Daniela Kartáková

Life and work

She was born on 19 January 1965 in Turnov. Her mother, Věra Melicharová-Kartáková, is also a sculptor. After the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Žižkov, Prague, she studied from 1984 to 1990 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in Professor J. Hána's studio of monumental sculpture, completing her final year under Professor J. Hendrych. She lives partly in Prague and partly in Carrara, Italy, a centre of marble quarrying. She translated a bust of Johannes Brahms into Carrara marble from a model by the academic sculptor Milan Knobloch. She has exhibited in group and solo shows in the Czech Republic, Italy and elsewhere. On her own website she presents herself as a sculptor, medallist and restorer.

Coins and medals

Her best-known medallic works include a Salvador Dalí medal and the official set of commemorative medals for the visit of Benedict XVI; the trial strikes of the gold, silver and platinum medals were approved by Cardinal Miloslav Vlk during a visit to Česká mincovna in Jablonec nad Nisou. Česká mincovna lists her as the designer of medals in its Prague Astronomical Clock series, which takes up the signs of the zodiac from the clock's astronomical dial, as shown by the silver-plated proof medal Taurus; she also created a medal for Dvůr Králové Zoo.

From the work in the AUREA range

The AUREA range includes her silver medal The End of the Second Millennium of 2000 (Ag 999, 34 mm) in capsule and case with certificate, in proof finish. The medal was made for the turn of the millennium, for which mints issued numerous commemorative strikes in 2000.