Artists self-consciousness in Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 18th century: case of Antoni Gruszecki

The article focuses on the texts by the painter Antoni Gruszecki who lived in the Grodno and Podlasie regions in the years 1772-1798. The texts mostly include letters written to his apprentice Filip Michalkiewicz, which are now stored in Manuscripts Department of the Vilnius University Library. The matters under investigation include aspects of artist's self-consciousness and concepts of creativity. The artist s letters are analysed in the context of epistolary tradition of artists from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Gruszecki internalized images of painter's glory, as well as understanding of increased reputation of the profession. In order to describe the nature of painter s work he used conceptions that were typical of the end of the XVIII century and the Age of Enlightenment: he talked about the talent characteristic of artist, significance of aesthetic solution and taste. Nevertheless, within the explanation of the relationship with his apprentice, talent was interpreted conservatively by him and identified with acquired, learned skills of a craftsman. Therefore, there is a degree of duality that can be noted in Gruszecki's self-consciousness: despite acknowledging the creative nature of the profession, under certain circumstances he emphasized the craft-related side of his occupation. Gruszecki's case unveils that expression of artist s s elf-consciousness has not always conformed to the scheme of unambiguous, chronologically defined transition from craftsman to artist (or the craftsman-artist antithesis). Gruszeckie texts help to gain deeper understanding of the controversial and relative artist's self-consciousness affected by personal and cultural experience in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the end of the 18th century