PARLER, Peter

In the choir of Prague Cathedral, Peter Parler also introduced sculptured memorials to the living along with monuments to past leaders. His workshop produced a series of superb portrait busts that line the triforium of the choir. Here we find likenesses of the members of the imperial family, among them Anna von Schweidnitz, the third wife of Charles IV. Parler included among these busts his self-portrait, too.

The picture shows the head of Emperor Charles IV, on triforium of the apse of the Prague Cathedral.

Some of the decorative features of Prague Cathedral may well have originated with the Emperor. Charles IV undoubtedly saw the Cathedral as a personal monument. In a manner reminiscent of St Louis, he re-interred many of his Bohemian ancestors, creating a family mausoleum in the eastern chapels; and he went to great length to stock the church with plate, jewels and relics. He himself figured several times in the decoration, notably in a series of busts carved in the triforium of the choir. This gallery of personalities include Charles’ brothers, his heir Wenceslaw, three archbishops of Prague and two successive master-masons of the fabric. Thus the royal family and those immediately concerned with the building sorround the Emperor and his wife, who took the place of honour on the central axis of the building.

During the reign of Charles IV (king of Bohemia from 1346, emperor 1355–78) Prague was effectively a fixed capital of the German Empire. The foundation stone for the St. Vitus’s Cathedral was laid in 1344. The first architect was Mathieu d’Arras (1290-1352) who designed the ground plan for the choir and built part of the ambulatory and the radiating chapels. After his death the young Peter Parler (1330-1399) introduced truly modern architecture into the construction.

In the interior the elevation of the apse is based on that of Cologne Cathedral, but is of a simpler design, built on five (rather than seven) sides of a ten-sided polygon. The composition as a whole is dominated by vertical elements.

The picture shows the choir by Peter Parler.

View the ground plan of the choir, St. Vitus’s Cathedral, Prague.

Peter Parler was an architect and sculptor of high standing. He could dare to emphasize his work and position in a way hitherto unique in portrait history. When he, as the imperial and episcopal cathedral architect, placed a life-sized bust of himself in St Vitus Cathedral around 1380, he was the first artist who, in addition to providing us with a signature, coat of arms and inscription, also gave us an image of his personal appearance. The gaunt man in his mid-forties with thin hair and a trimmed, lank beard, dressed in a simple cloak with the hood thrown back, has visibly made a “portrait” of his appearance.

Parler incorporated his self-portrait into the select company of other neighbouring busts in the triforium over the ambulatory. They include the members of the imperial family, archbishops of Prague, building directors and master builders.

The workshop of Parler executed 21 bust portraits for the decoration of the Cathedral. One of them is a self-portrait, in fact, probably this is the oldest surviving self-portrait in art history.

The workshop of Parler executed 21 bust portraits for the decoration of the Cathedral. One of them is a self-portrait, in fact, probably this is the oldest surviving self-portrait in art history.

Peter Parler, the architect and sculptor was the leader of a large workshop in Prague. He designed the choir of the cathedral as a memorial mausoleum for Charles IV’s Bohemian ancestors, with stone effigies resting atop huge sarcophagi. Charles ordered six tombs to be set up in the polygonal choir. The new style of Parler’s sculpture is apparent in the impressive figure of Ottocar I, the thirteenth-century leader who established the hereditary line of the Bohemian dynasty.

Ottokar I (c. 1155-1230), King of Bohemia from 1198 to 1230, was the younger son of King Vladislav II.

Ottokar II (c. 1233-1278), called The Iron and Golden King, was the King of Bohemia from 1253 until 1278. He was the second son of King Wenceslaus I of the Pøemyslid dynasty, and through his mother, Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen, was related to the Hohenstaufen family, being a grandson of Philip of Swabia.