Aleksander Raczyński
1822–1889 · Polish portrait painter
Aleksander Raczyński (1822-1889) was a Polish portrait painter who worked in the second half of the nineteenth century in Lwów, then part of the Austrian Empire and today Lviv in Ukraine. He belongs to a generation of Polish artists trained in Vienna, Munich and Paris before returning to their home city.
He took his first lessons in Lwów with Jan Maszkowski. After 1846 he studied at the academies of Vienna and Munich, and later attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In those student years he produced many humorous drawings and cartoons of the artistic community, now held by the Ossolineum in Wrocław. In 1857 he travelled to Italy and, on his return, settled permanently in Lwów, where he opened a portrait studio.
Among his best-known sitters were Wincenty Pol, Aleksander Fredro, Józef Dwernicki, Maciej Rybiński and Gregory Yakhimovich. He often painted from photographs, and his friend Artur Grottger supplied the landscape backgrounds of many of his portraits. He also painted religious and historical subjects and scenes from the Crimean War. He co-founded the Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Lwów, exhibited there frequently, and served as director of the Technical Academy, now Lviv Polytechnic.
His works are held by the Lviv National Art Gallery and the King John III Palace Museum at Wilanów.