Józef Simmler
{{Short description|Polish painter}}
Image:Portret trzech braci Simmlerów - Józef Simmler.jpg
Image:Simmler Death of Barbara Radziwiłł.jpgJózef Simmler (March 14, 1823, in Warsaw – March 1, 1868, in Warsaw) was a Polish painter known for his classical style and his Polish subjects.
Biography
Simmler came from a wealthy German Protestant family. It was this affluent upbringing that allowed him to pursue his interest in cities like Dresden, Munich and Paris.{{cite web|title=Joseph Simmler|url=http://www.pinakoteka.zascianek.pl/Simmler/Simmler_bio.htm|accessdate=17 January 2014|website=pinakoteka.zascianek.pl}}
Perhaps his most famous work is "Death of Barbara Radziwillowna" ("Śmierć Barbary Radziwiłłówny"), an oil on canvas work completed in 1860. The painting gained immense popularity when the Warsaw-based Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts, a newly formed institution with the goal of encouraging and promoting domestic art and artists, put it on exhibit in 1861.{{cite web|title=Jozef Simmler|url=http://artyzm.com/e_artysta.php?id=604|accessdate=23 October 2013|website=artyzm.com}} It now hangs in the National Museum, Warsaw. His other famous paintings are "Children of King Edward" (1847) and "Portrait of a Nobleman with a Parrot" (1859).
Józef Simmler's major contribution to Polish art is the humaneness that his paintings evoked. He was a specially gifted portraitist. Using styles of costume paintings prevalent in France, he produced works that allowed the public a view of the past. His paintings, however, were more than just reproductions of history. The masterful works also gave a deep sense of compassion, dread, and tenderness.
His daughter's brother-in-law was Eduard Strasburger, the famous Polish-German botanist. One of Simmler's grandsons was Henryk Leon Strasburger, a Polish delegate to the League of Nations.
Selected paintings
File:Simmler Katarzyna Jahn.jpg|His sister, Katarzyna Jahn
File:Jadwiga Łuszczewska gen. Deotyma.jpg|Jadwiga Łuszczewska
File:Simmler szlachcic.jpg|Nobleman with a Parrot
File:Simmler Kronenberg sisters.jpg|The Kronenberg sisters
References
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External links
{{Commons category|Józef Simmler}}
- [http://malarze.com/artysta.php?id=194 A gallery of Jozef Simmler works]
- [http://www.pinakoteka.zascianek.pl/Simmler/Index.htm More works of Josef Simmler.18 pictures]
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Category:19th-century Polish painters
Category:19th-century Polish male artists
Category:Painters from the Russian Empire
Category:Artists from Congress Poland
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