Szymon Czechowicz. A Baroque Master at Pidhirtsi

Szymon Czechowicz (1689–1775) is the most famous painter of the Baroque era in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – a pedagogue who educated a whole generation of artists. In his youth he was tutored under the future Polish treasurer, Duke Franciszek Maksymilian Ossoliński (1676–1756). In around 1710, this magnate sent Czechowicz to study in Italy and Rome. It was here that the youth gained immense influence from the work of famous artists such as Carlo Maratta (1625–1713) and Sebastiano Conca (1680–1764). He was also inspired by the work of earlier Renaissance and Baroque genuises, such as Raffaello Sanzio (1483–1520) and Guido Reni (1575–1642). Czechowicz became a well-known artist in Rome, where he started creating paintings displaying religious themes, especially scenes from the lives of the saints. This theme remained relevant in his work right up to his death.

 

It is not known when Czechowicz returned from Italy, however he was already working in Warsaw by the 1730s. In around 1736–1737 his main patrons were the Lithuanian magnates the Sapieha dukes, while later on this popular artist, known to regularly alternate between patrons, created art for the Tarłowie counts, the Braniccy, Tyszkiewiczs, the Jabłonowscy dukes, the Sanguszkos, and representatives of other families, as well as for bishops and monastic orders. In around 1747–1749 the painter established contact with the owner of Pidhirtsi, Count Wacław Piotr Rzewuski (1706–1779), creating a monumental cycle of paintings of the Stations of the Cross for him. In the first half of the 1750s, Czechowicz worked in Lublin and Poznań, and was meant to go to Vilnius in around 1758. It was here in the capital of Lithuania, recently devastated by fire, that many churches were being reconstructed in the Late Baroque style, giving the artist a chance to demonstrate his exceptional productivity – he created paintings for the churches of St Ignatius of Loyola, St Raphael, St Casimir, the Visitandines and Augustinians in Vilnius, as well as in other cities. Of all the works the artist painted in Vilnius, it is his altar paintings for St Catherine’s Church that stand out the most for their artistic quality and aesthetic expression. Some of these paintings went on to become sources of inspiration for his works painted at Pidhirtsi. It is precisely these works by Czechowicz from the 1740s–1760s that are most noted for their artistic value – they display his characteristically dynamic brushstroke and play of colour, along with complex multifigural compositions.

 

This exhibition, which is almost like a continuation of the exhibition Pidhirtsi Castle. History and Art Collections, presents sixteen works by Szymon Czechowicz that reflect the most productive and valuable period of the artist’s career, and his inclination to create canvases featuring religious themes. All of these works belonged to the Pidhirtsi Castle collection. Czechowicz worked at Pidhirtsi with his students between 1762 and 1767. While there, he painted the new St Joseph’s Church and created many smaller format canvases for the palace interiors (especially Wacław Piotr Rzewuski’s apartments) and the chapel. Some sketches of Czechowicz’s altar paintings created for St Catherine’s Church in Vilnius also ended up at Pidhirtsi. When the time came to leave Pidhirtsi and Wacław Piotr Rzewuski, the artist returned to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: in 1767–1769 he worked at the Polotsk Jesuit monastery where he created more than forty religious paintings, while also painting for the Vitebsk Jesuits. Unfortunately, Czechowicz’s work from his Polotsk period was almost completely destroyed during the Soviet period. In the 1770s, the master returned to live in Warsaw where on account of already being rather late in his years he painted only occassionally; now, his students did most of the painting.