Biographies

Józef Brandt (1841-1915)

From the fuller biographical sketch on the pages of the Kosciuszko Foundation: Brandt studied in Warsaw in the school of J. N. Leszczynski and at the Noblemen’s Institute. In 1858 he left for Paris to study at the Ecole des ponts et chausses but was persuaded by Juliusz Kossak to abandon engineering in favor of painting. Kossak and Henryk Rodakowski were his first teachers in Paris, and for a time he attended the studio of Leon Cogniet. He continued his study in Munich in 1862, chiefly under Franz Adam, Theodor Horschelt, and Karl von Piloty. From 1896, except for summer vacations on the family estate in Radom, he remained in Munich, where his studio became a gathering place for expatriate Polish artists.