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SHORT NOTES

concerns the setting of these works of art, and the third presents opinions on old works of art and their aesthetic value.

The author concentrates on the attitude which the post-Tridentine Catholic Church and the new Protestant churches had to art. In the preface she recalls the confession theory, analyzes the theoretical demands and instructions put forward by theologians of various denominations and shows how they were implemented in practice in the interiors of churches.

Impressing the reader by her erudition and broad-mindedness, the author cites examples from the whole of Europę, concentrating on the Germany, Italy and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. (MP)

Piotr Birecki, Sztuka luterańska na ziemi chełmińskiej od drugiej połowy XVI do pierwszej ćwierci XVIII wieku [Lutheran Art in the Chełmno Region from the Middle of the 16th Century to the Early 18th|, Warszawa 2007, DiG, 485 pp., 85 ills., bibl., index of persons.

Piotr Birecki’s book paints the picture of Lutheran art in Chełmno (Kulm) Land, a region whose main towns are Toruń, Chełmno, Brodnica, Grudziądz and Lubawa. The aim of the study is to present a fuli picture of Protestant art in that region from the 16th to the 18th century, and analyze its Reformation-inspired ideological content.

In ten chapters, the author presents the historical contcxt in which art functioned in that region, focusing on its doctrinal and ideological content and analyzing the interior elements of Lutheran churches. Altars, pulpits, baptismal fonts, organs, confessionals, pews, stalls, galleries, clocks and money-boxes are all discussed separately. Birecki then deals with paintings in the interior of churches, portraits of townsmen and clergymen, liturgical vessels, epitaphs and tombstones. Finally he discusses the influence which the Reformation exerted on secular art.

This synthesis of Lutheran art, based on handwritten sources, is certainly noteworthy. The author has not confined himself to iconographic materiał but has also carried out research in the archives of Toruń, Gdańsk, Pelplin and Berlin. (MP)

Małgorzata Mieszek, Intermedium polskie XVI-XVIII w. Teatry szkolne [Połish Entr’actes from the 16th to the 18th Century: School Theatres], Kraków 2007, Collegium Columbinum, 504 pp., index of persons, 4 ills., sum. in German

Małgorzata Mieszek’s study deals with the entr*actes performed in school theatres in the Polish-Lithuanian State. This is a re-edited version of the doctoral thesis she presented at Lodź University. It covers the period from 1579 to 1765. The first entr’acte was shown at the Jesuits’ college in Pułtusk. 1765 is the ycar when the National Theatre was founded.