Art by Artur Grottger

Artur Grottger (1837-1867) was a Polish painter and graphic designer, one of the most prominent artists of the early 1800s despite his brief life.
He was born in Eastern Galicia to an amateur artist of German background, Jan Jozef Grottger, and a Polish mother. Grottger studied painting under the apprenticeships of Jan Kanty Maszkowski and Juliusz Kossak in Lwów. Grottger received an imperial scholarship to attend the Krakow School of Fine Arts, where he studied under Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and Wojciech Kornel Stattler. Around this time he met one of his biggest future art patrons and benefactors, Aleksander Pappenheim.
Grottger painted mostly epic battle scenes. He moved to Vienna in 1854, where he produced some of his most famous paintings. In 1865, Grottger returned to Poland and stayed in Kraków and Lwów, but left this time for good in 1866. Arriving in Paris, he became seriously ill and died. His last painting was his self portrait.