Samuel Hirszenberg: Life and Legacy Early Life and Education Samuel (Shmuel) Hirszenberg was born on February 22, 1865, in Łódź, Poland, the eldest son of a weaving mill worker. Despite his father’s disapproval, he pursued his passion for art with financial assistance from a local doctor. He began his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków at age 15, deeply influenced by the realistic style of Jan Matejko. Fr…