Soon after the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague opened (in 1800), it became not only a place where drawing was practised, but also a platform supporting the development of graphic art. Its first director Josef Bergler, a prolific graphic artist, let his students translate his designs into graphic form. Josef Karel Burde (1779-1848) reproduced Bergler’s composition of the antique story of Alexander the Great’s court painter who fell in love with the king’s mistress (whom he was painting) by means of registration printing from three graphic plates. Two are done in the aquatint technique, the first emphasizing the light by leaving out white spots on a background of light brown colour, while the second expresses the shadows in a darker shade. The darkest contours and surfaces are expressed in the woodcut technique, which was rarely used in his time. Soon after the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague opened (in 1800), it became not only a place where drawing was practised, but also a platform supporting the development of graphic art. Its first director Josef Bergler, a prolific graphic artist, let his students translate his designs into graphic form. Josef Karel Burde (1779-1848) reproduced Bergler’s composition of the antique story of Alexander the Great’s court painter who fell in love with the king’s mistress (whom he was painting) by means of registration printing from three graphic plates. Two are done in the aquatint technique, the first emphasizing the light by leaving out white spots on a background of light brown colour, while the second expresses the shadows in a darker shade. The darkest contours and surfaces are expressed in the woodcut technique, which was rarely used in his time.
