SCRIPT TO THE IMAGE OF ASTRONOM KOPERNIK, OR A CONVERSATION WITH GOD, ca. 1871
Signed p.d.: J.M. [tied monogram].
On the so-called "back" sticker of an auction house in Warsaw; p.d. sticker with printed information about the drawing.
An exhibition of drawings and sketches by Jan Matejko at the National Museum in Warsaw in 1938 featured two sketches entitled Copernicus. The first one, less detailed and with dimensions similar to our sketch (18.5 x 23.4 cm) and a larger one (21.2 x 28.8 cm) expanded with a landscape.
The sketch presented above is a prelude to the final version of the painting Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversation with God (1873). The idea of painting a monumental canvas was connected with the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus, planned for 1873. In the center of our composition is the figure of the great astronomer shown straight ahead in a half-kneeling position, gazing at the sky with his right hand raised and bent at the elbow, holding a compass in his left hand extended to the side. The great scholar was depicted by Matejko in a barely outlined background. Surrounding him were books, a lantern and a plaque probably with the heliocentric system.
The first drawings, along with a small painting sketch, were made as early as 1871. The artist did not begin work on the large-format final version until July 1872. Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversation with God (oil, canvas, 225 x 315 cm) is in the collection of the Jagiellonian University (purchased from public contributions in 1873) and is permanently displayed in the Auditorium of the Collegium Novum.
According to Z. Soltysowa (see bibliography), the idea of the composition may have been taken by the artist from a Latin poem by Jan Brozek (1585-1652), a scholar and writer: ... all splendor in the enlightened eye disappears, | when you look at this tower of Copernicus' deeds, | where, working on the mouth of his native Vistula, | to God from his own ideasThe sun and the upper sky were married forever. | O happy Warmia! Thy tower's peaks | shall be an eternal monument to the fame of the undying.... (translated by I. Badeni).
Bibliography:
- Z. Soltysowa, Matejko's Copernicus [in:] "Rocznik Krakowski", vol. XLIII, pp. 132-133.
Jan Matejko (Krakow 1838 - Krakow 1893) - the most outstanding Polish historical painter; he began his painting studies under W. Łuszczkiewicz and W. K. Stattler at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow (1852-1858). He then studied at the Munich Academy under H. Anschütz (1859) and for two months at the Vienna Academy under C. Ruben (1860). After his studies he lived and worked in Cracow. In 1873 he took over as director of the School of Fine Arts there, holding this position until his death. He traveled extensively - he made numerous trips to Paris (in 1865-1880), Vienna (1866-1888), in 1872 he was in Constantinople, and a year later in Prague and Budapest, he also visited Italy (1878-1879 and 1883). He was a member of numerous academies and art societies, including the Académie des Beaux-Arts (1873) and the French Institute (1874) in Paris, the Berlin Academy of Art (1874), the Raphael Academy in Urbino (1878) and the Künstlersgenossenschaft in Vienna (1888). He became a member of the Scientific Society of Cracow in 1864, and received an honorary doctorate of philosophy from Jagiellonian University in 1887. He was the creator of great and well-known canvases, including the Sermon of Skarga, Rejtan, the Union of Lublin, Batory at Pskov, the Battle of Grunwald, the Prussian Homage and Kosciuszko at Raclawice. He also painted portraits and, less frequently, religious or genre scenes. Drawing played an important role in his work - the artist produced, among other things, the album Ubiory w Polsce od 1200 do 1795 and the drawing series Poczet królów i książąt polskich. In 1889-1891, together with a team of students, he worked on the polychrome of St. Mary's Church in Cracow. The painter's family home, on Florianska Street in Krakow, has housed a museum dedicated to him since 1898 - the Matejko House (Branch of the National Museum of Art).
