The history of the Polish illuminated book of the baroque era. Hipolit Szolc – Urban of Warta – Błażej Derej

Abstract

The aim of this article is presentation of the output of three baroque illuminators: Hipolit Szolc, Urban of Warta and Błażej Derej. The author describes baroque trends referring to illuminated codices of these artists preserved in Cracow libraries, and determines development trend within the Polish ornamentation of liturgical music books in the 17^th century. Namely, transposition of traditional ornamentation threads for new goals, by enriching them with solutions taken mostly from the folk art and craft. Decorators of the baroque era developed their specific, coherent pattern of an illuminated song book, joining features of a new, anti-mimetic aesthetics and a utility book.