Jacek Malczewski (1854–1929) was born in Radom on 15 July 1854, in the part of Poland ruled by the Russian Empire. His father, Julian, was a patriot who introduced him to the Romantic literature of the November Uprising. At seventeen he moved to Kraków, began his training in 1872, and in 1879 completed a course in composition under Jan Matejko.
He is called the father of Polish Symbolism. His canvases mix allegory with the Polish landscape and folklore, Christian and Greek tradition, and the national themes of martyrdom and exile. Again and again the painter puts himself into the picture, often face to face with chimeras, angels and figures of death. Between 1885 and 1916 he regularly visited Paris, Munich and Vienna, and he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in 1897–1900 and again in 1912–1921.
Malczewski was married to Maria Garlewska, and their son Rafał also became a painter. He lost his sight towards the end of his life and died in Kraków on 8 October 1929. He is buried at Skałka, Poland’s national pantheon.