The artworks of Andrzej Radwański, an artist from Cracow, will be shown to the public for the first time ever. From February 12th to May 15th, 2022, you can visit the “Virtuosity of line. Andrzej Radwański (1711-1726)” exhibition in the Wawel Royal Castle in Cracow.
Andrzej Radwański was born in 1711 in a village Biała. He studied at Piarist College in Cracow, where the painter Franz Eckstein noticed his talent and decided to take him under his wings. Radwański developed his skills in Brno and after 4 years returned to southern Poland. He decorated churches in Lower Poland Voivodeship, filling them with religious paintings on altars and vaults.
His breakthrough was a monumental decoration of the Cistercian Church in Jędrzejów (1734-39). After that, he got many commissions even in the most prestigious Polish cathedrals like Saint Mary’s Basilica in Cracow, the Wawel Cathedral, and the Monastery of the Franciscan Order in Cracow. He later joined the Cracovian painters’ guild and was offered to become the senior multiple times. He died in 1762 in Cracow.
Besides monumental religious paintings, Radwański also created easel paintings, sketches, portraits, and prints. He also wrote a journal and dissertations on the importance of drawings. Most of his works got burned during a firestorm in 1850, and many others got repainted. However, his design drawings stood the test of time and we can now marvel at them during the exhibition. The preserved texts let historians recreate his artistic journey and parts of his personality.
Apart from the display, there are various related events such as drawing classes, online debates with artists, and roleplay tours, where kids can pretend to be students in a painting guild.
You can find additional information such as open hours, ticket prices, and other attractions on the Wawel Museum’s website here.