Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437

by Edited by Barbara Drake Boehm and Jirí Fajt

• ISBN13: 9780300111385
• ISBN10: 030011138X
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2005-10-24
• Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Summary

This beautiful book celebrates the remarkable flowering of art in Prague during the reigns of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and his two sons, Wenceslas IV and Sigismund. When crowned king of Bohemia in 1347, Charles vowed to make Prague the cultural rival of Paris and Rome. He rebuilt its castle and began a massive building campaign to glorify Saint Vitus's Cathedral. In the ensuing century, Prague became not only an imperial but also an intellectual and artistic capital. In essays and detailed entries on some 240 artworks drawn from American and European collections, an esteemed group of scholars traces the birth of a distinctly Bohemian art in Prague in the mid-fourteenth century and its diffusion throughout Europe over the next hundred years. Panel paintings, goldsmiths' work, sculpture, stained glass, and illuminated manuscripts bear witness to the wide-ranging achievements of the hundreds of artists who were active in Bohemian lands during this spectacular century. Not since they were created have these magnificent objects been accorded the attention that they deserve on an international stage.

Author Biography

BARBARA DRAKE BOEHM is Curator in the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. JIRÍ FAJT teaches at the Technical University in Berlin.

Table of Contents

Director's Foreword	p. vi
Acknowledgments	p. vii
Lenders to the Exhibition	p. x
Contributors to the Catalogue	p. xi
Maps and Genealogy	p. xiii
Charles IV: Toward a New Imperial Style	p. 3
Charles IV: The Realm of Faith	p. 23
The Circle of Charles IV	p. 35
The Example of Prague in Europe	p. 47
Prague as a New Capital	p. 59
Called to Create: Luxury Artists at Work in Prague	p. 75
The Artistic Culture of Prague Jewry	p. 83
Wenceslas IV	p. 91
The Beautiful Style	p. 105
The Hussite Revolution and Sacred Art	p. 113
Sigismund, the Last Luxembourg	p. 121
Catalogue	p. 131
Bibliography	p. 330
Index	p. 353
Photograph Credits	p. 366
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