Antoni Piotrowski, Burning mielez

oil, cardboard, size 22.5 x 33 cm, signed and dated l. d. : "A. Piotrowski 1900 ", on the reverse a pastedown sheet with the printed coat of arms and handwritten inscription "A. Piotrowski "and the title of the composition "Spalajacy się mieleż", below a sheet with the number "5340".

Antoni Piotrowski (1853-1924) painter, draftsman, illustrator and poet, creator of fairy tales for children. He was a co-founder of the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka" and a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, editor and publisher of the weekly Polish Village (1906). Piotrowski studied painting under Wojciech Gerson, and in 1875 he went as a scholarship student to Munich (in late October 1875 he applied to the Academy of Fine Arts - Naturklasse). He educated there until 1877 under the direction of Wilhelm Lindenschmit. In the year of his graduation he became a student of Jan Matejko at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow (from 1777 to 1779). In the years 1879-1884 he stayed in Paris. In 1900 he settled in Warsaw where he founded a weekly illustrated magazine for the countryside, "Polish Countryside."