Maurycy Gottlieb Gottlieb settled in Kraków and began working on his new major project. He died in the same year from health complications. Matejko attended his funeral and promised his father to look after his younger brother Marcin. Gottlieb won a gold medal at the Munich art competition for his painting, "Shylock and Jessica" (1876), portraying a scene from Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice". The painting was exhibited in Lviv in 1877, and in 1878 at "Zachęta" in Warsaw and widely acclaimed. Gottlieb based Jessica's face on that of Laura Rosenfeld, to whom he had proposed marriage. However, Laura rejected his proposal
Laura Henschel-Rosenfeld Brno, the capital of Moravia. She was the youngest of 11 children. Laura attended a convent school in Lienz, Upper Austria, and then another near Geneva for three years, but despite her surroundings, continued to maintain the Jewish faith instilled in her by her mother. After her father died, her widowed mother moved with her to Vienna, where she was to have her first encounter with Maurycy Gottlieb probably in 1875 or 1876. Maurycy Gottlieb was smitten by Rosenfeld, and soon proposed to her. She accepted, and became the subject of many of his paintings, including "Portrait of Laura", "Jews