About this work
The Sermon of Piotr Skarga or Skarga's Sermon (Polish: Kazanie Skargi) is a large oil painting by Jan Matejko, finished in 1864, now in the National Museum, Warsaw in Poland. It depicts a sermon on political matters by the Jesuit priest Piotr Skarga, a chief figure of the Counter Reformation in Poland, where he rebukes the Polish elite for neglecting the national interest. Skarga's Sermon is among Matejko's most famous works, and like other historical paintings by Matejko includes several portraits of identifiable historical figures of the period, as well as in this case a self-portrait of the artist in the figure of Skarga.
About Jan Matejko
Jan Alojzy Matejko was a Polish painter, a leading 19th-century exponent of history painting, known for depicting nodal events from Polish history. His works include large scale oil paintings such as Stańczyk, Rejtan (1866), Union of Lublin (1869), Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God (1873), or Battle of Grunwald (1878). He was the author of numerous portraits, a gallery of Polish monarchs in book form, and murals in St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków. He is considered by many as the most celebrated Polish painter, and sometimes as the "national painter" of Poland.
Where it hangs
Skarga's Sermon is in the collection of National Museum of Warsaw.
More by Jan Matejko
Wernyhora
Jan Matejko · 1884
National Museum in Kraków
Poland – The Year 1863
Jan Matejko · 1864
National Museum in Kraków
Stańczyk
Jan Matejko · 1862
National Museum of Warsaw
The Hanging of the Sigismund bell at the Cathedral Tower in 1521 in Kraków
Jan Matejko · 1874
National Museum of Warsaw
Jan Sobieski at Vienna
Jan Matejko · 1883
Vatican Museums
Stephen Báthory at Pskov
Jan Matejko · 1872
Royal Castle, Warsaw