Master of the Luxembourg Genealogy

[1] Although the Master of the Luxembourg Genealogy worked with a formula of basic types of figures, movement patterns, gestures and faces, his art is full of new inventions.

[5] Before 1360 he probably participated in the initial designs of the decoration of the Chapel of the Holy Cross at Karlštejn and is attributed with the drawings on the walls of the altar area and also the scene of the Adoration of the Twenty-four Elders in the western window niche.

[6] There is written evidence of the existence of the Luxembourg family tree by the Brabant chronicler and envoy Edmund de Dynter in 1445, who saw it during an audience with King Wenceslas IV, in the work Chronica nobilissimorum ducum Lotharingiae, Brabantiae ac regum francorum.

The two editions are almost identical and show a total of 56 figures and also the so-called "Relics Scenes" from the Chapel of the Virgin Mary at Karlštejn,[10] which are an important guide for art historians.

However, the artistically faithful likenesses of Charles IV and his counterparts in the relic scenes, which can be compared with the surviving murals, testify to the high degree of reliability and authenticity of the copies of the figures.

"[17] In the Heidelberg Codex, which has 56 depictions, including the so-called "Relic Scenes" from Karlštejn Chapel of St. Mary, the copyist may not have captured all the figures of the original Luxembourg family tree.

This was followed by the ancient heroes and gods Belus, Ninus, Saturnus, Jupiter, Dardanus, Herictonius, Ylus and Martomirus, and the Trojan king Priamus.

Charlemagne is followed by the first East Frankish king Ludowicus (Louis II of Germany) and the founder of the West Frankish Empire, Carolus Calvus (Charles the Bald), then Ludowicus Balbus (Louis the Pious), Gerberga and Lambertus the Bearded (cum barba), Gottfried, and the founder of the Ottonian dynasty Heinricus (Henry the Fowler) with his wife Mathilde (Matilda of Ringelheim).

Charles IV was apparently influenced by his great-uncle, Archbishop of Trier and Elector Baldwin of Luxembourg, who similarly documented the claim to the imperial crown for his brother Henry VII.

[23] After his return from his Roman coronation tour, Charles IV also had the great hall of Prague Castle decorated with a gallery of panel paintings featuring figures of the rulers of the four well-known medieval monarchies and the emperors of Rome and Constantinople.