Biography:

Jerzy Kossak (1886 - 1955), Kos coat of arms (born September 11, 1886 in Kraków, died there on May 11, 1955), Polish painter, son of Wojciech Kossak, brother of Magdalena Samozwoniec and Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska. Jerzy Kossak grew up watching his grandfather and father work. Already as a child, he showed considerable artistic talent and was a great hope for his father Wojciech. He honed his talent in his father's workshop. He had his first exhibition in 1910 in Kraków, at the Society of Friends of Fine Arts. His talent was noticed, and the Napoleonic cycle staged received favorable reviews. During World War I, he served on the Italian front as a lieutenant in the Austrian Lancers Regiment. In the interwar period, he painted in the studio created by Wojciech. He was married twice: from his first marriage, to landowner Ewa Kaplińska, he had a daughter, Maria, and from his second marriage, with Elżbieta Dzięciołowska-Śmiałowska, he had two daughters, Gloria and Simona. Until the end of his life, he lived with his second wife and daughters in Kossakówka - the Kossak family house, bought by Juliusz's grandfather. From the beginning of his artistic path, he imitated his father and chose the same topics. During his military service, he painted many war-themed scenes. In the interwar years, he picked up on the Napoleonic theme that his father had already abandoned. Then he painted "Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow" (1927), "The Battle of the Pyramids" (1927), and "A Hussar with a Horse in a Winter Landscape" (1938). He recorded the fight of the Polish legions on canvases: "The pursuit of the 6th Uhlan Regiment after the Bolsheviks" and "The pursuit of the Krechowiec Uhlans after the Bolsheviks", "Major Edward Rydz Śmigły at the head of the 3rd Battalion of the First Legions Brigade leading the attack on the Russian positions near Laski on October 28, 1914 ". He was also familiar with folklore themes, he painted Krakow and highlander weddings and hunting scenes (Big Hunters with Dogs Behind the Deer from 1927). Many portraits were painted by him.