The paintings by Thaddäus Kuntz (Kuntze) from Kock and Lutsk

This article aims to introduce into the larger scholarly circulation four altarpieces by Thaddäus Kuntz, executed in Rome in the 1780s, and thus far insufficiently discussed by researchers: 'The Assumption of the Virgin' from the parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kock (Poland) and 'The Holy Trinity', 'The Assumption of the Virgin', and 'The Seven Archangels' from the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Lutsk (formerly in Poland, now in Ukraine). After outlining the historical background to the commission of these works, their form and content are analysed. The paintings have been presented here for the first time in the context of the artist’s entire oeuvre. The consideration of the Kock painting, destroyed in 1939, would not have been possible without discovering its archival photograph.

Much attention has been paid to Fr Giorgio Maria Lascaris who, according to the findings of the present writer, commissioned the paintings for the Cathedral of Lutsk, and thanks to whose recommendation – as can be assumed – Kuntz received prestigious commissions from Henry Benedict Stuart, Duke of York and Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati in the 1770s.