An interesting, relatively extensive and dynamic scene rarely painted by the Kossaks.

A genre composition is shown in the field of the lying rectangle. The anecdote of the composition is created by a group of soldiers on horses and a young village girl who excitedly points in the direction of a potential threat. One of the uhlans blows the trumpet for the alarm and both he and the other one holding the flag are sitting on horses. Two soldiers are mounted on horses while running. Among the armed men stands a barefoot girl dressed in traditional village clothes: a large shirt, a long skirt, and a headscarf. It is not known what exactly is the object of concern, only that the action takes place inside rural buildings. The background of this scenery is several closely situated houses with traditionally whitewashed and wooden walls and thatched roofs covered with straw. The scenery is complemented by a wicker fence next to one country house and several willow trees with leaf-covered branches located between the buildings. The scene shown in a slightly further perspective is characterized by a photographic cropping of the frame. The figures are covered with a bluish-blue sky with white clouds. The speed of the soldiers' evacuation and the clatter of horses' hooves stirring up clouds of dust on the unpaved road make the work more dynamic. The composition is painted correctly in terms of anatomy and composition. The depiction is painted daringly, with broad brushstrokes. He draws attention to the use of impastos on an unprimed surface and the energetic casting of lines that complement the modeling of the composition, which is also typical of Jerzy Kossak's technique. In places, the color of the substrate as well as its structure are visible. The colors of the composition are typical of spring colors, filled with greenery, and are limited to green, blue, white, ocher, with the addition of red and black. On the right side of the composition there is a signature: Jerzy Kossak/1928.


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.