Portrait of Maria Mihaylova-Marushka (the daughter of the archaeologist Karel Škorpil) 1915

Ivan Mrkviсka painted this portrait of Maria Mihaylova-Marushka, daughter of an archaeologist, with oil on canvas. The colors here are a study in subtlety, mostly muted browns and blues, but there’s real vibrancy in the way the light hits her face. You can almost feel the texture of the canvas beneath the thin layers of paint, like he’s allowing the surface itself to be part of the image. Look closely at the lace collar - the way he's captured its delicacy with just a few deft strokes of white is beautiful. It's a dance between representation and abstraction, where the essence of the lace is more important than a photographic rendering. This reminds me a little of Whistler's portraits, where the subject is less about capturing a likeness and more about exploring mood and atmosphere. It's a gentle reminder that art is always in conversation with itself, borrowing and reimagining ideas across time.