PhDr. Štěpán Vácha, Ph.D.

Reseaercher and Head of the Department of Early Modern Art.

Štěpán Vácha joined the IAH CAS in 2007. His research interests include Baroque art, and especially painting in the Czech lands, art at the court of Rudolf II and self-presentation of the Habsburgs though visual art. He co-authored Ve stínu Karla Škréty. Pražští malíři v letech 1640–1680 (Academia Press, 2017) and the cultural-history monograph Karel VI. & Alžběta Kristýna. Česká korunovace 1723 (Paseka Press, 2009). He participated in preparing the exhibition Vznešenost & zbožnost. Barokní umění na Plzeňsku a v západních Čechách organized by the Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen (2015–2016) and co-authored the accompanying publication. He is the editor-in-chief of the Studia Rudolphina bulletin. In addition to Studia Rudolphina, he publishes his texts in Umění / Art journal and international periodicals. Since 2016, Vácha has been teaching art history at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.

Research outputs (selection):

The Picturesque Motif of the Rotunda in the Work of Roelandt Savery, Oud Holland 132, 2019, pp. 51–64.

Štěpán Vácha – Radka Heisslerová, Ve stínu Karla Škréty. Pražští malíři v letech 1635–1680. Antonín Stevens – Jan Bedřich Hess – Matěj Zimprecht, Praha, 2017.

Štěpán Vácha, Škréta, Sandrart und Merian d. J. Überlegungen zur Vita Karel Škrétas in der Teutschen Academie, in: Susanne Meurer – Anna Schreurs-Morét – Lucia Simonato (edd.), Aus aller Herren Länder. Die Künstler der Teutschen Academie von Joachim von Sandrart (= Collection Théorie de l’art 8), Turnhout 2015, pp. 249–261.

Andrea Steckerová – Štěpán Vácha (edd.), Vznešenost & zbožnost. Barokní umění na Plzeňsku a v západních Čechách, exhibition catalogue, Lomnice nad Popelkou – Plzeň 2015.

Štěpán Vácha, Imaginum elegantia. K estetické působivosti náboženského obrazu v českých zemích v 17. a 18. století, Umění / Art 62, 2014, pp. 251–275.

Štěpán Vácha, The School of Prague or Old German Masters: Rudolfine Painting in the Literary and Visual Discourse of the 17th and 18th Centuries, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 77, 2014, s. 361–384.

Štěpán Vácha, An Unknown Work by Francesco Cozza in the Czech Republic, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 153, August 2011 (no. 1301), pp. 523–525.

Štěpán Vácha, Die Adelskapellen in der Marienkirche zu Altbunzlau. Altarausstattung und Stiftungen im 17. Jahrhundert, Frühneuzeit-Info 22, 2011, pp. 129–147.

Štěpán Vácha, Der Herrscher auf dem Sakralbild zur Zeit der Gegenreformation und des Barock. Eine ikonologische Untersuchung zur herrscherlichen Repräsentation Kaiser Ferdinands II. in Böhmen, Prag 2009.

Štěpán Vácha – Irena Veselá – Vít Vlnas – Petra Vokáčová, Karel VI. & Alžběta Kristýna. Česká korunovace 1723, Praha – Litomyšl 2009.

Current projects:

Art for Display: The Painting collection of Emperor Rudolf II within the context of collecting practices circa 1600 (GA ČR, 20-15927S) – principal investigator