Juliusz Kossak, HUNTING WITH CHARDS, 1892

34.3 x 47.0 cm - watercolor, gouache, paper watercolor, gouache, paper, 34.3 x 47 cm (w św passe-partout)

signed l.d.: JKossak | 1892 [tied monogram].



Provenance:

Collection of the Paskowski Family in the USA.

Dr. Richard and Catherine Paskowski were both born in New York as children of Polish immigrants. Although they lived in the United States, they cherished their Polish heritage, traveled throughout Poland and spent years amassing a fine collection of Polish art. They made many donations to Polish causes in the US. They also wanted the remainder of the collection to go back to Poland and please Polish collectors.



Hunting with greyhounds is one of the frequent motifs taken up by Juliusz Kossak. These majestic dogs, the artist also painted as companions for horse portraits. Hunting with greyhounds for hares has an extremely rich history in Poland, and was a very popular pastime at Polish courts, including royal courts. Both magnates and nobility followed in the monarch's footsteps. Chases were held wherever larger areas of grassland allowed. The popularity of hunting with greyhounds came to an end only with the outbreak of World War II. In the magazine "Łowiec" of 1880, a very extensive work by Alexander Ubysz - the Greyhound - was published over several issues, in which the author introduces the reader to both the origins of the breed, its specifics, and explores the secrets of this, extremely popular in Poland, type of hunting.



* Border VAT 8% will be added to the auctioned price in addition to other costs (in accordance with §12 item 2 of the Rules).

Juliusz Kossak (Wisnicz 1824 - Krakow 1899) - painter and illustrator - was one of the most popular Polish artists of the 2nd half of the 19th century. He began his drawing and painting lessons in Jan Maszkowski's studio in Lviv; later he drew a lot from nature while visiting noble estates in Ukraine, Podolia and Volhynia. In 1852 he was in Vienna, Hungary and St. Petersburg, before settling permanently in Warsaw. He spent the years 1856-1860 in Paris, where he was friends with Horace Vernet. Returning to Warsaw in 1862-1868, he was artistic director of the "Illustrated Weekly". In 1869, he moved permanently to Krakow, from where he would make further trips to Munich to paint in the atelier of the batalist Franz Adam. Kossak was primarily an accomplished watercolorist; he used oil techniques less frequently. He painted historical and battle paintings, genre scenes illustrating the life and traditions of the noble court and the customs of the Polish people. But the real heroes of his paintings were horses, whose movement, temperament, character and individuality he was able to masterfully depict. He was also the author of many illustrations for magazines and books, hitting flawlessly both the atmosphere of literary works and the longings and needs of the audience - the readers of Wincenty Pol's Song of Our Land, Henryk Sienkiewicz's Trilogy, Pan Tadeusz and Adam Mickiewicz's poems.