Cermak, Jaroslav

Čermák, Jaroslav 

Born Aug. 1, 1830, in Prague; died Apr. 23, 1878, in Paris. Czech painter.

From 1847 to 1850, Čermák studied in Prague, Munich, Antwerp, and Brussels. Beginning in the 1850’s he lived mainly in Paris and traveled through Europe, visiting Dalmatia and Montenegro in 1858.

Čermák at first employed academic devices; however, he later painted convincingly realistic pictures notable for their significant imagery. He depicted scenes from history, including the Hussite Wars (Hussites Defending the Pass, 1857, National Gallery, Prague), as well as the life of Slavic peoples and their struggle for freedom and the everyday life of Norman fishermen; he also did landscapes. Čermák was an outstanding painter of portraits, the best of which express deep emotion and reveal keen psychological analysis (Portrait of J. E. Purkinje, 1857, National Gallery, Prague).

REFERENCES

Sapego, I. G. Chermak. Moscow, 1957.
[Mokrý, F. V.] Jaroslav Čermák. Prague, 1953.