View of the Kraków Gate from the perspective of Krakowskie Przedmieście

The Krakowska Gate is one of the most frequently portrayed buildings in Lublin by artists. It was built during the reign of King Casimir the Great as part of the city's defence system. Over the centuries, it has performed various functions: defence, administration, trade, and in later times housing. It required frequent repairs and investments. For this reason, in 1830 it was proposed that the building should be demolished. Fortunately, the gate survived and became a symbol of the city. Today it houses the Museum of History of the City of Lublin, a branch of the National Museum in Lublin.

The building has been immortalised in numerous oil paintings, watercolours and drawings. It also became a motif of the work of painter A. Pawłowski, who made an oil sketch of Bramowa Street with a centrally located gate.

In the past, the sketch often served painters as a preparatory stage for the painting. It helped to determine the composition of the whole, the arrangement of elements on the plane. With time it was promoted to a fully-fledged, finished work of art, delighting with its lightness and sensitivity.

The sketch is worked out in great detail. The artist noted down such details as the gutters on the Krakowska Gate or the ajar windows of the tenement houses on Bramowa Street. One could say that it has become a finished painting. Before being framed, it was cropped from the bottom, which makes the painter's signature faintly visible.