Ars sarmatica, or Sarmatia and Art. An Outline of the Problem

Abstract

The author of the article considers the perspectives of studying Polish Renaissance and Baroque art in terms of its relationship to the phenomenon known as “Sarmatism”. He points to the lack of a clear definition of this concept and its poor research usefulness. Similar problems occur with the phrase “Sarmatian art”, for which there are no meaningful distinguishing criteria. However, in the area of Polish art, there are artistic works and phenomena that are particularly closely related to the cultural distinctiveness of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the author’s
opinion, this is the proper ars sarmatica – “Sarmatian art”. A short list of examples of works that can be included in this category follows. These are, among others: the mausoleum of the Czarnkowski family in Czarnków, the iconographic program of the courtyard of the Krzyżtopór castle in Ujazd,
the painting of the so-called “Homage of the Moscow tsars” from the mid-17th century (coming from an unknown magnate residence in the south-eastern borderlands of Poland), a Polish variant of the iconographic type rex armatus, an image of the election of King Stanisław August by Bernardo Bellotto (from the Royal Castle in Warsaw), and finally drawings by Jan Piotr Norblin showing Polish sejmiks.