Jacob Schikaneder Czech, 1855-1924

Acquired by the family of the present owner circa 1930; thence by descent

Schikaneder trained at the Academies of Prague (1870-78) and Munich (1878-80). During the 1880s and 1890s he established himself as a painter of genre. The brooding, melancholy mood that often pervaded these early works carried through into the more diffuse nocturnes for which he is now best known. The present work is typical of these twilight views, characterised by a sense of wide open space, isolated light sources punctuating the all-enveloping darkness, and the occasional figure to emphasise the mood of loneliness. The mood conveyed has strong resonances with Czech fin de siècle literature of the period, including the novels of Franz Kafka.