Aleksander LESSER (1814–1884), The Last of the Grodzieckis, 1880

Lithograph, paper, 16 x 21 cm (inside the mat); signed on the plate, lower right: A. Lesser, drawing

Aleksander Lesser (born May 13, 1814, in Warsaw; died March 13, 1884, in Kraków) — a Polish painter and art critic of Jewish descent, specializing in historical and contemporary subjects, a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków, and a co-founder of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts.He was born as one of twelve children of the merchant Lewi (1791–1870) and Róża Loewenstein (1790–1840). He began studying drawing at the Warsaw Lyceum under the guidance of Aleksander Kokular. He studied painting from 1830 to 1831 at the Department of Fine Arts of the University of Warsaw under Antoni Brodowski. After the university was closed following the fall of the November Uprising, he studied in Dresden from 1832 to 1835 at the Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Moritz Retzsch and Karl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein. From July 8, 1835, to 1846, he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Peter Cornelius, Heinrich Hess, and Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.He became one of the founders of a variant of Polish historical painting known as the “archaeological movement” (aimed at depicting the entire history of Poland), which emerged even before Jan Matejko began his artistic career.In his religious life, he showed no interest in Judaism, though he did not sever his ties with it entirely. For the most part, he did not seek painting motifs in the history of ancient Israel (with the exception of one painting: *David Thanking God for His Victory over Goliath*). Nor did he show any particular interest in the life of the Jewish community in Poland or in contacts with Israeli culture. He was one of the authors of entries and illustrations for Orgelbrand’s Universal Encyclopedia from 1859–1868. His name is listed in Volume I from 1859 among the contributors to the encyclopedia.