Lot 27

Vojtěch Bartoněk (1859 - 1908) MONK IN FRONT OF A CHAPEL

As PhDr. Naděžda Blažíčková-Horová explains in her expert assessment on the genre scene in Monk in Front of a Chapel: “... It is an indisputable and very beautiful work by painter Vojtěch Bartoněk, probably dating from the 1890s. Bartoněk worked as a portrait artist, primarily as a painter of genre scenes bearing the humorous or sentimental tone of the countryside and Prague streets and neighborhoods. Bartoněk studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 1873–1889 under Emanuel Rom, Antonín Lhota, František Sequens and finally under Maxmilián Pirner. After completing his studies he spent a year in Paris, where he joined the large group of Bohemian artists living here. After retuning he also focused on illustrations and restoration work. However, his center of interest remained genre subjects, often with the social undertone he encountered in his surroundings. … Bartoněk died unexpectedly, likely from a heart attack, in front of Prague's Café Union on what was then called Ferdinand Boulevard – the street that provided him with subjects for his genre paintings for most of his life.”