Utopia and Nostalgic Return

The term ‘traditional Japanese architecture’ often causes confusionbecause people want the architecture of a certain period to eithercontinue endlessly, or to be substituted by some kind of facsimile.This paper maintains that the roots of Japanese architecture continueand that these roots make themselves evident at times of upheavaland renewal.Japan consists of a number islands which have had periods ofisolation both internationally, and nationally from ‘political lockdown’within. And yet these periods of isolation have often produceda veritable zenith in the houses of what Bruno Taut called “thepeasants”, and the author has chosen to call ‘commoners (minka)’.One example this is the Japanese tea house, which came about at atime of heightened military dominance. Castles were the strongholdsof power complete with large rooms in which the rituals of statedemanded order by rank. Beside this show of power came the humbletea house, used for the simple tea ceremony, sometimes between as few as two people. The roots of this humble hut, if we can call itsuch, carried with it the same structural principles as the minka, orcommoner’s house. A non-loadbearing structure of post and lintelconstruction for the sole purpose of concentrating on “the sound ofboiling water”. Out of the dream of power came the need for humility.The warrior’s power lay in the control of space; the tea master’s in thecontrol of time. The architecture responds. The building is an event

The Bergholtz Collection: Architectural Drawings of the Palaces in Jelgava and Rundale from Nationalmuseum (Stockholm)

The article deals with two Courland palaces built by the Duke ErnstJohann Biron in Mitau and Ruhental (today, respectively, Jelgava andRundale, Latvia) in connection with architectural drawings of theso-called Bergholtz collection, which is part of the Tessin-HårlemanCollection (THC) in Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. Twelve drawingsof the two Courland palaces make this collection of special interestto those interested in the art of the Baltic region.The first part of the paper is dedicated to the person of FriedrichWilhelm von Bergholtz and to his collection. Who was the creatorof the collection, what were the reasons to gather it and what otherdrawings are stored there? Born in the German duchy of Holstein,Bergholtz spent in all about 15 years in Russia. An extremely richand diverse collection of architectural drawings was gathered mainly(presumably totally) during his third visit in 1742–1746 as tutor ofKarl-Peter-Ulrich, heir to the Russian throne and future emperor ofRussia under the moniker Peter III. The circumstances of compilingthe collection and reasons for it are quite obscure. All the assumptionsmade by different authors remain mere guesswork. The greaterpart of the Bergholtz collection deals with St Petersburg and itssurroundings. All other drawings, numbering 174 in total, referto Moscow, to several provinces of the Russian empire and to theDuchy of Courland.The second part of the article reveals and describes 12 sheetsfrom the Bergholtz collection dedicated to the Baroque palaces inCourland constructed in the 1730s for duke Ernst Johann Bironaccording to the projects of the great architect Francesco Rastrelli.The research resulted in the discovery of seven sheets depicting plansand façades of the palaces in Ruhental, showing how they are almostexact copies of the original projects stored in the collection of theAlbertina museum in Vienna. Of the five drawings that representthe palace in Mitau, two are also copies of the Vienna sheets, andthree are copies of completed projects. Thus, the most valuable amongthe architectural drawings from the Bergholtz collection are threedrawings depicting the façade, and plans for two floors, of the palacein Mitau – the only known copies of Rastrelli’s project, the originalsof which have not yet been discovered.

Three Sources of Michael Johann von der Borch’s Poem “The Sentimental Park of Varakļāni Palace”

History permits us to trace so-called Polish Inflanty, in the territoryof the former Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, to the contemporaryRepublic of Latvia. In this case we are particularly interested in theestate of Warkland (Warklany, Varakļāni). The ensemble of manorand park is typical for large estates in Eastern Europe, including avillage and its infrastructure and a separate manor and park as aspatial, architectural, botanical and social entity.Originating from Baltic-German nobility, ‘Polonised’ countMichael Johann von der Borch-Lubeschitz und Borchhoff (1753–1810) was the son of a Chancellor of Poland and Lithuania. He wasa member of several academies of science, in Siena, Dijon and Lion,and penfriend of Voltaire and academicians in Russia and France.After researching the mineralogy of Italy, Sicily, France, Germany,England, the Netherlands and Switzerland M. J. von der Borch leftfor his estate in Varakļāni, the Polonised part of eastern Livonia,called Polish Inflanty. At this time he also composed literary worksand poems, among which is one remarkable piece of didactic andemblematic content “The Sentimental Park of Varakļāni Palace” (Jardinsentimental du château de Warkland dans le Comté de Borch en RussieBlanche, 1795). This poem illustrates in a passionate and classicalway an emblematic approach to contemporary political structures,and the goals of education in general. In Jardin sentimental, whichis a theoretical and didactic manual, Borsch describes, through themetaphor of the estate park of Warkland, the route of an imaginativehero, full of expectation and temptation.The main subject of the report is an analysis of the text of thepoem contextualised by history and contrasted with evidence fromcontemporary Warkland.

„Die vornehmsten Plätze und Gebäude, die in Danzig zu sehen sind“. Aegidius Dickmans Ansichten von Danzig 1617

The paper discusses a set of etchings depicting different buildingsin Gdansk (Danzig) and different parts of the city, first publishedin 1617. The artist was the little known Ægidius Dickman, active inGdánsk and probably also in the Netherlands in the first quarter ofthe 17th century. In the same year that these etchings were published,Dickman also finished a large birds-eye view of Gdánsk. The setof town views and the panorama were both republished by ClaesJanszoon Visscher in 1625.The author of the article discusses the relationship betweenDickman and Visscher and their collaboration on this project, aswell as their wider artistic relationship. Dickman seems to have beentrained in the Netherlands, the etchings proving his familiarity withVisscher´s topographical prints.

Still Life with Grapes and Nest

A complex conservation process revealed the layer of the painting inits original subtlety and delicate retouchings recreated the integralsurface of the painting. As a result, we can confirm that it is a paintingof high artistic quality dating most probably from the middle ofthe 17th century, painted on an oak panel of German origin. Weremain doubtful about the Internet auction suggested authorship,as the painting does not reach the artistic quality of Jan DavidszDé Heem, a top rank artist from the Netherlands. It is possible tocontinue with the art-historical analysis (and other investigations)of the painting, to find further proof for the hypothetical dating andmaybe even reach an attribution but we must not forget to ask thequestions whether and to whom it would be necessary. What matters for the owner of the painting is the fact that an artwork which decorates the wall of his home has both aesthetic and historical value – even without knowing its exact date or the painter.

Inside the Dwelling: Clay Figurines of the Jägala Jõesuu V Stone Age Settlement Site (Estonia)

Sculpted clay figurines were widespread in Stone Age Europe. Theywere common in the hunter-gatherer communities in the territoriesof Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Western and NorthwesternRussia. In these territories they were mainly associated with theComb, Pitted and Pit-Comb Ware cultures, ca 4000–2000 yearscalBC. This paper examines clay sculptures from the Jägala JõesuuV Comb Ware culture settlement site in northern Estonia, where 91fragments of figurines were found, making it the most abundantdeposits of clay figurines and their fragments in the eastern Baltic.Among them, three different types of image were distinguished:one zoomorphic (harbour porpoise) and two anthropomorphic. Allthe figurines were fragmented intentionally in ancient times, asdetermined by microscopic and experimental research. Most of thefragments were situated in the filling of a pit-house, which indicatesthat the dwelling had a sacral as well as a habitational dimension.During the research process, Stone Age clay figurines from nine moreComb Ware culture sites of Estonia and Ingria were catalogued. Thecatalogue contains 13 previously published and 21 newly discoveredinstances and radiocarbon dates taken at the sites, some of whichare being published for the first time.

Artistic Genius versus the Hanse Canon from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Modern Age in Tallinn

In the article, the author examines one of the most outstanding andproblematic periods in the art history of Tallinn as a Hanseatic city,which originated, on the one hand, in the Hanseatic tradition andthe medieval approach to Gothic transcendental realism, and onthe other, in the approach typical of the new art cities of Flanders,i.e. to see a reflection of the new illusory reality in the pictures. Acloser examination is made of two works of art imported to Tallinnin the late 15th century, i.e. the high altar in the Church of the HolySpirit by Bernt Notke and the altarpiece of Holy Mary, whichwas originally commissioned by the Brotherhood of Blackheadsfor the Dominican Monastery and is now in St Nicholas’ Church.Despite the differences in the iconography and style of the twoworks, their links to tradition and artistic geography, which in thisarticle are conditionally defined as the Hanse canon, are apparentin both of them.The methods and rules for classifying the transition from theMiddle Ages to the Modern Era were not critical nor exclusive.Rather they included a wide range of phenomena on the outskirtsof the major art centres starting from the clients and ending with the semantic significance of the picture, and the attributes that wereemployed to the individual experiences of the different masters,who were working together in the large workshops of Lübeck, andsomewhat later, in Bruges and Brussels.When ‘reading’ the Blackheads’ altar, a question arises of threedifferent styles, all of them were united by tradition and the waythat altars were produced in the large workshops for the extensiveart market that stretched from one end of the continent to the other,and even further from Lima to Narva. Under the supervision ofthe leading master and entrepreneur (Hans Memling?) two othermasters were working side by side in Bruges – Michel Sittow, whowas born in Tallinn, and the Master of the Legend of Saint Lucywere responsible for executing the task.In this article, the author has highlighted new points of reference,which on the one hand explain the complex issues of attributionof the Tallinn Blackheads’ altar, and on the other hand, placethe greatest opus in the Baltics in a broader context, where, inaddition to aesthetic ambitions, both the client and the workshopthat completed the order, played an extensive role. In this way,identifying a specific artist from among the others would usuallyremain a matter of discussion. Tallinn was a port and a wealthycommercial city at the foregates of the East where it took decadesfor the spirit of the Renaissance to penetrate and be assimilated.Instead of an unobstructed view we are offered uncertain andoften mixed values based on what we perceive through the veil ofsemantic research.

Impressionistic Search in Artistic Interpretation of Dance at the Turn of the 20th Century

This paper is an attempt to theoretically comprehend the interaction of classical dance and fineart in the context of Impressionism. The data is mainly based on two representatives of Frenchand Russian art: Edgar Degas and Zinaida Serebriakova. Some impressionistic pursuit insculpture has also been considered. The studied works of the artists, which have their uniquefeatures of compositional organization and stylistic manner of writing and modelling, are viewedas a single process of fine dramaturgy reflected in the meaning of artistic works. A newimpressionistic approach to the theme of dance, which is associated with its expressive and finenature, is stated on the basis of trend generalization of the compositional-visual thinking of theartists at the turn of the 20th century.