Carton for the polychrome from St Mary's Church - console in the shape of a male head (portrait of T. Stryjeński)

This 1890 cartoon for the St Mary's Basilica polychrome program depicts a console in the form of a male head — identified as a portrait of Tadeusz Stryjeński, the architect who collaborated with Matejko on the church's restoration and decoration. Architectural consoles (projecting brackets) in Gothic and neo-Gothic buildings were frequently carved as human or animal heads, and Matejko's decision to use a portrait of his collaborator as the model for such a feature reflects the warm personalization of a major commission shared between two friends and colleagues. Stryjeński (1849–1943) was one of Kraków's foremost architects, deeply involved in restoration and historicist projects across Galicia, and his involvement with St Mary's extended over many years. Matejko had a long tradition of embedding portraits of contemporaries within his large historical compositions, and this cartoon adapts that practice to a decorative architectural context. The result is both a functional design document and a genial tribute, situating a living colleague within the symbolic permanence of a Gothic church.

A cartoon for an architectural console head requires the rendering of a three-dimensional sculptural form in two dimensions, with shading that suggests the physical projection the carved element will have. Matejko uses conventional sculptural modeling — strong light from above or one side, deep shadow below — to convey the console's spatial presence. The portrait likeness must be schematized enough to survive transfer to stone or stucco while remaining recognizable.