Annual Gifts of the Art Union in Prague during the 2nd half of the 19th Century

In the beginning my thesis deals with the Kunstvereins, artistic associations which achieved significant development in the first half of the 19th century. It also concerns with the history of Krasoumna jednota (Fine Arts Union) - the first Czech society founded purely for spreading art among general public by means of releasing annual gifts and organizing yearly exhibitions. The work also treats shortly Spolecnost vlasteneckych pratel umeni (Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts) which initiated the activity of Krasoumna jednota. The text itself analyzes development of graphic techniques used in the annual graphic gifts. It clarifies the significance of the gifts released by the art societies, deals with the selected gifts of the Krasoumna jednota and their inspiration with emphasis on engravers of German origin. In the end the work briefly compares three Czech societies for spreading of art which coexisted at the same time, and their gifts; Krasoumna jednota, Jednota umelcu vytvornych and Umelecka beseda