Museum Night 2011 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow

The Museum Night 2011 in Krakow's Academy of Fine Arts features the person and activities of Jan Matejko (b. 1838, d. 1893), its prominent student, professor, director and patron. 160 years have passed this year since the artist enrolled at the Academy as a student. The highlights of this year's exhibition are the new acquisitions, including the portrait of Jan Matejko drawn on paper in 1893 by his student Wojciech Weiss and recently donated to the Academy by his grandaughter Zofia Weiss Nowina-Konopka, for which are most grateful. The portrait completed by the young artist, looking up to his great master, will from now on be a reminder of the Year of Wojciech Weiss celebrated by the Academy in 2010.

The cooperation of the Academy with Krakow National Museum and Wojciech Weiss Foundation has resulted in the exhibition and publication project as part of which the little known early works of Weiss have been made available to the public, including the portrait in question that he drew while a student.
19th century documents certifying the awarding of a high Imperial medal to Jan Matejko are another new exhibit in our Museum collection. They are also one of many testimonies to the great prestige and authority the artist enjoyed in his lifetime, both at home and abroad.

The first is the letter of the Imperial Chamberlain, Count von Trauttmansdorf, to Jan Matejko informing him that the former had submitted an application to the Emperor to
award the painter with an honorary medal for his contribution to scholarship and arts and that the Emperor granted him the distinction on 18 August 1887.
The letter is accompanied by a diploma certifying the awarding of the honorary medal to Matejko in recognition of his scholarship and art. The diploma was issued by the Imperial Chamberlain in Vienna on 19 August 1887. These are German manuscripts, in neogothic style, with official seals: the seal of the Chamberlain office on the envelope and the round paper seal (stamped on the paper with adhesive backside) on the diploma with the Imperial Coat of Arms of the Habsburgs.

There is an intriguing story behind the documents of how they had travelled to the harbour of Świnoujście where they were taken over by their last owner, who had acquired them from the person she took care of at the end of her life and later donated them to the Academy. The earlier story of the Matejko documents is unfortunately shrouded in mystery.

Małgorzata Sokołowska