The Brethren School in Ivancice

The Bohemian Brethren were a religious community established at the beginning of the second half of the 15th century as a result of resistance to the wickedness and vices of the Roman and Utraquist churches. It changed its initially strict view of education under the influence of humanism and its schools ranked among the best in the Czech lands of that time.

In his painting Mucha presents his hometown of Ivančice with its walls and church tower in their 16th-century appearance. One of the most famous schools of the Bohemian Brethren was the nobility law school in Ivančice. It was generously supported by the Lord of Rosice and Náměšť nad Oslavou, Karel Sr. of Žerotin. Its teachers were notable people, such as the highly educated native of Přerov, Jan Blahoslav, who translated the New Testament from Greek into Czech. His translation was regarded as a gem of Czech literature. The Brethren established printing works in Ivančice where the Bible began to be printed. In 1578 the printing machine was moved to the Romanesque fortress in the nearby town of Kralice, which is why this particular copy is called the Bible of Kralice.

The painting shows a class of the Brethren School outdoors, in a place which is still called Ve Sboru (The Choir) today. The class is interrupted because the school is visited by Karel Sr. of Žerotin. He is sitting under a shelter, looking at copies of the Bible. His second wife is resting nearby. She is known to have been ill all her life, which can be seen in her face. On the right-hand edge of the canvas is the printing machine. On the left, there is a seated blind man to whom a youth, bearing resemblance to Alphonse Mucha, is reading from the Bible for consolation. The sunny autumn, rich in its fruit, is a symbol of a fertile time that comes after the torrid summer of the Hussite wars.

The swifts circling around the Ivančice church tower are preparing to fly away, suggesting that a long journey lies ahead of the Bohemian Brethren. Many of them left their home after the Battle of White Mountain (1620) to take refuge abroad.