Virgin and Child / Vera Icon

This painting is also known as Cibulka’s Madonna, after its last owner, a teacher in Mezimostí. It is a unique mirror-image variation of the prototypical St. Vitus Madonna. It is unclear whether it was made in Prague during the short rule of Sigismund of Luxembourg or in what may have been an outer cultural centre in the Rožmberk (Rosenberg) dominion in South Bohemia. The reverse side does not feature the usual painted marble decoration but a high-quality painting of Christ’s true face - the Vera Icon. This painting also followed from an earlier panel preserved in the treasury of the Prague cathedral.