Annotation
Medieval art in Bohemia and Central Europe In the seminar, we will discuss selected problems of medieval art from the 10th century to the first half of the 16th century. We will focus our attention primarily on the specifics of the Central European situation in the period in question (the transmission of models through travelling workshops, the German colonisation of Central Europe, the connection of Central European dynasties to the Western European environment, the Hussite Reformation as the first European Reformation, the multi-ethnic environment of Central European cities, etc.). Artworks will be viewed from perspectives of all possible media (panel, book and wall painting, sculpture, architecture) and concerning their functional and social contexts (the liturgical role of artworks, the issue of commissioners and conceptors). The seminar will include occasional visits to Prague's medieval buildings or permanent exhibitions (National Gallery in Prague, The Prague City Museum). Participants are expected to participate in discussions, read selected secondary literature (articles), and present preparation work on their essays. Active participation in the seminar and a short essay on a selected topic. The main areas of discussion:
1. Import of artworks versus the first art workshops in Central Europe
2. Romanesque and Early Gothic styles - two modes or two competing principles?
3. Luxembourgs, Anjou and Habsburgs - transnational monarchies and art as a political argument
4. The Czech Reformation and its specific approach to art
5. Printing and the forms of late medieval art
6. Between the Gothic and the Renaissance - the "welsch" and the "deutsch" Selected literature: Xavier Barral i Altet, Pál Lővei, Vinni Lucherini, Imre Takács (eds.), The Art of Medieval Hungary, Rome 2018 Michael Baxandall, The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany, New Haven 1980 Taťána Petrasová, Rostislav Švácha (eds.), Art in the Czech Lands 800-2000, Prague 2017 Barbara Drake Boem, Jiří Fajt (eds.), Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437, New York 2005 Kateřina Horníčková, Michal Šroněk (eds.), From Hus to Luther. Visual Culture in the Bohemian Reformation (1380-1620), Turnhout 2016 Jiří Kuthan, Jan Royt, Charles IV: Emperor and King of Bohemia - Visionary and Founder, Prague 2018 Peter Parshall, Rainer Schoch (ed.), Origins of European Printmaking. Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Their Public, Washington 2005