Volume 18 (2022): Issue 1 (December 2022)

The present study takes issue with the accepted view (cf. Vikipedija) that the Chapel of St. Casimir in the Cathedral of Vilnius (1623–1636) resembles the Pauline and the Sistine Chapels in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. A closer look and comparison of the dimensions, geometry, materials, and internal décor, however, reveals significant differences. The defining architectural features of the Chapel of St. Casimir do not derive from these Baroque chapels but from multiple Biblical and Early Christian sources. (This study focused on the Chapel’s interior features that survived the 1655–1661 occupation of Vilnius.) Its cubic core recalls the twenty-cubit amplitude of the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. The black marble walls (noir de Namur) allude to the blackening acacia wood of the Ark of the Covenant holding the Ten Commandment stone tablets that Moses received from the Lord on Mt. Sinai. The ox-blood colored pilasters (vieux rouge de Rance) recall the porphyry columns of the Aedicule that sheltered the Tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem. The Chapel’s reduced Greek cross plan derives from Vitruvius and recalls Early Christian mausoleums. The Ionic column capitals in the Chapel duplicate the ones in the entrance portals of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and in the Confessio above the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle in the Roman necropolis underneath the Basilica. The Council of Trent upheld Early Christian customs, precedents, and traditions. Materializing the Council’s values, the Chapel became a landmark of the Counter-Reformation. The study at hand relied heavily on the indispensable archival documents gleaned by Povilas Reklaitis, Paulius Rabikauskas, SJ, Zenonas Ivinskis, Mintautas Čiurinskas, Birutė Rūta Vitkauskienė, and Piotr Jacek Jamski.

The article examines the complicated history of the search for Lithuanian identity in the church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Chicago. After leaving their homeland in the aftermath of World War II, the Lithuanian community struggled to maintain its national identity under difficult conditions of emigration. The search for a Lithuanian architectural character became an important part of this political task. Based on a case study, a church near Chicago’s densely populated Marquette Park in Lithuania, the text analyzes the Lithuanian community’s debate about the cultural and political mission of Lithuanian architecture in exile, and the way to express it. Although the concept of the national style had already emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century, post-war technological progress and the unfamiliar context of emigration brings additional questions to the subject. The article argues that historical reminiscences in the church are more an ethical than an aesthetic choice. This approach embodies the specific cultural expectations of the community and is, at least partially, in line with the critique of modernism from regionalist point of view.

The article analyses for the first time the décor motifs of the bronze chandeliers from Lithuania and Latvia in the 16th–18th century. More abundant objects in Latvia are used to reconstruct the lost heritage of chandeliers in Lithuania, and the variety, origin, and symbolism of décor motifs are analysed. The study revealed two groups of décor elements: some of them came from the Gothic and were still used during the Renaissance, while other motifs were started to use altogether with the beginning of the promotion of antiquity culture in the 16th century. The tops of the chandeliers were not decorated with random but rather relevant and important elements of the symbolic meaning of that period. These could be allegorical motifs of décor symbolising fire/Heavenly light, motifs symbolising Divine order on earth or Divine patronage, as well as heraldic décor elements denoting political relationships or friendliness.

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.

The Frenkel family was famous in Lithuania not only as major manufacturers but also as generous benefactors. They honourably fulfilled the duty of a wealthy Jew to provide charity and social assistance to those most in need. The Frenkel family was forced to leave Lithuania in 1939: during the Soviet and Nazi occupations, the family lost all their possessions. While some family members had Lithuanian citizenship, the property rights of the descendants of Chaim Frenkel (1857–1920) were not reinstated, and from 17 June 1993 the Chaim Frenkel Villa became a department of the Šiauliai “Aušros” Museum (ŠAM, established in 1923). After the building’s renovation (finished in 2008) the villa’s interior spaces reflect minimally survived aesthetics of high class everyday Lithuanian Jewish private life at the beginning of the 20th century. The aim of the article is to argue how the Art Nouveau style in (territory of nowadays) Lithuania was not pure, but intertwined with retro-styles and internationalism. The case of the Ch. Frenkel Villa enriches the history of Lithuanian Art Nouveau with rich combinations of colours, shapes and compositions typical of Lithuanian Jews. Noticeably in the case of the Ch. Frenkel Villa, the traditionalist way of life and the wisdom of Jewish daily life restrained fashionable European design innovations. This is proof that the living environment of Lithuanian Jews was perceived as an important space for spiritual life and the worship of God.

Despite searches – fruitless so far – to discover the building’s architect, we can nonetheless recognise the connection of the Ch. Frenkel Villa with the art history of neighbouring Latvia, Riga in particular. It is known that the creator of the villa’s wall painting – famous Latvian painter Voldemārs Zeltiņš (1879–1909) – came to Šiauliai from Riga especially for this work. While the décor of the Ch. Frenkel family house-villa interior may look very magnificent to today’s generation, in comparison with wealthy European factory owners’ homes it was very modest, though yet of very high artistic value, unique and avoiding the repetition of straightforward cheap fashions of interior design.

The text analyzes the discourse on modernist genius functioning within the critical reception of the works of an American abstract painter Georgia O’Keeffe in the 1910s and 1920s. The aim is to reflect on how the understanding of O’Keeffe as an atypical artist in the masculinized reality of her time influenced the views on the ideal of genius articulated by art critics during the discussed period. The text also aims to revise some concepts regarding the painter’s presence in the artistic world and the position of her artwork therein.

Leaning on the notions of transnationalism of cinema or Cinema of Small States, this article sets out to evaluate early cinema in the Northwestern Krai of the late 1800s–early 1900s Russian Empire and the region’s largest city, Vilnius, thematically, rather than chronologically, through the layers of the formation of film culture and the transformation of cinema into an aesthetic object. Such an approach presents a culturally new possibility of finding commonalities, allowing one to see early cinema in the provinces not necessarily as an always-late phenomenon that highlights the provinciality of the provinces, but on the contrary, as part of the overall European film tradition. This is argued from several aspects. Firstly, by showing how the perception of cinema has changed (and how this change coincided with Western trends) from cinema of attractions to narrative cinema; and secondly, by identifying changes in the repertoire of cinemas and in the established preferences of the early cinema audiences.

Adaptation research demonstrates that the narrative of a particular work may be transferred to different media and/or contexts. In the analysis of such adaptations, it is possible to observe that in the context of both cinema and theatre, the often debated discourses around the connection between literature and and its adaptations in another media, are dialogical and conflicting. Although these discussions still dominate many texts, a considerable number of researchers agree that there are significant connections between adaptations of the same work and the original narrative. For example, Regina Schober describes adaptations as the process of emerging relationships.¹ Such a definition refers both to the relationship between the literary source and its adaptation to another medium, and the relationships between other adaptations created in the same or different media. The definition also encompasses the possibilities of narrative transformation in different cultural contexts. Prosper Mérimée’s work – the short story “The Bear”, in which 19th century Lithuania is reflected by combining fiction and reality – was selected for detailed investigation. The selected adaptations include, on the Lithuanian theatre stage, the opera “The Bear” (2000) created by composer Bronius Kutavičiuss and director Jonas Jurašas, and Łukasz Twarkowski’s “Lokis” (2017), staged at the drama theatre. The opera includes important additions to the short story. The adaptation by Lukasz Twarkowski and playwright Anka Herbut of the stage performance presents the idea of Mérimée’s work in today’s context, combining it with real stories of artists of our time. Two of the listed adaptations of “The Bear”, representing different genres – opera and contemporary drama theatre, as well as the relationship with the original text – became the objects of further research analysis. These case studies explore the use of media tools in the interpretation of the textual narrative, assess each adaptation within the overall field of previously produced adaptations, and seek to decipher the intertexts, and to notice the connections (as well as the differences).

Persian and Arabo-Persian texts frequently referred to Silla as a highlighted toponym. Obviously, descriptions used for Silla in Persian texts cannot be comparable with other toponyms. Ajayeb-al-Makhlughat is the name of a manuscript which deals with marvellous lands, islands, seas, animals, birds, people or customs etc. in Persian literature. Qazvini’s versions have no designs/paintings on toponyms. Haji Mohammad Nasir Khansari published the lithographical version of the manuscript in Tehran in 1283 Hegira (1904 AD) for the first time. His copyist and graphic designer was Abas-Ali Tafreshi. He, in the lithographical version, described the lands and islands of South and Southeast Asia (India to Silla) along with paintings. Most of the people of those islands appeared naked, were uncivilized and had a strange lifestyle. As an exceptional case, Silla is described very positively, civilized, attractive and charming. This paper focuses on the significant difference between Silla and the others, based on the paintings. Nevertheless, this painting is very different from the unpublished painting from Kush-nama, the most important book on Iran’s connection with Silla. The first painting of the people of Silla dates back to a unique manuscript of this book copied by Muhammad ibn Saeed ibn Abdullah. Herat School of Art, by extending towards Shiraz School, has formed the structure of this unique painting from the eighth century AH. However, the painting of the Kush-nama version is not very far from the time of writing of the original text; but the book Ajayeb-al-Makhlughat (AJ) is dedicated to 865 AH and the painting to 1904 AD. At this time, Western art (Europe) had a great impact on Iran.

Interaction with heritage objects, which represent the transition between the past and present, is part of people’s daily lives in historical cities. However, even though heritage is a cultural asset, it is also the outcome of the social and political conditions regarding the selection, protection, and management of heritage objects. After the Second World War, different European countries developed diverse approaches regarding the rebuilding process of their cities, which were heavily destroyed due to air raids. While some followed the strategy of constructing a modern city from scratch, some decided to reconstruct the prior structures before the cities were demolished. Furthermore, there are examples where the authorities have selectively chosen what they wanted to remember and build. When these strategies are analysed in today’s conditions, they raise the question of how these different approaches affected the appreciation of these cities in the contemporary world, concerning their perceived authenticity and integrity, since perception can vary regarding the issues related to heritage objects. In most cases, while experts emphasise the protection of the environment and safeguard the authenticity of the historical objects, for the general public, the visual integrity and the impact of the changes to their daily lives might be more critical, which establishes a difference towards the social value of the authenticity. Therefore, this paper aims to demonstrate the possible diversity of ethical and aesthetic approaches to restoration and reconstruction, from the perspective of authenticity and integrity, by comparing three cities from different parts of Europe with similar demographics. The selected cities in this research are Coventry (United Kingdom), Dresden (Germany), and Gdańsk (Poland), which were all damaged by air raids during the Second World War and implemented different reconstruction approaches to their cities after the war.