Barokowa martwa natura w ekfrazie poetyckiej Jacka Kaczmarskiego (wg obrazu W. Claesza Hedy)
The Baroque Still Life in Jacek Kaczmarski’s Poetic Ekphrasis (After the Painting by W. Claesz. Heda)

Summary/Abstract: Jacek Kaczmarski wrote as many as eighteen ekphrases based on Baroque paintings, especially the works of Dutch painters. His goal was not so much a precise description of the work of art, but rather a subjective commentary. His poem entitled Still life refers to the painting by W. Claesz. Heda and to the popular motif of still life as a separate theme in Western European painting in the seventeenth century. Baroque still lifes can be read realistically as a testimony to the fascination with the material culture of past eras. The permanent repertoire of subjects immortalized on canvas included table tops on which everyday utensils were painted. They also refer to a symbolic message related to the idea of the impermanence of the world. In his Still Life, Jacek Kaczmarski gives us a subjective lesson in reading the existential dimension of seventeenthcentury European figurative painting. Both the scenery (a set table), the meaning of the work and its stylistic layer are ‘baroque’. The poet uses figures popular in the poetry of the seventeenth century: concept, paradox, antinomy, enumeration. The universalism of the Baroque vision of the world, in the spirit of vanitas emphasizing the transience of the senses and the fragility of life, is a message that is also valid in contemporary poetry, which sees the futility of existence and the role of art that perpetuates the products of man. What brings the poet closer to the baroque is the feeling of the impermanence of existence, tragedy and uncertainty of fate. What makes it different is the lack of a theological and mystical perspective. Contrary to the Baroque metaphysical poets, Kaczmarski does not take up theological issues, does not explore ultimate matters, and invariably avoids moralizing. In his ekphrasis, eternal life is available only to the world of inanimate objects and reserved for the art.

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