Karton do polichromii Kościoła Mariackiego - Głowa męska i litery "I, B, X" (ks. Jan Bukowski)

This cartoon was Matejko's preparatory study for the polychrome decoration of St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków, his most ambitious late project. The Mariacki polychrome, completed in 1890-91, covered the entire interior of Poland's most important Gothic church with a painted decorative program fusing medieval iconographic traditions with Matejko's historical nationalism. This study depicts a male head alongside letters associated with Father Jan Bukowski, the church's priest, suggesting it is a portrait study incorporated into the decorative scheme. The polychrome project was Matejko's final great work.

The study displays the careful preparatory drawing that underpinned Matejko's large-scale works: the head is rendered with portrait-level attention to physiognomy, modelled in warm ochres and terracotta against a neutral ground. Lettering elements are integrated cleanly into the compositional study.