The Master of the Trebon Altarpiece

The Master of the Trebon Altarpiece was a painter active in Prague in the fourteenth century and one of the most important gothic artists of the international style. He is named for his most famous work, a triptych depicting the death and resurrection of Christ, from an altar in a church in Trebon, a medieval town in the southern Czech Republic. Today, the masterpiece is in the collection of the National Gallery in Prague.

Because little is known about this artist, scholars have ascribed to the Master various pieces of art, speculating about their dates of origin, their chronology, and their artistic and ideological points of departure. Art historian Jan Royt's extensive scientific research into the Master of the Trebon Altarpiece attempts to definitively identify and contextualize this unknown artist's oeuvre.

Royt begins by outlining historical events in Bohemia during the last third of the fourteenth century, including the development of painting and religious atmosphere of the time. He then offers an artistic and iconographic analysis of works of the Master of the Trebon Altarpiece and his workshop and circle. The book closes with a detailed critical overview of art historians' views of the work of this medieval artist.

With more than eighty color reproductions and illustrations depicting the results of a restoration survey of the panel paintings by the Master of the Trebon Altarpiece, this book will be warmly received by scholars of art history as well as European art aficionados.

Jan Royt is head of the Institute of Christian Art History and vice-rector of Charles University, Prague. He is the author of Medieval Painting in Bohemia, also published by Karolinum Press, Charles University, Prague.