Franciszek KOSTRZEWSKI (1826–1911), *Sorrow*, 1893

woodcut, paper, 29 x 21 cm (inside the passe-partout);
signed and dated on the block, lower left: F. Kostrzewski, 1875;
from the portfolio “Album Fr. Kostrzewskiego,” published by S. Lewental, 1893


Franciszek Kostrzewski—realist painter, creator of genre scenes, illustrator, satirical cartoonist, and caricaturist. He was the son of the steward of one of the noble palaces in Warsaw.
After the November Uprising, the family moved to a country estate in the Sandomierz Province, while Franciszek returned to Warsaw to continue his education. After completing the fifth grade of middle school, however, he lost interest in his studies; from a very young age, he had been passionate above all else about drawing and studying nature. His father opposed his plans to pursue art, but in 1844, the 18-year-old Kostrzewski enrolled in the newly established School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He studied under, among others, Jan Feliks Piwarski, Chrystian Breslauer, and Aleksander Kokular. During his studies, he traveled throughout the country, painting landscapes and genre scenes that documented life in small towns of that era.
In 1856, he spent several months in Paris. Upon his return to Poland in 1856, he began working as an illustrator. His illustrations appeared in Warsaw magazines, and he also illustrated books.
Franciszek Kostrzewski is the author of one of the oldest Polish comic strips. It was *The Story of the Only Child in 32 Pictures*, the first installment of which appeared in the third issue of *Tygodnik Ilustrowany* on October 3, 1859. Kostrzewski is considered the pioneer of the Polish comic strip.