Graficzne przedstawienie przemocy w Quarante tableaux Jeana Perrissina i Jacques’a Tortorela
The Graphic Representation of Violence in Quarante Tableaux by Jean Perrissin and Jacques Tortorel

Summary/Abstract: The German-language copy of the album which is today known under the short title Quarante tableaux found its way to the Jagiellonian Library thanks to Jan Ponętowski, who in 1592 made a donation of books to Cracow’s Alma Mater. Among numerous valuable bibliophilic works, Ponętowski’s collection includes a set of engravings – prepared and published by Jean Perrissin and Jacques Tortorel in Lyon in 1570 – illustrating the events of the first religious wars fought in France during the years 1559-1570. The aim of this article is to interpret selected graphics from this collection in terms of the artistic visualization of violence. The analysis covers the composition of an act of violence, the complementarity between the text of the legend and its illustrations, the relations between the victims and the perpetrators, the sacralisation or desacralisation of the place of execution as well as the differences in the manner of illustrating the violence of the Huguenots towards the Catholics and vice versa.

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