This is an unusual book. This is because it presents ancient engravings that are not widely known or exhibited. However, it is worth remembering that in the past, modern engravings were mass-commissioned, published, served as a popular source of iconographic communication used by other artists, but were also an important propaganda element used by the commissioning authority.

In this publication, the author takes a closer look at the history of the Augsburg printmaking centre with an indication - importantly and new to the research - of the multiple mechanisms that shaped it. The book uncovers the wide-ranging - not only artistic, but also social, cultural, political and other - connections linking the Republic of Poland with the Augsburg engraving centre in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries against the background of a European perspective.

As the reviewers point out: "The virtues of this work are the clarity of construction, the interestingly presented and discussed problem threads, the erudition and the extremely broad coverage of the subject [...]. What deserves to be emphasised is the author's excellent knowledge of terminology and issues connected with the field of printmaking, as well as his excellent orientation both in the modern art of Europe [...] and in the art of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which is, among other things, the result of the author's 'field' experience working on the inventory of monuments. The combination of these skills with the inquisitiveness, reliability, patience and passion of the researcher has yielded a work that will be one of the foundations of further research into both the history of Augsburg prints and their Polish contexts - their impact on the art and culture of the Republic".

We invite you to read selected pages of the publication

Author: Zbigniew Michalczyk

Language editing: Małgorzata Merkel-Masse

Translation: Magdalena Płóciennik (English)
Tomasz Płóciennik (Latinum)

Year of publication: 2020, 2023

Number of pages: 572

Binding: soft

Format: A4

ISBN: 978-83-66172-34-0