Count Bedřich Silva-Tarouca (german: Friedrich Graf von Silva-Tarouca; 11 December 1816,

Čechy pod Kosířem Čechy pod Kosířem is a municipality and village in Prostějov District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,100 inhabitants. Geography Čechy pod Kosířem is located about northwest of Prostějov and west of Olomou ...

– 23 June 1881,

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

) was a Czech

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

; descended from a noble Moravian family. In additional to his priestly duties, he was a journalist and a patron of the arts; involved in collecting, conservation and restoration.

Biography

His great-grandfather was , a Portuguese nobleman who was a close friend and unofficial advisor to the Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...

. He was the third son of , who was originally devoted to a military career, but resigned to join the landed gentry. From 1834 to 1838, he studied philosophy, then spent a year studying

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at Palacký University in Olomouc. From 1841 to 1843, he continued his studies in Brno. In 1847, he renounced his inheritance in favor of his younger brother, Augustus (1818-1872). During these years, from 1835 to 1838, he also took courses in landscape painting from Professor

Antonín Mánes Antonín Mánes (3 November 1784 – 23 July 1843) was a Czech painter and draftsman. Life Mánes was born and died in Prague, which was part of the Austrian Empire when he died. He was the son of a miller and was self-taught because his fam ...

at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague and became acquainted with

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 ...

, who was related to one of his mother's friends. While in Brno, he made friends with František Sušil, also a Catholic priest, who was making a collection of Moravian folk music.

Art collector & patron

As a result of these cultural influences, he devoted himself to promoting the local arts, making significant donations to the collection of the Brno Museum. He made an especially large donation in 1859, pursuant to his departure to Northern Italy, where he had volunteered to serve as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

in the Austrian military hospitals during the

Italian War The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...

. The donations included coins, engravings and old prints as well as paintings. He was an active participant in the Czech and Moravian Revival Society, as well as several educational and patriotic organizations, and was a major supporter of , a scientific society; now part of the Czech Academy of Sciences, engaged primarily in researching Moravian history. The Taroucov collection at the

Moravian Gallery in Brno The Moravian Gallery in Brno ( cs, Moravská galerie v Brně) is the second largest art museum in the Czech Republic, established in 1961 by merging of two older institutions. It is situated in five buildings: Pražák Palace, Governor's Palace, ...

includes works by Josef Mánes, Antonín Mánes,

Václav Mánes Václav Mánes (c. 1793 – 31 January 1858) was a Czech painter. He was the brother of Antonín Mánes and uncle of Quido and Josef Mánes and Amalie Mánesová, all of whom were also painters. Little is known of him; even the date of his bir ...

, Josef Vojtěch Hellich,

Antonín Chittussi Antonín Chittussi (1 December 1847, in Ronov nad Doubravou – 1 May 1891, in Prague) was a Czech Impressionist landscape and cityscape painter. Biography His father came from an Italian merchant family who lived in Ferrara and he moved to ...

and Joseph Bergler, as well as some of his own paintings.

Sources

Václav Petera: Géniové církve a vlasti (Geniuses of the Church and Fatherland)

External links

Silva-Tarouca
in the {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva-Tarouca, Bedrich 1816 births 1881 deaths Czech Roman Catholic priests Czech art collectors Czech nobility People from Prostějov District