ABSTRACT
The Polish Renaissance is truly the Forgotten Renaissance. This chapter attempts to rectify this misconception and to re-integrate the art of Renaissance Poland into the pan-European context. The chapter tackles the problematic issue of locating the Renaissance from a Western perspective by establishing Poland's place within the European context in the sixteenth century. It briefly discusses various models for cultural exchange and artistic reception, and resistance, within Poland. In studying the Renaissance in context, it is necessary to consider the ways in which the reception of Italian Renaissance art took place outside Italy, specifically in Poland or, conversely, problems that impeded it. This artificial, political barrier impeded the exchange of ideas across Europe and affected the interpretation of history and art history, which tended to follow the new national, rather than cultural, borders. Borders possess a special dialectic, which seems to have escaped the attention of most nationally minded art historians.
