A life shaped by the landscape

Jan Nowopacký came into the world in Nechanice in 1821, born to a family of weavers. His early years were filled with more than just the sounds of the loom; he played the flute and the violin, finding a way to express himself through sound as well as sight. This creative impulse led his family to seek help from Countess von Harrach, who brought him to Vienna. There, he sat before the portrait painter Franz Schrotzberg to learn the fundamentals of his craft.

The path to formal recognition was not immediate. A lack of fluency in German initially barred him from the Academy of Fine Arts. He returned to Nechanice, applied himself to his studies, and finally gained admission in 1842. His training soon took him beyond the classroom and into the open air. He traveled through the Alps and Tyrolia, places where the light and scale of the mountains could be observed directly.

The teacher and the custodian

Life often required him to balance his brush with more practical duties. Following his father's death, financial pressures led him to work as a drawing teacher for the Paars family. Later, in 1851, he moved to Lower Austria to teach for the Count of Hoyos. These roles took him through Northern Italy and Campania, expanding the geography of his observations.

By 1861, he had returned to Vienna. His reputation as an instructor grew, eventually leading him to teach painting to Crown Prince Rudolf after 1869. This proximity to the Imperial Family brought a significant responsibility in 1880, when he was appointed Custodian of the Imperial Galleries. He held this position until his retirement in 1895. In those final years, he moved back to Bohemia, living with his niece in Ústí nad Orlicí before passing away in Slavětín in 1908.

Observations on paper and canvas

His work often focused on the quiet details of the natural world and the ruggedness of mountain scenery. Some of his pieces captured specific moments, such as:

• Alpská krajina ze Štýrska, a view of the Styrian landscape.
• Bystřina v horách, depicting a mountain stream.
• Castle ruin in the hills, an oil study on cardboard.
• A Study of Flowers, a work using combined techniques on paper.

While he spent much of his life in Vienna and was often viewed as an Austrian painter, his roots remained in his Czech homeland. His first major exhibition in his native land did not occur until 1902, late in his life.