Biography (b Drohobycz, Galicia, 21/28 Feb 1856; d Kraków, 17 July 1879). Polish painter. He was the elder brother of the painters Filip Gottlieb (b c. 1870), Marceli Gottlieb, Marcin Gottlieb (1867–1936) and Leopold Gottlieb (1879/83–1934). He came from a wealthy, orthodox Jewish family and his artistic talent manifested itself very early in his life. From 1869 he studied drawing with Michal Goldewski the elder (1799–1875), an amateur painter in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine). In October 1871 he traveled to Vienna, where in 1872 he studied under Karl Mayer (1810–76), and subsequently under Karl von Blass at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste. In 1873–4 he studied with Jan Matejko at the School of Fine Arts, Kraków, but soon returned to Vienna to study historical composition under Carl Wurzinger (1817–83). He painted a number of works in Kraków, partly completing them in Vienna in 1875. These include a Self-portrait in the magnificent costume of a Polish nobleman (ex–J. Felsen priv. col., Vienna, see Rogoyska, p. 5) as well as unsuccessful historical compositions, for example the Investiture of Albert of Brandenburg by Sigismund I (Kraków, L. Reich priv. col.). In 1875 he left Vienna, staying briefly in Kraków and Drohobycz; towards the end of the year, with a letter of recommendation from Jan Matejko, he studied under Karl von Piloty at the Munich Akademie der Bildenden Künste. In Munich he painted one of his most outstanding early works, Shylock and Jessica (Warsaw, Zofia Tabecka priv. col., see Rogoyska, p. 9), after Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. This painting was highly praised both in Poland and abroad, and brought fame to the young artist. Filip Gottlieb (in 1886) and Marcin Gottlieb (in 1887) both produced copies of the painting. In 1875 Gottlieb also painted a Self-portrait as Ahasuerus (Kraków, N. Mus.). In 1876 he was again in Drohobycz, where he made a number of sketches for his Jewish Wedding-feast.
