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The Gallery of Polish Kings and Princes was painted in 1890-92, that is, towards the end of Jan Matejko's life (1838-93). By then he had already painted his best and most famous historical compositions which revealed his incredible, original talent, his love of the Polish past, and his patriotism.
The Gallery of Kings: A Collection of Historic Portraits, conceived as a portfolio, was published by Maurycy Perles in Vienna. It included 44 portraits: pencil drawings, each on a separate large plate, so that it could be taken out of the portfolio and perhaps framed. All were dated and signed with the initials J.M. They were accompanied by a kind of historic essay about the people presented and the times in which they had lived. The essay was written by Stanislaw Smolka and August Sokolowski, outstanding Cracow historians. This was the first Gallery published during the artist's lifetime. This became a prototype for other albums, published in large editions, colored by other painters who used Jan Matejko's original drawings. Whoever was responsible for this coloring, it was always accepted as Jan Matejko's Gallery and it had a formative influence on the imagination of whole generations of Poles.
Each portrait is accompanied by a short biographical note (in Polish).
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Features
- Hardcover
- 240 Pages
- Polish Language Edition
- Black and white pictures
- Size 5.25" x 8.25" - 13cm x 20.5cm
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