Karel Purkyně, Still Life with a Peacock (The Gypsy?s Quarry), 1861

This exceptional painting, acquired by the West Bohemian Gallery in Pilsen for its collection in 2023, had been missing for more than sixty years. In terms of significance, it ranks among several equally pivotal still lifes by Purkyně from this period, led by Snowy Owl from 1862, which are now housed in the collections of the National Gallery in Prague. Purkyně was one of the first artists in 19th-century Bohemia to elevate the still life to a respected genre of so-called “high art.” This is due, among other things, to the choice of subject matter, the unusually large format for a still life, and, not least, the work’s overall monumental impact. This hunting still life reflects the new interest among Realist artists in still life, inspired by the movement’s founding figure, Gustave Courbet. In 1857, Courbet exhibited a large-format painting at the Paris Salon titled The Hunt: A Deer Hunt in the Forests of the Great Jura (1857), featuring a captured deer, which marked the beginning of an entirely new thematic series in his work. It is highly likely that Purkyně, who was staying in Paris at the time and visiting the exhibitions of the day, saw this significant painting and drew inspiration from it in his own work. Karel Purkyně, Still Life with a Peacock (The Gypsy?s Quarry), 1861 -