Polski artysta w „tempio del vero gusto”. Uwagi do rzymskiej biografii Franciszka Smuglewicza
A Polish Artist in Tempio del Vero Gusto. On Rome's Biography of Franciszek Smuglewicz

Summary/Abstract: Mikołaj Baliszewski, A Polish Artist in Tempio del Vero Gusto. On Rome's Biography of Franciszek Smuglewicz. New ascertainments regarding the artistic activity of Franciszek Smuglewicz during his stay in Rome in 1763-83 are presented. An attempt was made to adopt a broad perspective on the context of his grandest well known artistic accomplishment, namely the album Vestigia delle Terme di Tito with copies of paintings adorning the walls and ceilings of Neron’s Domus Aurea. The reconstruction of Smuglewicz’s activity allowed for the study of the preserved archival documents, these including his correspondence with e.g. his patron King Stanislaus Augustus. The reports from the era on Smuglewicz executing art on the commission of the representatives of the House of Borghese-Aldobrandini, earlier considered as falsified, were the departure point for the analysis of drawings, paintings, and murals identified by the Author and preserved in a big number in Poland, Italy, and England, e.g., at Rome’s Palazzo Borghese, Casino Aldobrandini, and Palazzo Vescovile in Frascati. New interpretations of the paintings from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, such as Captio of Rhea Silvia and Sisygambis before Alexander the Great confirm the high quality of the artistic and intellectual formation that Smuglewicz received in Rome.

• Details
• Contents