Questions of Privacy at the Zamoyska Palace in Warsaw

Abstract

Countess Ludwika Maria Zamoyska-Poniatowska (1728–1804) and her only child, Urszula Wandalin Mniszech-Zamoyska (1750–1816) were prominent figures at the court of their brother and uncle Stanisław August Poniatowski (1732–98), the last king of Poland from 1764 to 1795. Their influence has been recognised in the past, yet their — informal — politics have started to attract the attention of scholars only recently, while their architectural endeavours have yet to be explored. This paper offers a case-study of the no longer extant Zamoyska palace in Warsaw, the renovation of which was managed by Urszula Mniszech, on behalf of her mother. A set of architectural drawings from the 1780s and a 1799 inventory of the residence form the main focus of study. The distribution and function of rooms, interior decoration and the façade provide clues to the way this residence was to shape the life of Ludwika Zamoyska in a time of political upheaval. The variations between seemingly executed and rejected architectural designs also raise questions that can contribute to a better understanding of the different meanings of privacy in the late eighteenth century.

Notes

1 This research is part of the PALAMUSTO project, www.palamusto.eu, which received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 861426. This paper reflects only the author’s views and the Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

2 Richard Butterwick, ‘The Enlightened Monarchy of Stanisław August Poniatowski (1764-1795)’, in Richard Butterwick (ed.) The Polish-Lithuanian Monarchy in European Context, c. 1500–1795 (London, 2001), pp. 193-218.

3 Paul D. McLean, ‘Patrimonialism, Elite Networks, and Reform in Late-Eighteenth-Century Poland’, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 636 (July 2011), pp. 88-110; Anna Penkała-Jastrzębska, ‘Introduction’, in Bożena Popiołek, Urszula Kicińska, Anna Penkała-Jastrzębska and Agnieszka Słaby (eds), Studies on Female Patronage in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries (Cracow, 2019), pp. 9-10.

4 Anna Berdecka and Irena Turnau, Życie codzienne w Warszawie okresu oświecenia (Warsaw, 1969), p. 99.

5 Maria Irena Kwiatkowska and Marek Kwiatkowski, Historia Warszawy XVI–XX wieku — zabytki mówią (Warsaw, 1998), pp. 13-18.

6 I would like to express my gratitude to Piotr Kibort, curator at the Cabinet of Prints and Drawings of the National Museum in Warsaw, for introducing me to the architectural drawings. I also thank both dr. hab. Barbara Arciszewska, my thesis supervisor at the University of Warsaw, and dr. Dorota Wiśniewska, of the University of Wrocław, for their useful comments on this paper. Lasty, I owe thanks to the Centre for Privacy Studies in Copenhagen, for offering me the opportunity to present my research at the ‘Privacy and the Eastern European Courts, 1400–1800’ research workshop on 24 September 2021 and this resulting publication.

7 Susan M. Pearce, On Collecting (New York and Oxon, 1995), pp. 270-71.

8 In the last three decades of the eigtheenth century, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth lost territory to the Russian empire, the kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg monarchy in three territorial divisions. The last so-called partition of 1795 ended the existence of the Commonwealth altogether.

9 https://teol.ku.dk/privacy/research/work-method/ (accessed 2 November 2022).

10 Tim Meldrum, Domestic Service and Gender, 1660–1750: Life and Work in the London Household (Harlow, 2000), p. 78.

11 Dunin Borkowski and Jerzy Sewer, Panie polskie przy dworze rakuskim (Lviv, 1891), p. 78.

12 Krystyna Zienkowska, Stanisław August Poniatowski (Wrocław, 1998), p. 11.

13 Zienkowska, Stanisław August Poniatowski, pp. 16, 25-26.

14 Borkowski and Sewer, Panie polskie, p. 79.

15 Dorota Wiśniewska, ‘Dla dobra rodziny. Wokół działalności Ludwiki z Poniatowskich Zamoyskiej w latach 1751–1772’, Przegląd Historyczny CVIII, no. 4 (2017), pp. 674-85.

16 Norman Davies, ‘The Third of May 1791’, in Samuel Fiszman (ed), Constitution and Reform in Eighteenth-Century Poland (Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1997).

17 Zofia Zielińska, Walka “Familii” o reformę Rzeczypospolitej 1743–1752 (Warsaw, 1983), p. 16.

18 Zofia Zielińska, ‘Poland between Prussia and Russia in the Eighteenth Century’, in Fiszman (ed.), Constitution and Reform in Eighteenth-Century Poland, n.p.; Adam Zamoyski, The Last King of Poland (London, 1992), p. 82.

19 Polski Słownik Biograficzny, Tom XXI, 1976, pp. 457-8 https://www.ipsb.nina.gov.pl/a/biografia/urszula-mniszchowa-ur-ok-1750-zm-po-1808-marszalkowa-wlk-kor (accessed 14 February 2022).

20 Marek Bratuń, ‘Ten wykwintny, wykształcony Europejczyk’: zagraniczne studia i podróże edukacyjne Michała Jerzego Wandalina Mniszcha w latach 1762–1768 (Opole, 2002).

21 Ewa Miszczak, ‘Michał Jerzy Mniszech, pierwszy “minister kultury”’, in Mówią wieki 6 (1964) https://www.wilanow-palac.pl/michal_jerzy_mniszech_pierwszy_minister_kultury.html (accessed 14 February 2022); Michał Mencfel, ‘The English Voyage of Michał Jerzy Wandalin Mniszech and Plan to Found the Polish Museum’, Muz. 62 (2021) pp. 214-19.

22 Izabella Zychowicz, The Royal Łazienki (Warsaw, 2018), pp. 8-10; for an extensive overview of the King’s architectural endevours, see Marek Kwiatkowski, Stanisław August, Król — Architekt (Wrocław, Warsaw, Cracow, Gdansk, Łódż, 1983). For an impression of the King’s art collections, see Dorota Juszczak and Hanna Małachowicz, The Stanisłąw August Collection of Paintings at the Royal Łazienki, Catalogue (Warsaw, 2016); Jolanta Talbierska (ed.), Metamorphoses, from the Print Collection of Stanisław August Poniatowski (Warsaw, 2013); Ewa Manikowska, Sztuka — Ceremoniał — Informacja (Warsaw, 2007).

23 For example, drawings with signature 8032, 8034 and 8036 at the Print Room of the Warsaw University Library, http://egr.buw.uw.edu.pl (accessed 14 February 2022). Marzena Królikowska-Dziubecka, ‘Kamsetzer, Johann Christian’, in Paweł Migasiewicz, Hanna Osiecka-Samsonowicz and Jakub Sito (eds), Słownik architektówi budowniczych, środowiska warszawskiego XV-XVIII wieku (Warsaw, 2016), pp. 235-42; Przemysław Wątroba, ‘Merlini, Domenico’, in Paweł Migasiewicz et al. (eds), Słownik architektówi, pp. 314-18.

24 The National Museum of Warsaw holds a miniature of Urszula, in which she is depicted sitting in an armchair, holding a portfolio with drawings under her arm and a drawing pen in her hand, alluding to her artistic aspirations: Heinrich Freidrich Fuger, Urszula née Zamoyski Michałowa Wandalin-Mniszchowa, gouache and watercolour, 1791, National Museum of Warsaw (hereafter MNW), Min.887 MNW.

25 Aleksander Wejnert, Starożytności warszawskie: dzieło zbiorowo-zeszytowe (Warsaw, 1848), vol. II, p. 229.

26 For a detailed impression of the royal and noble residences in and around Warsaw, see: Jolanta Putkowska, Warszawskie rezydencje na przedmieściach i pod miastem w XVI–XVII wieku (Warsaw, 2016).

27 Jarosław Zieliński, Atlas dawnej architektury, p. 294; Wejnert, Starożytności warszawskie, p. 231; emphyteutic lease is a contract that allows the lessee to make use of a property or build a property on land that is rented long term. The lessee needs to take care of the property and land, pay tax and sometimes a yearly rent. When the lease term ends, the contract is either renewed or the landowner buys the property at market value, determined by experts. Przemysław Watroba, ‘Griesmayer, Jan W.’ and ‘Kubicki, Jakub’, in Paweł Migasiewicz et al. (eds), Słownik architektówi, pp. 186-90, 267-75.

28 State Historical Archive of Ukraine (hereafter SHAU), Zamoyski Archive (hereafter ZA), Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180; I would like to thank Bohdan Berezenko for his help retrieving the inventory and some letters from the archive; Translation of the inventory is done by the author, and checked/improved by Justyna Halko, with gratitude.

29 Wiesław Bondyra, ‘Zamoyski Jan Jakub’, in Tadeusz Radzik, Adam Witusik and Jan Ziółek (eds), Słownik biograficzny miasta Lublina (Lublin, 1996), vol. II, p. 312.

30 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 2r-v, 5r.

31 Maria Bogucka, ‘Women and Religion in the Early Modern Period’, Acta Poloniae Historica 77 (1998), p. 24.

32 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 5r.

33 Karol Łopatecki and Walczak Wojciech, The History of Branicki Palace until 1809 (Białystok, 2015), p. 180, https://repozytorium.uwb.edu.pl/jspui/bitstream/11320/9997/1/K_Lopatecki_W_Walczak_The_history_of_Branicki_palace_until_1809.pdf (accessed 16 February 2022).

34 Michael Phelan, The Game of Billiards (New York, 1857), pp. 19-23, https://books.google.pl/books?id=Rb9NAQAAMAAJ&source=gbs_similarbooks (accessed 16 February 2022).

35 Jan Griesmeyer, Zamoyski Palace on Krakowskie Przedmieście Warsaw, Plan of the Blue Salon (at the joining of the main body and the side wing) with a commentary (existing state), c. 1800, Museum of Warsaw (hereafter MHW), inv.nr.15674 MNW. I argue that this is not an executed plan and its date is therefore more likely from around 1782–85, when the palace was first designed.

36 Aleksander Zakrzewski, Plan of the Capital City of Warsaw scale c. 1:4800, hand coloured lithography on paper on canvas, 1825, MHW, inv. nr. MHW 7718/PI, https://kolekcje.muzeumwarszawy.pl/en/objects/5509/ (accessed 14 February 2022).

37 Unknown author, Zamoyski Palace on Krakowskie Przedmieście. Sketch plan of the rooms at the junction of the main body and the side wing, after 1785, inv.nr.15675 MNW. I believe the drawing can be dated more likely 1782–85. The outline of an outside wall with three windows in pencil is also visible, similar to the drawing with inv.nr. 15674 MNW, that shows one large Blue Room. This gives a good impression of the differences between the two designs.

38 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 5v.

39 Maria Bogucka, Women in Early Modern Polish Society, Against the European Background (New York, 2004), pp. 162-64, 174; Women could not become deputies of parliament or hold positions in public offices, but women from the higher nobility had the education, money and position to exert power through diplomacy, political games, sponsoring and brokerage.

40 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 2r-v. The inventory refers to the Grand Salon as the parade hall.

41 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 4v. The inventory refers to the dining room as the ‘hall facing the street’.

42 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 4r. The inventory refers to the Petit Salon as ‘the guest room facing the street’.

43 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 4r.

44 Grzegorz Piątek, The Royal Łazienki, a Guidebook to its History and Architecture (Warsaw, 2021), pp. 69-71.

45 Piątek, The Royal Łazienki, p. 72-73.

46 Putkowska, Warszawskie rezydencje, p. 274.

47 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 3v and 4r.

48 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 4r.

49 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 9r. ‘In the seven-drawer mahogany table covered with green leather and in the sleeping room of Your Highness standing there are various papers and things which cannot be written down because the keys to this table are kept by Your Highness.’

50 For example, SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 1060, 1249, 1407, 1831, 1911, 1918 and 1962.

51 Dorota Wiśniewska, Zapomniana siostra króla, Ludwika z Poniatowskich Zamoyska, https://www.lazienki-krolewskie.pl/pl/edukacja/baza-wiedzy/zapomniana-siostra-krola-ludwika-z-poniatowskich-zamoyska (accessed 16 February 2022).

52 SHAU, Mniszech Archive (hereafter MN), Fond 250, op. 1, unit 89, 6r.

53 Leonie Hannan, Women of Letters, Gender, Writing and the Life of the Mind in Early Modern England (Manchester, 2016), pp. 123-25.

54 Rafał Zgorzelski, ‘O tajemnicy korespondencji za panowania Stanisława Augusta’, in Silva Rerum (Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, 2009), https://www.wilanow-palac.pl/o_tajemnicy_korespondencji_za_panowania_stanislawa_augusta.html (accessed 31 October 2022).

55 Compare: Dustin M. Neighbors and Natacha Klein Käfer, ‘Zones of Privacy in Letters Between Women of Power: Elizabeth I of England and Anna of Saxony’, Royal Studies Journal IX (2022), pp. 60-89.

56 Inv.nr.15453 MNW and inv.nr.15682 MNW.

57 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 1962, 11r; I thank dr. Dorota Wiśniewska for pointing my attention to this phrase.

58 Urszula Mniszech née Zamoyska to Ludwika Zamoyska née Poniotowska dated 21 and 24 February 1787, Rocznik Towarzystwa Hystoryczno-Literackiego w Paryżu. Rok 1866 (Paris, 1867), pp. 185-86. Writing about her palace in Wiśniowiec, Urszula states ‘We did not fail to show the Ambassador the library, which he knew how to value’, and ‘we will have to arrange a small theatre in the library. The shape of the room is very conducive to it’.

59 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 6v.

60 Urszula Mniszech née Zamoyska to Ludwika Zamoyska née Poniotowska dated 22 April 1787, Rocznik, p. 209. ‘At this moment I learn that the Italian marbles, which lay for so long in Gdańsk, have finally arrived in Warsaw; everything is in very good condition, except for one broken piece. … And according to our instructions, as soon as Kubicki the architect will be in Warsaw, he will immediately put in that marble chimney in the library.’

61 Figure 4 shows the location of the window drawn in with pencil.

62 Jan Griesmeyer(?), Jakub Kubicki(?), Zamoyski Palace on Krakowskie Przedmieście Warsaw, A room at the end of the wing on the second floor, southern wall, inv.nr.15509 MNW; Z. Zielińska, ‘Poniatowski Michał Jerzy’, in Andrzej Romanowski (ed. in chief.), Polski słownik biograficzny (Wrocław 1983), vol. XXVII, pp 455-71: Michał Jerzy Poniatowski was archbishop of Gniezno and Primate (most important official in the Senate), as well as one of the King’s closest political allies.

63 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 9r. The inventory has a heading ‘in the lower rooms above the laundry where Madame Noppe lives’.

64 Zamoyski, The Last King of Poland, p. 110.

65 Contemporaries J. Bernoulli and S.B. Zug quoted in Jolanta Putkowska, ‘Warszawska podmiesjka rezydencja Izabeli Czartoryskiej w powązkach’, Kwartalnik architektury i urbanistyki: theoria i historia 53, nr. 3 (2008), p. 30.

66 Piątek, The Royal Łazienki, pp. 97-103.

67 Franciszek Skibiński, ‘Politics, Pleasure and Sensuality in the Seventeenth-Century Villa in Poland-Lithuania’, in Barbara Arciszewska (ed.), The Baroque Villa, Senses and Perceptions versus Materiality (Warsaw, 2009), p. 204.

68 Piątek, The Royal Łazienki, p. 102. Łazienki means bathroom in the Polish language.

69 Putkowska, Warszawskie rezydencje, pp. 277, 279.

70 SHAU, ZA, Fond 256, op. 1, unit 2180, 5v; Central State Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, Inwentarz Łazienki, 1788 Roku, 346/0/0/162/18; Putkowska, Warszawska podmiesjka, p. 30.

71 Jarosław Zieliński, Atlas dawnej architektury ulic i placów Warszawy (Warsaw, 2001), vol. VII, p. 293.

72 For example: J. Griesmeyer, Zamoyski Palace on Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw, reconstruction project, elevation drawing (and detail), after 1780, inv. nr. 15445 MNW.

73 Zygmunt Vogel after Bernardo Bellotto called Canaletto, View of Krakowskie Przedmieście Street towards Zamkowy Square, Watercolour on Paper, ca.1785, inv.nr. 11217 MNW.

74 On some of the architectural drawings the palace is referred to as ‘Palais Podolie’, after Jan Jakub Zamoyski, voivode of Podolia and husband of Ludwika.

75 SHAU, MN, Fond 250, op. 1, unit 89, 6r.

76 The extensive correspondence of the King, Ludwika, Urszula and her husband Michał that can be found in the in the Zamoyski and Ghigiotti funds of the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, in the Zamoyski and Mniszech funds in the State Historical Archive of Ukraine in Kyiv or the National Library in Warsaw — to name but a few — could possibly provide new clues on the use of Ludwika’s residence.

77 Norman Davies, God’s Playground, A History of Poland (Oxford, 2013), pp. 407-08.

78 Wejnert, Starożytności warszawskie, pp. 231-34; https://www.lazienki-krolewskie.pl/pl/wydarzenia/ludwik-xviii-lokator-bialego-domku-w-lazienkach-krolewskich (accessed 16 February 2022).

79 Wejnert, Starożytności Warszawskie, p. 231; Kwiatkowska and Kwiatkowski, Historia Warszawy, pp. 13-18. The palace eventually turned into a tenement house. It was demolished around 1860.

80 The descriptions of the National Museum of Warsaw accompanying the architectural drawings refer to the palace as ‘Zamoyski palace’, giving the name a male suffix, rather than ‘Zamoyska’, a female suffix. Given the influence of Urszula and Ludwika on its reconstruction and decoration, as set out in this paper, I chose to use the name ‘Zamoyska palace’ instead.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Esther Griffin-Van Orsouw

Esther Griffin-van Orsouw

Esther Griffin-van Orsouw is a PhD candidate at the University of Warsaw and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow of the European Training Network PALAMUSTO. Her research involves material culture and architecture in a courtly setting. Collecting practices and spaces in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe are her particular focus.