The “painter prince” Jan Matejko in Bonn

Today, the term “painter prince” (“Malerfürst”) is generally used to refer to high-profile artists from the contemporary art scene or the recent past, such as Jörg Immendorf, Markus Lüpertz, or Georg Baselitz. The major German-language media only rarely use the phrase in a positive light. Rather, it is associated with self-promotion, the forging of close ties to politicians, an extravagant lifestyle, a sometimes reckless attitude to money, and marketing strategies that call the originality of the artworks produced into question. In Austria, Ernst Fuchs was praised after his death as being one of the most important artists of the day, while at the same time, the “painter prince” was placed on a par with the “genius of kitsch”.[1]

However, the title of “painter prince” as used today, which has never been more precisely defined and which has certainly never been officially bestowed, was coined and became publicly known during the final quarter of the 19th century. The prototype of this artist genre was and still remains the Austrian historical and portrait painter Hans Makart (1840–1884),[2] who, after studying in Munich and then journeying on various study tours, was called to Vienna in 1869, where he set himself up in a luxurious studio paid for by the state. From 1872 onwards, this studio became the centre of artistic and social life in Vienna and with its furnishings – wall hangings, carved furniture, carpets, antiquities, historical weaponry and huge bouquets of dried flowers and palm fronds (still known today as “Makart bouquets”) – it was an important source of inspiration for the interior designs of the time. Here, the painter held artists’ parties, the like of which quickly became fashionable in Munich and elsewhere. He received the Empress Elisabeth and opened his doors to groups of tourists during the afternoon. At the latest, Makart attained princely status, at least symbolically, with the presentation of his monumental painting “The Entry of Charles V into Antwerp” (“Der Einzug Kaiser Karls V. in Antwerpen”) in the Viennese Künstlerhaus in March 1878, which attracted tens of thousands of visitors, and the organisation of the historical pageant in April 1879 in celebration of the silver wedding anniversary of the imperial couple, with costumes designed by the artist. As the daily press reported, not only was he “showered like a king with salutations from the public”, riding high on a horse in the middle of the pageant, but “the famous painter prince” passed on the ovations to the imperial couple, who graciously greeted the masses in return.[3] 

Munich, the capital of the Kingdom of Bavaria, produced three more or less official “painter princes” at once, who are still referred to as such today in both historical and popular literature: Franz von Lenbach (1836–1904), Friedrich August von Kaulbach (1850–1920) and Franz von Stuck (1863–1928).[4] Lenbach, who like Makart studied at the Academy of Art under the historical painter Carl Theodor von Piloty (1826–1886), became established in Munich as a successful portrait painter from 1866 onwards. In Vienna, too, he became a highly sought-after portraitist among the financial aristocracy and the nobility. He gained his reputation as a “painter prince” not least as a result of his palatial villa, which was built between 1886 and 1889, in which an impressive art collection and sumptuously furnished studio rooms were designed to enhance the quality of his own art. Today, the art museum named after him is still housed in the same building. In a similar way, Kaulbach and Stuck built lavish residences in order to retain the prestige attained through their painting. Kaulbach, who was primarily a portrait painter, had a villa built in the Italian Renaissance style in 1887–89, with a studio that was regarded as one of the most elegant of its time in Munich.[5] Stuck, who was almost an entire generation younger, and who painted mythological and symbolist themes, built a neoclassicist villa in 1897/98 that can still be visited today, in which he designed his studio as a sanctified space for art.[6] 

 

Like Makart, all three, Lenbach, Kaulbach and Stuck, came from middle-class families;[7] the noble titles awarded to them during the course of their careers was by no means the result of the “painter prince” title conferred on them by the general public, the art world and the press. The Bavarian royal household, and Prince Regent Luitpold (1821–1912) in particular, granted personal noble status to artists and professors in a highly inflationary manner.[8] This notwithstanding, the conferral of such a title was of course a high point in the lives of these individuals. Their reputation as a “painter” or an “artist prince” arose rather from a multitude of personal and professional characteristic features: the patronage of the ruling monarch at the time and the personal relationships with them and other members of the nobility; the wealth attained through their art, primarily from historical art and portraiture; the possession of sumptuously furnished studios and villas; lavish praise in the press and among the general public; representative appearances at artists’ celebrations and pageants, and not least, largesse towards artists’ associations and younger painter colleagues. 

Naturally, these features can also be observed among other artists. Kaulbach’s uncle, the Academy director Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1805–1874) cultivated all of these elements and attracted a great deal of public attention as a result.[9] The Munich art writer Friedrich Pecht (1814–1903) described the “painter prince” Carl von Piloty as being one of those artists, like Makart after him, “who enjoyed seeing themselves in the company of the high society of this world”.[10] By contrast, Gabriel von Max (1840–1915), a painter who was held in high regard in Munich, spurned the role of “painter prince” bestowed upon him by the general public and preferred a solitary existence by Lake Starnberg,[11] while several years previously, Max Liebermann (1847–1935) was named “painter prince” together with Lenbach and Stuck at an exhibition in Berlin.[12] The Polish painter Józef Brandt (1841–1915), who lived in Munich from 1863 onwards, called himself “Josef von Brandt” after moving to Germany, since his family of origin belonged to the Polish nobility. In Munich, he led the local Polish artists’ colony and found fame with historical paintings. Later, however, he specialised in hunting and horse and rider motifs and became the owner of a luxurious studio and opulent apartment in Munich, as well as an aristocratic manor and grounds in Poland. He also maintained friendly relations with the Bavarian crown prince and together with the similarly successful, well-to-do Polish painter Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski (1849–1915) took his younger Polish painter colleagues under his wing. For all of these reasons, he also qualifies for the title of “painter prince”.[13]

Now, after a three-year preparation period, the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn, the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, in cooperation with the National Museum of Kraków (Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie) presents an extensive exhibition, “Painter Princes” (“Malerfürsten”) (Bonn, 29/9/2018–27/1/2019, Figs. 16–21), in which three other European painters are grouped together with the four classic representatives, Makart, Lenbach, Kaulbach and Stuck: the English painter Frederick Lord Leighton (1830–1896), the Pole Jan Matejko (1838–1893), and Mihály von Munkácsy (1844–1900), the Hungarian artist who lived in Paris and Luxembourg. The exhibition was curated by the freelance curator Doris H. Lehmann, who gained her doctorate in Viennese historical painting and who had already published work on the “painter princes”.[14] The person responsible for the exhibition on behalf of the Bundeskunsthalle was the Polish curator Katharina Chrubasik, who gained her doctorate in 2008 on the tomb of King Władysław II Jagiełło at Wawel castle in Kraków.[15] The exhibition was accompanied by a 300-page catalogue with contributions by the two curators and specialist colleagues who had already published work on the environment in which the “painter princes” lived. The catalogue also contained biographies of the artists, introductions to the different sections of the exhibition, colour reproductions throughout of around 80 percent of the exhibited works, a full list of around 380 works shown, and a bibliography.

 

The exhibition was one of the still far too rare attempts to expand the frame of reference of art history research, which is usually limited to national boundaries, to achieve a general European perspective. Artists have always found it easier to cross national boundaries – usually when still young as part of their studies – than art observers, enthusiasts and academics confronted hundreds of years later with language barriers and unavailable literature. Leighton grew up primarily in Germany and Italy, lived in Frankfurt, Rome and Paris and spoke four languages fluently. Matejko studied in Munich and Vienna, among other places, travelled frequently to Paris and numerous other European cities, and even as far as Istanbul. Munkácsy, too, was educated in Vienna and Munich and was shown at exhibitions all over the world. Nevertheless, they and their works are still almost entirely unknown among the German general public, while Matejko, for example, is still honoured in Poland as an extremely important historical painter for his renditions of Polish history. During their lifetimes, their sometimes monumental paintings were hung next to those of Makart, Lenbach, Kaulbach and Stuck at all the important international art and world exhibitions. The Bundeskunsthalle recreated this scenario in its exhibition.

Of course, the criteria that made them “painter princes” during their lifetimes apply to all seven painters shown in the exhibition. However, there are differences that result from their financial and political circumstances, as well as from their different personality structures. Matejko as a person, and as the occupant of a four-storey 16th century owned by his parents in the old city centre of Kraków, appears more modest than the other “painter princes”. However, he did have the house upgraded, adding a neo-Baroque facade with rustic stone and masks on the ground floor, pilaster elements extending over two storeys, and a balcony in front of the bel étage. The following year, he became director of the School of Fine Arts (Szkoła Sztuk Pięknych) in Kraków, and worked on the restoration and preservation of the architectural monuments in Kraków until the end of his life. On 29 October 1878, he was presented with an honorary award similar to the inofficial title of “painter prince”.[16] In the City Hall in Kraków, before his historical painting “The Battle at Grunwald” (“Bitwa pod Grunwaldem”) (1878, today in the National Musuem of Warsaw – Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie), he was handed a sceptre blessed by the Bishop of Kraków “as a sign of his high standing in the realm of art,” as the Viennese newspaper “Die Presse” reported several days later: “Today, Johann Matejko was the subject of general veneration by his fellow citizens of Kraków, who honoured him in a manner not seen before with any other,” and “in view of the fact that Johann Matejko has achieved a greatness unattained thus far in the art of the Polish lands, and with his works shines forth as a master before the Areopagus of the civilised world; further, in view of the fact that through his fame, he has also brought fame and honour to the Polish nation as a shining example of its life and viability.”[17]

At his funeral, Matejko, according to reports by the Viennese weekly newspaper “Das interessante Blatt” was carried to his grave “with truly royal honours” and as a “prince of art”, by “numerous notable persons of the country”, the cardinal prince-archbishop, deputations from national and international societies and guilds, and a cortège “amounting to thousands”. The newspaper article included a photograph of the procession,[18] which was also shown in the exhibition in Bonn. Just two years later, a supporters’ association purchased Matejko’s home from the artist’s family from the proceeds from a tombola. From 1896 onwards, the building was opened to the public, and in 1904, it was declared a branch of the National Museum of Kraków as the Jan Matejko House (Dom Jana Matejki w Krakowie). In a short film (“Behind the Art”) on the Bonn exhibition, the director of the house museum, Marta Kłak-Ambrożkiewicz, who contributed an extensive article about Matejko to the exhibition catalogue, explains the ongoing public impact of the oldest biographical museum in Poland.

 

In seven sections, the exhibition highlighted criteria that were sometimes new, sometimes extended, and which typified the public, representative and artistic face of the “painter princes”, including public veneration and lavish funerals. Artistic works, items of cultural historical interest, historical photographs and documents were displayed as evidence of these criteria. The items on loan were borrowed from museums and private collections in Germany, England, France, Austria, Poland, Switzerland and Hungary. The curators made a conscious decision not to present the individual artists one after the other in chronological order. Their intention was to provide evidence of the commonalities between the seven “painter princes” in themed sections in the exhibition with artworks and accompanying documents, and to present them to the public.

The first section of the exhibition, “In the Palace of Art” (“Im Palast der Kunst”) focused on the houses, apartments and studios of the artists in their function as a “stage and showroom of a public life.”[19] While Lenbach, Kaulbach, Stuck and Leighton had artists’ villas built in the style of sumptuous urban palaces, Makart and Munkácsy showed off above all with their resplendent studios, in which they held artists’ parties and festive soirées. In 1871, Matejko bought his parents’ house in the street ul. Floriańska in Kraków from his siblings and with the aid of the architect Tomasz Pryliński (1847–1895) turned it into a palace in the Florentine style. As the crowning element, he added a canopy designed by himself to the Baroque curved balcony facing the street, over a painter’s palette with brushes and books. This was of course a reference to his profession as an artist and to his historical and literary education. Inside, he furnished the house in a luxurious, oriental style, with furniture and collected items that he had largely purchased on his travels, including textiles, decorations, metal objects and armaments. 

Photographs of the house and representative items from his collection were shown in the exhibition. An 18th century veil with gold and metal applications, gloves made of velvet and leather, a ceremonial belt from Kraków, a woollen and silk kaftan and trousers, and a bag made of velvet with silver threads and sequins from the 19th century represented Matejko’s costume collection, while an 18th century brass bowl vase and decorative items from the 19th century were shown as examples of his collection of historical items (all from the National Museum of Kraków). Any notion that due to the political situation in which Poland found itself, as a nation occupied by foreign powers, Matejko was unable to receive high-ranking guests to his studio, is misleading. When Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria visited Kraków in September 1880, a reception by Matejko was included in the programme. The house was adorned with festive decorations and the salon was transformed into a lavish studio, in which the group portrait of the Emperor’s children was also on display among other works. The painter showed sketches of new historical paintings to the monarch, and presented him with the not very large painting “The Meeting of the Jagellonian Kings with Emperor Maximilian at Vienna” (“Zjazd królów Jagiellonów z cesarzem Maksymilianem pod Wiedniem”) (1879, today in a private collection, Vienna).[20] In the exhibition in Bonn, a watercolour by the Polish artist Juliusz Kossak (1824–1899), “The Visit by Emperor Franz Joseph to the House of Jan Matejko” (“Wizyta cesarza Franciszka Józefa w domu Jana Matejki”) (1881) from the National Museum of Kraków (Fig. 1) not only illustrated the historical event, but also revealed the sumptuous furnishings of the reception room in Matejko’s home. 

 

In the second section of the exhibition, entitled “Enactments” (“Inszenierungen”), portraits were shown that the “painter princes” had painted of their artist friends, their children, their wives and themselves, and which together with early photographs demonstrate the way in which the artists chose to present their social position and the rank in society enjoyed by their families in the public realm. Here, Matejko stands out for his particularly opulent images. Next to the images of the other artists’ wives, Lolo von Lenbach, Mary von Stuck, Amalie Makart, Frida von Kaulbach and Cécile von Munkácsy, Matejko’s wife, Teodora Matejko (1846–1896) in a luxurious white dress, with golden jewellery and a mantilla of white lace (1879, National Museum of Warsaw, Fig. 2), creates the impression of a Renaissance princess. 

As Doris H. Lehmann writes in the exhibition catalogue, “In the party and salon culture of the painter princes, the artists’ wives were at the centre of attention. It was they who sent out the invitations, prepared the receptions, and organised the costumes and celebratory dinners.”[21] For his marriage to Teodora, née Giebułtowska, in 1864, Matejko planned the wedding party, and designed the bride’s dress as well as his own attire and that of the official witnesses to the marriage. The couple travelled a great deal and visited fashionable spa towns. They purchased their jewellery and clothes from the best shops in Kraków. Receptions in their home and in the highest circles of Kraków society were an inherent part of family life. The family spent time together on the country estate at Krzesławice, which Matejko purchased in 1876.[22] In the early years of their marriage, his wife posed as a model for his paintings, among other things as the Polish queen Bona Sforza, and as Barbara Radziwiłł in scenes with King Sigismund II August, which were included in the Bonn exhibition in paintings from 1864 (National Museum of Kraków) and 1867 (National Museum of Warsaw, Fig. 3). Matejko also depicted her as a young woman in the painting “The Blind Veit Stoss with His Granddaughter” (“Ociemniały Wit Stwosz z wnuczką”) (1865, National Museum of Warsaw, Fig. 4).

The children of the “painter princes”, who were dressed up by their mothers as little princesses and princes, also participated in the public lives of their fathers. In 1870, Matejko painted a portrait of his three children – five-year-old Tadeusz, three-year-old Helena and one-year-old Beata – in a room with carpets, wall hangings and a fur-covered sofa (National Museum of Warsaw, Fig. 5). Tadeusz, who carries a fur hat in his hand, wears the traditional Polish costume of the nobility, the red “żupan”, with the Kraków belt and boots familiar from the artist’s costume collection. The aristocratic pose of the girls, too, with their white lace dresses, a little rose in their hands and the dog at their feet, is reminiscent of the portrayal of children of the nobility by Anthonis van Dyck (1599–1641). Matejko’s painting was not intended for private use. He sent it to exhibitions, including the Vienna World Fair in 1873, and had photographs taken of it which he used for marketing purposes.[23] 

In 1882, he painted his second son, Jerzy, then aged nine, in the same costume on a horse. Again, the child assumed the pose of a young prince. Łódź Art Museum (Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi), Fig. 6. In 1892, Matejko painted a self-portrait just a few years before his death. In it, he is in a relaxed pose, but no less dignified, on an upholstered painter’s throne before a loosely draped curtain. Next to him are his artist’s palette and books (National Museum of Warsaw, Fig. 7). All three paintings were shown in the exhibition. Behind the artistic façade, he kept his real private life hidden. At the latest from 1876 onwards, the Matejkos’ marriage had broken down. Teodora increasingly suffered from physical and psychological crises which finally ended in mental illness.

 

“Yet how does one identify the work of a painter prince beyond his actions, such as princely gifts? Extraordinary achievements were expected of the painter princes; even while they were still in the process of being created, their works were already announced, advertised and successfully marketed through newspaper announcements, placards, the artists’ own catalogues, and reproductions in different media [...]. Alliances with art dealers [...] secured the best conditions for strategically adept exhibition artists.”[24] Makart and Munkácsy in particular stood out with their potentially record-breaking visitor numbers and sales proceeds when their historical paintings were shown in touring exhibitions. In the third section, entitled “The Painter Prince Brand” (“Marke Malerfürst”), the Bonn exhibition showed paintings, drafts and contemporary reproductions that could qualify as examples of the marketing strategies of the artists in question, including drafts painted in oils by Matejko for his monumental painting “Jan III Sobieski at Vienna” (“Jan III Sobieski pod Wiedniem”) (1880, Fig. 8) and “The Virgin of Orléans” (“Dziewica Orleańska”) (1883, both in the National Museum of Kraków, Fig. 9). It would not have been possible to loan the final versions of these works, which are up to nine metres wide and which are now in the Vatican Museums and in the National Museum of Poznań respectively.

Both works belong to a painting series, begun in 1862, in which Matejko set out to portray his own interpretation of Polish history, the past events relating to the Republic, and its downfall. The cycle included paintings that were intended to encourage Poles to reflect on the causes of the downfall of the Republic, such as “Skarga’s Sermon” (“Kazanie Skargi”) (1864) and “Rejtan – the Fall of Poland” (“Rejtan – Upadek Polski”) (1866). There were also paintings in which he “invoked the glorious high points of the history of his country” such as “The Battle at Grunwald”, “The Prussian Tribute” (“Hołd Pruski”) (both 1879–82) and “Jan III Sobieski at Vienna” (1883), as well as themes from the histories of other countries such as “The Virgin of Orléans” (1886), which the artist “wished to present to the French as a token of gratitude for their welcoming attitude towards Polish emigrés.”[25]

After ten years of being shown at exhibitions in Poland, the Paris salon at which Matejko presented his first monumental painting, “Skarga’s Sermon”, in 1865, marked the first step in his career towards becoming known in Europe and marketing his works there. The painting was awarded a gold medal. Two years later, in 1867, he showed the approximately three- by five-metre painting “Rejtan – the Fall of Poland” at the Paris World Fair. This work, too, was awarded a gold medal, and was purchased by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. It was then shown at the Vienna Kunstverein, where it attracted tens of thousands of visitors.[26] In the Bonn exhibition, the gold medals, together with the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph could be seen, which was presented to Matejko in 1867 for “Rejtan”. These were symbols of important stages in the development of the artist’s image (all from the collection of the National Museum of Kraków). In the exhibition, “Rejtan” and “The Battle at Grunwald” were represented by contemporary reproductions. A print from 1882/83 showed the monumental painting “Battle at Grunwald” and “Prussian Tribute” at an exhibition in the Unger Art Salon in Warsaw.

 

Matejko’s critical view of Polish history did not go unnoticed in his native country. Following a previous presentation of “Rejtan” in Kraków, members of the nobility had criticised what in their view was a vilification of the role played by their forebears in the partition of Poland, and had triggered a public debate on the matter.[27] Matejko then produced the painting (shown in Bonn) “The Judgement of Matejko” (“Wyrok na Matejkę”) (1867, National Museum of Warsaw, Fig. 10), in which the artist placed himself in a pillory while dignitaries read out the judgement of him from a balcony. The other “painter princes”, Leighton, Munkácsy, Makart and Lenbach, were also confronted with damaging criticism of their image subjects. “The more attention attracted by success, the greater was the risk of falling, the harsher the criticism and the more malicious the envy.”[28]

The exhibition and marketing strategies of the “painter princes” and their constant presence in public life led to high-ranking contacts and networks, to “dealings ‘on equal terms’ with the nobility and the powerful [...] With their honorary memberships and travels, they also had excellent contacts internationally through to the art societies and associations that were being newly established at that time. Their other activities also included the assumption of presidential roles.”[29] In the fourth section of the Bonn exhibition, entitled “In Front of and Behind the Curtain” (“Vor und hinter den Kulissen”), portraits of important persons of the time were shown, including prince regents, the nobility, politicians, singers, actors and composers who represented the social milieu in which the “painter princes” moved. 

The portraits painted by Matejko, which numbered well over one hundred, also played an important role in his oeuvre and in his life in society. Of the series of portraits of politicians, academics and “beautiful or dignified women, most of whom came from aristocratic circles”[30], paintings of Countess Marcelina Czartoryska (1874, Fig. 11), the President of the City of Kraków, Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz (1887, both National Museum of Kraków, Fig. 12), the literary historian and publicist Stanisław Tarnowski, Rector of the Jagiellonia University, with ermine coat and sceptre, University Museum of Kraków (Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagelliońskiego Collegium Maius) (1890) and the Warsaw lawyer and President of the Association of Lawyers, Henryk Krajewski (1892, National Museum of Warsaw, Fig. 13) are shown in the exhibition. The unusually lavish gold frames of these paintings (not shown in the catalogue) are in themselves a highlight of the exhibition. Another impressive exhibit was a probably rarely shown watercolour by Aleksander Augustynowicz (1865–1944), with a view from the salon of the Palais Potocki in Lviv, Łańcut Palace Museum (Muzeum – Zamek w Łańcucie), on which portraits of the nobility by two of the “painter princes” at once are shown: the image of the Governor of Galicia, Alfred Józef Potocki, painted by Matejko, and that of his wife, Maria Klementyna Potocka, by Makart.

It is thanks to Matejko’s commitment to preserving architectural monuments that numerous historical buildings in Kraków were saved. In the Academic Society of Kraków (Towarzystwo Naukowe Krakowskie), of which he was a member, his views on the preservation of monuments were highly respected, and he produced guidelines on this topic for the Polish Academy of Scholarship (Polska Akademia Umiejętności). For the purpose of historical research and museology, he created an extensive collection of historical costumes, textiles, furniture, armaments, armour, crafted objects and items of cultural historical interest. In 1868, together with the Kraków City Council, he founded the City Museum for Industry and Technology, taking the South Kensington Museum in London (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) as a model. At the museum, which was dedicated to the applied arts, he worked as a lecturer and headed the art department for higher-level courses for women (Wyższe Kursy dla Kobiet). In 1873, he declined an offer to head the Prague Art Academy “for patriotic reasons”. That same year, he was named Director of the School of Fine Arts (Szkoła Sztuk Pięknych) in Kraków, which he himself had founded. Also in 1873, he became a corresponding member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and later of the Kunstakademie in Vienna, Berlin and Urbino. He was also an active supporter of social causes, funding stipends for artists as well as donating his own works and cash. He also helped fund the construction of a hospital and a school.[31] 

 

The fifth section of the exhibition, “Artists’ Parties” (“Künstlerfeste”), contained little reference to Matejko. The costume parties held at the Markats’ studio in Vienna became famous, at which attendees attired themselves in Renaissance or Baroque-style costumes designed by the painter himself. The historical pageant to mark the silver wedding anniversary of the Imperial couple in 1879, also with costumes designed by Makart, was a triumph for the artist. In Munich, the artists held similar historical costume parties, which were organised by the Allotria artists’ society, among others. At the “Emperor Charles V pageant” costume ball in 1876, Kaulbach appeared in the role of the monarch; at the “In Arcadia” party in 1898 in the royal Hoftheater theatres, Stuck appeared as a Roman emperor. Kaulbach invited guests to his studio to attend operetta performances, while in London, Leighton held dinner parties and musical soirées. In Paris, Munkácsy organised salon concerts with Franz Liszt, and in 1886, invited guests to the presentation of his painting “Mozart’s Death”, with background music that was at once sensational and scandalous.[32]

Evidently, there are no records of Matejko holding such lavish parties. However, we do know that during his time as a student in Munich, from 1858–59, he was already interested in costume studies, and that in 1860, he published a panel painting called “The Costumes in Poland 1200–1795” (“Ubiory w Polsce 1200–1795”). Together with his family, he attended theatre productions and balls, created ball gowns and costumes for high society ladies, was called on as an advisor for a Medieval costume party in honour of the city president Zyblikiewicz, and even designed historical costumes for actresses.[33] And we can be sure that the Polish artists also knew how to throw a good party. Many of them had studied in Munich and Vienna and had attended the artists’ parties there before returning to Kraków and Warsaw. Perhaps Matejko was not the type of person to organise such parties himself. Thus, the evidence that remains in the exhibition of the sunny side of his personality comes in the form of his painting “The Babin Republic” (“Rzeczpospolita Babińska”) (1881, National Museum of Warsaw, Fig. 14), in which he depicts an aristocratic literary-satirical society founded in 1568 in Babin near Lublin. In over four hundred stories, this group of people invented grotesque caricatures of the republican constitution and well-known personalities of the time. Matejko portrayed the founding of the society as a country wine festival in his own orchard in Krzesławice, with the 16th century poets and honorary figures in typical period costume.[34]

This makes the attention paid to Matejko in the sixth section of the exhibition, “Tributes” (“Huldigungen”), even more noticeable. The sceptre given to the artist in Kraków City Hall in October 1878 – a unique item in the history of the European “painter princes” – was shown. It was presented as a mark of gratitude for “The Battle at Grunwald” during a ceremony organised by Kraków City Council, at which a speech was given by the mayor, Zyblikiewicz, and which was also attended by delegations from Lviv, Warsaw and Poznan.[35] The gilded silver sceptre, which was designed by the architect Pryliński and produced by the Kraków silversmith Władysław Glixelli (1831–1895), had a shaft made of ebony, above which the upper end contained a scroll with Matejko’s name, three picture cartouches showing buildings in Kraków, and a tightly plaited crown of oak leaves. The Bonn exhibition also contained a contemporary graphic showing the scene with the presentation of the sceptre, probably from a Polish magazine, an undated gold and enamel ring as a gift from students at the School of Fine Arts, a leather case for holding tributary addresses to mark Matejko’s 25th year of service in 1883, with the coats-of-arms of Poland, Lithuania and Reussen [the old German name for Russia – translator’s note], and a JM monogram, this time given by the professors of the Kraków art school. A bronze relief by an unknown artist, dated 1880, is over 60 centimetres tall and takes the form of a painter’s palette. It contains Matejko’s portrait, framed by a laurel wreath, above a book with the title, “Dzieje Polski” (“History of Poland”) shown on the back (all from the National Museum of Kraków).

The tributes paid to Matejko during the course of his life were numerous. “During his periods of stay in Paris, Budapest, Rome and Warsaw”, writes Marta Kłak-Ambrożkiewicz in the exhibition catalogue, “the exiled Poles and his admirers organised formal dinners and parties in his honour.” He became an honorary citizen of several towns and cities. In 1887, the Jagiellonia University in Kraków made him an honorary doctor of the Faculty of Philosophy. In Paris, he was awarded the title of Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1870 for his painting “The Union of Lublin”. In Poland, he was presented with commemorative medals. The presentation of the sceptre in Kraków City Hall was followed by a torchlit procession to his house, where he again appeared before the crowds on his balcony. His students celebrated his nameday with parties, games and picnics in the country. During a trip to the field where the Battle of Grunwald took place, which he undertook in 1877 together with his family, he was met with words of sympathy, celebrations, flowers and gifts.

 

One event that attracted particular attention was Matejko’s presentation of the painting “Jan III Sobieski at Vienna” to Pope Leo XIII in 1883 for the Vatican collections. After the painting had been exhibited in Vienna, a Polish delegation led by Matejko and Tarnowski, the Rector of Jagiellonia University, accompanied the transportation of the gift to the Vatican, where the Pope presented the artist with the Order of Pius and issued a blessing to the people of Poland.[36] The public tributes paid to Makart in Vienna and to Munkácsy in Budapest were certainly comparable to those paid to Matejko, while Lenbach and Stuck moved within the realm of social convention when it came to celebratory events in Munich.[37]

At the end of life, or “When the Curtain Falls” (“der Vorhang fällt”) according to the title of the final section of the exhibition, the European “painter princes” were given pompous funerals. When Makart died in 1884, visitors streamed through his studio, where he was laid out in a casket, for days on end. The gas lanterns in Vienna were hung with black veils. Mementos of the painter that had been privately collected were revered almost as relics. In 1896, with permission from Queen Victoria, Leighton was honoured with a lavish funeral ceremony and a place in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral, while admirers paid for a cenotaph to be erected there. In 1900, Munkácsy’s body was transferred to Budapest like a national hero and was laid out in state for several days in the city’s hall of art. His honorary medals and his painter’s palette were borne at the front of the funeral procession. For Lenbach, the city council had an ornate mausoleum built at the Westfriedhof cemetery in Munich in 1904.[38]

The cortège for Matejko on 1 November 1893, which was accompanied by thousands of mourners, delegations from the three partitioned regions and from abroad, turned, in the words of Kłak-Ambrożkiewicz, “into a patriotic demonstration. The procession travelled around the market square in Kraków and to the sound of canons firing proceeded to the cemetery. Along the way, the shops closed and the shop owners went out onto the streets. The family received hundreds of telegrams, cards, dedications and funeral wreaths.”[39] Black flags hung from the buildings. As well as historical photographs of the funeral, the exhibition in Bonn contained silver laurel wreaths with messages of condolence and funeral ribbons, among them from the Viennese Hagenbund [Vienna fine artists’ society – translator’s note] and the Royal Academy of Artists in Berlin (Königliche Akademie der Künste zu Berlin), the president of which, the historical painter Carl Becker (1820–1900), was one of the first to send his condolences via telegraph. A poster for the lottery for the furnishings for Matejko’s house as designed by the painter and graphic artist Józef Mehoffer (1869–1946) from 1899, as well as photographs of the first exhibition rooms in the Matejko House from this time, are also on display (all from the National Museum of Kraków).

Not all of the items relating to Matejko in the “Painter Princes” exhibition in Bonn could be mentioned here. According to the curators, Doris H. Lehmann and Katharina Chrubasik, in a conversation during guided tour of the exhibition for Porta Polonica, it was thanks not least to the smooth collaboration with the national museums in Warsaw and Kraków in particular and the generous loans provided by them that it was possible to present such a detailed account of Matejko’s importance within a European context as part of this project, and to show many of his works and the items relating to him in Germany for the first time. The exhibition does indeed clearly demonstrate that the phenomenon of the “painter princes” during the second half of the 19th century should in future be examined within a European context, and that comparable artistic and cultural historical criteria should be applied to Leighton, Matajko and Munkácsy to those used for the “painter princes” from the German-speaking countries, namely Makart, Lenbach, Kaulbach and Stuck.

 

Axel Feuß, February 2019

 

Exhibition catalogue:

Malerfürsten, published by the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, catalogue design: Doris Lehmann and Katharina Chrubasik, München: Hirmer Verlag, 2018, 304 pages, ISBN 978-3-7774-3138-3

In the catalogue:

Doris H. Lehmann: “Malerfürsten” – Facetten einer modernen Erfolgsgeschichte, page 8–13

Ulrich Heinen: Peter Paul Rubens – Der Malerfürst aller Zeiten, page 14–21

Andreas Tacke: Das Künstlerfest als (Verkaufs-)Bühne des Malerfürsten – Schlaglichter zur Vorgeschichte, page 22–29

Anne-Marie Bonnet: Die Musealisierung der Malerfürsten. Winkelzüge der Moderne?, page 30–39

Birgit Jooss: München – Die Stadt der Malerfürsten, page 40–51

Grischka Petri: Lord Leighton: “Frederick the Great”, president & princely painter, page 52–59

Marta Kłak-Ambrożkiewicz: Jan Matejko – Ein anderer Malerfürst, page 60–69

Ilona Sármány-Parsons: Mihály von Munkácsy und sein Weg zu kurzem Weltruhm, page 70–81

Michael Stockhausen: Der Makart-Komplex: Zu gespaltenem Erbe und zwiespältiger Aktualität eines Malerfürsten, page 82–89

Sabine Wieber: Die Ehefrauen der Malerfürsten und ihre Rolle in der Gesellschaft, page 90–97

Katharina Chrubasik: Die Malerfürsten und ihre Ausstellungsstrategien, page 98–107