Jan Potocki

'Voyage Pittoresque' of Jan Potocki and an Unknown Egyptian Pendant from his Travel to Turkey and Egypt in 1784

Three re-discovered prints in the Wilanów collection of the National Library in Warsaw are etched after two lost drawings executed in Egypt, in August 1784, by Jan Potocki (1761-1815), an eminent writer and Orientalist of the Enlightenment period. The etchings in question bear the titles Vue des Piramides de Gissa and Vue de la Statue Colossale du Sphinx de Gissa. The first one, an etching with engraving, shows the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre in Giza and, in the foreground, a caravan heading towards the Great Pyramid. The second print is a frontal representation of the Sphinx against a distant silhouette of the pyramid of Menkaure. The drawings documenting the visit to Giza were considered lost for many years. Their copies remained with the Potocki family as mementoes and were mentioned by Katarzyna Potocka née Branicka – the wife of Adam Potocki, Jan’s grandson – during her journey to Egypt in 1853. In a letter written after the visit to the pyramids on 30 March, she notes as follows: "We also saw the colossal Sphinx, which is located near the pyramids. It was of interest to me, as I have an etching made on this spot by Mr. Jan Potocki, Adam’s grandfather." The mention of the print depicting the Sphinx may be associated with another, unique copy preserved in the Wilanów collection. Both plates were cropped and incorporated into an album entitled Melange (WAF. 797) during the lifetime of Aleksander Potocki in the second quarter of the 19th century. These are the only known etchings made on the basis of drawings completed by the author of the Manuscript found in Saragossa during his lifetime. They are also closely related to Potocki’s literary debut, Voyage en Turquie et en Egypte, published without illustrations in 1788.
This graphic pendant, executed most likely in Paris and Düsseldorf in ca 1787 by the German engravers Carl Guttenberg and Heinrich Schmitz, was, in the light of the presented epistolary material, only the beginning of a series of etchings intended for an album of the voyage pittoresque type – the most popular category of publications in the era of the Grand Tour. The article aims to reconstruct the origin of both etchings and discusses the events that affected the form of the publication project: the journey to Turkey and Egypt, the return to Poland, a short stay in Karlsbad, relocation to Paris, and the journey to Tuscany in 1786 with his mother-in-law, Princess Izabela Lubomirska. Attention is given to her role as animator of young Jan Potocki’s interests and endeavours, as well as to its likely determinants.
The etchings and travel notes are placed in the context of the main aesthetic trends of the time, the “picturesque” and the “sublime”. An interpretation of the “sublime” style of the etching with the great pyramid, based on a commentary offered by Potocki himself, are compared with the thoughts of Immanuel Kant conveyed in his Critique of the Power of Judgement (1790). In the part devoted to the mathematical perception of grandeur as an indispensible element of perceiving the sublime, he recalls and develops the notion put forward by Potocki. An analysis of textual sources presented in the paper shows a close dependence of the Königsberg philosopher’s concept of the "mathematically sublime" on Potocki’s remarks included in the letter describing the visit to Giza, published anonymously in the Voyage en Turquie et en Egypte.

La contribution analyse quelques représentations des danseurs orientaux qui dansent habillés en femmes et cherche à répondre à la question de savoir si ces représentations forment une caricature de la femme orientale ou s'il s'agit d'un autre rêve pervers d ’Orient. La première partie présente la danseuse mâle et montre sa perception en Orient et en Europe. La seconde partie évoque la critique du comportement des danseuses mâles présente dans les relations de voyage de Jean Potocki et de Vivant Denon. Les trois dernières parties analysent trois descriptions datant des années 1840-1850, créées par Gérard de Nerval, Gustave Flaubert et Théophile Gautier. Il s'avère qu'avec le temps, la caricature devient moins évidente qu'auparavant et les descriptions s'esthétisent. Il n'est plus possible de ne faire que se moquer des danseuses mâles ou les condamner. Un nouveau rêve pervers d'Orient semble faire son émergence.