Józef Brandt (1841 Szczebrzeszyn - 1915 Radom), Cossack on horseback, 1883

Origins
private collection, United States

Biography
After graduating from the Institute of Nobility in 1858, he went to study engineering at the École des Ponts et Chaussess in Paris, but at the urging of Juliusz Kossak he devoted himself to the study of painting. For a time he studied in the studio of Leon Cogniet, and also took advice from Juliusz Kossak and Henryk Rodakowski. In 1862 he went to Munich, where he began studying in the studio of F. Adam and T. Horschelt, and from 17. 02. 1863 he studied at the Munich Academy, mainly under K. von. Piloty. In 1869 he received a 1st class medal at the Glaspalast international exhibition, and from 1878 he was an honorary professor at the Academy. He settled permanently in Munich, where in 1866 he established a studio that brought together all Polish artists residing in the city. From around 1875 he ran a kind of unofficial private school for young painters, mainly Poles. He left Munich only during the summer months, which he spent at his Orońsk estate near Radom and traveling in Podolia, Volhynia, Ukraine and the European part of Turkey. He was an active member of the Münchener Kunstverein - from 1864 to 1913 he was an ordinary member of the association, and in 1874 and 1875 he was a board member. He won great public acclaim and many top honors and titles - in 1891 he was awarded the Grand Gold Medal at an international exhibition in Berlin, from 1875 he was a member of the Berlin Academy of Art, from 1878 an honorary professor at the Bavarian Academy, and from 1900 an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He was primarily a battle painter. The scenery of the events depicted by the artist was usually the eastern borderlands of the seventeenth-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, during the era of Cossack wars and Tartar invasions. The main motifs of the artist's paintings were Cossacks, Tatars, foxhunters, Polish knights of the 17th, where the most important role was played by horses in showy movements and colorful figures of horsemen in the heat of battle, also scenes of hunting and noisy bazaars. The artist's paintings can be found in almost all Polish museums, as well as in collections and private collections in Europe and America.