Staletá Praha 40, 1/2024, 2-23 | DOI: 10.56112/sp.2024.1.01

Forgotten Paintings of the Adoration of Christ in Prague’s Hradčany

Marie Vymazalová

Katolická teologická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, Ústav dějin křesťanského umění, Thákurova 676/3, CZ-160 00 Praha 6-Dejvice

The text interprets the main altar canvas from the Church of the Nativity of our Lord in the early Baroque complex of Prague’s Loreta and the entire pilgrimage site through the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Based on the records of the Capuchin  Annals and other archival sources, it opens up the hitherto overlooked question of the origin of the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord, which was significantly and repeatedly rebuilt in the first half of the 18th century. Despite this, the original altar canvas has been used again and again, which shows the great local respect for this work or motif. The article also points out the relation of this motif with the text of the Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden (* 1303 – † 1373) and other literary sources, especially those associated with Franciscan spirituality, such as the work of Saint Lawrence of Brindisi (* 1559 – † 1619). Comparison of the altar canvas and its older version in the Prague Castle collections with a Lombard group of paintings on the same theme, interpreted as an atypical local representation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, and other described features, allow to assess that the Prague paintings, as well as the layout of the pilgrimage site itself, refer to this theological motif.

Keywords: Prague – Hradčany – Loreta – Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary – Franciscan Spirituality – Baroque painting – Baroque pilgrimage site – St. Bridget of Sweden – St. Lawrence of Brindisi

Grants and funding:

Text vznikl v rámci projektu Cooperatio na Katolické teologické fakultě Univerzity Karlovy.

Published: December 11, 2024