Kazimierz POCHWALSKI

PORTRAIT OF A BOY, 1875
Oil, cardboard pasted on cardboard; 52 x 39.5 cm
Signed p. d. in red oil: K Pochwalski | 1875
On the reverse of the cardboard in black ink, inscription: Kazimierz Pochwalski and a typewritten sheet with a certificate of authenticity issued by Dr. Feliks Copera in Krakow on April 21, 1944
Image exhibited, reproduced: Ostoya Auction House, 55th Auction, lot. 1, 09.09.2006
Date next to the signature: 1875 - signifies that the portrait in question is Kazimierz Pochwalski's earliest oil painting, from the time of his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow with Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and Feliks Szynalewski, from the period before he took up studies with Jan Matejko (lasting from autumn 1876 to February 1878). So far, two paintings from 1877 are considered to be his earliest oil works: "Boys in Bath" (National Museum in Krakow) and "Rusin" (National Museum in Warsaw). The portrait is clearly of a studio character, the child's face is faithfully rendered, less attention was paid by the painter to the bust, which was only marked with loose brushstrokes.
In his early work, Kazimierz Pochwalski painted portraits alongside genre paintings, it was only the great success of his images at the spring exhibition in 1891 at the Künstlerhaus in Vienna - that prompted him to devote himself exclusively to this type of painting. He was the author of mostly official, representative depictions of prominent personalities, including Eliza Orzeszkowa, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Jan Popiel, Stanislaw Badenni and Andrzej Potocki. In Vienna, he painted several images of Franz Joseph, of which the "Portrait of the Emperor in Hunting Attire" from 1900 was popularized on Austrian postcards.
Asking price 6700
Estimate 9000 - 1000 inquire about the object