The text mentions an erected tomb monument to Artur Grottger in the Church of the Dominican Fathers in Lviv. A brief biography of the artist is recalled, and the appearance of both the church and the monument itself is described (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1881, Series 3, T:11, p. 340, after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text

A monument to Artur Grottger in the church of the Dominican priests in Lviv.

Visitors to Lviv tend to lament its scarcity of historical monuments and art objects. There is no doubt that this poverty is great, and the inhabitants of the Lion's City have little consolation for their eyes and soul if they do not have the opportunity to look out into the wider world and get at least some measure of aesthetic pleasure in Krakow. We are speaking here only of art monuments, as they can learn their history from the sketches of Szajnocha or Kubala, and indeed Lviv's bourgeoisie have many a beautiful page there. But this is not what we are going to write about; we would like to share with our readers a fresh aesthetic impression, a fresh acquisition of art that we have recently received: we would like to talk about the monument to Arthur Grottger.

We welcome every work of art, let alone a monument to a nation's favourite, who is all the more dear to the people of Lwow because the Lychakiv cemetery holds his corpse at the express request of the artist who considered Lwow his home city. The monument to the unlamented artist was erected with contributions collected through the efforts of a committee headed by: Kornel Ujejski and Count Stanislaw Tarnowski of Slonimka. This monument was to arrive in a forehead running backwards. This forehead distinguishes it from Dante's, as the lines are almost the same. Mr Gadomski accentuated this difference, but kept, perhaps thinking too much of the resemblance, the hair short and straight cut, as Grottger wore it.

This hair, together with the chin, supposedly rounder than the artist had it, give him a sort of military rather than artistic feature. We have heard that the artist is to correct the faults to Lviv so that it can be unveiled on 13 December, as the anniversary of the artist's death. Unforeseen obstacles, however, prevented this from happening and the solemn ceremony did not take place until 22 December in the Dominican church, undoubtedly the most suitable of all local churches for the Pantheon. The church of the Dominican Fathers is characterised by a very beautiful structure and is one of the most beautiful buildings of the late 18th century, which in terms of architecture has left quite a number of monuments.

Our church is not the last among these monuments, and its perfect size and superbly illuminated dome make us admire the versatility of Witt, the commandant of Kamenets, who was the architect of this temple, built at the expense of Franciszek Saleze Potocki. Who can guess what prompted the proud magnate to build a church whose pediment reads: "Soli Deo honour et gloria"? Could it have been the voice of repentance or the late humility of a magnate who understood so much about himself that he trampled on whatever did not yield to him? Be that as it may, this church testifies to a desire to propitiate an offended justice, and the people of Lviv have a beautiful temple, reminding some of St Peter's Church in Rome, at least it is a common comparison.

As for us, we do not accept it; it rather reminds us of the church of San Redentore in Venice in size and unity, although it does not have such a beautiful Renaissance front, and, worst of all, it does not stand on a free site, so that the general lines of the building disappear completely, to the great detriment of the whole. The interior of this church could very easily correspond completely to the style of the whole, but unfortunately it is disfigured by inappropriate decorations, in which the green colour, until recently a favourite in Lviv, prevails; the altars are also of the worst taste and in complete disharmony with the church. This interior boasts, besides the ancient alabaster sarcophagi, the only monument in our city chiseled by Thorwaldsen, further a monument to one of the Galician governors, now received the one we are talking about. The Grottger monument, chiseled by Gadomski of Krakow, is a very successful work, creating an impression of silence, calm and solemnity, which is precisely the quality of beauty in sculpture.

The idea behind the monument is simple and explains itself clearly. We have before us an obelisk of ashen marble; a genius or muse, with a star on her forehead, the same one who guided Grottger through the valley of tears, crowns the artist's medallion; at her feet an urn with a lovely drapery; on the urn, in bas-relief, a wonderful cover of "Polonia". The figure, the medallion, the wreath and the urn in white marble. Nothing new, nothing striking, yet the whole is moving and solemn. The crowning figure turns away from the viewer and seems to attach a laurel wreath; so we see her face in incomplete profile. The movement may not have quite the solemnity of a supernatural being, but it is true and graceful; the head, lovely as to its lines, turns away with a truly charming movement; the drapery, beautifully arranged, is held on one shoulder only, has fallen from the other and shows us a hand uncovered to the elbow, a wide folded sleeve and a limp limb, caught at the waist and modestly sheathed. Shapely hands, treated with a great sense of the aesthetic character of the female hand. From the wreath we move on to the medallion, which, unfortunately, is the weakest aspect of the monument; and, verily, Grottger's profile, so reminiscent of Dante, is an object worthy of the chisel and capable of delighting the sculptor.

We were not fortunate enough to know the irreverent artist personally, so we cannot judge the resemblance; it is certain, however, that, as it is, the medallion does not correspond to the character of Grottger's work, and that is, after all, what is mainly at stake here. The likeness occupies today's generation, but later on it will be a matter of indifference to posterity; so we would like the medallion to represent not so much the man as the artist. Grottger's profile is a perfect unity; it expresses the gift of reflection developed and the gift of poetic creation, the latter, according to the notions of David of Angers, should be grasped. Let us not, however, blame as far as this can be done and fear lest it harm the monument, which in its entirety corresponds well to the task of art.

In turn, we come to speak of the urn and the bas-relief placed upon it. We are not specialists; however, it seems to us that the bas-relief, full of life and solemnity, and executed with verve, is too convex and not applicable enough to the round shapes of the vessel. To conclude the description of the monument, we should add that the dimensions of the base are perfectly applied to the size of the whole, and the inscription: "To Artur Grottger, his compatriots erected this monument" does not offend with its puffiness. Thus the Grottger monument corresponds not only to its purpose, but also to the spirit of our time. Mr Gadomski, who is neither a classicist nor a romantic, assimilates the motifs of one school or the other with all the freedom he can muster, combining them into a whole not devoid of style and originality, without chasing after the latter, thinking everywhere about whom this monument is to honour, and seeking inspiration and motifs in the works of the late artist, forgetting himself.

In addition to the objections mentioned above, there is no shortage of voices dissatisfied with the details. Some frown upon the position of the central figure, claiming that it faces the viewer too little. These are advised to look at the Copernicus monument in Kraków and they will certainly lose their taste for figures making a wreathing motion, without looking at the head to receive the wreath. Others rise up against the star on the muse's head, alleging that only a drawing, capable of showing rays of light, had the right to use this emblem.

Doubtless this accusation is not without merit, but then how could the artist have distinguished the celestial from the ordinary daughters of the earth? The profile, and incomplete profile at that, and still more the scope of the sculpture, cannot give that expression which the fine shades of the inner being would manage to express. Besides, the star is a kind of termination of the head, which the ancients, those lawgivers in the field of plastic art, did not despise either. Further, the creation of the muse, as Grottger conceived it, is a respect for his memory, not an imitation, because we see that the sculptor changed what was necessary, giving the figure slimmer shapes and more delicate contours of the head.

Finally, the artist, discarding the star, would have had to change the muse's costume, he would have had to make her a Greek woman with a chiton cinched at the shoulder, and revealing the arm and the whole beginning of the hand. This would perhaps have been more artistic, but it would have lost the character of familiarity that makes such a nice impression. There are also those critics who say that there is nothing new in this monument. True - but where to find the new? In our time, we cannot see the ways of the new, and we must be content if someone takes the old shapes, but breathes life into them, which is in millions of breasts.

This processing is precisely the ideal of our time, and who would dare to despise it, since it derives from the work of so many centuries, from the advances that have been made by skill, from defined and more familiar aesthetic principles? At the same time, if we give Mr Gadomski the praise he deserves, we cannot claim that the external form and style are sufficiently refined. In detail, some parts are more finished, others less so, and some are even treated by the artist with capricious disregard. However, there is so much thought, life and verve in his work that we cannot ask for too much and we are sure that these inequalities will disappear in his next works.