Aleksander Lesser

Aleksander Lesser (13 May 1814 – 13 March 1884) was a Polish painter, illustrator, sketch artist, art critic, and amateur researcher of antiquities. Lesser was Jewish, and became one of the first artists to depict scenes from modern Jewish history in Poland. He specialized in Polish historical and contemporary themes, and he was known and respected in artistic and scholarly circles. He was a member of Kraków's Academy of Learning and co-founder of Warsaw's Zachęta, the Society for Encouragement of the Fine Arts.