Lot 25

Jaroslav Špillar (1869 - 1917) VENICE

In Venice, painter Jaroslav Špillar beautifully captures a glimpse through a bridge on one of the canals, with typical gondolas and the busy palace embankment in the background.

Špillar, also known by the nickname Trávníček, was a painter from the Chod region who was focused on historical and ethnographic subjects. His younger brothers Karel and Rudolf Vojtěch Špillar were also fine artists. He was one of the first students at the School of Applied Arts in Prague (1885–1887 under František Ženíšek and Jakub Schikaneder), and subsequently spent five years at the Academy of Fine Arts with Maxmilián Pirner. In 1888 he developed an interest in the Chod region and settled there in 1891. Initially he lived in Postřekov, where he lived in the part of town called Trávniky; later, in 1902, he built a villa in Pec pod Čerchovem. At his first collected exhibition at Topič Salon (1899) he presented 86 works. Špillar decorated the assembly hall at the Italian Court in Kutná Hora and his work is represented in the permanent exhibition of Jaroslav and Karel Špillar Paintings at the Špillar Brothers Gallery in Domažlice.