Battle of Grunwald

Matejko painted this large canvas, measuring about 4.26 by 9.87 metres, between 1872 and 1878. It recreates the clash of 1410, when an alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Order. After a long period of preparation, the picture passed through private hands until an arts society in Warsaw bought it in 1902. During the Nazi occupation it was among the most sought-after paintings, and several members of the Polish Underground were executed rather than reveal where it was hidden. It now hangs in the National Museum in Warsaw, following a restoration completed in 2012.

The composition gives the leading role to the Lithuanian grand duke Vytautas, dressed in red and raising his sword at the centre, rather than to the Polish king Jogaila, who appears further back. Some scholars link this choice to the emphasis on Lithuania within the Polish-Lithuanian union, while others trace it to the chronicles of Jan Długosz. The death of Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen, in white and on a white horse, forms another focal point, surrounded by symbolic figures that Matejko interpreted quite freely. Above the fighting, Saint Stanislaus watches over the scene, which the painter turned into a celebration of Christian victory and national pride.

Painter

Jan Matejko

Date

1878

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

426 × 987 cm

Museum

National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw

Genre

battle painting

Depicts

Jakub Skarbek z Góry, Jan Długosz z Niedzielska, Zawisza the Black, Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Kuno von Lichtenstein, Siemowit IV, Jan Žižka, Vytautas

Share:FacebookWhatsApp