Boehm, Barbara Drake and Jiri Fajt (eds.), et al. Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437 (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.
Review by STAN PARCHIN
July 21, 2010
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| Bohemian. The Crucifixion (ca. 1340). Paint and gold on canvas, transferred from panel. 67 x 29.5 cm. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie. Photograph courtesy of Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY/Jörg Anders. |
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| Bohemian. Arm Reliquary (1300-25). Gilded silver and gems, mostly replaced by semiprecious stones and glass imitations. H. 54.6 cm. Metropolitan Chapter of Saint Vitus, Prague. Photograph by Jan Gloc. |
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| Attributed to Master Theodoric (14th Century). Saint Luke (1360-64). Paint and gold on panel. 115 x 94 cm. From the Holy Cross Chapel, Karlštejn Castle. National Institute of Monument Care, Prague. Photograph by Jan Diviš. |
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| Bohemian. Psalter of Wenclelas IV (detail: Author Portrait in a Letter P) (ca. 1395). Tempera and gold on parchment. 35 x 26 cm. Salzburg University Library. |
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| East Prussian (?). Horn of Sigismund (before 1408). Auroch's horn, gilded silver and enamel. L. 48.5 cm. Esztergom Cathedral Treasury. |
Some may find it unusual that Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437, the 384-page catalogue of a major special exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (September 20, 2005-January 3, 2006) and Prague Castle, the Czech Republic (February 16-May 21, 2006), begins in that fateful year. After all, 1347 was marked by the onset of the Black Death, the virulent plague that eliminated an estimated one-third of Europe's population in record time.
During the calamitous 14th and early 15th Centuries, Prague's vibrant artistic culture was influenced by that of Western Europe, due largely to politics and regional contacts. The catalogue's essays exceed the reader's expectations with in-depth knowledge of this relatively obscure yet magnificent period of Central European art and history. Prague: The Crown of Bohemia... describes 200 late medieval paintings, sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, examples of stained glass, textiles and other works.
Charles IV
The catalogue begins with an account of the early years of Charles IV (1316-1378). Born in Prague, Wenceslas (later confirmed as Charles) was reared at the court of France. Immersed in French culture, he was tutored by the future Pope Clement VI (r. 1342-1352), his luxurious palace located in Avignon. Charles and his father, John of Luxembourg (1296-1346), later traveled to northern Italy, where the adolescent prince engaged in combat and erected a castle near Lucca. Exposed to foreign influences, the 17-year-old Charles returned to Prague. Sometime after his arrival, elements of sculptural High Gothic art blended with French, Italian, German and Byzantine traditions, resulting in Bohemia's Beautiful Style.
The Crucifixion (ca. 1340) is perhaps one-half of a diptych (two-panel composition) executed during Charles' early adulthood. Its flat gold background is distinctly Byzantine. The rich colors and characters' arrangement around the Virgin Mary were probably inspired by the famous Maestà (Majesty) Altarpiece (1308-11) of Sienese painter Duccio di Buoninsegna (act. 1278-1318). A pair of thieves' broken bodies with their terribly twisted heads appears on each side of the crucified Christ. In the work's left foreground, a draped woman stares deliberately at the viewer. Numerous copies of the spiritually evocative image attest to the painting’s popularity in Prague.
Prague and Patronage
Charles succeeded his blind father as Bohemia's king in 1347. He was later elected Holy Roman Emperor and crowned in Rome in 1355. The new ruler sought to make cosmopolitan Prague the cultural rival of both Rome and Paris. He founded Central Europe's first university, rebuilt the royal Karlštejn Castle with golden towers and expanded Saint Vitus Cathedral. The interior walls of the castle’s Chapel of the Holy Cross were lined with semiprecious Bohemian jasper.
The king endowed the cathedral with sacred gem-encrusted reliquaries that stored the presumed remains of Christian saints. The Arm Reliquary (1300-25) from the Benedictine Convent of Saint George allegedly holds a piece of the holy man's right humerus bone, the fragment visible through the simulated lacing of the vessel's gleaming gilded vambrace or armor. Popular veneration of the saint's relic was so intense during Charles' reign that it was thought the ruler possessed a part of the dragon that George was believed to have slaughtered.
The upper sections of the chapel’s walls were adorned with 130 paintings of saints, revered clergymen and Christian monarchs (some of whom Charles IV associated with his family for the sake of dynastic prestige). One outstanding image from this collection is Saint Luke (1360-1364), attributed to Master Theodoric, the king's court painter. The Evangelist's half-length depiction, with a halo and open text against a gold background, is the only one from the chapel that directly engages the viewer. His penetrating gaze recently gave rise to the theory that the work is Theodoric's self-portrait. Hovering mystically above Luke's right shoulder is a miniature ox, the symbol traditionally associated with the saint. The bottom of the composition has a receptacle intended for a precious relic.
Wenceslas IV
The dissolute Wenceslas IV (1361-1419) did not fare as well as his father Charles IV in the role of Bohemia's ruler. He was crowned king at the age of two and elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1376 without papal approval. Despite turbulent circumstances, the Beautiful Style of art still flourished in his realm. While weathering political storms, Wenceslas continued to patronize painters, sculptors and manuscript illuminators.
A small group of ornately decorated books, including a Bible, a medieval romance and astrological treatises, reveal Wenceslas' intellectual interests. One remarkable example is the Psalter of Wenceslas IV (ca. 1395), an illuminated Book of Psalms. The colorful foliate design of the volume's frontispiece is accompanied in the title page's margins by devices (symbols) associated with Wenceslas, such as bath maids and love knots. Two hirsute wild men from medieval mythology are inexplicably attired in heraldic tournament armor. Each psalm's opening verse is written in Latin; the rest of the text appears in German. Wenceslas encouraged the vernacular's use in liturgical works, a practice his father disdained.
Sigismund
The catalogue concludes with art from the reign of Sigismund (1368-1437), Wenceslas IV's half-brother. He succeeded to the throne in 1419 following his sibling's death. Continued unrest in Bohemia forced Sigismund, crowned Hungary's king in 1386 because of a childhood betrothal, to maintain two courts outside of Prague. The elaborate Horn of Sigismund (before 1408), with its three griffin's feet and miniature figure of Saint George slaying the dragon on its tip, reflects the emperor's sumptuous lifestyle before his return to Prague in 1436.
The artistic and cultural legacies of Charles IV, Wenceslas IV and Sigismund are vividly described and illustrated in Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437. The region's outstanding late medieval works, eclipsed far too long by the accomplishments of Western European artists during the same period, are thoroughly treated in this authoritative volume, a masterpiece of modern scholarship.