Antonín Machek (1775 – 1844)

• Was a Czech painter in the Classical and Biedermeier styles.

• Machek was born in Podlažice. 

• He was born into a family of tenant farmers.
• Machek apprenticed to the court painter Wenzel Zitta, who was his instructor for two years.
• He travelled to Prague in 1790 and 1792 for the coronations of Leopold II and Francis I as the Kings of Bohemia.
• After the second visit, he remained there to study with Zitta's teacher, Wenzel Bluma.
• He became a journeyman attached to the fresco painter and decorator Antonín Tuvora and spent his evenings studying drawing with Ludvík Kohl.
• In 1796, he won an award at a contest sponsored by the "Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts".
• When his mother died in 1798, he sold the family home, moved to Vienna and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts.
• He ran out of money in 1801 and returned to Bohemia, settling in Hradec Králové and working as a portrait painter.
• A year later, he decided to be an itinerant artist, travelling through northern Austria and setting up portrait shops in Linz and Steyr.
• In 1813, he came to a stop in Prague, where he got married and became involved in Czech patriotic circles.
• He also maintained connections with the Academy of Fine Arts there, especially with Professors František Tkadlík and Joseph Bergler.
• In all, he created over 300 portraits, many of which were made into lithographs by his student, František Šír.
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