Józef Brandt

Bolesław Szańkowski (1871/73-1953): Portrait of Józef Brandt, 1910. Oil on canvas, 162 x 112 cm, National Museum in Warsaw/Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, Inv. No. MP 961

Muzeum cyfrowe / http://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl

After studying painting in Munich from 1860 onwards, Józef Brandt (1841-1915), who called himself Josef von Brandt on account of his Polish aristocratic title, celebrated brilliant successes with large battle paintings recaling the 17th century Polish wars against the Tatars, the Turks and the Swedes. Smaller paintings on the same theme as well as genre pictures from Polish folk life proved highly popular amongst collectors in Germany, England and the USA. With the opening of his Munich studio in 1875, when he publicly exhibited a collection of Polish antiquities used as models for his paintings, he became the leading figure in the Polish artists' colony in Munich. His close connection to the Bavarian royal family and his great successes at international exhibitions earned him titles, decorations and medals in the 1880s/90s. In Poland he is still remembered for his school of painting on his estate at Oronsko, which he had acquired by marriage, and for his national-polish motifs.

Mediathek Sorted

Art review. The Battle of Vienna 1683.

Oil painting by Joseph Brandt in Munich, in: Deutsche Kunst-Zeitung Die Dioskuren, Year 18, No. 10, Berlin 1873, page 78 (http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/dioskuren1873/0091), in German.

Art review. The Battle of Vienna 1683.

Fig. 1: Unknown: Portrait of Józef Brandt

Fig. 2: Władysław Szerner (1836-1915): Józef Brandt in his studio

Fig. 3: Władysław Szerner (1836-1915): The studio of Józef Brandt in Munich

Fig. 4: The studio of Josef v. Brandt

Fig. 5: Carl Teufel (1845-1912): The studio of Josef v. Brandt

Fig. 6: The March of the Lisowskis

Fig. 7: Jews leading Horses to the Market

Fig. 8: Polish Peasants' Horse and Cart

Fig. 9: The Battle of Chocim

Fig. 10: Grazing Horses

Fig. 11: Return from Vienna

Fig. 12: A Break in a Small Town

Fig. 13: At the Tavern. A Polish Village with Ulans

Fig. 14: Czarniecki in the Battle of Kolding

Fig. 15: Waiting for the Boat

Fig. 16: Cossack patrol around the campfire

Fig. 17: The Battle of Vienna

Fig. 18: Booty at the River

Fig. 19: Greeting the Steppe

Fig. 20: A Break in the Steppe

Fig. 21: Cossacks

Fig. 22: Horse Breeding in the Steppe

Fig. 23: Polish Horseman with his Horse in front of the Toll House

Fig. 24: Cossack Guard

Fig. 25: The Liberation of Prisoners

Fig. 26: Alarm

Fig. 27: Militia at the Ford

Fig. 28: Catching a Horse

Fig. 29: Zaporozhian Camp

Fig. 30: Zaporozhian Cossack

Fig. 31: March with War Booty. Return from Vienna

Fig. 32: Polish Cavalry Parade (Hussars)

Fig. 33: Sketch of Cossacks

Fig. 34: A Cossack waiting for the Boat

Fig. 35: Setting out for the Hunt

Fig. 36: Market in Białka

Fig. 37: Encounter on the bridge

Fig. 38: Polish Farming Cart on a Country Road

Fig. 39: Before the hunt

Fig. 40: ‘The Poles in Munich’

Fig. 41: Royal Ensign

Fig. 42: In Flight

Fig. 43: Encounter on the causeway

Fig. 44: Prayer in the steppe

Fig. 45: Sketch for the ‘Armenian Mother of God’

Fig. 46: Cossack Wedding

Fig. 47: Victorious Return

Fig. 48: The capture of a Caucasian chief

Fig. 49: Return of the Cossacks

Fig. 50: Departure of Jan III and Marysieńka Sobieski from Wilanów

Fig. 51: Marysieńka's departure from Wilanów

Fig. 52: Preparatory study for ‘Marysieńka's Departure from Wilanów’

Fig. 53: Fight for the banner

Fig. 54: The courtyard

Fig. 55: Horse and Cart trying to escape

Fig. 56: The Hunt

Fig. 57: Cossack on horseback

Fig. 58: Cossack watchman

Fig. 59: The horse trial

Fig. 60: Tatar riding through a River

Fig. 61: Stefan Czarniecki on Horseback

Fig. 62: Forager

Fig. 63: Trumpeter

Fig. 64: Jadwiga Golcz (1866-1936): Portrait of the painter Józef Brandt

Bolesław Szańkowski (1871/73-1953): Portrait of Józef Brandt, 1910. Oil on canvas, 162 x 112 cm, National Museum in Warsaw/Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, Inv. No. MP 961

Muzeum cyfrowe / http://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl

Soon after its opening Brandt's atelier also caused a sensation in Poland. Apparently on the basis of a photograph, Szerner drew a view of the larger studio, with Brandt sitting in front of his easel leafing through an illustrated book, with a palette of paint at his feet. It was published in June 1876 in the Warsaw magazine Kłosy (Engl: Ears, as in wheat) as a wood engraving by the woodcutter Jan Styfi (1841-1921) (fig. 2). In his "Letters from Munich" in the same magazine that October, the Polish writer Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (1812-1887), who was based in Dresden, described Brandt's studio in detail, as a "truly historical museum".[15] In December the Warsaw magazine Tygodnik Illustrowany (Engl: Illustrated Weekly) published a view of the two larger studio rooms, again drawn by Szerner, but this time without the painter. It was accompanied by an extensive article on Brandt's work.[16] Placed on a double-page spread, Paweł Boczkowski's (1860-1905) engraved wooden sheet showed a splendid frame decorated with objects from the collection, crowned by a picture of the Black Madonna with a halo of sabres and pistols.[17] (fig. 3)

In 1889, the Munich photographer Carl Teufel (1845-1912), - a specialist in interior photography and photo templates for painters of landscapes, animals, horse-drawn carriages, farms and scenes from the working world - photographed around 240 "Studios of Munich artists" and published them in an alphabetically arranged three-volume work: Brandt's studio was also included.[18] (fig. 4) In 1890 one of the three photos taken at Brant's studio appeared in the Krakow periodical Świat (Engl. World),[19] another in 1899 in the periodical Tygodnik Illustrowany.[20] (fig. 5) In 1903 in his article published in the magazine Życie i Sztuka (Engl. Life and Art) and entitled "A visit to Józef Brandt in Munich", the Polish painter and art critic Władysław Wankie (1860-1925) - he came to Munich to study in 1882 and was a member of the Polish artists' circle around Brandt for twenty years [21] - wrote that "few people in Poland possess such a wealth of historical objects as he does".[22] In 1920, five years after Brandt's death, all the pieces of equipment in his studio (there were more than 330), were taken to the National Museum in Warsaw, according to his wishes.[23]

[15] Listy J. I. Kraszewskiego. Monachium w Październiku 1876 r., in: Kłosy, 1876, Band XXIII, Nr. 591, page 274, column 3. Digital version: http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/publication?id=117872&tab=3 (called up on 4.11.2017)

[16] J. Wojciechowski: Józef Brandt, in: Tygodnik Illustrowany, 1876, Band II, Nr. 52, page 412-414; Digital version: http://bcul.lib.uni.lodz.pl/dlibra/publication?id=1571&tab=3 (called up on 4.11.2017)

[17] A sketch of the painted frame can be found in the Jacek Malczewski Museum in Radom/Muzeum im. Jacka Malczewskiego w Radomiu, along with the photos from which the drawing was made, one photo is by Agnieszka Bagińska (see note 1), page 48, cf. there note 23.

[18] Carl Teufel: Ateliers Münchener Künstler, 3 Bände, München 1889, here: Band 1, unnumbered plate 9; Digital version: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0011/bsb00110288/images/index.html?id=00110288&groesser=&fip=193.174.98.30&no=&seite=21 (called up on 5.11.2017)

[19] S. Fabijański: Pracownia Józefa Brandta, in: Świat 1890, page 517

[20] Pracownia profesora Józefa Brandta w Monachium, in: Tygodnik Illustrowany, 1899, Band II, Nr. 40, page 789; Digital version: http://bcul.lib.uni.lodz.pl/dlibra/publication?id=1491&tab=3. Glass plates and prints of all three photos are now in the picture archive in Marburg, cf. fig. 5; online: http://www.bildindex.de/document/obj05220214?part=0&medium=fm121569 (both called up on 5.11.2017)

[21] Władysław Wankie: U Józefa Brandta w Monachium, in: Życie i Sztuka, 1903, Nr. 48, page 2

[22] Quoted from Agnieszka Bagińska (see note 1), page 46

[23] Ibid, page 48. Now the collection can be found in the various departments of the National Museum in Warsaw/Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie and the Museum of the Polish Army/Muzeum Wojska Polskiego.

Bolesław Szańkowski (1871/73-1953): Portrait of Józef Brandt, 1910. Oil on canvas, 162 x 112 cm, National Museum in Warsaw/Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, Inv. No. MP 961

Muzeum cyfrowe / http://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl

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Józef Brandt

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Art review. The Battle of Vienna 1683.

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