Teofil Lenartowicz – the Mazovian lyre player, and heir of Italian Renaissance Artists. The case of ‘The Holy Workers’: the bas-relief and the poem

After moving to Italy in 1856, Teofi l Lenartowicz, inspired by the great Italian art and supported by the best Florentine artists of the time Giovanni Dupré and Enrico Pazzi, began studying sculpture. Lenartowicz’s sculptures were always connected with literature: his work shows how one infl uenced the other. It is no accident that his style as a sculptor has been called ‘poetic’ by the critics. The Polish immigrant was fascinated by the Italian Renaissance, and especially by the art of Lorenzo Ghiberti. At the same time, he never forgot about Polish folklore, which played a signifi cant role in his artistic vision. One of the most impressive examples of this intersection of infl uences is the bas-relief The Holy Workers, complemented by a poem bearing the same name.