Portrait of Jan Szalatnay’s Family

According to Matylda Kaldová, born Szalatnayová, in the portrait a baby, the portrait was done in August 1868 in Purkyně’s Prague studio. Jan Salatnay was director of a factory at Tošovice in Silesia and later at Velim; he knew the Purkyněs since the days they all lived at Wroclaw. The picture was probably commissioned during their visit of Prague - it show the family bliss of young, wealthy and successful people. The circular format together with the classical triangular construction is yet another painting, in which Purkyně tackled with almost scientific methods issues of composition, lines and colours - it is no accident that the picture is reminiscent of frequent Renaissance concepts of the Holy family. At the heart of the painting is an infant, which the mother proudly shows the viewer, while the older brother puts an almost possessive hand on the baby - from his hand we follow the curve of the mother’s arm to her head, which is bent towards the husband and forms the second circular composition line, inscribed into the Renaissance triangle.