Wilhelm Kotarbinski came to Kiev on the recommendation of the Swiedomski brothers. Together they were among the creators of the painting decoration of the interior of St. Vladimir's Cathedral in Kiev.

St Vladimir's Cathedral in Kiev became known almost immediately for its magnificent artistic decoration. Its construction was initiated in 1852 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the baptism of Rus (1888) and, with interruptions, lasted thirty years (until 1882). It took another fourteen years to complete the painting decoration of the temple interior.

Work on the interior of the monumental Neo-Byzantine temple was supervised by the famous art historian and archaeologist Adrian Prakhov (1846-1916), who brought together a whole group of prominent Russian painters of the period, including: Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910), an artist of Polish origin, Pavel (1849-1904) and Aleksandr (1848-1911) Sverdomsky. The latter recommended the then little-known artist Wilhelm Kotarbinski to Prachow.

The beginnings of Wilhelm Kotarbiński's work
Wilhelm Kotarbiński was born on 30 November 1848 in Nieborów, near Warsaw, into an impoverished noble family. Against his father's wishes, he decided to become a painter and, after several years of study at the Warsaw Drawing Class, he left for Rome in 1872 as a scholarship holder of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. The Italian stage in Kotarbiński's biography lasted until 1888 and also resulted in his friendship with Henryk Siemiradzki.

The beginnings were not easy. The young painting student decided to take part in a local competition for the title of best draughtsman. As he himself recalled: "In Rome, the Academy of St Luke's held an annual competition for the title of the best Roman draughtsman. Whoever wanted could come, pay five francs, draw a place number and draw. [...] "I was very nervous when I drew. The place turned out to be not very favourable, with a difficult angle and far from nature. [...] I sat down and at the same time as everyone else, on command, I started to draw the poser. I drew with great passion, I didn't even notice when a break was announced. I felt some people standing behind my back, I turned around. [...] I was very embarrassed, and they cheerfully patted me on the shoulder and said: 'Bravo, bravo, qiovinotto'. Well, that means they praise. I myself shouted from the audience: 'Bravo, bravo!' to the actors when I liked their acting." At the St Luke's Academy competition, Wilhelm Kotarbinski was awarded first prize - a silver medal and the title of "the first Roman draughtsman".

Over time, Kotarbinski gained popularity, but he spent many years in difficult material conditions. Constant malnutrition caused the artist to contract starvation typhus. A great deal of support for him at this time came from the wealthy painters, the brothers Aleksander and Paweł Swedomski. His acquaintance with the Swedomscy brothers led him to Kiev in 1888, where he participated in the work on the mural paintings of St. Vladimir's Cathedral.

Wilhelm Kotarbinski and his works in St. Vladimir's Cathedral in Kiev
. With his arrival in Kiev, a new chapter in the painter's artistic life began: the building committee signed a joint agreement with Wilhelm Kotarbinski and Pavel Swiedomski, according to which the artists "undertook to decorate the walls of St Vladimir's Cathedral with biblical paintings, images of saints and ornaments".

Together, Wilhelm Kotarbinski and Pavel Swiedomski painted eighteen compositions and 84 individual figures of saints in the Kiev temple. The artist's friend, writer and art critic Vladimir Diedlov (1856-1908) in his book Kiev St Vladimir's Cathedral. Its Artistic Creators, states that Wilhelm Kotarbinski was, together with Pavel Sverdomsky, the author of the representations in the side aisles: "Entry into Jerusalem", "The Lord's Supper", "Crucifixion", "Christ before Pilate". This last composition is also interesting because it is the only case where a model was engaged to create a painting in the Council. Kotarbinski and Swiedomski invited the aforementioned Vladimir Diedlov to pose for the image of Pontius Pilate.

Interestingly, Kotarbinski's work in the sobor does not have an author's signature: he was a Catholic, and only Orthodox artists were officially allowed to work in the sobor. There was a clause to this effect in the contract (shared with Pavel Swiedomski). Another participant in the work on the wall paintings of St Vladimir's Cathedral, Viktor Zamiraiło (1868-1939), mentioned that the vaults on the right under the choir were given to Swiedomski, the vaults on the left to Kotarbinski He painted according to his own sketches, but under Swiedomski's name because, as mentioned, he was not officially allowed to work independently. Compositions executed independently by Kotarbiński are: "Transfiguration" (in the southern nave of the cathedral), "Ascension" (in the northern nave) and a series of frescoes thematically referring to the Book of Genesis: "The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Days of Creation" and numerous portraits of saints, including: Paphnutus, Varlam, Nikita the Servant.

The contracts of all the artists who worked on the decoration of the interior of the cathedral included a provision to purchase paints and other materials at their own expense. Individual painters interpreted this clause differently: some bought expensive materials, while others, out of frugality, bought cheaper and lower-quality ones. Wilhelm Kotarbiński and Paweł Swiedomski did not particularly care for the quality of the paints. Years later, already during the period of Bolshevik rule, in 1928 Mikhail Nesterov (1862-1942), one of the creators of the wall paintings in St Vladimir's Cathedral, sadly admitted: "The Virgin of [Viktor] Vasnetsov [1848-1926] is in a deteriorating condition. Half of Kotarbinski's and half of Svydomsky's paintings have fallen off, the paints are hanging in tatters. The Niestierov has survived, but it is very (like everything else) contaminated. There are no people, no 'money', nothing to repair."

Solemn consecration of the Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev
On 20 August 1896, the consecration ceremony of St Vladimir's Cathedral took place in the presence of all the artists who took part in the interior decoration and Tsar Nicholas II. Mikhail Nesterov recalled the day: "I, [Viktor] Vasnetsov and Kotarbinsky were standing somewhere against the wall (heroes of the day!). And we would have stood in blissful silence the whole service, if someone (I remember, a lady) had not accidentally noticed that a certain overly zealous head (individual) was pushing us further away. For some reason we were in his way. And at that moment a compassionate soul saw this, became indignant, went forward, said to the [Kiev] governor-general, Count [Alexei] Ignatiev and Konstantin Pobedonoscev: those who created the council should stand before everyone [...]. Immediately after this came an invitation for us to move to the front and we, all the artists, were immediately given a place right behind the Tsar and the Grand Dukes".

The fame of Wilhelm Kotarbinski and his humble life
The ceremonial consecration of the cathedral in the presence of the Tsarist couple added to Wilhelm Kotarbinski's fame. Soon his large-scale canvas 'Orgy', attacked by critics from St Petersburg to Warsaw, was purchased for the Alexander III Museum. Kotarbinski was awarded the Order of St Stanislav II degree for the wall paintings created in the Vladimir Cathedral. A few years later, the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts awarded the artist the title of professor.

Living in Kiev for more than 30 years, Wilhelm Kotarbinski did not make his own home; for years he lived in a two-room flat of the Praga Hotel in the centre of Kiev and had his studio there. The outbreak of the First World War, followed by revolution and civil war, rendered the once famous painter redundant. At the end of his life, he lived in oblivion and poverty. In 1919, after several searches of Kotarbiński's flat at the Prague Hotel, the aged artist accepted the invitation of Emilia Prachova, widow of the painter Adrian Prachova, who had also participated in the work on the painting decoration of the Kiev Cathedral, and moved to her flat.

He planned to go to Poland, but the artist's death on 4 September 1921 stood in the way. Wilhelm Kotarbinski was buried in Kiev at the Baykova cemetery in the Polish sector of the new section of the necropolis.

Kotarbinski's contemporary, the well-known Ukrainian artist and educator Mykola Murashko, left the following entry in his diary: "Kotarbinski is a genius. He has brought the beauty of tone to brilliance. He has better colours than Siemiradzki, and he didn't even get a tenth of the glory that Siemiradzki did'.