Building Visual Heritage. Prints, Illustrations and Polish Iconographic Collections in the Nineteenth Century

The article discusses Polish iconographic collections in the nineteenth century. The term ‘iconographic collections’ (zbiory ikonograficzne) was used by nineteenth-century collectors to denote collections of contemporary graphics, reproductions and illustrations cut from magazines, drawings, and watercolours; by the end of the century, the term would also encompass photographs and postcards. Although some collections contain examples of older graphic prints, sometimes of high artistic quality, the vast majority of such collections consisted of works produced in the nineteenth century. A distinctive feature of these assemblages was that their creators’ interest focused on the subject matter of an image rather than its authorship or artistic value. The collections were gathered by private individuals from various social groups: aristocrats, intelligentsia, history and culture enthusiasts, professional scholars and scientists, as well as institutions, such as scientific societies, museums, and libraries. The form of the collections varied from albums with illustrations pasted in a specific order to portfolios containing loose materials. The contents were sorted thematically, the basic categories being portraits, landscapes and views, monuments, and folk culture – the latter including the so-called folk types as well as images of objects and works of folk art. All the subjects mentioned shared a common national theme. Consequently, the images gathered in the iconographic collections reveal how a nation deprived of its statehood in the long nineteenth century shaped its visual heritage canon.