Ludomir BENEDYKTOWICZ (1844-1926), Oaks, 1882

Woodcut, paper; 32 x 23 cm (in light passe-partout,);
Signed and dated on plate p. d.: L. Benedyktowicz 1882.
Ludomir Ludwik Dominik Benedyktowicz-Polish forester, painter, participant in the January Uprising. He was a chess enthusiast and a distinguished chess activist. Knight of the Order of War Virtuti Militari, second lieutenant of the Polish Army.
He was in his second year of study when the January Uprising broke out. He took an active part in it. During a melee with Cossacks, he was wounded, lost his right hand, and during a later operation his left arm was amputated. Despite his disability, he devoted himself to painting, practicing it using specially adapted equipment. Ludomir took his first steps in painting lessons at the Warsaw School of Drawing, under Wojciech Gerson, then studied at the Munich academy (from 1868). Upon his return to Poland, the Russians imprisoned him in the Warsaw Citadel. After his release, he began studying at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow (under Jan Matejko). He then opened his own painting studio. For forty years he lived in Cracow. Before World War I, he settled in Lviv, where he died in 1926 at the age of 82. His corpse was transported to Krakow and buried in Rakowicki Cemetery. [za: min. Wikipedia].