NAPOLEON / FIGURE SKETCHES, 1835-1837
DOUBLE-SIDED SKETCH
Provenance: the circle of the artist's Family.
Image exhibited:
- Outline of a thought: drawing sketches and watercolors by Piotr Michałowski from a private collection, National Museum of the Przemysl Region in Przemyśl, V - VII 2016.
Compare with:
- Piotr Michałowski 1800-1855. exhibition of the artist's works on the bicentennial of his birth [A. Zeńczak, B. Studziżba], MN in Cracow 2000, cat. no. 89, 276, 277, il.
Thepainter's technique and his indefatigable passion for creation, attacking with pencil, brush and pen not only the frequently undertaken motif of the horse and rider, but also other diverse subjects, was more strongly revealed , wrote Jerzy Sienkiewicz about the show of Michałowski's sketches (quoted in Piotr Michałowski 1800-1855. Wystawa..., p. 58).
Presenting the artist's extraordinary technical proficiency and expression, the drawings are among the most sought-after works by collectors. Analogous compositions to the offered one, with Napoleon in the central part, can be found in the collections of the National Museums in Warsaw, Wroclaw and Krakow.
Piotr Michałowski (Krakow 1800 - Krzysztoforzyce / Krzyżtoporzyce 1855) was the most outstanding painter of the era of Polish Romanticism, and his work is a phenomenon on a European scale. Versatilely talented, he studied natural sciences, law, history and languages at Jagiellonian University and Göttingen between 1815 and 1821. At the same time, from childhood he studied drawing in the Cracow studios of M. Stachowicz, J. Brodowski and F. Lampi. He worked in the administration of the Kingdom of Poland as head of the steel mills and mining counselor. During the November Uprising he managed the production of arms and ammunition at the Bialogon steelworks. From 1832 to 1835 he stayed in Paris and studied in the studio of Nicolas Toussaint Charlet. He was an excellent painter of horses, and his paintings and watercolors gained admiration and great success, so that "all of Paris flew after his horses." Upon his return to the country, he stayed mainly at his estates - Krzyżtoporzyce and Bolestraszyce, taking care of their administration. He traveled extensively in Europe, going to London, Vienna, Carlsbad, Belgium, Holland and several more times to France. In 1848-53 he served as Chairman of the Administrative Council of the City of Cracow. He painted dynamic battle compositions from the Napoleonic wars, equestrian portraits of commanders and hetmans, portraits of family and friends, and portraits of peasants. His oil paintings and watercolors, combining expressive power with sensitivity to nature, are characterized by bold drawing, synthetic form, values of color, freedom of painting technique and the romantic ardor of a Polish patriot.
