Jaroslav Věšín (1859 - 1915) ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND ON THE HUNT

From the expert opinion of PhDr. Nadězda Blažíčková-Horová: "After studying at the Academy in Prague and Munich, and after a five-year stay in Slovakia, Věšín moved to Bulgaria in 1889, then settled permanently in Sofia. In 1897, he became a professor at the Sofia Academy, which he reorganised along the lines of European institutions and led for the rest of his life. At the same time he was appointed court painter to the Bulgarian King Ferdinand I. Věšín painted genres and landscapes, liked to narrate a specific plot and also portrayed members of the royal family. He always used bold, rich and bright colours. The present painting depicting the successor of Emperor Franz Joseph I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand on the hunt, is a variant of a larger motif of the same name, which the painter used the same year to hang at the Prague Annual Exhibition of the Krasouumná jednota and then donated to the collections of the Picture Gallery of the Society of Patriotic Friends of Art, today's National Gallery in Prague."