Poliptyk z Dobczyc. Dzieje, ikonografia oraz próba rekonstrukcji
The Polyptych of Dobczyce. History, Iconography and an Attempt at Reconstruction

Summary/Abstract: The Polyptych of Dobczyce (currently in the collection of the NationalMuseum in Cracow) used to serve as the retable of the high altar in the church of SaintJohn the Baptist in Dobczyce, and has been dated to 1500-1505. The paintings on its lateralwings (seven panels survive, of which three are double-sided) have been attributed toan anonymous Cracow painter, called the Master of the ffoly Kinship, while the centralpanel is the work of a different hand.The paper presents the results of an investigation which has revealed unknown factsfrom the history of the Dobczyce retable - for example, that it was in the mid-seventeenthcentury that the altarpiece ceased to serve as the churchs high altar, and that prior totheir inclusion in the collection of the National Museum the panels of the polyptych haddecorated the ceiling of a timber chapel at Dobczyce.Yet, the main problems dealt with in the article are: an attempt at reconstructing anewthe disposition of the panels, taking into account some hypotheses regarding the subjectsof the missing paintings, and a proposal for a new reading of the retables iconographicprogramme. The altarpiece has been reconstructed as a polyptych with two pairs ofmovable wings. When closed, it displayed scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary; whenthe outer wings were opened, the Passion Cycle was revealed, and when the inner wingswere opened, scenes from the lives of the two Saint Johns, the Baptist and the Evangelist,were disclosed. Large-scale figures of both saints were painted flanking the Virgin andChild in the central panel. An attempt at recreating the way in which the thus reconstructed retable might havefunctioned in the parish church at Dobczyce during the liturgical year - with particularattention paid to the cult of the two Saint Johns (liturgical feasts, sermons and relics keptat the church) - is an eąually important element of the paper.An unexpected result of the investigation of the polyptychs panels was the discoveryof an unknown model for the wing paintings, namely a copper engraving by Master A.G.,representing

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