JAN MATEJKO - 15 FAKTÓW I CIEKAWOSTEK

Hi everyone My name is Anka and this channel is dedicated to art Welcome you most warmly here The author of Witwa under Grunwald needs no introduction to anyone I at least have that hope Knowing someone doesn't mean knowing everything about them So today I’ll share some interesting anecdotes and facts about the life of Jan Matejko so deeply enamored with Polish culture that whenever we think of a historical event Images fill his mind's eye And that is probably the greatest nomination and dream of a historical painter As always his images will keep appearing here—ones you're surely familiar with I hope you learn something new from this video if I don’t say too much Let’s begin The painter's father was Czech while his mother came from a Polish-German family The Matejkowski family settled in Kraków on Floriańska Street Yet at Jan Matejko's home an atmosphere of profound patriotism and love for Poland prevailed When he was a young boy he broke his nose which never healed properly And now we can admire that crooked nose in his self-portraits At the age of 26 Jan achieved great success with his work titled *The Complaint of the Gazans* He handed over the entire ticket he had received upon entering the exhibition to orphans Of course he was a master painter created both large-scale and monumental paintings He was rather weak in character especially when it came to connecting with his wife One couldn't even say he was unattractive that he was a sissy She was mainly the one keeping a close eye on things when it came to all the order-related matters—financial paperwork and the rest He was only painting but maybe that was for the best Jan Matejka simply had no head for business or matters related to money Not only was she a true homemaker but she was also a great muse to the artist She frequently posed for him and was often his model We can observe that most of the women depicted in his paintings have the face of Teodora Matejko The moment she realized her role as the artist's muse and model was at risk she would spiral into hysteria suffering panic attacks She screamed having such outbursts of fury faking various illnesses All of this eventually led to her being committed to a psychiatric institution during one such episode Moreover the artist's children likely also experienced similar psychological issues Despite the fact that Theodora was in reality a very nervous woman we know her as such a family leader Yet it was also very sensitive She also engaged in art drawing and painting And a field of art in which she truly felt at ease was hard As proof that Jan Matejko was indeed disorganized In matters of finance there's a well-known anecdote about him selling one of his larger more important paintings equivalent today's ten zlotys He frequently donated his paintings for example to the nation to Poland or to the Pope The Pope presented Sławiecki which is located in the Vatican Museums His friends didn't have to pay for their portraits painted in front of him which he was very willing to perform free of charge He painted a portrait of Stanisław Tarnowski or Marcelina Czartoryska Moreover Matejko greatly supported various individuals in need such as different associations All of this ultimately led to financial troubles On the painting in Lithuania near Grunwald at the Field of Pieklym Additionally the sketches Matejko made for the horses in this painting He was the one When I first learned about this fact as I'm from the area around Karniczna When I found out Matejko was on my side and even more so that it didn’t really matter I wasn’t particularly proud Apparently like Matejko he drank very large amounts of coffee which in itself isn't surprising given that painting works of such enormous size It certainly takes up a lot of time And surely the master also painted at night Matejko wasn't dependent on coffee alone—he smoked large quantities of cigarettes instead He cultivated a vast array of beautiful flowers in his third year to which he himself also attended Among the artists and his most renowned students in Polish art today are Mehoffer and Wyspiański Zetmajer and Malczewski As I said he had no gift foreign languages Learning foreign languages was a tremendous challenge for him The cause of his premature death was a ruptured stomach and he passed away on November 1 1893 At the age of 55 During his funeral the Zygmunt bell rang a bell that sounds only on the most significant occasions For the history of Poland and Kraków Lord bless our homeland and its children Those were the final words of Jan Matejko That's all for today I hope you've learned something new Such short formats might occasionally appear on my channel I encourage you to subscribe and give a thumbs up If you enjoyed this be sure to check out my Instagram too which shows up somewhere around here See you in the next video Hi