Winter, Study for a painting intended for the National Theatre in Prague

Hynais entered the very first competition for the paintings intended to decorate the Prague National Theatre from Paris. For the boudoir of the Royal (today Presidential) box he drafted allegories of the four seasons. The first three paintings were completed in 1881, while the last one - Winter - was postponed following the fire of the National Theatre. Hynais only began work on the painting at the turn of the century. He painted a beautiful redhead shrouded in white draperies, flying with two ravens over a snowy path among birches. In her hand she holds a bunch of poppy-heads, attributes of sleep. Ernestine Wittnerová, a model from the Arts Academy, stood for Hynais in the snowed-in park Stromovka.