Henryk Kossowski the Elder

Life

From 1828 to 1831 Henryk Kossowski studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under Joseph Schmelzer. He then took lessons in sculpture from Christian Daniel Rauch and Johann Gottfried Schadow in Berlin . In 1845 he continued his studies in Munich with Ludwig Schwanthaler as a "scholarship holder of the Senate of the Free City of Krakow" .

The Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow appointed him professor in 1846; he taught here until 1875. He introduced the study of sculpture on living models at the institution. His students included Paris Filippi , Antoni Kurzawa , Franciszek Wyspiański , Marceli Guyski and Walery Gadomski . His son, Henryk Kossowski the Younger (1855–1921), also studied with him.

Henryk Kossowski the Elder died in 1878 and was laid to rest in the Rakowicki cemetery .

Salvator Church in Cracow, on the left the reliquary of St. Bronisława

Kossowski created portraits and religious compositions. He made portrait busts of the poet Jan Kochanowski and Piotr Kochanowski ( Franciscan Basilica Krakow ) and a bust of the politician Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz ( National Museum in Krakow ). For his bust of King Friedrich Wilhelm III. he received the title of "Academic Sculptor". Other of his works have titles like Paris and Helena and Christ Heals a Blind Man . He also created a coffin-shaped reliquary of St. Bronisława for the Salvator Church in Kraków ( Kościół Najświętszego Salwatora ) in 1840 .

Thieme-Becker
Klemens Bąkowski: Dzieje Krakowa ( History of Krakow ), 1911, p. 338
Ludwik Ręgorowicz: Dzieje krakowskiej Akademii Sztuk Pięknych ( History of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow ), Lwów 1928.