signed l.d.: Wojciech Kossak | 1927
on the reverse p.d. illegible dedication
Compare with:
- K. Olszanski, Wojciech Kossak, Wroclaw 1982, plate 70.
After the success of the panoramas - Raclawicka and Berezina - Wojciech Kossak decided to create another monumental work. Somosierra was to commemorate the famous charge of the Polish Light Cavalry, who, under the command of Colonel Jan Kozietulski, broke through the resistance of the Spanish on November 30, 1808 and opened the road to Madrid for Napoleon. The artist decided to carry out his project together with the landscape painter Michal Wywiórski. From there, the two painters traveled to Spain in 1899 to visit the battlefield. Due to problems with censorship, however, the panorama was not created. Kossak, on the other hand, created several excellent canvases depicting this historical event, while he returned to the subject of Somosierra more than once in subsequent years. Among these works is a composition depicting Napoleon and his officers observing the battlefield and - in the foreground - Polish Light Cavalry Guards.
Wojciech Kossak (Paris 1856 - Krakow 1942 ) - widely known painter, seen primarily as a great battle artist. The son and pupil of Juliusz Kossak, he studied at the Cracow School of Fine Arts, the Munich Academy and in Paris. In 1895-1902 he stayed mainly in Berlin, working for Kaiser Wilhelm II. He traveled extensively, including to Spain and Egypt, where he made sketches for intended panoramas. In later years, he traveled to the United States several times doing portrait commissions. In 1913 he was appointed professor at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. During the years of World War I, he served in the military. He was co-author of panoramas: "Raclawice" (1893-1894), "Berezina" (1895-1896), "Battle of the Pyramids" (1901) and sketches for the unrealized "Somosierra" (1900). With temperament and freedom, he created extensively painted dynamic battle scenes, historical scenes, genre scenes and numerous portraits. He was fond of painting horses. His paintings, glorifying the Polish army and the heroism of soldiers, both ancient and contemporary to the artist, appealed to the patriotic feelings of the public and enjoyed great popularity.
