Marynka’s Palace in New Alexandria (Puławy)

The Lubelskie Album is a work created in 1857-1859 on the basis of watercolours made in 1852 by Adam Lerue. With his drawings and watercolours, the artist contributed to the inventory of historical monuments in Lublin and the region - as he himself wrote in the introduction to the work - which was close to his heart because of his birthplace, Dubienka. Julian Cegliński and Władysław Walkiewicz, who made the lithographs in Adolf Pecq's lithography workshop in Warsaw, also contributed to the work.

Apart from numerous views of Lublin, the publication also includes views of Puławy. Marynki Palace was designed in 1790-1794 in classical style by Chrystian Piotr Aigner for Maria Wirtemberska. The building belongs to the Czartoryski family palace and park complex in Puławy, which was the center of cultural and artistic life in Poland in the 18th century, and at that time the reconstruction of the 16th century complex began. In the 19th century thanks to Izabela Czartoryska the first museums were created in the Sybil Temple and in the Gothic House, with collections grouped into national memorabilia and works of art as well as foreign art collections. The collections included, among others: Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine, Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man and Rembrandt's Landscape with the Good Samaritan; these were transported to Krakow in 1870. Apart from contributing to the beginnings of museology in Poland, a printing house and a lithography workshop in Puławy were established around 1830.

This lithograph is characteristic of the whole Lubelskie Album. The engraving presents a view of the palace behind the trees, with a horse cart visible in the foreground. The illustration shows the actual appearance of the building. Its location in an English-style park, designed by James Savage, and the way it is portrayed are Romantic in style.

Klara Sadkowska