Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine

He settled in Warsaw and this move allowed him to witness and illustrate many important historical moments of the last years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

His hurriedly sketched drawings illustrated the passing of the Constitution of the 3 May and soon he became famous as the eye-witness and painter-chronicler of the Kościuszko Uprising, immortalising many of the most famous events of that event in his paintings: from the Warsaw Uprising in April and the consequent hanging of Targowica traitors in the Old Market Square, through the battle of Racławice to Massacre of Praga.

After his return to France in 1804 he still continued to paint based on some of his Poland-era drafts, but he also illustrated other contemporary events, among them the times of the Napoleon's wars.

He assembled an interesting art collection, including works by François Boucher, Hubert Robert and Rembrandt.

One of many post war exhibition of his works took place at the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola, 3 September – 9 October 2011.

Self-portrait , 1780s
Hanging of traitors at Warsaw's Old Town Market , a contemporary painting by Jan Piotr Norblin. The supporters of the Targowica Confederation , responsible for the second partition of Poland , became public enemies . If they could not be apprehended, their portraits were hanged instead.
Old woman reading , National Museum in Warsaw