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#0156
4. Mikoláš Aleš: Music/Gypsy Musician (Part III from the triptych
Poetry—Painting—Music), 1878. Prague, Museum of Cyech Uterature.
Photo: Archive of the museum.
last of these disputes Aleš argued in a minority Czech
periodical against the largest Czech daily newspaper,
voicing his support for a society of Czech art stu-
dents. This society, founded in Munich in 1885 and
named Škréta after the Czech baroque painter Karel
Skřeta, made Aleš an honoráry member. Following
on from the Munich society, in 1887 the Mánes As-
sociation of Fine Artists (Spolek výtvarných umělců
Mánes) was founded in Prague, appointing Aleš its
honoráry chairman. Until his death Czech artists
from the next two générations, although they had
very different ideas on art, venerated Aleš above all
other living Czech artists.9
The diploma appointing Aleš an honoráry mem-
ber of Škréta is a milestone in the history of the de-
batě between artists and the Czech public in Prague.
The society’s chairman, Alfons Mucha, worked on
the diploma’s calligraphy and the talented draughts-
man Luděk Marold supplied the picture [Fig. 5]. The
motif in the lower right part of the drawing explains
the scene: a crayfish, symbolising reactionary tenden-
cies, is attacking the traditional emblem of the free
9 For Aleš’s self-stylisation and his image in the art that fol-
lowed, see PRAHL, R.: Věk u umělce — případ Mikoláše Alše
[Age and the Artist - the Case of Mikoláš Aleš]. In: PRAHL,
R. - HQJDA, Z. - OTTLOVÁ, M. (eds.): Vetché stáří, nebo
Zralý věk moudrosti? [Décrépit Old Age, or the Mature Age of
Wisdom?]. Praha 2009, pp. 21-38.
5. Luděk Marold: Drawing for Skréta’s Diploma for Mikoláš Aleš,
1886. Repro: Ruch, 8, 1886.
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