Background
Wańkowicz was born on the family estate in the former Minsk province. His father was Melchior Wańkowicz, an agent working in Minsk judge.
Wańkowicz was born on the family estate in the former Minsk province. His father was Melchior Wańkowicz, an agent working in Minsk judge.
Wańkowicz was born on the family estate in the former Minsk province. His father was Melchior Wańkowicz, an agent working in Minsk judge. He was brought up in a Polish patriotic home, with Polish culture and Catholic faith, however, also with his Belarusian and Ruthenian noble ancestry in mind.
From 1811 the son attended, run by Jesuit Academy in Polotsk, where he was trained in civil and military architecture and drawing.
His teacher was Jakub Pesling. Wańkowicz graduated here in 1817 with honors.
In 1818 he enrolled at the University of Vilnius and studied here led by January Rustem and January Damel.
From 1825 to 1829 he was then at the Academy of Arts in Saint St. Petersburg in Aleksiej Yegorov and Vasily Szebujew. Around this time also emerged Portraits of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, the pianist Maria Szymanowska as well as by the poet and satirist Antoni Gorecki ( an uncle of the artist). In the following years Wańkowicz lived in the nearby near Minsk in Ślepianka Mała and in Minsk itself, where he had a studio together with January Damel.
From here he frequently traveled to Vilnius, whose Malszene exerted a great influence on the painters in Minsk.
lieutenant created portraits of Towiańskis, the spouses Gutta and 1834, the allegorical portrait of Napoleon " Napoleon before the fire " (Polish: Napoleon przy ognisku ). By the end of 1839 he went abroad.
In 1840 he lived for some time in Dresden, followed by short stays in Berlin, Munich and Strasbourg. In 1841 he reached Paris, where he remained until his death.
He renewed contact with at the Collège de France teaching Mickiewicz, who influenced him greatly.
Wańkowicz was buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre. Wańkowicz painted mainly portraits (including miniatures), religious and historical pictures. Latter with designs from the Napoleonic period.
The often imitated Mickiwicz painting was his outstanding performance and is attributable in its style of romantic Vilna Art School.
He produced, among other things, a well-known portrait of Adam Mickiewicz (1827-1828). The Wańkowicz House, the former mansion of the Wańkowicz family, is now a museum in the historical part of Minsk.
He was a representative of classicism and romanticism as well as a supporter of the embossed from the Wilno University art school.