For Bishop Piotr Tomicki he adorned the Enumeration of the Bishops of Gniezno by Jan Długosz (Catalogus archiepiscoporum Gnesnensium) and his chapel at Wawel Cathedral. In 1534 the Bishop commissioned to decorate wax figures of him, intended as votive offerings in the most important shrines of the kingdom. Samostrzelnik decorated the prayer book of Princess Jadwiga Jagiellon (1535), a document of peace treaty with Ottoman Empire (1533), and the banner for Albrecht Hohenzollern. He also painted religious scenes in a church in Mogiła, and decorated the ceiling of the adjoining library. Stanisław Samostrzelnik died in Mogiła Abbey in 1541. Works and style The main works by Stanisław Samostrzelnik include illuminations of four prayer books: Hours of King Sigismund I the Old (1524, London, British Library), Hours of Queen Bona Sforza (1527, Oxford, Bodleian Library), Krzysztof Szydłowiecki Prayer Book (1527, now divided between the Archivio Storico Civico and the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan) and Vaitiekus Goštautas Prayer Book (1528, Munich, Universitätsbibliothek), along with miniatures of "Liber genesos illustris Familiae Shidlovicae" (1531–1532, Kórnik, Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences), Catalogus archiepiscoporum Gnesnensium (1530–1535, Warsaw, National Library) and the Gospel of Piotr Tomicki (1534, Kraków, Metropolitan Chapter Archives). A characteristic feature of Samostrzelnik's miniatures is live, often contrasting color and Renaissance style referring to the Gothic tradition. From around 1520 inspirations of German masters (Albrecht Altdorfer, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Albrecht Dürer) of the time are evident in his works as well as the influence of the Danube school, acquired during his stay in Vienna where he went in 1515 as Szydlowiecki's chaplain. In addition to the Danube school influences, the Dutch patterns and indirect connections with the Italian painting (ornamental and heraldic motifs, acquired during his stay in Hungary in 1514) are visible in his work. Samostrzelnik's decorative paintings combine figural scene and ornament. All the figures are not subjected to excessive idealization and characterised very individually, usually dressed in contemporary clothes and in keeping with the artist's tendency to portrait realism. See also Renaissance in Poland Miniature (illuminated manuscript) References Further reading External links Stanisław Samostrzelnik 1506-2006 Catalogus archiepiscoporum Gnesnensium 1490s births 1541 deaths Artists from Kraków 16th-century Polish painters Polish male painters Renaissance painters Polish Cistercians Polish Christian monks Year of birth uncertain Catholic painters Fresco painters