Srebrny monument Stanisława Augusta – nowy nabytek w zbiorach Muzeum Historycznego Miasta Krakowa

Abstract

A SILVER MONUMENT TO STANISŁAW AUGUST – A RECENT ACQUISITION BY THE HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF KRAKOW

The article is an attempt at analyzing the form of and the ideological programme behind the unique silver object purchased by the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow, as well as at reconstructing its historical context and pointing to possible founders of the object and their motivations. The analysis is a difficult task: the said object, a repousse portrait of Stanisław August Poniatowski (with his effigy patterned after the silver thaler from 1766) ringed by a circle of rays resembling the monstrance, finds no direct analogies in the preserved historical goldsmithery. Still, even panegyrics on the King dating back to his early reign include comparisons with first light, a star or the sun that dispel the darkness. The literature of the era of the Constitution of 3 May utilized solar metaphors and the light versus darkness juxtaposition. Such were seemingly the intentions of the author of the ideological programme behind this unique monument to Stanisław August. Examples of “luminous” representations of the King can also be found in drawings (such as G. J. Marstaller’s portrait of Stanisław August surrounded by rays, the drawing by Antoine de Marcenay de Guy based on the miniature by Fryderyka Bacciarelli from 1765, or the numerous depictions of digits or crowns ringed by rays). Attempts to commemorate the Constitution were made by the King himself (who commissioned drawings and distributed memorial rings) as well as by citizens (for instance in the form of occasional snuffboxes, sabres with inscriptions in honour of the Constitution, or special decorations on the occasion of an anniversary of its establishment). The monument’s having originated during the Constitution era and before the King joined the Targowica Confederation which resulted in overthrowing the newly established order (the absolute terminus ante quem of the origins of the monument in 1807 is marked by minted receipt of the due tribute that was collected in the years 1806–1807) and the founders’ motives are laid out in the inscriptions on the object that read RESTAURATORI VETERIS GLORIAE REGNI and ONUS LEVE. The two texts are also quoted in Monumentum in felicem revolutionem Regni Poloniae MDCCXI, a drawing by Johann Hieronymus Loeschenkohl which features an obelisk with a portrait of the King as the defender of the Lex perpetua of 3 May. It was rather cumbersome for the citizens (depicted as personifications of the Peasantry and the Gentry) to be obliged to express their gratitude for the King by erecting the said monument. It can be assumed that the silver monument discussed in the article – an analogue of the one featured in the drawing – was also a token of gratitude. The similarity of the inscriptions suggests that the ideological programme behind the two works was originated by the same person – and a contributor to the project of the Constitution of 3 May. Since Loeschenkohl also produced drawings of medals with effigies of kings and famous Poles that were based on drawings by Michał Stachowicz and commissioned by the Dean of the Chapter at the Krakow Cathedral, President of the Crown Tribunal and Reverend Referendary for the Crown Michał Sołtyk (1742–1815), a committed supporter of the Constitution and of the King’s reformatory aspirations, it seems plausible to identify the latter figure or someone from his circle as the founder of the silver monument to the glory of Stanisław August.