Art in the shadow of the gallows. Visual accounts of the execution of Teofil Wiśniowski and Józef Kapuściński

Abstract

On 31 July 1847, two political activists who had played a role in the events of the 1846 revolution were executed in Lviv: Teofil Wiśniowski and Józef Kapuściński. This was an unprecedented event in the political history of Galicia. The public execution, attended by large crowds of observers, became a manifestation of resistance against the Austrian authorities. From the moment the death penalty was announced, para-hagiographic cult of the two fighters for the country's freedom started to develop. Although all forms of commemoration of the revolutionary figures encountered opposition from the occupying authorities, commemorative works in various forms were produced, including publications, literary pieces, musical compositions and, of course, visual artworks. According to numerous sources, on the day of the executions, any attempt to create a portrait sketch of the two men or a study depicting the ongoing events was strictly forbidden. Artists who sought to take any notes were arrested and their works were forcibly destroyed. Nonetheless, it is known that some were able to record these observations from hiding, with the subsequent intention of producing works based on them that were to be widely circulated. The aim of this article is to analyse the works dedicated to the executions of Wiśniowski and Kapuściński, with a particular focus on those which may have been created from nature or made by the direct observers of the events. It can be seen that in almost all cases the reporter's fidelity to historical realities was subordinated, in accordance with the conventions of the era, to propaganda purposes, and the realism of dramatic scenes was concealed beneath national liberation symbolism.