His mother, Elisabeth Eleonora (née Weisseles), came from a German Jewish-turned-Catholic family, and his father, Jan Zeyer, was a carpenter and timber merchant[1] with relations to French (Alsatian) nobility.

Zeyer's prose and poems convey a sense of restlessness, nostalgia, mysticism, and gloominess, and generally feature tragic endings.

He combined European and Eastern mythologies with themes particular to Czech society and history,[2] and, similarly to the Decadents, often employed a blend of religious and erotic imagery.

He was associated with the "Lumír" school, a circle of writers grouped around a magazine of the same name who were influenced by western-European, primarily French, literary currents.

It follows an Italian sculptor as she attempts to create a realistic depiction of the crucifixion, eventually murdering her model, the titular character, in a fit of creative insanity.