The title which, according to tradition, the painting bears, Girl with Breakfast on a Tray, is not really adequate to its content. However, it has already become established in literature and seems to have permanently attached itself to the composition, which is considered one of the best works among the nearly 2,000 paintings that Jablonski is said to have painted. It was acquired into the collection of the Lviv National Art Gallery together with the collection of the former National Gallery of the City of Lviv, having previously belonged to the Sadowski family. It has been compared to Jean-Étienne Liotard's famous Chocolatier from the Dresden Gallery, although it is uncertain whether Jablonski ever had the opportunity to view this pastel masterpiece. The painting is very much associated with popular phenomena in European Biedermeier art, but is unique in the author's oeuvre, and indeed in the entire Lvov milieu.

The bumpy path of Marcin Jablonski's artistic career was symptomatic of the 19th century. The adversities he faced, resulting both from the historical and political conditions of the time and his own limitations, affected numerous aspiring artists. While many gave up under their weight and changed their plans for their lives, Jablonski consistently pursued his goal and, although his activities were met with variable success, he eventually became one of the most recognisable Lvov artists of the first half of the century. He was born in 1801 in Glogow near Rzeszow. He came to the Galician capital out of a desire to learn painting, in which he trained in the studio of an unspecified local guild painter. Although at that time the painters' guild had already been officially dissolved in Lviv, no art schools had been established to provide at least a basic education in the fine arts. Jabłoński therefore had no better prospects. In the nineteenth century, it was generally believed that an obligatory part of an artist's education was a trip abroad to learn about European art, ancient and modern. Jabłoński, however, did not undertake formal studies at any art academy. It is evident from references and source accounts that he went on journeys during which he viewed and copied the works of other masters, thus honing his skills. He made such study trips to Warsaw, Krakow and Vienna. This was undoubtedly an important and developing experience, but he remained virtually self-taught in the painting profession, and his workshop deficiencies will be a shortcoming that will often be reproached by his contemporaries. On the other hand, his determination was appreciated - in 1842, an anonymous journalist, describing the artists active in Lvov, wrote of him with praise:

"our Jablonski, without any teachers or models, having begun his profession as a varnisher and then as a painter of rooms, following only the drive of inborn desire and inborn ability and working hard, educated himself, perfected himself and always continues to perfect himself, because in each of his works one can see progress in comparison with the preceding one" (Daguerreotype and Painting in Lviv, "Gazeta Lwowska" 1842, no. 111, p. 723).

After returning from his travels, he settled permanently in Lwów, where he devoted himself to creating works on commission - mainly, in accordance with the demand of the time, church paintings (for temples of both Western and Eastern rites) and, above all, portraits. In order to support himself and his family, he produced the latter en masse, with the result that these works were very uneven in terms of their artistic level - as well as precise and graceful ones, in line with the Viennese trends of the time, there were also some that blatantly demonstrated stiffness of pose and conventionality of treatment. Nevertheless, he gained recognition as one of the leading portraitists in Lvov. After more than twenty years as a painter, he opened a lithographic workshop in the city, devoting himself to graphic art as a publisher of engravings and albums. In addition to his artistic work, Jabłoński was also strongly involved in political activity. During the Spring of Nations, he belonged to the National Council and was a member of the deputation sent with a petition to the emperor. He and his family were also later involved in the freedom movement. When, towards the end of his life, he lost his wife and two sons in the January Uprising, he withdrew from professional work and moved to the countryside.

The largest part of Marcin Jablonski's surviving oeuvre consists of portraits. Alongside physiognomically faithful and in keeping with the taste of the times, but rather conventional 'official' portraits, he sometimes painted other types of representations - showing people not stiffly posing, but captured while performing ordinary, everyday activities. More often than not, the background was a bourgeois interior, which was in keeping with the Biedermeier era ethos of the home as a space providing peace, security and warmth.

The Girl with Breakfast on a Tray belongs to this category of compositions, on the borderline between portrait and genre scene. There is no doubt that the painter immortalised a particular person in this painting, but the aim was not so much to capture her appearance or personality, but to convey the impression associated with the documented situation. The painting depicts a servant girl carrying a meal on a tray as part of her daily duties. The young woman portrayed by Jabłoński is dressed modestly but appropriately and in accordance with current fashion trends - her shirt has heavily billowing sleeves, characteristic of the time, and a laced corset emphasises her narrow waist. In the literature, she is described as carrying breakfast, coffee or even hot chocolate. In reality, the crockery set shown is used to serve tea. The metal, possibly made of silver, teapot was used precisely for this brew. The cup next to it is fitted with a strainer to strain the grounds. Other than that, the tray contained a bread basket, a porcelain jug with lid containing warm milk for tea, a two-coloured Czech glass jug containing sweet cream served with buns and a silver box sugar bowl. It is not necessarily a morning meal, but an "afternoon tea", the custom of which also became widespread in Poland in the 19th century. All the objects collected on the tray could have been in daily use, and they belong to typical examples of craftsmanship of the first half of the century. The precision of the reproduction of all their details, especially the mirror-like reflections on the metal surfaces, testifying to the high level of skill of the painter, is a delight. In the intimacy, but also in the charm of the moment of an ordinary day captured by Jabłoński, one can find a celebration of the small charms of everyday life, typical of the era. Of course, from the perspective of the person waiting to be served; for the maid it is just another duty to perform, but in Jablonski's time the inner life of the lower classes had not yet been problematised in art.

Location: Lviv National Art Gallery, Lviv