REGIMENT OF HORSE RIFLEMEN OF THE DUCHY OF WARSAW - TWO-SIDED SKETCH
Among Piotr Michałowski's most famous works is Defilade before Napoleon (now in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw). It depicts horseback riflemen of the Duchy of Warsaw dressed in dark green uniforms and bronze berms, galloping in front of the emperor who is watching them. Perhaps the offered sketch was created in connection with the famous work, or perhaps - for another composition, unknown today.
Undoubtedly, the motif of riflemen was longer present in the work of the artist, fascinated by both the Napoleonic legend and the charm of the Polish cavalry.
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.
