Józef Mehoffer’s painting “Manor House in Jankówka”, inspired by the garden at his country estate, will be on display from Friday (27 Aug) at the artist’s home and museum at 26 Krupnicza Street in Kraków, a branch of the National Museum.
In the autumn of 1907, fulfilling his dream of a house with a garden, Józef Mehoffer bought an eighteenth-century larch manor house in the village of Jankówka in the Podgórze Wielicke region, which he owned until 1917. It was situated on a hill, from which, as Jadwiga Mehofferowa writes, “above the crowns of a wild orchard there was a wide view of mountain ranges”.
The work “Manor House in Jankówka” was painted around 1910 and is a reflection of this magical place for Mehoffer. It is a view of the house from the side of the garden, drowning in flowers. There is also a minor event recalled – a meeting of two cats on a garden path.
Jadwiga Mehoffer, described the work as follows:
“The larger cat – Maciek, the pretty one, marked with black stripes on the pale grey fur, comes up towards his filigree brother, the black Czarcik, and, as the cats are never sure of each other’s feelings, they stretch out their muzzles towards each other. This was happening in a background of blossoming dahlias, towering sunflowers, and long-stemmed roses. In the background, a fragment of a house with a veranda draped in wisteria dangling from the notched fascia board of the roof”.
On the website of the National Museum in Krakow, Exhibition Curator and Coordinator – dr Beata Studziżba-Kubalskawe wrote that “The showing of painting is complemented by four other Mehoffer’s compositions with a view of the garden in Jankówka, permanently exhibited at the biographical museum located in the artist’s home: the landscapes Storm in Spring (1915) and Red Umbrella (1917), the allegorical scene Poland in the Great War (1917) and the famed The Bold Gardener (1912)”.
For more information click here or click here to visit the Museum’s website.