Jan Jakub Quirin Jahn (4 June 1739 – 18 August 1802, both in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) was a

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painter and art historian. Jahn studied painting from an early age, under his father until 1758 and later under established painters Jan Ferdinand Schor and František Xaver Palko. From 1761 he studied art at the Academy in Vienna. Jahn was the last leader of the Prague

guild of painters The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Four Evangelists, Evangelist Saint Luke, Luke, the patron sa ...

, before the guild was dissolved as part of reforms of

Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...

. Jahn was also very well-travelled. While Jahn was merely a competent artist, if not outstanding, he had a highly developed education in history and theory of arts. The majority of his customers were churches and religious orders, and their decline towards the end of 18th century caused Jahn to fall into financial difficulty. He unwillingly turned his attention to business, selling textiles, while continuing painting as a leisure activity. His most famous work was a history of painting in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

References

* Novák L.: Jan Quirin Jahn a portrét raného klasicismu, Umění 8, 1960; Dějiny českého výtvarného umění II/2, Praha 1989

External links

Biography (in Czech)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jahn, Jan Jakub Quirin 1739 births 1802 deaths Czech painters Czech male painters 18th-century historians from the Holy Roman Empire 18th-century painters from Bohemia