The Church of St Anne in Vilnius

Published engravings of townscapes proliferated in the second half of the 19th century, and a picture of St Anne’s Church by an unknown artist appeared in several French and Polish publications on geography. It was included in the second volume of the book ‘The Land and its People’ by Stanisław Stroynowski, about northeast Europe (Ziemia i jej mieszkańcy, Warsaw: Ferdynand Hösick, 1879, p. 128). The engraving illustrates an article about Vilnius by the writer and historian Adam Kirkor. In the article, the church is described as the most beautiful architectural masterpiece in Vilnius. The engraving is based on the lithograph The St Anne and Bernardine Churches by Adolph Jean-Baptiste Bayou from Vilnius album (1850), published by Jonas Kazimieras Vilčinskis; but it has margins, and therefore the composition of the engraving is vertical instead of horizontal, as in Bayou’s lithograph. The group of Gothic churches is shown as a place of worship in Vilnius: pious ladies converse with a priest, a group of worshippers kneel by the steps to a chapel, a procession of friars arrive at the chapel, and praying beggars gather beside a wall. This is what the place looked like before 1872, prior to the construction of the Neogothic bell tower, which is still standing.

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)

Published engravings of townscapes proliferated in the second half of the 19th century, and a picture of St Anne’s Church by an unknown artist appeared in several French and Polish publications on geography. It was included in the second volume of the book ‘The Land and its People’ by Stanisław Stroynowski, about northeast Europe (Ziemia i jej mieszkańcy, Warsaw: Ferdynand Hösick, 1879, p. 128). The engraving illustrates an article about Vilnius by the writer and historian Adam Kirkor. In the article, the church is described as the most beautiful architectural masterpiece in Vilnius. The engraving is based on the lithograph The St Anne and Bernardine Churches by Adolph Jean-Baptiste Bayou from Vilnius album (1850), published by Jonas Kazimieras Vilčinskis; but it has margins, and therefore the composition of the engraving is vertical instead of horizontal, as in Bayou’s lithograph. The group of Gothic churches is shown as a place of worship in Vilnius: pious ladies converse with a priest, a group of worshippers kneel by the steps to a chapel, a procession of friars arrive at the chapel, and praying beggars gather beside a wall. This is what the place looked like before 1872, prior to the construction of the Neogothic bell tower, which is still standing.

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)