The Legendary Toga of Petrus Skarga and a Cloak with Oriental Patterns
Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37522/aaav.113.2024.235Keywords:
Vilnius University,, Petrus Skarga, toga, academic attire, silk cloak, JapanismAbstract
For the first time in Lithuanian historiography, this article discusses two museum pieces preserved in the Lithuanian National Museum of Art and the National Museum of Lithuania, referenced as “head covering – kaptūras” (LNDM TA 639) and “Vilnius University rector’s toga” (LNM IM 82). The research aims to identify, rediscover, and attribute a long-forgotten and underappreciated treasure of Lithuanian cultural heritage – the so-called Petrus Skarga’s toga. Specifically, the research revealed that only two parts of the academic outfit have survived: a biretta and a cape with a hood. Additionally, the article presents a new attribution of an oriental-pattern silk cloak, previously referred to as the “Vilnius University rector’s toga” in the 1950s–1960s, discussing it within the broader context of the Japanism style.
The fate of the ceremonial academic attire (a toga, a hooded cape, and a biret- ta) of Petrus Skarga (Petrus Scarga, Piotr Skarga Powęski, 1536–1612), the first rector of Vilnius University (1579–1582), after the university’s closure in 1832 and the location of its storage has not been closely explored until now. The analysis of the collected data suggests that Skarga’s academic attire was not removed from Vilnius but was kept as a relic in the Treasury of the Vilnius Archcathedral. It is likely that the attire was transferred elsewhere in 1842, when the Vilnius Academy of Medicine and Surgery was closed and the sceptre taken to St. Petersburg. However, it is also possible that the attire entered the Treasury of the Vilnius Archcathedral earlier, following the university’s closure in 1832.
In 1919, after the opening of the Polish Stephen Bathory University in Vilnius, interest in Skarga’s academic attire as a symbol of the history of the old Vilnius University increased significantly. Between the wars, exhibitions of historical and cultural significance were organized at the Vilnius University Library, where the attire was displayed (1919, 1929, 1936). In 1919 and 1929, Skarga’s biretta was lent from the Vilnius Society of Friends of Science (TPN) for exhibitions, while the toga was lent from the Treasury of the Vilnius Archcathedral in 1929 and 1936. Since 1919, Skarga’s biretta was identified as TPN property. It is likely that it is the same biretta that the National Museum of Lithuania (IM 93) may have inherited from TPN.
Comparing the iconography of interwar photographs and tapestries in the Treasury of the Vilnius Archcathedral, it was noted that the display of Skarga’s academic attire in a glass window was recorded next to the Flemish verdure tapestry “Juno and Iris” from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” series, dating from the second half of the 17th century (BPM BT 1849). The photo was likely taken in the 1910s–1930s.
It was established that in 1953, during the transfer of items from the Treasury of the Vilnius Archcathedral to the collections of the Vilnius State Art Museum (now the Lithuanian National Museum of Art), a hooded cape entered the museum along with the liturgical vestments. Research indicates that this cape (TA 639) is a surviving part of Skarga’s ceremonial academic attire, likely dating back to the late 16th century. The trimming of the edges of the folding hood, fastened at the front of the cape, is notable for its artistic expression. Currently, Skarga’s biretta is stored in the National Museum of Lithuania, the hooded cape is in the collections of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, and the current location of the toga remains unidentified.
The advanced hypothesis about the origin of the silk cloak (IM 82) from the collections of the National Museum of Lithuania has been confirmed: it is a garment of an aristocratic lady, a luxurious buttoned, lined, silk-fringed cloak designed to be worn over a formal visiting dress with a tournure. It was created in a style influenced by Japanism around 1875–1885 by an unknown fashion house in France, presumably in Paris. The garment was made from the silk fabric of a former luxury Japanese kimono, specifically a formal outer untied kimono (uchikake), dating from the latter half of the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century. The fabric design, featuring alternating geometric patterns, flower bouquets, and fan motifs, was intended exclusively for the ceremonial clothing of high-ranking samurai family ladies during the late Edo period (1615–1868).
The fashion of Japanism did not bypass the cultural and artistic life of Vilnius or Lithuanian estates. This elegant and luxurious cloak, with its delicate colours, professionally modelled construction from individual pieces of kimono fabric, and high artistic craftsmanship, is one of the most impressive examples of late 19th-century Japanism-style clothing in Lithuania. It is likely that the National Museum of Lithuania inherited the silk cloak from the collections of the TPN museum, which included some pieces of exotic oriental clothing.