Zaginione obrazy, zaginione fotografie – przyczynek do badań nad twórczością artystyczną Saturnina Świerzyńskiego
Lost paintings, lost photographs – a contribution to research on the work of Saturnin Świerzyński

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with questions concerning the role and use of photography in the artistic work of the Cracow painter and draftsman Saturnin Świerzyński (1820-1882), as well as the use of his work for the purposes of documentation and advertising. On the basis of the artist’s notes, kept in the National Library in Warsaw (Pamiętnik mojego życia, sygn. akc 12 776; Spis Obrazów przeze mnie malowanych jako też dochodów i wydatków malarskich i rysunkowych tudzież dochodów z lekcyi przeze mnie udzielanych, sygn. akc 12 777, ill. 1) it was possible to provide a series of examples of the use of daguerreotypes, panotypes and photographs by S. Świerzyński in the making of portraits, in the years 1848-1884. Mentioned also were the commissions for colouring photographs accepted by him during the crisis at the time of the outbreak of the January Uprising against Russian rule in July 1863. Still unsolved, however, is the question of Świerzyński’s use of photographs as material in painting vedutas and the interiors of Cracow churches, the principal source of the artist’s renown. On the basis of the Register of Paintings, examples of the carrying out of the photographic documentation of Saturnin Świerzyński’s paintings were provided, carried out on his request between 1876 and 1883, amongst other places (or perhaps exclusively?) in the Cracow atelier of Awit Szubert on 7 Krupnicza Street (previously 17). As a result of the query carried out in Cracow museums two photographs were also discovered („The Interior of the Norbertine nuns church in Cracow”, 1877, The Historical Museum of the City of Cracow, Inventory Number s 8350/IX, ill. 16; „Game in the ruins of Tenczyn Castle”, 1877, The Historical Museum of the City of Cracow, Inventory Numbers 8351/IX, ill. 15.) In the appendix of the article, containing largely excerpts from the manuscripts of the Register of Paintings..., materials have been put together enabling the identification of the remaining, hitherto unknown photographs of the paintings of Saturnin Świerzyński.

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