Among the contemporaries, older or younger, of Myslbek, we may single out Josef Maudr, the creator of the Slavín, that mausoleum of the national glories in the Vyšehrad Cemetery (the Prague Acropolis). This monument, and the statues of Astronomy and History which he set up at the entrance to the Bohemian Museum, are in impeccable taste, and show a thorough understanding of his craft. Čeněk Vosmík, trained in Vienna under Wagner’s influence, did several decorative groups, of which those placed on the pylons of the Prague municipal slaughter-house are the most remarkable.
About 1885, when the first monumental erections in the modern style had been begun in Prague, the sculptors were inundated with orders for decorative work. By far the most competent of these sculptor-decorators was the indefatigable Celda Klouček, who limned charming isolated figures for various buildings (e.g., the Bank of Bohemia), but devoted himself chiefly; to decoration. On façades and interiors he lavished a wealth of fresh and original ornamentation, first of all of a historical nature, then consisting of graceful fauna and flora, in delightful intricate patterns, cunningly laid on. The founder of a whole school of capable decorators, he surpasses them all by virtue of his blithe temperament and his active, fertile brain.
The younger men all issued from Myslbek’s school, the master never letting them go until he had furnished them with all the essentials for their individual development. Among these pupils, Stanislav Sucharda first attracted public attention by his “Lullaby,” in which a delicate sense of family life is in pleasing harmony with the pure and sober composition bequeathed to the disciple by his master. Sucharda was not long in gaining the premier place among his fellow-pupils. In the “Mánes” association he never wearied of proclaiming the need for fertilizing, with the aid of the finest specimens of Western art, notably
