Rzeźby z kolekcji von Rose w Döhlau, I : pierwsza wizyta w Dylewie

Abstrakt

W M uzeum Narodowym w Warszawie znalazł się w kilka lat po wojnie osobliwy zabytek - marmurowy sarkofag dekorowany figurami umieszczonymi w arkadach (Fig. 1).1 Określony jako „sarkofag rawennacki" wystawiony został wśród obiektów antycznych na muzealnej ekspozycji w tzw. „sali rzymskiej"; był podziwiany i został opublikowany w katalogu Galerii Sztuki Starożytnej.2 Za moich studenckich czasów (lata 70-te ubiegłego wieku) autentyczność zabytku zaczęła jednak wzbudzać wątpliwości. Gdy wkrótce później grupa badaczy zaczęła opracowywać i publikować antyczne sarkofagi ze zbiorów polskich,3 kamienny obiekt uznany - jak zobaczymy niżej, niesłusznie - za falsyfikat, został w muzeum wstydliwie schowany.<br>THE VON ROSE COLLECTION OF SCULPTURE IN DÖHLAU (THE FIRST VISIT IN DYLEWO). The article is the first of a series of three publications (to be published in the forthcoming volumes of Swiatowit - an exhibition as well as a monograph of the subject are also planned) concerning a once famous art collection of the von Rose family in Döhlau - Dylewo today - near Ostróda (Osterode) in the Warmia and Masuria District. The founder of the collection, Franz Rose (1854-1912), had created an admirable collection consisting mainly of modern works of art, but also of antique and renaissance pieces (and their copies). The sculptures were exhibited in the palace and in the adjoining park, designed by a famous landscape architect, Johann Larass (1820-1893). The estate was destroyed in 1945 - most of the paintings and sculptures were burnt, stolen or forgotten. A few years after the Second World War the National Museum in Warsaw came in possession of a couple of the preserved sculptures, among which was a unique sarcophagus decorated with a relief imitating sarcophagi of the Ravenna type. The wish to verify the provenance of this enigmatic sarcophagus became the motif for the undertaking of further investigations. According to museum registers the sarcophagus came from Dylewo, and therefore a visit to this small village seemed necessary. Once there, the author and his two assisstants documented the remains of what must have once been a wonderful garden. In the park we found, hidden under leaves and branches, several sculptures considered lost during the war. Among these were discovered sculptures of an Italian symbolist and expressionist artist Adolfo Wildt (1868-1931), a very popular sculptor among art collectors and scholars of today. In the article is presented a complete list of Wildt's works created during his stay in Dylewo, and a list - supplemented by photographs - of Wildt's sculptures preserved in Polish museums. Results of further investigations concerning the von Rose collection will be the subject of subsequent articles prepared for publication in the yearly of the Institute of Archaeology - Swiatowit. After the theft of the portrait - sculpture depicting Johann Larass a number of articles referring to Adolfo Wildt have already appeared in Polish newspapers.