Saint Mary Magdalene. Artistic reconstruction of a stained-glass panel from the Dominican church in Kraków

Stanisław Wyspiański was the defining genius of the Young Poland movement — poet, playwright, painter, and designer of stained glass whose work transformed Polish visual culture at the turn of the twentieth century. This 1895 reconstruction of a Saint Mary Magdalene stained-glass panel from the Dominican church in Kraków was part of a sustained project through which Wyspiański documented and imaginatively restored the medieval glazing of Kraków's great churches. Working on tracing paper, he produced precise archaeological reconstructions that were simultaneously acts of historical scholarship and creative reimagining. The Dominican church commission brought Wyspiański face to face with the Gothic tradition of Polish ecclesiastical art, and his studies of medieval glass fed back into his own original designs for the Franciscan church — most famously the God the Father window. These reconstructions are held at the National Museum in Kraków as both art objects and historical documents.

The tracing paper medium reflects Wyspiański's working method for stained-glass reconstruction — transparent support allowed him to trace existing fragments or archival records, building up the composition with pencil and wash. The technique requires great precision in line and restrained use of colour to suggest original glass effects. His Art Nouveau sensibility inflects even these documentary works.