These three painters, together with a fourth, Antonin Dvořák, who executed little genre pictures in the manner of the Viennese painter Waldmüller, are probably the only ones, before 1848, who will escape oblivion and who may claim any position of importance in the history of modern Czech art.
In that history, as we have already suggested, the year of revolution, 1848, is a turning-point. At this date, or shortly after it, we see the emergence of painters destined to play a decisive part in the evolution of Czech art. Moreover, the whole environment amid which artists moved was now radically changed. The aristocracy, as patron of the arts, had to give place to the wealthy middle class, henceforth won over to the nationalist idea. Art came to exercise more influence, and social conditions for the artist improved. The nationalist idea was in full swing throughout every domain of intellectual life. In short, the stage was set for the appearance of a powerful personality, firmly resolved to dispel all the doubts and hesitations that hampered Czech art, revealing new sources of poetic inspiration, bringing art once more into touch with the race and the nation, and furnishing to those who came after him a potent example of artistic courage and sincerity. The hour had struck for the great Josef Mánes to make his bow to the public.
He had of course to pass through the inevitable phase of German Romanticism as practised by the Prague School, but the family traditions he had inherited as the son and nephew of painters were of a character that led him soon to break with the director of the Academy, Christian Ruben. He went to Munich, where he conceived an admiration for Cornelius, Genelli and Schwind. He painted there a large picture representing Petrarch and Laura; the drawing shows great purity of outline, the lineation is harmonious, and at the same time the work betrays a profound sense of colour. It was a time when the ideas of race
