Napoleono Ylakavičiaus paveikslas "Kristaus gundymas": gėrio ir blogio kovos vizija

LTStraipsnyje aptariamas Lietuvos XIX a. dailininko Napoleono Ylakavičiaus (1811–1861) paveikslas "Kristaus gundymas", iki šiol žinotas tik iš paminėjimų literatūroje. Surinkti šios drobės istorijos faktai ir aprašymas 1862 m. paskelbtame dailininko nekrologe leido konstatuoti, kad tai tas pats paveikslas, kuris užfiksuotas 1968 m. Mečislovo Sakalausko nuotraukoje. Šiuo metu paveikslo buvimo vieta nežinoma, tad išlikusi jo nuotrauka yra vienintelis ikonografinis šaltinis, suteikiantis galimybę plačiau aptarti šį Ylakavičiaus kūrybos kontekste išskirtinį kūrinį. Paveiksle įkūnytos idėjos aptariamos išryškinant jų ryšį su dailininko pasaulėžiūra. Daugelis jo visuomeninio ir asmeninio gyvenimo faktų straipsnyje skelbiama pirmą kartą. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Napoleonas Ylakavičius, romantizmas, Vilnius, Mečislovas Sakalauskas, Kristaus ikonografija, šėtono ikonografija. [Iš leidinio]

ENThe article discusses the painting "The Temptation of Christ" by the 19th-century Lithuanian artist Napoleon Iłłakowicz (Napoleonas Ylakavičius, 1811–1861), which has been known so far only from mentions in literature and a description given by Adam Honory Kirkor in the artist’s obituary in 1862. The collected facts of the history of this canvas and Kirkor’s description allowed the author of this article to establish that the same painting was captured in Mečislovas Sakalauskas’s photograph of 1968, which today is held in the collection of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art. At the time of photographing, the painting was held in the Church of Saints John in Vilnius; its present location is unknown. Thus, the surviving photograph is the only iconographic source offering us a possibility to discuss this painting, which is quite extraordinary in the context of Iłłakowicz’s work. The ideas embodied in the painting are discussed through their relation to the artist’s worldview. Many facts of the artist’s public and personal life are published for the first time in this article. The painting was most probably created in the period between 1857 and 1861, when the painter lived in Vilnius. The plot of the canvas is based on the gospel story about the temptation of Christ in the wilderness by the devil offering him control of the world (Lk 4, 5). The artist used the image of the encounter of the Saviour and Satan to express revolutionary ideas of people’s liberation from oppression (both political and economic), which were nurtured in the environment of various societies and masonic lodges that were founded in emigration.This supposition is based on the ideas found in Michał Chodźko’s book "Dziesięć obrazów z wyprawy do Polski 1833 r.: 1834-1835: poema z muzyką do dwóch pieśni, i czterema portretami" published in Paris in 1841, which maintained that the true followers of Christ must become the bearers of freedom (both personal and communal), seek equality among the nations and social classes, and rally efforts in the struggle against the powers of evil. Today these views could be called a combination of the ideas of utopian socialism, Christianity and Messianism. The image of the temptation of Christ here is presented as a vision of the struggle between good and evil that runs through the entire history of humanity, and the resistance of Lithuania and Poland against tsarist Russia is seen as one of the episodes of this struggle. Iłłakowicz’s direct involvement in the preparation of the book (and in the activity of the emigrant “sodality” described there) is testified by the illustrations bound in the book – portraits of the rebels Artur Zawisza (1808–1833), Józef Zaliwski (1797–1855), Szymon Konarski (1808–1839) and Michał Wołłowicz (1806–1833) engraved by Antoni Oleszczyński (Nitan) after Iłłakowicz’s drawings. The sodality not only sought political goals, but also called for the necessity of social changes and had a dream of building a classless society in the restored Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and implementing radical changes in all fields of society’s life. They understood this mission as the realisation of the ideals proclaimed in the gospels. Keywords: Napoleon Iłłakowicz, Leonard Chodźko, Romanticism, 19th-century painting, Vilnius, Mečislovas Sakalauskas, iconography of Christ, iconography of Satan. [From the publication]