- Zustand: unused FDC
2020-05-13
Theme
a painting from the Prague Archbishopric collections. The painting made by Petr Brandl portrays Prague Archbishop Franz Ferdinand Count of Khünburg. He was officially appointed by the Emperor on 14 April 1710. He founded the Order of Celestines, the Order of the Sisters of St Elizabeth, and prepared and completed the beatification and canonisation process of John of Nepomuk.
By a papal bull of 30 April 1344, Pope Clement VI elevated the Prague bishopric, founded in 973, to archbishopric. The seat of the Archbishop of Prague is in the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert. The Prague Archdiocese is the oldest existing diocese in the Czech Republic and the metropolitan archdiocese of the Czech ecclesiastical province, which also includes the dioceses of České Budějovice, Hradec Králové, Litoměřice, and Plzeň. The Archbishop of Prague is also the primate, or the formal head of the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic.
Petr Brandl (24 October 1668 – 24 September 1735) was into a craftsman’s family. His father was a German-speaking tailor Michal Brandl, his mother Alžběta came from a Czech-speaking peasant family in Přestanice. After education at the Jesuit Grammar School at St. Nicholas Church in Prague’s Lesser Town, Brandl was apprenticed to painter Kristián Schröder. The early period of his work was deeply marked by the Baroque style of painting. Brandl’s composition was dynamic and elegant. As his art matured, he developed distinct features. Brandl’s paintings were often characterised by an almost spatial effect, achieved by strokes of a thick colour paste. He masterfully managed to work with light, and also used the chiaroscuro method. He focused mainly on the painting of religious themes although portraits were also significantly represented and he did not completely avoid profane motifs either. He painted mostly for large religious orders such as Benedictines, Cistercians, or Carmelites, and important noble families.