Originalveröffentlichung in: Henshaw, Julia (Hrsg.): Symbolism in Poland : collected essays ; publ. in conjunction with the exhibition "Symbolism in Polish Painting 1890 - 1914", July 30 - September 23, 1984, Detroit 1984, S. 35-38 The Chivalric Myth in the Art of Jacek Malczewski, Stanislaw Wyspiariski, and Witold Wojtkiewicz Andrzej Rottermund The concept of chivalry, with its code of soldier who must choose between personal of the present, many painters trespassed on exemplary behavior based on the ideals of happiness at the side of his beloved and his the territory formerly reserved for literary perfection and internal harmony, has obligation to sacrifice his life for his home­ bards and national prophets, each bringing always been a significant element in Euro­ land, and the historic Polish knight-warrior to the past his own “historical sense.” pean culture. The knight’s most important, became the contemporary knight-citizen- Jacek Malczewski saw the past less in and appropriate, occupation was to fight patriot. As Witold Gombrowicz would terms of subjects and plots and more in for truth and justice, always with regard for later say, “A Pole is either a romantic son of terms of ideas and philosophies. The the rules of the code and respect for the dig­ defeat or a virtuous son of Poland.”3 sources for many of the symbols in Malczew- nity of his enemy. The ideal knight was Throughout the literature, historiogra­ ski’s paintings are tobe found in the con­ courageous, faithful, honest, polite, and phy, and art of the Mloda Polska period, stellation of meanings traditionally ac­ generous, but atthe same time he was ex­ knightly models, including kings and het­ cepted by European culture, which reflect pected to avenge even the slightest insult to mans, are depicted in the most exciting the national mythology and both European his honor. A knight’s transgression of the moments of Poland’s history. These color­ and Polish history. The figures of knights code of chivalry would bring him infamy, ful stories of courage, devotion, faith, and and their attributes, armor, weapons, which could only be erased by death. The loyalty are interlaced with the thread of leopard skins, medieval castles, etc., are knight’s brutality on the battlefield was love. But this love is not the Ovidian ars symbols which have an “overt meaning,”5 softened by his love for a chosen woman, amanti but rather a dramatic love, torn be­ and it is not difficult to connect them to the which he proved through courageous deeds tween personal happiness and public duty. national martyrology, the history of the and participation in noble competition. The The same choice faces both Polish mon­ motherland, or the defense of the universal concept of chivalry encompassed not only archs and Polish insurgents, those partici­ notions of freedom, truth, and beauty. the knight himself, but the armor he wore, pants in the successive national uprisings However, to date, the analysis of form and the weapons he carried, his horse (so that characterized the Poles’ most recent content in Malczewski’s work has not made important in battle), the castle he inhabited, history (see figs. 1-4). clear the sources from which the artist the tournaments in which he participated, For the creators of the Mloda Polska derived his personal artistic world, and an the emblems that distinguished him from all movement, the present was what counted, understanding of these sources is essential if others (his coat of arms), and the etiquette and they were open to new ways of perceiv­ we are to fully comprehend his works. It that defined his position and behavior. ing and understanding it as they tried to seems clear that Malczewski derived the At the end of the eighteenth and begin­ liberate themselves from the nineteenth­ formula for his “world” from the spirit of ning of the nineteenth centuries, Europe century manner of thinking and feeling. Romanticism, with its unusual composi­ witnessed a revival of interest in the code of This intellectual ferment, however, while it tional arrangements, intriguing coloration, chivalry and the knight as a model of per­ changed the way one spoke of, wrote models of peculiar beauty or ugliness, and sonal behavior worthy of imitation.1 This about, or painted the past, did not preclude refined scenery. reborn chivalry functioned in European cul­ these artists’ interest in the nation’s history. Leaving aside the differences between a ture as a myth that had both a social and a The Polish spirit continued to be fueled by literary work and a painting, Malczewski’s political character.2 On the one hand, it the inspiration provided by images from the art, in its density and intensification of sym­ was the manifestation of the longing of var­ mythological past.These images were fixed bols, in its atmosphere of ambiguity and ious peoples for a respectable national his­ in the Polish mind, and their interpretations hidden threat, is similar to the modern tory and for national heroes. On the other were confined within intransgressible boun­ “gothic” horror novel. In building his artist­ hand, in the nineteenth century, the chival­ daries. It was as if the past were carved in ic visions, Malczewski conformed, to some rous model underwent a metamorphosis granite: the images could be polished but extent, to the rules that govern this genre, that enabled the notions of honor, service, their basic configurations could not easily with its supernatural elements and sense of and exemplary behavior to be used in ef­ be changed. horror, its inexplicable phenomena and ac­ forts to reshape the public’s attitudes and The most notable painters of the period, tions, its ominous and mysterious atmos­ behavior. Particularly in Poland, a country Jacek Malczewski, Stanislaw Wyspiariski, phere. The mood of such a novel is achieved deprived of independence, the chivalric and Witold Wojtkiewicz, lived in Cracow. by introducing signs and symbols from the myth was pressed into service for political, There they wandered between the Wawel world of the supernatural into everyday re­ social, and didactic purposes. In this reviv­ Hill and the Mounds of the three national ality or by presenting everyday events in al, the understanding of what constituted heroes, the great leader Tadeusz Kosci- unusual contexts. The plot of the gothic Poland’s knightly past was not limited to uszko and the legendary figures Krak and novel exists on two levels: the human the glorious deeds of the Piasts (Poland’s Wanda; they walked in the cloisters of drama being contrasted against afantastic first royal dynasty). The concept was ex­ medieval monasteries and the halls of the background, usually an idyllic landscape or tended to include events up to the end of the city’s great museums, full of blackened medieval castle. In the gothic novel, man seventeenth century when, in the face of a family portraits and patriotic prints; and battles against the perversity of fate, where­ growing Turkish threat, the Poles rose up in their hearts and imaginations were filled by his destiny is dependent upon incompre­ defense of their territories and the Catholic with visions that had not lost their sug­ hensible, supernatural, even cruel forces. faith, giving rise to the idea of Poland as the gestive power. Throughout the years of An inexorable chain of events forces him to “bulwark of Christianity” and the Polish captivity, Poland had endured, and the an­ pose ultimate questions in dealing with this nobleman as “Miles Christianus,” or the cient patterns of behavior and the ancient destiny. Christian soldier. myths thus retained their validity. The ar­ In Malczewski’s world, as in the gothic Out of the rich ground of the chivalric tists found themselves caught between two novel, unusual, supernatural events occur myth and under the influence of the politi­ worlds, the knightly world of their ancient and mysterious elements are introduced, cal situation, Polish writers and artists Sarmatian ancestors4 and the world of the creating an atmosphere of tension, of lurk­ created two knightly models: the hero of present, stamped with the image of the ing danger. Devils, harpies, chimeras, the courtly romance was changed into a approaching twentieth century. In the name phantoms, satyrs, muses, angels, winged 35 36 horses, and saints appear as symbols of function of the work of art and about the dral. Created in 1900-02, the cartoons for mysterious forces. The unusual attire of the artist’s role in society that have their roots the windows present two rulers, Kazimierz human figures—soldiers’ uniforms, knight’s in the Romantic era. His powerful visions Wielki (Casimir the Great) and Henryk armor, the costume of the court jester, the constitute one of the most vigorous links in Pobozny (Henry the Pious), and the bishop clothes typical of the ancient nobility—as the chain of Polish culture, conveying into saint, Stanislaw Szczepanow (see fig. 5 a-c). well as the unusual objects, birds, animals, our life today ideas born in the epoch of For Wyspiariski the notions of sleeping and insects, and flowers, all add to the sense of Romanticism. awaking had very definite connotations. unreality. Stanislaw Wyspiariski, in his dramas, One condition did not necessarily follow The key position in Malczewski’s vision Wesele (The Wedding), Acropolis, Wyz- the other; one may stay asleep for good. is held by the landscape, which provides a wolenie (Liberation), and Boleslaw Smialy Sleep is a numbness that leads to the inabili­ setting appropriate for his scenes of suffer­ (Boleslaw the Bold) calls forth a knightly ty to act and, thence, to death. Awakening ing and drama. The artist found no aesthet­ past that might be reassuring and might in­ is a resurrection to action, a rebirth of new ic satisfaction in the landscape as a land­ spire patriotic deeds but, one which could forces and of life.