Actualization of the St-Wenceslas-Legend in the Era of the Jagiellonians. The Wall Paintings in the St Wenceslas Chapel of Prague’s St Vitus Cathedral under King Vladislav II
Abstract
The wall paintings in the St Wenceslas Chapel of Prague’s St Vitus Cathedral, a work of the first decade of the 16th century, are to be read from the view angle of the time of creation. The portait of the ruling king Vladislav II Jagiellon and his French spouse which is inserted into the life story of the most important Bohemian patron, is the way out of the iconographic interpretation of the ensemble of c. thirty pictures.
St Wenceslas, the Bohemian ruler in the 10th century, is instrumental as a symbol of the undivided church and society, he is as well a phenomenon with which is to be reassumed to the glorious era of the emperor Charles IV who had cultivated the St Wenceslas tradition using it for his state political program. In this sense Vladislav illustrates with his relationship to the person of the holy duke Wenceslas his effort for the conciliation with the utraquism and the legitimization of his rule and furthermore his ambitions for the imperial throne.