Dimensions: 53 x 99 cm (in light of frame)
Signature: signature p.d.: Jul Fałat 98 Nieśwież
Provenance
Warsaw, private collection purchase at Polswiss Art (2012)
For Julian Fałat's developing career, the residence in Nesvizh played a significant role. It was "the capital of the magnate family of Radziwill, once teeming with life and fantasy" (Fałat J., Memoirs, Silesian Scientific Institute, Katowice 1987, p. 139). The artist arrived there for the first time in the winter of 1886 on the occasion of a bear hunt orgaznized by the Radziwills for Prince Wilhelm of Prussia. With a letter of recommendation, allowed to watch the event, he accompanied the hunters for four weeks, immortalizing in painterly scenes the course of the expedition and its participants. As a result, he produced a lavish series of watercolors and became recognized in the circle of aristocracy, which began to invite him to visit. "In the spring Antoniowa Radziwillowa, having visited my studio, expressed flattering admiration for my works and invited me to Nesvizh, where I found a worthy reception and placement" (Falat J., op. cit., p. 159).
Since his famous bear hunt, Fałat visited Nesvizh regularly, not only in the winter, but also at other times of the year, "in order to become thoroughly acquainted with this already beloved world (...)" (Fałat J., op. cit., p. 162). In the featured painting, he showed a view of the garden and a section of the road leading through the princely estate. Flower-covered flower beds shimmer with blue patches of petals in the bright rays of the sun. Below the road is a green landscape full of lush trees and fields, and the distant buildings of the township loom on the horizon. Captured with feeling, the spring view, like a momentary impression, becomes a masterful play of light and color.
