Author: Jurjewicz Franciszek, 1849 - 1924
Created: 1897.
Material / technique: oil on cardboard.
Dimensions: 25.5x35 cm.
Signature: F. Jurjewicz / 1897 (in the bottom-right corner of the painting).
The work of the artist FRANCISZEK JURJEWICZ (1849–1924), who was active in cultural and public life in Vilnius at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, belongs to the trend of Realism, but with hints of Neo-Romanticism. He looked for subject matter and motifs in his immediate everyday surroundings, frequently recording views of the environs of Vilnius. The study A shack was created during his Vilnius period. The artist’s eye was caught by a dilapidated wooden hut on the edge of a forest. With its roof covered in moss, unpainted timber walls, and a pole fence enclosing its yard, the little homestead looks like a natural part or an extension of nature. The smoke rising from the white chimney betrays the fact that it is inhabited, as do two female figures and a white mongrel next to them, depicted in a few broad brushstrokes. But even these figures do not stand out from their surroundings. The artist noted the connection between the hut, the land and the forest, and emphasised it in shades of green, blending into a harmonious whole thanks to the rosy evening light. The soft illumination of dusk gives the study its inimitable mood, rendering the view of a poor everyday environment in the Romantic hues of the disappearing past.
Reference: "RES PUBLICA" The art collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas. Compiler R. Jononienė. Vilnius, 2018, P. 62.
Published:"RES PUBLICA" The art collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas. Compiler R. Jononienė. Vilnius, 2018, P. 63, Cat. No. 44, P. 220.