Jerzy Kossak (1886 Kraków - 1955 there), Napoleon, 1921.

oil, cardboard, 48 × 59.8 cm
Signed and dated l. d.: "Jerzy Kossak 1921"

The events of Napoleon's campaigns stimulated the imagination and took a keen interest in Jerzy Kossak. They were an unlimited source of inspiration and constituted one of the favorite painting motifs undertaken by the artist, as evidenced by the numerous realizations of this theme in his works. Jerzy Kossak began painting paintings dedicated to the Napoleonic epic around 1910, with the largest number painted in the 1920s. At that time the best works of the series were created, large-format, original, independently composed according to his own ideas. The canvases were filled with - to name a few - such subjects as: "Napoleon in Samosier awaits the end of the charge" (n.d.), "The burning of banners before Napoleon" (.n.d.), "Napoleon's passage with his staff across the Neris River" (1924.), "Napoleon on his retreat from Russia rides a sleigh into an inn" (1926), "Napoleon with staff crosses a bridge" (1927), "Napoleon with staff observes the army's crossing of the Berezina" (1929). Into the canon of the most famous and popular motifs entered the "Vision of Napoleon in the retreat from under Moscow", which lived to see several versions (such as compositions from 1923 and 1927). This fascination of Jerzy with the person of Napoleon and his commanding abilities during the battle is also present in the correspondence of Wojciech Kossak, who in 1924 wrote jokingly to his wife: "(...) What is Coco [the pet name with which Wojciech called his son] committing nicely and what worries Napoleon makes up?" ("Wojciech Kossak. Letters to his wife and friends (1883-1942)", vol. II: years 1908-1942, selected and compiled by. K. Olszański, Kraków-Wrocław 1985, p. 332). Jerzy Kossak continued the painting traditions of his grandfather Juliusz and father Wojciech, struggling, as it were, with the legacy that rested on him.