The New Hall - Art of the High Gothic

The period around the middle of the 14th century saw the peak flowering of the High Gothic in the lands of the Czech Crown, and this is represented in the sculptural works in the exhibition at the Archdiocesan Museum. In the early 1490s the art in the Czech lands was dominated by the so-called ‘beautiful style’, which gradually spread throughout Central Europe. Sculptors created several types of renderings of the Virgin Mary, either with the infant Jesus on her lap or the dead Christ on her lap. The first type is called the ‘Madonna’, the second is the ‘Pieta’. A characteristic feature of the beautiful style is the sinuous bending of the figures richly dressed in garments falling in sophisticated folds. The expressions on the graceful faces are in accord with the age of spiritual tendencies, and are sparkling and melancholy.