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Kmita Rocks in Ojcow

Jan Nepomucen Glowacki

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Basic information
ID
Ж-1969
Author
Jan Nepomucen Glowacki
Name
Kmita Rocks in Ojcow
Technique
oil painting
Material
canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
55.5 x 44
Additionally
Type
painting
Genre
landscape
Plot
Landscape
Provenance
Collection of Lviv City Gallery
Exposition
Potocki Palace
Information about author
Author
Jan Nepomucen Glowacki
Artist's lifetime
1802–1847
Country
Austrian Empire
Biography
Jan Nepomucen Glowacki (1802–1847) was one of the most renowned Polish landscape painters of the Romantic era, often called the "father of Polish landscape painting". He studied at the Krakow School of Fine Arts under Antoni Brodowski and Jozef Peszki and at art academies in Prague, Munich, Rome, and Vienna. From 1828, the artist lived and worked in Krakow. He taught drawing and painting at the Saint Anne's Lyceum. From 1833, he was a professor at the School of Fine Arts. He primarily painted Romantic landscapes featuring views of the Tatra Mountains and Krakow. He created 24 paintings depicting views of the city and its surroundings, which were published as lithographs in 1836. In addition, he painted miniature portraits of women, as well as works on religious and mythological themes. In his portrait works, the artist shows a distinct influence of the Vienna School of Painting. The paintings by Jan Nepomucen Glowacki are preserved in museum collections in Poland and Ukraine.
Object description
The painting depicts the "Kmita Rocks" landscape nature reserve, located in the Kraków County of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.
On both sides of a narrow gorge, against a clear sky, rise rocky massifs of grey limestone. The slopes of the rocks are overgrown with dense coniferous forest.
In the right foreground of the painting, the figures of a man with a sketchbox and a dog sitting beside him are depicted. Deep in the gorge, at the foot of the rocks, a small house surrounded by trees is visible, along with the faintly outlined silhouettes of several people. The use of minor staffage allows the artist to emphasise the majesty of the surrounding nature in comparison to man.
The name of the rock derives from the knight Kmita who, according to legend, fell hopelessly in love with the beautiful Olimpia at the beginning of the 16th century – the daughter of Seweryn Boner, the owner of the village of Balice at the time. The girl's father refused to consent to their marriage. Unable to marry his beloved, Kmita, in despair, threw himself off the cliff with his horse into the abyss.
 
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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