Jan Chełmiński, ENCOUNTER ON THE ROAD, ca. 1875

22.1 x 15.4 cm - oil on mahogany panel with two sponges

signed lower right: Jan Chełmiński

Similar small compositions depicting soldiers of various branches and uniforms frequently appeared in the artist’s oeuvre (including a series of 48 paintings dedicated to the army of the Duchy of Warsaw; currently in the Polish Army Museum). These were, in a sense, studies in which the artist faithfully and with great expertise recreated the details of the uniforms of soldiers from various armies and formations. Our painting, for example, depicts a Prussian hussar from the Seven Years’ War (1756–63).
 

Jan Chełmiński (Brzustów near Opoczno, 1851 – New York, 1925), a popular painter from the circle of the “Polish Munich artists,” began his studies with Juliusz Kossak, and then studied at the Drawing Class in Warsaw and in Munich—at the Academy under Alexander Strähuber and Alexander Wagner (1873–1875) and in the private studios of Józef Brandt (1875) and the battle painter Franz Adam (1876). After completing his studies, he lived permanently abroad—in Munich, London (1882, 1888–1899), and Paris (1899); he also traveled to St. Petersburg (1889) and New York (1884), where he later, around 1915, took up permanent residence. However, he did not sever ties with his homeland and often sent his works to exhibitions in Warsaw. His paintings were extremely popular. He painted primarily military scenes and battle scenes, most often from the era of the Duchy of Warsaw and the Napoleonic Wars, as well as genre paintings and hunting scenes. He was also active as a book illustrator; among other works, he illustrated a volume of hunting stories by Theodore Roosevelt. He was a collector of antique weapons and an outstanding expert on military uniforms. Many of the artist’s paintings are still located abroad—in England, Germany, and the United States. A few of them appear on the antique market, consistently arousing keen interest among collectors.