Władysław Aleksander Malecki (Polish, 1836-1900)
Cattle Grazing in an Alpine Landscape, 1878
signed and dated 'W. Malecki/1878' (lower left)
oil on canvas
65.5 x 122.0 cm (25 13/16 x 48 1/16 in).
unframed.
Footnotes:
Provenance
Alfred and Maria Tarski, Berkeley, California; then by family descent to the Estate of Eva Kristina Ehrenfeucht.

N.B.
Along with his wife, Maria, Jewish-American logician and mathematician Alfred Tarski was an avid collector of Polish art and amassed an impressive collection of works from some of Poland's most influential artists. Like many artists in their collection, Mr. Tarski was born in Warsaw, Poland to Jewish parents in 1901. Mr. Tarski was educated in Poland at the University of Warsaw and became a member of the Lwów–Warsaw School, one of the most important schools of Polish logic and philosophy, and of the Warsaw School of Mathematics. In 1929 he married Maria Witkowska and they began collecting art. Maria worked as a courier for the army in the Polish–Soviet War. They had two children together, and in 1939 the family immigrated to the United States where Mr. Tarski taught and carried out research in mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley until his death in 1983.

Canvas is lax on stretcher with resulting stretcher bar marks. There is a small L-shaped puncture located at the top right corner of the canvas measuring 2 x 1 cm and a fine tear approximately 5 cm long to the trees on the right. The canvas has been patched and retouched in three spots. There is additional minor scattered retouch, as well as scattered but stable craquelure.

The work was restretched onto a new stretcher, and the original tacking edges are missing except for the upper one. Old solvent staining to reverse.