Project : Art in Poland
Jan Matejko - ,,The Lublin Union”
He was a Polish painter, the most popular representative of Polish historical painting. He was born in 1838 and died in 1893. From 1852 to 1858 he studied in the Fine Art School in Cracow and thereafter he started to learn in Munich and Vienna. In 1864 he became a member of The Society of Science in Cracow. From 1873 he was the headmaster of the Fine Art School. He made a lot of journeys abroad (Paris, Viena, Italy, Hungary).
During World War II his paintings were hidden, but after 1945 they were found and put forward to conservation. Most of them are in The National Museum in Cracow and Warsaw. Jan Matejko’s strong patriotic vision of Polish history, presented in his works has stimulated imagination of every generation. And it was the most important goal of his works - to remind people about the part of history.
He painted those moments of our history which have shown Polish strenght and he knew that it wouldn’t allow people to forget, how to fight their enemies. He wanted to paint history in this way, which would delight, carry away Polish hearts, minds and – first of all – teach.
That was of course the reason to make all historical paintings and the example of them is ,,The Lublin Union” – differently called ,,Seym in Lublin’’. This painting was created in 1869 and its size is 298 cm x 512 cm. At first sight ,,The Lublin Union’’ has theatrical character. It’s fabulous, full of expression and decorative features. Distinct, scenic results give dimension which looks like the final of an opera. The composition of painting is maybe too much crowded, but a lot of art critics said that it attested about exuberant painter’s imagination. In the foreground in very exact way we can see outstanding figure our king - Zygmunt II August. He is wearing black garments and this makes him isolated from surroundings. King Zygmunt is standing up and holding a black cross with a white figure of Jesus Christ, made of ivory. He is uttering words of swear. Representatives of nobility, who are surrounding the king,are knelling. Everyone is serious. The background is composed of people, who are watching what is going on in the centre. Some of them are whispering between each other. The expression of their faces gives impression, that this union is necessity. The light is concentrated on the centre, the farther from the centre, from the king is darker.
The
Union in Lublin was the next pact union between Poland and Lithuana. This union
was contracted during the session in Lublin in 1569 in spite of opposition of
Lithuan magnates but with huge involvement of king Zygmunt II August and Polish
and Lithuanin nobility. The Great Lithuanin Duchy was connected with the crown
by the real union. Poland and Great Lithuanin Duchy had to be connected with
common king’s election, one seym, common responsibility of defense, foreign
politics, the same currency and customs system.
Simultaneously,
nobility decided to divide departments of chancellor and speaker, separate
administration, treasury, forces and judical law.
The Union in Lublin created multinational and multicultural country,
which was composed of two equal states: Poland and Great Lithuanin Duchy. This
Union lasted for two centuries. As a result, the most powerful country in Europe
was created, with the area 800000
km2, with a strong, hard position and tolerance to other
religions (until XVII century). The Union in Lublin is one of the most important
events in our history. It transformed our country into the super power as strong
as other countries in Europe. And that was the main reason why Jan Matejko chose
the Union in Lublin to paint, why he thought that it was worth remembering.
Małgorzata Grzesiak
Monika Budziak
Mariusz Firszt