NAVIGATION

In the first half of the 17th century there were very few artists working in Prague. One of note whose work displays impressive realism was Karel Sǩréta ( 1610 – 74 ), a painter of great energy and versatility. Born to a Protestant family in Zaborice in 1610 he and his mother fled to Freiburg in Saxony in 1628. From there he went to Italy and spent time studying in Venice and Bologna before completing an artistic training in Rome where he met and made a portrait of the French painter Nicholas Poussin in 1634. He converted to Catholicism after leaving Italy and returned to his native Bohemia eventually settling in Prague where he became a prolific painter of altar pieces. He was influenced by the whole spectrum of Italian baroque artists from Caravaggio to Guercino and Annibale Carracci. His most famous work on canvas is a lively and informal portrait of the gem carver Dionisio Miseroni and his family.