Maurycy Gottlieb (1856 Drohobych - 1879 Krakow), Sigismund Augustus and Barbara Giżanka, circa 1874.

oil, duplicated canvas, 37.3 × 62.4 cm

Provenance:
- Property of the artist's family;
- Collection of Emil Beres (wealthy Galician merchant and friend of the artist) and his son in law Dr. Rudolf Beres (art collector, at one time owner of the largest collection of works by Maurice Gottlieb);
- the collection of Pinhas and Helena Schoenberg;
- the collection of Eliezer and Tamala Lewin;
- private collection, Poland

Exhibited:
- 1892 r. - Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Cracow;
- 1932 r. - National Museum in Cracow;
- 1991 r. - National Museum in Warsaw

Inscribed and reproduced:
- "Souvenir of the Unveiling of the Monument of Maurycy Gottlieb," Kraków 1892, p. 32, no. 25 ("Sigismund Augustus with Barbara in his embrace, property of the family");
- "Catalogue of the memorial exhibition of Maurycy Gottlieb's works," National Museum in Cracow, March 1932, p. 11, cat. no. 82 ("Zygmunt August and Giżanka," property of Dr. R. Beres, Cracow);
- "Maurycy Gottlieb, 1856-1879, Commemorative Exhibition on the Occasion of the Centennial of his Birth," II-III 1956, The Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem, 1956, no. 1 (il.);
- "Maurycy Gottlieb 1856-1879. 39 reproductions of the artist's paints", Tel Aviv, 1961, plate no. 7 (ill. in black and white);
- "Słownik Artystów Polskich i obcych w Polsce działających", Warsaw, 1975, vol. II, p. 428;
- Z. Soltysowa, "The Work of Maurycy Gottlieb" [in:] "Rocznik Krakowski", Ossolineum, Cracow 1976, vol. 47, p. 152, il. p. 160, no. 10;
- (cat.) "Maurycy Gottlieb, 1856-1879, Meisterwerke," ed. by Georg Heuberger, Jewish Museum, Frankfurt n. Main, 1991, p. 79;
- (cat.) "Maurycy Gottlieb 1856-1879," National Museum in Warsaw 19 Aug-20 Oct 1991, p. nlb, cat. no. 3 (Sigismund Augustus and Gajanka, ca. 1874, property of Eliezer Lewin in Savyon);
- N. Guralnik, "In the Flower of Youth. Maurice Gottlieb" 1856-1879, Tel Aviv Museum of Art 1991, p. 21, il. s. 117;
- J. Malinowski, "Maurycy Gottlieb," Arkady, Warsaw 1997, p. 81;
- J. Malinowski, "Malarstwo i rzeźba Żydów Polskich w XIX i XX w.," Warsaw 2000, p. 28;
- A. Yass-Alston, "Jewish collectors of works of art in interwar
Cracow. Adlof Schwarz, Rudolf Beres, Seweryn Gottlieb - figures who have passed into the oblivion of history", [in:] "Krzysztofory. Zeszyty Naukowe Muzeum Historycznego Miasta Krakowa", no. 35, Kraków 2017, pp. 276, 277.

"I am a Pole and a Jew, and I want to work for both, when God gives."
Maurycy Gottlieb

The painting is a painterly interpretation of the historical theme of the last of the Jagiellons, characterized by accents of the king's personal emotional dilemmas as well as the impending end of his power and the entire dominum of the Jagiellonian era. Thematically and compositionally it enters into a painterly dialogue with the work of the brush of master Jan Matejko "Sigismund Augustus with Barbara at the Radziwill Court in Vilnius" from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw (il.1) and "Sigismund Augustus and Barbara Radziwillowna" (il.2) from the collection of the National Museum in Krakow (MNK). The companion and at the same time the heroine of both compositions is the title Barbara, but in Matejko's work it's Radziwiłłówna - the king's greatest love; while in Gottlieb's work it's Giżanka - the king's favorite, in whom, due to great external resemblance, Sigismund Augustus tried to find at least a particle of his recently lost love. Shown in profile, Jagiellon's thoughtful face suggestively directs his gaze to the fireplace and flame, the flame of a fading dynasty, or perhaps still in search of the last spark of hope to save the dynasty? Gizhanka's eyes in love look longingly and joyfully toward the king. After all, Gizhanka fell in love with the king as Radziwill once did, it was she who brought joy into his inexorably fading life. This Gizhanka was simultaneously hated by the royal family, the nobility, the Polish and Lithuanian magnates. The king experiences an inner rift between his own desires and his duty to the nation and the Fatherland. The epilogue of the Jagiellonian dominum, the acute beginning of the end of the "fractured dynasty", whose origins go all the way back to Wladyslaw Lokietek and the Andegawens. Here we see love, and at the same time disappointed hopes for a descendant and a royal successor. Abandoned at the feet of the lute, as if the last melody of a love song had sounded on it, but also a note of disappointed desires and hopes. From the portrait on the wall of the chamber stares the image of Barbara Radziwillowna - this is how we intuitively feel, or perhaps Gottlieb deliberately left an understated accent to this story ? In Jan Matejko's portrait, the menacing Queen Bona, who was the opponent of love for her son, was looking over the Radziwillowna cuddling with the king. Perhaps by implication now it was Radziwillowna who did not favor from beyond the grave this love? The intimacy of the scene is emphasized by the caryatids crowning the fireplace and the slightly tilted curtain in the window. Maurycy Gottlieb's work is a sentimental journey and a story about what gives rise to dilemmas and yet inexorably passes away, a sense of duty, loyalty, the struggle for love, the fight for survival, and at the same time powerlessness in the face of destiny and fate. This is a story intertwined with legend, and at the same time a dialogue of the works of two brush masters, Jan Matejko and Maurycy Gottlieb.

"Maurycy Gottlieb was a genius, and in the great spirits' ranks he deserves a place, not only for the splendid rump of talent he laid down at the dawn of his life, but also for the deep thoughtfulness with which he looked at the world and grasped humanity's tasks. The artist's work, which blossomed magnificently at an age when others were just beginning to have a deeper thought and a broader view of life, heralded in the young painter a star of prime importance in the sky of domestic art. Unfortunately, envious fate did not allow it to shine in all its splendor. Premature death destroyed the talent that was to astonish the world with the flair of its wings and left as his legacy a series of youthful creations of great and unforgettable genius whose significance was defined by the most competent judge of his pupil, his master and guide Jan Matejko." (Dr. Ignacy Suesser, in Jednodowka 1899, nlb) Maurycy Gottlieb as an artistic man and his life and works are a significant symbol of 19th century Polish art. He was the first artist of Jewish descent whose star shone so high and so bright on the horizon of Polish painting. Because of his masterful talent, he was typified by the artistic community of the time as the successor to Jan Matejko. Sixteen-year-old Maurycy began his artistic education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and, enamored of historicism, joined Carl Wurzinger's class there. However, as early as 1873, he moved to the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, to the famous "Majsterszula" of Jan Matejko, and it was there, most likely in 1874, that the presented painting "Sigismund Augustus and Barbara Giżanka" was created. The work impresses with its technical proficiency, freedom in building a harmonious composition, suggestive juxtaposition of amber tones, masterful precision in rendering the mood. As Jerzy Malinowski emphasized in his study: "The painting is devoid of the 'archeological' minutiae that characterized Gottlieb's early work on historical subjects. It contains a sensational anecdote, common in painting of the time (...). However, it is not the anecdote that determines the value of this work, which has become a free painterly vision that evokes a romantic mood." (Jerzy Malinowski, "Maurycy Gottlieb," published by Arkady 1997, pp. 81-82.)