Jiří Borovička Original Watercolour Painting Prague Castle Pražský hotsell Hrad St Vitus Cathedral Vltava River Malá Strana Prague Signed c. 1970s
Jiří Borovička Original Watercolour Painting Pražský Hrad Prague Signed c. 1970s
This watercolour depicts the imposing Gothic cathedral consecrated to Saint Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert (Czech: Katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha), the most important Czech Roman Catholic Church and dominant feature of the mediaeval Prague Castle Pražský hrad. Below the castle, nestling on the left bank of the Vltava river, is a royal town of Malá Strana, one of the oldest and most picturesque parts of Prague.
On 21 November 1344 the tenth Czech king Jan Lucemburský accompanied by his sons Karel and Jan Jindřich, and the first Prague's Archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice, laid a foundation stone of St. Vitus Cathedral which was to become a seat of the newly created archbishopric.
French architect, builder and stonemason Mathieu d'Arras, summoned from the Papal Court in Avignon, designed the building in the style characteristic of southern French Gothic cathedrals in Rodez and Narbonne. Slender verticality of the Late Gothic, clear mathematical compositions and regard for strict proportions remind of his work today.
After Mathieu d'Arras died, construction continued under Peter von Gemünd (also Peter Parler), a German architect, sculptor and woodcarver, and one of the most prominent and influential craftsmen of the Middle Ages from the Parler family of master builders. Bold and innovative elements of his design are exemplified by net vaults, undulating clerestory walls, original ornamentation of window tracery, blind tracery panels of the buttresses and ingenious dome vault of St. Wenceslas Chapel Kaple svatého Václava.
The Great Tower, transept and connecting gable were finished after Peter Parler's death by his sons Wenzel and Johann, and Master Petrilk from the Parler's workshop. Building the Cathedral was disrupted by Hussite Wars (1419-1434), Great Fire of 1541 and lack of funds in the following centuries.
In 1861 Czech architect Josef Ondřej Kranner started reconstruction and completion of St. Vitus Cathedral. The Kranner's plan was radically changed by his successor Josef Mocker, an important and controversial representative of the purist neo-Gothic architectural style. According to the Peter Parler's original concept, two classic Gothic towers were added at the main portal which brought back missing monumentality and unity of the Cathedral. The Mocker's design was not fully implemented - the baroque part of the Great Tower built by Nicola Pacassi in 1770 remained unchanged.
In the 1920s Alfons Mucha, a famous Czech Art Nouveau painter, illustrator and graphic artist, decorated new windows in the north part of nave, and František Kysela designed a stained glass rosette on the western façade depicting Biblical story of Creation. On the occasion of the millennial anniversary of the assassination of St. Václav, in September 1929, the St. Vitus Cathedral was ceremonially completed.
The other characteristic landmarks portrayed by the artist include the Church of St. Thomas Kostel svatého Tomáše at the Augustinian monastery that features a distinctive slender spire and bell tower, and the Church of St. Joseph, a Roman Catholic church of the Congregation of the English Virgins, at the oldest Czech monastery of Barefoot Carmelites recognisable by its elegant onion dome.
The watercolour is enlivened with a favourite palette of cerulean blue, pink, slate grey, terracotta, yellow ochre, green and turquoise. Open sky, tall trees and reflections in the water complete the atmospheric late autumn scenery.
The painting is signed 'JBorovička' lower right, it is professionally mounted, glazed and framed to enhance and protect the artwork. A blue window mount is complementary in tone to the watercolour.
Condition
The watercolour, mount and frame are in excellent vintage condition (please see the pictures).
Dimensions
Image Size: 12.5 cm x 8.6 cm (4.92 in x 3.39 in)
Watercolour Size: 14.8 cm x 10.6 cm (5.83 in x 4.17 in)
Frame Size: 25.3 cm x 20.2 cm x 2.6 cm (9.96 in x 7.95 in x 1.02 in)
Provenance
Private art collection.
About the Artist
Jiří Borovička was born in Vrbice, Central Bohemia, in 1949. He is a Czech painter and watercolourist. hotsell
Borovička was trained in Pardubice under Lubomír Mecl, an academic painter, and is a member of the Association of Artists of the Czech Republic.
Landscapes and cityscapes of Czechia, Italy and France are among his favourite subjects which he paints in oil, watercolour and combined techniques. Jiří Borovička has been widely exhibiting throughout the country with more than 50 solo exhibitions held in Czech Republic, Germany, France and Italy.
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