Reminiscences of the modern period art in the 19th-century tombstones with a full-figure sculpture of a sleeping infant in the Powązki cemetery in Warsaw

Abstract

This article discusses classicistic plinth gravestones with a full-figure sculpture of a lying child. At the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw, there are five objects of this type from the 19th century, on the tombstones of Aleksander Rzempołuski, Stefania Wolska, Gabriel Józef Komorowski, Romuald Krassowski, and Wiktor Zeydler. On the basis of these examples, we can trace continuity in the use of the formal type of a naked, sleeping child in sepulchral art. In ancient works the symbolism of things, plants, and animals near the child was used to imply that death is only a dream, in contrast to the various vanitas symbols depicted on modern gravestones that were meant to remind the viewer of the transience of human existence. In classicistic tombstones, the set of objects held by the child also included a cross — a sign of resurrection and eternal life.