ALÈS, NICOLÒ. - Czech painter, b. at Mirotice in Bohemia on 18 Nov. 1852, d. at Prague on 10 July 1913. A pupil of Trenkwald and of Sweerts, he soon arrived at a style of his own, which he retained even after his journey to Italy made in 1879. As regards the content of his works, he drew inspiration from the popular songs of Bohemia. He executed many sacred works, particularly illustrating the local saints. He painted six pictorial cycles, of which, among the four surviving ones, the one entitled The Fatherland in the National Theatre of Prague is notable. National criticism attributes to him a type of Nativity scene called for that reason Czech. The paintings representing George of Poděbrady and Matthias Corvinus appear almost extraneous to his art, because painted in the Italian manner. His book illustrations are numerous.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: M. Alšová, Mihuláš Aleš, život a dílo, Prague 1915; Z. Wirth, Die Echoslovak, Kunst von der Urzeit bis zur Gegenwart, Prague 1926.

Miroslav Stumpf

@incollection{ec1_ales_nicolo, author = {Stumpf, Miroslav}, title = {Alès, nicolò}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {752--753}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ales-nicolo} }

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Alès, Nicolò

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