Praotec Čech – Čech on Mountain Rip

This painting depicts the founding myth of the Czech nation. The legend notes Čech left a land in the east with his family to find a new homeland. Upon reaching Rip Mountain and seeing the land below, he declared it a fertile land, full of “milk and honey”. His family then decided to settle there and named the land after him. The painting portrays Čech and his family at the top of Rip Mountain, rejoicing as they view the land below.

Both the myth and the painting draw heavily from Biblical ideas, namely the story of Moses and the Promised Land. The epithet of a land of “milk and honey” is drawn directly from the Bible, and the depiction of Čech, bearded and in robes, is reminiscent of depictions of Moses. The style of the human figures in the painting also draws upon earlier religious depictions that lend an almost spiritual quality to the national founding myth.

The figures are set against an almost incongruous hazy, Romantic pastoral landscape. This stylistic difference elevates the Czech landscape to a prominence of its own as a “Promised Land” within the context of the painting.

Saints Cyril and Methodius

This painting depicts the brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius, who were evangelists in central and eastern Europe during the 9th century. They are most well-known for their invention of a transcription system that allowed them to translate the liturgy into Old Church Slavonic. This was a significant development in that it broke with the predominance of German clergy, who sought to continue to influence their Slavic neighbors and helped to coalesce an independent Slavic cultural identity. For this reason, the saints are knowns as “The Apostles to the Slavs”.

Though painted in 2002, and despite the Byzantine origin of the saints, the style of the painting draws on similar images from the Counter-Reformation, which typically centered religious figures or traditions as their subject and depicted them in a naturalistic way.

St Methodius is on the left of the painting, identified by the bishop’s garments he is wearing, the gesture of benediction he is making with his right hand, and holding the cross. St Cyril is on the right, in more modest apparel. His hair and beard are dark, referencing his early death, 25 years before that of his brother. St Cyril is also holding a book and scribe alluding to his role in developing what would later come to be known as the Cyrillic alphabet.

The cross is emerging out of a tree rooted in the soil with a panel portraying the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus at its base, symbolizing the ‘home-grown’ nature of Slavic Christianity as encouraged by the saints. Today, Saints Cyril and Methodius are celebrated as the national saints of the Czech Republic with a holiday on their name day of July 5th.

ARTIST

Jiri Grabavcic

TITLE

Praotec Čech – Čech on Mountain Rip

DATE

2002

MEDIUM

Oil on Canvas

DIMENSIONS

CREDIT LINE

Gift of John Kroulik, PhD

CURRENT LOCATION

Czech Center Museum
4920 San Jacinto St.
Houston, TX 77004
Wenceslaus Chapel

ACCESSION NUMBER

CLASSIFICATION

Painting

PROVENANCE