Ignác Raab

Ignác Viktorin Raab (5 September 1715 – 2 February 1787) was a Czech Jesuit brother and is considered one of the most important Czech painters of the 18th century.

In his work can be traced the influence of Italian and Czech masters, such as Petr Brandl among others. His work is generally assigned to Rococo, but some remnants of the Baroque are still evident. Raab usually signed his works, because he considered this to be a right given to an author by God, who was the originator of his talent.

He was the author of a wide range of paintings and frescoes in various churches, monasteries and other religious buildings. Especially valuable are the altarpieces of the Churches of St. Ignatius and St. Nicholas in Prague. He is also accounted the author of the altarpieces in churches in Opava, Most Holy Trinity Church in Fulnek, and many others. Another two of his paintings, of Saints Odile and Thecla, are located on the side altars in the Church of St. Procopius in Letinech.

Raab was born in 1715 in Nechanice near Nový Bydžov as the twelfth child of his family. As a boy, he appeared to have a great talent for painting. His father František therefore decided to send him to Jičín in order to study art under painter Jan Jiří Major^[spelling?], a disciple of painter Petr Brandl. He studied with him for seven years.

In 1744, at the age of 29, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus. After two years as a brother novice in Brno, he was sent to Jesuit houses in Klatovy, Uherské Hradiště, University of Olomouc, Jihlava, Kutná Hora, and to Prague. There he was at St. Clement and later the college of St. Ignatius in the New Town. He was then sent to Opava. In his service at these sites, he worked primarily as a skillful hand painter. In addition, he also filled all kinds of supporting roles, such as table service (involving the preparation of meals for a common dining room) and care of elderly Jesuit companions. During this period, Raab produced an impressive amount of images. His painting was involved in the decoration of a series of new churches, large-scale cycles of the lives of saints in corridors of Jesuit colleges, and to a lesser extent, frescos.

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