Józef MĘCINA-KRZESZ (1860-1934) Presumed portrait of Hedwige d'Anjou, circa 1906 Oil on canvas. Signed lower left. (Minor restorations). 65 x 50 cm A pupil of Jan Matejko, Męcina-Krzesz repeatedly painted Hedwige d'Anjou, crowned monarch of Poland in 1384. The same throne back, on which the queen is seated, can be found in the large portrait preserved in the National Art Gallery in Lviv (no. Ж-1613), as well as in a painting in the Warsaw Archdiocesan Museum (no. 06662). Queen Hedwige, canonized in 1997, is shown here wearing a black veil; Romantic artists often portrayed her as a martyred queen, a suffering queen, a tragic figure... The veil can also evoke her grief at the death of her daughter, followed by her own death in childbirth. [Poland] [Polish art] [sztuka polska]