Artur Grottger (11 November 1837 – 13 December 1867) was a Polish Romantic painter and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

, one of the most prominent artists of the mid 19th century under the foreign partitions of Poland, despite a life cut short by incurable illness.

Biography

Grottger was born in Ottyniowice, Eastern Galicia (now Otynevychi, Ukraine) to Jan Józef Grottger, a Polish officer commanding the Uhlans' Regiment called ''Warszawskie Dzieci'' (the Warsaw Children) during the failed

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in W ...

against the Russians (1831); an amateur artist himself, with many areas of passion. Artur Grottger, Portret własny

At age 11, Artur Grottger was sent from a quiet estate to study painting in

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

under the apprenticeship of Jan Kanty Maszkowski (1848–1852), (together with

Stanisław Tarnowski Count Stanisław Tarnowski (7 November 1837 – 31 December 1917) was a Polish nobleman (''szlachcic''), historian, literary critic and publicist. Life He was born on 7 November 1837 and hailed from an aristocratic family. His father was Jan ...

) and (briefly)

Juliusz Kossak Juliusz Fortunat Kossak ( Nowy Wiśnicz, 15 December 1824 – 3 February 1899, Kraków) was an Austrian Polish historical painter and master illustrator who specialized in battle scenes, military portraits and horses. He was the progenitor of a ...

. In 1852 he embarked on a journey to

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

(then in the

Austrian Partition The Austrian Partition ( pl, zabór austriacki) comprise the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired by the Habsburg monarchy during the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. The three partitions were conduct ...

) to attend classes at the

Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Jana Matejki w Krakowie, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Pol ...

. He studied under

Władysław Łuszczkiewicz Władysław Łuszczkiewicz (September 3, 1828 – May 23, 1900) was a Polish historian and painter of the late Romantic era from Kraków, active in the period of the foreign partitions of Poland. He was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts and ...

and Wojciech Kornel Stattler. In 1855–1858 he went to the Academy in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and studied under Karl von Blaas and

Christian Ruben Christoph Christian Ruben (November 30, 1805 – July 9, 1875) was a German painter. Born in Trier, Ruben studied in Düsseldorf under Peter von Cornelius from 1823, and in 1826 settled in Munich, where he worked on the designs for the new s ...

. While in Austria, he travelled to Munich, Venice and to Hungary, where he met his biggest future sponsor and benefactor, Count

Aleksander Pappenheim Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

. He returned to Poland in 1865 upon the collapse of the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

. For a time, Grottger moved between the estates of Polish art lovers in

Podolia Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-centra ...

, among others in Manor House of

in Śniatynka, there he painted numerous paintings for the cycle ''Lithuania''.Zofia Gołubiew, Anna Król „Artur Grottger (1837-1867)”, (Wystawa przygotowana przez Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie w Pałacu Sztuki Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie marzec – maj 1988, pod patronatem Ministra Kultury i Sztuki Prof. Aleksandra Krawczuka) Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, Cracow, 1988, p. 18. In 1866 he met his fiancée Wanda Monné, a young Polish patriot; and spent a lot of time at her house. However, he also developed tuberculosis. In 1867 he went to Paris hoping to make more money; visited

Hôtel Lambert The Hôtel Lambert () is a ''hôtel particulier,'' a grand mansion townhouse, on the Quai Anjou on the eastern tip of the Île Saint-Louis, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. In the 19th century, the name ''Hôtel Lambert'' also came to designa ...

, and met with

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...

. His illness was getting worse and worse. He went to a sanatorium at Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda in the

Pyrénées The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

, where he died on 13 December 1867. His body was brought back to Poland by his fiancée and buried at the Lwów Cemetery on 4 July 1868.

Artistic career

Grottger painted mostly epic battle scenes, portraits, and horses. He produced some of his most famous paintings while in Vienna. During his stay in occupied Poland, he poured all of his talent and energy into depicting the hopes and horrors of the failed Polish insurrections in several series of black-and-while panels including ''Warszawa'', ''Polonia'', ''Lithuania'' and ''Wojna'' (1863–1867) which brought him no income. The series titled "Polonia" included eight boards, depicting the grim realities of everyday life and struggle under Russian occupation. "Polonia" was a response to the failed insurrection of 1863–65. His last painting was his self-portrait. In 1908,

Ignacy Jan Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation's Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versaill ...

, whose own father had been caught up in the insurrection and had been arrested, completed his ''magnum opus'', the Symphony in B minor "Polonia", which was inspired by Grottger's series of paintings.

Selected works

Notes and references

* at Sopot.pl * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grottger, Artur 1837 births 1867 deaths 19th-century Polish painters 19th-century Polish male artists Military art Polish Austro-Hungarians Polish people of German descent People from Lviv Oblast Burials at Lychakiv Cemetery Polish male painters

Biography

Artistic career

Selected works

See also

Notes and references