Vyšší Brod (Hohenfurth) cycle
By Master of Vyšší Brod / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Vyšší Brod (Hohenfurth) cycle, (also known as Hohenfurth altarpiece) ranks among the most important monuments of European Gothic painting.[1][2] It is made up of nine panel paintings depicting scenes from the Life of Christ, covering his childhood, Passion and resurrection. These paintings were made between 1345 and 1350 in the workshop of the Master of Vyšší Brod that was most probably based in Prague. The pictures were either meant for a square altar retable[3] or else they decorated the choir partition of the church of the Cistercian Abbey in Vyšší Brod.
The work was evidently commissioned by Petr I of Rosenberg, Supreme Chamberlain of the Bohemian Kingdom, who financed the abbey.[4] This series of paintings is a rare example of a complete Gothic altar retable (although there is not complete agreement on the fact that it was a retable, in other words a structure standing on the altar – there have also been theories that it could have been hung on the choir pews or rood screen. Having been returned to its former owner, the Cistercian Abbey in Vyšší Brod, it is being exhibited as a long-term loan in the permanent exhibition of the Collection of Medieval Art of the National Gallery in Prague. According to Hana Hlaváčková, the entire cycle could have been made for the coronation of Charles IV (1347) in St. Vitus Cathedral, which was unfinished at the time and the paintings could have covered the ongoing construction work. The author believes that the paintings were hung in a row between the choir and the nave behind the altar of the Holy Cross. This is evidenced by the damage from the candle flame, which the restorers found only on the central triptych.[5] There is no mention of the paintings in the documents of the monastery in Vyšší Brod, and there is no suitable place for the entire cycle in the church there.[6][7] Therefore, some researchers believe that the Hohenfurth cycle was moved there only secondarily.[8]