The Celebration of Svantovit

Alphonse Mucha completed this second part of The Slav Epic series in 1912 and titled it The Celebration of Svantovít. Each of the 20 elements in this body of work was related to the history of the Slavic people, celebrating their successes over a period of many centuries.

This highly complex mural features two different groups of figures, one sat around on a sprawling landscape and the other seemingly floating in mid-air. One can immediately grasp the contrast between the two sets of people, understanding that a symbolic meaning must lie somewhere behind this content. The Celebration of Svantovít ultimately comments on the period between the 6th and 8th century in which the Slavic people would start to strengthen and organise their own community. The precise reference within this painting is to a battle in 1168 in which an army arrives from Denmark and attacks one of their temples. Mucha provides a scene in which the gods are attempting to protect the Slavic people who at the time were celebrating an annual festival. The temple later destroyed was in respect of Svantovít who was a god of the Slavic people, specifically a pagan.

The artist carefully contrasts lighting to provide two different moods within the same painting - the danger from the Danes is signified by dark clouds, whilst the festival goers are entirely saturated in bright light, perhaps reflecting the protection that is being afforded to them by the gods. It also perhaps says here that the gods help Mucha's people without even their own knowledge of it, quietly floating above them looking out for their best interests whilst the pilgrims are able to go about their every day lives in an ignorant bliss. The artist therefore chooses to put his own people in white outfits, underlining their innocence and purity with provides a further layer to the symbolism which persists throughout this entire series of paintings.

The Celebration of Svantovit was the second in a series of 20, following on from Slavs in their Original Homeland, and then leading onto The Introduction of the Slavonic Liturgy. This mural followed on from the previous iteration with a similar size and is also produced using egg tempera which was a highly traditional technique for painting that was most commonly used during the Italian Renaissance, as shown famously in the work of Michelangelo within his series of frescoes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, including the Creation of Adam which sits centrally within the overall design. Thankfully, Mucha worked directly onto independant canvases, so today the artworks can be relocated far more easily than if they had also been painted directly onto the walls of a building.