The restoration has been promoted by the
Consulate of Czech Republic for Tuscany
Region
and a
Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation, with
the co-operation of and the support of
Viva hotels and
the restorer Signorini as well.
The Czech painter Léopold Pollak, who since 1831 and for most of his
life has lived in Italy;
in 1853 become Roman Citizen. The painting was donated to the Uffizi
Gallery by the painter’s son,
Henry (Heinrich), in 1908. In the archive of Uffizi Gallery is kept the
collection of letters between Henry
(in Wien during 1926-1931) and Uffizi Gallery direction and the Ministry,
concerning the possibility
to exhibit the work donated.
This Bohemian painter, son of a well-off Jewish
merchant, soon showed his talent for painting. In 1819,
he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where he studied for 5
years in the class of director
Bergler. Then he continued his studies in Vienna with Krafft and Peter.
When he returned to Prague,
the quality of his paintings convinced his parents to supply him with
money so that he can go to study
in Rome (shortly going round to Munich). In 1831, after taking part in
an exhibition in Prague with the
portrait of his parents, the painter went to Rome with his friend,
Schaller, where in the beginning did
not have any success. During the first eight years in Rome, he could not
sell any of his paintings, in
spite of the constant work and the recognition and encouragement of his
friends and other artists
(including the director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris). It was
only when a lady, who went to see
his atelier with his friends, bought one of his paintings, “Il
Pastorello”, that happened a turning point in
Pollak’s career. In 1841, he returned for a short period to Prague to
finish the “Graziosa” (“The
shepherdess with lamb”). In 1846, he visited Vienna but soon returned to
Italy, where he obtained
Roman citizenship in 1853. During all these years, he continued to send
his paintings to exhibitions
in Prague and he also returned occasionally to Bohemia. In 1855, he
spent some time in Carlsbad
and in 1873 in Marienbad, the two famous spas of West Bohemia.
Leopold
Pollak had two sons: August, born in 1838, became also a painter, Enrico
(Heinrich), born around 1854, was a merchant and represented the
business of his father in Vienna, during the life of this one and even
after. In 1908, he gave the self-portrait of his father to the Uffizi
Gallery, where can be also found the correspondence from the period of
1926-1931 between the direction of the Uffizi Gallery and the Ministry
of Education, concerning the possible exhibition of painting. |
