THE CASKET WITH A RELIEF PORTRAIT OF THE KING STEFAN BATORY: BETWEEN ART AND POLITICS
Abstract
In connection with the reconstruction of the Old Castle in the Belarusian city of Grodno during the reign of King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stefan Batory, there is an interest of the scientific community to the personality of the monarch, as well as to the objects of art associated with him. In this context, unusual metal boxes in the collection of the State Hermitage and other museums are of great interest: on the lids of these items, made in the style of the late 16th century, there is a relief image of the king, referring to his tombstone in Krakow. The absence in Russian literature of studies devoted to this monument makes the analysis of the circumstances of the appearance and existence of caskets. In the course of scientific research, it was possible to attribute these artifacts and date them to the mid-19th century, as well as establish the names of the authors of the models and the name of the factory in Warsaw, which produced the boxes. The creation of these samples of artistic metal products was due to the specific cultural and political conditions in which the western provinces of the Russian Empire were located. The boxes with the image of King Stefan Batory were part of a whole series of “national souvenirs” dedicated to Polish political and cultural figures, including the monarchs of the disappeared Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Associated with the “Polish theme”, the products of the Warsaw factory in the 1860s fell victim to the political changes that followed the suppression of another uprising and were discontinued. Nevertheless, the boxes with the tombstones of the Polish kings managed to become not only a part of the everyday life of the inhabitants of the Russian Empire, but also ended up in the collections of educational museums at art schools in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Thus, the study of unusual artifacts makes it possible to introduce objects related to the iconography of Stefan Batory into the Russian scientific circulation, and to enrich knowledge about artistic metal products in Russia in the 19th century.
References
Biblioteka Warszawska, 1858, vol. 3. 804 p. (in Polish)
Borkhers V.; Viust F.; Treptov E. Promyshlennost’ i tekhnika. Tom 5: Gornoe delo i metallurgiia (Industry and Technology. Vol. 5: Mining and Metallurgy). Saint Petersburg, Prosveshchenie Publ., 1901. 682 p. (in Russian)
Denisov Iu. N. Rossiia i Pol’sha. Istoriia vzaimootnoshenii v 17–20 vekakh (Russia and Poland. The History of Relationships in the 17th – 20th Сenturies). Moscow, Flinta; Nauka Publ., 2012. 605 p. (in Russian)
Dubrowska M.; Sołtan A. Brązownictwo warszawskie w XIX i XX wieku. Od Norblina do Łopieńskich. Warsaw, Wydawnictwo DiG Publ., 1999. 160 p. (in Polish)
Dubrowska M.; Sołtan A. Od guzika do pomnika. Brązownictwo warszawskie XIX–XX wieku. Katalog wystawy zorganizowanej w ramach obchodów IV wieków stołeczności Warszawy. Warsaw, Muzeum Historyczne Warszawy Publ., 1996. 60 p. (in Polish)
Dubrowska M.; Sołtan A. Rzemiosło artystyczne Minterów, 1828–1881. Warsaw, Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe Publ., 1987. 208 p. (in Polish)
Dziennik Warszawski, 1853, no. 58, pp. 1–3. (in Polish)
Gazeta Warszawska, 1857, no. 184. 6 p. (in Polish)
“Itogi vsekh vekov”. Epokha istorizma v Rossii. 1820–1890-e gody (“Results of All Centuries”. Historicism in Russia). Saint Petersburg, Slaviia Publ., 2014. 274 p. (in Russian)
Khudozhestvennyi metall v Rossii i Evrope v 19–20 vv. (Artistic Metal in Russia and Europe in the 19th – 20th Centuries). Ekaterinburg, Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts Publ., 2015. 74 p. (in Russian)
Kozakevich Kh.; Kozakevich S. Renessans v Pol’she (Renaissance in Poland). Warsaw, Arkady Publ., 1977. 348 p. (in Russian)
Mikocka K. Nagrobki Stefana Batorego i Anny Jagiellonki w Katedrze Wawelskiej. Kilka uwag i hipotez. Rocznik Historii Sztuki, 1984, no. 14, pp. 81–103. (in Polish)
Persi D. Dopolneniia k metallurgii chuguna (Additions to Iron Metallurgy). Saint Petersburg, Izdatel’stvo A. Transhelia Publ., 1880. 250 p. (in Russian)
Savina L. N. To the History of the Production and Existence of Copper Art Casting in the 19th – Early 20th Centuries. Russkoe mednoe lit’e (Russian Copper Casting). Issue 1. Moscow, 1993, pp. 48–55. (in Russian)
Świtek A. Miniatura sarkofagu Kazimierza Jagiellończyka z kaplicy Świętokrzyskiej w katedrze na Wawelu. The official site of Wilanow palace. Available at: https://www.wilanow-palac.pl/miniatura_sarkofagu_kazimierza_jagiellonczyka_z_kaplicy_swietokrzyskiej_w_katedrze_na_wawelu.html (accessed: 11 April 2021). (in Polish)
