Wilhelm Kotarbinski, ROMAN IDYLLA, ca. 1880

137,7 x 79,0cm - oil, canvas signed p.d.: W Kotarbiński



Wilhelm Kotarbinski dreamed of becoming an artist since his youth. The artist's father disapproved of this choice, believing that it was not befitting a noble birth. However, the artist did not give in and after completing a drawing course in Warsaw, thanks to a small scholarship and financial help from his uncle, he went to study in Rome in 1871. Immediately enthralled by the Eternal City, intoxicated by the beauty of the ancient monuments, he immediately began making sketches. For three years he studied at the Academy of St. Luke, where he took part in the annual competition for the title of Rome's best draughtsman. His love of antiquity and talent secured him the 1st prize.

His fascination with antiquity also translated into Kotarbinski's painting works. His picturesque canvases were characterized by great decorativeness. The artist tried to fill his canvases with landscapes, ancient architecture and beautiful objects, flowers and exotic trees. In this way he varied the compositions, allowing the viewer to enjoy the eye longer. The artist adhered to academism, but not in its pure form. He combined it with modern trends and symbolism. Kotarbinski's virtuosity, his sublime style and subjects that deviated from everyday life contributed to the artist's extraordinary popularity among his collectors' contemporaries. To academics, nature served only as decoration, while Kotarbinski harmonized man with the world around him.

The themes of mythology and fantasy, maintained in the trend of Art Nouveau, were in high demand in the last decade of the 19th century, which had a great impact on the popularization of Kotarbinski's work. Often reproduced on postcards, the artist's works also contributed to a wider audience for his paintings, which became a kind of hallmark of decadence and modernity.

Wilhelm Kotarbinski (Nieborów 1849 - Kiev 1921) studied at the Warsaw Drawing Class under Raphael Hadziewicz (years1867-1871), and from 1872 also at the Academy of St. Luke in Rome. After graduation, he opened his own studio in Rome, where he also gave drawing lessons; his pupil included Maria Bashkirtsev. He returned to his homeland in 1888 and from then on stayed mainly at his own estate Kalsk (or Kulsk) in Belarus. From there he made numerous trips to Kiev, where he had a studio at the Prague Hotel, participated in exhibitions of the Kiev Art Society, and in 1893 co-founded the Society of Kiev Painters. Together with P. Swiedomsky, M. Nesterov and M. Vrubel, he worked on the fresco decoration of Kiev's St. Vladimir's Cathedral (completed 1894-1895). He was also the author of decorative plafonds and wall paintings in, among others, the home of M. Tereshchenko and the palace of B. Khanenko in Kiev and in the salons of palaces in St. Petersburg and Moscow. He painted primarily compositions with biblical or ancient themes - from the life of the ancient East, Greece and Rome; he also created landscapes and fantastic and symbolic scenes. His paintings are distinguished by sophisticated colors, free technique, peculiar stylization of forms and a specific, often mysterious mood. The artist's greatest popularity came in the 1890s, when - due to the "antique" subject matter of his paintings - he was sometimes compared to Siemiradzki. Kotarbinski's works rarely appear on the art market; most of his works were lost or destroyed during World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution.