Jan Franciszek Machniewicz (1859–1897), Alms, 1886
Oil on canvas, 150 cm x 101.5 cm
Signed, dated, and inscribed “Monachium” in the lower right corner.
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Jan Franciszek Machniewicz (1859–1897) was born in 1859 in Złotne, in the Nowy Sącz County, into a family of civil servants, although according to records in the enrollment register of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, his place of birth was listed as Żółkiew near Lviv (now Żowkwa in Ukraine). From 1874 to 1883, he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków. In 1883, Machniewicz left for Munich, where he began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Alexander (Sándor) von Wagner (1838–1919). His time in Munich played an important role in his artistic development; in 1884, he even won a silver medal from the academy. In 1885, the artist returned to Kraków, where he resumed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, this time under the guidance of Jan Matejko (1838–1893).
Machniewicz worked in various genres of painting: he painted portraits, genre scenes, figural compositions, and landscapes. Portrait painting held a special place in his body of work. He painted portraits of many well-known figures from public life and the aristocracy, including the mayor of Kraków, Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz; the aristocrat Alfred Józef Potocki; and the politician Adam Sapieha, whose portrait is part of the collection at the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków. Also known from his Munich period are his paintings with Oriental themes, such as *Odalisque* and *Rest*.
The artist died young, at the age of only 38, in 1897 in Kraków. Although he is not among the best-known representatives of the Polish Munich School (likely primarily due to his untimely death), his work provides an interesting example of the activities of Polish painters associated with the Munich academic community and Kraków’s artistic life in the late 19th century.
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