POLISH ART 17TH-19TH C.
 

Witold Wojtkiewicz, A Call 1908

The exhibition comprises painting, sculpture and decorative arts arranged chronologically. It starts from the collection of portraits (17th- 18thc.) that are a very specific phenomenon in Polish Baroque art.   Works of artists from the circle of court painters to King Stanisław August, as Marceli Bacciarelli and Bernardo Bellotto (known in Poland as Canaletto) reflect principles of Classicism, similarly to works by Jan Chrzciciel Lampi and also portraits by Jan Rustem and Kazimierz Wojniakowski.   Paintings by Franciszek Smuglewicz and Rafał Hadziewicz are characteristic of Historical painting.   Valuable and rich scale of exhibits exemplify so-called Biedermeier portraits of the second quarter of the 19thc., notably those by painters from Lvov school (Jan Kanty Maszkowski, Alojzy Rejchan, Karol Schweikart), glorifying prosperous and calm livelihood of the middle class.

Painting of the second half of the 19thc. is represented by works of Artur Grottger and Jan Matejko. Apart from Grottger's paintings his famous drawings' seriesWarsaw IandWarare shown occasionally (having regard to conservational rules). The Museum's holdings includes also, among other works by Matejko, his last, unfinished paintingThe Oath of King Jan Kazimierzand a sequence of drawingsThe Galaxy of Polish Kings and Princess. On display are works by Henryk Rodakowski, Wilhelm Leopolski, Wojciech Gerson, Józef Szermentowski, Józef Chełmoński, Aleksander Gierymski and Maurycy Gottlieb.

The survey is complemented by paintings of artists working on the turn of the 19th, like Jacek Malczewski, Olga Boznańska, Władysław Ślewiński, Stanisław Dębicki, Władysław Podkowiński, Leon Wyczółkowski, Witold Wojtkiewicz, Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Pankiewicz and Wojciech Weiss.

Painting is accompanied by sculpture (for instance works by Marceli Guyski, Wacław Szymanowski, Konstanty Laszczka) and decorative arts. To the most interesting belong: the completekontuszattire of the mid-19thc., a collection of eighteenth-century sash-belts from the most famous Polish manufactories (Słuck, Kobyłka, Grodno), octagonal table clocks from the second half of the 18thc. and the first half of the 19thc., the pottery and glass units from well known eighteenth and ninetieth century Polish factories (namely faience and porcelain from Ćmielów, faience from Wolff's workshop, porcelain made at Korzec and Baranówka, maiolica from Nieborow, glass from Radziwiłłs' factory in Naliboki). Worthy of mention is also the furniture of around 1830, originally housed in a cabinet of vice-regent of Galicia, Kazimierz Badeni.

There are on display, too, examples of bookbinding and book decoration, mostly from the turn of the 19thc.