192
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
great acts in the drama of Poland’s history, which should mark three distinct epochs, together eloquently expressive of the tale of the rise and fall of Polish supremacy. They represent Poland by the alliance with Lithuania taking its place among the European powers ; Poland in the triumph of its arms, and in the first symptoms of decadence. The first picture is the interior of the council-chamber at Lublin, with an assembled multitude of Polish, Lithuanian and Ruthenian deputies, to witness the administration of the solemn oath which was to bind these peoples together as one nation. This was in 1572, sixty years after the marriage of Edwidge of Poland with Ladislas Jagellon of Lithuania, and under the reign of Sigismond Augustus II. The king erect, with the crucifix in hand, is repeating the oath to the grand chancellor, who kneels, with one hand upon the Bible, and reverently assents to the conditions of the oath. The venerable cardinal, Hozuus, the president of the Council of Trent, in his red robes, stretches out his hands and with a trembling gesture invokes God’s blessing on the act. Around are clustered, with expressions of solemn earnestness, the dignitaries of the church and state. Besides an immense wealth of resources in the costumes of Oriental magnificence and rich accessories, Matejko has personated with wonderful accuracy the types ot the different races, the heads being drawn with great precision. All his personages are individuals in face, figure and in gesture, and as a physiognomist he has scarcely an equal.
Later in the history of Poland an incident furnishes, if possible, a more interesting motive for the artist. It is King Bathory in the midst of his victorious invasion of Russia, where he has conquered Ivan the Cruel, destroyed the cities and overrun the country. The scene is passing on the snow- coverecl plain, under the walls of the smouldering city of Pskov, just destroyed, where the soldiers, secretly induced by the Jesuit Possevini, the tool of Pope Urban V., compel the king to cease advancing and to receive the bread and salt from the hands of the Muscovite archbishop. The king* richly dressed, sits in the door of his tent with a stern look upon his face. All around are the warriors in their half- barbarian armors, and with curiously ornamented arms and robes. In front is the kneeling archbishop, with the symbols