Four horses in a team

Piotr Michałowski is an exceptional figure, a talented and educated artist. During his lifetime he was known mainly as a social activist. He was referred to as an artist in Polish magazines, but he was really discovered only after his death in 1894 by Jan Bołoz-Antoniewicz and Jerzy Mycielski.

Michałowski's oeuvre underwent gradual transformations which allow us to distinguish several creative periods. The first one started in his youth and lasted until his departure for Paris in 1832. Between 1832 and 1837, during his studies in France and after his return to Kraków, Michałowski shaped his own style. The years 1837-1848, when he stayed in Krzysztoporzyce and Bolestraszyce, are considered the period of his mature artistic work. In the last seven years of his life, the decrease of the artist's creative powers is clearly visible.

While staying in Kraków after 1848, Michałowski was posed by soldiers. Thanks to a certain colonel, delighted with the studies made by the artist, he was able to use the most suitable models in the form of soldiers and horses. Through the observation of anatomy and movements, he successfully created battle and historical paintings.

In the presented watercolour, representative of the painter's abundant creative legacy, Michałowski masterfully rendered the movement of horses. As one of his Parisian acquaintances noted on the 10th of July 1833, "Piotr is becoming more and more popular, all of Paris is chasing his horses: artists, amateurs, experts, unknowns - everyone wants to have Micalouski's horses, as they call him. In a word, he is an extraordinary man: he has a herd in his head and even more, because he sells his horses for the weight of gold, which he would not manage with live horses'.

Klara Sadkowska