Pan hetman Stefan Czarniecki - the glorious commander of Old Poland

 Salvete Omnes,

today, but in 1665AD, Stefan Czarniecki Lodzia coat of arms, field hetman of  the Crown Army of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, passed away. He died at Sokolivika, nowadays Lviv oblast in Ukraine, then a village in Red Ruthenia and Lwow Voivodeship, south-central Crown Poland - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. 

Painted from life portrait of Stefan Czarniecki

XVIII century version - the scene of Czarniecki's passing by Franciszek Szmuglewicz

Born in 1599AD, pan Stefan spent his entire life in the saddle, and later on he was painted on horseback by various artists.
But today we shall commemorate this great warrior and horseman with the paintings showing his last moments with his favorite war steed . his gray mount - as envisioned by Polish early XIX century master January Suchodolski (two versions of the canvass) .

Nota bene Jan Chrysostom Pasek served under Czarniecki during the Deluge and the Polish-Russian war. 

His legacy lives on and even today Polish school children, workers and soldiers when singing the Polish National Anthem, sing about his daring raid on the Als during the Deluge. 

Another Polish painter, Leopold Loeffler, painted  the death bed with a war steed scene -

Also maestro Juliusz Kossak painted this scene, here reproduced in 'Tygodnik Ilustrowany' in 1909.

ps
I like the brushes on another Polish maestro Szymon Kobylinski, and one of these days I shall copy for your viewing pleassure one of his drawings showing Czarniecki and his horse. 

Valete

Napoleon during 1812 Russia campaign in Albrecht Adam's brushes

 Salvete Omnes,

taking of Smolensk 1812

we, the Napoleonic Age aficionados,  are still reeling from the 'fracaso' or failure of the latest Hollywood take on the great European aka Napoleon by a British director R. Scott.

So today some images of mounted Napoleon by maestro Albrecht Adam, who himself, when very young, was 'an honorable visual corespondent' during the epic 1812 campaign in Russia.  

detail from a larger painting

burning Moscow in 1812

detail from the Berezyna/Berezina crossing

nota bene gorgeously painted horse 

Valete

Adriaen van de Venne - horse fair

 Salvete Omnes,

This work by Adriaen van de Venne (1589-1662) offers a quick glimpse into the world of Dutch horse market day back in the XVII century.
The painting is located at Rijks Museum in Netherlands. 

so prince Maurice and Frederick Henry, who appeared in this post on my blog,  arrived at the Valkenburg Horse Fair - in Valkenburg, South Holland. 

And the horsetrading and horsing around started :) ; the painting is full of amazing period detail and Dutch horse culture elements

a splendid palomino - perhaps Spanish horse

..

wagon drivers?

a gray horse with a page boy - fully outfitted riding horse and his gentleman standing near by

Nota bene look how many  youngsters are in these images - unlike in the period films made nowadays

enjoy
Valete

Jean Le Tavernier - a Burgundian miniaturist

 Salvete Omnes,

2023 Dog Days of the Summer are in full swing - albeit not for Franch cities, Ukraine, Sudan and some other places in this world. 

I would like to bring to your attention to this manuscript - 'Advis directif pour faire le passage d'oultre mer[...]' via Gallica, French National Library - by Jean le Tavernier ( ) , a Burgundian artist, who worked for the Burgundian rulers and died in Oudenaarde circa  1462AD. This manuscript, originally by Bernard de la Broquiere,  was translated from Latin into French by Jean Mielot.

Bertrand de la Broquiere , the author of the translated manuscript 

detail of the page showing Bertrand presenting a copy of the Koran to duke Philip  

 

duke on a caparisoned horse with lords and retainers, armored lancers

armored lancers & horse trumpeters 

plate armored lancers and a windmill , wheelbarrow etc 

and the famous view of the siege of Constantinople by the Ottoman forces 

coat of arms of duke Philip III of Burgundy

beauty of the illuminations 

Valete

Kossak - Mohort presenting the herd to prince Poniatowski

 Salvete Omnes,
a short entry - 
Juliusz Kossak's paintings have graced these blog 'pages' for many years.
National Museum in Warsaw has a good size copy of his painting on their digital collections webpage- Mohort prezentujący stadninę [Mohort presenting the herd ...to prince Jozef Poniatowski], painted in 1858AD. Unusually this painting is an oil on canvas work, whereas the typical medium used by Juliusz Kossak was watercolor (with some gouache, ink etc) . 
Here, the main protagonist is  a fictitious 'knightly' soldier-cavalryman, the defender of the Borderlands, the hero of Wincenty Poll's epic poem - Mohort. He rides next to a real hero and the last knight of the Old Poland - prince Jozef Poniatowski.
The three main male characters are portrayed in the late XVIII century Polish cavalry uniforms, while the ladies are perhaps dressed in some riding attire of that period? , I am not versed in the female fashions of the ear. 
The site is somewhere in the Old Poland's southern or eastern lands, that make today's central  Ukraine, our Polish lost mythical Kresy or Borderlands. 

The horses painted on this canvas most likely come from numerous sketches and in situ observations maestro  Juliusz Kossak made while visiting Polish studs and herds in those lands. He was friends with many Polish breeders and land owners of the era, painted many portraits of their horses and herds, while the very old Polish lands had been divided between the Russian Empire and Austro-Hungarian one during the three Partitions of Poland (1772-1795);  and in the past these lands were always Polish Crown centers of horse herds and war horse production. We suspect that the so called Old Polish Horse, used by the winged hussars and National Cavalry & Uhlans came from the Ruthenian and Podolian farms.
Perhaps it is worth noting that the majority of these fine Polish stud farms, breeding Polish Arabians as well, were destroyed during the World War I, Bolshevik Revolution  and the independence wars after the dissipation of both empires 1917-20

Valete

Falconry and hunting in Codex Manesse

 Salvete Omnes,

Leuthold von Seven - famous minnesanger of the XIII century

 

Easter came and Easter went, so back to bloggin' -
    today I am going for a little entry - horses, riders, damsels, hawks, hounds, deer and boars in Codex Manesse  - beautiful manuscript from Medieval Holy Roman Empire aka Medieval Germanies. Today the manuscript is held presently at the Heidelberg University Library.

Falconry in Northern Germany - 600AD-1100AD - Academia article . 

Falconry by emperor Frederick II - a short .pdf from American Falconry.

Valete

Happy Easter - Passion, Jan van Eyck & horses

 Salvete Omnes,

 

Christos Anesti (Χριστός Ανέστη) - Christ has risen -  Alleluia - Christians unite against the evils of this world - Wesołego Alleluja

Chora church fresco

and with that happiness in the hindsight some Jan van Eyck's Passion themes

MET- Crucifixion and Last Judgement

 greatness of Jan van Eyck brushes 

Venice Crucifixion

and another beauty - from Budapest National Museum of Fine Arts, Hungary -   painted after van Eyck's work in the early XVI century

All the best, health and joy, and may peace return to Ethiopia, Ukraine and the Holy Land..

Valete