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Bergler, Josef, the younger
(b Salzburg, 1 May 1753; d Prague, 25 June 1829). Austrian painter, printmaker, draughtsman, illustrator and teacher, active in Bohemia. He was taught by his father, the sculptor and painter Josef Bergler the elder (1718–88), and, during his stay in Italy, by Martin Knoller in Milan and Anton von Maron in Rome. An accomplished portrait painter, he was employed as official painter by bishops and cardinals at Passau and painted a number of altarpieces in Austria and especially in Bohemia. He helped establish the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague (1800), which placed a new emphasis on draughtsmanship, composition and Classical subjects and models. As the first Director of the Academy, Bergler won new academic prestige for art in Bohemia and, for himself, a privileged position in obtaining commissions such as the Curtain at the Estates Theatre (sketches, 1803–4; Prague, N.G., Convent of St Agnes). He also published albums of engravings intended as models (Compositions and Sketches, series pubd after 1805; Prague, N.G., Kinsky Pal.), and through his designs for tombstones he gave a new direction to Bohemian sculpture. His eclectic style with some components of Neo-classicism was welcomed in Bohemia because it was not incompatible with different native traditions. He helped to revive historical painting in Prague and awakened his students’ interest in domestic subjects through his drawings from Bohemian history (e.g. Premysl Being Called to Become King, after 1800; Prague, N.G., Kinsky Pal.) and his drawings of castles. He also influenced the work of a subsequent director of the academy, Frantisek Tkadlík.
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