Portals from the circle of Benedikt Ried II. The work of Ried's lodge at Prague Castle and its international context
Abstract
The book results from an in-depth research of the portals created by Benedikt Ried's lodge in the Old Royal Palace at Prague Castle based on documentation, archival data analysis and comparisons with both local and international portal architecture. The main focus of the book is the unique constellation of factors influencing the formal appearance of the portals that resulted from developing local architectural tradition and the integration of international stimuli.
The book contains architectural drawings of the documented portals. The comparison with the international context supports the hypothesis that the Italianate stimuli came from Buda (Hungary) via a stonecutter of Dalmatian origin who was temporarily active in Ried's lodge in Prague.
It would explain the formal components recognizable in Ried's lodge work that can be derived from the architecture of Rome, Urbino, Veneto and Dalmatia. The working group used them in a very effective way while developing local architectural tradition.