The text describes the Church of the Holy Cross in Florence, which contains several Polish grave monuments, including that of the painter Michał-Bogorya Skotnicki, which was founded by his wife, Elżbieta née Laszkiewicz. The note continues with a description of the monument (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1876, Series 3, T:2, pp. 145-146, after: University of Łódź Digital Library).

A modernised reading of the text

Monument to the painter Skotnicki in Florence

In the Church of the Holy Cross in Florence, that pantheon of great celebrities of the Italian nation, next to the more or less magnificent tombs of Dante, Michelangelo, Macchiavelli, Galileo and others, a few modest Polish monuments have been squeezed in, hiding the bodies of our countrymen lost here in the land of Etruria, by various coincidences. But since in Italy, the cradle of art, even the most modest works have an artistic stamp, these Polish tombs are beautiful and deserve to be described in detail, to be reproduced in drawings. To our eye, they seemed all the more beautiful because they seemed to be sad in exile, orphaned and full of tearful consolation.

This is undoubtedly the case with the monument to Michał Bogorya Skotnicki, a painter who died here in the prime of his life, probably from a chest illness, and whose body was honoured in this marble by his devoted wife Elżbieta, née Iwaszkiewicz, a Cracovian, who, also in her native land, wishing to have in front of her eyes the monument to her husband made by the excellent sculptor Stefan Ricci, commissioned a reproduction from him and placed it in the Cracow cathedral, in the Chapel of the Satyrs. In the hearts of the people of Krakow, the memory of this lady, who died not too long ago, and whose life was a bundle of good deeds and virtues, in harmony with national tradition, is still fresh. Probably in memory of her late husband's profession and love, Elżbieta Skotnicka became an ardent protector of art and artists. Upon her husband's death, she bequeathed her husband's rich and numerous art collection to the University of Krakow, but unfortunately, a memorable fire in 1850 destroyed much of it before the testator's will could be carried out. We return to Skotnicki's monument in Florence, about which, lest we be accused of bias in favour of our own things, we shall quote the opinion of a foreign expert.

The learned Valery, in his work 'Voyages en Italie', expresses himself in the following words about this monument (we give his words in translation):

"The tomb of Count Józef Skotnicki, Pole, lover of the fine arts, who died in 33 years of age from a chronic illness, one of the best works of Mr Ricci, was erected by his young wife. The lute and the paintbrushes, as emblems of the talent of the late Skotnicki, and finally the beautiful figure of a woman, representing the conjugal faith, at the foot of a column, crowned with a funerary urn - this is the whole tomb." .

Thus, thanks to the artistic work of an Italian, the quiet fame and modest merits of a Pole little known in his native land have passed on to posterity.