Ambroży Mieroszewski

[1] All six portraits were the property of Laura Ciechomska of Warsaw when they were lost in the opening days of World War II, in September 1939.

Only black-and-white photographs of them survive,[1] though attempts have been made to reconstruct the paintings in color—the portrait of Fryderyk (Frédéric), in 1968 by Anna Chamiec; the other Chopin family members, in 1969 by Jan Zamoyski; and Wojciech Żywny, in 1969 by Jadwiga Kunicka-Bogacka.

[2] The set of five 1829 portraits of the surviving members of the Chopin family (the youngest child, Emilia, had died of tuberculosis at age 14 in 1827) were painted about a year before Fryderyk would leave Warsaw and his native land forever in November 1830.

The 19-year-old composer's portrait provides unique iconographic evidence of the state of his health this early into his precocious career.

His skin is very white, he has a prominent Adam's apple and sunken cheeks, even his ears show a form characteristic of consumptives."