The Battle of Trembowla, more popularly known as the Defense of Trembowla, was glorified and immortalized in the paintings of Franciszek Smuglewicz

Franciszek Smuglewicz

Franciszek Smuglewicz or Pranciškus Smuglevičius, October 6, 1745 – September 18, 1807) was a Polish-Lithuanian draughtsman and painter. Smuglewicz is considered a progenitor of Lithuanian art in the modern era. Some consider him as a spiritual father of Jan Matejko's school of painting....

, Józef Peszka

Józef Peszka

Józef Peszka was a Polish painter.He studied painting in Warsaw under Franciszek Smuglewicz. From 1815 he was a professor of painting in Kraków Academy of Arts ....

 and Aleksander Lesser

Aleksander Lesser

Aleksander Lesser was a Polish painter and art critic of Jewish descent. Lesser specialized in Polish historic and contemporary themes...

. In 1675 the Turkish army destroyed the town of Trembowla, in the Podole Voivodship, and laid siege to the castle for an entire week. A woman played the decisive role in the garrison's successful stand against the invaders. Anna Chrzanowska, the wife of the castle's commander Jan Samuel Chrzanowski

Jan Samuel Chrzanowski

Jan Samuel Chrzanowski , Polish soldier, lieutenant colonel.He was a member of the Polish bourgeois, he began his military career in the regiment of Stanisław Koniecpolski. In 1673 he fought at Chocim, that same year he gained the rank of captain...

, threatened to commit suicide if her husband proceeded with the planned surrender, thereby stiffening his spine and creating an atmosphere for defending the castle. The story of Anna Chrzanowska inspired Polish painters and writers alike, for example she was a heroine in a drama written by Józef Wybicki

Józef Wybicki

Józef Rufin Wybicki was a Polish general, poet and political figure.-Life:He was a close friend of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, and in 1797 he wrote Mazurek Dąbrowskiego , which in 1927 was adopted as the Polish national anthem.During the Kościuszko Uprising, he was counselor of the Military...

. The small group of 80 dragoons and 200 townsmen defended the Castle of Trembowla against 20,000 Turkish soldiers until Jan III Sobieski arrived to relieve them.