Antoni Piotrowski (1853–1924), Bust of Jan III Sobieski at the Wilanów Palace, 1915

Watercolor and gouache on cardboard; dimensions: 32 x 22.5 cm; signed in lead on the lower left: "APiotrowski". On the reverse is a partially preserved label confirming the work’s authorship and indicating the date the painting was submitted (presumably for an exhibition) in June 1915. The work is framed with so-called “museum glass” from the American company TrueVue.

Antoni Adam Piotrowski (1853–1924) was a painter, draftsman, illustrator, and poet, as well as a writer of children’s fairy tales. Beginning in 1869, he studied at the Drawing Class in Warsaw under Wojciech Gerson. From 1875 to 1877, he studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, and from 1877 to 1879, he was a student of Jan Matejko at the Kraków School of Fine Arts. He was a co-founder of the “Sztuka” Society of Polish Artists and a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts.