Madonna from Krumlov

A prototype for the painting from Krumlov was a gracious image of the crowned Madonna and Child, made famous particularly thanks to the Madonna from Roudnice, by the Master of the Třeboň altarpiece. The Madonna from Krumlov comes from the convent and monastery of the Poor Clares and Friars Minor in Český Krumlov, founded in the 14th century by the Rosenbergs, lords of the local demesne. The provenance of the work can be seen in the figures on the frame, for the vertical borders show important Franciscan saints, headed by the founders of the orders of the Franciscans and Poor Clares, St Francis of Assisi and St Clare of Assisi, respectively. A support for the dating of the work is provided by the presence of Bernardino of Siena, canonized in 1450. One of those who spread his cult was a renowned preacher Jan Kapistrán, who during his anti-Hussite mission also visited the monastery of Friars Minor in Český Krumlov (1451). The character of the underdrawing can lead to an assumption that a template was used, with the shapes subsequently corrected in the layers of paint. In details, the underdrawing thus comes considerably closer to the venerated Marian prototype. Even the figures of the frame had been underdrawn cursorily, later corrections in painting are apparent in the figure of St Francis, for example.