Kupecky [antikvár]

In the Liechtenstein Gallery in Vienna there is a painting by Jan Kupecky which was long considered to be the work of the famous Spanish painter Velasquez. An artist whose work achieves such world-wide recognition certainly deserves a place among the great. In fact, Kupecky's paintings are to be found in all the more important art galleries in Central Europe. In artistic merit they equal the greatest paintings of his time, and in all literature on art Jan Kupecky is placed among the foremost creators of Central European Baroque. His paintings have lost nothing with the passage of time. On the contrary, his realism, simplicity and inspiration, his clear artistic mastery and humán understanding, still impress one to-day more than any other work of art of the Counter Reformation period in Central Europe. The course of Kupecky's life, too, adds to the popularity of the artist's work. It reflects the sufferings of a restless man persecuted for his religion, who never in all his life enjoyed a sense of security, and had no lasting family happiness, remaining an introspective exile who wandered about Europe equipped only with his genius and his longing for humán truth and peace of mind.