Šumava Virgin Forest in the Storm

In 1887, Julius Mařák, in Vienna at that time, was called to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague to be in charge of the landscape painting studio. Four years later, as a renowned painter, he received a commission to paint two large canvases of old-growth forests. Mařák created the preparatory sketches in Boubín Virgin Forest which was designated as a protected area as early as 1858. He first completed Šumava Virgin Forest in the Storm while he worked on the counterpart canvas Šumava Virgin Forest in the Sun (today in possession of Česká spořitelna bank) until 1897. The delay was caused by Mařák’s health problems and his full employment at the Academy where he educated many young landscape artists such as Antonín Slavíček, František Kaván, and Otakar Lebeda.