89th Auction, lot 172 The presented artwork is set in a quiet winter evening, in which a bellman in the square heralds the night. There is still light in the townhouses’ windows, which suggests the artist’s intention to depict a Christmas Eve moment. Josef Lada had this artwork ready for the Venice Biennale, but, at the insistence of the collector, he executed a second version for the Biennale so that the collector could present the original painting to his wife as a Christmas present. The winter topic of bellmen, who always have their backs to the beholder, frequently appears in Lada’s work. His night scenes are usually filled with feelings of nostalgia and calmness, allowing the characters to exist in them undisturbed and immersed in their thoughts. The figure of the public servant is mainly associated with an impression of security, which he enhances with his confident posture. For Lada, night scenes had become a personal escape from reality, especially from the period after his brother’s death when his anxiety and neurasthenia worsened. Two years before the execution of this painting, he had to cope with the tragic death of his daughter, and that may be why Christmas Eve combines a fairy-tale sense of security with a melancholy mood, which intensifies during the festive season. The work comes from the family of the collector and friend of Josef Lada. Assessed during consultations by prof. J. Zemina and PhDr. R. Michalová, Ph.D. The expertise of PhDr. P. Pečinková, CSc., is attached.