Near Svitava in Moravia

The motifs of this landscape are from the region of the Moravian Karst, the valley of the river Svitava and the vicinity of the country manor Rájce, which the painter was wont for many years to visit at regular intervals. The composition and colours are those of Romantic landscape painting, Havánek’s chief influence. The painter articulated this panorama of the undulating countryside with a view into the distance and a high sky, which occupies the upper half of the picture and dramatized it by alternating light and shade, consequence of the approaching storm. A contrast to the grandiose concept are almost genre-like details of the staffage, e.g. a shepherd with his sheep. Some motifs are not accurate records of reality: Havánek adapted them in line with his composition requirements: in the case of the Rájec manor of the Salma family he preserved the basic layout of the building, but changed some details, e.g. he elongated the small dome-shape tower into a pyramid.