Stanisław Wyspiański (1869 Kraków - 1907 there), View of Wawel from Podzamcze, ca. 1901

pencil, paper, 41 × 57 cm
Signed p. d.: "SW"

Attached to the work is an expert opinion by Ms. Marta Romanowska, 2002.

"At the foot of the Wawel Castle my father had a studio a great white arched chamber, living figures of the dead with a great crowd; there I went as a little boy, what I felt I later forged into the shapes of my art. (...)"
S. Wyspianski, At the foot of Wawel Hill
"(...) It is my belief that the drawing was created in 1901, shortly after the removal of scaffolding from Wawel Cathedral revealing its restored and for the then generation of Cracovians - new silhouette. I understood that for Wyspianski, this "new" shape of Wawel was of interest. Raised at the foot of Wawel Cathedral, as he himself wrote ...at the foot of Wawel... he not only closely followed all the transformations taking place there. It was, along with the entire hill, an object of fascination, inspiration and concern for the artist. His relationship with Wawel is one of the most important and longest stories of his life. (...) The drawing in question, by far the largest known, is in the greater part a document in the lesser part an architectural fantasy resulting more from necessity than desire. "
Excerpted from an expert opinion by Marta Romanowska, an expert on Wyspianski's work, long-time curator at the National Museum in Krakow, creator and long-time manager of the Stanislaw Wyspianski Museum Branch of the National Museum in Krakow. (published in Krakow 9.06.2015)