Luděk Marold

His studies did not resume until 1881, when he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, where his instructors were Ludwig von Löfftz and Nikolaos Gysis.

[1] During this time, he began to suffer from rheumatic fever so, in 1887, he returned to Prague,[1] where he worked in the studios of Maximilian Pirner[2] and edited publications from the newly established Mánes Union of Fine Arts, headed by his old friend Aleš.

Two years later, he received a state scholarship to study in Paris, where he found a position in the studios of Pierre-Victor Galland.

[1] He continued to create illustrations for periodicals and books by Czech authors and received a gold medal at an exhibition in Munich in 1892.

The stress of completing this huge work on schedule had a fatal effect on his already fragile health and he died shortly after it went on display in 1898.