The Battle of Varna Jan Matejko

Jan Matejko was the most renowned Polish artist of the second half of the nineteenth century and an internationally important representative of historical painting. In as early as the 1860s, however, he broke away from the academic tradition in terms of composition and his use of colour. His depictions of historical events became an integral part of the national memory and a way of keeping it visually alive following Poland’s loss of independence and the three-way partition of its territory.
Today, Matejko’s colour palette often appears dark: like Mihály Munkácsy, he preferred painting with bitumen. Commemorating the bBattle of Varna that took place on 10th November 1444, this work was produced during Matejko’s tenure as director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. It was presumably originally a colour sketch for a more monumental painting, although the final version was never realized. At the centre of the painting is the figure of Władysław III of Poland, riding courageously and heroically into battle against the army of Sultan Murad II. His troops suffered an ignominious defeat, and the king lost his life in the battle. In its passion and fervour, the scene echoes the earlier work of Eugène Delacroix.

Bianka Izsák-Boda