Józef Chełmoński (1849 Boczki - 1914 Kuklówka Zarzeczna), Święcone

ink, paper, 32.9 × 44.1 cm in light passe-partout
Signed l. d.: "J. Chelmonski"

"Chelmonski's art is a specific manifesto of patriotism - patriotism understood as a very personal but also very deep love for the native country, its people and its nature. This very emotional and at the same time as if passive kind of patriotism was connected with Chełmoński's understanding of the tasks of art, the tasks of showing the beauty of our land and the life of the Polish people."
K. Czarnocka, "Józef Chełmoński", Warsaw 1957, p. 64.

In this work Chełmoński is close to the work of his teacher, Wojciech Gerson, whom he held in high esteem and in whose studio he received his first lessons in 1867-1871. The inked composition captures in a chronicle-like manner a scene from the life of peasants, specifically the moment of the ordination of food by a priest. In terms of form, attention is drawn to the drawing technique and attention to detail. Although primarily associated with atmospheric genre and landscape painting, Chelmonski also took up religious subjects. Especially in the period after 1889, when he settled permanently in the estate he purchased in Kuklówka, the artist's attitude to religious issues intensified, also expressing itself in a pantheistic understanding of nature. Certainly not without significance was his intimate acquaintance with the painter Adam Chmielinski, who abandoned his artistic career for the religious life, taking the name of Brother Albert, and with Father Franciszek Pełka, who officiated at the rectory in nearby Ojrzanów. Maria Gorska in her memoirs included such a characterization of the painter's person: "He is an immensely pious and mystical soul. In church he prays bent over, his face is hidden in his hands, and he cries like a beaver. He must have gone through great disappointments and suffering, because you can feel the old man frozen inside him. He completely seems insensitive to comforts, to appreciation, to female charms. His mother in Kuklowka told me: "Madam, he's a monk"" (quoted in T. Matuszczak, "Józef Chełmoński", Kraków 2003, p. 22). The artist himself treated his art as a form of spiritual service: "You see: a field and dew. It seems nothing, and it's very difficult to render such gray. People are idiots! They think that only the one who serves God is the one who prays on his knees, and I say that painting such a field with dew is God's service and maybe better than any other!"
(P. Gorska, "On Chelmonski Memories", Warsaw 1932, p. 61).

In the painter's oeuvre for canvases with religious content, in addition to the work offered at auction
listed are, among others: "In Church" (1887, lost), "Under Your Defense" (1906).
and "Cross in the Smoke" (1907, MNW collection).