The Battle of Racławice – Wojciech Kossak, Jan Styka (in cooperation with other painters) | #photography & visual arts

The Battle of Racławice – Wojciech Kossak, Jan Styka (in cooperation with other painters)

The Battle of Racławice is a remarkable panoramic painting of impressive size. It had a hand in creating the myth of the Battle of Racławice, especially in shaping the perception of Tadeusz Kościuszko and the role played by scythe-wielding peasant soldiers. This powerful work, painted especially for the 1894 Polish General Exhibition in Lviv, is among the most interesting Polish works of the 19th century.

History

The idea to create a panorama, the theme of which would be the battle of Racławice, was born in November 1892 (almost a hundred years after the battle took place, on 4^th April 1794). Jan Styka was behind it – he proposed to make the circular painting one of the attractions of the Polish General Exhibition in Lviv, which was planned for 1894, when the hundredth anniversary of the Kościuszko Uprising was also celebrated. At the beginning of January 1893, the Panorama Construction Committee was established in Lviv, and Styka introduced Wojciech Kossak, the military painter, as his main collaborator and co-creator of the panorama. It was decided to establish a company which was joined by representatives of various circles in Galicia. It was supposed to finance not only the painting of the panorama but also the construction of a special rotunda in which it would be housed.

From the very beginning, the Racławice Panorama was supposed to be not only a work of art with a patriotic character but also a profit-making enterprise. It was estimated that its total cost would amount to 100 thousand Rhine guilders (in the end, it was 115 thousand). It was assumed that this amount would be regained by selling admission tickets and that is what happened. It is worth mentioning that Kossak and Styka received 10,000 Rhine guilders each and a 25% share in profits.

In the winter and early spring of 1893, Styka and Kossak prepared through research, mainly by collecting iconographic material concerning uniforms and armaments from Kościuszko’s era. In the archives in Vienna, it was even possible to find the battle plan, which made it possible to determine the exact location of the troops. The painters also analysed Kościuszko’ report written after the battle. In the spring of 1893, it was time for field studies at the site of the battle – mainly to get acquainted with the topography of the terrain and landscape and to see how the area was illuminated on the day of the battle, in early April.

At the time, Racławice was in the Russian partition, and in addition, near the border, so any sketches required the consent of the Russian military authorities. It was not granted. So the painters went there illegally and unofficially, supposedly pretending to take part in a hunt. It was a risky expedition – especially for Kossak, who, as an officer of the Austrian army formally transferred to the reserves, could be charged with spying.

Shortly afterwards a concept for the panorama was created – a four-part oil sketch in 1:10 scale. In April 1893 it was presented by the painters and accepted by the artistic committee of the Panorama Construction Committee. In summer, after less than five months of construction (sic!), the rotunda with a partially glazed roof, designed by Ludwik Ramult, was ready. In the meantime, the artists solved various technical problems on an ongoing basis. They were responsible, for example, for ordering the special iron construction on which the painting was to hang, choosing the size of the canvas (it ended up being about 15 x 120 metres – typical for panoramas at that time) and buying it. When the canvas was hung on the structure and primed, a mass was celebrated during which Kossak and Styka had their pallets and brushes blessed. Painting began on 26^th August 1893.

The work progressed quickly, but it was not without difficulties. The compositional assumptions had to be changed, which sometimes required repainting already finished parts of the picture. Due to the urgency of the deadline, painters often painted from dawn to dusk, especially in the spring and summer months, to make the best use of the sunlight, which meant long working days.

As Jan Styka later mentioned:

[…] a lot of life and health had to be put into it. Huge spaces had to be painted, finished, sometimes repainted, changed. You had to descend scaffolding as high as a tower and get on the podium (where the spectators were) twenty times. You entered this building in the morning, you left in the evening. Throughout the winter, two huge iron stoves heated it. In often-freezing hands we held our brushes, as we were constantly being warmed up by the thought: it has to be finished on time. How much energy had to be used in this building, how much suffering had to be endured, how much doubt had to be experienced – all this is better left unsaid.

Furthermore, there were both artistic and personality conflicts between the two main painters. As a war painter (and a retired officer), Kossak wanted the panorama to depict the military clash in the most realistic way possible. Meanwhile, Styka preferred the painting to have a symbolic layer as well; apart from that, as the initiator of the work, he was also responsible for promotion and fundraising. Instead of painting, he often had to deal with important guests who visited the rotunda while the painting was being created. Undoubtedly, this helped to complete the panorama and the formation of the legend of the work even before its creation, but Styka’s distractions from painting irritated Kossak.

The disputes between artists, especially about which painter and how should make binding artistic decisions, were so serious that the scope of works had to be formally divided. So in October 1893, a protocol was drawn up, which was the result of mediation by Ludwig Ramult, the rotunda architect and member of the Panorama Construction Committee. In the paper we read:

Due to the necessity to act in a uniform way in regards to the artistic and painting works, Mr Wojciech Kossak is granted the internal management authority with the voluntary consent of Mr Jan Styka. Mr Jan Styka, as the initiator of the panorama, is granted the right to design the figures and to group the elements of the painting with historical accuracy in mind.

The document then states that the old differences were to be forgotten and the painters shook hands as a sign of consent. It was also agreed that the names of the two artists would be given in alphabetical order.

Although over the years, especially after Styka’s death, discussions on the authorship of The Battle of Racławice have been returning (often on Kossak’s initiative), given the above-mentioned protocol and contemporary research, the authorship and participation of individual artists can be quite precisely determined. Jan Styka painted the central part of the painting – from the attack of the peasant-soldiers to the burnt-out village of Dziemierzyce and the figure of Kościuszko. Włodzimierz Tetmajer worked with him, creating genre scenes and peasant figures. The second artist, Wojciech Kossak, sketched the rest of the painting, followed by its large parts: from a group of Russian prisoners of war to the cannons, as well as the horse on which Kościuszko sits, and the chief of staff accompanying him. Teodor Axentowicz painted the infantry regiment of Józef Wodzicki, while Zygmunt Rozwadowski painted the cavalry. The German painter Ludwig Boller, together with Tadeusz Popiel, created the landscape, including a large part of the sky. Moreover, Wincenty Wodzinowski and Michał Sozański cooperated in creating the panorama.

On 28^th May 1894, after nine months, the painting was ready. Then, in the rotunda, the so-called foreground was prepared. It was an artificial field in front of the canvas, with fragments of scythes and broken farm equipment placed on it. At the very end, some earth collected from the Racławice battlefield was scattered on top. On 5^thJune, 1894, during the opening of the Polish General Exhibition in Lviv, the panorama was presented to the public.

Since then, The Battle of Racławice has remained in Lviv. The only exceptions were the years between 1896 and 1898 when it was presented at an exhibition in Budapest. For this purpose, the canvas was divided into the so-called ‘gores’, which made it possible to transport the panorama in parts. In 1912 the city of Lviv bought the work from the Panorama Construction Committee. From time to time it was also subject to conservation (e.g. in 1928 or 1929), in which Wojciech Kossak also took part. In 1944, during the bombing of Lviv, the roof of the rotunda was damaged. Destroyed fragments fell on the canvas, tearing a piece off the scaffolding. In other parts, the image was torn or punctured. It was then decided to safeguard the work by winding it up around a specially designed cylinder, placing it in a box, and then hiding it in the basement of the Bernardine monastery in Lviv. After the change of borders in 1945, The Battle of Racławice remained in this city. A year later, a decision was made to return it. On 21^stJuly, 1946, The Battle of Racławice was transported to Wrocław together with other works in the Ossolineum collection.

Long discussions on the future of the work began. Money was also collected for its conservation, which was partly successful. The press kept the public informed about it on an ongoing basis, which also translated into the interest of the inhabitants of Wrocław in the painting, who, over time, began to feel responsible for the work. It was decided that The Battle of Racławice would remain in Wrocław, although Kraków and Warsaw were also considered.

In 1958 the architectural competition for the rotunda design was won by Ewa and Marek Dziekoński. Its construction started only in 1961, thanks to pressure from the citizens. In 1967, the rotunda emerged in its raw state. In 1973, further construction was questioned because the Ministry of Culture and Art refused to provide funds for further conservation of the work. In 1977, there was even an idea of transforming the rotunda into a cultural and congress centre. In June 1980, The Battle of Racławice was transported to Warsaw due to a decision made by the general conservator.

This decision was met with opposition from the inhabitants of Wrocław. In October 1980, on the wave of sentiments following August 1980, the Social Committee of Racławice Panorama was established in the capital of Lower Silesia. In the autumn of 1980, the committee managed to return the work to Wrocław and obtain a decision that The Battle of Racławice would remain in the city permanently. Moreover, it was to be maintained and placed in the rotunda, which was intended to be renovated as soon as possible. Although this took nearly five years, after the completion of the rotunda and thorough conservation of the canvas, on 14^th June 1985, Panorama Racławicka was finally shown to the public, becoming one of the main cultural and tourist attractions of Wrocław.

The Painting

The Battle of Racławice depicts the culmination of the battle, which is the famous assault of the peasant soldiers on Russian cannons, including the heroic act of Wojciech Bartos. With his own cap, he extinguished the fuse of a cannon which was just about to fire at the attacking Poles. As Małgorzata Dolistowska wrote:

This fragment of the painting, the most important for the whole composition, was emphasised in such a way that the viewer, entering the podium from which one could see the panorama, was standing as if on a hill in the very centre of the battle, and in front of the main scene – peasant-soldiers running towards Russian cannons.

The viewer has no doubts: it was the fast, risky attack that decided the fate of the battle. Thanks to the heroic peasant soldiers, the Poles are winning.

The peasant soldiers are sent on the offensive by Kościuszko. His figure on horseback, located slightly behind a group of peasants in white outfits going into battle, has been visually distinguished. No one is seen in front of him, and the staff he leads is in the background. This highlights his role – not only as head of the uprising and commander in chief in this battle but also as a hero who personally lead the victorious assault. The victory depends on his decisions and courage. Moreover, true to the legend, Kościuszko was depicted in a peasant’s outfit – it is known that he put it on his military uniform only after the battle. This is not an artists’ mistake, however, but a conscious artistic decision. Such a shot of Kościuszko emphasised that he not only commanded both the battle and the uprising, but that he was also essentially the commander of the peasant army.

Thus, The Battle of Racławice, as Mieczysław Zlat pointed out, became the culmination of Kościuszko’s mythology. A very important element of it was this almost iconic image of the the leader of the national uprising, who for the first time so strongly involved the peasants in the fight for independence. Kościuszko’s role in The Battle of Racławice was also pointed out by Styka himself. During the formal handover of the work to the Panorama Construction Committee, he said:

When I came up with the idea of creating this work, I didn’t just want to celebrate the triumph of the Polish forces, because Poland had greater victories in its history, I didn’t just want to show that here a hundred years ago all the states united to defend the homeland, but I also wanted to celebrate the name of the most exalted hero of freedom, Kościuszko.

The scene described above is the centre of the composition and the main carrier of meaning. The choice of one, very specific moment, which at the same time would summarise the whole event, was in line with the rules of historical painting of the time. The idea was to take a shot of the scene in such a way that, on the one hand, it would be clear to the viewer and, on the other hand, it would give him or her clues with which he or she could reconstruct what had happened and guess what was going to happen. In other words, it was a painterly synthesis of the whole battle, which lasted about five hours. The remaining fragments of the Battle of Racławice complement what was described above. Therefore, it is worth to pay special attention to three elements.

It wasn’t just units of peasant soldier that took part in the battle, but also regular formations of the Polish army – infantry and cavalry – which were presented in skirmishes with the Russians or at the moment of the attack. These scenes take up a lot of space – we can see the attack of Polish infantry and the fight of Polish cavalrymen with the Cossacks. What is interesting is that regular Polish troops can also be seen behind the peasants, as they formed successive ranks of units assaulting Russian cannons. Still, none of the scenes in which they take part can visually and conceptually compare to the attack of the peasant soldiers, who not only occupy the most space in the painting but also stand out with the white colour of their sukmanas against the other characters in the picture. They attract the viewer’s attention, as the fragment of the canvas on which they have been presented is the most important part of the work.

The composition of the panorama, therefore, emphasises the role of the peasants and Kościuszko so much that other activities of the Polish army are only their complement or background. Again, it is a conscious decision of the artists. Their aim was to present the battle in such a way that no one would have any doubt that it was won by the peasants, who not only took part in the decisive strike but also defeated the enemy.

The way the Russians are portrayed in the painting also deserves attention. The group that can be seen the most clearly consists of artillerists fleeing in panic after their post was assaulted by the peasants. The remaining troops, infantry and Cossacks alike are either in retreat or are engaged in their particular fights with the Poles. Interestingly, Kościuszko’s main opponent, that is the commander of the Russian army, General Alexander Tormasov, was very late in the painting’s composition and his figure is basically invisible. Another important Russian commander, Colonel Muromcev, was presented as one of the officers taken prisoner. Such a shot of the Russians leaves the viewer with no doubt – they are defeated and fleeing, and their commanders are insignificant.

It is also worth emphasising the role of an unusual scene in which we see a group of women and children praying under a cross. Taking into account the fact that the creators of the panorama sought a realistic representation of the scene, it is these characters that make us doubt that. It is difficult to imagine that the civilians would be so close to the main clash between Polish and Russian armies. The explanation of this scene is hidden in the already mentioned approach of Styka, who, in a way contrary to Kossak’s intentions, wanted to place symbols in the work.

Styka believed that The Battle of Racławice should not only be a work that tells about the battle itself as a military clash with very suggestive means of painting. In his opinion, it should also present a kind of vision of the history of the Polish nation, in which this unification of all states and age groups brings victory in battle. That is why the artist showed a praying group of women, children, and the elderly. These figures, even if only through prayer, also participate in the battle. They were placed right next to the peasants marching into battle, which suggests that their contribution was equally important.

The Battle of Racławice turned out to be a huge success, and it soon became one of the main attractions of the exhibition in Lviv. It is worth mentioning that apart from Poles, among the visitors were also Emperor Franz Joseph (visiting the exhibition in September 1894), members of the Austrian imperial family, foreign press correspondents and even the Russian consul. The Lviv exhibition was conceived as a demonstration of Polishness in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it also became an important patriotic event for Poles from other partitions. Participation in the panorama tour was considered not only a duty but also a pleasure to take pride in the achievements of the countrymen in Galicia – including the creation of such wonderful work. Thus, despite various difficulties, Poles from the two remaining partitions came to Lviv to see the exhibition and the panorama. Thanks to this, it became a well-known work, especially as the Polish press described it in an unambiguously positive way, sometimes even in a tone full of admiration.

The impression the panorama evoked with suggestive painting means was a sense of reality. There are numerous descriptions of situations when someone was supposed to want to touch it, not believing that it was just a canvas. The huge size of the canvas and its overall impact on the viewer caused the work to be perceived as a painterly vision not only of winning the battle, but also something much more important – a victory that became a symbolic triumph of Poland in general. And it happened, which is worth emphasising again, thanks to the heroic attack of peasants. The intention of the authors of The Battle of Racławice, and especially Jan Styka, was to validate the peasants, their contribution to the efforts to regain independence, and to call on them again for a similar act should it be necessary.

The latter intention is particularly important. The exhibition was attended by peasants from all over Galicia, including the villages from which one hundred years earlier peasants have been recruited from. Adam Szwajkart described one of the tours as follows:

In the building of the panorama, I saw people crying at the very sight of this delicious painting, I saw groups, crowds of people weeping profusely to the memory of those lofty and great days; and probably each of these spectators will keep the memory of the Battle of Racławice for life, where the brave Kościuszko shined with true heroism, each of them will pass their impressions to their children. And the memory will be preserved...

Importantly, these emotional visits were often accompanied by rallies and meetings in Lviv, which strengthened the feeling of belonging to the Polish nation among Galician peasants. The Battle of Racławice became, as Franciszek Ziejka wrote,

not only a symbol of social and national advancement of peasants but also a catalyst accelerating the transformation of peasant consciousness. Its great, unquestionable merit was to strengthen the conviction about the responsibility of this social class for the fate of the country among peasants.

In this way, the painting also became an important political statement. The success of The Battle of Racławice was determined by several factors. First, a combination of circumstances: the upcoming Kościuszko anniversary and the planned General Polish Exhibition in Lviv in 1894. This encouraged the artists to address this topic and gave a great opportunity to create a unique work and present it to a wide audience. It mobilised to action under time constraints. Secondly, the choice of the subject and the scene itself (the attack of the peasant-soldiers) and the emphasis on Kościuszko’s role guarantee an appropriate reception of symbolic content, which has been skillfully conveyed by means of a visually impressive form. Thirdly, the mythologization of both the depicted scene (peasants and Kościuszko) and of the object itself, which has followed over time. In the process, the work of art became a monument, the importance of which could not be overestimated. Therefore, The Battle of Racławice, despite its already anachronistic artistic form, remains one of the most outstanding and interesting Polish works of art at the turn of the century, and its very fate symbolically tells about the Polish history.

Originally written in Polish by jakub Zarzycki 2017, translated into Polish by P. Grabowski, august 2020

Wojciech Kossak, Jan Styka i inni, "Panorama Racławicka", 1893-1894, olej na płótnie w układzie cykloramicznym, ok. 15 x 120 m, Panorama Racławicka – oddział Muzeum Narodowego we Wrocławiu

wojciech kossak

jan styka

The Battle of Racławice

Tadeusz Kościuszko

polish independence