Aušros Vartų St in Vilnius

Lithograph after a drawing by Karol Rypiński from a picture by Martin Zaleski, Jan Kazimierz Wilczyński, ‘Album of Vilnius’, series I, fascicle I.

The appearance of the Album de Wilna was inspired by the mood of the early 19th century: Romanticism inspired a love for the homeland and an interest in its past, while the Industrial Revolution brought about increased circulation of printed matter. In 1796, Alois Senefelder in Germany invented the new technique of lithography, by drawing with an oil-based pencil on a stone slab, etching the surface of the stone with acid, covering it with ink, and making a print from it. Soon, multi-coloured lithographs, called chromolithographs, printed from several stones, became popular. Wilczyński wanted his book to be just as good as the best publications from Western Europe, so he had his lithographs printed in Paris, from specially commissioned drawings made by artists from Vilnius, Warsaw and St Petersburg. The first object to be depicted for the book was Aušros Vartų St, with the miracle-working picture in the chapel, painted by Marcin Zaleski (1796–1877), a famous vedute painter from Warsaw. The Vilnius artist Karol Rypiński (1809–1892) made a drawing from the picture, and his drawing was lithographed at Lemercier’s printing press in Paris, one of the most famous, by Louis-Philippe-Alphonse Bichebois (1801–1850) and Victor Vincent Adam (1801–1866). The former drew the architectural details, and the latter drew the figures of people.

Text author Laima Laučkaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA II (2015). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė, RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė).  ‘Vilnius Forever. A Dialogue of Artworks and Guides to the City’, 25 May 2022 – 30 April 2023 Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curator Laima Laučkaitė.

Lithograph after a drawing by Karol Rypiński from a picture by Martin Zaleski, Jan Kazimierz Wilczyński, ‘Album of Vilnius’, series I, fascicle I.

The appearance of the Album de Wilna was inspired by the mood of the early 19th century: Romanticism inspired a love for the homeland and an interest in its past, while the Industrial Revolution brought about increased circulation of printed matter. In 1796, Alois Senefelder in Germany invented the new technique of lithography, by drawing with an oil-based pencil on a stone slab, etching the surface of the stone with acid, covering it with ink, and making a print from it. Soon, multi-coloured lithographs, called chromolithographs, printed from several stones, became popular. Wilczyński wanted his book to be just as good as the best publications from Western Europe, so he had his lithographs printed in Paris, from specially commissioned drawings made by artists from Vilnius, Warsaw and St Petersburg. The first object to be depicted for the book was Aušros Vartų St, with the miracle-working picture in the chapel, painted by Marcin Zaleski (1796–1877), a famous vedute painter from Warsaw. The Vilnius artist Karol Rypiński (1809–1892) made a drawing from the picture, and his drawing was lithographed at Lemercier’s printing press in Paris, one of the most famous, by Louis-Philippe-Alphonse Bichebois (1801–1850) and Victor Vincent Adam (1801–1866). The former drew the architectural details, and the latter drew the figures of people.

Text author Laima Laučkaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA II (2015). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė, RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė).  ‘Vilnius Forever. A Dialogue of Artworks and Guides to the City’, 25 May 2022 – 30 April 2023 Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curator Laima Laučkaitė.