What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 18 January 2024.

And the prize for ‘most numerous and least helpful Google results for a Prague street name’ goes to…

Josef Matěj Navrátil was born in Slaný in 1798, but lived in Prague from 1801. As a child, his father taught him how to paint rooms.

So logically, after graduating from the Prague Academy in 1823, he became a painter-decorator, mainly working in stately homes and castles.

From 1832, he travelled extensively around Europe (with a particular fondness for the Alps), and developed his skills as a landscape painter.

(Pictured: ‘Forest landscape with a girl’, ‘Waterfall on the Mumlava River’, ‘Mountain landscape with lake’ and ‘Landscape with ruins)

He was also known for his still life paintings and his works depicting people (examples of both below).

In 1850, Navrátil became chairman of the Union of Fine Artists, but later life didn’t treat him kindly: his son Antonín (also a painter) died in 1859, and two years later he suffered a stroke and was unable to work again. He died in poverty in 1865.

Navrátil’s works fell into oblivion until 1909, when an exhibition was dedicated to him at the Rudolfinum. A particularly big fan was the photographer Josef Sudek, whose own work was inspired by him.