Vyšší Brod (Hohenfurth) cycle

The pictures were either meant for a square altar retable[3] or else they decorated the choir partition of the church of the Cistercian Abbey in Vyšší Brod.

According to Hana Hlaváčková, the entire cycle could have been made for the coronation of Charles IV (1347) in St. Vitus Cathedral, which was unfinished at the time and the paintings could have covered the ongoing construction work.

[9] Although there could be a mutual exchange of motifs, materials and individual artists with manuscript illuminators, the workshop focused on panel paintings and murals operated independently.

The scene is accompanied by the customary symbols – a lily and Mary holding a veil (virginity), an open book (conception) and peacocks (immortality and eternity).

A notable secular feature of scene is that of the rich garment worn by the angel who comes across more like a courtier bringing the ruler’s insignia (an imperial orb).

The motif of the lily on a blue background that appears on the angel’s cloak originate in France and refers to the heraldry of the French rulers of the House of Valois.

The scene as a whole could be connected with the coronation of Charles IV and Blanche of Valois as King and Queen of Bohemia at Prague Castle on 2 September 1347.

It is not based in any literary sources and, in all likelihood, originated in the secular context of burgher society; we can also trace how it was received and reflected on in period ‘carols’ that, however, represent the foster father of Our Lord as a rather grotesque figure.

The motif of an old man kissing the hand of a small child, one that was rare outside France until then, is the expression of a spiritual bond with Christ and originates in the work Meditationes Vitae Christi that appeared in Bohemia during the reign of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

The main element of the composition is formed by the diagonal of the mount’s slope with jagged rock faces and blossoming spring vegetation.

Three accurately portrayed birds (a goldfinch, bullfinch and crested lark or hoopoe) evidently originate in English or French book painting.

The figures beneath the cross include St Longinus with a spear, Joseph of Arimathea, possibly also Nicodemus and the ‘good’ centurion leaning on his shield decorated with a human face (the ‘gorgoneion’).

The symbolism could be directly influenced by the courtly environment of Charles IV, who kept part of Mary’s bloodied robe and the tip of St Longinus’s spear as holy relics.

[19] Until the 14th century, the Lamentation was part of the scene of the Entombment and only appears separately in the Meditationes Vitae Christi and in Giotto’s fresco in the Scrovegni Chapel.

In the picture that, with the locating of the cross in the centre of the composition, refers back to the preceding Crucifixion, the strikingly independent Mary with Christ in her lap is an innovation made by the Master of the Vyšší Brod.

This picture combines two events – the Resurrection of Jesus and the Three Marys by the tomb – which follow on from each other and whose joint presentation was rare in earlier painting.

The twelve apostles, upon whom the Holy Spirit descended in the form of tongues as of fire, were endowed with the gift of mastering the languages of all nations so they could spread the gospel.

The motif of the apostle who is placing his finger to his mouth as a symbol of silence was adopted from Italian art, in which it represents an allegory of obedience or patience.

In terms of painting technique, the weakest work of the series is the Ascension which, however, also displays several highly developed features such as a greater individualisation of the faces.

Earlier works that could have inspired its painters include book illustrations (Jean Pucelle, Bolognese illuminators active in St Florian), murals (the choir of the cathedral in Cologne), panel painting (Meister der Rückseite des Verduner Altars) and sculpture (the Master of the Michle Madonna).

The iconographic conception that, in groups of works, depicts the most important moments in the life of Christ, is based in cycles by the leading painters of the Italian Trecento – Giotto and Duccio.

Italian influences manifest themselves especially in the painting technique, the retreat of the drawing-based approach and a greater plasticity of the figures, decorative patterns, the typology of the heads and the more highly developed depiction of the landscape and architecture.

The affinity between the painting of the Vyšší Brod Master and the artistic and spiritual climate of Venice, represented by his contemporary Paolo Veneziano, is especially striking.

Although few works of art survive from the reign of John of Luxembourg (1296-1346) (Passional of Abbess Kunigunde, 1312-1321, Kaufmann Crucifixion, after 1330),[28] it is clear that there was already an important centre in Prague where French and Italian painting influences were mixed.

[30] The altarpiece was probably made for St. Vitus Cathedral and the coronation of Charles IV,[8] rather than for Cistercian Abbey in Vyšší Brod.

The donor’s personal reason could have been to intercede for the salvation of the soul of his son, who died alongside John of Luxemburg at the Battle of Crécy.

[31] In 2014 it was returned as part of restitution to the Cistercian Abbey in Vyšší Brod and is now on long-term loan to the Prague National Gallery.