Stanisław Samostrzelnik was a son of Piotr and Anna Samostrzelnik, who lived in the Kraków mansion of Cistercian Abbot of Koprzywnica. His father was probably a manufacturer of crossbows and bows, hence the name in old Polish ("samostrzelnik" from Latin "sagittator", a crossbow maker). Samostrzelnik, after passing the necessary examinations, entered the Cistercian Abbey in Mogiła near Kraków, which at that time was a separate town, and today is in the urban area of Kraków, Nowa Huta. Thanks to the Abbot's protection, he quickly advanced to exposed monastic position of illuminator. The first fully proven chronological information about him appears in the 1506, when he undertook the work to decorate the vaults of the monastery. He was mentioned as a "pictor de Mogila", painter of the Cistercian Abbey. From that time he used the new name "Stanislaus Claratumbensis" (Stanisław of Mogiła) derived from the Latin name of Mogiła Abbey, "Clara Tumba" (Holy Tomb). In 1511 he was awarded the right to live outside the monastery and moved to Szydłowiec to work for the town's owner, Krzysztof Szydłowiecki, castellan of Sandomierz, who was widely known as a patron of arts. Stanisław Samostrzelnik is best known for his ornate miniature paintings in a genealogical book of the Szydłowiecki family ("Liber genesos illustris Familiae Shidlovicae"). In the course of this work as a court painter, he realized numerous minor commissions for the Szydłowiecki family, decorating the local church and castle. He also served as the castellan's chaplain in the years 1510-1530. From his patron, he received a parsonage in Grocholice near Ćmielów in 1513. In 1514, he moved with Szydłowiecki to Opatów, and after the latter's death in 1532, returned to Mogiła.