KOSSAK Juliusz (1824 Nowy Wisnicz - 1899 Krakow), Cossack Ataman.

Cossack Ataman.

Watercolor / paper on cardboard, signed l.d.: JKossak / 1893 (tied initial of first letters). Size in light passe-partout: 29 x 21.5 cm (in frame behind glass: 59 x 50 cm).
The painting has never been exhibited at auctions, which makes it an extremely rare and valuable collector's item that has remained in the hands of one family for years.
Good condition. In the lower right corner on the passe-partout the artist's own stamp. "From the collection of Jan Sas Zubrzycki".
In foreground, Cossack ataman on horseback dressed in leopard skin, cap with feather on head, mace in hand. In the background are armored banners (commonly known as Cossack cavalry).
Juliusz Kossak (Wiśnicz 1824 - Kraków 1899) - painter and illustrator - was one of the most popular Polish artists of the 2nd half of the 19th century. He began his drawing and painting lessons in Jan Maszkowski's studio in Lviv; later he drew a lot from nature while visiting noble estates in Ukraine, Podolia and Volhynia. In 1852 he was in Vienna, Hungary and St. Petersburg, before settling permanently in Warsaw. He spent the years 1856-1860 in Paris, where he was friends with Horace Vernet. Returning to Warsaw in 1862-1868, he was artistic director of the "Illustrated Weekly". In 1869 he moved permanently to Krakow. Kossak painted historical and battle paintings, genre scenes illustrating the life and traditions of the noble court and the customs of the Polish people.