Henryk Siemiradzki

Polish painter, draughtsman, theatrical designer. Born to dragoon officer Hipolit Siemiradzki and his wife Michalina in the town of Novo-Belgorod (now Pechenegi) in the Ukraine (1843). Attended the Second Kharkiv Grammar School, where he learnt art under Dmytro Bezperchy, a former student of Karl Brullov. Studied physics and mathematics at Kharkiv University (1860–64) and painting at the Imperial Academy of Arts as an extern student (1864–66) and under Bogdan Gottfried Willewalde and Carl Wenig (1866–70). Awarded a major gold medal (1870) and a foreign fellowship to Germany and Italy (1870–77). Studied under Carl Theodor von Piloty in Munich (1870–71), lived and worked in Rome (from 1872). Travelled to Naples to witness the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (1872). Academician (1873), professor (1877), board member (1889), full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1893). Awarded the Légion d’honneur (1878) and elected to the academies of arts in Berlin, Stockholm, Rome, Turin and Paris. Painted frescoes for the Church of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (1875–79), designed the curtains for theatres in Krakow (1896) and Lvov (1900). Died at his estate of Strzalkowo near Radomsko in central Poland (1902). Buried in Warsaw (1902) and reburied at the Skalka Mausoleum in Krakow (1903). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1867). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions, St Petersburg Society of Artists and the Society of Artists of History Painting, Pan-Russian Exhibition of Art and Industry in Moscow (1882), Weltausstellung in Vienna (1873, medal for art), Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia (1876, gold medal), Exposition Universelle in Paris (1878, grand prix), World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893) and one-man show in St Petersburg (1889).