Jan Matejko, GREAT LITHUANIAN PRINCE WITOLD, 1876

46,5 x 42,5cm - oil, canvas PORTRET ADAMA SAPIEHY - STUDY TO THE POSITION OF WITOLD AT THE BITTER AT GRUNWALDEM

On the reverse, inscription in pen: Sketch of the head of X Adam Sapieha | (study for Grunwald) painted in Krasiczyn 1876 | by J. Matejka

On the right strip of the stretcher (stamp): 46



Provenance:

Painted in Krasiczyn in 1876, the painting was given by the author to Prince Adam Stanislaw Sapiecha, who was portrayed.



Oil paintings by Jan Matejko are extremely rare on the art market, when they appear - they arouse great interest every time. The portrait, which is an image of a distinguished Pole, and at the same time closely associated with one of the most valuable Polish monuments - the Battle of Grunwald - is undoubtedly an exceptional work.

The highest artistic class, as well as its historical and museum value, make the auction of Sapieha's portrait as Witold one of the most important events on the Polish art market this year.



The painting mentioned, reproduced and exhibited in:

- Marian Gorzkowski, On the artistic activities of Jan Matejko from his earliest years, i.e. from 1850 to the end of 1881, Cracow 1882, p. 70;

- Stanisław Tarnowski, Matejko, Cracow 1897, p. 510;

- Marian Gorzkowski, Jan Matejko. An Epoch of Further Years, to the End of the Artist's Life. From a diary kept during seventeen years, Cracow 1898, p. 83;

- Mieczyslaw Treter, Matejko. Personality of the artist, creativity, form and style, Lvov-Warsaw 1939, p. 299;

- Jan Gintel, Jan Matejko. Biography in excerpts, 2nd edition, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Cracow 1966, p. 291;

- Stefan Kieniewicz, Adam Sapieha 1828-1903, Sejm Publishing House, Warsaw 1993, p. 252, il. 3;

- Matejko. Oil Paintings. Catalog, edited by Krystyna Sroczyńska, Arkady, Warsaw 1993, p. 143, cat. no. 166;

- Jan Matejko from the B.G. Woznicki Lviv National Art Gallery, the National Museum in Warsaw and from private collections [exhibition catalog], State Art Gallery in Sopot, Sopot 2019, p. 78.



The choice of model for the figure of Prince Vytautas was certainly not accidental. Adam Stanislaw Sapieha (1828-1903) was a politician and social activist. He was president of the Galician Economic Society and a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Active during the January Uprising, he became involved in promoting the Polish cause in the West. He worked successfully for the autonomy of Galicia. In the National Sejm he represented the independence program. Among the landed gentry he had the reputation of a "radical," while to democrats he remained a "magnate" - he was called the "red prince."

Sapieha's physiognomy and personality undoubtedly corresponded with the character of Vytautas, portrayed by the artist, and the symbolism presented by this figure. The fact that Matejko chose Sapieha in particular was also undoubtedly an expression of the artist's appreciation of the prince's achievements.

(...) Jan Matejko, at the height of his talent and fame at the time, painted his great Battle of Grunwald. The central figure of Vytautas bears the features of Adam Sapieha in this painting. In purple attire, with a sword raised above his head, the "red prince" - the leader of the Polish, Lithuanian and Ruthenian armies - is trashing his enemies. Matejko could not have found a better model for this face inflamed with lust for power and victory. Isn't it interesting, however, that this Vytautas from the painting, so forgotten, hidden in the privacy of the home, will soon throw himself into the whirlwind of events and that he will play a leading role in them?

S. Kieniewicz, Adam Sapieha..., op. cit. p. 252



The subject of the Battle of Grunwald preoccupied Matejko from an early age. Work on the monumental canvas lasted from 1875 to 1878. However, the creation of the masterpiece was preceded by many years of thorough historical research, including a trip to the place where the great armed clash took place, and especially by preparatory studies. The artist made numerous meticulous sketches of robes, armament and guttering, as well as oil studies of live horses in motion. In 1876 Matejko stayed in Krasiczyn, where he painted horses from the stables of Adam Sapieha. It was then that the offered portrait of the prince as Vytautas was created, which the artist gave to his model, as we know from Jan Gintel's account. Adam Sapieha also wrote about posing the figure of Vytautas in letters to his son Pavel in March 1876.



Ewa Micke-Broniarek writes about the importance of this central figure in the composition of the famous work: In Matejko's artistic vision, Vytautas is not only the commander from under Grunwald. In his fervor and inspiration, rising above the crowd of combatants, he grows into a symbol of that multitude of allied nations fighting a deadly battle against the Teutonic Order. Who knows whether, without the figure of the Prince - so depicted - the painting would not have lost that special pathos and expression of powerful passions, would not have become just a view of merciless slaughter during a medieval battle.

(E. Micke-Broniarek, The history of Poland in the painting of Jan Matejko, in: Matejko in tribute..., exhibition catalogue, MNW, Warsaw 1993, p. 36)



Jan Matejko (Krakow 1838 - Krakow 1893) - the most outstanding Polish historical painter; he began his painting studies under W. Łuszczkiewicz and W. K. Stattler at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow (1852-1858). He then studied at the Munich Academy under H. Anschütz (1859) and for two months at the Vienna Academy under C. Ruben (1860). After his studies he lived and worked in Cracow. In 1873 he took over as director of the School of Fine Arts there, holding this position until his death. He traveled extensively - he made numerous trips to Paris (in 1865-1880), Vienna (1866-1888), in 1872 he was in Constantinople, and a year later in Prague and Budapest, he also visited Italy (1878-1879 and 1883). He was a member of numerous academies and art societies, including the Académie des Beaux-Arts (1873) and the French Institute (1874) in Paris, the Berlin Academy of Art (1874), the Raphael Academy in Urbino (1878) and the Künstlersgenossenschaft in Vienna (1888). He became a member of the Scientific Society of Cracow in 1864, and received an honorary doctorate of philosophy from Jagiellonian University in 1887. He was the creator of great and well-known canvases, including the Sermon of Skarga, Rejtan, the Union of Lublin, Batory at Pskov, the Battle of Grunwald, the Prussian Homage and Kosciuszko at Raclawice. He also painted portraits and, less frequently, religious or genre scenes. Drawing played an important role in his work - the artist produced, among other things, the album Ubiory w Polsce od 1200 do 1795 and the drawing series Poczet królów i książąt polskich. In 1889-1891, together with a team of students, he worked on the polychrome of St. Mary's Church in Cracow. The painter's family home, on Florianska Street in Krakow, has housed a museum dedicated to him since 1898 - the Matejko House (a branch of the MNK).