Rocznik Historii Sztuki

The aim of the work is the analysis of the extensive collection of the zoological drawings by Samuel Niedenthal, that has been preserved in Dresden. They were executed using various techniques and they are depicting a variety of animal species. This article drew attention especially to studies of the insects. This legacy of Pomeranian zoology is unique and important considering the destruction of the painter’s artistic oeuvre, but also development of science in his time. Niedenthal’s depictions of animals, birds and insects are the first such complete compendium created in in the 17th Century Central Europe. The detailed pictures make it possible to identify species occurring in the area, representing the first records of them in Pomerania.

The aim of this article is to present the latest findings on the biography, family ties and professional career of the military engineer and architect Pierre Ricaud de Tirregauille. Ricaud’s reconstructed biography reveals a professional trajectory fairly typical of a French engineer of the first half of the 18th century. However, in this case, an innate drive for social advancement and scientific and academic aspirations propelled him from the role of a lieutenant engineer constructing field fortifications to the rank of a colonel of the Prussian army, collector, historian, lecturer and member of the intellectual and academic elite of Berlin during the time of Frederick II. His life’s journey – from his native Provence through Catalonia, Piedmont, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the Kingdom of Prussia also serves as a record of the engineer’s professional and social career. Despite his ambitions, he was almost completely forgotten for over two centuries, and historiography mentions only two of his works: the famous Plan de la Ville Varsovie dedie a S.M. Auguste III Roi de Pologne […] (1762) and the study Médailles sur les principaux événémens de L’Empire de Russie, depuis le règne de Pierre le Grand jusqu’à celui de Catherine II, avec des explications historiques (1772).

The article presents the importance of the Amphitheatre in the Royal Łazienki Museum, especially the stage located on the isle in the Southern Pond, in the context of the history of art, literature and theatre. Both the location of the historic building in the summer residence of Stanisław August, as well as its decoration and conservation problems were discussed. The rest of the article describes how important the symbolism of the island, ingrained in the 18th century, was in the process of creating new meanings for Łazienki architecture.

The Saxon Axis, a large baroque complex consisting of a royal palace with annexes, stables and other buildings, a front courtyard and a vast park complex, deprived of its residential function at the beginning of the modern era, as state property, became the subject of interest of the authorities aware of the key role of this complex in the city space. Throughout the 19th century, many architectural initiatives were undertaken to transform the palace and the square. The article attempts to prove that the plans for this place, both those designed and implemented, were subordinated primarily to the needs of the celebration and commemoration of power. The reconstruction of the Saxon Palace was intended only to create a worthy setting for a monument important to the government and a square intended for organizing state ceremonies.

The article serves as an afterword to the translation of “The Standard of Taste,” the final chapter of “Elements of Criticism” (1762) by Henry Home, Lord Kames published in the previous chapter of the journal.

Salomon Maimon is known to philosophy historians mainly as a critic and a follower of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy. Although the theory-cognitive issues dominate the studies on Maimon’s philosophical position, they do not exhaust the full potential of the rich writings of the philosopher. In Maimon’s extensive philosophical legacy of several dozen titles, one can also find treatises dedicated to aesthetic issues. In this article I seek to answer two questions: (1) Is the concept of genius presented in Maimon’s aesthetic writings – i.e. in Über die Ästhetik and above all in Das Genie und der methodische Erfinder – truly inspired solely by Kant’s philosophy? (2) Can the content of Maimon’s aesthetic writings as a whole be reduced to the issue of genius in science, as some authors seem to suggest?

In this article, I reconstruct the concept of aesthetic experience put forward by the Scottish clergyman Archibald Alison (1757–1839) in his Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste (1790 and 1811). I focus on the most critical assumptions of his aesthetics and its concepts.

The article takes up a theme of nuns-artists and modern art in Polish People’s Republic during the aggiornamento. Modernist art in communist Poland didn’t solely evolve within state institutions. The changes spurred by the Vatican Council swiftly permeated nunneries. Religious artists, including those with advanced education like Zofia Wendorff-Serafinowicz, Sister Paula (1905–1989), a Benedictine nun from Żarnowiec; Małgorzata Bogucka (1918–1995), an Ursuline of the Roman Union from Wrocław; Alma Skrzydlewska (1930–2017), affiliated with the Congregation of Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Cross, engaged with the center for the visually impaired Laski near Warsaw; and Julitta Gołębiowska (1933–2011), a Pallottine nun from Gdańsk, swiftly embraced the modernist idiom in their creations. Some of them even ahead of the conclusion of the Vatican II era. Apart from their autonomous or unassisted works of sacred and religious art, the sisters also crafted numerous decorations for festive occasions like Christmas and Easter, adorned altars, curated exhibitions, designed theatrical sets, and produced cards and stationery. The former served liturgy and devotional needs, while the latter, closely related to Miriam Schapiro’s femmage, aimed to deepen mutual friendship and joy within the religious community. Both, moreover, can serve today as evidence of “many modernities.”