gouache, pencil/paper, 38x27.5 cm, signed p.d.: Andriolli 1882
state of preservation: good, slight break in the middle;
The composition was commissioned by the artist for the well-known first illustrated edition, which was published in Lviv in 1882. Lviv publisher Herman Altenberg commissioned a series of illustrations from the artist in 1879, and the artist completed them in 1881, creating 25 large scenes and numerous vignettes and appendices. Publication began in notebooks, and early the following year, in view of its immense popularity, it appeared as an ornately bound volume. Interestingly, the full version of the poem and a censored version, intended for the Russian partition, were published the same year. The above illustration made it to the full edition!
Most of the woodcuts were made by the respected Warsaw wood engraver Andrzej Zajkowski. The above scene differs in detail from the print that was made for the publication. However, at least in the collection of the Museum of Literature there is an original illustration for this edition, also dated 1882 and differing in detail.
The scene shows an excerpt from Book XI of Pan Tadeusz: "...Among the buds of the colorful poppy stood a lancer like a sunflower, in a shining cap, Attired with a sheet of gold and a rooster's feather; By his side a girl, in a green dress like a rut."
