IMPRESJONIZM ALEKSANDRA GIERYMSKIEGO NA PODSTAWIE KONSERWATORSKICH BADAŃ OBRAZU CHŁOPIEC NIOSĄCY SNOP

A presentation of the painting 'Boy Carrying a Sheaf' by Aleksander Gierymski as seen by a conservator-technologist. Historians of art regard this composition to be one of the first and most important Impressionist works in the oeuvre of an artist who experimented with painting techniques. It was precisely the manner of executing this canvas that betrayed inspiration by French painting, which became the reason for subjecting the composition to interdisciplinary conservation research intent on demonstrating the analogies of its technique and technology with Impressionist art. Up to now, 'Boy Carrying a Sheaf' had not been the object of meticulous interdisciplinary analyses. The conducted investigations made it possible to identify the painting material applied by the artist and the manner of his painterly approach. They displayed a number of essential workshop features characteristic for Gierymski's oeuvre, such as familiarity with the properties of the used material and the techniques applied for the purpose of attaining the planned effect. The studies also revealed that Gierymski was acquainted with technical novelties of the period and sought individual workshop solutions, confirmed by his treatment of technology, stressed by historians of art, and the aptness of the laudatory appraisal of his works, formulated by the history of art.