Painting of a Polish Trooper 1920 - Szwadron pionierów

[cichociemny]

Hi guys

Feeling a bit sick today so I took the day off and was cleaning the house when I found this painting.

Back in 2004 when my father died me and my brother decided we should take our mom for a holiday to Poland, my mom who is a antique collector and got me into collecting militaria would often hit the town in search of things to buy, one day I recieved a phone call that she was in a antique store in the town square of Wroclaw and she found some Polish medals and badges which I might find worth buying. Now I know when my mom says it is worth buying, IT IS! My mom knows what is original and what is a fake, and she is a expert bargain hunter ;-)
I arrived in the store and ended up buying a nice Wz.19 eagle, a few Polish medals for the 1919-21 War, a mint 1939 Radom Bayonet, plenty of photos and paperwork. I remember the total was close to 900zl and I was happy with price but thanks to mom I payed 730

As we are about to leave, in a dark corner of the store my mom notices a old, really dirty painting. My mom loves paintings, she looks at it, calls me over and asks me to identity the soldier, now this painting was so dirty I could barely make it out, but yup, I know it is a cavalry trooper, I know for sure he is wearing a uniform that was worn in the 1920 campaign. I was worried about the dirt and condition however my mom assured me she knows a expert in a local museum who can restore it, she was so confident she buys it for me for silly money, 1000zl.
Two weeks later she gave me this stunning painting, I could not believe this was the same painting she bought.

The trooper is wearing a typical 1920 War cavalry peaked cap, pioneer squadron insignia, a really nice jacket worn over the shoulder 'hussar style' which was common with the Polish cavalry in the those days.

Here is the painting, I am hoping to have it framed some time this year and create a display at home focusing on the 1919-21 war with this painting as the centrepiece, it looks much better in real life and I cannot seem to take a good shot from my camera...

Nick

[Adrian Stevenson]

It will look great framed.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Nick, you have an awesome mom!!

Cheers,
Tony

[LwowAK]

Great painting...as everyone has said, it should look amazing framed!

Not an art historian by any means, but took a chance on this painting recently for a paltry 270zl. Hope to receive it next week to determine if it's period or not, as well as the painting materials and technique. Decided it was worth a try as I have not seen this particular portrait before and it appears to be of Kazimierz Sosnkowski, who I am actually a fan of. Any thoughts greatly welcome! :-)

Cheers,

B

[andrzejku98]

Hello LwowAK,

Apologies on bursting your bubble it is in fact a portrait of General Dyw Wladyslaw Sikorski a copy of the original portrait painted by Roman Kawecki, a photograph of the original appears in the Order Virtuti Militari by Krzystof Filipow (published in 1992).

Best wishes

Andrzej

[andrzejku98]

Hello Again LwowAK,

I just thought that you might like to see the original portrait painting of Wladyslaw Eugeniusz Sikorski, held by the MWP.



Also held at the MWP is the following portrait painting of Kazimierz Sosnkowski which I thought you might like to see.



You can click on both to open up in a new window to enlarge.

Best wishes

Andrzej

[LwowAK]

Thanks Andrzej!

Pozdrawiam,

B