35.9 x 27.3cm - oil, board signed on the right: S. BAKAŁOWICZ. ROMA (SKETCH) | MDCCCXCVII
Stefan Bakalovich in 1882 received a scholarship from the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts to travel to Rome, where he settled permanently. Establishing a close friendship with Henryk Siemiradzki there significantly influenced his work. The breakthrough discovery of Pompeii and the publication of Sienkiewicz's Quo Vadis intensified the artist's fascination with antiquity.
The presented painting by Stefan Bakalovich is inspired by Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel Quo Vadis. An important plot thread of the novel is the love story of the young patrician Marcus Vinicius and Ligia, the daughter of the king of the Ligians, who has converted to Christianity. The artist portrayed the moment when Mark professes his love to Ligia, and she in response draws a mysterious sign of a fish - one of the symbols of Christ - on the sand.
Stefan Bakalovich's paintings, of which Ligia and Vinicius is an excellent example, are characterized by a good mastery of technique, attention to detail and careful execution. His works are, among others, in the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw, the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
Stefan Aleksander Bakałowicz ( Warsaw 1857 - Rome 1947) Polish academic painter, son of Stefan Bakałowicz. He was initially educated by Wojciech Gerson, then studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, where he received a scholarship to go to Rome. He settled permanently in Rome, where he made a close acquaintance with Henryk Siemiradzki. It was under Siemiradzki's influence that antique motifs appeared in Bakalovich's paintings, and Sienkiewicz's Quo Vadis and the discovery of Pompeii intensified his interest in ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. Stefan Bakalovich's paintings are characterized by a good mastery of the workshop, attention to detail and careful execution. In addition to genre and historical compositions, he also created landscapes. He was also highly regarded as a portraitist.
In 1903 he had his first exhibition in Warsaw. In addition to the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, he also exhibited in Russia, where he was highly regarded by his clients.
He died in Rome at the age of 90 and was buried in the Campo Verano cemetery there.
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