Campo Verano Cemetery in Rome

The cemetery records state that the painter Jan Styka was also buried in the Polish Artists’ Grave. In 1959, the artist’s remains were transferred to the United States, to a cemetery in Glendale near Los Angeles, where they were laid to rest alongside his son, Tadeusz Styka, in the Immortals’ Quarter. At this cemetery, known as Forest Lawn Memorial Park, a panorama entitled ‘Golgotha’ (‘The Crucifixion’) – regarded as the largest religious painting in the world – has been on display since 1951. Jan Styka painted ‘Golgotha’ in 1896 together with Jan Stanisławski, Tadeusz Popiel and Zygmunt Rozwadowski, at the urging of Ignacy Paderewski.

The death of Aleksander Gierymski

Antoni Madeyski’s studio in Rome, on Via Flaminia, was a meeting place for Poles – artists, writers, political activists and independence campaigners. Among the sculptor’s circle of friends was one of the most outstanding Polish painters of the 19th century, Aleksander Gierymski. The artist was looked after by his patron and friend, the industrialist, scholar and inventor Bruno Abdank-Abakanowicz. Gierymski was a direct witness to his sudden death in 1900. This event further worsened the painter’s poor health.

On 8 March 1901, the Rome correspondent of the *Gazeta Lwowska* wrote: ‘As I have already reported by telegram, the late Aleksander Gierymski, an outstanding landscape painter and brother of Maksymilian Gierymski, has died here after a short illness at the age of 52. The artist, who had been suffering from acute neurasthenia for some time, had become a recluse, shunned company and even showed signs of mental illness to those who were able to get close to him. For this reason, for the past three years he had been seeking relief for his frayed nerves in the south, spending his winters in Rome, where he had a studio on Via Margutta, to which, however, hardly anyone had access.

His only friend and guardian was the late electrical engineer Bruno Abakanowicz. It was at his home – in Saint-Maur near Paris and on the island of Plumanach off the coast of Brittany – that Gierymski spent most of the year, painting and indulging in solitary strolls. When the late Abakanowicz, who had been responsible for selling his paintings and providing financial support, died, Gierymski felt this great loss deeply and became even more sombre. […] The daughter of the late B. Abakanowicz continued to treat the artist with kindness, but despite this, Gierymski had recently suffered a nervous breakdown.

Several of his friends, young painters, took care of him here and, through their efforts, he was admitted to a mental asylum in Zatybrze, where he was given proper care. It seemed that his illness would be a protracted one; however, Al. Gierymski died almost suddenly, as a result of a stroke, alone, just as he had lived. The Resurrectionist Fathers arranged the funeral and the transfer of the body to the Campo Verano cemetery. One of the young sculptors, Mr A. Madejski, made a death mask of the deceased. The local artistic community attended the funeral.” (“Gazeta Lwowska”, No. 58, 12 March 1901)

In the final months of his life, the seriously ill artist was cared for by Antoni Madeyski, who is mentioned in the correspondence. When Gierymski died, Madeyski ensured he was given a burial place befitting his status.

As Maria Kwiatkowska states in the catalogue *Polish Graves in the Cemeteries of Rome* (Warsaw 1999), “the sponsors of Gierymski’s monument —the cost of which was estimated at one thousand roubles—were: the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw, which contributed two-thirds of the necessary sum, raised as proceeds from a posthumous exhibition of the painter’s works, and Zofia Abakanowicz and Ignacy Milewski.

An obelisk of white travertine

The Polish Artists’ Grave at Campo Verano (Altoripiano, plot 15) was crafted from white travertine in the form of an obelisk topped with a cross; it is adorned with a sculptural composition featuring leaves and a lantern, with a bronze bust of Gierymski by Antoni Madeyski set in a niche, alongside two marble inscription plaques. The grave site is lined with slabs at ground level, forming a border. Within this, there is an entrance to the tomb’s crypt, covered by a profiled slab protruding above the level of the border, featuring two bronze door handles. The slab bears an inscription, carved in relief in Roman capital letters: POLISH / ARTISTS’ GRAVE.

At the head of the grave stands a two-step plinth on a rectangular plan. In its lower part, on the left-hand side, on an asymmetrically positioned projection, there is a sculptural composition consisting of laurel sprigs, a palette and a lantern decorated with lions’ heads. This composition partially overlaps the side of the plinth, where the artist’s signature is located: ANT. MADEYSKI. On the right-hand side, there is also a white marble plaque bearing the inscription: ANTONI MADEYSKI / SCULPTOR / B. IN FUSNA, VOLHYNIA 1862 / D. IN ROME 1939.

The upper part of the plinth tapers towards the top and is crowned by a projecting, massive cornice with a carved Maltese cross at its summit. The cornice bears the bas-relief letters ‘PX’ against a background of intertwined palm leaves. In the central part of the plinth is a semicircular, framed niche containing a bronze bust of Aleksander Gierymski. Below this is a pink marble plaque tapering towards the top, bearing the monument’s main inscription carved in deep Roman capital letters: ALEXANDER / GIERYMSKI / BORN IN WARSAW / 1850 / D. IN ROME / 1901.

Gierymski’s bust was stolen in the late 1990s. Fortunately, it was established that the original sculpture, bearing the signature: ‘Ant. Madeyski Rome 1902’, is held in the collections of the National Museum in Kraków, under inventory number MNK II-rz-193.

On this basis, Polish conservators were able to produce a copy, which was subsequently placed in a niche on the gravestone. The replica of Gierymski’s bust was made from epoxy resin.

During the conservation work on the gravestone, an additional plaque commemorating Wiktor Brodzki and Jadwiga Bohdanowicz was affixed, bearing the inscriptions: WIKTOR BRODZKI / SCULPTOR / BORN IN OCHOTÓWKA 1817 / D. IN ROME 1904 / JADWIGA BOHDANOWICZ / SCULPTOR / BORN IN WARSAW 1887 / DIED IN ROME 1943.

Thus, this valuable memento of the Polish presence and artistic life in Rome has been restored to its proper condition.

Further work at Campo Verano

In 2013, the gravestone underwent conservation work, and in 2014, thanks to funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ programme ‘Cooperation with the Polish Diaspora and Poles Abroad’, awarded to the Society for Academic Tradition, three further Polish gravestones underwent conservation work: those of the artists Henryk Cieszkowski and Aleksander Stankiewicz, the Lateran canon Ludwik Grabiński, and the insurgent, collector and social activist Onufry Antoni Józef Korzeniowski.

The work was carried out by the same team of conservators who restored the Tomb of Polish Artists in 2014. As in 2013, the team’s work was supervised by Dr Janusz Smaza.