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Oil on canvas. Signed lower left: “Obrovsky 1914”. This monumental, large-format painting is distinctive for its composition and fresh, spirited color. The canvas divulges the artist’s enchantment with symbolist tendencies (which he acquired during his studies under Professor Maximilián Pirner), Art Nouveau decorativeness and traditional academic painting (from Max Svabinsky); this work also hints at more progressive movements, which at that time were represented in the work of Jan Preisler. Like many artists at the fin de siècle, Obrovsky attempted to capture the natural state of man’s harmony in paradises lost in idyllic timelessness. Submerged in his own ideas, he created a relationship to nature dominated by a deep passion for the beauty of the female body, reaching back to antiquity and Renaissance models. Not only this decorative wall panel, but also his other works, including ones of this character, show signs of quality that are evident especially in the fresh color and masterful brushwork. The overall artistic impression is also underlined by the optimistic, harmonious atmosphere. This unique work dates from around 1914, a period that is attractive among collectors. A Czech figurative painter, graphic artist and sculptor, Obrovsky was a student of the School of Applied Arts in Prague in 1897–1901, and in 1901–1905 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts under Emanuel Krescenc Liska and later Maximilián Pirner. He was noted for his talent already as a student; he painted decorative panels and friezes for exhibitions in Prague and Pilsen. In 1907 he received a scholarship from the Hlávka Foundation, which he used to travel to Rome. There he met Otakar Nejedly and Jan Stursa, with whom he traveled throughout Sicily and Syracuse. After he returned, he focused on several interesting public commissions to decorate bank facades and exhibition pavilions. He also painted the altar paintings and frescos in the Church of Saint Wenceslas in Prague–Bohnice. Portrayals of traveling gypsies in his home region was one of his typical subjects. He started to focus on sculpting after 1923. He was a member of the Czech Academy of Sciences and later became a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris; in 1919 he became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He regularly traveled to exhibitions at home and abroad, where he was received with deserved success. Ref.: Zlatá Praha, 1919, vol. 36., no. 23–24, p. 156.