THE JAN MATEJKO HOUSE MUSEUM
Corridor
This room used to fulfil the function of a dressing room, connecting Mr and Mrs Matejko’s dining room with the kitchen located in the backhouse. At present, this is where we become acquainted with the history of the house. In the 19th century photographs, we can see the changes in the interiors that took place after the creation of the Museum. Also displayed here is Jan Matejko’s bust by Antoni Madeyski and works by other authors. The display was planned so a visitor could become familiar with the artist’s remaining souvenirs, with his collections and polychromic projects. After the Museum was created, the furnishings in the house were successively completed, among others, with other pieces of furniture, textiles, trinkets as well as objects from the artist’s collection, his drawings, books and photographs of works documenting the artist’s output. The Museum’s resources were classified and described according to the methodology and knowledge of the times.
Museum Room and Armoury
The Dining room was transformed into a Museum room in 1896 after reconstruction according to a project by Tadeusz Stryjeński, a well-known Krakow architect and the vice-president of the Jan Matejko Association. The room was then connected by arcades to the bedroom of the artist’s wife, Teodora. The pieces in part of this room recall the mood of a domestic interior. Portrait photographs of family members are placed here; family pictures are displayed in the cabinets as well as small items belonging to the artist and his dear ones.What merits particular attention due to its intimate character is the painting Self-portrait, signed with the dedication ‘For Hela—father’ from 1887. It was the artist’s gift to his daughter on the occasion of her birthday. The second daughter, Beata, posed for another painting, Pieśń [Song], a slightly altered fragment of the work entitled Dziewica Orleańska [Orlean’s Virgin] from 1886, depicting Saint Marguerite. From his early youth, Matejko showed a passion for collecting. Over the years, he gathered precious collections of old crafts, clothes, textiles, and arms, constituting today a valuable Museum collection. The artefacts he purchased were often used as props for his paintings. The Museum’s founders attempted to display the largest possible group of these historic artefacts. Today, they are presented in the room called Museum Rooms and Armoury, in the following order.
Corridor
Ground floor
Our visit of the house begins with the entrance to the vestibule, where on a pedestal is placed a sculpture by Leon Wyczółkowski, A Hussar on a horse, an unfinished project of a monument in honour of Jan Matejko, offered to the museum in 1938 by Wyczółkowski’s wife. Next to the sculpture, a commemorative plaque, embedded in the wall, recalls the initiators of this biographical museum: This house and the museum it hosts, dedicated to the memory and honour of Jan Matejko by the efforts of Maryan Sokołowski and from the funds of the state, country, commune and from public contributions, with the collaboration of the 1st Department of the Jan Matejko Association represented by Konstanty Górski, Karol Pieniążek, Edward the Count Raczyński, Franciszek Slęk, Piotr Stachowicz and Tadeusz Stryjeński, was created and on the 1st of May 1895, solemnly opened. On the ground floor, there is also a room featuring a historic ceiling-roof from 1717, a study room where Matejko’s library is kept as well as a collection of artistic craft. In the passage from the back yard, another plaque is embedded, made by the sculptor Karol Hukan and commemorating Maciej Szukiewicz, the custodian of Jan Matejko’s House in 1899–1943.
Ground floor
Rooms on the 1st floor
In the passage to the rooms on the 1st floor, there is an effigy of Jan Matejko as well as a board featuring his biography. The board also quotes the 4th article of the donation contract from the 28th of January 1908, in which the Commune of the City of Krakow commits to: (…) in the three-floor tenement at 41 Floriańska Street (…) being the place of birth, long years of dwelling and the death of Jan Alojzy Matejko, famous artist-painter, to maintain for all times this museum encompassing Jan Matejko’s untouched private apartment located on the 1st floor, his home atelier on the 3rd floor, and artistic collection gathered in other parts of the house (…).
Rooms on the 1st floor
The History of the Museum
Soon after Jan Matejko’s death, the need to commemorate his memory arose. Professor Marian Sokołowski, one of the first Polish modern researchers in the history of art and an organiser of museums in Krakow, came up with an innovative project to buy Matejko’s house from his heirs to create a museum dedicated to the artist. He published an appeal to society in the Krakow periodical Czas [Time] to support the initiative and raise money. A Civic Committee was appointed, composed of outstanding personalities of Krakow, and a fund-raiser was launched. The obligation to organise and maintain the museum was trusted to the Jan Matejko Association, created for the occasion. After purchasing the tenement from the family, together with a part of the collection, the Association opened Jan Matejko’s House to the public for the first time on the 1st of May 1896. Two rooms were arranged and available to visitors—the living room and the artist’s bedroom. The official inauguration of Jan Matejko’s House took place on the 6th of March 1898. That was when the completely arranged rooms of the 1st floor were presented. Matejko’s paintings, drawings, objects of artistic craft, and everyday items were displayed. The income from the sale of a guide written by Adolf Sternschuss, a Doctor of Law and a collector of artworks, was destined for Matejko’s House needs. The present exhibition on the 1st floor of the museum was modelled after the first one, based on that guide. On subsequent floors, the arrangement from the beginning of the 20th century was recreated. The interiors were enriched with large-format photographs of the creation of the Museum.
The History of the Museum
Birth Room
Museum Room and Armoury
A historic staircase with arcades and a skylight
In the showcases in the landing, are displayed documents, prizes, and souvenirs that enable us to discover the artist as a student, and then a much talented and prized painter, a director of the Academy of the Fine Arts, a distinguished figure of Krakow. Certificates and documents in the first showcase illustrate Matejko’s path from a student to a professor. The following two showcases present the awards, medals, and diplomas related to distinctions and prizes Matejko was awarded. Among them, there is a diploma granting Matejko honoris causa of the Jagiellonian University in recognition of his historical knowledge.
A historic staircase with arcades and a skylight
Living Room and Bedroom
Two front rooms (Living Room and Bedroom) constitute the oldest part of the Museum, opened to the public on the 1st of May 1896. Here, they are preserved in their old arrangement. Juliusz Kossak depicted them in his watercolour presenting a famed personal visit of Emperor Franz Joseph to the Master’s house on the 2nd of September 1880. The living room had already been equipped with a set of neo-renaissance furniture purchased in Venice in 1878 and with tapestries from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, presented on the walls. The larch ceiling roof from the 18th century was only uncovered in 1910, but in Matejko’s time, it was covered with a white stucco ceiling. The initial colour of the walls was preserved, characteristic of 19th-century burgher interiors, as well as hand-made panel parquet dated to Matejko’s time. Also, the chandelier is an authentic piece made of soda-lime glass. The living room, referring back to the exhibition from the beginning of the existence of the Museum, was recreated based on photographs from the period. In the showcase in the middle of the room, honorific distinctions of the artist are presented, such as a sceptre offered to Jan Matejko by the Council of the City of Krakow as a symbol of his reign in the arts, medals obtained in Paris for the paintings Kazanie Skargi [Skarga’s Sermon], Rejtan—Upadek Polski [Rejtan—the Fall of Poland], the Legion of Honour, and Order of Pope Pius IX. On the easel, one can admire two paintings, a portrait of Jan Matejko by Izydor Jabłoński and a portrait of Chicherin offered to the Museum in 1894 by the Russian painter, Ilya Riepin, along with a tableau with portrait photographs and drawing studies. On glass pedestals are a palm offered to the artist in 1883 by the Krakow Society of Artists’ Mutual Help and silver wreaths. On the cupboards, under the glass platters, historic items of artistic craft and artefacts of gold smithery are displayed. Particularly noteworthy is the Nurnberg Cup from the 17th century and a Nautilus cup in the shape of the shell. The adjacent room was the private sitting room of the artist’s wife, Teodora. This room is sometimes referred to as a room “Under the Stars” because of the polychromies motif on the ceiling roof, which was returned to its original splendour in the last restoration. Shortly before the artist’s death, this room was transformed into his bedroom. Jan Matejko died here on the 1st of November 1893. He was buried in the family tomb at Rakowicki Cemetery. The ceremonial funeral, in which the citizens of Krakow and numerous official delegations participated, took place on the 7th of November. The formal service was conducted in St. Mary’s Basilica by Cardinal Albin Dunajewski. The funeral procession walked around the Main Square, continued up Floriańska street and then Lubicz street towards Rakowicki Cemetery, accompanied by the peal of the Sigismund Bell. In the room, in a glass wardrobe, one can observe a summer hat, coat, and the artist’s cane. Beside it are his painting tools, a palette and a case with brushes and paints. On the pedestal in the passage to the bedroom alcove is a posthumous mask made of silver, a gift of the Krakow Society of Friends of Fine Arts. In the room, apart from personal souvenirs, are also displayed historic artefacts of artistic craft, including valuable tapestries from the 17th century and one of Matejko’s religious paintings, Wniebowzięcie [Assumption].
Living Room and Bedroom
The Krakow Room
Matejko’s daughters, Helena and Beata, occupied two rooms with a view of the back yard. Today, in these rooms one can admire the artist’s works illustrating his fascination with Krakow monuments: from studies of tombstones in Wawel Cathedral to views of Krakow for selected polychromy projects for St. Mary’s Basilica. Matejko, a connoisseur and documentalist of monuments, participated in the conservation and restoration works of Wawel Castle and Cathedral, as well as of the Cloth Halls. In 1889–1891, he designed a monumental decoration for the restored St. Mary’s Basilica composed of religious and patriotic themes. That was Matejko’s Opus Magnum and the inspiration for his acolytes (Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Mehoffer, Włodzimierz Tetmajer), who continued the Master’s work in wall-painting and stained-glass arts. The main goal of the organisers of the Jan Matejko Museum was to preserve as much of the artist’s heritage as possible and to gather a reasonable amount of photographic documentation of his paintings. In the historic presenter are facsimiles of photographs of Matejko’s paintings and of the sketches for those paintings.
The Krakow Room
Birth Room
On the 24th of June 1838, in this exact room, Jan Matejko was born. For the commemoration of this event, in 1904, a marble board was placed above the door, on which the inscription in Latin reads: God often places greatness in a small form. Here are gathered mostly works of sacral art from Matejko’s collection. The altar with a representation of the “Great Holy Family”, dated to the years between 1510 and 1515, was created in the atelier of the Master of the Triptych from Szyk. The exhibition is completed with copestones from Gothic altars, 15th-century capitals from St. Mary’s Basilica (by Wit Stwosz) and a fragment of a Gothic wooden case copied by the painter in his painting Astronom Kopernik, czyli rozmowa z Bogiem [The Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God]. And 17th-century tiles come from the Bishop’s Palace in Krakow.
Historic Staircase
The manuscripts and drawing sketches presented here illustrate Matejko’s activities aimed at salvaging Krakow monuments and complete the exhibition of the Krakow Room. Also here, we can discover an image of Matejko as traveller and collector. Even though the artist declared that he didn’t enjoy leaving his hometown of Krakow, he travelled quite a bit. He documented his trips in various ways. He made sketches and bought photographs and guides. He also bought historic artefacts for his collection. As a mature artist, due to his financial resources, he was able to satiate his collecting passion and gather quite a sizable collection, which was secured by the museum according to his will. Among the artefacts in his collection is Judaica. Some were used as props in paintings, such as the caps in Hołd pruski [Prussian Homage] or the 17th-century nuptial ring in the painting Św. Kinga [St. Kinga].
Historic Staircase
The Painting Room
The following two rooms along Floriańska Street, used by Matejko and his sons, were rebuilt by Zygmunt Hendel in 1904–1905. Today, they host a gallery of paintings. Jan Matejko authored more than 320 oil paintings. The oldest work in this technique, Martwa natura z owocami [Still Life with fruits] from 1852, was a study made at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts. On the back of the painting is preserved a hand-made attestation by Adolf Matejko, the artist’s brother. At the beginning of his artistic path, Jan Matejko valued and imitated the French painter Paul Delaroche. From this period comes the painting Stańczyk udający ból zębów [Stańczyk feigning a toothache] from 1856, recalling a historical anecdote. Gradually, the paintings became more and more spectacular, filled with “theatrical” expression. The artist brought his awe for Venetian painting into his mature compositions, such as Jan III Sobieski pod Wiedniem [John III Sobieski at Vienna] from 1880, presented here, one of the oil sketches for the composition Sobieski at Vienna, painted for the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Vienna. Dynamic and expressive, the sketch version varies from the final version of the painting. In the centre, at the background of the Hussars bearing banners, King John III Sobieski, seated on a horse, presents the canon John Denhoff with a letter addressed to Pope Innocent XI. On the left, the artist presented the commander of the imperial army, Prince Charles of Lorraine, on a horse, and on the right, the Polish hetmans, also on horseback—Mikołaj Sieniawski, Stanisław Jabłonkowski, and Hieronim Lubomirski. In the background, there is a Turkish tent and a piece of the panorama of Vienna. The painting is kept in warm hues of brown and lighted yellows, reminders of the palette of Tintoretto, the 16th-century Venetian painter. Matejko expressed himself the most willingly in the works of historical themes. The paintings presented in this room illustrate his interests: Carowie Szujscy na sejmie warszawskim [Tsars Shuyski brought to the Warsaw Sejm], Wyjście żaków z Krakowa w roku 1549 [The Students leave Krakow in 1549]. Also, there are oil sketches for the paintings Mikołaj Kopernik [Nicolas Copernicus], Wacław Wilczek podczas obrony klasztoru w Trzebnicach [Waclaw Wilczek at the Defence of the Monastery of Trzebnice], Śluby Jana Kazimierza [Jan Kazimierz’s Oaths] as well as Zygmunt August i Barbara [Zygmunt August and Barbara]. This composition, placed in front of an 18th-century mirror, is a sketch for a painting from 1867. The sketch, which differs in detail from the painting, depicts the interior of a Renaissance room in which a couple, embracing, is standing. This piece is Matejko’s artistic vision of a secret meeting of King Sigismund August and Barbara Radziwiłłówna at the castle in Vilnius. The models for the painting were probably the painter himself and his wife, Teodora. The sketch, which then belonged to her, was purchased for the National Museum in Krakow in 1897. The painting Tsars Shuyski brought to the Warsaw Sejm from 1892 depicts King Sigismund III Vasa in Senator’s Hall in the Royal Castle, on the throne, surrounded by members of Senate and the court during a solemn session of the Sejm in 1611, after the conquest of Smolensk. The king receives homage from the Moscow captives, the Tsar Vasyli IV Shuyski and his brothers, who had been taken captive near Kłuszyn by the hetman Stefan Żółkiewski. The very scene, bearing the same title, had been painted by Matejko already in 1853 when he was still a student at the Academy of Fine Arts. In the centre of the composition is featured the hetman Żółkiewski, pointing at the Shuyskis, who are bowing and paying homage. Rays of sunshine pass through the inside of large stained-glass windows in the background. The walls are decorated with textiles and the ceiling with two chandeliers. The banners intercepted during the battle of Kłuszyn, leaning above the Shuyskis add dynamism to the composition. This painting is characterised by a schematic configuration, roughness of texture, chiaroscuro effects, the conciseness of the composition, and colours maintained in dark tones. Matejko was also an excellent portraitist. He was able to accurately render the traits of character and emotional states of the model. He believed that revealing complete knowledge about a man was essential to a good portrait. His early works of this kind were most of all effigies of his relatives and friends: Kazimierz Stankiewicz, Paulina Giebułtowska, Henryk Groppler. One of the newest acquisitions of the Museum is Portret Szymona Darowskiego [Portrait of Szymon Darowski] from 1858, depicting a friend of Matejko’s family, a builder and a participant of the Krakow Uprising from 1846 and January Uprising from 1863. Matejko painted this portrait as a student at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts before leaving on a grant to the Academy in Munich, whose director, Wilhelm von Kaulbach, wrote about this piece with approval: This work is characterised by an interesting composition idea, unconstrained brush touches, contrasting colour balance, and a finely painted figure. Darowski’s portrayal appears also in other Matejko works: Kazanie Skargi [Skarga’s Sermon] and Rejtan as well as in Jan Kochanowski z Urszulką [Jan Kochanowski with Urszulka]. Among the intimate portraits, painted on order, there is the portrait of Parys and Mary Maurizio, owners of the then-famous Krakow café, as well as Łukasz Dobrzański’s portrait. In his later period, the artist made portraits ordered by the aristocracy, by personalities from the political and scientific elite, and he used to introduce to those representations an eye-catching background and props.
The Painting Room
Jan Matejko, collector
We may admire here examples of artistic craft from the painter’s collection. A group of arms from the Middle East, Far East, and Europe is of particular interest—Persian shields and helmets from the 18th century, Turkish maces, Chinese swords, a fragment of Hussar armour from the 17th century. In the next showcase, there are torture instruments from the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. They were found during the renovation of the underground part of the Krakow City Hall Tower and Matejko bought them, saving them from destruction.
Jan Matejko, collector
Temporary Exhibition Rooms
Two rooms on the third floor on the street side were residential in character. They were rented to tenants. The artist’s daughters’ teacher lived here, as well as his sons’ tutor. After the painter’s death, the rooms were transformed into the Museum custodian’s apartment, in which Maciej Szukiewicz spent the years 1908–1943. The apartment was removed during the refurbishment of the Museum in 1953. During conservation works in 2007–2009, a polychromy from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries was uncovered. In this part of the house is a temporary exhibition and displays from the rich collection of the bibliographical museum and collection of other institutions as well as private owners.
Temporary Exhibition Rooms
Atelier
The in-home atelier of the artist was added in 1872–1873. In later years, Matejko also had an atelier in the manor at Krzesławice, which he bought in 1876, as well as in the Academy of Fine Arts. Among the objects displayed in the atelier, we find the artist’s easels, palettes, a case for painting instruments, and academic studies performed during his time as a student of the Academy of the Fine Arts in Munich. Among the items coming from the later period, there is Studium zbroi Stefana Batorego [Study of Stephan Batory’s armour] from 1871 and oil sketches of horses. Situated in the showcase, a taxidermy horse in an exquisite Turkish harness from the beginning of the 19th century, set with an 18th-century saddle, was purchased for the Museum as a model in 1897.
Atelier
Stairs in the back house
Stained glass fixed in the window and presenting the motif of an angel playing the bagpipes was executed in the Żeleński Factory in 1926 based on a project by Jan Matejko for a polychromy in St. Mary’s Basilica in Krakow.
Stairs in the back house
The exit from the back house
The exit from the back house leads through the renovated neo-baroque court to the hallway of the tenement. The courtyard, with its vegetation and shadowy arcade, is a place of rest for the Museum’s visitors on hot days. Upon leaving the building, pay attention to the neo-baroque façade with grotesque mascarons and the artist’s coat of arms, a painting palette, brushes, and two books underneath a canopy of a royal coat. Large-format works by Jan Matejko may be admired in the Gallery of Polish Art of the 19th century in the Cloth Halls, a branch of the National Museum of Krakow.
