Skarga's sermon

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Jan Matejko , Skarga's Sermon, 1864, oil on canvas, 224 × 397 cm, National Museum Warsaw

Skarga's sermon ( Polish Kazanie Skargi ), also The Sermon of Skarga , is an oil painting by the Polish history painter Jan Matejko from 1864. It is in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw and shows a political speech by the Jesuit father Piotr Skarga (1536–1612) , who was one of the leading figures of the Counter Reformation in Poland. Skarga's sermon is one of Matejko's most famous works.

history

Matejko painted the picture under the impression of the failed January uprising . He finished it in May 1864. It was the artist's first large painting and was first shown in the Gallery of the Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Krakow . Shortly afterwards, Count Maurycy Potocki bought the plant for 10,000 Austrian guilders .

Description and interpretation

The painting shows a scene in Poland in the early 17th century. At that time the land was in the hands of influential magnate families and the elected kings of the House of Wasa . Due to the self-interests of the nobility, the country had become almost ungovernable. Calls for reforms from individual personalities were hardly noticed. Skarga was one of them. Matejko's picture made the legend of Piotr Skarga popular and helped the Jesuit priest to achieve lasting fame. Although Matejko's work belongs to the genre of history painting, in this painting he focused less on historical accuracy than on the message of the picture; therefore one recognizes historical personalities in the picture who could not have been present in this scene.

The picture shows Piotr Skarga preaching in the choir of Wawel Cathedral . You can see him dressed in black at the top right and with his hands raised. His face is that of the old painter. However, some sources claim that Michał Szweycer posed as Skarga. Skarga is the only person who is in motion, everyone else is sitting or standing motionless. The title of the picture suggests that Skarga's criticism of the Polish government was a speech. However, this is rather unlikely, as the Jesuit mostly expressed himself in writing and not in the form of speech.

Several historical figures who listened to the speech respond with their posture and facial expressions and reveal how Matejko saw their historical role. At the center are the magnates Janusz Radziwiłł (in golden robes), Stanisław Stadnicki and Mikołaj Zebrzydowski, unimpressed. To their right, Jerzy Mniszech , Jan Piotr Sapieha and Janusz Zbaraski seem to be listening, but an older nobleman seems to be dozing and reminds that the members of the landed aristocracy ( Szlachta ) also had little interest in Skarga's speech. To the left of these three sits King Sigismund III. Wasa and also seems to have little interest in what Skarga says. His Swedish clothing shows an unwillingness to deal with the issues of the country. He always saw himself more as Sweden than Poland and would have preferred to have become King of Sweden. Matejko brings Sigismund into the picture as the second important personality next to Skarga: He is illuminated by light, but remains immobile. Sigismund's son, the prince and future king Władysław IV. Wasa , stands slightly raised to the left of the king. Queen Anna Jagiellonica and Elisabeth Ostrogska can be seen on his right . A glove lies on the floor in front of the king - a sign of the emerging civil war .

Polish Chancellor Jan Zamoyski is listening in the upper left . The ambitious and successful politician and officer seems to understand the meaning of Skarga's words, but he looks tired and old. Mikołaj Wolski can be recognized between the Crown Prince and the Chancellor . Archbishop Stanisław Karnkowski prays below the chancellor in purple robe. Between the two stands the united metropolitan Hipacy Pociej without any visible emotion.

The Nuncio Germanicus Malaspina , Bishop of San Severo , sits in the lower right under Skarga. Cardinal Enrico Caetani (in red) is also sitting below Skarga, behind him are bored and distant Spanish and Austrian ambassadors.

reception

On November 5, 1864, Matejko was elected a member of the Krakow Scientific Society ( Towarzystwo Naukowe Krakowskie ) in recognition of his services to the representation of historical subjects . Skarga's sermon is one of Matejko's most famous paintings in Poland and Europe. In 1865 the painting received the gold medal of the Paris Salon . Parisian critics paid tribute to the work of 26-year-old Matejko and compared it to works by Paul Delaroche and Louis Gallait , some doubted the subject of Polish history and some argued that it was too dark.

The painting has been compared to Hendrik Leys ' restoration of the Catholic rite in the Church of Our Lady in Antwerp in 1566 because the composition and theme are similar.

literature

  • Mieczysław Porębski: Jana Matejki. Kazanie Skargi . Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warsaw 1953 (German edition: Mieczysław Porębski: Jan Matejko: The Sermon of Skarga . (= Jewels of Polish art ), Auriga, 1965)
  • Janusz Tazbir: Szkice o literaturze i sztuce . Tow. Autorów i Wydawców Prac Nauk. Universitas, 2002, p. 49
  • Marian Gorzkowski: Jan Matejko: epoka od r. 1861 do końca życia artysty z dziennika prowadzonego w ciągu lat siedemnastu . Tow. Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie, 1993, ISBN 978-83-7052-167-7 , p. 29
  • Bonawentura Czarliński, Stephan Giźicki: Książę Janusz Wiśniowiecki (1598-1636) w lubelskich kazaniach progrzebowych . Wydawn. Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, 2007, p. 56

Web links

Commons : Painting by Jan Matejko  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Gorzkowski mentions this name and the title Voivode von Brazlaw . Janusz Zbaraski held this position from 1576 to 1608 - and thus in the period in which the scene was set .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Marek Rezler: Z Matejką przez polskie dzieje: Kazanie Skargi . Interklasa: polski portal edukacyjny
  2. ^ Janina Falkowska: Andrzej Wajda: History, Politics, and Nostalgia in Polish Cinema . Berghahn Books, 2007, p. 269 ( Google Books )
  3. ↑ a b c d Adam Bochnak, Władysław Konopczyński, Stefan Batory: Polski Słownik Biograficzny , Volume XX, 1975, p. 186
  4. ↑ Maria Szypowska: Jan Matejko wszystkim znany . Fundacja Artibus-Wurlitzer oraz Wydawn. Domu Słowa Polskiego, 1996, p. 109
  5. ↑ a b Janusz Tazbir: Piotr Skarga, Szermierz contrreformacji . Państwowe Wydawnictwo "Wiedza Powszechna", Warsaw 1978, pp. 300-306
  6. ↑ Adam Szostkiewicz: Złota i czarna legenda Piotra Skargi | Dwie legendy księdza Skargi . Polityka.pl, January 14, 2012
  7. ↑ a b c d Jan Matejko, Kazanie Skargi , Culture.pl, accessed on April 4, 2018
  8. ↑ Znane rody województwa łódzkiego: Szweycerowie, właściciele Rzeczycy i ziem łaskich , Dzienniklodzki.pl, November 14, 2009
  9. ↑ Janusz Tazbir: Piotr Skarga, Szermierz kontrreformacji . Państwowe Wydawnictwo "Wiedza Powszechna ??", Warsaw 1978, pp. 132-134
  10. ↑ Henryk Marek Słoczyński: Matejko . Wydawn. Dolnośląskie, 2000, p. 81