Q120747836

Dated to 1871 and housed at the Jan Matejko House in Kraków — the museum established in the artist's own former home and studio — this canvas on canvas work belongs to one of the most productive periods of Matejko's career. By 1871 he had already completed major historical paintings that brought him international recognition, including works exhibited in Paris and Vienna to considerable acclaim. The Jan Matejko House collection holds many of the artist's personal studies, sketches, and smaller works that never entered public museum collections during his lifetime, giving them a distinctive intimacy compared to his celebrated large-scale compositions. The precise subject of this work (identified only by its Wikidata Q-number) is not recorded in available sources, but its 1871 date places it contemporaneously with Matejko's mature engagement with Polish medieval and early modern history. Works preserved in the artist's own house often served as preparatory studies or personal records rather than exhibition pieces, reflecting Matejko's intense work process.

Oil or paint on canvas from 1871 reflects Matejko's mature technical command. His brushwork from this period shows a characteristic density in figure passages and broader handling in architectural or landscape backgrounds. The palette tends toward saturated historical pigments — ochres, vermilions, deep blues — that give his historical scenes their distinctive theatrical weight.