DOI issue:
Nr. 2
DOI article:Prahl, Roman: Bohemians in Prague in the latter half of the nineteenth century
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51715#0154
The surviving drawings and writings by the art-
ists who met at Lorenz’s café give the impression
that they were compiled on a regulär basis. Most of
them were later included, along with drawings from
a number of other artist-dominated societies in
Prague, in a publication known as Kniha svatolukášská
(Saint Luke Book), which serves as a chronicle of the
life of Prague artists from the 1850s to the 1870s.* * * * * 6
The “book”, or rather an album of drawings and
writings, was intended to document the continuity
of the lives of local artists in an informai way. At
the same time it was a sign of the increasing acclaim
for the existence of a community of Czech artists
who were independent of the official authorities.
The relatively brief interval covered by the book
indicates the profound changes that took place on
Prague’s art scene.
After the fall of neo-absolutism, the founding
of the Art Society (Umělecká beseda) in 1861 held
out one of the hopes for utopian fellowship among
artists. The Art Society brought together writers,
musicians and artists who supported the Czech
national revival movement. Nevertheless, the found-
ers’ original idealistic ambitions were soon paralysed
by disputes among Czech politicians, the prevailing
influence of writers over other branches of the arts
in the Art Society, and arguments between artists.7
Regardless of this, however, the spread of Czech-
language newspapers and illustrated magazines,
including humorous and satirical publications, re-
sulted in the Czech public paying more systematic
attention to art.
From the 1840s onwards the man who personi-
fied the continuity of Czech artists’ struggle for their
monument to Field Marshai Radetzky and the Iconography
of the Hero on the Shield], In: Umění, 55, 2007, No. 1, pp.
45-68. Like Soběslav Pinkas, the caricature’s author, Karel
Purkynè, came from a well-to-do Czech family. After the fall
of neo-absolutism he had the courage and the opportunity
to express artists’ more radical opinions in public. He even
attacked visitors to the Prague art exhibition and readers of
illustrated magazines.
6 On the improvised work of this original circle of artists, see
MATEJCEK, A.: Josef a Quido Mánesové v knize umělecké
společnosti v kavárně Lorenzově [Josef and Quido Mánes in
the Book of the Artists’ Society at Lorenz’s Café]. In: Sborník
k 70. narozeninám K. B. Mádla [An Anthology for the 70th
Birthday of K. B. Mádl], Praha 1929, pp. 179-208. Recently
rights was Josef Mánes, who was honoured well
into the twentieth Century as the founder of mod-
em Czech painting. In some respects he can also
be considered a bohemian. Artistically the most
important member of the second génération of
a family of painters in Prague, Mánes was among
those who were opposed to the leadership of the
Academy of Art. In 1848 he became active in the
Czech nationalist movement and he subsequently
faced discrimination on the official art scene. Inter-
estingly, Mánes had great problems with completing
projects, which sometimes feil through entirely. This
was later interpreted as his quest for perfection, or a
precondition for achieving perfection by means of
extensive preparátory studies for a final work, yet
his clients may háve regarded Mânes’s inability to
complété commissions on time as a conséquence of
his capricious and bohemian lifestyle.
Few Czech artists wished to be considered lazy
or disorganised bohemians, especially when com-
municating with potential patrons. An example of
a defence is the self-portrait Mânes included with
a written request to Adalbert Lanna, his patron, for
support for a journey to Italy. Here the artist related
his exhausting struggles with commissions, using
an iconography taken from traditional romanticism.
For his patron Mânes used the motif of the artist
inspired by a dream to interpret the onset of his
mental illness.8 Mânes’s admirers then presented
his psychological abnormalities as a conséquence
of the greatness of his role in art, and of society’s
failure to appreciate his talent. The élévation of
Josef Mánes to a hero made use of the increas-
ing référencés to the link between madness and
Zdeněk Hojda and the author of this article announced their
intention to publish a critical édition of drawings and writings
from the Saint LSuke Book.
7 PRAHL, R.: Kvetoucí varyto. K rétorice a emblematice rané
Umělecké besedy |The Flowering Harp. On the Rhetoric
and Emblems of the Early Art Society]. In: BLÁHOVÁ, K.
— PETRBOK, V. (eds.): Vzdělání a osvěta v české kultuře 19. století
[Education and Edification in 19th-Century Czech Culture].
Praha 2004, pp. 275-286.
8 PRAHL, R.: Josef Mánes —Umělcův sen [Josef Mánes —The
Artisťs Dream]. In: OTTLOVÁ, M. (ed.): Proudy české umělecké
tvorby 19. století. Sen a ideál [Trends in UT’ -Century Czech Art.
Dream and Ideal]. Praha 1990, pp. 90-99.
146
ists who met at Lorenz’s café give the impression
that they were compiled on a regulär basis. Most of
them were later included, along with drawings from
a number of other artist-dominated societies in
Prague, in a publication known as Kniha svatolukášská
(Saint Luke Book), which serves as a chronicle of the
life of Prague artists from the 1850s to the 1870s.* * * * * 6
The “book”, or rather an album of drawings and
writings, was intended to document the continuity
of the lives of local artists in an informai way. At
the same time it was a sign of the increasing acclaim
for the existence of a community of Czech artists
who were independent of the official authorities.
The relatively brief interval covered by the book
indicates the profound changes that took place on
Prague’s art scene.
After the fall of neo-absolutism, the founding
of the Art Society (Umělecká beseda) in 1861 held
out one of the hopes for utopian fellowship among
artists. The Art Society brought together writers,
musicians and artists who supported the Czech
national revival movement. Nevertheless, the found-
ers’ original idealistic ambitions were soon paralysed
by disputes among Czech politicians, the prevailing
influence of writers over other branches of the arts
in the Art Society, and arguments between artists.7
Regardless of this, however, the spread of Czech-
language newspapers and illustrated magazines,
including humorous and satirical publications, re-
sulted in the Czech public paying more systematic
attention to art.
From the 1840s onwards the man who personi-
fied the continuity of Czech artists’ struggle for their
monument to Field Marshai Radetzky and the Iconography
of the Hero on the Shield], In: Umění, 55, 2007, No. 1, pp.
45-68. Like Soběslav Pinkas, the caricature’s author, Karel
Purkynè, came from a well-to-do Czech family. After the fall
of neo-absolutism he had the courage and the opportunity
to express artists’ more radical opinions in public. He even
attacked visitors to the Prague art exhibition and readers of
illustrated magazines.
6 On the improvised work of this original circle of artists, see
MATEJCEK, A.: Josef a Quido Mánesové v knize umělecké
společnosti v kavárně Lorenzově [Josef and Quido Mánes in
the Book of the Artists’ Society at Lorenz’s Café]. In: Sborník
k 70. narozeninám K. B. Mádla [An Anthology for the 70th
Birthday of K. B. Mádl], Praha 1929, pp. 179-208. Recently
rights was Josef Mánes, who was honoured well
into the twentieth Century as the founder of mod-
em Czech painting. In some respects he can also
be considered a bohemian. Artistically the most
important member of the second génération of
a family of painters in Prague, Mánes was among
those who were opposed to the leadership of the
Academy of Art. In 1848 he became active in the
Czech nationalist movement and he subsequently
faced discrimination on the official art scene. Inter-
estingly, Mánes had great problems with completing
projects, which sometimes feil through entirely. This
was later interpreted as his quest for perfection, or a
precondition for achieving perfection by means of
extensive preparátory studies for a final work, yet
his clients may háve regarded Mânes’s inability to
complété commissions on time as a conséquence of
his capricious and bohemian lifestyle.
Few Czech artists wished to be considered lazy
or disorganised bohemians, especially when com-
municating with potential patrons. An example of
a defence is the self-portrait Mânes included with
a written request to Adalbert Lanna, his patron, for
support for a journey to Italy. Here the artist related
his exhausting struggles with commissions, using
an iconography taken from traditional romanticism.
For his patron Mânes used the motif of the artist
inspired by a dream to interpret the onset of his
mental illness.8 Mânes’s admirers then presented
his psychological abnormalities as a conséquence
of the greatness of his role in art, and of society’s
failure to appreciate his talent. The élévation of
Josef Mánes to a hero made use of the increas-
ing référencés to the link between madness and
Zdeněk Hojda and the author of this article announced their
intention to publish a critical édition of drawings and writings
from the Saint LSuke Book.
7 PRAHL, R.: Kvetoucí varyto. K rétorice a emblematice rané
Umělecké besedy |The Flowering Harp. On the Rhetoric
and Emblems of the Early Art Society]. In: BLÁHOVÁ, K.
— PETRBOK, V. (eds.): Vzdělání a osvěta v české kultuře 19. století
[Education and Edification in 19th-Century Czech Culture].
Praha 2004, pp. 275-286.
8 PRAHL, R.: Josef Mánes —Umělcův sen [Josef Mánes —The
Artisťs Dream]. In: OTTLOVÁ, M. (ed.): Proudy české umělecké
tvorby 19. století. Sen a ideál [Trends in UT’ -Century Czech Art.
Dream and Ideal]. Praha 1990, pp. 90-99.
146