Karel Javůrek

He was the son of a wealthy industrialist, but lost his father at an early age.

[2] From 1850 to 1852, he studied in Antwerp under Gustave Wappers then, in 1855, served as an apprentice at the studios of Thomas Couture in Paris.

[1] He returned to Prague and was a regular exhibitor at the art shows in the Rudolfinum.

He produced hundreds of paintings, covering virtually every period of Czech history, as well as works with religious themes.

He and Jaroslav Čermák are considered to be the founders of Czech historical painting, but he lived long enough to see his works labelled as "old-fashioned".