Investigating the case of Śmierć świętego Józefa (The Death of St Joseph) (transl. by Tadeusz Karłowicz)

Abstract

The author of the text presents his opinion about Jan Zieliński's book entitled Obraz pogodnej śmierci. Norwid – Rafael – Maratti i śmierć świętego Józefa (A Picture of a Cheerful Death. Norwid – Raphael – Maratti and the Death of St Joseph). He considers its author's care of credibility of the proposed interpretations the main advantage of the book. It is seen in the method of research as well as in the way it is presented. Pniewski has associated Zieliński's argument with the method described by Robin Collingwood that was held in high regard by historians throughout nearly all of the 20^th century. Collingwood thought that investigation of crimes is a model to be followed in conducting historical research. Hence he made evidence the only elements shaping the process of inference. Zieliński also conducts an “investigation” that is based on analysis of facts of Cyprian Norwid's, Raphael Santi's and Carl Maratti's lives and the fates of their works, as well as on analysis of documents (letters, magazine articles, occasional publications). On the basis of a developed network of such testimonies he constructs a credible picture of the art market from the end of the 1850s and the beginning of the 1860s. In this way, when conducting the basic research he also offers the reader a well prepared source material. Pniewski emphasizes that in Zieliński's book it is important that he presents a psychologically probable, inferred from the letters and consolidated by detailed examination of proper cultural phenomena, analysis of the reasons for the interest Norwid showed in The Death of St Joseph, the alleged painting by Raphael. Presenting the process of passing from unreasonable admiration to stating the fact of mystification takes up the second part of the book, devoted to finding the traces of that process in Norwid's literary works. In Pniewski's opinion Zieliński's book has one more advantage: it is pleasant to read. The way the narration is conducted reminds of classical detective novels, as the author reveals his actions and the motivation for the presented opinions in its course. Loyally to his reader he also points to the fragments of his argument that have to remain hypotheses because of lack of an indisputable factual confirmation of them. Such a mechanism is an advantage if we assume that the motivation for its use was to forestall the readers' possible reservations. Pniewski does not think the fact that Zieliński's publication is not very modern is its disadvantage, as the reader gets a credible message based on facts, focused on drawing Norwid's image.