DOI issue:
Nr. 3-4
DOI article:Klípa, Jan: The Madonna of Vys̆s̆í Brod and the Madonna of Wrocław and their donors: =
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.35032#0295
285
JAN KLIPA
AGa'oaa/ GaHgry la Pragag
T7ta MaJonnat qf PyRf
anJ /Tta MatJortrta qf RToc7aw ^ng/ yTtg/r Donory
r ] ihe present article focuses on two panel paintings of Czech provenance, known to
be the two works from within the entire spectrum of Czech Gothic painting that
^ resemble each other to the greatest degree.' They demonstrate most visibly the ar-
tistic relations between the Czech lands and Silesia during the era of Luxembourg rule,
when the first of the paintings - the Madonna kept at the Cistercian monastery in Vyssi
Brod* * Ger.: Hohenfurth) - was most probably designated for an as-yet unspecified church
in Bohemia (ill. 1 ), while the other - the Madonna now housed in the National Museum in
Wroclaw (Ger.: Breslau)^ - was almost certainly created for the Cathedral in the same city
(ill. 2). From the beginnings of the academic history of art, both panels have enjoyed the
constant attention of researchers, as befits their significance. This situation has once more
considerably grown in relationship to a new and recently articulated perspective concerning
issues of early-15th-century painting in Bohemia, and particularly regarding questions of
chronology.^ Both works are related through a dense web of links, not only to other depic-
tions of the Virgin which constitute an essential part of the surviving body of work, but also
to the crucial circle connected with the work of the Master of the Rajhrad (Ger.: Raigem)
Altarpiece. The following article aims to present a number of insights and contribute to the
' Milena BARTLOVÂ, focü'vë o6ra.zy. (Jasie <7e.sÆové aiairsA/ 7400-7460, Praha 2001, p. 244.
* Tempera painting on linden, covered in canvas on both sides; the whole surface of the picture, with the exception of the
incarnate parts, was formerly covered with a repoussée sheet of precious metal (0asa?a). It's size, including original
painted frame is 98.5 x 76 cm. The angels on the upper part of the frame hold banners bearing inscriptions of Marian
antiphony: TVg/'aa * ceO * /etare / (9n/a * ^near * a!emrs'0 [portare] / TVsarevO * .s/'eat * [di]x[i]7. On the right vertical bar,
the donator is depicted holding a banner with the following invocation: Ora *pro [no]6A * X[ancta] [genitrix]. The
panel was restored by Vera Frömlova at the National Gallery in Prague in 1958. Currently hanging at the Cistercian
Monastery in Vyssi Brod, during the years 1951-1994 the picture was owned by the National Gallery in Prague.
^ Tempera painting on linden, covered in canvas on both sides. Size, including original painted frame: 94.5 x 74.5 cm.
Inscriptions in Gothic minuscule, on the banners held aloft by angels: 7?eg;'[na] * c[o]e/;' * 7e([ar]e * X//e/a;*[a] * /(9a;'a **
%ae[m] * a?era/st[i] "qortare ** a//e/a;'a * /7?esarex[i]t * s/[cu]7 * ć7mf a//[eluia] / Ora * qro aoOrs ** <7ea[s] *. John the
Baptist's banner reads: * ecce * agaas * <7e/, while the donor's banner bears the inscription: Miserere * wet * &as.
Wroclaw, Muzeum Narodowe, inv. no. X! 342. The picture derives from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Wro-
claw.
^ Milena BARTLOVA, Cam VeaOaOeraag <7es .sag /Aagerrer AOar.s aa<7 4;'e fa/gen /ar <70 COraaa/agie <4er Oa/ar;-
sc/:ea 7a/e/a!a/erei Jes 75. VaOrOaa&rts, "Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte" 65 (2002), pp. 145-79; BARTLOVÂ, fa-
cOvé obrazy, op. cit., passim.
JAN KLIPA
AGa'oaa/ GaHgry la Pragag
T7ta MaJonnat qf PyRf
anJ /Tta MatJortrta qf RToc7aw ^ng/ yTtg/r Donory
r ] ihe present article focuses on two panel paintings of Czech provenance, known to
be the two works from within the entire spectrum of Czech Gothic painting that
^ resemble each other to the greatest degree.' They demonstrate most visibly the ar-
tistic relations between the Czech lands and Silesia during the era of Luxembourg rule,
when the first of the paintings - the Madonna kept at the Cistercian monastery in Vyssi
Brod* * Ger.: Hohenfurth) - was most probably designated for an as-yet unspecified church
in Bohemia (ill. 1 ), while the other - the Madonna now housed in the National Museum in
Wroclaw (Ger.: Breslau)^ - was almost certainly created for the Cathedral in the same city
(ill. 2). From the beginnings of the academic history of art, both panels have enjoyed the
constant attention of researchers, as befits their significance. This situation has once more
considerably grown in relationship to a new and recently articulated perspective concerning
issues of early-15th-century painting in Bohemia, and particularly regarding questions of
chronology.^ Both works are related through a dense web of links, not only to other depic-
tions of the Virgin which constitute an essential part of the surviving body of work, but also
to the crucial circle connected with the work of the Master of the Rajhrad (Ger.: Raigem)
Altarpiece. The following article aims to present a number of insights and contribute to the
' Milena BARTLOVÂ, focü'vë o6ra.zy. (Jasie <7e.sÆové aiairsA/ 7400-7460, Praha 2001, p. 244.
* Tempera painting on linden, covered in canvas on both sides; the whole surface of the picture, with the exception of the
incarnate parts, was formerly covered with a repoussée sheet of precious metal (0asa?a). It's size, including original
painted frame is 98.5 x 76 cm. The angels on the upper part of the frame hold banners bearing inscriptions of Marian
antiphony: TVg/'aa * ceO * /etare / (9n/a * ^near * a!emrs'0 [portare] / TVsarevO * .s/'eat * [di]x[i]7. On the right vertical bar,
the donator is depicted holding a banner with the following invocation: Ora *pro [no]6A * X[ancta] [genitrix]. The
panel was restored by Vera Frömlova at the National Gallery in Prague in 1958. Currently hanging at the Cistercian
Monastery in Vyssi Brod, during the years 1951-1994 the picture was owned by the National Gallery in Prague.
^ Tempera painting on linden, covered in canvas on both sides. Size, including original painted frame: 94.5 x 74.5 cm.
Inscriptions in Gothic minuscule, on the banners held aloft by angels: 7?eg;'[na] * c[o]e/;' * 7e([ar]e * X//e/a;*[a] * /(9a;'a **
%ae[m] * a?era/st[i] "qortare ** a//e/a;'a * /7?esarex[i]t * s/[cu]7 * ć7mf a//[eluia] / Ora * qro aoOrs ** <7ea[s] *. John the
Baptist's banner reads: * ecce * agaas * <7e/, while the donor's banner bears the inscription: Miserere * wet * &as.
Wroclaw, Muzeum Narodowe, inv. no. X! 342. The picture derives from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Wro-
claw.
^ Milena BARTLOVA, Cam VeaOaOeraag <7es .sag /Aagerrer AOar.s aa<7 4;'e fa/gen /ar <70 COraaa/agie <4er Oa/ar;-
sc/:ea 7a/e/a!a/erei Jes 75. VaOrOaa&rts, "Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte" 65 (2002), pp. 145-79; BARTLOVÂ, fa-
cOvé obrazy, op. cit., passim.