Jan de Witte

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Dominican Church , Lviv (1928).

Jan de Witte, also de Witt (*  July 8, 1709 near Poltava ; †  December 22, 1785 in Kamjanez-Podilskyj , both Ukraine ) was a Polish architect of the late baroque and lieutenant general of the Crown Army .

Origin and education

Kamianets-Podilskyi fortress .

Witte claimed to be descended from the Dutch statesman and mathematician Johan de Witt (1625–1672). The father was a Russian officer , a brother of the same Protestant provost in Marienwerder in East Prussia (today Kwidzyn ). Jan's unknown mother, who apparently died early, is said to have given birth to him on the day of the Battle of Poltava in the army camp of victorious Peter the Great . The father later entered Polish service and accepted the Roman Catholic faith. Jan grew up in Kamyanets-Podilskyj, the capital of the Podolia Voivodeship . There he got a stepmother of Armenian origin named Konstancja, who gave birth to two more sons for the father.

After attending the Jesuit College , the 16-year-old joined the Royal Artillery Corps . His artistic talent and his career are likely to have been promoted by the poet Wacław Rzewuski , who was in command of Kamjanets from 1734–1737 and later Voivode of Podolia and field hetman of the Polish crown . As a new captain , Witte married Marianna Lubońska (1705–1780) around 1735, with whom he had five children.

Architectural work

Berdychiv Carmelite Church : dome (before 1918).

Witte's biographer Zbigniew Hornung (1903–1981) believed the young officer could have visited Prague , Vienna , Venice and Paris . In addition, he procured foreign specialist literature. According to the memorial inscription that artillery chief Alois Friedrich von Brühl dedicated to him, Witte paid homage to Minerva (science) as well as to the muse (art). But he left the execution of his works to others.

Beginning and culmination of his oeuvre from 18 churches, palaces and manor houses form the worship of the fortified Carmelite in the Volhynian Berdychiv (1737-1754) and the Dominican monastery Corpus Christi in Ruthenian Lviv (1744-1764), both in Ukraine. According to Witte's own statements, the plans for the Dominican Church were sent to Rome and received the applause of architects there. Hornung writes:

"(...) because of the amazing originality of its artistic concept, the Dominican Church of Lviv could easily be moved to one of the great capitals of Catholic Europe, including Paris and Rome (...)"

Other important architects worked in Lviv and the surrounding area during Witte's lifetime, such as Bernard Meretyn ( Greek Catholic St. George's Cathedral , Lviv), Gottfried Hoffmann ( Assumption Cathedral , Pochayiv ) and Paolo Fontana . Stefan Ittar should have received his first training there before he emigrated to Catania and Malta via Rome .

Military career

1751 Witte Major , 1754 Lieutenant Colonel 1762 Colonel . In Kamianets he is said to have redesigned the facade of the cathedral. But he could not give it any depth, as a minaret was built in front of it, which was converted into a Marian column in 1756 . For Prince Stanisław Lubomirski he designed his palace in Lviv (1763–1767). 1767 King appointed him Stanisław August to major general , in 1768 as commander of the fortress Kamyanets. During the war against the Bar Confederation , he stood by the king and Russia .

When Poland was first partitioned in 1772, Podolia remained part of the Rzeczpospolita , while Lviv became the capital of the Austrian Kingdom of Galicia (with the Lubomirski Palace as the seat of the governor). At that time Witte drew religious buildings for the Russian commander-in - chief in the Russo-Turkish War , Rumyantsev . He later maintained extensive correspondence with the pashas of the adjacent possessions of the Ottoman Empire who wanted Russia and Austria to split up next.

Who built in the 1780s Palace of Prince Lubomirski in Volhynian is Witte attributed Rivne . His authorship can also be assumed for the triumphal arch in Kamjanets, which commemorates Stanisław August's visit in 1781. The king made Witte lieutenant general, holder of his commandant post and knight of the Order of St. Stanisław . For the construction of new barracks in Kamjanez, however, he was preferred to Major Stanisław Zawadzki , who had studied at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. However, he was excluded from the army in 1783 after his colleague Hilary Szpilowski accused him of design errors.

Femme fatale as daughter-in-law

Unknown painter: Zofia de Witte, formerly Uman ( Ukraine ).

In 1779 Witte's son Jozef (1739-1815) married the Greek courtesan Zofia Glavani (1760-1822), who had followed the diplomat Karol Boscamp-Lasopolski from Istanbul to Poland. The poet Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz , who visited Kamjanez in 1780, described not only her beauty, which was paired with falsehood, but also her father-in-law: “Small in shape; black in the face, sensible, cunning, even knowledgeable about science. "

In 1781 Józef presented Zofia to the king in Warsaw . Then it went on to Berlin , Paris and Vienna. The "beautiful Bithynierin " seems to have become an icon of Turkish fashion ( Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio dates from 1782). She is also said to have had affairs in the very highest circles.

When Witte died in 1785, Józef took over his position as major general. After the outbreak of the Russo-Austrian Turkish War , he and his wife are said to have spied for Russia . Zofia became the last mistress of the Russian commander-in-chief Grigory Potjomkin . Józef left the Crown Army as lieutenant general in 1789 and entered Russian services as commander of Kherson (Ukraine).

After Potjomkin's death in 1791, Zofia allied himself with the richest magnate in Poland, Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki , who took part in the occupation of Poland by Russia the following year as Marshal of the Targowica Confederation . Zofia moved into the neo-classical palace in Tultschyn (Ukraine), which he had designed by Joseph Lacroix. It is controversial whether she influenced her lover in the interests of Catherine the Great . Between the last partitions of Poland (1793–1795) the couple lived temporarily in Hamburg . Witte's consent to the divorce could be bought, and in 1798 Potocki was also free and was able to marry Zofia. He had the Sofijiwka Landscape Park near Uman (Ukraine) laid out for her , but she is said to have cheated on him - even with one of his own sons - and driven him mad .

The eldest of her sons, Jan de Witte (1781–1840), acted as a double agent who revealed plans for Napoleon's Russian campaign . As a Russian general, he was involved in the suppression of the November uprising in Poland in 1831 .

gallery

literature

Web link

Commons : Jan de Witte (architect)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ^ Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz : Pamiętniki czasów moich (Memories of my time). Volume 1, Tower Press, Gdańsk 2000 ( digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fbiblioteka.kijowski.pl%2Fniemcewicz%2520julian%2520ursyn%2Fpami%25EAtnik%2520czas%25F3w%2520moich%2520i.pdf~GB3D~ MDZ% ​​3D% 0A ~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D ), p. 52.
  2. ^ Zbigniew Hornung: Jan de Witte. Architect kościoła Dominikanów we Lwowie, editor Jerzy Kowalczyk. Piotr Włodarski, Warszawa 1995, p. 42.
  3. ^ Zbigniew Hornung: Jan de Witte. Architect kościoła Dominikanów we Lwowie, editor Jerzy Kowalczyk. Piotr Włodarski, Warszawa 1995, p. 283.
  4. ↑ See Stanisław Krzyżanowski (ed.): Listy Jana de Witte, thoseała majora wójsk koronnych, pułkownika artyleryi koronnej, komendanta fortecy kamienieckiej, kawalera orderu św. Stanisława, 1777–1779. W. Kirchmayer, Kraków 1868.
  5. ↑ See Karol Boscamp-Lasopolski: Moje przelotne miłostki z młodą bitynką. Edited by Jerzy Łojek, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1963, pp. 97-142 ( Mes amours éphémères avec une jeune Bithynienne ).
  6. ^ Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz: Pamiętniki czasów moich (Memories of my time). Volume 1, Tower Press, Gdańsk 2000 ( digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fbiblioteka.kijowski.pl%2Fniemcewicz%2520julian%2520ursyn%2Fpami%25EAtnik%2520czas%25F3w%2520moich%2520i.pdf~GB3D~ MDZ% ​​3D% 0A ~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D version), p. 52 f .: “Wzrost jego niski; czarny na twarzy, rozsądny, przebiegły, z nauką nawet otarty. "
  7. ↑ Jerzy Łojek titled his biography Potocki's story of a traitor ( Dzieje zdrajcy. Wydawnictwo Śląsk, Katowice 1988, ISBN 83-222-0119-2 ).
  8. ↑ Jerzy Łojek: Dzieje pięknej Bitynki, opowieść o życiu Zofii Wittowej-Potockiej (1760-1822). Wydawnictwo Pax, Warszawa 1970.
  9. ↑ Michel ( pseudonym ): Витт (Jan de Wittе) Иван Осипович (1781–1840) ( digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fimpereur.blogspot.com%2F2015%2F11%2Fde-witt-1781-1840.html~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D ).
personal data
SURNAME Witte, Jan de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish architect and lieutenant general
DATE OF BIRTH July 8, 1709
PLACE OF BIRTH near Poltava , Ukraine
DATE OF DEATH December 22, 1785
Place of death Kamianets-Podilskyj , Ukraine