Jan Matejko (24 June 1838, Free City of Kraków – 1 November 1893) was a Polish painter, known for painting events from Polish history. Matejko spent most of his life in Kraków. Later, he became director of the institution, which in time was renamed the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts. He is regarded as "the Father of the Młoda Polska '' Arts and Crafts movement in Poland.Some of Matejko’ s most popular paintings are: ,,Hołd Pruski’’, ,,Bitwa pod Grunwaldem’’, ,,Stańczyk’’, ,,Konstytucja 3 Maja’’ and ,,Zaprowadzenie chrześcijaństwa’’. ,, Dziewica Orleańska’’ is the largest artwork, it has an area of 47m2.
His father, Franciszek Ksawery Matejko a Czech from the village of Roudnice, moved to Kościelniki, Poland, then to Kraków, where he married the half-German, half-Polish Joanna Karolina Rossberg. Jan was the 9th of eleven children. His parents didn’t take care of him very much. When he was 7, he broke his nose and no one wanted to help him with that. It was the cause of his crooked nose. Matejko’s mother died when he was little. He grew up in a kamienica building on Floriańska Street. Jan Matejko suffered from a disease called peptic ulcer and died on 1st November 1893 of internal bleeding in Kraków, Austrian Poland. The funeral took place on 5th November. It attracted huge crowds and was mentioned in at least 32 European newspapers.
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