The Krumlov Collection around 1420
Facsimile, tempera, calfskin parchment
original (right) and facsimile (left)
Calligraphy in iron-ink, tempera, period pigments, calf parchment, around 1420, National Museum Prague
National Museum in Prague, Department of Manuscripts
A rich manuscript on parchment with 288 illuminations in the highest painting quality illustrating Czech religious and educational texts from the Hussite period.
The facsimile of a two-page parchment folio shows illustrations dealing with sin and mercy.
The admirable artistic level of the original is underscored by an unusually wide contemporary palette of pigments testifying to a painter’s workshop of great importance. The place of origin of the manuscript is not documented, the book was discovered in the 19th century in Český Krumlov.
The original and the facsimile are in the possession of the Manuscripts Department of the National Museum in Prague.