Josef Matěj Navrátil

Josef Matej Navratil (* February 17, 1789 Slany ( German snake ), † April 21, 1865 in Prague) was a Bohemian painter and decorator.

Life

The son of a craftsman settled with his family in 1801 to Prague. In the workshop of his father, he learned with his brother, the painter's craft. On July 25, 1819 both were taken at the Prague Academy because of their talent in the Bergler school. After the test, he first worked as a decorator and painter who knew especially the walls of mansions, castles and manor houses with murals. Of 1832 brought him his ways frequently abroad, including Switzerland, Germany, France and Belgium. He makes sketches of landscapes, which he later used in the studio as a model for his paintings.

In 1850 he was elected Chairman of the unity of visual artists. In 1861 he suffered a stroke and had to stop painting. The rest of his life he lived in solitude, poverty and oblivion.

Works

Navratil loved the mountains, lakes, rivers, ever the nature, which he immortalized in his murals. His architectural paintings are maßgetreu, the pictures carefully crafted and smooth. It outweigh cold tones, and furthermore a mixture of Rococo with the Biedermeier style, romanticism and realism.

Among the leading artists he counted only after the creation of his figural compositions and still lifes ( pears, Fox Hunting, society at table, portrait of an actress or Young mother with child).

Its wall paintings are still on display in:

• " Alpine rooms " in Jirny Castle
• Liběchov ( Liboch )