Image source: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). View source
Battle of Grunwald
Jan Matejko · Realism & Academic
- Artist
- Jan Matejko (1838–1893)
- Date
- 1878
- Dimensions
- 426 x 987 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- National Museum, Warsaw, Poland
This gigantic canvas depicts the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, when the allied armies of Poland and Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Knights, one of the largest battles of medieval Europe. At the centre, the Grand Master of the Order is killed.
A closer look
The canvas is crowded with hundreds of figures in a tumult of armour, banners, horses and weapons, with almost no empty space. In the centre, Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania, in a red tunic, raises his sword in triumph, while the Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen, in white, is struck down by two foot soldiers. In the distance, on a hill, King Władysław Jagiełło watches. Matejko painted it at a time when Poland had been partitioned and no longer existed as a state; the image was meant to strengthen national pride and hope.
