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Jadwiga Maria Kinga Bal (Balowa) of Zaleszczyki, ''
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...
'' Brunicka (July 26, 1879 – January 1, 1955) was a Polish
baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...
and a lifelong
muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
of
Jacek Malczewski Jacek Malczewski (; 15 July 1854 – 8 October 1929) was a Polish symbolist painter who is one of the most revered painters of Poland, associated with the patriotic Young Poland movement following a century of Partitions. He is regarded as the ...
, considered Poland's national painter. She served as the live model for a series of his
symbolic Symbolic may refer to: * Symbol, something that represents an idea, a process, or a physical entity Mathematics, logic, and computing * Symbolic computation, a scientific area concerned with computing with mathematical formulas * Symbolic dynami ...
portrayals of women, as well as nude
studies Study or studies may refer to: General * Education **Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Observational study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study (art), a drawing or series of drawin ...
and mythological beings. Most were completed before the interwar period when Poland had not yet achieved independence.


Early life and education

Jadwiga Maria Brunicka (called Maria) was born during the foreign
Partitions of Lithuania-Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...
to baron Seweryn Brunicki, a Polish land-owner, and his wife Jadwiga Maria Kryspina Zagórska, (see the
Ostoja coat of arms Ostoja ( sr-cyr, Остоја) may refer to: * Ostoja, Łódź Voivodeship, a village in Poland * Ostoja, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, a village in Poland * Clan of Ostoja, a late medieval European clan * Ostoja coat of arms * Ostoja, masculine g ...
) at their country estate in
Zaleszczyki Zalishchyky ( ; uk, Залiщики, Zalishchyky; pl, Zaleszczyki), also spelled Zalischyky, is a small city located on the Dniester river in Chortkiv Raion of Ternopil Oblast (province), in western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Zali ...
(now Zalischyky, western Ukraine). A descendant of a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family from
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
, her father carried the title of baron received in 1813. The family owned a
tenement house A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...
in the metropolitan city of
Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...
at ul. Pierackiego 7, where Maria later was a frequent visitor. Maria was noted as being exceptionally beautiful by her family; they called her ''Kinga'' from the time she was a girl. As was typical of wealthy families, she was educated at home by a tutor.


Marriage and family

In 1898 Maria Brunicka married Stanisław Jakub Bal, a land-owner who was nine years older. The main residence of the Bal family was an estate in Tuligłowy, in eastern Poland. The house had been rebuilt in the early 19th century. They had two daughters together. Their marriage ended about 1904. One of their daughters, Helena Bal (1904–1996), became a painter in the interwar period. From about 1904 to the outbreak of World War I, Maria had an affair with the painter Jacek Malczewski who was 25 years her senior; elected
Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of the
Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...
in 1912. They remained friends after she broke up with him, and frequently corresponded during her foreign travels. In 1923 she married again, this time to a Jerzy Turno, (see the
Kotwica coat of arms Kotwica (Polish for "Anchor") is a Polish coat of arms. It was used by several ''szlachta'' (noble) families under the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. History The ''Kotwica'' coat of arms was particularly popular among families of foreign ...
). Malczewski was among the prominent guests at her wedding.


Muse and model

Maria Bal had met the artist
Jacek Malczewski Jacek Malczewski (; 15 July 1854 – 8 October 1929) was a Polish symbolist painter who is one of the most revered painters of Poland, associated with the patriotic Young Poland movement following a century of Partitions. He is regarded as the ...
around 1904 while living in Kraków, after her first marriage had come to an end. They had a tumultuous affair that lasted until
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. She posed for many of his symbolic paintings from the ''
Pythia Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythone ...
'' series painted at the cusp of Poland's return to independence (before the end of the war). These works included his numerous self-portraits with muses. Malczewski was a married man. He had a son, Rafał born in 1892, who also became a painter later on. Maria Bal was a star of the local literary society in Kraków. She was also a regular at the gatherings of artists held at the Kraków mansion of Olga Chwistkowa. After breaking up with Malczewski, Maria remained friends with him. They frequently corresponded before her second marriage. Maria is one of the most revered art models in Poland. She died on January 3, 1955, in Kraków at the age of 75. A black dress of hers, from the 1930s, is on display at the Department of Fashion in the Central Museum of Textiles in
Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...
.


Selected depictions of Maria by Malczewski


Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bal, Maria 1879 births 1955 deaths Polish artists' models Portraits by Polish artists People from Zalishchyky