Jan MATEJKO (1838-1893), Ivan the Terrible, 1876

Woodcut, paper; 14 x19 cm (clear passe-partout);
Signed on the plate p. d. by the xylographer: E. GORAZDOWSKI.
Drawings on woodcut plates were personally made by Jan Matejko, engraved by the most outstanding wood engravers of the time. The graphics come from the "Album of Jan Matejko" published in 1876 by Samuel Leventhal, who writes in the afterword, among other things, as follows: "The album included the finest paintings of the master, made in recent times; " [...] the making of each of such woodcuts as, for example, Stefan Batory, the Sejm in Lublin , etc. p. required six months of time each, not counting the time used to draw them on wood [...].