Jan Krzysztof Kluk

rdf:langString Jan Krzysztof Kluk

rdf:langString Jan Krzysztof Kluk (September 13, 1739 – July 2, 1796) was a Polish naturalist agronomist and entomologist. He was the son of Jan Krzysztof Adrian and Marianna Elżbieta. His father, an impoverished nobleman, was a building contractor and architect, mainly of churches. Jan Krzysztof Kluk went to school in Warsaw, later in Drohiczyn, and finally in the Piarists school in Łuków. In 1763 he finished the Missionary seminary in the Holy Cross Church, Warsaw. From 1763–67 he was a domestic chaplain attached to the noble household of Tomasz Ossoliński, the starosta of Nur. From 1767–70 he was vicar of the parish of Winna. He later became vicar of the parish of Ciechanowiec, a position he kept until his death. He was a man with universal interests, but known mostly as a naturalist studying mainly the regions of Podlaskie and Masovia. He was a very able draftsman and engraver, which permitted him to illustrate his own later works. Princess Anna Jabłonowska gave him access to the great library and natural science collections in her palace of Siemiatycze. Many of his published works were breakthroughs in contemporary Polish natural science and agriculture. He spent most of his life in Ciechanowiec where he died. He was a Catholic priest, and vicar of Ciechanowiec. Kluk described several taxa of Lepidoptera including the Holarctic Nymphalis, the South American genus Heliconius, and the genus Danaus in which is placed the monarch. There is a Krzysztof Kluk Museum of Agriculture in Ciechanowiec.