Henryk Piatkowski (1853 Kyiv - 1932 Warsaw), Afternoon in the countryside

Origin
Millon auction house, Paris, April 2024
private collection, Poland

Biography
Henryk Piatkowski began his drawing studies in St. Petersburg. Soon after, he moved to Warsaw and continued his studies in a drawing class under Rafal Hadziewicz, where he met Jozef Chelmonski and Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski. In 1872, he went to Munich, where he took lessons in the studio of Alexander Wagner, and then in Carl Theodor von Piloty's private school of composition. While in the Reich, he maintained close relations with artists from Konstanty Brandl's circle. In 1875, together with Jozef Chelmonski, he went to Paris, where his work acquired an individual character. From the French capital he went to London for several months, from where he briefly returned to Munich, and then went to Odesa. He returned to Warsaw in 1879 and co-founded the Pro Arte art group.
Henryk Piatkowski's rich oeuvre includes portraits, landscapes and paintings of sacred and historical subjects, as well as genre scenes often with antique elements. He exhibited at the Autumn Salons and at exhibitions in Warsaw, St. Petersburg and Moscow. In addition to painting, the artist was also involved in art criticism, publishing reviews in magazines including "Wanderer" and "Illustrated Weekly". He also wrote books devoted to the works of other painters current to his time.