Wandalin Strzałecki (1855-1917) ~ The Violinist, 1874 ✿

The Violinist, 1874 (Skrzypek) - Oil on Canvas
National Museum in Warsaw
Wandalin Strzałecki (1855-1917) was a Polish-Russian painter.

Wandalin was born in a family with artistic abilities, the painter was the father of Wandalin Strzałecki and brothers Antoni and Jan Michał. He was educated at the Warsaw School of Drawing, in the studio of Wojciech Gerson (1871–1877), later in St. Petersburg and Munich until 1882. After graduating, he returned to Warsaw, created and exhibited at the Zachęta Gallery.

He also created genre scenes and portraits. In 1885, Strzelecki was diagnosed with mental illness and was placed in the Warsaw Institute of John of God, where he stayed until his death. It rests at the Powązki Cemetery.

He painted historical and battle paintings under the influence of Jan Matejko and Józef Brandt. Together with his brother Antoni, he created polychromes in the Chapel of the Mother of God in Jasna Góra, in the church of Of the Holy Cross in Krasne and Przesmyki.