Cossacks

Józef Chełmoński was the foremost Polish painter of equestrian and nature subjects — his depictions of Polish countryside, village life, and especially the Ukrainian and Polish steppe are among the most celebrated works in Polish national art. 'Cossacks' (1885) belongs to his Ukrainian steppe subjects — works depicting the Cossack horsemen and the vast open landscape of the eastern borderlands that formed part of Polish cultural imagination. His Cossack paintings combined powerful equestrian painting (he was one of the finest horse painters in nineteenth-century European art) with a deep feeling for the particular landscape of the Ukrainian steppe.

Chełmoński renders the Cossacks with his characteristic mastery of horses in dramatic movement — the galloping or reining figures captured with anatomical precision and kinetic energy. His sense of the steppe landscape — its horizontal infinity, its particular sky, its grass — provides the spatial context for the equestrian drama. His handling is vigorous and direct, capturing the physical energy of both horses and riders.