Rzymskie sukcesy architekta Stanisława Zawadzkiego

• Autorzy: Mączyński R.

Warianty tytułu

EN

The roman successes of the architect Stanisław Zawadzki

• Języki publikacji: PL

Abstrakty

EN

Up to now note of the participation of Stanisław Zawadzki in the Clementine Competition and his title of academician di merito of the Academy of St. Luke, won in Rome, did not lead to attempts at placing those facts in a wider Italian or Polish context. An in-depth analysis and interpretation appear to be even more justified in view of the fact that it was precisely those facts which moulded not only the artistic stand but also the wider profile of the architect and, subsequently, left an imprint on his further fate. They could be considered in the categories of divergences between creative aspirations and the possibilities of their fulfilment, the subjective feeling of having attained a certain position and the actual status of an impoverished nobleman (who, in the opinion of many of his contemporaries, had dedicated himself to the crafts), in a word: between the reality of Italy - the native land of the Academy, which harboured high esteem for artists, and Poland, which never managed to create such an institution. In the Clementine Competition of 1771 first prize for architecture (second class) was awarded to the Italian Giovanni Cometti, and second - to the Pole Stanisław Zawadzki. The design task of both competitors consisted of designing a facade of the Dominican basilica of S. Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. The archive of the Academy of St. Luke preserved complete documentation prepared by both contenders. Zawadzki designed the facade as a monumental portico, crowned with a triangular fronton supported on six colossal columns. Cometti turned to the tradition of multi-storey facades, framed in a superposition of column orders. The former project represented a modern, Early Classicist solution, while the latter was conservative and typical for the Late Baroque. In other words, the highest award could probably have been received not by Cometti but by Zawadzki, especially considering that the winner did not meet all the conditions of the competition and his "outline" was less meticulous and had some formal errors. The boldness of Zawadzki's project appears to be even more conspicuous within the context of the achievements of contemporary architects-members of the competition jury: on the one hand, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, author of the antiquated church of S. Maria del Priorato (1764-1766) and, on the other, Clemente Orlandi, designer of the church of S. Paolo Primo Eremita (1767-1775), described as "ultima espressione del barocco romano". This background renders even more distinctive Zawadzki's Classicist taste, documented both by the prime architectural motif of the facade (the column portico) and the applied details (antiquated figures of the saints, arabesque-candelabra decorations). The presentation of the prize to the Pole was recorded not only in the Roman press but also in a special brochure which published a detailed account of the course of the Clementine Competition. At the lavish ceremony of reading the verdict, attended by numerous guests representing the secular and ecclesiastical elite of Rome, Zawadzki had an opportunity to become acquainted personally with the greatest celebrities of Classicist architecture, i.a. Ferdinando Fuga of Naples, Jacques Germain Soufflot from Paris or Robert Adam from Scotland. This was also an occasion for learning that artists comprising the Academy of St. Luke enjoyed paramount esteem, and included habitues of the social elite, to be entered thanks to academic honours, and whose foundation was composed of a spiritual community stemming from an analoguous intellectual formation. The competition was commemorated by a special-occasion engraving depicting the Fine Arts presenting the wreaths of glory to a young man in a stylised military uniform, placing his shield and spear at their feet. The "ideological" message of the engraving must have been particularly enjoyable to Zawadzki who, after all, had abandoned the knightly crafts ascribed to his gentry status and joined the ranks of those who wished to win fame via the fine arts. The architect was enthralled by the academic style based on a division and contrast of invention and execution, and must have been under its spell since, wishing to become a professional architect without losing his are noble man privileges, he could, in the conditions prevailing in eighteenth-century Poland, resort only to a military or academic career. Four years after having received the prize, Stanisław Zawadzki appeared at a session held by the Academy of St. Luke; in order to demonstrate his skills he presented "assorted architectural projects for a monastery in his native land" (possibly plans for reshaping the post-Jesuit monastic-church complex in Płock) and "expressed a wish to be admitted into "a circle" of academicians di merito". The drawings "were considered with particular attention by the Lords Academicians" who then "voted unanimously to admit him as an academician di merito". It is necessary to set right the heretofore cited date of 1776 in favour of 1775. The history of the Roman Academy proves that the approval did not have to be universal, and that the admission procedure was not automatic even in the case of renowned architects (vide the travails of Giuseppe Sacco, who did not become an academician despite his endeavours). The young architect, inscribed in the special Catalogo degli Accademici di merito di S. Luca, joined such celebrated artists as Gianlorenzo Bernini, Carlo Rainaldi or Carlo Fontana. This fact had to be a source of special pride, as confirmed by his later statement: "Having sacrificed my young years, despite my dire financial straits, to perfecting knowledge of architecture abroad, I attained the degree of professor at the Roman Academy". Upon his return to Warsaw in 1776 Zawadzki became the most titled Polish architect of the eighteenth century. Naturally, he was not the first Pole in that century to have won a Clementine Competition award in architecture, and had been preceded by Kasper Bażanka, Benedykt Renard, and Bonawentura Solari, and was to be followed by Jakub Hempel. He was also not the only artist in Poland to enjoy the honourable title of member of the Academy of St. Luke. This group included Tommaso Righi, Andre Lebrun and Marcello Bacciarelli, none of whom, however, had been granted the competition laurel wreath, and who, in comparison with the Polish contender, enjoyed the additional benefit of strong ties with Rome. The consistency demonstrated by Zawadzki in his striving towards the title of architect-academician shown a profound awareness of the chosen objective. Zawadzki was concerned not merely with winning the status of a professional architect-constructor (workshop training would have sufficed) but with achieving knowledge and adroitness in the art of design, indispensable for a creative architect. He must have, however, found this target unsatisfactory, as evidenced by his journey to Rome, undertaken (regardless of the costs) only for the sake of joining the academicians upon the basis of his first independent projects. It was Rome which moulded Zawadzki as an architect and was the reason why he became certain of his own value as an artist. And it was Rome which appreciated his talent and allowed him to win prestigious successes. Poland in XVIIc, in which Zawadzki was compelled to incessantly overcome estate, milieu and financial barriers in order to creatively pursue his chosen profession, was capable of exploiting the knowledge and skills of this "most titled architect" to a much lesser extent.

Słowa kluczowe

PL

Zawadzki Stanisław; Konkurs Klementyński

EN

Zawadzki Stanisław; Clementine Competition

• Wydawca: Komitet Architektury i Urbanistyki PAN ; Politechnika Warszawska, Wydział Architektury
• Czasopismo: Kwartalnik Architektury i Urbanistyki
• Rocznik: 2002
• Tom: T. 47, z. 4
• Strony: 370--393
• Opis fizyczny: fot., rys.

Twórcy

autor

Mączyński R.