Artist: Aegidius Ii Sadeler
Date: 1615
Size: 65 x 76 cm
Technique: Oil On Panel
The Vladislav Hall in the Hradcany castle (Royal Palace) in Prague is one of the finest examples of the flamboyant Gothic style in central Europe. Built from 1484 for King Vladislav Jagiello (1456-1516) by Benedict Ried, it is 62 metres long, 9.5 metres wide and 13 metres high. From the sixteenth century it was used chiefly as a market place. The present picture was recognized as a copy after Aegidius Sadeler’s (c. 1570-1629) print of 16072 soon after it entered the museum. It is slightly larger, and some of the costumes, whose colours were invented, are inaccurate; one bystander is absent in the right middle-ground and the coats of arms in the cusps of the framing vault are barely discernible. The floor is rendered with coloured paving stones, whereas Sadeler specifies, in the inscription to the print, that it was made of wood. The copy was still claimed to be of circa 1607 in the 1976 museum catalogue. The support was ready for use from 1609 and more probably from 1615. But the date of execution could have been a good deal later. The inscription on the print gives details of the building and its original use as a seat of justice, archival repository, and dining and sleeping quarters. De Hoop Scheffer described the scene as the ‘annual fair’, but the inscription on the print makes clear that the hall was then in use as a regular market place: ‘… all types of booths or if you prefer shops, and permanently placed above are wooden structures which form a surround, the capacious space is extensive, suitable for both leisure and business’.3 Another derivation from Sadeler’s print, attributed to Bartholomeus van Bassen (c. 1590-1652), is in the Martin von Wagner Museum, Würzburg.4 Gregory Martin, 2022
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