Studia Waweliana (14.2009)

MICHAŁ STACHOWICZA SKETCHBOOK IN THE WAWEL ROYAL CASTLEA COLLECTION
AND UNKNOWN MATERIAŁ CONCERNING THE HISTORICAL STUDY OF JAN PAWEŁ WORONICZ
AND MONUMENTA REGUM POLONIAE CRACOUIENSIA
S u m m a r y

A sketchbook belonging to Michał Stachowicz, bought on the
antiquarian market in 1976 is part of the Wawel Royal Castle’s
museum collection. The sketchbook occupies an exceptional place
among the numerous drawings of this painter, whose works have
great significance for research into the iconography of Cracow. Of
particular interest is not only the number of pages with drawings - 33
in all - but above all the fact that the drawings are linked to the works
of Stachowicz that played a crucial role in the culture of Cracow and
the whole of Poland in the nineteenth century. The sketchbook is not
dated but historical analysis suggests it dates from around 1820.
Three groups of drawings deserve special attention. They are
sketches drawn during work on the album entitled Monumenta
Regum Poloniae Cracoviensia'. designs for elements of the decor
of Jan Paweł Woronicz’s Historical Study, also a hitherto unknown
picture of the study dating from around 1820, as well as drawings
madę by Stachowicz during his journey to Warsaw in the same year;
including views of the Royal Łazienki Gardens and a church in the
smali town of Przysucha, on the road from Cracow.
The comparison of the sketches for Monumenta Regum with
the finished prints, as well as a previously unpublished bill in the
National Museum in Krakow’s collection madę out by the artist for
some of the drawings for Monumenta Regum offer evidence that the

sketches datę from the last phase of that monumental work of art.
In addition it ought to be stated that the publishers’ plans for that
publication were in a State of flux at that time.
A similar conclusion may be drawn in the case of the decorations
for the Historical Study in the Bishop’s Pałace in Cracow. The
sketchbook from the Wawel collection includes designs for grisaille
paintings decorating the room’s borders. Among battle scenes we can
find others which were not finally used for the study’s decoration,
demonstrating that around 1820 the contractor was still undecided
about certain details. Stachowicz went to Warsaw on the invitation
of Woronicz, which is confirmed in a letter from the latter to the
artist preserved in the collection of Historical Museum of the City of
Cracow. The fact that the artist took his sketchbook with him suggests
that the sketch of the study’s interior was presented to the bishop as
evidence of the State of completion of the work in the pałace.
The Wawel sketchbook and the other documents mentioned - in
particular the bill from the National Museum in Cracow bearing the
title Konotatka - provide information on the progress of work on two
of Stachowicz’s most important works of art. The drawings madę in
Warsaw and Przysucha, on the other hand, are interesting records of
what was probably the only long journey taken by the artist.
tłumaczyła Irena French