One of the most outstanding Polish sculptors of the Romantic era was Władysław Oleszczyński (1808–1866) from the vicinity of Puławy. The nature of his work was shaped mainly during his twenty-five-year stay in Paris, where he emigrated after the defeat of the November Uprising, in which he took part as a soldier of the national guard.
Influenced by French romantics, mainly David d'Angers, Oleszczyński gave up ancient themes and the classic canon of "timeless beauty" - introducing patriotic and national content to Polish sculpture.