryzy te powstać
musiały później niż dotąd przypuszczano.
Określenie sposobu w jaki twórcy fryzów po-
sługiwali się grafiką przydatne też będzie przy
próbie ustalenia autorstwa tych malowideł, co do
których brak danych archiwalnych72.
Zob. Estreicher, Kraków..., s. 234; Burnatowa, o.c,
s. 143; KZSP, 4: Miasto Kraków, cz. 1: Wawel, pod red. J.
Szabłowskiego, Warszawa 1965, s. 56; J. Białostocki,
The Renaissance in Eastern Europę. Hungaria. Bohemia. Poland,
Oxford 1976, s. 18; S. Mossakowski, Renesansowy pałac
wawelski a polska myśl polityczna i filozoficzna epoki [w;]
Idem, Sztuka jako świadectwo czasu. Studia z pogranicza
historii sztuki i historii idei, Warszawa 1980, s. 106.
72 Sprawie autorstwa fryzów poświęcony będzie osobny
artykuł, przygotowywany do druku.
THE ROLE OF GRAPHIC ART IN THE CREATION OF RENAISSANCE FRIEZES
IN THE WAWEL ROYAL CASTLE
Summary
The hitherto published literaturę has repeatedly taken up
the problem of the influence of graphic art on the authors of
the Renaissance friezes painted below the ceilings of the rooms
in the Wawel castle, which survive in fragments. However,
while noting this influence, the researchers did not amplify
their observations or point to any specific engravings that
would be more closely linked with particular friezes. A thorough
study of the problem permits the statement that the role of
engravings was significant though slightly different for each
frieze.
The strongest dependence on graphic models - four engrav-
ings depicting tournaments, executed by Lucas Cranach the
Elder in 1506 and 1509 - appears in the frieze decorating
the Tournament Room. Also the one in the corner room on
the first floor of the east wing owes a great deal to engravings,
recalling in its entire composition a woodcut by Peter Flotner,
while its main grotesque-vegetal motif was modelled on a 1538
engraving by Heinrich Aldegrever; in addition, the artist probab-
ly made use of those by Hans Sebald Beham, Georg Pencz,
and Hans Brosamer as well as the woodcuts illustrating the
biographies of emperors, written by Johann Huttich, in the
1534 edition. The plant ornaments present in the frieze of the
adjacent room in tum owe their form to Nikolaus Wilborns's
engravings, while the heads in medallions refer in their ap-
pearance to the heads in graphic works by Virgil Solis. Likewise
the repeated anthropomorphic-vegetal motif in the fresco adorn-
ing the „great hall" in the building over the gateway has its
graphic prototype - an engraving by Hans Sebald Beham; the
woodcuts of this artist contain numerous details which are
also present in the Wawel frieze. Analysis of the fresco in the
Audience Hall demonstrated that the author of that painting
had been more independent, and even when he made use of
engravings, he treated them — both those illustrating the
dialogue of Tabula Cebetis and those dealing with other subjects
- as sources of inspiration and not ready models, although
close affinities discernible on comparison of fragments of the
frieze with engravings by Nicoletto da Modena and Georg
Pencz seem to justify their being considered in the pattern-
imitation relation. The painter of the fresco in the Military
Review Room drew on graphic works in a similar way. It
should also be recalled that - as I demonstrated elsewhere -
the portraits of emperors and women from imperial families
in the frieze decorating the Wawel galleries were painted on
the basis of engravings illustrating the biographies by Andrea
Fulvio.
The graphic works that enjoyed the greatest popularity among
the painters of the Wawel friezes were those by German artists,
though sporadically recourse was also made to Italian engravings.
This considerably influenced the character of the majority of the
paintings; the two friezes with knightly themes, as well as those
in the first-floor rooms, and another in the „great hall" bear the
elear stamp of German art. The studies aimed at establishment
of the degree of dependence of the Wawel freseoes on graphic
works not only made possible the indication of graphic prototypes
for some paintings or their fragments, but the results of these
investigations also justified the verification of the hitherto existing
opinions on the age of the friezes in the rooms on the first floor
of the castle, until now dated in the literaturę as the years before
or around 1530. The fact that the painters of the friezes sought
models in engravings dating from the 1530s (one of them was
executed in 1538) indicates that they must have been done later
than hitherto supposed.
Furthermore, the determination of the manner in which
the fresco painters made use of graphic works will be helpful
in an attempt at establishing the authorship of the friezes,
for which we lack archival data.
88
larzy wykonujących wawelskie fryzy podstropowe
największą popularnością cieszyły się ryciny arty-
stów niemieckich, choć sporadycznie korzystano
również z rycin włoskich. W dużej mierze wpłynęło
to na charakter większości malowideł; oba fryzy
o tematyce rycerskiej, a także fryzy w salach
pierwszego piętra i malowidło w „izbie wielkiej"
noszą wyraźne piętno sztuki niemieckiej.
Badania zmierzające do ustalenia stopnia zależ-
ności wawelskich fryzów od grafiki nie tylko pozwoliły
na wskazanie graficznych pierwowzorów dla niektó-
rych fryzów lub ich fragmentów; wyniki owych badań
dają też podstawy do weryfikacji dotychczasowych
poglądów na temat czasu powstania malowideł w po-
mieszczeniach pierwszego piętra zamku, które
w dotychczasowej literaturze przedmiotu datowano
na lata przed rokiem 1530 lub około tego roku71.
Fakt wzorowania się twórców tych fryzów na ryci-
nach z lat trzydziestych XVI wieku (jedna z nich
pochodzi z roku 1538) świadczy, że fryzy te powstać
musiały później niż dotąd przypuszczano.
Określenie sposobu w jaki twórcy fryzów po-
sługiwali się grafiką przydatne też będzie przy
próbie ustalenia autorstwa tych malowideł, co do
których brak danych archiwalnych72.
Zob. Estreicher, Kraków..., s. 234; Burnatowa, o.c,
s. 143; KZSP, 4: Miasto Kraków, cz. 1: Wawel, pod red. J.
Szabłowskiego, Warszawa 1965, s. 56; J. Białostocki,
The Renaissance in Eastern Europę. Hungaria. Bohemia. Poland,
Oxford 1976, s. 18; S. Mossakowski, Renesansowy pałac
wawelski a polska myśl polityczna i filozoficzna epoki [w;]
Idem, Sztuka jako świadectwo czasu. Studia z pogranicza
historii sztuki i historii idei, Warszawa 1980, s. 106.
72 Sprawie autorstwa fryzów poświęcony będzie osobny
artykuł, przygotowywany do druku.
THE ROLE OF GRAPHIC ART IN THE CREATION OF RENAISSANCE FRIEZES
IN THE WAWEL ROYAL CASTLE
Summary
The hitherto published literaturę has repeatedly taken up
the problem of the influence of graphic art on the authors of
the Renaissance friezes painted below the ceilings of the rooms
in the Wawel castle, which survive in fragments. However,
while noting this influence, the researchers did not amplify
their observations or point to any specific engravings that
would be more closely linked with particular friezes. A thorough
study of the problem permits the statement that the role of
engravings was significant though slightly different for each
frieze.
The strongest dependence on graphic models - four engrav-
ings depicting tournaments, executed by Lucas Cranach the
Elder in 1506 and 1509 - appears in the frieze decorating
the Tournament Room. Also the one in the corner room on
the first floor of the east wing owes a great deal to engravings,
recalling in its entire composition a woodcut by Peter Flotner,
while its main grotesque-vegetal motif was modelled on a 1538
engraving by Heinrich Aldegrever; in addition, the artist probab-
ly made use of those by Hans Sebald Beham, Georg Pencz,
and Hans Brosamer as well as the woodcuts illustrating the
biographies of emperors, written by Johann Huttich, in the
1534 edition. The plant ornaments present in the frieze of the
adjacent room in tum owe their form to Nikolaus Wilborns's
engravings, while the heads in medallions refer in their ap-
pearance to the heads in graphic works by Virgil Solis. Likewise
the repeated anthropomorphic-vegetal motif in the fresco adorn-
ing the „great hall" in the building over the gateway has its
graphic prototype - an engraving by Hans Sebald Beham; the
woodcuts of this artist contain numerous details which are
also present in the Wawel frieze. Analysis of the fresco in the
Audience Hall demonstrated that the author of that painting
had been more independent, and even when he made use of
engravings, he treated them — both those illustrating the
dialogue of Tabula Cebetis and those dealing with other subjects
- as sources of inspiration and not ready models, although
close affinities discernible on comparison of fragments of the
frieze with engravings by Nicoletto da Modena and Georg
Pencz seem to justify their being considered in the pattern-
imitation relation. The painter of the fresco in the Military
Review Room drew on graphic works in a similar way. It
should also be recalled that - as I demonstrated elsewhere -
the portraits of emperors and women from imperial families
in the frieze decorating the Wawel galleries were painted on
the basis of engravings illustrating the biographies by Andrea
Fulvio.
The graphic works that enjoyed the greatest popularity among
the painters of the Wawel friezes were those by German artists,
though sporadically recourse was also made to Italian engravings.
This considerably influenced the character of the majority of the
paintings; the two friezes with knightly themes, as well as those
in the first-floor rooms, and another in the „great hall" bear the
elear stamp of German art. The studies aimed at establishment
of the degree of dependence of the Wawel freseoes on graphic
works not only made possible the indication of graphic prototypes
for some paintings or their fragments, but the results of these
investigations also justified the verification of the hitherto existing
opinions on the age of the friezes in the rooms on the first floor
of the castle, until now dated in the literaturę as the years before
or around 1530. The fact that the painters of the friezes sought
models in engravings dating from the 1530s (one of them was
executed in 1538) indicates that they must have been done later
than hitherto supposed.
Furthermore, the determination of the manner in which
the fresco painters made use of graphic works will be helpful
in an attempt at establishing the authorship of the friezes,
for which we lack archival data.
88