Bohemian School

Bohemian School. Term applied to art produced in Bohemia in the second half of the 14th century during a period of cultural efflorescence associated with Charles IV (1316–78), who was King of Bohemia from 1346 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1355. His favourite residence was Prague, where he founded a university and drew to his court scholars and artists from all over Europe. Manuscripts were imported from France and Italy and inspired a local school of book illumination, but the main achievements of the Bohemian School were in panel painting and fresco. The artists who created these works are mainly anonymous and of uncertain nationality. They fused many influences and contributed to the formation of the International Gothic style. During the 1350s, in the work of the Master of Vyšší Brod, the flavour was strongly Italian; Sienese models in particular seem to have been used. Later, with the Master of Třeboň, who must have worked during the last two decades of the century, French elements became stronger. Under Charles's son Wenceslas, painting, and in particular illumination, still flourished, but the importance of Prague as an artistic centre declined early in the 15th century, when many works perished during the Hussite wars.