 |
Kazimir ElskiySculptor, architect and artist; a graduate of Vilna University and its professor.
Country:
 Lithuania |
Content:
Biography of Kazimierz Jelski
Kazimierz Jelski (1782, Ejszmany near Grodno - 1867, Vilnius) was a sculptor, architect, and artist. He was a graduate and professor of Vilnius University. Jelski was a representative of classicism and the son of the painter and sculptor Karol Jelski. He initially studied under his father and then attended the Main Vilnius School from 1801 to 1808 (or 1800-1809), which was later transformed into the Imperial Vilnius University. At the university, Jelski studied painting under Franciszek Smuglewicz and Jan Rustem, architecture under Michal Schulz, and sculpture under André Le Brun, the court sculptor of King Stanislaus Augustus. In 1809, he obtained a degree in fine arts, followed by a master's degree in 1810. He further honed his skills at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.
Teaching and Contributions
From 1811, Jelski taught sculpture at Vilnius University, initially as an adjunct (from 1822) and later as a professor from 1829. He created busts of professors for the university library's new hall and worked on various decorative elements for university buildings. Jelski founded the Sculpture Cabinet at Vilnius University. He wrote a work on the connection between architecture, sculpture, and painting, titled "O zwiåzku architektury, skulptury i malarstwa" (Vilnius, 1822), which was the first of its kind in the Polish language. After the sculpture department was abolished in 1826, he served as the curator of the Sculpture Cabinet until the university's closure in 1832.
Artistic Works
Between 1826 and 1832, Jelski worked on the decoration of university buildings. He created relief compositions depicting the establishment of Vilnius University in 1803 and the conclusion of the Paris Peace in 1813. He also produced numerous predominantly chamber and decorative sculptural works, including busts of university professors, Vilnius nobles, and statesmen such as Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus, Franciszek Smuglewicz, Adam Belkevich, Joachim Hreptowicz, Adam Czartoryski, and Jozef Poniatowski. Jelski's works also included relief compositions and medallions of individuals such as Justin Grebnicki and Jan Snadetski. He was responsible for the sculptural decorations and busts of professors in the colonnade of the university hall (1818). Additionally, he created sculptures for parks, tombstones (such as Jozef Kossakowski, Tomasz Vavzetski in the cathedral, and Michal Rymer and his wife R. Rymerowa in the family chapel of the parish church in Novye Troki), four sculptures of prophets for the central altar in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul (1804), figures of saints in the Missionary Church in Kraslava (1807), and the relief "Christ Preaching to the Nations" in the tympanum of the Evangelical-Reformed Church in Vilnius, among other interior and exterior sculptural works. In 1837, he restored the Kaunas Town Hall, and in 1839, he worked on the sculptural decorations of the Pažaislis Monastery.
