The Church of St Michael

Walenty Romanowicz (1911–1945) was mostly involved in graphic art during the interwar period. He made a series of aquatints of the Renaissance-style St Michael’s Church while he was still studying art at Stephen Báthory University. The pictures portray the building, the interior with the tomb of the founder Leonas Sapiega, and the churchyard with its columns and other details. Romanowicz pictured the exterior from different angles. In one engraving, he showed the façade of the church and the bell tower; in another he showed the south side of the building. He simplified the three-dimensional shapes of the architecture, and used a uniform and diffused lighting. The church, trees and pavement look like scenery, like a model made of cardboard, and there is no sky or any incidental details in the surroundings. The purified interpretation of the architecture gives a realistic impression, and creates a strange metaphysical mood. It refers to the stylistics of the New Objectivity in European art of the 1930s. Today, St Michael’s Church houses the Church Heritage Museum.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
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)

Walenty Romanowicz (1911–1945) was mostly involved in graphic art during the interwar period. He made a series of aquatints of the Renaissance-style St Michael’s Church while he was still studying art at Stephen Báthory University. The pictures portray the building, the interior with the tomb of the founder Leonas Sapiega, and the churchyard with its columns and other details. Romanowicz pictured the exterior from different angles. In one engraving, he showed the façade of the church and the bell tower; in another he showed the south side of the building. He simplified the three-dimensional shapes of the architecture, and used a uniform and diffused lighting. The church, trees and pavement look like scenery, like a model made of cardboard, and there is no sky or any incidental details in the surroundings. The purified interpretation of the architecture gives a realistic impression, and creates a strange metaphysical mood. It refers to the stylistics of the New Objectivity in European art of the 1930s. Today, St Michael’s Church houses the Church Heritage Museum.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
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)