Piotr Tomicki

Who was Piotr Tomicki?

Piotr Tomicki was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Przemyśl, of Poznań and of Kraków and Vice-Chancellor of the Crown and Royal Secretary. Celebrated as one of the most important representatives of the Polish Renaissance, he studied in Italy, was part of the court of Jan Lubrański and had contacts with many of the enlightened minds of Europe, including Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Tomicki's main merit was to be a patron of artists. Throughout his life he showed great interest in arts, specially sculptures. His collection of sculptures between 1520-30 only rivalled that of the king's. Under his guidance Andrzej Górski wrote Acta Tomiciana, a collection of documents from the time of Tomicki's service as chancelor, and the Kraków Academy created the department of Roman Law and introduced the teaching of Greek and Hebrew.