I came back to the Royal Castle in Warsaw on Wednesday, and now you can learn more here about paintings by Jan Matejko, Gaspar van Wittel.

The first exposition was called Matejko Unknown and now I will tell you few works about monumental paintings that probably all Poles know very well. And I will try to decode its meanings for you.

The first painting to mention is the Queen of Poland. It was inspired by Krasiński’s Psalms of the Future. In my opinion it looks very poetic, indeed… The second one is the poisoning of Prince Janusz in 1526. That’s the last Mazowian prince from the Piast dynasty… It was the first Polish dynasty that extincted few centuries earlier. Then few portraits (one of them is very interesting because the same face inspired Lithuanian Prince Witold in painting with the Battle of Grunwald) and then we have the wedding of Sviatopolk with the daughter of Bolesław the Brave. It was 11th century and unfortunately we don’t know her name… Then we have the sealing the foundation of the Main School with its transfer to Kraków in 1361-1400. It’s a very symbolic scene, of course. Next two paintings are about the second annexation of Ruthenia in 1366 and the defeat of Legnica in 1241. Molgols attacked and in the battle of Legnica the prince Henry II the Pious and two commanders died…

Other historical events:

1. The Baptism of Poland in 966.
2. It’s the year 1000 and Otto III is putting the crown on the head of our first ever king… But it was just a symbol that meant that the emperor was treating Bolesław the Brave as the equal ruler… But he was crowned many years later – in 1025.
3. The reception of Jews in 1096.
4. The peak of the Commonwealth’s power. The Golden Freedom. Election. And that’s the year 1583.
5. The Baptism of Lithuania in 1387.
6. The University’s influence on Poland in 15th century. New movements – Hussitism and Humanism.
7. Stefan Batory (another king from 16th century this time) and the Siege of Pskov. Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible asked for peace, and he sent the envoy to the king. It was one of biggest works on the exposition.
8. The Constitution of 3rd May. The Four Years’ Sejm. The Commission of Education. The first partition. 1795.

You can also find things belonged to the last king – Stanisław August Poniatowski – sword, collar and scepter in one of chambers.

Alright. Now it’s time to tell you few words Italian Views by Gaspar van Wittel. There is not too much to show though…

These views that you can see here are so close to realistic views that the painter’s eyes saw in the 17th-18th century. This Dutch painter went to Rome, Florence, Tivoli, and Naples; and you can see all these works in this exposition.

I loved those waterfalls… You can’t see them like that these days anymore… And one of those painting shows the visit of the pope. He decided to see his nephew, and if you look closely you can see him (the pope Clement XI) standing in the window! These details are just crazy… Oh, and it was 1719.

So, that’s all today. New blog post is coming probably on Monday… I think it can be a surprise… I won’t say what it will be about right now… Nope!

Love, A.A.