A Convention of Hunters

Painted in 1874, A Convention of Hunters is a work by Józef Chełmoński, now in the collection of National Museum in Poznań, that reflects the artistic concerns of the late 19th century — an era of fundamental transformation in both the methods and purposes of European and American painting. Józef Chełmoński was the foremost Polish naturalist painter of the 19th century, celebrated for his dynamic depictions of Polish rural life, horses, and the dramatic steppe landscape of the Ukraine. Trained in Warsaw and Munich and then Paris, where he was part of the naturalist circle around Bastien-Lepage, he returned to Poland after years abroad to paint the countryside he knew from childhood.

Chełmoński worked with energetic, dynamic brushwork that captures motion — galloping horses, birds in flight, stormy skies — with dramatic immediacy. His palette is warm and earthy — deep browns, rich reds.