4398 - Frantisek Xaver Diblik, Panel still life with figure

Frantisek Xaver Diblik, Panel still life with figure an elegant arrangement of bouquets alongside bowls of fruit, and fruit scattered loosely across the tabletop, a lidded goblet of red wine and a porcelain figurine of a violinist in Baroque costume; a delicately glazed, almost objective still life in vibrant colours; oil on canvas, signed and dated ‘F. X. Diblik 1934", some signs of wear, in a magnificent gilded stucco frame, inner dimensions approx. 63.5 x 97 cm. Artist information: correctly František Xaver Diblík, also known as Francis Xavier or Franz Xaver Diblik, Czech painter, graphic artist and legionnaire (1887, Nalžovice near Sedlčany - 1955, Prague), studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, initially under Vlaho Bukovac, then as a master student under Hanuš [Hans] Schwaiger, 1913-14: study trip to Rome on a scholarship; during the First World War, served initially as a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army in Italy; taken prisoner of war in 1917; from 1918, volunteered for the Czechoslovak Legions in Italy, In 1919, he was promoted to second lieutenant; whilst in Italy, he designed the regimental banners for the Czechoslovak Legions in Italy and wrote numerous addresses to the Italian aristocracy; returned to Prague at the end of 1919, 1925-43: Member of the Association of Fine Artists and member of the Association of Czechoslovak Fine Artists; exhibited at exhibitions in Prague and other cities; worked in Prague-Vršovice; Source: Saur, ‘Bio-Bibliographical Encyclopaedia of Artists’, Toman, information from the National Gallery in Prague and the internet.