High-resolultion photograph(s) Download

Jindřich Hlavín was a versatile artist. He studied at Prague's Academy of Art, Architecture and Design under Professors Emil Dítě and Jakub Schikaneder, and later attended the Academy in Vienna. His work was broad in scope, ranging from painting to printmaking, architectural work and restoration. One of Hlavín's most important projects was his collaboration in decorating the Art Nouveau Church of St. Wenceslas at Bohnice hospital in Prague, which was designed by celebrated architect Václav Roštlapil. He designed the figural decoration for the windows of the church and a ceramic mosaic with figures of the Czech saints for the exterior façade: St. Wenceslas, St. Ludmila, St. Agnes, and the saint of the Premonstratensians, whose remains rest at Strahov: St. Norbert. The painting of Salome with the severed head of St. John the Baptist in the background is unusual for its composition and emphasis on strong expressiveness, which is expressed through intense color, robust, almost statuesque figures, and the composition's focus not on the act of the beheading, but on the figure of Salmone. Oil on canvas, signed and dated on bottom right. Painting of a forest path on back.