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Shepherds and Krakus on Horseback

January Suchodolski

Basic information

ID: Ж-4644
Author: January Suchodolski
Name: Shepherds and Krakus on Horseback
Date of creation: c.1849
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 95.6 x 124.5

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: battle painting
Provenance: Museum of the Lubomirski Princes in Lviv Lviv Historical Museum
Exposition: Lozinski Palace

Information about author

Author: January Suchodolski
Artist's lifetime: 1797–1875
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire, russian empire
Biography: January Suchodolski (19 September 1797, Grodno – 20 March 1875, Boimie near Wegrow) was a Polish battle painter. Brother of the poet Rajnold Suchodolski (1804–1831). Father of the painter Zdzislaw Suchodolski (1835–1908). From 1810, he studied architecture at the Cadet Corps of the School of Elementary Artillery and Engineering of the Duchy of Warsaw. Between 1832 and 1837, Suchodolski studied at the French Academy in Rome under Horace Vernet (1789–1863). From 1839, he was a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Co-founder of the Zacheta Society and the Museum of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Author of a series of paintings dedicated to historical events in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A significant part of the artist's works is dedicated to Napoleon, the history of his military campaigns, and the involvement of Polish legions in them. In addition to battle scenes, he also painted genre scenes and portraits.

Object description

The battle painting is executed in the Romantic style. The work depicts a panoramic landscape with a low horizon. A heavy, overcast sky occupies a large part of the composition, with lightning on the right side. In the foreground is a brightly lit hill where a shepherd and a shepherdess are tending to their cattle (two cows and two sheep). Nearby, a dog is sleeping. In the centre, near the shepherds, an officer (Krakus) is depicted on a white horse, wearing a full-dress white uniform with red epaulettes and a peaked cap. The man points to the left with his right hand, indicating something to the astonished people. Next to the horse is a staff with a red-and-white flag stuck in the ground. The tranquillity and measured life of the shepherds are disrupted by the unexpected arrival of the horseman and his words, as evidenced by their astonishment and shock. In the distance, a palace and its surrounding buildings can be seen among the trees in the background. The Krakus (Polish cossacks) were Polish light cavalry during the Duchy of Warsaw, under the command of Napoleon.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Shepherds and Krakus on Horseback

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