Jan Matejko "Stańczyk"

My name is Ewa Micka Broniarek. I am a curator at the Polish Art Collection until 1914 at the National Museum in Warsaw. Today I will tell you about a painting that was adopted by the Leopolis Collection and the New Art Gallery in Kiev. We are now in the room dedicated to the presentation of the work of Jan Matejko, who is considered one of the most prominent Polish painters, not only of the 19th century. Matejko was born in 1838 and died in 1893. He was associated with Kraków throughout his life. He loved this city and its monuments. He contributed to their renovation. He left behind a monumental work in the form of a polychrome of the interior of the Mariacki Church in Kraków. For 20 years he was the director of the former School of Fine Arts. He educated many students, although, it should be noted, none of them followed the path laid out by Matejko in the field of historical painting. Matejko, in the initial period of his work, tried to make an account of the Polish past in his paintings, to highlight the causes that led to the fall of the partition. However, after the fall of the January Uprising, he painted great program works showing the political and military triumphs of the former Republic of Poland. He tried to strengthen the faith of Poles in the possibility of regaining independence, in the rightness of the fight for independence. However, referring to the successes at many international exhibitions, he tried to remind the world of the Polish name, showing the world the Polish name outlined in the map of Europe at the time. The painting of Stańczyk, painted in 1862, in the dramatic period of the patriotic manifestations before the outbreak of the January Uprising, is one of the most important works of this painter. Stańczyk was a historical figure. He was born around 1480 and died in 1560. He was an outlaw of the last two rulers of the Jagiellonian dynasty, Zygmunt I the Old and Zygmunt August. In the opinion of historians, he was a brilliant intelligence with a sharp sense of humor, which he often used to comment on the events of the court life. However, we do not know any historical accounts of Stańczyk's involvement in political issues. In the painting of Matejka, in the half-darkness of the room of the Royal Castle in Wawel, we see Stańczyk in a moment of sad and bitter despair. In the next room, there is a court ball. The caduceus, a symbol of his pagan function, lies on the floor. A symbolic context for Stańczyk's reflections is a comet visible in the sky, a falling comet shown right next to the tower of the cathedral in Wawel. For a long time, the view of the comet was interpreted as a bad omen, as a sign of misfortune, a kind of war, famine or infection. The title of the original painting, which was placed during the first exhibition of this work in Kraków, has a very extensive form. Stańczyk Błazen po odebraniu wieści o wzięciu Smoleńska przez Moskali podczas balu na dworze królowej Bony. These extensive versions of the title were characteristic of historical painting in the 19th century. However, what interests us more here is the fact that we have very obvious controversies of historical nature. Well, the fortress in Smolensk, which protected access to the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was occupied in 1514 as a result of the military campaign of the Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasil III. The Queen of Poland at that time, Barbara Zapolia, died in 1515. The painting titled Bona Sforza was commemorated by Zygmunt Stary in 1518. In turn, the date 1533 placed in the title of the painting somehow documents the card visible on the table, on which is the Latin inscription Samogitia Ade, or Anno Domini, 1533. An additional confirmation is the comet visible in the sky, whose appearance was actually noted this year. It is difficult to say what Matejko was guided by, introducing such clear, obvious anachronisms to the title and content of the painting. Undoubtedly, he knew the history of Poland very well. He had the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Jagiellonian University in the field of historical knowledge. The most intriguing seems to be the hint concerning the comet, because this is how the Latin name Samogitia sounds in the translation into Polish. The historical context of the inscription informing about the comet is so unclear that for decades, most researchers of Matejko's work, starting with his first monographer, Stanisław Tarnowski, who knew the painter personally, misinterpreted the inscription on the card referring to the loss of Smolensk. Perhaps Matejko meant the unsuccessful mobilization of the Polish nobility to Zmudzin in 1533, which could have had a negative impact on the course of the war campaign from Zmud to Stary Gór, which began in 1534, among other things, in order to regain Smolensk. Among the general fun, Stanisław Tarnowski was the only one with a penchant for the fate of Poland, for the consequences, the consequences of the loss of the Smolensk Fortress. In Matejko's interpretation, it becomes a symbol of the permeability of political wisdom, a personification, a timeless personification of the citizen's conscience and concern for the fate of the country. Presenting the royal clown as a tragic thinker with an ascetic face, Matejko moved away from the historical truth, and at the same time introduced Stanisław Tarnowski to the pantheon of heroes creating Polish national mythology. The work from 1862 is considered a breakthrough painting, opening a mature phase of Matejko's work. It is also perceived as a kind of artistic credo of a young painter. By giving Stanisław Tarnowski drawings of his own face, Matejko also gave him a baggage of his own feelings and thoughts. During the dramatic tensions of the patriotic demonstrations preceding the outbreak of the January Uprising. In a symbolic way, he also defined his role as a painter of national history, a man who is able to delve deeper than others into the essence of past events and assess their consequences for the future fates of the homeland. In terms of art, Stanisław refers to early works by Matejko, which were created under the influence of his fascination with the painting of the French master Paul Delaroche. However, what distinguishes him is the way of presenting the subject. There is a scale of expression and dramatic tension emanating from the attitude, from the gesture, from the expression of the face of the title character. In turn, a reference to Delaroche is the composition system, which presents Stanisław as an actor on stage, experiencing strong emotional tension. With Matejko's early paintings, Stanisław is also associated with a relatively dark, harmonious, colourful range, illuminated only by the redness of the coat of arms, as well as a very careful development of the surface of the canvas, erasing the trace of the brush. Stanisław fits into the core of Matejko's most important monumental program works, which, by their mediation, aim to implement the program of the patriotic embassy of art in a country devoid of political sovereignty.