Dimensions: 51 x 43 cm
signed lower right: 'Sokołowski'
Provenance
Christie’s, London, December 2022
private collection, Poland
DESA Unicum, November 2023
private collection, Poland
Biography
The journal of the Society of Friends of the Fine Arts of Emanuel Świeykowski lists only the name of the geographical region—Poznań—as Zygmunt Sokołowski’s place of birth. It is known that the artist initially studied at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków, where he met Jan Matejko. He then emigrated to Munich, where he studied under Alexander Wagner. In 1881, he settled permanently in Paris. He painted monumental historical scenes in the academic style, among which the paintings “Joseph Sold by His Brothers” (1883) and “Saul and David” (1884). His oeuvre, however, is dominated by landscapes—both in oil and watercolor—as well as stylized genre compositions in the style of 19th-century French historicism: street scenes and depictions of interiors and salons. Sokołowski exhibited his works at the Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Kraków, at the Zachęta in Warsaw, as well as in France. The artist’s untimely death cut short his promising career as a painter.
