Frantisek Urban ( September 15, 1868, Prague - March 9, 1919, Prague ) painter, illustrator and draftsman

After training in a factory in Libeň as a porcelain painter, he became a pupil of Professor Frantisek Zenisek at the School of Applied Arts in Prague from 1885 to 1893 and then worked there for several years as an assistant to Professor Vaclav Dedek. Winning participation in the competition for the decoration of the windows of the Church of St. Ludmila in Prague, together with Adolf Liebscher, caused him to devote himself fully to painting religious, allegorical and symbolist themes, to designing the interiors of church interiors and stained glass windows. His work, especially figural ones, was strongly marked by the influence of Ženíšek's softly drawing conception of the female nude. His narrative, pietistically tuned paintings harmonize with the burdensome moods of symbolists and decadents of the late 19th century. In contrast to the naturalistically sharpened figural paintings, which carry a somewhat cumbersome, moralistic message, its illuminated church windows are based on the traditions of Nazarene and Art Nouveau decorativism. Idealism, a captivating range of moderately saturated lovely tones and ornamental shapes, refers to the refined decorative culture of Alfons Mucha. In 1897 he decorated the windows of the church of St. Bartholomew in Kutna Hora, in 1898 in the Archdeacon's Church in Pilsen, then in the Church of St. Barbora and the painting in the chapel in the Vlassky dvur in Kutna Hora, etc. He participated in the design and implementation of the decoration of a number of churches - the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bezdedice, the Dean's Church of St. Stepan in Kourim, in the chapel of St. Wenceslas and Vladislav in Kutna Hora, decoration of the chapel of St. John in the dome of St. Vitus in Prague, in Mnichov near Marianske Lazne, in Pocaply, in Hlinsko, in Sedlec near Tabor, also in some churches in Germany, window decorations in the church of St. Bartholomew in Cologne or the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Vysehrad in Prague. He also designed the decoration of a number of public buildings - the curtain of the theater in Litomysl, the decoration of the ceiling of the Vinohrady Theater in Prague. He created a number of illustrations of fairy tales, designed the Austrian hundred crowns, designed stocks, diplomas and posters. In 1912 he became a corresponding member of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was a member of the Union of Fine Artists, where he was close and also collaborated with Alfons Mucha. The posthumous exhibition of his work took place in September 1921 at the Museum of Applied Arts in Prague.