Size: 51.5 x 41 cm (inside the frame)
signed and dated at the bottom right: 'Fra Żmurko | 1887'
on the reverse two paper exhibition stickers: of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw and of the Exhibition of Paintings 'Art', on the frame a paper inventory sticker numbered: 'K. 348'
Provenance
collection of F. Kwiecinski, Warsaw
collection of the Kiślański family, Tarchomin
collection of the Morawski family and its heirs (since World War II)
Exhibited
Exhibition of paintings "Art", Warsaw, 1911
Posthumous exhibition of Franciszek Żmurka, Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in the Kingdom of Poland, Warsaw, 1911
Literature
Franciszek Żmurko 1859-1910, exhibition catalog, Mazovian Museum in Płock, Płock 1978, p. 26, cat. no. III/4 (works not exhibited)
Janina Wiercińska, Catalogue of works exhibited at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1860-1914, Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków 1969, p. 435 (as "Portrait of 1887")
Report of the Committee of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in the Kingdom of Poland for 1911, Warsaw 1912, p. 47 (as "Portrait of 1887")
Biography
Franciszek Żmurko began his studies in drawing and painting with Franciszek Tepa in Lviv, and continued in 1874- 81 with Jan Matejko at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, as well as in Vienna, Rome and at the Munich Academy with A. Wagner (1878- 80). After his studies, until 1882, he lived in Cracow, later settling in Warsaw. He traveled a lot - he visited France, Germany, Holland, St. Petersburg. The artist's works were highly regarded by critics and the public; he took part in numerous exhibitions at home (in Warsaw, Krakow, Lviv, Vilnius, Zhytomyr) and abroad, including France, Germany, Holland, England, as well as Chicago and San Francisco. He painted academic compositions of ancient, allegorical-symbolic and sometimes historical and religious themes, as well as portraits.