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(2) Wojciech Kossak
(b Paris, 31 Dec 1856; d Kraków, 29 July 1942). Painter, son of (1) Juliusz Kossak. He studied drawing with his father, and in 1871 he attended the School of Fine Arts in Kraków, where he was taught by Wladyslaw Luszczkiewicz (1828–1900). In 1875 Kossak went to Munich, where he studied for two years at the Akademie under Alexander Strähuber (1814–82), Alexander Wagner (1839–1919) and Wilhelm Lindenschmit (1829–95). In 1876 he returned to Kraków, where he drew compositions in the manner of his father and of Józef Brandt, whom he had known in Munich. Kossak worked on historical patriotic themes, especially battles, and other scenes with horses, which he painted with great understanding. A short period of service in the Kraków Regiment of Cavalry (1876) increased his liking for such subjects. In the years 1877–83 he studied in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Léon Bonnat and Alexandre Cabanel. In 1884 he settled in Kraków and continued to produce a large number of oil paintings and watercolours on historical themes such as the Napoleonic Wars and the Polish November Uprising, contemporary subjects such as World War I and the 1920 military campaign, as well as less specific hunting scenes and military genre scenes. His most accomplished works date from 1903–14 and include the Spring of 1813 (1904; Lviv, Pict. Gal.), Bloody Sunday in St Petersburg (1905; Moscow, Cent. Mus. Revolution) and Long Live the Emperor! (1914; Warsaw, N. Mus.). Kossak also painted several portraits: of his family, members of the nobility, military figures and figures from artistic circles, as well as numerous self-portraits. He executed three panoramas showing battles: Raclawice, painted to mark the centenary of the 1794 uprising in cooperation with Jan Styka (1858–1925), Teodor Axentowicz (1859–1932) and others in 1892–4 (now Wroclaw, Panorama Bldg), Berezyna, painted with Julian Falat and others (1895–6; destr.) and the Battle of the Pyramids, painted with Wladyslaw Jasienski (c. 1869–1922) and others (1900–01; destr.).
Part of the Kossak family
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