Henryk Siemiradzki’s painting ‘Following the Example of the Gods’

Henryk Siemiradzki was a member of leading European academies of fine arts and received numerous awards and honours for his paintings. A graduate of the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, he worked and lived in Rome. He was the creator of the famous theatre curtains in Kraków and Lviv. And finally, the ‘prince of painters’, who achieved both artistic and financial success; his paintings toured European capitals, and his Roman studio—specially arranged for visitors—was open to the public. An outstanding representative of academic art, who entered the academy with a doctorate in natural sciences and, regardless of where he exhibited his works, always emphasised that he was Polish – and this was not so obvious (it is not uncommon for an artist to be described as a Ukrainian or Russian painter).

A brief biographical sketch of Henryk Siemiradzki

He was born on 24 October 1843 in Novobelgorod (now Pecheniha) near Kharkiv, into a noble family with Polish traditions, although the painter’s father, Hipolit, was a general in the Tsarist army. The Siemiradzki family were friends with Polish families, including the Mickiewicz family; Adam’s brother, Aleksander, became little Henryk’s godfather.

Even whilst at secondary school in Kharkiv, the future painter was taking drawing lessons, which he continued whilst studying at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Imperial University of Kharkiv. In 1864, he was awarded the degree of Candidate of Natural Sciences (equivalent to a doctorate) and, later that same year, in October, he began his studies at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg. Initially as an auditor, due to his age (over 20 years old). Soon, however, thanks to his talent, he was admitted as a full student and was repeatedly awarded silver and gold medals for his achievements in painting. The ultimate honour at the conclusion of his artistic education (1871) was the award to Henryk Siemiradzki of a six-year government scholarship to continue his studies abroad. The painter travelled to Munich, where he met the Polish artistic community, and then on to Italy. It was Rome that proved to be the place where he decided to live and work. The Mediterranean landscape and light, the ancient buildings and the omnipresent beauty became a source of unflagging inspiration from which the artist drew until the end of his life.

Siemiradzki’s studio in Rome

He settled in Rome in May 1872, renting a studio near the Spanish Steps, where he produced his most famous works. Large-scale historical scenes, mainly from the Roman Empire, as well as biblical subjects. Siemiradzki’s growing popularity translated into financial success, and the exhibitions of his work organised by the artist in his Roman studio attracted distinguished guests, such as Queen Margherita of Italy and the Tsar of Russia’s brother, Grand Duke Paul. He was also visited by Pavel Tretyakov, the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. He asked for the signature on a painting of his choice to be changed to Russian, explaining that his gallery was Russian. When Siemiradzki refused, Tretyakov did not purchase the work.

Siemiradzki’s villa in Rome, at Via Gaeta 1, where he lived with his family, became a centre of Polish culture for visitors from his homeland. The Siemiradzkis organised communal Christmas Eve dinners and Easter celebrations. Among their guests were Henryk Sienkiewicz, Ignacy Paderewski and many Polish artists.

Large-format masterpieces required buyers from among royalty or very wealthy patrons and institutions. Numerous idylls and pastoral scenes were of a somewhat commercial nature and were accessible to a wider clientele.

Siemiradzki’s idyllic paintings

‘Following the Example of the Gods’ belongs to the painter’s most numerous group of works. Their small format and idyllic scenes from the lives of ancient Romans, unfolding at a leisurely pace against a backdrop of ancient buildings and Mediterranean landscapes, quickly found buyers. Harmonious and masterfully bathed in sunlight, they depicted the then-popular notion of antiquity as the golden age of humanity. They were so highly sought after by the public that Siemiradzki often produced replicas of his works.

The painting *‘Following the Example of the Gods’* is known from four replicas by the artist that have survived to this day, one that is missing, and a number of sketches. The oldest is the canvas housed at the Josyp Bokshay Transcarpathian Regional Art Museum in Uzhhorod, signed in the lower left-hand corner ‘H Siemiradzki/Rome’. It depicts an intimate scene taking place by a lake against the backdrop of a monumental landscape. A richly decorated boat is moored at the shore. In the foreground, we see a couple in love, moments before a kiss, standing beneath a statue of the eponymous gods – Cupid and Psyche, the personifications of love and the soul. The girl is scattering flowers onto the plinth of the marble sculpture. Her figure, bathed in sunlight, contrasts with the dark forest and the less well-lit figure of her boyfriend standing behind her. The sculpture in the painting is a reproduction of the famous ancient statue ‘Cupid and Psyche’, housed in the Capitoline Museums and discovered in Rome in the mid-18th century.

On a symbolic level, it also represents a promise of a happy ending for the lovers depicted, much like the statue of Venus, the goddess of love and patroness of lovers, standing in a niche towards the background of the painting. The shaded forest, painted ‘against the light’, emphasises the secret nature of the couple’s encounter; as they mimic the tender embrace of Cupid and Psyche, they are living out a love story, just like deities; one of the few in mythology that, despite obstacles and difficulties, ended happily.

Subsequent versions of this popular scene differ in details concerning the lovers’ poses and attire, as well as in format, which varies for each of the surviving paintings. In chronological order, the first painting is held at the museum in Uzhhorod I (1879), the next is in private ownership; variant II is lost, known only from a photograph; III (1888) is in the collection of the National Gallery of Armenia in Yerevan; and IV (1899) is in the Lviv National Art Gallery. Riding a wave of popularity, ‘Following the Example of the Gods’ was published and distributed as a heliogravure (a form of intaglio printing) in Vienna.

The first painting, ‘Following the Example of the Gods’, from 1879, was purchased by a landowner from Lviv and well-known collector, Bolesław Orzechowicz (1847–1927), who established a private museum on his family estate in Kalników near Przemyśl. In 1919, he donated his collection to the city, which included – in addition to handicrafts, weapons and watches – a representative collection of 19th-century Polish painting. The collection has been in Uzhhorod since 1948, having been transferred from the Lviv Regional Picture Gallery (now the Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery) to the art gallery at the Transcarpathian Local History Museum (now the Josyp Bokshay Transcarpathian Regional Art Museum).

Siemiradzki as a classic of 19th-century art

Henryk Siemiradzki is the ‘last classic’ of 19th-century art. On canvases of both large and small formats, he brought the ancient world to life through his masterful use of the illusion of sunlight and natural landscapes, consistently striving for harmony and beauty in the era of realist painting. In addition to his professorship at the St Petersburg Academy, Siemiradzki was granted membership of the most prestigious artistic institutions in Europe at the time: the Academy of Arts in Berlin, the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm (1879), the Academy of St Luke in Rome (1880) and the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1889), becoming only the second Pole after Jan Matejko to achieve this honour.

The painter died on 23 August 1902 at his estate in Strzałków near Radomsko and was buried in the family grave at Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. A year later, the painter’s remains were transferred and laid to rest in the Crypt of the Distinguished at Skałka, in the crypt of the Basilica of St Michael the Archangel and St Stanislaus the Bishop in Kraków.