Hussite Camp

In Czech history Mikoláš Aleš was partial to the Hussite period; in accordance with František Palacký he held it to be its most glorious chapter. In contrast to the vast majority of history painting, set upon rendering as convincingly as possible the depicted historic situation, Aleš was, above all, interested in human types. The Hussites, moreover, provided him with the enticing opportunity to exploit his personal experience and to explore the deep roots of his artistic vision. He wrote to his fiancée Marina Kailová: „At the moment I am particularly fascinated by a group of peasants, whom I should like to endow with the as yet existing Czech character, as I remember it from my youth and which I used to see, among other places, at Budy“. Aleš’s favourite writer and friend Václav Beneš Třebízký also found his inspiration for the description of the common people in Czech villages.