Cœur Church at Montmartre is, as compared with the work of the masters of other days, the creation of a modern temperament, which in the Passion can catch a glimpse at once of human greatness and divine beauty. The modelling of the body, firmly nailed to the Cross, is essentially lifelike, yet pure, without any leanings towards Naturalism. But the artist’s power of composition reached its height in the St. Wenceslaus Monument, where the great equestrian statue of the national hero and saint is surrounded by four figures, male and female, of the patron saints of Bohemia. This is his masterpiece. Well-balanced composition, figures austere and monumental, yet glowing with the internal fire of an intense faith, a consummate mastery of craft together with an extreme simplicity of expression—such are the characteristics of this work, so aptly placed in the striking position selected for it, as if to symbolize the unquenchable vitality of the Czech revival, and to prove beyond all doubt that Czech sculpture has become a genuine art. We may also mention the admirable figure “Music” in the foyer of the National Theatre, which fixes, as it were, the fleeting beauty of an air of Smetana’s; the bronze statue of Cardinal Schwarzenberg kneeling, a work of great power; some monuments to famous Czechs; and a series of portraits, among which the busts of Smetana and of the author-actor Koldr rank with the sculptor’s most successful productions.
With Myslbek, Czech statuary was at last raised to the dignity of a true monumental art. Although his work has an air of finality and he admits no laxity in composition, he is in no sense a rigid theorist. Fruitful energy as a teacher soon went hand-in-hand with his productive activity. He is responsible for training two successive generations of Czech sculptors, many of whom at the present day are valiantly vindicating the renown of our national art.
