Silver Coin Jan Matejko Wernyhora 2009 Proof

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Masters of Europe series

Exclusive silver (rectangular) coin issued by the Cook Islands in 2009 from the Masters of Europe series depicts a coloured painting of Jan Matejko - Wernyhora on the reverse. The portrait on the coin includes a Swarovski pearl. The inscriptions 'GRAND MASTERS OF EUROPE', 'JAN MATEJKO' and the year '1838 - 1893' complete the obverse. The obverse shows a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the face value.

The coin comes in a blue gift box with grey and silver trim along with a certificate of authenticity in a limited edition of only 5000 pieces for the whole world!

Jan Matejko

Jan Matejko (28 July 1838, Kraków - 1 November 1893, the same place) was the most famous Polish painter, creator of monumental paintings with historical themes and battle scenes. The date of his birth is often erroneously given as 24 June. The painter himself claimed to have been born on 30 July.

Matejko's grandparents were Czech farmers in Roudnice near Hradec Králové. His father František was a native of Hradec Králové and worked as an educator and music teacher in Halych. At first he worked for the Wodzicki family in Koscielniki (now part of Nowa Huta) and later moved to Kraków, where he married Katerina Rosberg, from a Polish-German family of wealthy peasants. Jan was their ninth child out of eleven. From early childhood he showed unusual artistic talent, which enabled him to advance to the upper classes, as he failed in almost all other subjects. He never learned any foreign language and struggled hard even with Polish.

In his youth he lived through the shelling of Kraków by the Austrians in 1848 and also witnessed the December Uprising, which he supported financially. As a result of these national tragedies, he began to devote himself to historical painting instead of his previous religious work. He often placed on his canvases people who did not actually take part in the event in question (e.g. Hugo Kollataj and General J. Wodzicki in the painting Bitwa u Racławic), but he was not concerned with the exact mapping of history, but with the symbolic and philosophical effect of the work and its educational effect.

In 1864 he married Theodora, nee. Beata, Helena, Tadeáš and Jiří. The last, Regina, died in infancy. The woman was his inspiration and model for numerous works (e.g. Queen Bona Sforza in "The Prussian Hold"). During his lifetime, he won national recognition for his work, and became a universally acclaimed classic. However, he also became famous worldwide (exhibitions in Paris were particularly successful). He himself escaped public attention, and personal attendance at official social events was very stressful for him. The house where Matejko lived in Kraków is now the Matejko Museum. He was the first rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. The most famous of his pupils are J. Malczewski, S. Wyspianski, J. Mehoffer, M. Gottlieb. Matejko is buried in the honorary avenue of Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków.