Jan Matejko. Various Stories

A temporary exhibition, integrated into the permanent exhibition of Jan Matejko’s biographical museum, has been created around stories that are the subject of eight oil sketches and paintings by the artist – intimate historical compositions, sketches for large canvases, images of historical figures and portraits – created in various periods of his work.

These include portraits of Paulina and Antoni Giebułtowski (1858), the intriguing and phenomenal Portrait Study of a Woman (1881), a sketch for the painting Zygmunt August and Barbara Radziwiłłówna (1864), the work Zygmunt August in the Vilnius Garden (1865), an early historical composition Wladyslaw Jagiello and Witold Praying Before the Battle of Grunwald (1855), an oil sketch Maćko Borkowic (1873), the composition King Ladislaus the Elbow-High Breaking Agreements with the Teutonic Knights at Brześć Kujawski (1879) and the painting Ascension (1884).

The exhibition space was divided into three parts: paintings, drawings (portrait, costume and composition sketches for paintings) and painting props from the artist’s private collection, all placed in showcases between two rooms.

The presentation prepared from the collections of the National Museum in Krakow is enriched by works from the National Museum in Warsaw and works from a private collection.

Curator of the Exhibition – Marta Kłak-Ambrożkiewicz