Figura baranka na kopule kaplicy Załuskich i jej symbolika „w dwojakim nawet sensie”

English Title: The figure of Lamb on the dome of the Zaluskichapel and its symbolism "even in a double sense"

In: Nowacki, Dariusz (Hrsg.): Katedra krakowska w czasach nowożytnych (XVI-XVIII w.). Krakau 1999 121-129 + Abb. 1-4

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Translation of abstract (English)

In the years 1758-61 Francesco Placidi rebuilt the Chapel of Bishop Grot making of it a mausoleum of Bishop Andrzej Stanislaw Zaluski. The severe mass of the chapel is crowned with a dome decorated with a Lamb dancing on a cushion. The idea of surmounting domes with splendid sculptures appeared in the art of mature baroque several times, among others in the project of a church to be built in the Roman Colosseum made by Carlo Fontana who exerted great influence on the Placidi’s production. Jozef Lepiarczyk stated that the figure of Lamb in the Zaluski Chapel is a slightly overstylized form of the bishop’s coat of arms, Junosza. It seems that the animal from the chapel is not only arms of the Zaluski family but also the Lamb of God, i.e. the victorious, apocalyptic Christ - King of Universe. Such an identification of Junosza with the Lamb of God appears in the writings of Bishop of Plock, Jozef Andrzej Zaluski, and in the pictures glorifying the Zaluski family created about the mid 18th century. Several themes from the Apocalypsis are also used in a very specific way in decoration of the chap el portal which is at the same time Zaluski’s sepulchre. There are figures of two angels holding letters which are the bishop’s initials: A and Z. The letters may be considered a Latin homologue to the Alpha and Omega, letters symbolizing Christ in the Apocalypsis. So it seems that the author of the iconographic program of the Zaluski Chapel intended to indicate a parallel between the late bishop and Christ definitively victorious at the end of times. Such eschatological associations correspond very well with the sepulchral function of the chapel and with the image of an ideal priest perceived as "alter Christus".