Bohuslav Schnirch (1845-1901)
Professions:
Sculptor
Biography
(b
Prague,
10
Aug
1845;
d
Prague,
30
Sept
1901).
Bohemian
sculptor.
He
was
apprenticed
in
1863
to
the
mason
E.
Grein
in
Graz,
then
studied
under
Professor
Bauer
at
the
Akademie
der
Bildenden
Künste
in
Vienna
(1864–6).
He
went
on
to
Professor
Widemann
at
the
Munich
Akademie
(1866–8)
and
travelled
in
Italy
(1871–3).
Returning
to
set
up
a
studio
in
Prague,
Schnirch
was
well
equipped,
with
his
knowledge
of
antiquity
and
the
Renaissance,
to
... (view more)
(b Prague, 10 Aug 1845; d Prague, 30 Sept 1901). Bohemian sculptor. He was apprenticed in 1863 to the mason E. Grein in Graz, then studied under Professor Bauer at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna (1864–6). He went on to Professor Widemann at the Munich Akademie (1866–8) and travelled in Italy (1871–3). Returning to set up a studio in Prague, Schnirch was well equipped, with his knowledge of antiquity and the Renaissance, to collaborate with the architects designing Renaissance Revival buildings in Prague in the 1870s and 1880s. He worked with JOSEF ZÍTEK on the decoration of the National Theatre (Národní Divadlo; completed 1881, destr. 1881, rebuilt 1881–3; see PRAGUE, fig. 5) and of the Rudolfinum (completed 1884), and with JOSEF SCHULZ on the National Museum (Národní Muzeum, 1886–90) on Wenceslas Square. His finest decorative works, the designs (late 1870s) for the three-horse chariots on the National Theatre, were, however, only realized after his death and in a modified form. Schnirch also produced several monuments: the equestrian statue of George of Podebrady, King of Bohemia (1891–6; Podebrady) is outstanding among them. But when he competed with Josef Myslbek for the commission to design the St Wenceslas statue in Prague (1894), Schnirch’s classicism lost out to the latter’s French-orientated academic realism. In his last years Schnirch tried to adjust to the prevailing French style in works such as the tombstone of Doctor Gégr (1898; Prague). He also served for many years on the executive of ARTISTIC FORUM.
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