Staletá Praha 35, 1/2019, 51-97 | DOI: 10.56112/sp.2019.1.03

Prague footprints of Jaroslav Pantaleon Major : Work of a Pupil of the Beuron Art School as a Picture of the Time
Die Prager Spuren von Jaroslav Pantaleon Major : Das Werk eines Schülers der Beuroner Kunstschule als Abbild seiner Zeit

Josef Klazar

soukromý badatel, CZ-507 81 Lázně Bělohrad

The biographical study introduces in detail the hitherto not very well-known Beuron painter, restorer and organiser of the art projects, layman brother from Prague's Emmaus Monastery, Jaroslav Pantaleon Major (1869-1936). The author captures his work in all the complex aspects of his rich life and cultural context at the time. Major is presented not only as a pupil of the Beuron Art School, painter, illustrator, restorer, designer of religious paintings and liturgical objects and church furniture, but also as a capable organizer of activities related to art projects, a proficient businessman and owner of the Atelier of Religious Art, well capable of using his knowledge and contacts from the ecclesiastical environment. However, his attempts to invent materials suitable for the artistic practice and everyday life of the clergy, and for the satisfactory use of ordinary households, nowadays seem curious.
A completely unique insight into the position of visual artists during the First World War is provided in the chapter on uncovering and restoring baroque frescoes of Cosma Damian Asam in the Church of St. Nicholas in the Old Town of Prague, under Major's leadership in 1916 attended by outstanding painters such as Josef Ullmann, Karel Špilar, Oldřich Blažíček, Václav Špála, František Jakub, František Xaver Naske etc. Similarly engaging is the characterization of other personalities of Czech Catholic Modernism and Catholic communities in Austria-Hungary and the First Czechoslovak Republic.
The study is based on an unprecedented extensive archive and field research, including the period press, Jaroslav Major's private estate and the yet not fully reviewed biographies from the Nepomucenum archive in Rome. The possibilities of this research were far from being exhausted.

Keywords: Jaroslav Pantaleon Major - Prague - Beuron art - Beuron Art School - Atelier of Religious Art - restoration - mosaic - liturgical objects - Stations of the Cross - World War I - St. Wenceslaus Millennium - Beuronese Benedictine Congregation - Society of St. Boniface - Heritage Church Fund in The Czechoslovak Republic - Association for the Adaptation of the Way of the Cross to Petřín and to Support the Poor in Prague - Emmaus Monastery Na Slovanech - Emmaus cycle - Convent of St. Gabriel in Prague - Convent of Sacré Cœur in Prague - St. Nicolas Church at The Old Town of Prague - Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows in Hlubočepy - St. Wenceslaus' Church in Dejvice - The Way of the Cross to Petřín and The Holy Sepulchre - St. Ann's church at Žižkov - Rome - Papal College of St. John of Nepomuk (Nepomucenum) - Monte Cassino - Trevi - Archabbey of St. Martin in Beuron - České Budějovice - Church of Our Lady of the Rosary - Church of St. John of Nepomuk in České Budějovice - Choteč - Filipov - Miletín - Malé Svatoňovice - Ronov nad Doubravou - Viktor Foerster - Karel Dostál-Lutinov - Fra. František Antonín Vrbík - P. Desiderius Lenz - Abbot Alban Schachleiter - genmjr. Viktor Raudnitz - Dr. Luboš Jeřábek - Martin Matouš - Jiří Jelínek

Grants and funding:

Příspěvek vznikl s finanční podporou Národního památkového ústavu.

Published: June 15, 2019