Jan Franciszek Machniewicz (1859-1897), Alms, 1886
Oil on canvas, 150 cm x 101.5 cm
Signed, dated, inscribed "Munich" in lower right corner.
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Jan Franciszek Machniewicz (1859-1897) was born in 1859 in Zlotno, Nowy Sącz district, into a clerical family, although according to entries in the matriculation book of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Zhovkva near Lviv (now Zhovkva in Ukraine) was given as his place of birth. From 1874 to 1883 he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow. In 1883 Machnevich traveled to Munich, where he began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts under Alexander (Sándor) von Wagner (1838-1919). His stay in Munich played an important role in his artistic development; in 1884 the artist even won the academy's silver medal. In 1885, the artist returned to Krakow, where he again took up studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, this time under the direction of Jan Matejko (1838-1893).
Machniewicz practiced various painting genres: he painted portraits, genre scenes, figural compositions and landscapes. Portrait painting occupied a special place in his oeuvre. He made portraits of many well-known figures of public life and aristocracy, including the president of Cracow Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz, the aristocrat Alfred Józef Potocki and the politician Adam Sapieha, whose image is in the collection of the Wawel Royal Castle in Cracow. Also known from the Munich period are his paintings of oriental themes, such as Odalisque and Rest.
The artist died young, at the age of just 38, in 1897 in Krakow. Although he is not one of the best-known representatives of the Polish Munich school (probably primarily due to his untimely death), his work is an interesting example of the activities of Polish painters associated with Munich academia and Krakow's artistic life at the end of the 19th century.
[KP]
