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ART FROM THE RENASCENCE 3, 1791; the victory of Kosciuszko's peasant army over the Russians at Raclawice, April 4, 1794 (being the first great triumph of modern Polish democracy). The deeply religious cast of Matejko's mind, in its sublime, almost medieval simplicity is manifested in his picture of Joan of Arc's triumphant entry into Rheims, and in his last, unfinished work, representing the Vows of King John Casimir Vasa, by which, having almost miraculously rescued his kingdom from the deluge of Swedish invasion, the king solemnly devoted himself and his people to the everlasting protection and patronage of the Queen of Heaven (1656). Most of these pictures of Matejko's—all of them canvasses of huge dimensions—are to be seen in the National Museum at Cracow.

But other domains of his art, outside great historical composition, were not foreign either to the genius of Matejko. Born and educated at Cracow, where also he spent the whole of his life, he became par excellence the painter of this town. There was certainly nobody who ever had a more thorough knowledge of the city's monuments, its customs, and its past. This knowledge of, and faithful love for his mother-city give an essentially local character to his pictures. He never underwent the influence of any foreign school, did not know even the great picture galleries abroad; yet we catch a tone in his work which resembles something in Rubens, in Buonarotti, and in the later Spanish Masters. It is most interesting and characteristic that, in his powerful grasp of the subjects, the same passionate vitality is manifested which we have noticed in the old Vitus Stoss, the great naturalist of late Gothicism. In spite, however, of these slight resemblances he remains one of the most distinct and powerful individualities in the history of painting. To his masterpieces Polish art is indebted for the recognition of its existence and importance in the field of international competition.

Besides historical painting, he also excelled in portraits, which are among the most perfect of their kind; so are the wall-paintings in St. Mary's Church, the splendid outcome of his penetrating, intuitive knowledge of medieval art. In the history