Maurycy Gottlieb Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Maurycy Gottlieb
Self-portrait, 1876
Born	21/28 February 1856 Drohobycz, Austrian Poland
Died	17 July 1879(1879-07-17) (aged 23) Kraków, Austrian Poland
Nationality	Polish
Education	Academies in Kraków, Vienna and Munich
Known for	Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur, 1878
Movement	Realism

Maurycy Gottlieb (born February 21/28, 1856 – died July 17, 1879) was a very talented Polish-Jewish painter. He painted in a style called Realism during the Romantic period. Maurycy was thought to be one of the best students of a famous artist named Jan Matejko. Sadly, he passed away when he was only 23 years old.

Becoming a Painter
Later Life and Art
- Return to Kraków and Early Death
- Famous Paintings
Gallery
See also

Becoming a Painter

Maurycy Gottlieb was born in Drohobycz (which was then part of Austrian Poland, and is now in western Ukraine). His family was wealthy and spoke Yiddish and Polish. He was one of eleven children.

Early Art Training

Maurycy first learned about painting in Lemberg from an artist named Michał Godlewski. When he was fifteen, he joined the Vienna Fine Arts Academy. He studied there for three years.

Studying with Jan Matejko

In 1873, Maurycy went to Kraków to study with Jan Matejko, who was a very important Polish painter. Maurycy became good friends with another student, Jacek Malczewski. However, something unfair happened at the School of Fine Arts because Maurycy was Jewish. This made him leave Kraków after less than a year, even though his friend Malczewski wanted him to stay.

Travels and Success

After leaving Kraków, Maurycy traveled to Norway and stayed in a place called Molde. He then returned to Vienna. In 1875, he went to Munich to study with Karl von Piloty and Alexander von Wagner.

In 1876, Maurycy won a special award, the Gold Medal, at the Munich Academy. He won it for his painting called Shylock and Jessica. Later that year, he moved back to Vienna to work in Heinrich von Angeli's art studio. He lived and worked in Vienna for two years. During this time, he painted pictures with stories from the Bible. He also created drawings for a publishing company in Munich.

Later Life and Art

In the fall of 1878, Maurycy Gottlieb traveled to Rome. There, he became friends with another artist named Henryk Siemiradzki. At a special dinner in Rome, Maurycy met his old teacher, Matejko. Matejko convinced him to come back to Kraków. He wanted Maurycy, as one of his best students, to work on a big series of paintings about the history of the Jews in Poland.

Return to Kraków and Early Death

In 1879, Maurycy settled in Kraków and started working on his new big art project. Sadly, he died in the same year due to health problems. Matejko went to his funeral and promised Maurycy's father that he would look after Maurycy's younger brother, Marcin.

Famous Paintings

Maurycy Gottlieb's painting, Shylock and Jessica (1876), won a gold medal in Munich. This painting shows a scene from Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice. The painting was shown in different cities and was very popular. Maurycy based the face of Jessica in the painting on a woman named Laura Rosenfeld. He had wanted to marry Laura, but she said no and married someone else. Maurycy then planned to marry Lola Rosengarten. However, when he heard about Laura's marriage, he became very ill and passed away from complications of a cold and sore throat.

Even though he died very young at 23, more than three hundred of his artworks still exist. Most of these are sketches, but there are also many oil paintings. Not all of them were finished. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, many of his paintings that were in Poland became known around the world, and his fame grew a lot. His brother, Leopold Gottlieb, was born five years after Maurycy died and also became a well-known painter.