Signed (scratched) p.d.: Jacek Malczewski
In the autumn of 1876, Jacek Malczewski left the studio of master Matejko and, with his blessing, went to Paris to study. On the Seine, he was to perfect his technique and search for his creative path. It turned out that the current trends in Western art did not fully suit the young painter. He found Impressionism bizarre, while Academism suffocated him with its historicism.
Disillusioned and longing for his homeland, he began working on paintings illustrating the works of Juliusz Słowacki. Death of Amelia comes from this period and depicts a scene from the final act of the bard's drama Mazepa. Painted under the clear influence of Matejko, the painting is maintained in dark tones characteristic of Malczewski's early period. Dominated by browns, grays and ochres, creating a nostalgic mood, it is dramatized by soft candlelight. The painting also foreshadows the first compositions depicting Ellenai's Death.
Jacek Malczewski (Radom 1854 - Krakow 1929) - a prominent representative of Polish modernism painting, began his artistic studies at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, where he studied under Feliks Szynalewski, Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and Jan Matejko, whose studio he attended again in 1877-1879. He then studied at the Paris École des Beaux Arts under E. Lehmann (1876-1877).
In 1880, he traveled to Italy. In 1884-1885, he took part - as a draughtsman - in Karol Lanckoroński's scientific expedition to Pamphylia and Pisidia in Little Asia. At that time he was also in Greece and Italy. In 1885-1886 he stayed in Munich for several months. Upon his return, he settled permanently in Cracow, from where he made further trips to Munich and Italy. In 1896-1900 he taught at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow, and from 1911-1922 he was a professor and twice rector of the Cracow Academy. He spent the years 1914-1915 in Vienna, and in 1916 returned to Cracow. In the last years of his life he stayed mainly in Luslawice and Charzewice near Zakliczyn. He was a co-founder of the Society of Polish Artists "Art" (1897) and a member of the "Zero" group (1908).
In his early period, he painted portraits, genre scenes and - above all - paintings with themes related to the martyrdom of Poles after the January Uprising(Death of Ellenai, Sunday in the Mine, On the Stage, Christmas Eve in Siberia). Later, from the 1890s, he created paintings of symbolic content with intermingled patriotic, biblical, fairy-tale, literary and allegorical-fantastic themes.
