Coltsfoot

Julius Mařák is justly considered the pioneer of modern Czech landscape painting. His fairly small in number, yet superb and important graphic work had long been overshadowed by his drawing and painting oeuvre. Mařák executed his first etchings in the late 1850s. The sheets dating from this period are extremely rare - they were probably meant to be printed in limited editions. His prints are characterized by meticulous, conscientious and realistically detailed drawing and show the artist's devoted attention to the depiction of specific plant species. Mařák’s Coltsfoot sheet depicts a seemingly random section of nature showing the expansive leaves of a coltsfoot and other plants, and a tree stump with dry branches sticking out askew from the undergrowth. In the composition formed of lush vegetation reaching up towards the light, on the one hand, and a rotting tree, on the other, we note not only a meticulous study of nature but also a romantic manifestation of the contrast between life and death.