Barvitius, Viktor - portret Adolfa Kosarka (1853)

Adolf Kosárek (6 January 1830, Herálec – 29 October 1859,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

) was a Czech landscape painter in the Realist style.

Biography

His parents were employed as servants by the

Trauttmansdorff Trauttmansdorff Castle is a castle located south of the city of Meran, South Tyrol, northern Italy. It is home to the Touriseum, a museum of tourism and since 2001 the surrounding grounds have been open as the Trauttmansdorff Castle Gardens, a ...

family. When he was three, his family moved to Chlumek, where his father became the administrator of a

meierhof A ''Meierhof'' or ''Meyerhof'' (from ) was a farm or building which was occupied or had been occupied by the administrator (the ''Meier'') of a noble or ecclesiastical estate. Large landlords, especially kings and churches, had extensive networ ...

. From an early age, he displayed an interest in art, but his father wanted him to enter the civil service, so he sent him to learn clerking from a relative. After completing his primary education, he worked as a clerk until his drawings were noticed by Archbishop Schwarzenberg, who arranged for him to take the entrance exams at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Prague The Academy of Fine Arts, Prague ( cs, Akademie výtvarných umění v Praze; AVU) is an art college in Prague, Czech Republic. Founded in 1799, it is the oldest art college in the country. The school offers twelve master's degree programs and on ...

, and provided him with a small stipend.Brief biography
from the

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

@ WikiSource. He was accepted and, after preliminary studies, entered the landscape painting classes taught by

Max Haushofer Maximilian Joseph Haushofer (12 September 1811 – 24 August 1866) was a German landscape painter and professor of landscape painting at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts. Biography He was born in Nymphenburg, the son of a tutor at the court of ...

. He held his first exhibition in 1853. Later, he took a study trip to the

Bavarian Alps The Bavarian Alps (german: Bayerische Alpen) is a collective name for several mountain ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps within the German state of Bavaria. Geography The term in its wider sense refers to that part of the Eastern Alps that ...

, financed with money from the sales of his paintings. In 1855, he settled in the district of Prague known as

Malá Strana Malá Strana (Czech for "Little Side (of the River)", ) or more formally Menší Město pražské () is a district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic, and one of its most historic neighbourhoods. In the Middle Ages, it was a dominant center o ...

and opened a studio. From then on, he had to support himself entirely from the sales of his paintings, usually for very low sums, which required him to paint quickly and constantly. Thanks to an unusually profitable sale, he was able to become engaged to his landlady's daughter, Františka; a seamstress. He also made a working visit to

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

, on the Baltic, but it had to be cut short; due to what he called "homesickness".Biographical notes
@ the Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon. At the age of twenty-eight, he was diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. A painting by

Josef Mánes Josef Mánes (12 May 1820, Prague – 9 December 1871, Prague) was a Czech painter. Life He came from a family of painters, which included his father Antonín, his uncle and Director of the Prague Art Academy Václav, his brother Quido and h ...

(''Švadlenka'') shows Františka when she learned of his illness, while sewing her wedding dress. They chose to marry, anyway, and he died shortly after the birth of their daughter. His friends and colleagues provided what assistance they could, but their plans for a large exhibition were never realized.

Selected paintings

File:Country with Hunters CZE NG.O 10247.jpeg, Countryside with Hunters Image:Kosarek - Horska krajina.jpg, Mountain Scenery File:Adolf Kosárek - Winter Night.jpg, Winter Night File:Adolf Kosárek - Lonely Landscape (Peasants´ Wedding) - Google Art Project.jpg, Lonely Landscape

References

External links

''Švadlenka''
@ Wikimedia Commons
Adolf Kosárek
@ abART {{DEFAULTSORT:Kosarek, Adolf 1830 births 1859 deaths 19th-century Czech painters 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Landscape painters People from Havlíčkův Brod District Czech male painters Tuberculosis deaths in the Czech Republic 19th-century Czech male artists

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links