Płaksa i Wesołowski. Uwagi o sposobach przedstawiania stanów psychicznych w sztuce na marginesie „portretu” aktora Alojzego Fortunata Żółkowskiego
Płaksa and Wesołowski. Remarks on the Ways of Representing Mental States in Art on the Margins of the “Portrait” of the Actor Alojzy Fortunat Żółkowski

Summary/Abstract: In the National Museum in Warsaw there are two paintings depicting a laughing young man, believed to be portraits of the Polish actor Alojzy Fortunat Żółkowski (1777–1822). The same portrait, titled Alojzy Żółkowski (Father) as ‘Comedy’, and its pendant – a portrait of a weeping old man, titled Wojciech Bogusławski as ‘Tragedy’ – are held by the Museum at National Stary Theatre in Kraków. Analysis of the images and the collected comparative material revealed that the portraits were based on paintings from 1808–1810 by the French artist Louis Léopold Boilly (1761–1845): Jean qui rit (self-portrait of the painter) and Jean qui pleure (portrait of the painter’s father). These portraits, depicting two distinct psychological states: joy and sadness, are consistent with the tradition of depicting emotions through pose, gesture, and facial expression in the visual arts. The development of artistic theory (including Charles Le Brun’s academic theory, physiognomy, and the art of acting) contributed to the creation of characterological and iconographic types. The identification of the figure depicted in the portraits as Żółkowski may have been facilitated by the comedian’s fame and the roles he played, as well as knowledge of theatrical principles of acting, taught by Wojciech Bogusławski, among others.

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