Jacek Malczewski (Polish: [ˈjat͡sɛk malˈt͡ʂɛfskʲi] ; 15 July 1854 – 8 October 1929) was a Polish symbolist painter who was one of the central figures of the patriotic Young Poland movement.
His works combined the predominant style of his time with historical motifs of Polish martyrdom, the romantic aspiration for national independence, Christian and Greek mythology, folk tales, and his love of the natural world.
The looting of Polish cultural artifacts and industrial infrastructure during World War II was carried out by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union simultaneously after the invasion of Poland of 1939. A significant portion of Poland's cultural heritage, estimated at half a million art objects, was plundered by the occupying powers. Catalogued pieces are still occasionally recovered elsewhere in the world and returned to Poland.
Priceless items of art still considered missing or found in other museums include works by Bernardo Bellotto, Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz, Józef Brandt, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Lucas Cranach the Younger, Albrecht Dürer, Anthony van Dyck, Hans Holbein the Younger, Jacob Jordaens, Frans Luycx, Jacek Malczewski, Raphael, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens, Henryk Siemiradzki, Veit Stoss, Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski, Leon Wyczółkowski, Jan Matejko, Henri Gervex, Ludwig Buchhorn, Józef Simmler, Henri-Pierre Danloux, Jan Miense Molenaer and many others.
View the full Wikipedia page for Looting of Poland in World War IIPolonia, the name for Poland in Latin and many Romance and other languages, is most often used in modern Polish to refer to the Polish diaspora. However, as can be seen from the image, it was also used as a national personification.
The symbolic depiction of a country as a woman called by the Latin name of that country was common in the 19th century (see Germania, Britannia, Hibernia, Helvetia).
View the full Wikipedia page for Polonia (personification)