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Some Polish artists, each in their own way, are highly mythologized figures. Juliusz Kossak was and is one of them, coming to the forefront of this group. He was among the avant-garde icons of 19th-century Polish painting, alongside Matejko, Grottger and Brandt. Kossak's painting myth is encapsulated in several symbols: a horse, a knight's saber, Sarmatian history. “An old-fashioned fairy tale told by the fireplace by old ladies and eternal bachelors. To whom is it told? “It is astonishing that they are invariably young and the youngest of contemporary collectors.” ** Wincenty Łoś in "Tygodnik Ilustrowany" [“Illustrared Weekly”] from 1895 characterized the work of Juliusz Kossak as follows: "Kossak's individualism meant that he achieved one of the most difficult art of painting, that he spoke to wide circles, moved them for a very long time and with the help of not enormous dimensions and happy with the content of pictures, only with watercolors.” Juliusz Kossak is a painter strongly associated with Polish literature, but he did not inspire writers like Matejko, but he followed Polish poetry, the literary vision of the novel, translating the language of words into shape and color. The man who had a huge influence on his way of perceiving the horse was undoubtedly Juliusz Dzieduszycki, a breeder and aristocrat who cherished the romantic legend of Wacław Rzewuski, the Polish Emir.

Many legends arose around Rzewuski. The descendant of hetmans did not become a great man, he wasted his life pursuing romantic dreams. He didn't get into history, but he got into the history of literature and through it into painting. And so the incomparable Farys had numerous successors in Polish Ukraine and Podolia. One of them was Juliusz Dzieduszycki. 

Juliusz Kossak had in Count Dzieduszycki was not only a friend and patron, but also a master who taught him how to look at the Arabian horse, so close to the heart of the famous breeder. It was with Juliusz Dzieduszycki that Kossak became acquainted with Podolia, its colors and excellent horses. As Stanisław Tomczykiewicz wrote in 1899, "It's no wonder that watching with Count Juliusz Dzieduszycki the descendants of the famous mare of Muhammad, Kossak forever remembered the type of a small bachmat, with a lively eye, open nostrils, a lush mane, and a long, set-off tail. This concept of a horse will never leave him [...] His ideal will forever remain Emir Rzewuski's steed, about which Słowacki says: "His Arabian horse was white without blemish."

In the "Herbarz Polski" [“Polish Peerage”] we find the following entry: "Kossak Michał, born in 1798, criminal counselor in Wiśnicz, married Antonina Sobolewska, co-heiress of Knihinin." Juliusz Kossak was born in Wiśnicz on December 15th, 1824 and was the oldest of five children in the Kossak family. Kossak was ten years old when his father died. The family had been residing in Lviv for several years at that time. In accordance with his father's will, Juliusz graduated in law from the University of Lviv. However, already at the Basilian school, Juliusz showed great talent for drawing, gaining recognition among his classmates and professors.

After graduation, taking advantage of the first opportunity, the young law student set out on his first artistic journey (1844). He decided to become a painter. Today it is difficult to recreate all the stages of this youthful journey. Kossak was certainly among the Dzieduszycki family: Kazimierz in Niełościów, Juliusz in Jarczowce and Władysław in Jezupol. He was a guest in Antoniny of the Potocki family, Sławuta of the Sanguszko, Sawrań of the Rzewuski, Łańcut of the Potocki, Rajtarowice of Władysław Rozwadowski and also in Biała Cerkiew of Władysław Branicki, who was his next patron and friend.  Therefore, he got to know the famous and distinguished stud farms from which modern Polish Arabians are bred, and he portrayed particularly outstanding horses at the request of their owners. In Łańcut, Kossak met Piotr Michałowski, already a renowned painter, who advised his young friend: "Young man, if you want to paint horses, for which I see a natural talent in you, learn first of all the anatomy of a horse - without it, the future of your talent will be ruined." The future proved that young Kossak listened to this valuable advice.

The first drawings of horses, still a bit shy, clumsy and a bit stiff, already reveal the scale of his talent and - most importantly - his instinctive understanding of the horse. Portraits of pure-bred Arabian horses from Juliusz Dzieduszycki's herd, imported from the desert, have survived: the stallion Koheylan and the mares Gazella, Mlecha and Sahara - all painted in 1845 in Jarczowce. In his watercolors, Juliusz Kossak brilliantly reproduced the characteristic features of the horses' structure: the shape of the head, the position of the neck, the shape of the croup and the shades of coat. These portraits are a valuable source of study for modern breeders. The English-style engravings of the horses, however, reflected the Polish reality with Kossak's charm. Juliusz Kossak was able to convey, like no one else, the features characteristic of the breed, type and individuality of the horse. Paintings with scenes of hunting, horses and dogs were an indispensable decoration of offices, hunting rooms and halls of 19th-century Polish houses.

Already in this first period, the basic sources of Juliusz Kossak's art can be seen, determining the character of his style. These will include stud farms, Polish and Oriental horses, and battle scenes in the style of Horace Vernet. Already in his youth, Kossak found his own style of painting horses. Wincenty Morawski, who sympathetically observed the artistic development of young Kossak, wrote about him in 1849: “His drawings are naturally as faithful as a daguerreotype. Lush and beautifully grouped compositions, all the more beautiful because, being a student of nature and his own abilities, he does not know academic rules and freely lets his imagination run wild. His "force" are sketches in pencil, pen and watercolor, in which horses play an extraordinary role.”

Juliusz Kossak was able to skillfully associate European traditions of genre painting with native themes that have no analogy in the art of other countries. The specificity of Polish life in the borderlands was so exotic that even the most critical newcomers could not resist its charm. Numerous accounts of foreign travelers around Poland are eloquent proof of this. Juliusz Kossak also noticed all this, recording in a huge number of drawings, watercolors and oil paintings.

The main character of these works was the horse, seen in all its incarnations of centuries of service for the good of man. 

Remaining in his thoughts among the herds of horses, Juliusz Kossak left the hospitable Podolia, going to St. Petersburg (1851) together with Władysław Branicki, the owner of Biała Cerkiew. There he discovered not only numerous works of art, but also gained recognition among the local artistically trained audience.

After a year-long stay in St. Petersburg, the artist returns to the country. The road leads through Warsaw. Here, however, Juliusz lacked powerful patrons. Wanting to save the depleted funds, Kossak takes up a rather lucrative job at that time - photo retouching. With this pedantic and boring "creativity", the artist does not forget about his vocation. The fate changes in 1854 when the Potocki family asks the artist to commemorate the soldier's death of Stefan Potocki at Żółte Wody. This will be the young painter's first test of strength in the field of battle and historical painting, which was particularly valued at that time. Undoubtedly, "The Battle of Yellow Waters" is one of the most important paintings in Juliusz Kossak's work. Stanisław Witkiewicz expressed an interesting opinion about this work: "Kossak, very early on, at the very beginning of his work, gave horses movements that were completely real, or very close to the truth. In the painting depicting the Battle of Yellow Waters, the white horse rearing under Stefan Potocki is identical in movement to the horses recreated using snapshot photography, and this painting was painted in 1854.” (the snapshot photo dates back to 1888)

In 1854, Juliusz Kossak met the woman of his life in Warsaw, and in the same year Zofia Gałczyńska, the daughter of an officer of the Kingdom of Poland, became his wife. The young couple went on their honeymoon to Paris, where the artist spent four years studying painting. There, on New Year's Eve 1856, a pair of twins were born: Tadeusz and Wojciech. The Kossak painting dynasty had an heir to the throne. Juliusz takes his first steps in the capital of France to the studio of Horace Vernet. But the master, absorbed in orders, does not bother to take care of the young Pole. Vernet gave an extremely favorable opinion about the Pole's talent, but that was where his education ended.

After four successful years in Paris, Kossak returns with his family to Warsaw (1860). A new chapter in Juliusz's work opens here when he takes over the management of the graphic department of "Tygodnik Ilustrowany" (1862). The illustrations of poems by Wincenty Pol, Adam Mickiewicz, and later, the masterpieces of Henryk Sienkiewicz, created at that time, allow Juliusz Kossak to take an honorable place next to Jan Matejko and Artur Grottger. 

With a view to further studies, Juliusz Kossak goes to Munich (1868), where he stays for less than two years. His stay in Munich did not leave any significant mark on Juliusz's art. His style was already so established that any external influences only confirmed the artist in the correctness of the path he had chosen. We will not find anything in his achievements that could be identified with the name "Munich School", so characteristic of the work of Józef Brandt, Józef Chełmoński or Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski.

Having left Munich, which was foreign to him, Kossak returns to Warsaw and, after a short hesitation, settles permanently in Cracow. Jan Matejko works there and the atmosphere of the old capital creates a unique microclimate that perfectly suits Juliusz's mentality and preferences. In those years, the political atmosphere in Galicia was much more friendly for Poles than in the heavily Russified Kingdom. 

In the quiet studio of a small manor house near Cracow, the most outstanding works of his talent were created in the 1870s and 1880s. Sketches and studies accumulated during numerous journeys, as well as collections of works of art, mainly weapons, fabrics and costumes, constitute an indispensable supplement to the still vivid and undying imagination.

Although in the initial period of his work Juliusz Kossak was influenced by English graphics and Horace Vernet, over time he gradually freed himself from this tutelage to find his own, completely separate face already in the Warsaw-Munich period (1860-1870).

Kossak's painting is a portrait of smaller and larger Polish noble families depicted hunting or surrounded by a herd of horses. In this way, Juliusz Kossak immortalized the history of the nation and its horse heroes, such as Czarniecki, Sobieski and Poniatowski. Kossak's series of paintings showed the Potocki, Zamoyski, Tyszkiewicz and Morsztyn families. However, the most wonderful cycle is considered to be the so-called fredrowski series.

Jan Aleksander Fredro, another patron and dear friend of Juliusz Kossak, a comrade in arms from the 1848 campaign, ordered a series of paintings from him, including the work "Wawrzyniec Fredro enters Istanbul on a diplomatic mission" (1883). Stanisław Witkiewicz, who rated this composition very highly, wrote about it: "By painting the entry of the envoy of the Republic of Poland, Kossak wanted to express and did express the same advantage of the soul over material strength, which he had already shown so many times amid the clang and roar of battles. Among the crowd of pashas, shining with silk and gold, with a wealth of furs, weapons, ribbons, and the splendor of horses, among the crowd of janissaries, Turkish cavalry and the crowd of commoners, without any retinue, without any decorations that add splendor and dignity, Wawrzyniec rides alone, on a white horse. The horse and the man seem like a vision from a fairy tale, caused by a magic spell. Beautiful as an enchanted prince, refined, intelligent, and superior in his expression of refined culture, freedom and sense of dignity to the entire crowd of the Sultan's slaves, he rides on a horse that has no equal in the entire crowd. In this painting, Kossak showed how far the expression of thoughts through painting can reach, without resorting to symbolic signs and artificial suggestions and the viewer's mind. And yet this image is not only an illustration of a given event, it is a symbol of what sometimes really happened in history, and what every sublime feeling and passionate soul must have always dreamed of.”

For today's recipients of Juliusz Kossak's art, and above all, breeders of noble and Arabian horses, his paintings are a source of observations about the type of horses of that time. Juliusz Kossak was able to convey, like no one else, the features characteristic of the breed, type and individuality of the horse. In Kossak's work, if an Arabian horse - it is a desert one, if on a steppe – then it was ”Polish”, if it was a nobleman on a horse – then it was Oriental, if a Jew or a peasant, then it was a small, sturdy one.  For example, the painting "The Stud Farm in Podolia" - a herd of horses, most certainly oriental, grazes on the endless steppe, in the shade of a shed. In the painting we see sequences that we can record in photography today: mares feeding foals, horses looking at people, one mare chasing away another that got too close to her foal, and friends scratching each other. Judging by the colors, varieties and structure, the herd largely comes from strong-marking stallions, so it is even in type. Juliusz Kossak is characterized by a small number of bay horses. Whether he didn't like them or our ancestors didn't like them, it's hard to say. But in the old herds, perhaps due to the influence of gray desert imports, there were not many bay horses. “A little deeper, without disturbing the animals' freedom, three shepherds are watching over a fire. This painting is striking in its harmony of horses, people, landscape and weather. The whole thing can be read as an image of paradise that is far from naive...” *** Juliusz Kossak retained a special sentiment for noble horses, especially the type of the old Polish horse. This horse was a particularly attractive subject for many artists. However, none of them gave us a fairly faithful and objective appearance of this horse, only more or less fanciful and stylized ideas. Only Juliusz Kossak achieved this. “Juliusz Kossak was able to masterfully bring out the beauty of the Arabian horse, but also its temperament, look, elegance and harmony of movements, and one could even say its soul...“ ****

Juliusz Kossak was the founder of a multi-talented family, both in terms of painting and literature. The painters are the progenitor Juliusz, his childless brother - Leon, participant of the uprisings, exiled to Siberia, amateur watercolor painter: Juliusz's son and continuator - Wojciech, Wojciech's son - Jerzy; finally, Juliusz's second grandson, son of Stefan, Wojciech's brother - Karol. In the third generation, both of Wojciech's daughters showed literary talents. We have here the famous poet Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska and the writer Magdalena Starzewska-Niewidowska, writing under the pseudonym Magdalena Samozwoniec, and the daughter of Tadeusz, Wojciech's twin brother, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka-Szatkowska. Recently, the figure of Juliusz's great-granddaughter, Jerzy's daughter, Wojciech's granddaughter - Simona Kossak, has also become famous. As a professor of forest sciences, she became one of the first people to popularize the behavioral ecology of mammals in Poland. In November 2024, the film "Simona Kossak" showing this extraordinary woman will be released in Polish cinemas.

Juliusz Kossak died in Cracow on February 3rd, 1899. 

Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska portrayed Juliusz Kossak in the poem "Grandfather" as follows: 

1. Stanisław Ledo’chowski  “Juliusz Kossak-piewca urody konia”:  w Koń Polski Rok VII.Nr1(29)1973

2. “Herbarz Polski”  t.XI, cz.1

3. Stanisław Witkiewicz “Juliusz Kossak”: Lwów 1906

4. Maciej Masłowski “Juliusz Kossak”: Oficyna Wydawnicza Auriga, Warszawa 1984

5. Kazimierz Olszański “Juliusz Kossak”: wydanie II 2000

6. Stefania Krzysztofowicz-Kozakowska: www.Legendy Polskiego jeździectwa /Juliusz Kossak

* Stanisław Ledo’chowski “ Juliusz Kossak - piewca urody konia” Koń Polski Rok VII.Nr1(29)1973 

**Maciej Masłowski “Juliusz Kossak” Oficyna Wydawnicza Auriga  Warszawa 1984

*** Marta Mazurek i Kazimierz Olszański:  “Juliusz Kossak w setną rocznicę śmierci” : Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa, 1999

**** Izabella Pawelec-Zawadzka: Juliusz Kossak 1824-1999 : wstęp do wydawnictwa na zjazd WAHO 2002