(Warsaw 1744–1832 Saint Petersburg)
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, monogrammed (in ligature), dated AO 1813, old label on the reverse, oil on canvas, 22.5 x 26.4 cm, framed

Provenance:
Brunn Rasmussen, 4 March 2004, lot 1625;
European Private Collection.

Aleksander Orłowski was born in Warsaw to an impoverished Szlachta family. Thanks to the support of Princess Izabela Czartoryska (1746-1835), a patron of the arts, collector and founder of Poland’s first National Museum, he was able to complete his artistic education under Jan Piotr Norblin (1745-1830), a Polish painter of French origin. He took part in the Kościuszko uprising against the Russians in 1793, as a soldier. However, this resulted in a crushing defeat and the third partition of Poland, and, by extension, the end of the Republic under constitutional law. Afterwards, he found protection in Warsaw with his patron, the Polish aristocrat Józef Antoni Poniatowski (1763-1813). There, he entertained the Prince’s guests by painting portraits of them at great speed, as well as by completing sketches and illustrations. In 1801, he went to Saint Petersburg in the service of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich Romanov (1779-1831).
Orłowski mainly focused on landscape painting and genre pieces showing everyday life in Poland and Russia. His renderings of riders and horses are particularly skilful, as in this lot, which depicts Don Quixote on his horse and Sancho Panza on his donkey. Thanks to his painterly talents, Orłowski portrays this scene in a lively and humorous way.