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Battle of Grunwald

Jan Matejko

Battle of Grunwald

Jan Matejko
  • Original Title: Bitwa pod Grunwaldem (1410)
  • Date: 1878; Poland  
  • Style: Romanticism
  • Series: Battle of Grunwald: painting and details
  • Genre: battle painting
  • Media: oil, canvas
  • Dimensions: 426 x 987 cm
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The Battle of Grunwald is a painting by Jan Matejko depicting the Battle of Grunwald and the victory of the allied Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania over the Teutonic Order in 1410. The canvas dates to 1878 and is one of the most heroic representations of the history of Poland and Lithuania. It is displayed in the National Museum in Warsaw.

The painting's main focus is the death scene of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Ulrich von Jungingen; another central figure is the Lithuanian grand duke Vytautas the Great, dressed in red with a raised sword. The painting has been both hailed and criticized for its complexity. It is one of Matejko's most recognizable works, and has likely contributed to the popular image of the battle of Grunwald, and its enduring fame in Polish consciousness.

Matejko began collecting materials for the painting in 1874. He started painting the canvas some time in 1875 and finished it in 1878. Soon afterwards, he received a scepter from the council of Kraków in an official ceremony, in recognition of his work and his position as one of the most respected Polish artists. The painting was sold that year to Dawid Rosenblum, a private individual in Warsaw. Displayed in numerous international exhibitions, in 1902 the painting was bought from Rosenblum's heirs by the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts (Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych) and displayed in Warsaw.

Like many other works, the Battle of Grunwald was hidden during the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany. Together with Prussian Homage, it was one of the two artworks that topped the "most wanted" paintings list made by the Nazis, who engaged in a systematic action of physical destruction of all artifacts of Polish culture. Goebbels offered a bounty of 10 million marks for it, and several members of the Polish Underground were executed by the Germans when they refused to divulge its location despite interrogation and torture. The painting survived the war years hidden near Lublin.

Restored after World War II, since 1949 this oil painting has been on display in the National Museum in Warsaw. In 1999 the Battle of Grunwald was loaned to Lithuania, where it garnered a positive reception because it prominently features Vytautas, who is considered a national hero in that country. By the 2000s, the painting needed restoration. In 2010, the poor condition of the painting prevented its inclusion in a special exhibition at Wawel Castle to mark the 600th anniversary of the battle. The painting was renovated, with the work finished in 2012. After restoration the painting is once again on display at the National Museum.

The Battle of Grunwald is a painting by Matejko that portrays events from the history of Poland and Lithuania, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the struggles of Eastern European principalities against Teutonic knights in general. In the center of the painting is the Lithuanian grand duke Vytautas the Great (Witold), dressed in red with a raised sword. Vytautas holds a more prominent position in the painting than his cousin, Polish king Władysław Jagiełło (Jogaila), who is visible in the second plan, mounted, in the top right side. According to Scales and Zimmer, by focusing on Vytautas rather than Jagiełło, Matejko stressed the importance of Lithuania for Poland, and the value of cooperation between the two countries in the Polish–Lithuanian union. Others have noted that this placement likely was influenced by Matejko's reliance on the writings of Jan Długosz, who attributed greater importance to Vytautas than to Jagiełło, who, by some polish sources, commanded the battle. While Lithuanian sources claim that Vytautas The Great have got the very major role in the battle by actually commanding troops. In the skies above the carnage, Saint Stanislaus, a patron of Poland, overlooks the fighting.

This is a part of the Wikipedia article used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). The full text of the article is here →


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