Ceptowski, Karol
Ceptowski, Karol, Polish sculptor, member of the “Munich School”. 1828-30: student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, 1830/31 at the Stuttgart Art School. *23.3.1801 Poznan, †12.2.1847 Cracow. Son of the Bavarian plasterer, Michał Ceptowski (real name Michael Zöpf, 1765-1829). Presumably 1816-20: trains under the sculptor Paweł Maliński (1790-1853) in Warsaw, then in Breslau. On the 20.10.1828 he enrols in the sculpture class at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Ceptowski is the first Polish artist listed in the Matriculation book of the Munich Academy. He studies under Peter von Cornelius (1783-1867). Under the leadership of Leo von Klenze (1784-1864) he is entrusted with making the capitals at the Royal Villa in Munich. 1830-31: he studies under Johann Heinrich von Dannecker (1758-1841) at the Stuttgart Art School. 1831/32: in Rome, works in the sculpture workshop of Mathieu Kessel (1784-1836) and Berthel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844); is entrusted with sculptures for the church, San Paolo fuori le Mura. 1832/33: active in the workshop of James Pradier (1790-1852) in Paris. 1834: under Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) he completes figures of saints and stucco works in the Nikolaikirche in Potsdam. Subsequently he works for three years on sculptures for the Ducal Palace in Braunschweig. 1837-39: works in Poznan (decorations at the Bodenkreditanstalt; reliefs for the Parish Church in Krzeszowice, designed by Schinkel). From 1840/41: Professor of Sculpture at the School of Drawing and Painting/Szkoła Rysunku i Malarstwa in Cracow: also many other works, including the sarcophagus of Queen Maria Kazimiera (1840), in the Cathedral on the Wawel. Outline drawings and sketches can be found in the National Museum in Cracow/Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie.
Further Reading: Władysław Tatarkiewicz/Dariusz Kaczmarzyk: Klasycysm i romantyzm w rzeźbie polskiej, in: Sztuka i Krytyka (Państwowy Instytut Sztuki), Nr. 1-2, 1956, p. 62; Jacek Ceptowski: Rzeźbiarz Karol Ceptowski (1801-1847), Poznań: Muzeum Narodowe, 1992; Halina Stępień/Maria Liczbińska: Artyści polscy w środowisku monachijskim w latach 1828-1914. Materiały źródłowe, Warsaw 1994, p. 5, 32; Saur Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, vol. 17, Munich/Leipzig 1997, p. 536; Harald Tesan: Thorvaldsen und seine Bildhauerschule in Rom, Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 1998, pp. 175-176
Online: Matriculation data base, Matriculation book 1, Academy of Fine Arts Munich, 01423 Karl Ceptowski, http://matrikel.adbk.de/matrikel/mb_1809-1841/jahr_1828/matrikel-01423
Peter Schubert: Karol Ceptowski (2003) at: Culture.pl, http://culture.pl/pl/tworca/karol-ceptowski
Axel Feuß, March 2017
