Ignacy Korwin-Milewski: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Polish-Lithuanian  art collector}}

| name = Ignacy Karol Korwin-Milewski

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1846|04|27|df=y}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1926|10|16|1846|04|27|df=y}}

In the winter of 1875, he went to Rome, where he was made a [[Knight of Malta]] and received from the papal chancellery the title of Count for himself, his father and brother.{{sfn|Ryszkiewicz|1976|p=209}} His brother and father, however, did not accept the title, often signing themselves as "not a count". He also [[augmentation of honour|augmentated]] his [[Ślepowron coat of arms]], and called the new coat of arms "Milan".{{sfn|Ryszkiewicz|1976|p=209}}

In 1922, he suffered a stroke that largely incapacitated him. He spent the rest of his life on his island. He died on 16 October 1926 in [[Pula]] and was buried in the cemetery in [[Rovigno d'Istria]].{{sfn|Ryszkiewicz|1976|p=210}}

Korwin-Milewski has been collecting art all his life. Especially in 1880–1895 when he collected over 200 works. According to Milewski, Polish national characteristics came to the surface in certain historical periods, and this is what happened in relation to Polish painting of the late 19th century.{{sfn|Ryszkiewicz|1980|p=68}} At the same time he considered the French influence to be disastrous, so he defined the scope of his collecting as follows: "wishing to have a collection more or less complete and constituting an original whole (...) I acquire paintings of the fellow-countrymen artists, currently living, and among them only those who belong or belonged to the Munich school".{{sfn|Ryszkiewicz|1976|p=210}} Later he relaxed these criteria and collected paintings also from outside the Munich school.{{sfn|Ryszkiewicz|1980|p=68}} Art historian Andrzej Ryszkiewicz described his collection as "one of the most consciously collected, most valuable and most beautiful of the Polish paintings collections".{{Sfn|Ryszkiewicz|1980|p=69}} His collection included paintings of:

| [[Franciszek Żmurko]], (1895)

| [[Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski]], c. (1900)

Korwin-Milewski planned to build a gallery building in which he would make his collection accessible to the public, but was unable to reach an agreement with the authorities in [[Kraków]] and [[Lviv]]. Until 1893, the paintings were located in [[Vienna]], then in Lviv and again in Vienna. In 1897, they were moved to the family estate in [[Hieraniony]], then to Santa Caterina Island. In 1915, they were returned to Vienna. After the [[First World War]] the collection dispersed. This was connected with Ignacy Milewski's financial problems related to numerous lawsuits, so he was forced to sell his collection.{{sfn|Ryszkiewicz|1980|p=69}} Some of the works were bought by the [[National Museum in Warsaw]] (gallery of self-portraits and ''[[Stańczyk]]''), some were found in private collections around the world.{{sfn|Ryszkiewicz|1976|p=210}} Several paintings was bought by the lawyer Emil Merwin, who represented Milewski in Vienna. They became the basis of his own collection of Polish paintings. Merwin's collection was found in the USAUS in 1968, but attempts to bring it back to Poland were unsuccessful. The entire collection was purchased by a Viennese antiquarian, Czesław Bednarczyk, who then sold the paintings to private buyers.{{sfn|Ryszkiewicz|1980|p=69}} A significant part of the collection was bought from Milewski by the Warsaw antiquarian [[Abe Gutnajer]], who donated some of the paintings to the National Museum. Gutnajer ran two antique shops in Warsaw. One of them, at 16 Mazowiecka Street, was completely burnt down by a German bomb in September 1939. The other, at number 11 on Mazowiecka Street, was looted by the Germans during the occupation. To this day, the fate of most of the works from Gutnajer's collection is unknown.

He was an enemy of "Polish demagogy", i.e. the [[National Democracy (Poland)|Polish national democratic]] movement. He blamed the Polish national movement for two unsuccessful uprisings [[November Uprising|in 1830–1831]] and [[January Uprising|1863–1864]] that depleted the nobility's property in Lithuania, so that "the outer Polish shell is disappearing" and the masses of the rural population are growing in strength.<ref>Ignacy Korwin-Milewski, ''Walka z kłamstwem'', Sankt Petersburg 1911, p. 17.</ref> The solution for him was a full merger with the [[Russian nobility]], as did it the [[Baltic German nobility|German nobility in Livonia]] or the [[Georgian nobility]].{{sfn|Tarkowski|2016|p=930-931}}

* Introduction to ''Katolog der Ausstellung im Künstlerhause. Graflish I. Milewski'sche Sammlung'' ({{lang-langx|en|CatologueCatalogue of the exhibition in the Künstlerhaus. Count I. Milewski's Collection}}), Vienna 1895

* ''Vingt-trois jours dans l'Ocean Glacial et la Mer Blanche. 4éme Croisiére de la Litwa'' ({{lang-langx|en|Twenty-three days in the Arctic Ocean and the White Sea. 4th Litwa Cruise}}), Paris 1898

* ''Une petite croisière en très haute compagnie'' ({{lang-langx|en|A little cruise in very high company}}), Paris 1899

* ''Sa Majesté la Reine d'Espagne et son Frère Mgr l'Archiduc Charles-Étienne'' ({{lang-langx|en|A little cruise in very high company}}), Paris 1901

* ''List otwarty do panów akcyonaryuszów Wileńskiego Ziemskiego Banku'' ({{lang-langx|en|Open letter to the excise officers of Vilnius Land Bank}}), Kraków 1884

* ''Eine Antwort des Grafen J. Milewski dem Krakauer Einwohner Karol Wlodzimirski als Zuhälter seiner eigenen Frau erteilt'' ({{lang-langx|en|An answer given by Count J. Milewski to the Krakow resident Karol Wlodzimirski as a pimp for his own wife}}), Paris 1904

* ''Внутренный кризись России и Народное Представительство'' ({{lang-langx|en|Russia's internal crisis and People's Representation}}), Vilnius 1905

* ''Głos szlachcica o wyborach posła do Rady Państwa'' ({{lang-langx|en|The voice of a nobleman on the election of a member of the Council of State}}), Vilnius 1910, Warsaw 1911 and Sankt Petersburg 1911 in Russian

* ''Wiązanka odpowiedzi szlachcica tudzież słowo o tem, do czego ma dążyć szlachta litewska'' ({{lang-langx|en|A bundle of nobleman's answers and a word about what the Lithuanian nobility should strive for}}), Warsaw 1910

* ''Do czego ma dążyć szlachta litewska?'' ({{lang-langx|en|What the Lithuanian nobility should strive for?}}), Warsaw-Vilnius 1911 in Polish and Russian

* ''Борьба с ложью'' ({{lang-langx|en|Fight against lies}}), Sankt Petersburg 1910 and Sankt Petersburg 1911 in Polish

* ''O reformie duchowieństwa na Litwie'', ({{lang-langx|en|On the reform of the clergy in Lithuania}}), Warsaw 1911

* ''Жажду Справедливости для угнетённого литовского дворянства'' ({{lang-langx|en|A thirst for justice for the oppressed Lithuanian nobility}}), Petersburg 1912

* ''Ein Separatfrieden mit Russland?'' ({{lang-langx|en|A Separation Peace with Russia?}}) as ''Polish-Russian magnate Doktor A.-Z.'', Vienna 1915

* {{Cite journalencyclopedia |last=Ryszkiewicz |first=Andrzej |year=1976 |title=ArcyzbieraszIgnacy malarstwa polskiego - IgnacyKarol Milewski |journalencyclopedia=SpotkaniaPolski zSłownik Biograficzny Zabytkami|volume=321 |location=Wrocław |pages=68-69208–210 |yearlanguage=1980pl |trans-titleurl=An archcollectioner of Polish paintings https://www.ipsb.nina.gov.pl/a/biografia/lucjan- Ignacy Milewskistanislaw-plater}}

* {{Cite journal |last=Ryszkiewicz |first=Andrzej |title=Arcyzbieracz malarstwa polskiego - Ignacy Milewski |journal=Spotkania Z Zabytkami|volume=3 |pages=68–69 |year=1980|trans-title=An archcollectioner of Polish paintings - Ignacy Milewski}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Tarkowski |first=Mikołaj |title=Szlachta Kraju Północno-Zachodniego w służbie imperatora rosyjskiego. Rys poświęcony poglądom politycznym hrabiego Ignacego Korwin-Milewskiego |journal=Studia Iuridica Lublinensia |url=http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.ojs-doi-10_17951_sil_2016_25_3_923/c/2409-3380.pdf |volume=XXV |pages=923-932923–932 |issue=3 |year=2016 |trans-title=The nobility of the [[Northwestern Krai]] in the service of the Russian Emperor. Drawing devoted to political views of Count Ignacy Korwin-Milewski}}