Royal Łazienki (Baths) in the art of Zygmunt Vogel

Anna Szendi

doi:10.5277/arc140303

Abstract

The Royal Łazienki became one of the most famous examples of Polish landscape gardens, the beloved residence of Stanisław August Poniatowski. Repeatedly portrayed by various artists, it has a rich collection of iconographic material presenting its development.     The important leader in the number of works devoted to this garden is Zygmunt Vogel. In this special way, he contributed to the extension of the present state of knowledge about the appearance of the Royal Łazienki from the time of their formation. Reference material needed to assess the real value of his paintings in terms of the credibility is provided in the works of other artists, including Norblin, Zaleski, Smuglewicz. However, none of them, in their professional activity, devoted as much space to this topic, as Vogel. He became the author of many highly artistic views of Łazienki, presenting various expressions of both the main elements of the composition, as well as less popular parts of the assumption. It was a kind of painting documentation prepared for the king showing him the garden’s transformations. Comparative analysis of Vogel’s works with the work of other authors confi rmed the thesis of his reliability. It also allowed us to see him as the only painter who showed how this royal residence changed over the 20 years.