The book by Professor Karpowicz
After the great success of the first Polish cookery book “Compendium ferculorum or a collection of dishes” and “The Lubomirski Family at Wilanów. Politics and private life” the authorities of The Princes Lubomirski Foundation have decided again, in cooperation with the Palace-Museum in Wilanów, to get involved in the publishing project.
“Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski and artists” is the work by Mariusz Karpowicz – an eminent professor of the University of Warsaw. The book shows the prince's passion for art and culture and his numerous contacts with famous artists - Tylman of Gameren or Francesco Antonio Giorgioli.
In the 1670s Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski became one of the most known patron of the arts and architecture in Poland. Thanks to his fortune he carried out excellent and original projects. “Arcadia” designed by Tylman of Gameren was established in Mokotów in 1678. The prince founded Ermitage and Łazienka in Ujazdów. He also started creating the park which delighted with its tasteful beauty and arrangement. In Czerniaków he founded the Bernardine church where a new family mausoleum was to be put.
Serving as a patron, the prince also supported a number of Polish artists. Jan Andrzej Morsztyn, a political writer and public official related to the prince’s family, was one of his pupil.
The real passion of the Prince Lubomirski was creating poems. First literary achievements come from 1664. It is most probable that “Ermida” was the first work, “Adverbiorum moralium sive de wirtute et fortuna libellous” the next. “Ermida” is a polemic against a myth of Arcadian bliss, whereas the latter work of moralizing character sees the virtue as the support towards the change of fortune.
Lubomirski deserved the appellation “Polish Solomon” thanks to the paraphrase publication of “Books of Ecclesiastes” and “Tobiasz wyzwolony”. He expounded his views on human cognition, limits of the mind and the belief in experience. The next work was “De vanitate consiliorum”, a political dialogue concerning the ills of the Polish state, regarded by some scholars as the best work by Lubomirski.
The book by Professor Karpowicz “Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski and artists” is an exceptional and timeless work – showing a wealth of information and a set of skilfully integrated colourful illustrations.
