From Italy to Poland. The influence of Italy on art, medicine and higher education in Poland

elective courses
general courses

Lectures are directed to all years and all faculties of the University of Warsaw

Classroom

The lectures will concern selected relations between Italy and Poland in the field of art, medicine and the history of higher education. The audience will get to know the profiles of the most important Italian artists and researchers who left their mark from the Renaissance to modern times on Polish science and culture. At the same time, their most interesting artistic realizations on the Vistula River and scientific projects will be presented. Much emphasis will be placed on selected academic topics, which are often the basis for the exchange of research experiences. Additionally, students will learn about the influence of the Italian scientific heritage on the development of Polish medicine. The main topics are going to be the development of anatomy’s and infectious diseases’ knowledge that has been expanding over the centuries. The invitation to the classes is addressed to both supporters of the humanities and representatives of exact and medical sciences.

The lectures will concern selected relations between Italy and Poland in the field of art, medicine and the history of higher education. The audience will get to know the profiles of the most important Italian artists and researchers who left their mark from the Renaissance to modern times on Polish science and culture. At the same time, their most interesting artistic realizations on the Vistula River and scientific projects will be presented. Much emphasis will be placed on selected academic topics, which are often the basis for the exchange of research experiences. Additionally, students will learn about the influence of the Italian scientific heritage on the development of Polish medicine. The main topics are going to be the development of anatomy’s and infectious diseases’ knowledge that has been expanding over the centuries. The invitation to the classes is addressed to both supporters of the humanities and representatives of exact and medical sciences.

The course will consist of 15 classes. Each lecture will last 90 minutes.

Basic topics:

1. Introductory classes

2. Italian sculptors in Poland in the times of the Renaissance and Mannerism

3. Italian influence at the court of the Vasa and Sobieski families

4. Bernard Bellotto’s profile in the context of the development of veduta painting

5. Polish-Italian artistic contacts at the court of Stanislaw August Poniatowski

6. Antonio Canova, Bertel Thorvaldsen and their famous Polish students

7. Italian architects in Poland: Henryk Marconi and Antonio Corazzi

8. Reception of the art of Michelangelo, Raphael and Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Polish art

9. History of the universities in Bologna and Padua and Polish students in Italy

10. The importance of the Grand Tour for the development of culture and science in Poland on the example of the achievements of Stanisław Kostka Potocki

11. The works of Henryk Siemiradzki and the importance of the novel Quo Vadis in Polish culture

12. Italian researchers and scientists within the walls of Polish universities

13. Academic contacts between Poland and Italy in the 19th and 20th centuries.

14. The heritage of Italian anatomical theaters and their influence on northern Europe

15. The impact of plague, syphilis and cholera on Poland and Italy

1. M. Karpowicz, Polsko-włoskie związki artystyczne, Warszawa 2012

2. H. Kozakiewiczowa, Renesans w Polsce, Warszawa 1984

3. S. Loretz, A. Rottermund, Klasycyzm w Polsce, Warszawa 1990

4. A. Rizzi, Canaletto w Warszawie: dzieła Bernarda Bellotta, zwanego Canalettem, w stolicy Stanisława Augusta, Warszawa 2006

5. J. Miziołek, Inspiracje śródziemnomorskie : o wizji antyku w sztuce Warszawy i innych ośrodków kultury dawnej Polski, Warszawa 2004.

6. J. Baszkiewicz, Młodość uniwersytetów, Warszawa 1997

7. K. Mikocka-Rachobowa, Canova : jego krąg i Polacy (około 1780-1850), t. 1-2. Warszawa 2001

8.Thorvaldsen w Polsce : katalog wystawy : 17 października 1994 - 22 stycznia 1995, Zamek Królewski w Warszawie - Biblioteka Stanisławowska / [aut. not katalogowych: Bogna Arnold-Rutkiewicz et al. ; red. nauk. katalogu Ilona Zatorska-Antonowicz, Warszawa 1994

9. J. Malinowski, Korpus dzieł malarskich Henryka Siemiradzkiego, Kraków 2021

9. T. Brzeziński, Historia medycyny, Warszawa 1995

10. Z. Gajda, Do historii medycyny wprowadzenie, Kraków 2011

11. J. Ruffié, Jean Ch. Soumia, Historia epidemii: od dżumy do AIDS, Warszawa 1996.

12. A. Nitsch-Osuch, A. Tyszkiewicz (red.), Od dżumy do COVID-19. Choroby, epidemie i pandemie w medycynie i humanistyce, Warszawa 2022.

After completing the course the student:

- has a basic knowledge of the most famous Italian artists working in Poland;

- can describe the most important works of art in Poland referring to Italian models;

- knows the profiles of famous Italian academics teaching in Poland and selected Poles studying in Italy;

- understands the influence of the Italian artistic world of universities on Polish culture and science;

- knows how to identify the most important works of art and literature as well as film images related to the topic of the course;

- recognizes the importance of Mediterranean inspirations for Polish art;

- knows the relationship between the designs of university buildings in Poland and the patterns coming from Italy;

- is able to identify the most famous pandemics that affected both Poland and Italy from the 14th to the 21st century;

- can characterize the history of selected Italian universities;

- knows the history of the development of anatomical theaters in Italy and north of the Alps.

Completion of classes will take place on the basis of the controlled presence. In addition, during the last meeting a short test will close questions.