Jozef Božetech Klemens

Painter, sculptor, inventor and naturalist — a Renaissance figure of the Slovak National Revival. The son of a saddler from Liptovský Mikuláš, he entered the Prague Academy in 1837 on the recommendation of Gašpar Fejérpataky-Belopotocký, attending lectures in science and technology alongside his painting; in 1842 he opened Světloobrazárna, the second daguerreotype studio in Prague. For the Tatrín society he portrayed the leading Slovak patriots — Štúr, Sládkovič and Moyses.

From 1856 he taught drawing in Žilina and from 1863 natural sciences and drawing at the Catholic grammar school in Banská Bystrica; he designed the printing press Samotlač and the hot-air engine Žiaroruch, discovered a coal deposit and owned one of the largest mineral collections in Slovakia. Together with Bohúň he is the central figure of the artistic life of the Revival; his works are in the Slovak National Gallery and the National Gallery in Prague. He died in a Vienna hospital.