Michał Szweycer (1809-1871) - Lot 168

Michał Szweycer (1809-1871) Adam Mickiewicz, 1853 Print on waxed salted paper. Handwritten annotations and date on vintage label attached. Illegible stamp in the upper left of the image. 20 x 15 cm Michal Szweycer emigrated to Paris after the uprising of November 1830, where he befriended Adam Mickiewicz, one of Poland's greatest poets and patriots, "the pilgrim of Liberty" (thus statufied by Bourdelle in the 8th arrondissement of Paris). Szweycer immortalized him in 1853 with a cane, symbolizing a pilgrim's staff. The image was later recovered by Félix Nadar, with whom the Polish photographer collaborated for some time. The albumen print, kept at the Musée d'Orsay (PHO 1991 2 22) and signed Nadar et Michel (for Michal), bears witness to the ties between the two men. Nadar's use (and retouching) of this image prompted Szweycer to sue him, as evidenced by an article in Le Droit: Le Journal des Tribunaux of January 5, 1860: "The Seventh Chamber of the Correctional Court was seized today with a counterfeiting complaint filed by Mr. Michel Szweyer (sic), photographer, against Mr. Tournachon, better known in the art world as Nadar. Mr. Michel Szweyer, a Polish photographer and owner of a photographed portrait of the famous Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, who died a few years ago, had this portrait reproduced by M. Tournachon-Nadar. According to Mr. Michel, the authorization given to Mr. Nadar was special and limited to these two conditions: not to publish it separately, but only in the collection of contemporaries, edited by Mr. Nadar, and furthermore, to include the two signatures: Michel and Nadard (sic), on all copies sold". (source: Le Droit : journal des tribunaux | 1860-01-05 | Gallica (bnf.fr)). A photographic portrait signed by Szweycer and dated 1853 is preserved in the Museum of Literature in Warsaw, and another in the Polish National Library (F.11947). Bibliography: Leonard Sempolinski, "Michal Szweycer (1809-1871), fotograf Adama Mickiewicza" in Fotografia, October 1962, pp. 235-238. We would like to thank Cabinet Antoine Romand for appraising this lot. Michał Szweycer, fotografia (papier solny woskowany), portret Adama Mickiewicza, 1835.