Focus on this artwork and analyze the History.
The Sigismund Bell painting was created in 1874. During his work, Matejko commissioned craftsmen to create a replica of a scaffolding that was used to move the bell, and he identified its likely original location, in order for it to be portrayed realistically.There are numerous anecdotes associated with this painting. Matejko used his family for models, and likely the painting contains nearly all the members of his family. The painting was well received by contemporaries, and Stanisław Tarnowski published an extensive and positive review in 1875 in Przegląd Polski. The work was displayed in Paris in 1875, and probably contributed to Matejko's recognition by the Académie française; three years later it was displayed there again, during the Exposition Universelle (1878), and (together with two other paintings – the Unia lubelska (Union of Lublin) and Wacław Wilczek) yielded him an honorary golden medal.The painting is in the collection of the National Museum, Warsaw.
Stanisław Tarnowski National Museum, Warsaw scaffolding Académie française Sigismund Bell Przegląd Polski The Sigismund Bell Sigismund Exposition Universelle (1878)