Help With Finding Artist

[Cariboo5]

This one I think will be a long shot to find. I have not been able to come across any info at all on this artist with probably the main reason being that he
is not a known or well displayed for works of art. The painting to me is very well done and of a western scene with a cowboy laying beside his horse for
warmth in the winter time (first painting I've seen like this). It is oil on canvas and the tag on the back says painted by Matthew Ratajczak and explains
reason why. Maybe someone can just do the right research and find some info... Thanks to all ........

 

[tamrock]

It is a nice painting. This other example, as the signature matches is all I can find on the www.

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/k-ratajczak-painting-603-c-fa0428b8d4

 

[Red-Coat]

That’s interesting. I’ve never heard of the artist, but he has copied another work and altered the details and context of the subject in doing so. The original was by the Polish artist Wojciech Horacy Kossak (31 December 1856 – 29 July 1942), a member of the celebrated Kossak family of artists and writers.

It depicts an imagined scene from the campaign of 1812 during the Napoleonic Wars and was originally titled “Hussar in the Snow”. The work is dated and looks like it might be 1885.


[Picture from Jan Chełmiński’s Wordpress blog archive “Art of the Russias"]

 

[Cariboo5]

tamrock & Red-Coat many thanks to both of you. Red_Coat it's just amazing you came up with the original scene by Kossak in 1885 and yes this Matthew guy certainly copied the subject matter but in doing so he made it his original.
Thanks again to both & have a good one .....

 

[Red-Coat]

It is a nice painting. This other example, as the signature matches is all I can find on the www.

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/k-ratajczak-painting-603-c-fa0428b8d4

Definitely not the same artist. This picture has an attribution to Matthew Ratajczak, says he was “age 25” at the time of writing in Xmas 1989, and is clearly signed M. Ratajczak.

The ‘invaluable’ listing is for a painting by K. Ratajczak, described as “a painter of the 19th/20th Century”. He’d have been at least 120 years old in 1989 if he produced any paintings in the 19th Century.

tamrock & Red-Coat many thanks to both of you. Red_Coat it's just amazing you came up with the original scene by Kossak in 1885 and yes this Matthew guy certainly copied the subject matter but in doing so he made it his original.
Thanks again to both & have a good one .....

You're welcome. I just had a feeling I had seen the imagery before. Didn't take too long to find it, despite the alterations.

 

[tamrock]

Definitely not the same artist. This picture has an attribution to Matthew Ratajczak, says he was “age 25” at the time of writing in Xmas 1989, and is clearly signed M. Ratajczak.

The ‘invaluable’ listing is for a painting by K. Ratajczak, described as “a painter of the 19th/20th Century”. He’d have been at least 120 years old in 1989 if he produced any paintings in the 19th Century.

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You're welcome. I just had a feeling I had seen the imagery before. Didn't take to long to find it, despite the alterations.

Oh yeah. That's what I get for trying. I forgot about all that information written on the back about the artist M. Ratajczak.