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Church of Saint-Severin in Paris

Odo Dobrowolski

Basic information

ID: Г-II-224
Author: Odo Dobrowolski
Name: Church of Saint-Severin in Paris
Date of creation: 1908–1912
Technique: drawing
Material: paper pastel
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 70 x 46

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: landscape

Information about author

Author: Odo Dobrowolski
Artist's lifetime: 1883–1917
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire
Biography: Odo (Otton) Dobrowolski (1883, Chernivtsi – 1917, Kyiv) was a Lviv artist of Polish-German origin. He is mainly known as a graphic artist, particularly a watercolourist, a master of pastels and lithographs. His parents were Jozef Dobrowolski, the Austrian governor of Galicia-Lodomeria, and Eugenia Wittich. Apparently, the artist was named after Otto the Great, the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He graduated from the gymnasium in Lviv. In the mid-1900s, Dobrowolski was in Krakow as a non-degree student of the Academy of Fine Arts. Between 1908 and 1909, thanks to the support of the artist Jan Styka, he was in Paris and then in Munich for a short while. After returning to Lviv between 1909 and 1910, the artist made an oil decorative panel for the confectionery of Gabriela Zapolska, a famous playwright, actress, and a bright representative of the Lviv elite. In 1911 and 1912, he was in Paris again. Then he was in Lviv, where during the Russian occupation he created a series of 10 lithographs, which were very popular. In June 1915, during the retreat of the Russians, the artist went to Kyiv, where he died under uncertain circumstances at the age of 34 in 1917. The artistic heritage of Odo Dobrowolski includes numerous cityscapes, particularly views of Lviv and Paris, as well as portraits, interior sketches, and images of nature. The works are stored in Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, as well as in the National Museum in Krakow, the National Library in Warsaw, the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, and private collections.

Object description

The work was created during the artist’s first (1908–1909) or second (1911–1912) stay in Paris. The young painter depicted the oldest spiritual centre for students in Europe – the Church of Saint-Severin in the Latin Quarter. In the foreground of the composition is the north façade of the church (from Rue Saint-Séverin) with its two sacristies. In the middle ground, at the centre, rises the church’s magnificent bell tower with a pointed spire. The work is rendered in muted ochre and brown tones, making the white light of a lamp on the façade of the building opposite the church one of its distinctive accents. The Church of Saint-Severin (Église Saint-Séverin) is one of the best-known churches in Paris; its construction began in the 13th century. The church is located in the historic centre of the city, opposite the Island of the City (Île de la Cité).

Inscriptions

In the lower left corner, there is the author's signature and date of performance, “Paryż/ Odo Dobrowolski”, written in italics.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery