Ludvík Vacátko

Czechoslovakian Ludvík Vacátko was an important animal painter, focusing on horses, hunting and battle scenes. He also published a textbook concerning this genre, Animal Painting, in 1928. Vacátko was born near Wien (Vienna). After graduating from military school, he worked as a professor of drawing at the cadet school in Praha. Along the way he completed studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and continued his education in Paris, Wien (Vienna) and München (Munich), where he was close to the Secession and Hagenbund groups of artists. Vacátko was involved in painting the panorama of the Battle of Lipany, the largest history painting in the Czech Republic.

His work Jeu de Barre showed a motif from equestrian sport. A painting with this title, however, is missing in a list of almost 170 works. Perhaps it was the oil painting Nad překážkou (Over the Obstacle, 35 x 50 cm), showing a show jumper, which was probably created in the 1930s.