Dimensions: 95.5 x 135.5 cm
Signed and dated p.d.: 'Wojciech Kossak | 1930'
other titles: Battle of Grochów and the capture of Olszynka, Battle in Olszynka Grochowska, Olszynka, Battle for Olszynka
State of preservation
expert opinion by Kazimierz Olszanski dated July 10, 1997
Literature
cf:
Ryszard Jeremi Kluszczyński, Historia malarstwa polskiego. Od gotycki malarstwa tabularowego do Stefana Gierowskiego, Kraków 2022, p. 169.
Slawomir Gowin, Kossaks, Warsaw 2006, p. 41 (il.).
Janina Zielińska, Juliusz, Wojciech, Jerzy Kossakowie, Warsaw 1988, p. 47 (il.)
postcard with reproduction of another version of the painting, published by Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Warsaw 1986
Kazimierz Olszanski, Wojciech Kossak, Wroclaw [et. al] 1976 (also later editions), pp. 91-96 (ill.)
Wojciech Kossak, Memoirs, compiled by. Kazimierz Olszański, Warsaw 1971, p. 73 (ill.)
Wojciech Kossak, exhibition catalog, Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie, Warsaw 1936, p. nlb. (33) (ill. as "Olszynka")
Feliks Kopera, Painting in Poland of the 19th and 20th centuries, Cracow 1929, tabl. 80 (as "Battle for Olszynka")
"Tygodnik Ilustrowany" 1915, no. 51, p. 1 (ill.)
"Tygodnik Ilustrowany" 1909, no. 12, p. 224 (il.)
"Literary Feast" 1906, no. 12, p. 231 (il. as " Battle in Olszynka Grochowska")
"Tygodnik Ilustrowany" 1906, no. 7, p. 131 (il. as "Olszynka")
Postcards with reproductions of other versions of the painting, Publishing House of the Salon of Polish Painters, Cracow, before 1906 and 1923-1926 (as "Battle of Grochow and capture of Olszynka")
Biography
He was the son and pupil of Juliusz Kossak, father of Jerzy, also a painter, as well as poet Maria Pawlikowska - Jasnorzewska and writer Magdalena Samozwaniec. He was educated at the Cracow School of Fine Arts, the Munich Academy and in Paris. In 1895-1902 he stayed mainly in Berlin, where he worked for Kaiser Wilhelm II; he also painted for the court of Franz Joseph II. He traveled extensively, including to Spain and Egypt. In later years, he traveled to the United States several times and completed portrait commissions. In 1913 he was appointed professor at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. He was co-author of panoramas: Raclawice (1893-94), Berezina (1895-96), Battle of the Pyramids (1901) and sketches for the unrealized Samosierra (1900) He was an unparalleled painter of battle and historical scenes. In them he glorified the Polish army: uhlans, cavalrymen, legionaries. He perfectly mastered the art of painting horses.
