This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
ART FROM THE RENASCENCE
177

inspiration. He learned painting in the school of Charlet at Paris, where also his best works are to be found; he generally painted in water-colours; the subjects of his incomparable creations are chiefly animal life and military scenes, being the two elements which he had become familiar with from his earliest childhood; the nation's agricultural pursuits in peace, and its heroic struggles for independence in war—he had witnessed the insurrection of 1831—were the two fountains of his
86. A STUD.
(Julius Kossak.)

inspiration. In this, as in the general character of his art, he is most closely followed by Julius Kossak (1824-1899), who, by his talent for illustration, his productive vigour and everyouthful enthusiasm, became the painter of Polish national life in its most characteristic aspects (illustration 86). This spirited and original painter, whose talent is most deeply rooted in the native soil, had a potent influence on the younger generation of artists, men like Grottger, Brandt, Gierymski, Falat,

13