Gotyk kontra barok, czyli o poglądach Franciszka Ksawerego Martynowskiego

Abstrakt

Franciszek Ksawery Martynowski (1848-1896), a historian and art critic, archaeologist and ethnographer, expert on and propagator of artistic crafts as well as theoretician of restoration of historical monuments, editor of scholarly publications and journalist, was not a trite figure. Despite many passions connected with welfare work he was able to find enough time for his own research work whose significant part was history of Polish art. He was a lover of the Middle Ages; however, having the ambition to write a handbook of history of art on the Polish territories he also analysed other epochs. Hence the times of baroque and rococo were also within the scope of his interest and he had to make a thorough study of their artistic output. As result of the education he acquired as a student at the Jagellonian University he formed a negative opinion about works of art created after the Renaissance; the opinion was not shaken by any material proofs contrary to it. His critical attitude towards the old works is a conclusive example of how strong resistance is encountered by facts on the side of strongly rooted theories.