Postrzeganie i ocena dzieł sztuki europejskiej XVII i pierwszej połowy XVIII wieku w świetle literatury podróżniczej tego okresu

Abstract

This publication belongs to the current of research concerning the reception of art in travel literature. Its purpose is to determine how European artworks of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century were perceived and evaluated by travellers journeying during this period, i.e. contemporarily in relation to works being then created. The terms: art of that period and present-day art are treated conventionally in this work and are used for the determination of artworks being created from the beginning of the 17th century to the end of the first half of the 18th century. Basic research material comprised source texts, written and printed, from the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century, belonging to travel literature. Over fifty relations were analysed, and a criterion of their choice was primarily defined by occurrence in texts the descriptions of artworks from the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century. A method accepted in this work consisted in analysis of the fragments of texts belonging to travel literature in accounts concerning artworks from the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century, and their subsequent interpretation. Recording artworks in the relations by travellers was an important factor and it was considered as detection. Only appearance, along with naming of a work (from the field of architecture, sculpture or painting), the description and evaluative assessments constituted evidence of its conscious perception. Artworks, which turned out to be especially interesting for travellers, were characterised by these people.