Maurycy Gottlieb

Zygmunt August and Gizanka,
Oil on canvas, 38X62 cm.

Provenance:
1. Emil Beres, Podwolczyska – Krakow.
2. Rudolf Beres, Krakow – Katowice.
3. Pinhas and Hellena Schoenberg. Poland – Tel-Aviv.
4. Eliezer and Talma Levin, Savyon.

Literature:
1. Maurycy Gottlieb Waldman, Krakow, 1932 p. 17 (Illustrated).
2. Maurycy Gottlieb, 1856-1879, 39 Reproductions of the Artist’s Paintings. Maximilian Russ, Karol Berenhaut, Israel Tel-Aviv, 1961, p. 7 (Illustrated).

Literature & Exhibitions:
1. Wystway Pamiakowey Dziel Maurycego Gottlieb, Muzeum Narodwe, Krakow, Marzec 1932, From the collections of Dr. Rudolf Beres, no. 79 (Illustrated).
2. Maurycy Gottlieb, 1856-1879, Commemorative Exhibition on the Occasion of the Centennial of his Birth, February – March 1956 , The Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem, 1956, no. 1 (Illustrated).
3. In the Flower of his Youth, Maurycy Gottlieb, 1856-1879, Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, Nehama Guralnik, P. 95, no. 3 (Illustrated).
4. Maurycy Gotllieb, 1856-1879, Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, 19 sierpnia -20 pazdziernika 1991. Komisarze wystawy: Nehama Guralnik (Tel Awiw), Barbara Brus- Malinowska (Warszawa).
5. Maurycy Gottlieb, 1856-1879, Meisterwerke, Judisches Museum, Frankfurt am Main, p. 79.
6. Fragmented Mirror", Exhibition of Jewish Artists, Berlin, 1907, Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, June – August 1991, Bat-Sheva Ida-Goldman, p. 94 (Illustrated).
7. Tel-Aviv museum of art, in the Old Masters’ hall Dr. Doron Lurie, April 2017 – June 2018, next to Maurycy Gottlieb’s painting "Jews Pray in the synagogue on Yom-Kipur”.

This is a rare, museum quality painting, of the kind that does not come to auction houses every day. In her book on Maurycy Gottlieb, "In the Flower of His Youth" (Tel Aviv Museum, 1991), Nehama Guralnik wrote about this painting as follows: "The composition ‘King Zygmunt and Gizanka (Barbara)’ has great artistic value […]. It reminds us of the great painting " Zygmunt August and Barbara at the Radzibil Palace in Vilnius", by (Jan) Matejko. Early in his career, Gottlieb was dependent on Matejko … "(p. 78). Indeed, the present painting, one of Gottlieb’s early paintings (he was 18 years old when he painted this painting), confirms the influence of the renowned Polish historical painter, who saw Gottlieb as one of his star students. Accordingly, the three paintings that Gottlieb painted in Krakow, under the direction of Matejko (1874-1873), were historio-national in their themes. Two of them depicted dramatic moments in the history of the Polish monarchy.

The present painting refers to the royal court in Poland, centered around Zygmunt II August, son of King Zygmunt I, who would become King of Poland in the mid-16th century, (the last of the hereditary royal dynasty in Poland), and Grand Duke of Lithuania (in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). The woman who appears next to him in the painting is his future wife and Queen of Poland, the Lithuanian – Barbara Radziwill. The affair between the two was one of the great scandals of the period: the beautiful Barbara was a widow when she became the young Zygmunt’s lover and his royal mistress in Vilnius before their marriage in 1547.

This match, which Zygmunt declared in a letter to his parents in Vilnius, angered the Polish aristocracy, including his mother the queen. It was a Lithuanian (according to some: Austrian) alliance. Moreover, it was not an arranged marriage. But, in the end, and despite the hostility of the Queen – Bona Sforza of Milan – Barbara was crowned as the Queen and Grand Duchess of Lithuania in 1550.

The ailing Barbara died five months later. Despite the short period of the marriage, Barbara’s contemporaries developed a deep opposition to her and accused her of witchcraft, promiscuity and even the use of poison to seduce Zygmunt; enveloping her character in rumors and legends that fueled the imagination. Beginning in the 18th century, Barbara became the protagonist of a tragic love story, a royal telenovela, and as such, a figure in many works in literature, poetry, painting and even cinema. Perhaps it can be likened to an early version of Princess Diana’s tragic story.

Maurycy Gottlieb’s painting, similar to the double portrait that Matejko painted of Zygmunt and Barbara, represents the pair of lovers while they were still together in Vilnius. Barbara is seated, leaning and hugging Zygmunt, who displays a worried look, apparently pondering the opposition emerging against his beloved. Is the painting hanging on the right a portrait of the Queen Mother, adversary to the couple? The excellent academic realism, and the romantic, dark-dramatic atmosphere, full of pathos, testifies to the great artistic potential of the painter; who will die at the age of merely 23, but will leave an indelible mark on Jewish painting.

Gideon Ofrat

The curator of the exhibition at Bezalel refers to this work on page 4 in the exhibition’s catalog:

He explains that in Krakow, to which Gottlieb returned from Vienna at the end of 1874, the young man showed both maturity and impressive abilities. As a student of Jan Matejko the 18-year-old impresses with his composition building of Zygmont August and Gizinka. The triangale that makes up the couple’s figures is built between two verticals. The right vertical is where Maurycy Gottlieb proves without a doubt that despite his young age he has mastered the art of painting. The colorfulness of the image also plays an important role of the artwork. Gottlieb, during his studies and stay in Vienna, encountered and was influenced by the Viennese painter Hans Makart who was a master in the use of color. In the right vertical a picture of the queen can be seen from the dark area, and in the left vertical, two statues of knights stand at the entrance to the hall. Only a painter with this stature could have created such a wonderful composition.

Estimated price: $65,000 - $90,000

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