Focus on this artwork and analyze the abstract.
Stephen Báthory at Pskov or Báthory at Pskov (Polish - Stefan Batory pod Pskowem) is an allegorical historical painting from 1872  by the Polish artist Jan Matejko, now in the collections of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. It portrays a fictional event of people of the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible kneeling before the Polish king Stephen Báthory at Pskov during the final period of peace negotiations at the end of the 1578-1582 Livonian campaign. It also shows the papal legate, the black-robed Jesuit Antonio Possevino.
Matejko exhibited it in Prague and for it was made an academician of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and an honorary foreign member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts, as well as winning a Medal of Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. It and Rejtan were seized by the Germans during World War II and hurriedly evacuated in 1944, leaving them both badly damaged. They were both rediscovered in the village of Przesieka near Jelenia Góra by Professor Stanislaw Lorentz. Their restoration took three years.
The literal interpretation of the painting is historically inaccurate since it depicts the events metaphorically, as part of a broader narrative depicting the significance of the event outside of its immediate context.
Antonio Possevino Poland Warsaw Stephen Báthory Royal Castle Jelenia Góra Académie des Beaux-Arts Livonian campaign Academy of Fine Arts papal legate Stanislaw Lorentz Vienna Przesieka Ivan the Terrible Prague Jan Matejko Pskov World War II Rejtan