Biuletyn Historii Sztuki

Beschreibung Aller Kirchen- Gebäude der Stadt Dantzig (1695) by the Gdańsk Builder Bartel Ranisch. The Book, its Readers and Contexts

Franciszek Skibiński — 2026-04-24

This article examines Beschreibung Aller Kirchen-Gebäude der Stadt Dantzig (1695) by the master builder Bartel Ranisch, one of the first European architectural treatises presenting Gothic architecture from a historiographical perspective. The book describes Gdańsk churches, illustrating ribbed vault construction to inspire patrons and revive builders’ skills. It was widely read among the Gdańsk elite and classified as historical literature. The study contextualises Ranisch’s work within early modern antiquarianism and urban identity, emphasising his novel use of guild documents. Unlike many contemporaneous authors, Ranisch avoided religious disputes, instead highlighting the continuity of Christianity from the Teutonic Order onward. His book diverged from dominant classicist discourse, focusing on practical construction methods rather than theoretical treatises. Ultimately, it serves as a key source for understanding early modern medievalism and architectural historiography in Central and North-Eastern Europe.

A Sanctuary in the Peripheries. Palaces in Słobity and Birże as Examples of Calvinist Families’ Architecture

Hubert Baumann — 2026-04-17

The article contains a juxtaposition and comparative analysis of the 17th-century palaces of the zu Dohna family in Słobity (German: Schlobitten) and the Radziwiłł family in Birże (now Biržai in Lithuania) as examples of residences of two Calvinist gentry families from Ducal Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The author shows the influence of the treatise Des fortifications et artifices by the Huguenot author Jacques Perret on the form and function of both complexes, pointing to correlations in the arrangement of space and structure. On the basis of archival sources and comparative research, the author argues that the architecture of both complexes was influenced by the owners’ Calvinist denomination and was a manifestation of their religious and social identity. The study contributes to research on the heritage of Protestant secular architecture, particularly in the political borderlands between Prussia and the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania.

The Short Political Career of Aleksander Józef, Count Sułkowski (1695–1762), a Minister in the Saxon Cabinet, and its Echoes in his Artistic Patronage

Tomasz Torbus — 2026-04-24

The article focuses on architectural ventures founded by Count, later Prince, Aleksander Józef Sułkowski (1695–1762) both at the court of Saxony and later, after his spectacular fall into disfavour in 1738. During the next twenty-five years, Sułkowski did not hold any important public positions and divided his time between the estates at Bielsko, Vienna, Leszno and Rydzyna. The aim of this article is to trace various threads in Sułkowski’s self-presentation evident in architecture and its decorative programmes. This is the first comprehensive attempt at an analysis of edifices raised on Sułkowski’s initiative in terms of political iconography to be embedded in the context of the dramatic events of his life.

The Palace of Michał Jan Borch at Warklany: Pictorial Decoration, Artistic and Scientific Collections

Jolanta Polanowska — 2026-04-24

A study of artistic initiatives undertaken by Michał Jan Borch (1753–1821) in connection with the furnishing of his palace at Warklany in the Polish Livonia, in the light of his contacts with Warsaw artists and links to the artistic patronage of King Stanislaus Augustus, conducted on the basis of manuscripts held in the Borch of Warklany Family Archive deposited by the family’s descendants at the Ossoliński National Institute.

The Life and Work of Łukasz Porębski (1594–1637). New Findings and Research Perspectives

Kinga Zięba — 2026-04-23

The article is devoted to the painter Łukasz Porębski, originally from Bydgoszcz, who worked in Cracow between ca. 1615 and 1637. Although his name appears in studies on painting in the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania in the first half of the 17^th century, his work has so far not been analysed in depth. The aim of the article is to revise the data provided in specialist literature. A re-examination of the archives has made it possible to amend the painter’s biography and supplement it with hitherto unknown information concerning his professional activity and the graphic prototypes he applied in his work. Features of Porębski’s individual style have been determined on the basis of a stylistic analysis of works confirmed to be by his hand, allowing us to verify existing attributions, propose new ones and reject works erroneously ascribed to Porębski, some of which were linked to Tommaso Dolabella or Wojciech Podkora.

Art History, Political Legitimacy and Royal Heritage Management. Tadeusz Mańkowski and a Historic Interior Exhibition in Wawel Royal Castle, 1945–1951

Mikołaj Getka-Kenig — 2026-04-17

The article is devoted to the conceptual genesis of the exhibition of historic rooms in the Wawel Royal Castle in Cracow in the late 1940s and early 1950s, i.e. the period when the foundations of the Polish socialist state as a satellite of the USSR were being laid. At that time, the castle housed a state museum headed by the art historian Tadeusz Mańkowski (1878–1956). This was a crucial time in the history of the castle’s musealisation. On the one hand, the post-war opening of the castle to the public resulted in the process of designing new interiors necessitated by the absence of the famous Jagiellonian tapestries (evacuated abroad in 1939). On the other hand, the socialist authorities recognised Wawel as a “monument of national culture”. This official status influenced the direction taken by Mańkowski when designing the exhibition of historical interiors. He emphasised objects related to the history of the Polish state, deliberately giving the exhibition a “native” character. This was in line with the legitimisation policy of the state authorities at the time, which highlighted their roots in national history while limiting the evidence of Western culture’s influence on Poland.

The Chronicle of the Association of Art Historians for 2025

Daria Rutkowska-Siuda — 2026-04-17

Rzeczy piękne. Studia z dziejów historii sztuki, kultury i architektury dedykowane pamięci Doktora Jacka Kriegseisena (Gdańsk 2024)

Katarzyna Krupska-Łyczak — 2026-04-17

The Designs by Giovanni Battista Gisleni vis-à-vis the Church of the Bridgettine Sisters in Warsaw (after 1648–1658)

Stanisław Mossakowski — 2026-04-17

The study presents a group of designs by Giovanni Battista Gisleni (1600–1672) extant in the collections of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, referring to the Bridgettine Sisters’ church of the Holy Trinity in Warsaw (built 1652–1658, demolished 1892).