František Urban

As the 19th century gave way to the 20th century, František Urban, a painter of religious, allegorical and symbolist themes, was one of the foremost representatives of religiously themed artwork, a significant element of artwork of the period. Thanks to his approach to religious topics, he was among the popular artists who were awarded representative contracts.
He was born in Karlín in Prague into a shoemaker's family. He served an apprenticeship as a painter of porcelain in a factory in the Libeň district of Prague and, from 1885 he studied under František Ženíšek at the College of Fine Art in Prague where he also taught after graduating until 1893. He illustrated society magazines and fairy tales, undertook the design for the Austrian one-hundred-Crown banknote, designed shares, diplomas and posters. More importantly however, he designed – sometimes with the help of his wife who was also an artist – interiors and windows for a range of churches and chapels. His work on the decoration of Saint Peter and Paul's Cathedral in Vyšehrad, Prague is considered to be his crowning achievement and includes 27 saints on the columns of the nave, ornamental features and figures of angels on the walls and vaulting. He created the ceiling paintings in Vinohrady Theatre, which feature the theme In Tribute to Art of the Motherland. He painted the theatre curtains in the theatres in Smetana House in Litomyšl and Pardubice – the Litomyšl curtain, still being used, shows villagers astonished by the phantom of a Muse playing the harp to angels guarding her, the Pardubice curtain was destroyed by fire in 1931. Urban was a member of Jednota umělců výtvarných, an association for artists, and in 1912 he was a corresponding member of the Czech Academy of Science and Arts. He died prematurely after falling ill with tuberculosis.
František Urban could be classed a proponent of an eclectic art movement connecting older academic traditions with Secession trends, and was thus, essentially, the creator of a religious Secessionist style. He commented on his work for Vyšehrad Cathedral, saying: “Experience shows that expressing any saintly figure in an abstract, overly supernatural manner has an outlandish effect. This therefore, led to such figures being expressed in a more fairytale, legend-like manner, giving them a form much more acceptable for people (…), as the church is a place accessible for people from all classes and, for some classes, the only accessible place richly decorated.” However, one cannot help noticing that saintly figures expressed in a decorative, almost fairy-tale manner, are somewhat lacking in spiritual content.
 

1892
New-Year greetings card
Patrik Šimon collection

1902
Angel private collection

1906
Saint Margaret's Visions altar image in Saint Margaret's Church in Paršovice
Legend of the Three Kings Patrik Šimon collection

1910
Madonna in Roses Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové