Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

In 1842, the Prague annual exhibition took place for the second time in the Grand Priory Palace located in Malá Strana. The Grand Prior, Karel Morzin, had offered this venue to the Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts in both 1841 and 1842. Commentators in the press noted that in 1842, it was easier to walk between the Old Town – home to the Academy, housed in the Klementinum at the time – and Malá Strana, thanks to the newly completed chain bridge, which had also become a popular attraction in Prague.

According to press announcements, the paintings for the exhibition were to be delivered to the Grand Priory Palace between March 14 and 21. Each artwork was required to have a mark on the back with the artist's name, a description, their residence, and the price or, if not for sale, a note indicating they were private property. The announcements also stated that artists who delivered their works later would receive less prominent spots in the exhibition. Unsold works or those on loan from private collections were returned within 8 days from May 26 onward. The lottery for artworks purchased by the Fine Arts Association took place on June 6. As in the previous year, admission to the exhibition was 6 kreutzers, and the catalog cost 4 kreutzers. Shares that entitled their owners to participate in the lottery were sold for 5 guldens. At the beginning of the exhibition, significant purchases were made by Prince Rohan, Auersperg, Liechtenstein, Desfours, and others. In total, private buyers purchased 14 paintings from the exhibition, while the Fine Arts Association acquired another 20 works for the lottery. [Bericht 1841–1842, pp. 5–6] A reviewer from the Munich magazine Kunstblatt expressed surprise at the Prague art market, noting that works by local artists and students were overpriced compared to those by prominent foreign artists. The reviewer recommended that local artists lower their prices to increase their chances with potential buyers. [Anonymous author 1842, p. 159]

The exhibition featured 341 items, comparable in scope to the previous year's show. Anton Müller described the installation in his review, which he conceived as a walkthrough of the exhibition, a method he had also used in his previous year’s review. Landscape was the most represented genre, accounting for about one-third of the exhibition. This included the increasingly popular village genre, which, however, faced criticism for being overly descriptive and ethnographic. [Müller 1842a, no. 67, p. 4] Commentaries on the exhibition indicate that Prague's art institutions were striving to embrace foreign influences and aimed to meet international standards in terms of exhibition organization and the emerging art market. By 1842, the Prague annual exhibition had reportedly become one of the leading events of its kind. [Spinner 1842, p. 339]

The review in Kunstblatt highlighted the significance of the new leadership at the Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts, particularly the Fine Arts Association, in enhancing the organization of the exhibition. It notably acknowledged the role of its director, Franz Thun, who cultivated his artistic perspective and broad network of contacts by hosting a salon at his palace. The reviewer also welcomed the first outcomes of the work of Christian Ruben, the new Academy director, which were showcased at the exhibition for the first time. Among Ruben's students, the reviewer particularly noted Anton Weidlich, who was represented by the painting titled The Death of Aron. Additionally, older artists received positive mentions, including Josef Vojtěch Hellich (Simon Lomnický on the Bridge), Wenzel Mánes (Praying Sicilians/Vesuvius Eruption), Fortner, Alexander? Clarot, Antonín Mánes, August Piepenhagen, and Karl Wurbs. Ruben’s painting Die Sennerin, also shown in the exhibition, was described in the review as a "touching still life: a shepherdess on an Alpine peak", in line with the contemporary concept of Munich sentimental painting.

Among the repeatedly mentioned international artworks were paintings by well-known artists who regularly exhibited at annual exhibitions throughout Central Europe, including those in Prague (Achenbach, Rottmann, Hasenpflug). Others were gaining popularity, and this was their first exhibition in Prague, such as Carl Spitzweg (praised for bringing a satirical note to genre painting) and Eugen Napoleon Neureuther, whose work popularized the use of rich graphic ornament.

The exhibition had a special feature – for the first time, it included daguerreotypes. These images were categorized separately in the printed catalogue and were not for sale. Most of them were portraits of individuals or groups, taken by both local and international photographers. Wilhelm Horn and Josef Božetěch Klemens, who operated the only permanent daguerreotype studios in Prague at that time, contributed most of the images, with Horn submitting six and Klemens submitting three. Additionally, there were two images from the traveling daguerreotypist Josef Weninger, who had spent a few autumn months in Prague the previous year. A London photographer named Brand submitted two images, though it is likely that this name was misspelled in the catalog. The only photographer licensed to use the daguerreotype process in England at the time was Richard Beard, as confirmed by Petra Trnková. The final daguerreotype was sent from Paris by Bisson fils, a family business renowned for its excellence in portrait photography. The most famous members of this family were brothers Louis-Auguste and Auguste-Rosalie Bisson. Critics praised the Paris image as the most successful, noting its "extraordinarily dark shadows, soft middle tones, and bright highlights." [Spinner 1842, p. 339] Klemens’s portraits received positive response for similar qualities. [Předák 1842, p. 70] While no reviews commented on the London daguerreotypes, Weninger's and Horn's images appeared insufficiently clear to the critics, with the latter also being criticized for a not particularly successful toning experiment. [Spinner 1842, pp. 339–340] The wording of the criticism suggests that daguerreotypes were evaluated more for their technical qualities rather than their artistic merit and that they were included in the exhibition based on their visual characteristics. Interestingly, Wilhelm Horn photographed many paintings featured in the exhibition, including the Death of Aaron by Anton Weidlich and Blessing of Animals on St. Anthony's Feast in Rome by Wilhelm Marstand, among many others. [Müller 1842b; Sch. 1842, pp. 675–676] In the autumn, Horn exhibited these daguerreotypes of paintings at Prague’s bookstore Borrosch & André [ibid.], creating what may have been one of the earliest examples of photographic documentation of an exhibition in Bohemia.

The 1842 edition of the Prague annual exhibition demonstrated the established international character of the show, featuring standard organization, a lottery system, and a focus on selecting works that attracted private buyers. Commentaries in the press and the composition of the catalogue suggest that the exhibition now included a larger number of small works, a format associated with landscape and genre painting (at the expense of historical and religious painting), which appealed to buyers both thematically and in terms of price.

Pavla Machalíková, Denisa Tichá

Works Cited

Anonymous author 1842: Anonymous author, Kunstausstellung zu Prag, Kunstblatt XXIII, 1842, no. 40, pp. 158–159; no. 60, p. 239

Berich 1841–1842: Berich über die Verlösung des Kuns-Vereins für Böhmen für das Jahr 1841–1842, Prag 1842

Müller 1842a: Anton Müller, Über die diesjährige Kunstausstellung, Bohemia XV, 1842, no. 39, 1. 4., p. 3; no. 40, 3. 4., pp. 3–4; no. 43, 10. 4., pp. 3–4; no. 44, 12. 4., p. 4; 45, 15. 4., p. 4; no. 46, 17. 4., p. 4; no. 47, 19. 4., p. 4; no. 49, 24. 4., pp. 3–4; no. 51, 29. 4., pp. 3–4; no. 54, 6. 5., p. 3; no. 55, 8. 5., p. 4; no. 56, 10. 5., p. 4; no. 62, 24. 5., p. 4; no. 66, 3. 6., p. 4; no. 67, 5. 6., p. 4

Müller 1842b: Anton Müller, Kunstnotiz, Bohemia XV, 1842, no. 121, 9. 10., p. 4

Předák 1842: Wáclaw Předák, Několik slow o uměnj obraznickém w Čechách, Wlastimil, 1842, no. 1, p. 70

Sch. 1842: M. J. Sch., Daguerreotypie in Prag, Ost und West VII (příloha Prag), 1842, no. 168, 20. 10., pp. 675–676

Spinner 1842: Siegfried Spinner, Über die Kunstausstellung für 1842, Ost und West VII (supplement Prag), 1842, no. 51, 30. 3., pp. 207–208; no. 54, 4. 4., pp. 218–219; no. 56, 7. 4., pp. 225–226; no. 57, 9. 4., pp. 231–232; no. 62, 18. 4., pp. 251–252; no. 63, 20. 4., pp. 255–256; no. 64, 21. 4., p. 259; no. 65, 23. 4., pp. 261–262; no. 67, 27. 4., pp. 271–272; no. 70, 2. 5., pp. 282–283; no. 71, 4. 5., p. 285; no. 74, 9. 5., p. 299; no. 76, 12. 5., pp. 307–308; no. 78, 16. 5., pp. 315–316; no. 81, 21. 5., pp. 326–327; no. 83, 25. 5., p. 338; no. 84, 26. 5., pp. 339–340

Further Reading

Vladimír Birgus – Pavel Scheufler, Česká fotografie v datech 1839–2019, Praha 2021, pp. 16–17

John Hannavy (ed.), Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography I., New York 2008, pp. 126–127, 161–164, 714–715

Romana Pospíšilová, Umělci a fotografie (České malířství a fotografie v 19. a na počátku 20. století) (dissertation), Ústav pro dějiny umění FFUK, Praha 2023, pp. 36–37

Petra Trnková, Podle přírody! Fotografie a umění 19. století : příklady z českých a moravských sbírek, Brno 2013, pp. 106–108

Archival Sources

Archive of the National Gallery Prague, fonds SVPU, box 26, inv. no. 158; box 64, inv. no. 174; fonds Krasoumná jednota, AA 1653

Anonymous author, Die Kunstausstellung, Prager Zeitung XVIII, 1842, no. 49, 29. 3., p. 4 (identical note appears in several other issues)

Anonymous author, Kundmachung, Prager Zeitung XVIII, 1842, no. 78, 20. 5, p. 4

Franz Graf von Thun, An die Herren Künstler Böhmens, Prager Zeitung XVIII, 1842, no. 30, 22. 2., p. 3

Franz Graf von Thun, Kunst-Nachricht, Prager Zeitung XVIII, 1842, no. 79, 22. 5., p. 4