Jan Matejko

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Jan Matejko , self-portrait.
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Jan Matejko , self-portrait.

Jan Matejko (also known as Jan Mateyko; July 24, 1838 – November 1, 1893) was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events.[1][2] His most famous works include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and court scenes, and a gallery of Polish kings. He is counted among the most famous Polish painters.[1][2]

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[edit] Biography

Matejko was born in the Free City of Kraków, part of the Polish territory taken by Austria during the Partitions of Poland. His Czech father, Franciszek Ksawery Matejko, was a tutor and music teacher who first worked for the Wodzicki family in Kościelniki, then moved to Kraków, where he married Joanna Karolina Rossberg from a Polish-German family of a well-to-do saddler. Jan was the ninth child from eleven that his parents had. After the death of his mother in 1846, Matejko and his siblings were taken care of by his aunt, Anna Zamojska.

Kraków Academy of Fine Arts named after Matejko in 1979, where he served as president of many years.
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Kraków Academy of Fine Arts named after Matejko in 1979, where he served as president of many years.

From his earliest days Matejko showed exceptional artistic talent that let him advance from grade to grade, although he had great difficulties with other subjects. He never mastered a foreign language and did not do well even with the Polish language. That's why any public appearances to which he was forced all his life were for him real nightmares.[citation needed] At a young age he witnessed the Kraków revolution of 1846 and the 1848 siege of Kraków by the Austrians, events which ended the existence of the Free City of Kraków (two of his olders brothers served under general Józef Bem, one died). He attended St.Anna high school which he dropped in 1851 because of poor results. Despite that because of his exceptional talent from 1852 to 1858 he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow under Wojciech Korneli Stattler and Władysław Luszczkiewicz. During this time he started exhibiting historical paintings with the Society of Friends of the Fine Arts there (e.g. Sigismund I Bestowing Nobility on the Professors of the University of Kraków in 1535.). After studying under the history painter Hermann Anschütz in Munich (1859) (where he got a bronze medal for a study of male act) and then briefly and less successfully in Vienna, Matejko returned to Kraków, where he lived for the rest of his life and where, beginning in 1873, he was for many years the principal of the School of Fine Arts.

Polonia (Poland), 1863. Oil on canvas, 156 × 232 cm, National Museum, Kraków. Pictured is the aftermath of the failed January 1863 Uprising; one of the most patriotic and symbolic paintings by Matejko. Captives await exile to Siberia. Russian officers and soldiers supervise a blacksmith placing shackles on a woman (Polonia). The blonde next to her may represent Lithuania.
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Polonia (Poland), 1863. Oil on canvas, 156 × 232 cm, National Museum, Kraków. Pictured is the aftermath of the failed January 1863 Uprising; one of the most patriotic and symbolic paintings by Matejko. Captives await exile to Siberia. Russian officers and soldiers supervise a blacksmith placing shackles on a woman (Polonia). The blonde next to her may represent Lithuania.

During the January Uprising of 1863 in which he did not participate because of poor health, Matejko gave financial support and transported arms to the insurgents' camp in Goszcza). In 1864 he married Teodora Giebultowska, with whom he had four children: Beata, Helena, Tadeusz, and Jerzy. In the same year he became a member of Scientific Society in Kraków. At that time Matejko started to gain international recognition; literally a starving artist during his younger days, in 1865, his painting Skarga's Sermon won the gold medal at the annual Paris salon. It was subsequently purchased by Count Maurycy Potocki for 10,000 guldens. In 1867, the painting Rejtan won the gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. French critics included Matejko among the most outstanding representatives of historical painting in Europe. Through his painting, he succeeded in reminding Europe that partitioned Poland still existed despite political realities.

Matejko died in Kraków and was buried in the middle of the Alley of the Meritorious at Kraków's Rakowicki Cemetery.

[edit] Works

In 1860 Matejko issued an illustrated album, Ubiory w Polsce (Clothing in Poland), a project reflecting his intense interest in historical records of all kinds and his desire to promote such interest among the Polish people in an effort to intensify their patriotic feelings. In 1861 he had an exhibition Otrucie królowej Bony (Poisoning of Queen Bona) in Warsaw's Zachęta. The national defeats forced him to abandon the religious painting which, he believed, was his vocation and to devote himself almost exclusively to historical painting. In fact he created a vision of Polish history from which we can not liberate ourselves despite of perennial criticism of the scientists. Matejko often placed on his paintings people who were not present at this location (f.ex. Hugo Kołłątaj, and General Józef Wodzicki, on The Battle of Racławice). He was not interested in presenting factual events but in representation of a historical-philosophical synthesis. Matejko's work has to be viewed not only in artistic terms, but also in terms of the social function it performed and continues to perform today. He considered history as a function of the present and the future. His paintings are not historical illustrations, rather they are powerful expressions of the artist's psyche and his attitude to the world.

The Battle of Racławice, a major battle of the Kościuszko Uprising, 1794. Oil on canvas, 1888, National Museum in Kraków. 4th April 1794, Kościuszko Uprising.
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The Battle of Racławice, a major battle of the Kościuszko Uprising, 1794. Oil on canvas, 1888, National Museum in Kraków. 4th April 1794, Kościuszko Uprising.
The Sermon of Skarga, predicting the end of the Golden Age of Poland. Oil on canvas, 1862, 224 x 397 cm, Royal Castle in Warsaw.
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The Sermon of Skarga, predicting the end of the Golden Age of Poland. Oil on canvas, 1862, 224 x 397 cm, Royal Castle in Warsaw.
The Battle of Grunwald, oil on canvas, 1878, 426 x 987 cm, National Museum in Warsaw.
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The Battle of Grunwald, oil on canvas, 1878, 426 x 987 cm, National Museum in Warsaw.

Matejko was focusing on major themes in Polish history and using historical sources to paint events in minute historical detail. He created two groups of historical paintings. The earlier one starting with the painting Stańczyk (1862) was directed against the magnates whose lack of patriotism caused, in his opinion, the fall of Poland. Stanczyk, the court jester to King Sigismund I (1437-1548), to whom Matejko gave his own features. The jester is presented as a symbol of the nation's conscience: he sits glumly in a chair apart from the other figures, alone in seeing that events during the wars against Moscow would ultimately end in tragedy. This group of paintings included among others also Kazanie Skargi (Sermon of Piotr Skarga) (1864) and Reytan (1866).

The second group, painted after the defeat of January Uprising, is dedicated to famous events in Polish history. Matejko depicted many major events and battles in Polish history. His most famous work is Bitwa pod Grunwaldem (Battle of Grunwald) (1878) depicting the 1410 Polish victory over the Teutonic Knights; a painting showing "clearly nationalist endeavour"[3] which garnered it international acclaim as "an unrivaled icon of Polish nationalism"[4]. Other paintings in this group include Unia Lubelska (Union of Lublin) (1869), Stefan Batory pod Pskowem (Stefan Batory at the siege of Pskov) (1872), Kopernik (Nicholaus Copernicus), Dzwon Zygmunta (Sigismund's Bell) (1874), Hołd Pruski (Prussian Tribute) (1882), Sobieski pod Wiedniem (Jan III Sobieski at the siege of Vienna) (1883), Wernyhora, Kościuszko pod Racławicami (Tadeusz Kościuszko at the battle of Racławice) (1888), Dzieje Cywilizacji w Polsce (History of civlization in Poland) (1889) and Konstytucja 3 Maja (Constitution of the 3rd May) (1891). From 1890 to 1892 he also painted all of the Polish kings compiled in his book Portraits of Polish Kings (1890); his dedication to detail is evident in that he attended the opening of Queen Jadwiga's sarcophagus in 1887 to make sketches of her skull.

In addition to historical events Matejko made also several portraits. Among others: Żona w sukni ślubmej ("Wife in the wedding dress") (1879), A. Potocki (1879), S. Tarnowski (1890), Autoportret (1892).

Altogether Matejko authored 320 oil paintings and several thousands drawings and watercolors. Finally he painted a monumental polychrome in St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków (1889-1891). His most important paintings were hidden during World War Two (Bitwa pod Grunwaldem was buried in Lublin). After 1945 majority of his works was found and subject to restoration. They are now mainly in Warsaw's National Museum (Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie).

His works, disseminated in thousands of reproductions, have made him one mof the most famous painters in Poland, and became almost standard illustrations of many key events from the Polish history.

[edit] Students

His more prominent students included Maurycy Gottlieb, Jacek Malczewski, Józef Mehoffer, Witold Pruszkowski, Leon Wyczółkowski, Stanislaw Wyspianski.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

General
Inline
  1. ^ a b Jan Matejko: The Painter and Patriot. Last accessed on 20 November 2006.
  2. ^ a b Matejko's impact on the Polish art. Last accessed on 20 November 2006.
  3. ^ Brettell, Richard R. (1999). Modern Art 1851-1929. Oxford University Press, 202.
  4. ^ Mendelsohn (2002). Painting a People. UPNE, 3. ISBN 1584651792.

[edit] External links

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[edit] About

[edit] Galleries

[edit] Further reading

  • Batorska, Danuta (Spring, 1992). "The Political Censorship of Jan Matejko". Art Journal 51 (1): 57-63. JSTOR
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