Roudnice Altarpiece

On the left wing is the Madonna Protectress with a crown on her head and an open blue protective cloak, under which groups of four supplicants kneel on each side.

In the foreground on the left is the Pope with a tiara, on the right the King with a crown in period dress (probably Wenceslaus IV) and behind them representatives of various estates.

They are characterised by a more expressive colouring and greater drama in their depiction of the state of mind and physical suffering that is typical of the next period of Gothic painting.

[11] In terms of style and time, it is closest to the so-called Capuchin cycle, the Ambras sketchbook with busts of saints and representatives of individual estates (1410-1412) or the drawing of St. John the Evangelist in Brno City Archive.

The stylization, disfigurement and flat layout of the figures, the solemn and ceremonial conception of the scene, the decorativeness and the abundant use of gilding and ornaments are related to the ecclesiastically representative function of the painting.

[12] The depiction of Christ in the scene of the Death of the Virgin Mary (Veraikon type) is characteristic of the Byzantinizing tendencies of Bohemian painting in the late period of the Beautiful style.

[13] The figure of the Virgin Mary with the clothed Child Jesus and the depiction of the cheeks recall the older style of painting from the circle of Master Theodoric.

An unusual element, which corresponds to the exacerbated religiosity of the pre-Hussite period, or is related to the plague epidemics (1414, 1439), is the double motif of intercession - the Madonna Protectress together with the Sorrowful Christ as the Protector on the altar wings.