Foot Rifleman, Le Chasseur à pied du Corp de franc-tireurs: Colon: Jul. Małachowski

Colonel Juliusz Małachowski (1801–1831) was associated with Piotr Wysocki's conspiracy, serving as his emissary to Galicia. He fought during the November Uprising, commanding the 2nd Battalion of Riflemen, which he organised at his own expense. He distinguished himself with a daring assault on Russian barracks in Puławy on 26 February 1831, and gained further fame during the Battle of Puławy on 3 March of the same year. He participated in Jan Kanty Julian Sierawski's campaign against the Russian Kreutz corps, fighting successively on 17 April at Wronów, where his reserve forces' attack saved Polish troops from defeat, and on 18 April at Kazimierz Dolny. During the latter battle, he was killed while leading a counterattack with scythemen.

This graphic is part of the series Ubiory Wojska Polskiego z roku 1831 (Uniforms of the Polish Army from 1831), based on drawings by Jan Feliks Piwarski (1794–1859), a painter, graphic artist, curator of the Print Room at the University of Warsaw, professor at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, and one of Poland's first lithographers. Piwarski was an eyewitness to the Warsaw uprising. The author of the engraving is Fryderyk Krzysztof Dietrich (1779-1847), a German-born engraver who was associated with Poland since 1819. For many years, he operated a print workshop in Warsaw with his son, producing works highly regarded for their artistic quality. The series included 30 engravings, which Dietrich hand-coloured with the help of his son and, later, another engraver. Gazeta Warszawska in 1831 noted that "Mr. Dietrich has begun publishing depictions of our army’s uniforms, highly sought after abroad." The engravings were sold by Antoni Dal Trozzo in Warsaw, and Dietrich dedicated them as a token of respect to General Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki.

This piece was acquired from the Lubomirski family of Przeworsk.

dr Daniel Reniszewski