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Bust of a Young Woman (Study for the "Laudamus feminam" Painting)

Franciszek Zmurko

Basic information

ID: Ж-2315
Author: Franciszek Zmurko
Name: Bust of a Young Woman (Study for the "Laudamus feminam" Painting)
Date of creation: c.1900
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 74 x 48

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture symbolic art
Provenance: Collection of Boleslaw Orzechowicz

Information about author

Author: Franciszek Zmurko
Artist's lifetime: 1859–1910
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland
Biography: Franciszek Zmurko (July 18, 1859, Lviv – October 9, 1910, Warsaw) was a Polish painter and a representative of salon academic painting. He created works on historical, religious, and mythological themes and portraits. He received his first drawing lessons from the Lviv artist Franciszek Tepa. He continued his studies at art academies in Krakow (a student of Jan Matejko), Vienna, and Munich. The artist gained popularity as a creator of sensual female portraits rendered in warm tones. The artist's later works are characterised by a departure from academically correct drawing towards expression and dynamism. His works were exhibited at exhibitions in Lviv (1880, 1882, 1910), Warsaw, Krakow, Paris, London, Chicago, and San Francisco. The artist's solo exhibition took place posthumously in 1911 in Warsaw.

Object description

Almost the entire height of the vertical composition is occupied by a bust-length depiction of a young blonde woman with half-closed eyes and slightly parted lips. The dark amber dress blends into the background. The overall colour palette of the painting is warm brown. This sensual portrait of a lovely woman is a study for the full-sized canvas "Laudamus feminam" ("Praise to Woman") from 1900.

Inscriptions

In the bottom right is the artist's signature: "Fr. Żmurko".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery