Maestro Ryszard Morawski - Pacem Aeternam

 Salvete Omnes,

 sad news today -

maestro Ryszard Morawski (born 1933) , Polish illustrator and historical artists - sculpture, painting and other graphic arts, passed away yesterday - 29th of August, 2023.
Pan Ryszard was trained at the Fine Arts Academy in Warsaw, Poland, with painting masters like Michal Bylina and Antoni Trzeszczykowski., both veterans of the Polish Army  and combatants of the wars, Trzeszczykowski of the Polish-Ruso War of 1920 and Bylina of 1939 and Home Army through 1944.
There is an interview, done by Adam Paczuski, with Ryszard Morawski on Napoleon website - in Polish, but can be easily translated via google books, to get the gist of it. Long time ago in NYC I met Andrzej  Zaremba, who cooperated with maestro Morawski, in his bookstore there. Nota bene Ryszard Morawski painted many portraits of the famous Polish Arabian horses from  the Arabian Horse Janow Podlaski Stud.

I started my adventure with Pan Ryszard's work via Polish comics magazine Relax (where his uniforms plates were published, along the comics stories by great artists like Grzegorz Rosinski Marek Szyszko, Christa, Boguslaw Polch, Jerzy Wroblewski etc, then the Cavalry of Duchy of Warsaw  and other of his fine books, of which I am attaching the covers - note I hold no copyrights to those images, as present them here only for educational purposes - of his albums that I have in my own library. 

His fine albums, individual plates and other art can be had from his Polish publisher Karabela.

Pacem Aeternam

Valete

Summer is ending with .. Abraham van Calraet horses

 Salvete Omnes,

so our 2023 summer is ending - c'est la vie.
how are your horse things these days - I try going to the stables often, and enjoy the summer-sleek horses prancing in green meadows etc.

ad rem, a quick entry -
 I have been looking at some paintings by Abraham van Calraet -  a Dutch painter living during the Age of Opulence in Low Countries (always like that book by Simon Schama - The Embarrassment of Riches - some more detailed infor on the book here )

So these saddles are quite interesting - 

from the traditional large one -  look at that Paint 

 to a version, in leather most likely   - with nice -:)  grey horses 

to more peculiar saddles , some quite flat almost in the English saddle fashion - starting with this palomino steed 

these spotted horses - 

do enjoy these beautiful horses and their riders etc 

Valete

My Wiki Commons illustration in a book

 Salvete Omnes,

today, a little entry about my old inkwash drawing - 

almost 18 years ago I asked a colleague to put some of my ink drawings on Wiki Commons.

Among them there was this piece - originally drawn with a F (fine) Art-Pen by Rotring and some light water brush work (Rotring ink for these pens was and is fabulous) -  I gave to my friend Radoslaw Sikora - :) 

and couple days ago I got some photos from a book published in Poland this summer -titled 'History of the Polish Cavalry.' by Marek Groszkowski

.

and a close up -

I just wanted to share my surprise (the image is copy left on Wiki Commons)  and  I am rather pleased they credited the image in the book - thanks/dzieki ). 

Valete

Zadworze - Polish Thermopylae 17th August 1920 anniversary

 Salvete Omnes,

a short posting of the summer type

in the past I devoted 2 posts - in 2020, a detailed one  here and the funeral one  here - to the commemoration of  the last stand battle of Zadworze and its aftermath.
Today I just want to commemorate the event - one of the few  truly Thermopylae-like battles in our Polish military history.

and some  unusual illustrations showing the fighting in Zadworze done  by a painter Mieczyslaw Iwanicki (in the photo below), who was a volunteer soldier of the Abraham Detachment during the very war. 

painted and published in 1938 in a magazine titled 'Wschod' (The East) - Lwow, Stanislawow, Tarnopol.

With all those machine guns and artillery, repeating carbines and grenades etc I wonder how many horses died and were wounded in this heroic fight... 

Hail to the heroes - Pacem Aeternam to the fallen

Valete

A Horseman from Albania's ancient Greek past

 Salvete Omnes,

if you are in southern California, US, then you could visit Paul Getty Museum -Getty Villa, where until January 2024 they have an ancient equestrian sculpture from ancient city of Arnissa, in present day Albania, in Europe. The figurine seems to show a rider covered in torso (cuirass)  and hips-covering (leather pteruges)  armor, his sword suspended under arm, in process of throwing a javelin or striking with his spear? The left arm perhaps held a shield? The horse is clearly a warhorse being  quite powerfully sculpted, with upright mane and stand up(tied?) forelock, while the tail is wrapped? or at least braided. Bridle depiction has not survived too well, but lower part of the psalia is visible, as well as parts of the leather headstall.  No saddle nor saddle cloth are visible. 

Ancient Albania was home to the Epirote Greeks, Greek colonists from down south Greece, Illyrians,   Thracians and Paeonians. 

this article shows the process of renovation of the rider and his horse

the map of Illyrian tribes in the ancient period up to the Roman conquest. -  this article may be entertaining a bit but also persuasive, and  then why not challenge yourself 

from the period of Roman conquests articles on the Illyrian  king Ballaeus/Ballaios ..

the map of ancient Paeonians' country

Illyrian helmet

Valete

Polish Army Day - a millennium of defending the realm

 Salvete Omnes,

so  this day, August 15 is the Polish Army Day (Feast of the Soldiers) - the date is also the Feast of Assumption of Mary. 
So for more than millennium Polish warriors, knights and soldiers, mostly peasants led by their noble lords and officers defended the Polish lands.
This particular August date  commemorates the battle of Warsaw, AD 1920, when the Red Army Juggernaut of an  offensive was broken and eventually rolled back into the Red Russian lands (although there are many disagreements and disputes on why the leadership did not help White Russians finish off the Bolshevik rule and restore Russia from the communist monstrosity), thus preserving the newly restituted Polish state. 
The battle is important to the XX i XXI century modern Polish state ideology and politics, but we have had many battles equally important and momentous in our millennium long history. But be what it may, at least the holiday falls in the summer month, when the weather is warm and sunny. 

Hail to the defenders - and may war never return to the Polish lands

and along with the text I am including some photos of the Polish cavalry drummers of the mounted musicians platoon from the 1 pulk szwolezerow (1st chevau-leger regiment) of the 2nd Republic -  Polish names for these musician-soldiers were 'kotlista'(modern) and old 'pauker, paukier, pałkier, & pałkierz,  '

during the pre-partition Poland - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Crown of Poland - the mounted drummers were part of the cavalry units and were very colorful, while playing an important role of signaling and providing psychological support to the fighting troops.

and although the Napoleonic 1st Polish chevau-legers of the Guard were not part of the Polish army, their splendid uniforms and short but illustrious history merits to have them included here - painted by Bronislaw Gembarzewskie (great historian and illustrator, another victim of the Nazi German genocidal policies in occupied Poland)

Valete