The Painter's Eye: Tadeusz Kuntze

November 29, 2024 – March 2, 2025

The exhibition is dedicated to the work of one of the most eminent artists active in the Polish Republic during the 18th century – Tadeusz Kuntze. Born in Zielona Góra in 1727, the painter was taken under the patronage of Bishop Andrzej Stanisław Kostka Załuski, who sent him to Rome. There the young man studied at the Académie de France, in the studio of the highly regarded painter Ludovico Mazzanti and at the Scuola del Nudo on the Capitol. It is assumed that the artist returned to Krakow around the year 1757, though two years later, after the death of his patron, he permanently left Poland. Both within the country, as well as during his studies and subsequent work in Rome, Kuntze executed a range of painting and drawing work, of which only a small part is currently found in Poland. The vast majority is scattered among the interiors of Roman churches and palaces, as well as ornamenting churches of the Lazio region.

The exhibition concentrates on demonstrating Kuntze’s artistic technique. Among the chosen works are paintings and drawings, as well as gouaches. They familiarise us with the artist’s manner and introduce us to matters involving the painting of artists who studied in the Eternal City.

The exhibition will be an occasion to see early works of the painting master, works depicting mythological and religious scenes. Above all, however, it offers an opportunity to view drawings and gouaches on genre subjects, portraying the daily life of the aristocracy and higher Roman clerics, as well as poorer residents of the Eternal City and farmers of the Albanian mountains. These works allow one to follow the Roman wanderings of the painter and to immerse oneself in scenes depicted with unusual realism. They offer proof of Kuntze’s reporter-like perspective on the surrounding world and his sensibility, giving an impression of the artist as an authentic chronicler of his time.