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This publication tells the extraordinary story of Jan Matejko’s painting The Death of Urszulka Kochanowska. No other work of the visual arts referring to literature has made such a deep impression on the Polish national awareness. Every Polish man, woman and child will recognise it from its reproductions and know immediately that it refers to Jan Kochanowski’s Treny (Laments). Conversely, all who read the Treny have Matejko’s picture in their mind’s eye.
However, the original work disappeared from the public view shortly after it was finished. In reality we do not know what it was like: we have no idea of its colour-scheme or size, and our knowledge of its shape comes via the mediation of woodcuts published in 19th-century magazines, and a rather unclear photograph of the original canvas shortly after its completion. We also have a water-colour sketch made of it by Matejko. All of these hints bring us closer to the original, though in a surrogate manner…
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