Jozef Rapacki (1871 Warsaw - 1929 Olszanka near Skierniewice), At the Kazimierz in Cracow, 1916.

oil, canvas, 100 × 200 cm
Signed on middle d.: "JÓZEF RAPACKI 1916. 6/II"

"Rapacki, as a sincere artist, loved wholeheartedly his surroundings, from which he drew motifs for his painting."
Stefan Popowski in: J. Zielińska, K. Załęski, "Józef Rapacki", Painting, Drawing, Graphics, Zyrardow Regional Museum, 1993, p.8

"Busy to the point of exhaustion, Rapacki painted constantly, all day, and often in the evening by the lamp, and regretfully folded his brushes and palette when darkness or urgent matters forced him to do so. It was also in his work that Leonardo da Vinci's maxim found complete realization. Rapacki constantly studied nature. Time and again he made numerous studies for his paintings, noting down, whether with paint or pencil, or by fixing in memory, the qualities and shapes of phenomena he needed. He prepared carefully the notes for the painting, architecturally building the painting itself in its layout and scope, and often an excess of excellent studies and observations overloaded even his paintings, for it is a great art and maturity for a master to say to himself while working: this off and that off! "
S. Popowski, Catalogue of the posthumous exhibition of the artist's works, Warsaw 1930, p.3

Rapacki was one of the most popular landscape painters of the late 19th and first quarter of the 20th century. Architectural motifs, on the other hand, are rare in his work. Already during his studies at the University of Cracow, "routine drawing classes in antiquity were not enough for him (...) carried away by the picturesqueness of Cracow at that time, he tirelessly painted and drew from nature. (...) The subjects of the drawings and first oil paintings done at the time, were genre scenes, city architecture and landscape. These early paintings were distinguished (according to Felix Kopera) by their "simplicity and closeness to nature." "Jozef Rapacki's further work was shaped according to his own feeling for nature, which he constantly learned and recreated, from dawn to late evening, making numerous studies, noting with brush and pencil the most varied shapes and qualities of phenomena. (...) He was extraordinarily industrious, painting with great ease." (J. Zielińska, K. Załęski, "Józef Rapacki", Painting, Drawing, Graphics, Żyrardów District Museum, 1993, p.9).
The 1916 painting presented at the auction comes from the painter's artistic apogee. The rare view of Krakow's Kazimierz impresses with its insight, light and naturalness of capturing an everyday scene.