Percepcja barokowych dzieł sztuki w XVIII wieku w świetle „Dziennika podróży do Francji i Włoch w latach 1784-1786” Augusta Moszyńskiego
The Perception of Baroque Works of Art in the 18th Century in the Light of August Moszyński's "Diary of a Journey to France and Italy in the Years 1784-1786"

Summary/Abstract: The objective of the article is an introduction of perception of Baroque works of art based on the 18th-century Diary of a Journey to France and Italy of the years 1784-1786 written by August Fryderyk Moszyński, Stanisław August Poniatowski’s architect. His first travel to France, England and Italy took place at the age of nearly 20. The second, described in the diary, happened thirty years later, and the author died during travelling in Padua in 1786. The diary of the journey was written to „explain present state of fine arts and causes of their development or fall” and comes as one of the most critical work in Polish travel literature. In following folia, preserved till today, he described journey to South France, Rome, Naples and Venice. The method applied in this study was selecting Baroque works of art (architecture, sculpture and painting) described in the diary, and analysing modes of presenting them (description format) and the very language of description (especially terminology matters). The analysis has brought the picture of Moszyński as a traveller fascinated with Roman Baroque architecture, which proved his deep interests in contemporary for him art. The estimation of Baroque was ambiguous. Moszyński liked some of the visited Baroque edifices to a great extent, some others were criticised, especially works of radical Roman Baroque of Borromini. Moszyński, as a representative of times of Enlightenment, in his aesthetic views seems to be closer to Classicist Baroque. As an educated architect the traveller used professional terms in his descriptions of works of art. He described the visited buildings, no matter when they were erected, with proficiency. With the highest skills and very scrupulous he described ancient and Baroque ones. Moszyński’s Diary is another 18th-century record of its author’s interests in his contemporary times and highly critical, though full of admiration attitude.

• Details
• Contents