Springtime (Ver)

Władysław Wankie

Oil on panel

National Museum in Warsaw

A red-haired allegorical figure of Spring stands bare-breasted beside a blossoming tree, her green drapery echoing the lush foliage around her, while a pair of swans glide across a quiet pond behind her. Painted within a tondo format and bordered by a faux-carved golden frame, the composition recalls Renaissance devotional roundels reimagined through a Symbolist lens. Wankie, a Polish academic painter trained in Munich and Kraków, blends naturalistic detail with mythic allegory, using the Latin inscription 'VER' to anchor the work firmly in classical personification of the seasons. The warm, dusky palette and intimate scale make this a captivating, dreamlike piece for a quiet corner of the home.