Rosen practised monumental painting, but became famous in the USA as a creator of large-scale mosaics. He co-created the mosaic decoration in the Cathedral Basilica in Saint Louis.

Rosen - famous creator of sacred art in the USA
Jan Henryk Rosen was born in Warsaw on 25 February 1891, as he himself recounted: "between the easel and the cannon. When I say cannon, I am of course talking about a cannon model, because in my father's [the painter-battleman Jan Bogumił Rosen (1854-1936)] studio there were various military collections: sabres, rifles, uniforms, lancer's caps - and I grew between these". Jan Henry's curriculum vitae is as rich as his list of talents, awards and decorations.

Over a period of 45 years, he created some fifty ornamental ensembles in churches of various denominations and public buildings. Among them, what is considered the world's largest mosaic, covering the main dome of the Cathedral Basilica in Saint Louis, Missouri, in the United States. Known in the USA as John de Rosen, he was regarded as one of the most famous creators of sacred art overseas.

John Henry Rosen and his "liturgical art "
After his first solo exhibition at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, which proved to be a huge success, Archbishop Jozef Teodorowicz, head of the Armenian Catholic Church, offered the budding artist to create paintings in the Armenian Cathedral in Lviv.

To this day, the walls of the nave and chancel of the cathedral are almost entirely covered with his paintings, which remain the most famous work of the painter in Europe. The artist is also the author of paintings, stained-glass windows and mosaics for many buildings in Poland and abroad, including St. Joseph's Church on the Kahlenberg in Vienna and the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.

In 1934, the Department of Figurative Drawing, where Rosen was a professor, was abolished at the Lviv Polytechnic. He therefore took advantage of an invitation from the Polish ambassador to the USA, Count Jerzy Potocki, and travelled to the United States at the end of 1937. He was to decorate the reception hall at the Polish embassy in Washington with frescoes. He then went on to decorate the Polish pavilion at the 1939 World Exhibition in New York. The outbreak of the Second World War and then the communist reality in post-war Poland kept the painter in the USA. Thus began a new and final chapter in Rosen's artistic biography, at the same time the most prolific, diverse and longest.

Spirituality and deep religiousness bind Rosen's biography and work together. He carried out projects for Roman Catholic, Protestant and Greek Catholic churches and in public buildings. These include realisations for the interiors of churches in Washington: the Protestant National Cathedral and the Catholic Cathedral of St Matthew, the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Lutheran Church of St James . Other works by the painter can be found in Anaheim, San Francisco, Buffalo, Philadelphia and Memphis, among others. His last work was a design for a church in Pittsburgh.

For several years (1939-1949), John Henry Rosen taught 'liturgical art' at the Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC. This university honoured him with an honorary doctorate in 1957. In the 1950s, he was a consultant to the US Episcopal Church on sacred art. He published articles on iconography in the monthly magazine Triumph.

Although Rosen practised monumental painting, usually using the encaustic technique (mixing pigment with beeswax), he became famous in the USA as a creator of large-scale mosaics. He was among the artists who created the mosaic decoration in the Cathedral Basilica in Saint Louis, dedicated to Christ the Victorious and Saint Louis IX, King of France, the city's patron saint.

Mosaics in the Cathedral Basilica of St Louis
The architecture of the cathedral, completed in 1914, is a combination of a medieval block on a Latin cross plan with a two-towered façade and architectural details with Byzantine mosaic decoration of the interior covered by domes. The walls, arches, pillars and domes of the monumental building are almost entirely covered with mosaic decoration. It is probably the largest collection of mosaics in the world, with an area of around 7710 m2. The installation took place between 1912 and 1988, and some 41.5 million glass tesserae (small pieces of coloured glass, 0.7-1.5 cm, machined, square or rectangular) were used. They had more than 7,000 different colours and shades. The resulting rich, vibrantly coloured interior is reminiscent of classical Byzantine buildings.

Rosen mosaic in the dome of the St Louis Cathedral
John Henry Rosen is the author of the decoration of the central dome, which rises to a height of 43 m, at the junction of the naves and the decoration of the Arch of Judgement in the St Louis Cathedral. The design covers some 1,300 m2 and is the largest mosaic in existence.

The dome's canopy is filled with biblical scenes. In the centre, closest to the chancel, we see the prophet Elijah ascending to heaven in a flaming chariot - as an Old Testament figure of Christ heralding His ascension. The caption reads: A fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them bouth asunder and Elias went up to Heaven. (Second Kings 2:11-12: Behold, [there appeared] a fiery cart with fiery steeds, and parted them both: and Elijah amidst the whirlwind ascended into Heaven). To the left of Elijah is the image of a pregnant 'woman clothed with the sun', with a dragon awaiting the birth of her child - as recorded in the Apocalypse of St John (12, 1), with the caption: 'And a great sign appeared in Heaven, a woman clothed in the sun'. Next is a representation of the prophet Ezekiel's vision with four winged beings, which in the New Testament will be read as symbols of the four evangelists: The World of the Lord came to Ezekiel and the hand of the Lord was upon him (Book of Ezekiel, 1, 3: The Lord addressed a word to [...] Ezekiel [...]; the hand of the Lord was there over him).

The fourth scene depicts the Trinity in terms of the 'Throne of Grace', a convention popular in the Middle Ages, showing God the Father supporting the crucified Christ, accompanied by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. John Henry Rosen used the likeness of Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople as a model for the face of God the Father. The caption proclaims: Glory to be the Father to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.

Between the geometrically framed scenes stand Cherubim with blue wings, praising the Holy Trinity in four languages: English, Slavonic, Greek and Latin. Around the centre of the dome, the Seraphim are depicted between golden flames. The dominant red of the background contrasts with the gold and blue, intensifying their colours and making the prophetic biblical representations even more unreal.

The dome was completed in 1965, while the Arc of the Last Judgement, one of the four supporting the dome, showing Christ receiving the penitents in 1962. Interestingly, those who reject the Saviour are depicted not going into the fires of hell, but into the snow and cold, as eternal coldness without God's love.

The mosaics were installed by the Ravenna Mosaic Company, founded by German emigrants, Paul Heuduck and his son Arno, mainly to create Byzantine mosaics for the cathedral. There is a museum dedicated to mosaic decoration in the basement of the church.

Rosen and his activities for the Polish community
Jan Henryk Rosen was actively involved in the life of Polish organisations in the United States. He was a founding member of the Pittsburgh Polish Arts League, and when he moved to Washington he became an honorary member of the Polish American Arts Association and the Polish Veterans Association. He was decorated with the Order of Virtuti Militari, among others, and also received the French Order of the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre and the British Military Medal for Bravery in the Field. He was a well-educated intellectual and an extremely talented artist.

Despite his great success and artistic output, he died on 22 August 1982 in Arlington (Virginia State) near Washington in poverty, somewhat forgotten, and was buried in the Columbia Gardens Cemetery there. The obituary, published in The Washington Post, stated: "John Henry de Rosen, 91, painter of religious wall paintings, soldier in three armies during the First World War and former diplomat in the service of his native Poland".