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« 2026. # 2 (188)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 2 (188), 376—385

UDK 069.51:929.52(477.83/.86) Бруницькі

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

  • Received: 19.02.2026
  • Accepted: 15.03.2026
  • Published:

KOSTIANTYN-VLADYSLAV BRUNYTSKYI (1861—1937) — A COLLECTOR

ZAKUSOV Mykola

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4299-3681
  • PhD student, 
  • Drohobych Ivan Franko State
  • Pedagogical University, 
  • 46, Lesia Ukrainka Str., 82100, Drohobych, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: zakusovg@gmail.com

Abstract. The article examines the private collecting practices of the Brunytski (Brunicki) family as a vital component of their cultural representation and strategy for consolidating their status within the Galician elite during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Using the examples of collections in the estates of Velykyi Liubin and Lviv, the study analyzes the nature of art collection formation and the continuity of traditions. It highlights the specificity, structure, and role of the collection within personal space, as well as its significance for the museum environment of interwar Lviv.

The methodological framework of the research is based on interdisciplinary principles, involving methods and approaches from related fields of knowledge (art history, museum studies, and psychology). General historical methods and specialized scientific approaches (principles of Collection Studies) were applied.

As a result, the peculiarities of the collection formation process, their composition, thematic focus, the fate of the holdings, and the network of artistic contacts are traced.

Special attention is paid to the role of the Brunytski family in preserving antiquities and their contribution to the intellectual development of the region. The article considers the transformation of a private collection from a tool of family prestige into publicly significant cultural capital. The collecting practices of the Brunytski (particularly the acquisition of Western European paintings, antiques, and the formation of private libraries) are interpreted as an attempt to integrate the local elite into the broader European cultural context.

The study allows for the reconstruction of the fate of the family’s artistic heritage, most of which was dispersed or lost as a result of the World Wars, Soviet nationalization, and the displacement of cultural property.

Keywords: Brunytski (Brunicki), collecting, patronage of the arts, Galicia, cultural identity, art collections, estate culture.

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