oil on cardboard, 23.4 × 33.8 cm
signed and dated lower left: "J Malczewski 1902"
on the reverse: a handwritten certificate of authenticity signed by Stefan Podworski, Head of Exhibitions and Art Auctions at the Kraków branch of the Association of Polish Visual Artists, dated 1924; a typescript containing Feliks Kopera’s appraisal from 1946 and a partially preserved sticker from PPH DESA dating from before 1990
The painting most likely depicts the garden belonging to the “Pod Matką Boską” villa in Kraków’s Zwierzyniec district, where the Malczewski family lived from 1896 to 1910. As Rafał Malczewski recalled:
“The garden—joy; the garden—eternal sunshine and spring. A burst of scents luring twilight butterflies, roaring like jet planes. In a small space (which to me seemed boundless), perennials, shrubs, and trees grew—everything that could possibly exist in such a Zwierzyniec paradise. Lilacs (a multitude of varieties) and jasmine were in bloom; golden rain cascaded down, and unnamed shrubs blossomed in pink (…). In the spring, catkins fell from the white willows like little angora bunnies. (…) The garden rose in terraces higher and higher until, at a certain point, it widened considerably and became almost flat. Then it ran upward again, steeply, before cutting into the Norbertine Sisters’ cultivated fields in a triangle that reached almost to the chestnut-lined road leading to the Kościuszko Mound (Rafał Malczewski, “Memories of My Father,” in *Kultura* 1956, no. 2/100, p. 87).
According to biographers, it was in this house near Kraków that Jacek Malczewski spent the happiest moments of his life. Zwierzyniec was a place cherished by both the master himself and his son Rafał, who wrote years later: “It was there that my childhood, filled with bliss, passed. My father, for his part, experienced the peak years of his creative work […]” (Ibid., p. 84). By renting a house in Zwierzyniec with a view of the Vistula River, the rooftops of Kraków, and Wawel, Malczewski let himself be carried away by the charm of plein air painting and created several works at that time—painted sketchily and quickly—intended to capture the fleeting nature of the moment. “Poland—these are the fields, the balks, the roadside willows, the moods of this countryside at sunset,” declared Malczewski. And this Poland can be found both in the backgrounds of most of the artist’s compositions and in small, impressionistic landscapes depicting the surroundings of Kraków and Zwierzyniec, which was then a suburb of Kraków.” (U. Kozakowska-Zaucha, “Jacek Malczewski,” Olszanica 2024, p. 18.)
“In Kraków’s Zwierzyniec,
above the waves of the Vistula flowing toward Wawel,
Master Jacek lived near Prince Józef’s residence.
When he returned from the Academy at the Matejko Palace,
in front of the house where the wells were poisoned,
girls sat like sorrow,
harpies and chimeras crept about,
fauns played their flutes mournfully,
tapping out the beat with their hooves,
until their wings fanned the naked women,
sweeping the velvet of the sky,
and the eyes of the exiles from Siberia welled up with tears.
And though only occasionally did a lark fly by,
everything was sad,
for the Franciscan friar
reigned Thanaos, the god of death.
(T. Z. Bednarski, “Jacek Malczewski’s Guests at Zwierzyniec in Kraków,” 1996)
The woman portrayed is most likely Miss Eiwass. “She was a model who was the first to appear in the studio at Zwierzyniec. As Rafał Malczewski recalled: ‘A redhead with green eyes, she came from nearby Przegorzały. She was beautiful, with a pale, rosy complexion and a short, round face.’” (Paulina Szymalak-Bugajska, “My Soul: The Faces of Women in the Work of Jacek Malczewski,” Radom 2019, p. 21; Rafał Malczewski, “Memories of My Father,” *Kultura* 1956, no. 2/100, p. 89). It was likely her whom the artist portrayed in the 1901 painting “Soap Bubbles” (MNW collection)—ill. 1—and in “The Grasshopper—Triptych, 1903–1907 (ill. 2) (as the second figure in the central panel).
“Jacek Malczewski’s oeuvre includes portraits of women from his family circle, ladies of high society, and representatives of the artistic community, but many of his works also feature the faces of professional and casual models whose identities are not well known. It was not uncommon for ordinary maids, cooks, and servants to lend their likenesses; as Janoszanka writes: ‘Wonderful works were created from cooks and maids: Medusas and Harpies with wings on their heads’” (quoted from Paulina Szymalak-Bugajska, “My Soul: The Faces of Women in the Work of Jacek Malczewski,” Radom 2019, p. 21).
The identity of the woman portrayed was determined thanks to the expertise and kindness of Ms. Paulina Szymalak-Bugajska (an expert, author of numerous publications on the painter, and curator of paintings at the Jacek Malczewski Museum in Radom).
