Tadeusz Górecki

Polish painter, teacher. Son of the Polish poet Antoni Górecki (1787–1861). Born in the village of Dusieni?ta near Vilna in Lithuania (1825). Studied in Vilna and under Karl Brullov at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1841–48). Helped Karl Brullov to paint frescoes for St Isaac’s Cathedral in St Petersburg (1843–47). Awarded a minor silver medal (1843), gold medal for expression (1845) and a major gold medal (1848). Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Italy, Spain and Holland (1850–54), where he copied works by West European masters. Academician (1854). Lived mainly in Paris (from 1856), where he married writer Maria Mickiewicz (1835–1922), eldest daughter of Polish national poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855), against the wishes of her family (1857). Had four children, but only their son Adam survived. Died at the age of forty-two in Vichy in France (1868).