(Prague 1821–1899) “Das Eisthal bei St. Bartolomä am Königssee“, signed, dated (ligature), F. Hawránek 1846, old label on the reverse, indistinctly inscribed, oil on canvas, 86 x 74.5 cm, framed, (Rei)

Bedr?ich Havránek is one of the most important representatives of 19th century Bohemian landscape painting. He received his first artistic training at the Academy in Prague in the studio of the landscape painter Antonín Mánes. His family’s financial position enabled him to continue with his studies so that he was able to study first under Christian Ruben and finally under his brother-in-law, Max Haushofer, who taught at the Academy in Prague. Haushofer introduced the latest stimuli and models of the Munich school’s romantic landscape painting to Bohemia’s artistic circles. In his artistic approach, Havránek is unique among Haushofer’s students, distinctive for his characteristic of capturing even the smallest of details, even in his large compositions. He first exhibited at the Prague annual exhibition in 1843, and continued to exhibit there regularly throughout his life.
Between 1845 and 1847 Havránek worked in Haushofer’s studio, where he concentrated on refining his artistic talents further. Whilst here, his interest in alpine landscapes increased, and at the same time he adopted several more formal elements, such as an interest in atmospheric themes and the more frequent use of principles of composition, which were typical for many of Haushofer’s students and demonstrate his belonging to the painter’s school. It was in 1846, during his period with Haushofer, that he painted the present lot, Eistal bei St. Bartholomä am Königssee, which was exhibited the same year in the annual exhibition of the art society in Prague [Krasoumná jednota v Praze]. In terms of format, this painting is representative of Havránek’s work and demonstrates that, at the age of twenty-five, the artist was a fully mature painter. The masterly use of colour, the captivating subtlety of the image, worked through down to the minutest detail, yet at the same time with an incredible liveliness and depth of painting, and which without doubt corresponds with the exhibited composition, indicates that this is one of the artist’s masterpieces, part of an œuvre which would earn lasting appreciation in the wider context of Middle European romantic landscape painting of the 1840s and 1850s.

Exhibited: Annual exhibition of the Bohemian art association, Prague 1846, catalogue no. 64

Literature: Catalogue accompanying the art exhibition of the society of patriotic art friends in 1846, catalogue no. 64
Blažícˆková Horová N., Bedr?ich Havránek 1821 – 1899, Prague 1985, p. 35, catalogue no. 58 (mentioned, later version reproduced)

We are grateful to Dr. Michal Simek for his assistance in cataloguing this work.