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Panek, Jaroslav

Comenius: Teacher of Nations

ID# 003383

Available at Booksplendour - Cost: A$ 59.00
The book contains 95 pages of text with the basic facts about Comenius' life and selected Comeniological bibliography, plus 32 pages of colour illustrations.

Comparatively little is known in the 21st Century about Joan Amos Comenius, or Jan Amos Komensky (1592 - 1670), the Czech philosopher and educator. From young age a member of the Moravian Brotherhood (Moravian or Bohemian brethren trace their origin back of the Reformation to the time of John Huss 1370 -1415), he was sent by the order to study at the Heidelberg University.

Comenius returned to Bohemia, but he was still in his twenties when as a prominent figure of the Protestant movement he was forced into exile, after the Hapsburg dynasty ascended the throne of the Czech kings in 1620. Comenius spent some years in Poland and in Sweden, where he is hailed as the founder of this country's educational system. In the 1640s he was invited to come to England, but the Civil War prevented him from settling there, which was his originally intention. The short visit was nevertheless influential, as half a century after his death large passages from Comenius' writings have found their way into the constitution of the English Freemasons, compiled by Andersen around 1721. These have later inspired the founding fathers of the United States of America. Today, few Americans know how much this philosopher's work has influenced the draught of their nation's constitution.

Comenius eventually found a permanent home in Holland.

 Recently, a rather surprising discovery was made. According to one of the greatest experts on Rembrandt van Rijn, the Dutch professor of art history Ernst van de Wetering, the Rembrandt painting known for more than three centuries as “The Portrait of an Old Man”, for years in possession of the Medici family and since 1922 owned by the Gallery Uffizi at Florence, is almost certainly the portrait of Comenius. De Wetering’s hypothesis is based on the studies he made in the Dutch Library of Hermetic Sciences, as well as on the fact that both men had lived at the critical period, around 1660, in a close proximity to each other in Amsterdam. They also shared some acquaintances, such as Mr And Mrs Trip, who were Comenious’ sponsors, and whom Rembrandt also painted.