Roman Prahl – Pavla Machalíková
From restoration to forgery – from forgery to inspired creative work. František Tkadlík
The painter František Horčička, the presumed co-author of both of the most famous of the old Czech manuscripts (forged manuscripts), deserves to be understood within the context of artwork restoration at that time, the standards of which changed over time. To begin with, Horčička's career was a field open to far-reaching speculation and manipulation, whereas by its end the demand for authenticity had risen. Horčička was not always just involved in hoaxes, as is borne out by the fact that in the second half of his life he was clearly convinced over one of his constructs. His work was evidently the first ever systematic hand-painted decoration of an edition of the Dvůr Králové manuscript (1843), which this paper looks at in greater detail. It also deals with the obstacles that the visual representation of material from old Czech manuscripts came up against. For the visual representation of the manuscript material, doubts over its authenticity were not as important as other circumstances at the time, particularly opposing demands over the way the national past was to be represented.
design by Bedřich Vémola
