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Church in Czeszyn (K. W. Kielisinski's Album)

Kajetan Kielisinski

  • Church in Czeszyn (K. W. Kielisinski's Album)
Basic information
ID
Г-IV-1059_20
Author
Kajetan Kielisinski
Name
Church in Czeszyn (K. W. Kielisinski's Album)
Technique
etching
Material
paper
Dimensions
27.5 x 35.3 cm (height x width)
Additionally
Type
graphic art
Genre
architectural landscape
Provenance
Transferred by the Lviv State Republican Historical Museum, 1951
Information about author
Author
Kajetan Kielisinski
Author in the original
Kajetan Wincenty Kielisiński
Artist's lifetime
1808–1849
Country
Duchy of Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland
Biography
Kajetan Wincenty Kielisiński (7 August 1808 – 2 January 1849) was a Polish graphic artist, illustrator, librarian, engraver, and draughtsman. He was born into the family of court official Kazper and Katarzyna, née Kleska. He studied at Warsaw University and drew under Jan Feliks Piwarski. After the outbreak of the November Uprising (1830–1831), he interrupted his art studies. He took part in the fighting in 1831, serving as a second lieutenant, and after the uprising was suppressed, he was unable to return to Warsaw. He lived in Kraków for some time, and from 1834 to 1839, he was the curator of the collections of H. Pawlikowski (a collector and bibliophile) in Medyka, where he honed his engraving skills, hoping to continue his studies in Vienna. From 1839, he worked as a librarian and curator of art collections for Tytus Działyński, a public and political figure, patron of the arts, and publisher of historical sources, in Oleszyce near Lubaczów, and from January 1840 in Kurnyk. In 1847, he published the "Catalogue of the Double Collections of Count Działyński's Library". Shortly before his death, he married Apollonia, née Gostynska. He died suddenly on 2 January 1849. K. W. Kielisiński's creative legacy includes about 1,000 watercolours, sketches, drawings of folk types, genre scenes, folk costumes, military uniforms, and landscapes, commissioned by W. Dzieduszycki, T. Działyński, and H. Pawlikowski. During his travels to various localities, he collected graphic materials for the publications "Polish Antiquities" and "Folk Costumes". In 1855, Poznań publisher Jan Konstanty Żupanski published "The Kielisiński's Album", which collected the artist's scattered works. The works of K. W. Kielisiński, signed KWK or KIK, are kept in museums in Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw, the Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, and the libraries of Warsaw and Jagiellonian Universities.
Object description
Kajetan Kielisiński created numerous etchings and drawings dedicated to folklore, the life of Polish villages and towns, historical monuments, and landscapes. In 1853, the Poznań publisher Jan Konstanty Żupański issued "Kielisiński's Album", gathering the artist's scattered works, most of which had remained unpublished during his lifetime. Two years later, in 1855, Żupański released a supplementary volume to complement the previous edition, which included etchings depicting coins and seals, figures in historical costumes, alongside rural and urban landscapes.
The presented etching belongs to the graphic sheets published within this 1855 supplement.
The sheet depicts a corner of a Polish village with a wooden sacred ensemble in the centre of the composition. The church is surrounded by a wattle fence and low cottages beneath thatched roofs.
In the foreground runs a rural dirt road. Depicted upon it are two peasants in traditional attire and hats – these staffage figures have stopped to converse. On either side of the road grow sturdy deciduous trees.
Inscriptions
Beneath the image, the artist's inscriptions read: on the left – "KWK. rys. z n. 1836." [Drawn from nature by KWK. 1836]; and on the right – "rob. aqf. 1838. 1. Marса." [Executed in etching. 1 March 1838].
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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