Józef Simmler

Simmler came from a wealthy German Protestant family. It was this affluent upbringing that allowed him to pursue his interest in cities like Dresden, Munich and Paris.[1]

Perhaps his most famous work is "Death of Barbara Radziwillowna" ("Śmierć Barbary Radziwiłłówny"), an oil on canvas work completed in 1860. The painting gained immense popularity when the Warsaw-based Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts, a newly formed institution with the goal of encourage and promote domestic art and artists, put it on exhibit in 1861.[2] It now hangs in the National Museum, Warsaw. His other famous paintings are “Children of King Edward” (1847) and “Portrait of a Nobleman with a Parrot” (1859).[1]

Józef Simmler's major contribution to Polish art is the humaneness that his paintings evoked. He was a specially gifted portraitist. Using styles of costume paintings prevalent in France, he produced works that allowed the public a view of the past. His paintings, however, were more than just reproductions of history. The masterful works also gave a deep sense of compassion, dread, and tenderness.[2]

His daughter's brother-in-law was Eduard Strasburger, the famous Polish-German botanist. One of Simmler's grandsons was Henryk Leon Strasburger, a Polish delegate to the League of Nations.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Józef Simmler.

• A gallery of Jozef Simmler works
• More works of Josef Simmler.18 pictures