Watercolours and Drawings of Count Konstanty Tyzenhauz – the Romanticised Testimony of the Time

Abstract

Summary The goal of this article is to analyse and evaluate from an art-historical perspective the artistic legacy of Count Konstanty Tyzenhauz (1786–1853) in view of his multifaceted activities and in the context of his time, by applying formal and iconographic methods of art criticism. The Count’s work is a captivating and noteworthy legacy, a testimony to the amateur creativity of aristocracy. Various publications have published or mentioned only single works by Tyzenhauz; no attempt, however, has been made to study them as a whole with regard to the art-historical approach, moreover, some of the works had not yet been published. The analysis revealed that a number of sparsely preserved works, be it drawings or watercolours, are at variance with the stylistic rendering and artistic expression, thus disclosing the Count’s creative experiments and a notable influence of his teachers Orłowski and Norblin. The views representing historical heritage objects (the Koknese, the Vilnius Gediminas, and the Trakai castles) reflect in the main the Romantic tendencies and constitute the group of the most mature Count’s artworks. However, taking account of his unique style and individual manner, images of Rokiškis and the surrounding areas, as well as drawings of birds, stand out for the distinctive interpretation and comprise the most original group. They are romanticised, authentic visual fragments of his time and familiar environment. Art was not the Count’s main and professional endeavour, likewise for a number of noblemen of the epoch, but his artistic inclination let him adapt his talent for scientific purposes. No doubt, Tyzenhauz’s works that feature birds and various architectural objects are of important scientific, historical and iconographic value.