Pałac w Konarzewie
The Palace in Konarzewo

Summary/Abstract: During the 1990s, a discovery was made in the palace erected at the end of the seventeenth century by Andrzej Radomicki, a magnate from Great Poland, of paintings subsequently subjected to conservation conducted under the supervision of Krzysztof Powidzki. Their theme remains differentiated and deeply symbolical. The great dining room contains religious scenes, probably by Karol Dankwart, an acclaimed painter of Swedish origin, showing the holy hermits Paul and Anthony being fed by a raven. A work by the same artist is the depiction (in a great hall on the ground floor) of four Platonic cardinal virtues: Moderation, Valour, Justice and Wisdom, presented as sitting young women. Quite possibly, Dankwart was also the author of a mythological scene in a chamber on the ground floor, featuring the competition between Apollo and Marcius - the considerable degree of the devastation of the original painting makes it impossible to establish the authorship. All the compositions could have been executed in about 1701, when Dankwart painted the newly erected Jesuit church in Poznań (today: the parish church). The polychromy in the alcove on the ground floor was probably completed in 1719; they represent the six planets which exert an impact on human life. All the paintings are accompanied by a complex of excellent stucco work, ascribed to the workshop of Alberto Bianco, employed in the decoration of the aforementioned parish church and a Franciscan church. The stucco in question resembles decorations in Rydzyna Castle. On the other hand, a depiction of a young witch, painted on the ceiling of a corner room, once adjoining the chapel, is totally unique from the viewpoint of iconography. The author showed a young girl, in the costume of a gentlewoman, witnessing the appearance of a devil - a portrayal of the victory of St. Anthony over the might of Satan.

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