Those plans were interrupted by their father's early death, in 1874, after which their mother insisted on more practical career choices, such as teaching or the clergy.

He never finished his courses there, choosing instead to go to Prague, where he planned to study clay modelling at the Academy of Fine Arts with Josef Mauder.

This enabled him to learn stonemasonry from Jindřich Václav Čapek [cs], which led to lessons in sculpture from Antonín Pavel Wagner and Bohuslav Schnirch.

After completing his military service, in 1892, he made a study trip to several Czech and German cities; paying visits to schools that taught sculpture.

In 1896, he settled in Prague, where he married Otilia Chramostová, the daughter of Josef Karel Chramosta [cs], an actor and puppeteer at the Estates Theatre.