Terms and conditions of use
The defenestration, 1618
(La Defénestration, 1618)
(1889-1890)
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
132.7 × 210.6 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1890
Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Václav Brozík was a leading official artist of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the late nineteenth century. La Defénestration portrays the event in Czech history which triggered the Thirty Years War. In the name of a local Protestant majority, Bohemian nobles took action against the Catholic rule of Matthias II, Holy Roman Emperor and head of the Austrian House of Habsburg. Defying orders which forbade them to assemble, the Protestant radicals confronted the Catholic regents in Hradcany Castle on 23 May 1618 and pushed them out a window. The officials reportedly survived by landing on rubbish in the moat.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in black and brown paint l.l.: V. BROŽĺK. PARiS.
Accession Number
p.316.1-1
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
History and Legend Human Figures Law, Civics and Protest
Subjects (specific)
assaults (personal life events) castles (fortifications) insurrections men (male humans) Prague (inhabited place) rebels Thirty Years' War (European history, 1618-1648) windows
Provenance
With H. Koekkoek & Sons (dealer), Melbourne, by 1890; exhibited Autumn Exhibition, H. Koekkoek & Sons, Melbourne, 1890, no. 44[1]; from where purchased for the NGV, 1890.
[1] See Catalogue of a highly important collection of high-class modern pictures : exhibited by H. Koekkoek & Sons of 72 Piccadilly, London, W., at the Koekkoek Gallery, 331 & 333 Collins Street, Melbourne, Melbourne: Mason, Firth & McCutcheon, Printers, 1890, no. 44, p. 13-14, accessed via State Library of Victoria, http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/107431. Purchased with Paul Joanowitch's The traitor (p.318.1-1).
Exhibited, Autumn exhibition, Koekkoek & Sons, Melbourne, 1890, no. 44.