Polichromia drewnianych stalli w kolegiacie w Żółkwi

The presbytery o f the collegiate church in Żołkiew contains wooden stalls covered with polychromy. The original painted decoration was to a considerable degree concealed by the second layer o f oil repainting. Conducted studies determined the range and degree o f the preservation o f the original polychromy and its chemical composition. The polychromy was executed directly on w ood with plant-derived black mixed with egg white binder, and probably with the addition o f ferric-gallate ink. In the beam part, the ornament was painted on white priming ground whose fundamental component is calcium carbonate. A considerable part of the polychromy was transferred to the base with the help of suitable patterns. The whole was covered by semi-transparent resin lasing, only partially extant. Research into the repainting showed the satisfactory state of the original painted decoration of many elements of the stalls. Its form, similarly to the style of the carved decoration, carries distinct Manneristic features, combined with an earlier Late Renaissance element. Presumably, the stalls were made in the first quarter of the seventeenth century, and comprised one of the elements of the original church decoration. The author postulates complete conservation of the wooden construction, damaged to a large extent, and the removal of the repainting, followed by a conservation of the polychromy and the reconstruction of the missing fragments.