Sobieski in Jan Matejko’s Częstochowa. Around the Figure and Painting

Matejko started working on John III Sobieski in Częstochowa while studying in Munich and finished it in 1859 in Krakow. He painted the events of 25 July 1683, when on his way to Vienna, King John III Sobieski and his family, stopped at Jasna Góra (a famous Polish shrine to the Virgin Mary). Then, he got the blessing, a saber, and a gorget from the Provincial of the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, and he took an oath to defend the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita) and the whole Christianity. On 12 September, the united forces of Polish and Austrian troops commanded by John III Sobieski, coming to rescue of the Habsburgs, defeated the Turkish army of Kara Mustafa.

– This event is referred to in Jan Matejko’s painting “John III Sobieski at Vienna in 1683”, which was given to Pope Leo XIII in 1883 as a gift from the Polish nation and has since been exhibited at Vatican Museums in Sobieski Room. “This piece, started in June 1881 and completed in August 1883, emphasized the participation and role of Poland in a historical event important for the whole Christianity”, says Marta Kłak-Ambrożkiewicz. The Pope awarded Matejko for this painting with Knight Commander with Star Order of Pius IX.

Painting John III Sobieski in Częstochowa was borrowed from the Herbst Palace Museum – a branch of Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź.