Czech Painter Václav Mánes 1793 Prague – 1858 Prague

Czech painter Václav Mánes 1793 Prague – 1858 Prague "Portrait of Madame Stauss and Monsieur Stauss"
Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 77 x 60cm
Framed
Very good condition.
Younger brother of landscape painter Antonín Mánes and uncle of painters Josef, Quid and Amálie Mánes. In the years 1835–1836, he was the director of the Prague Academy work: motifs from Czech history, portraits, the influence of the German Nazarenes. After spending three years at school with the Piarists, he entered the Prague Academy under Josef Bergler in 1808 and remained there until 1824.

In the years 1829-1832 he stayed on a noble scholarship in Italy, where he studied the old masters and in Rome he socialized with the painters of the Nazarene circle.

After returning to Prague, he devoted himself mainly to religious painting, which ensured him public success and in the years 1835-1836 and 1840 the position of temporary director of the Prague Academy.

In addition to altarpieces for many churches in Bohemia, he devoted himself to historical painting and also created a number of high-quality bourgeois portraits.

His monumental work corresponded to the artistic conventions of the time and did not cross the boundaries of academic painting, but in portrait painting he was able to capture to a large extent the characteristic and unique features of the depicted personality.