The National Gallery in Prague. German, Austrian, French, Hungarian and Netherlandisch Sculpture (1200-1550). Illustrated Summary Catalogue
Abstrakt
The publication is a sequel to a series of inventory catalogues published by the Collection of Old Masters of the National Gallery in Prague. All preceeding five catalogues focus on painting; this is the first book to systematically elaborate on a collection of sculptures.
Most of these works originally adorned church interiors, and for the most part they are fragments of unpreserved retables or small objects and altarpieces that were meant for private devotion. Only a small selection of artefacts were created to adorn secular residences.
This book focuses on medieval western and central-European sculpture, leaving out works that originated in the historical territory of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown (i. e. Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Lusatias).
In accordance with this criterion we include works by the Master IP, whose carvings were brought to Bohemia soon after they were made. The sculptures by Master IP are therefore often included in outlines of and essays on Late Gothic art in Bohemia.
Yet, the extensive recent research shows that Master IP never worked on Bohemian or Moravian territory, as his workshop was in Passau. However, the criterion chosen for our book raises a number of problems, which traditionally occur in research on medieval art.
It is unclear which artworks should be considered as "local" and which as "foreign" due to the lack of primary written sources, and the mobility of both artists and the artworks. We can only speculate and raise questions to which, without primary sources, we are not going to find satisfactory answers.
Moreover, the results of our research are dependent on the way in which we approach individual artefacts and partly a reflection of the authors' subjective views. As Michaela Ottová remarks, it is impossible to define the degree of "differentness" necessary to regard an artwork as "foreign." This is particularly the case in border regions which were more open to cultural exchange and artistic transfer.