DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23631#0019
building materials and the new Gothic style appeared in burghers' houses and lords' castles. When Casimir
died in 1370 without leaving male issue, the throne of Poland passed to his nephew, Louis of Hungary,
son of Charles Robert of Hungary and Elizabeth, daughter of Ladislaus the Short of Poland. He was
succeeded by his daughter Jadwiga (Hedvig) who was wedded to Ladislaus Jagiello, Grand Duke of
Lithuania, thereby beginning the union between Poland and Lithuania, at first only in the person of the
monarch, and in the 16th century transformed into a real union between the two countries which then
formed the powerful Commonwealth of the Two Nations.Poland became a multinational state, a kingdom
of estates in which the gentry played an increasingly dominant role. Under the influence of multiple,
occasionally antagonistic factors, social, political, economic and cultural changes gradually took place.
During the reign of the last monarchs of the Piast dynasty and in the early Jagiellon period, the Gothic
style predominated in architecture, the fine arts, and applied art. First introduced in Poland in the
13th century, it continued until the 1 520s, when it had to cede place to the Renaissance, though in some
crafts, the goldsmith's craft in particular, it lasted much longer. Its vitality was due to its clearly defin-
ed tectonics and the kind of decorative motifs, mostly abstract, and geometrical, it used. Its forms were
angular and pointed though it gradually adopted plant motifs transmuted into dry, prismatic, intertwined
patterns, or naturalistic designs of leaves, twigs, flowers and animals, in strongly outlined contours.
Gothic, an aggressive, expressive style, encompassed every sphere of art, from awe-inspiring cathedrals,
to miniature pieces of jewelry. The Gothic style transgressed all former social barriers to art, it penetrated
royal and noble residences, manor-houses and burghers' homes, and even reached to the villages and
rural cottages — it was a style universally adopted and admired. As a result of general changes in the view
of the world it underwent certain transformations and thus two phases of the style were noted practically
everywhere. The earlier stage, known as the 'soft', 'beautiful', 'international' Gothic, attained its apogee
about the year 1400 and was linked with cosmopolitan, idealistic court culture. The latter stage known
as the 'broken' style, which reached the peak of its development in 1450, represented a turn towards
realism. It was associated above all with urban culture and endeavoured to present man and the world
in more natural and comprehensible manner. This Gothic naturalism foreshadowed the advent of the
Renaissance. The logical sequence of styles reflected the struggle between idealism and realism, which
continued throughout the Middle Ages also in other domains, philosophy in particular.
While in the early Middle Ages, the arts were sponsored by sovereigns, feudal lords and the clergy,
in the 14th and 1 5 th centuries rich burgher families increasingly took over this role, particularly as regards
applied art, which was not surprising seeing that workshops centred in towns. The division into
arts and crafts, inherited from antiquity, persisted. The former included literature, music, drama, geometry
and astronomy, while the latter demanded manual skills and thus encompassed painting and sculpture.
Painters, in addition to pictures, also painted knights' shields and jousting lances, emblems, sign-boards
and coaches; sculptors occasionally worked as.stonemasons. Painters and sculptors, just like bricklayers
and stonemasons, were members of guilds. Every master had his own workshop in which journeymen and
apprentices worked under his guidance. The code laying down rules, methods and standards of work
was very strictly observed. In fact, artists formed part of the stratum of craftsmen, linked together by
their common social standing, their rights and obligations. Works of art which came into existence in
these workshops were usually unsigned, anonymous. Although various records mention names of painters
and sculptors, in most cases it is impossible to attribute to them any specific work. Anonymity was the
principle which governed medieval art, the more so as many works were the result of collective effort.
Similarly to the earlier medieval period, we have at our disposal only a few, often fragmentary, authen-
tic examples of Polish 14th and 1 5th century applied art. Some of the objects preserved are
obviously of foreign origin, some are the work of foreign masters who were invited to the royal court,
or became guild members in Polish cities. Only relatively few objects are hypothetically considered to be
the work of Polish masters, or made under the inspiration of the Polish national style and artistic tastes.
However thanks to written and iconographic sources — fairly abundant and of excellent artistic quality
— we can try and reconstruct the state of this branch of national culture in the late medieval period.
Beginning the review of this period, in accordance with our accepted principle, from the most important
objects, it behoves us to recall the loss of the noblest jewel of the Polish state — the crown used at the
coronation of Ladislaus the Short, subsequently known as the original or the privileged crown [corona origi-
nalis or pnvilegiata) preserved since 1 3 20 in the Royal Treasury at Wawel Castle, and used at the coronation
of practically every Polish king, right up to Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski. Looted by the Prussians,
died in 1370 without leaving male issue, the throne of Poland passed to his nephew, Louis of Hungary,
son of Charles Robert of Hungary and Elizabeth, daughter of Ladislaus the Short of Poland. He was
succeeded by his daughter Jadwiga (Hedvig) who was wedded to Ladislaus Jagiello, Grand Duke of
Lithuania, thereby beginning the union between Poland and Lithuania, at first only in the person of the
monarch, and in the 16th century transformed into a real union between the two countries which then
formed the powerful Commonwealth of the Two Nations.Poland became a multinational state, a kingdom
of estates in which the gentry played an increasingly dominant role. Under the influence of multiple,
occasionally antagonistic factors, social, political, economic and cultural changes gradually took place.
During the reign of the last monarchs of the Piast dynasty and in the early Jagiellon period, the Gothic
style predominated in architecture, the fine arts, and applied art. First introduced in Poland in the
13th century, it continued until the 1 520s, when it had to cede place to the Renaissance, though in some
crafts, the goldsmith's craft in particular, it lasted much longer. Its vitality was due to its clearly defin-
ed tectonics and the kind of decorative motifs, mostly abstract, and geometrical, it used. Its forms were
angular and pointed though it gradually adopted plant motifs transmuted into dry, prismatic, intertwined
patterns, or naturalistic designs of leaves, twigs, flowers and animals, in strongly outlined contours.
Gothic, an aggressive, expressive style, encompassed every sphere of art, from awe-inspiring cathedrals,
to miniature pieces of jewelry. The Gothic style transgressed all former social barriers to art, it penetrated
royal and noble residences, manor-houses and burghers' homes, and even reached to the villages and
rural cottages — it was a style universally adopted and admired. As a result of general changes in the view
of the world it underwent certain transformations and thus two phases of the style were noted practically
everywhere. The earlier stage, known as the 'soft', 'beautiful', 'international' Gothic, attained its apogee
about the year 1400 and was linked with cosmopolitan, idealistic court culture. The latter stage known
as the 'broken' style, which reached the peak of its development in 1450, represented a turn towards
realism. It was associated above all with urban culture and endeavoured to present man and the world
in more natural and comprehensible manner. This Gothic naturalism foreshadowed the advent of the
Renaissance. The logical sequence of styles reflected the struggle between idealism and realism, which
continued throughout the Middle Ages also in other domains, philosophy in particular.
While in the early Middle Ages, the arts were sponsored by sovereigns, feudal lords and the clergy,
in the 14th and 1 5 th centuries rich burgher families increasingly took over this role, particularly as regards
applied art, which was not surprising seeing that workshops centred in towns. The division into
arts and crafts, inherited from antiquity, persisted. The former included literature, music, drama, geometry
and astronomy, while the latter demanded manual skills and thus encompassed painting and sculpture.
Painters, in addition to pictures, also painted knights' shields and jousting lances, emblems, sign-boards
and coaches; sculptors occasionally worked as.stonemasons. Painters and sculptors, just like bricklayers
and stonemasons, were members of guilds. Every master had his own workshop in which journeymen and
apprentices worked under his guidance. The code laying down rules, methods and standards of work
was very strictly observed. In fact, artists formed part of the stratum of craftsmen, linked together by
their common social standing, their rights and obligations. Works of art which came into existence in
these workshops were usually unsigned, anonymous. Although various records mention names of painters
and sculptors, in most cases it is impossible to attribute to them any specific work. Anonymity was the
principle which governed medieval art, the more so as many works were the result of collective effort.
Similarly to the earlier medieval period, we have at our disposal only a few, often fragmentary, authen-
tic examples of Polish 14th and 1 5th century applied art. Some of the objects preserved are
obviously of foreign origin, some are the work of foreign masters who were invited to the royal court,
or became guild members in Polish cities. Only relatively few objects are hypothetically considered to be
the work of Polish masters, or made under the inspiration of the Polish national style and artistic tastes.
However thanks to written and iconographic sources — fairly abundant and of excellent artistic quality
— we can try and reconstruct the state of this branch of national culture in the late medieval period.
Beginning the review of this period, in accordance with our accepted principle, from the most important
objects, it behoves us to recall the loss of the noblest jewel of the Polish state — the crown used at the
coronation of Ladislaus the Short, subsequently known as the original or the privileged crown [corona origi-
nalis or pnvilegiata) preserved since 1 3 20 in the Royal Treasury at Wawel Castle, and used at the coronation
of practically every Polish king, right up to Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski. Looted by the Prussians,