The Hanging of the Sigismund bell at the Cathedral Tower in 1521 in Kraków

This history painting by Jan Matejko, completed in 1874, is set in Renaissance Kraków and shows the moment the Sigismund bell is drawn out of its mould, rather than its hanging in the tower. The bell, cast in bronze for King Sigismund I by Hans Beham of Nuremberg, was first rung in 1521 and remains the largest of those in the Wawel Cathedral tower. Matejko worked with care for realism: he commissioned craftsmen to build a replica of the scaffolding used to move the bell and tried to place it in its likely original position. On the left, the royal court gathers, including the king, his family and the jester Stańczyk; on the right, ordinary workers stand for the hard labour that made such grandeur possible. Matejko also included figures who could not have been present, such as the young Sigismund II and the musician Bálint Bakfark, reflecting his wish to bring together the key personalities of the age. Contemporaries received the work well, and it was shown in Paris and at the 1878 Exposition Universelle. Its colourful yet realistic composition, which evokes the power of the kingdom, makes it one of the most recognisable images of Poland's past.

Painter

Jan Matejko

Date

1874

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

94 × 189 cm

Museum

National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw

Genre

history painting

Depicts

Sigismund Bell, Bona Sforza, Bartolommeo Berrecci, Hans Beham, Jan Chojeński, Sigismund I the Old, Sigismund II Augustus, Bálint Bakfark

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