How Was Rotulus Viewed? Cover Image
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Jak oglądano Rolkę?
How Was Rotulus Viewed?

Author(s): Jakub Pokora
Contributor(s): Author Not Specified (Editor)
Subject(s): Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Visual Arts, 17th Century
Published by: Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Rotulus of Stockholm; wedding procession; showbox; peepshow; panorama; cosmorama; diorama; Jan Feliks Piwarski; perception of art

Summary/Abstract: An attempt at explaining how a rotulus (from Latin) was viewed is made. This particularly applies to the Rotulus of Stockholm (after 1605, unknown author), in which a homogenous series of drawings (water-colours, gouaches) showed the entry of the wedding procession of Sigismund III Vasa and Archduchess Constance of Austria into Cracow in 1605. It is in a form of a paper roll 27 to 28 cm wide and 15.28 m long, originally about 25 to 30 m long? (Royal Castle in Warsaw. Accession No. ZKW/1528). The departure point for the considerations is to be found in an interesting case of a picture documentation of yet another procession, this time the cortege of Tsar Alexander I, King of Poland, the 1826 ceremony held in Warsaw. The documentation (etching and aquatint) authored by Jan Feliks Piwarski was made in two formats: as whole-page multi-strip prints in an album and as a rotulus made up of cut prints. Two rolls 8-9 cm wide and 12-13 m long have been preserved (National Library, Accession No. G. 57932; University Library in Wrocław, Accession Inv. graph. 1664).Prior to explaining the „double life” of Piwarski’s prints, mention is made that in art a procession, cortege, etc,. used to be presented along a straight or zigzagging line. As a result, either a rotulus or a boustrophedon were created. Both still continued to exist in the 19th century; however the rotulus seems to have had a wider application (panoramic views of towns and town districts, architectural designs, etc.). Grounded premises suggest that the purpose of making a rotulus out of Piwarski’s cut prints was to present the procession as if in motion pictures, thus the procession moving. This possibility was provided with so-called showbox, i.e. a “peepshow” (German Guckkasten, Russian rayek or rayok) – a plebeian instrument, an inseparable element of town streets, to the extent that it was often taken throughout villages. Popular in Italy already around 1700, it was used on a mass scale in other European countries as of at least 1800. The showbox is presented against a backdrop of optical phenomena and devices applied in shows in the 18th century until the mid-19th century, these including various panoramas, cosmoramas, dioramas, etc. That very introduction led to showing the rotulus among pieces of art presenting a procession, a cortege, and alike, and to defining its position within the realm of shows. Unfortunately, the historic material covers mainly the 19th century. Despite this an assumption can be made that a peep-show was an enhanced device known for long, since it applied a simple mechanism which allowed to wind up the scroll from one roller to another. This opens to a supposition that the Stockholm Rotulus was shown in a way meant to give the impression of a moving procession. All it required was to make a rectangular opening of the right size in the wall, which was a dividing screen, to show through it moving people, carriages, horses, etc. The spectators watched it just like today they watch pictures on a television. The unwinding and winding of the rotulus was conducted by operators hidden behind the screen.

  • Issue Year: 79/2017
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 109-129
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: Polish