Walery Eljasz-Radzikowski (13 September 1841 – 23 March 1905) was a Polish painter, illustrator, teacher of fine arts and photographer active during the foreign

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

.Walery Eljasz-Radzikowski. Biography.
(Internet Archive) Ceperski Przewodnik po Tatrach 2007.

Career

Walery Eljasz (second name Radzikowski adopted later in life) studied painting in 1856-62 at the School of Fine Arts in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

(known today as the

Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public higher education, institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Polish fine art academy, established in 1 ...

) mainly at the ''

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or vi ...

'' of famous

Władysław Łuszczkiewicz Władysław Łuszczkiewicz (3 September 1828 – 23 May 1900) was a Polish historian and painter of the late Romanticism in Poland, Romantic era from Kraków, active in the period of the foreign partitions of Poland. He was a professor at the Jan ...

. He continued his studies in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

for three years in 1862-65 before his return in 1866. While in Munich, after convalescing from typhoid fever, Eljasz worked on behalf of the Polish insurrectionist ''Rząd Narodowy'' helping volunteers heading back to Poland for the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

against the foreign yoke. After his return to Kraków, Eljasz served as a teacher of fine arts at local schools including at the Gimnazjum of St. Anne in 1872-91. Eljasz painted church

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

s ( Chochołów, 1871), illustrated books and magazines, designed historical costumes for theatre stage productions, and exhibited his works internationally including in Kraków,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. His second monograph about the Tatra Mountains called ''Szkice z podróży w Tatry'' illustrated with lithographs was published in 1874. Eljasz-Radzikowski, an avid outdoorsman and mountain climber, was a co-founder of one of the oldest tourist societies in Europe, the cultural Polish Tatra Society in 1873. He wrote the first-ever tourist guide to Tatra Mountains in 1870 called the ''Ilustrowany przewodnik do Tatr, Pienin i Szczawnic'' (reprinted in 1886, 1891, 1896, 1900) which he himself illustrated with lithographs and woodcuts initially, and eventually with his photographs also. In 1901 he published ''Kraków dawny i dzisiejszy'', a detailed guidebook to the historic monuments of

Historical paintings

Stefan Czarniecki defending Kraków 1655.PNG,

Stefan Czarniecki Stefan Czarniecki (Polish: of the Łodzia coat of arms, 1599 – 16 February 1665) was a Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Polish szlachta, nobleman, general and military commander. In his career, he rose from a petty nobleman to a magnate hol ...

Defending

Pratulin martyrs in 1874.jpg, The

Pratulin Martyrs The Martyrs of Pratulin (or ''Wincenty Lewoniuk and 12 Companion Martyrs of Pratulin)'' were a group of 13 Ukrainian Greek Catholic men and boys who were killed by soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army on January 24, 1874, in the village of Prat ...

Cecora 1620 111.JPG, The death of

Stanisław Żółkiewski Stanisław Żółkiewski (; 1547 – 7 October 1620) was a Polish people, Polish szlachta, nobleman of the Lubicz coat of arms, a magnate, military commander, and Chancellor (Poland), Chancellor of the Polish Crown in the Polish–Lithuanian C ...

at the Battle of Cecora Consecration of the sabres of Tadeusz Kościuszko and Józef Wodzicki in Kraków in 1794.PNG, Consecrating the sabers of

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko (; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, and military leader who then became a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and ...

and

Józef Wodzicki Józef is a Polish variant of the masculine given name Joseph. Art * Józef Chełmoński (1849-1914), Polish painter * Józef Gosławski (1908-1963), Polish sculptor Clergy * Józef Glemp (1929-2013), Polish cardinal * Józef Kowalski (1 ...

References

External links

* * Andrzej Szpakowski, "Walery Eljasz Radzikowski",

Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa Muzeum () is a Prague Metro station providing the interchange between Lines A and C, and serving the National Museum. It is located at the top end of Wenceslas Square. The Line C station was opened on 9 May 1974, with the first section of the ...

1960. {{DEFAULTSORT:Eljasz-Radzikowski, Walery 1841 births 1905 deaths Painters from Austria-Hungary Artists from Kraków 19th-century Polish painters 19th-century Polish male artists 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists Polish male painters