Teodor Rygier (9 October 1841, Warsaw - 18 December 1913, Rome) was a Polish sculptor known for his
Adam Mickiewicz Monument in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...
.
Life
Rygier studied in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...
,
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
and in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. In the years 1865-1866 he studied sculpture in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
and in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
. Subsequently, Rygier lived and worked in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
between 1873-1886, and from 1886 in Rome.
The Academy of Fine Arts of St Petersburg named him an academic, while the Academies of
Fine Arts of Florence, and Bologna nominated him an honorary associate.

A stipend won in Berlin, which allowed him to study in Paris. There he displayed a life sized statue of the Madonna at the Salon Exhibition in Paris of 1866. He then returned to Poland to found a factory for the production of
terra cotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracot ...
statues, but the factory fell victim to a fire. During 1867-1874, he also found patronage in Poland for the production of medallions and busts. In Warsaw exhibitions, he won awards in 1872 and 1873 for statues of ''Faith'' and ''Copernicus''. He then completed among other works: a statue of the ''Immaculate Conception'', a ''Coquette'', a busts of the ''Madonna'', and a bust of a girl titled ''il Sorriso''.
In 1874, he settled in Florence. There he made a large bronze of the ''Risen Christ Blessing the World''. In 1875, he made two stucco bas-reliefs: a ''Christ before Pilate'' and a ''Descent from the Cross''. He intended to complete the 14 Stations of the Passion in bronze, but was stymied by the expense. In 1875, he sculpted a marble ''Madonna and child'', exhibited at the Salon of Paris. In 1881, he completes the statue of ''Regina Caelorum'', who extends her arms to the entire world. The portraits by this artists includes the bust of
Antonio Corazzi
Antonio Corazzi (born 16 December 1792 in Livorno, died April 27 1877 in Florence) was an Italian architect working in Poland from 1819 to 1847, mainly in Neoclassical style.
Biography
Antonio Corazzi was the son of an impresario of the Aval ...
of Livorno. In 1874, he offered his larger-than-life marble bust of Copernicus to the Museo Copernicano of Rome, and a terracotta bust of Adam Mickievicz to an Academy in Bologna. Rygier made busts of his wife and sister; of
George Washington (1875); of the poet
Teofil Lenartowicz (exhibited at Rome in 1883); of the doctor Levitoni, philosopher of Warsaw; of
Leopold Kronenberg (1878, once placed on a pedestal in the rail station to Warsaw); and the writer Kraszetcski.
In 1877-1879 he completed twelve larger than life statues for the
Granzow Palace in Warsaw, including four caryatids sustaining a balcony; four statues of ''Four Seasons'', and four depicting, ''Art'', ''Science'', ''Agriculture'', and ''Industry''. In contest of 1879, he designed three sculptural groups for the
Palace of the Diet of Galizia: the ''Genius of Galizia'', ''Civility'', and ''Labor''. At the International competition of Moscow for the ''Monument to Alexander II'', in October 1882, Rygier won 3rd prize for 3000 rubles. But the work was never completed.
''Dizionario degli Artisti Italiani Viventi: pittori, scultori, e Architetti.''
by Angelo de Gubernatis
Count Angelo De Gubernatis (1840–26 February 1913), Italian man of letters, was born in Turin and educated there and at Berlin, where he studied philology. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature fourteen times.
Life
In 1862 he w ...
. Tipe dei Successori Le Monnier, 1889, page 441-442.
The competition for Adam Mickiewicz Monument
The idea for a monument to a Polish national bard Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish ...
was put forward by university youth on the account of the return of his remains from Paris. In the years 1882-1888, a committee was set up to conduct a public competition for its design. Teodor Rygier, who took part in all three stages of the contest, was awarded the rights for its production ''by popular demand'', ahead of over 60 artists including the renowned Cyprian Godebski, professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts
The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the T ...
in St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
from Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
, who won the first prize.[History of Adam Mickiewicz Monument](_blank)
at "Magiczny Krakow" City's official website, ACK Cyfronet AGH, 2009. The unveiling of the statue took exceptionally long time due to endless requests for revisions coming from the artistic committee. The monument was finally unveiled on 16 June 1898 for the 100th anniversary of Mickiewicz's birth.
The monument design is conventional for its time. The poet, raised on the pedestal, four symbolic groups are on the base: Motherland i.e. Poland (front), Science and learning – an old man with a boy (side on Florianska Street), Poetry (side facing Church of St. Wojciech
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Ch ...
), and Patriotic love or Valour (facing Sukiennice Hall).[The Warsaw Voice, All About Poland]
"The Charm of Cracow"
18 August 2005 All bronze figures were cast in the Nellich foundry in Rome.
Aside from his statue of Adam Mickiewicz at the Main Market Square in Kraków, there is also one in the Old Town district, namely the bust of painter Juliusz Kossak
Juliusz Fortunat Kossak (Nowy Wiśnicz, 15 December 1824 – 3 February 1899, Kraków) was an Austrian Polish History painting, historical painter and master illustrator who specialized in battle scenes, military portraits and horses. He was the ...
featured in front of the Palace of Art at Planty Park Planty may refer to:
* Planty Park, a city park in Kraków, Poland
*Planty, Podlaskie Voivodeship
Planty is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Michałowo, within Białystok County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, ...
.[ Piotr Szubert, Profiles (visual arts)]
Teodor Rygier
Instytut Adama Mickiewicza ''(Adam Mickiewicz Institute)'', February 2002
See also
*Adam Mickiewicz Monument, Lviv
The Adam Mickiewicz Monument, also known as the Adam Mickiewicz Column, (Polish: ''Kolumna Adama Mickiewicza we Lwowie'', Ukrainian: ''Пам'ятник Адамові Міцкевичу''), is a Neo-classical column commemorating the Polish Roman ...
*Adam Mickiewicz Monument, Warsaw
Adam Mickiewicz Monument ( pl, Pomnik Adama Mickiewicza) is a monument dedicated to Adam Mickiewicz at the Krakowskie Przedmieście in the Śródmieście district of Warsaw, Poland. The Neo-Classicist monument was constructed in 1897–1898 ...
References
* Piotr Szubert, Instytut Adama Mickiewicza, Sylwetki (sztuki wizualne)
Teodor Rygier
February 2002
at the City's official website.
* This article incorporates information from Polish Wikipedia
* at In Your Pocket Ltd
The monument of Adam Mickiewicz
at come2europe.eu 2006-2008
* The Warsaw Voice, All About Poland
Charm of Cracow
18 August 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rygier, Teodor
Polish sculptors
Polish male sculptors
1841 births
1913 deaths
20th-century sculptors
19th-century sculptors
Burials at Campo Verano
Artists from Warsaw