Explore the Description and classification of this artwork.
Oil tempera on beech board measuring 115 x 94 cm. The frame with printed ornament contains an elliptical reliquary opening at the bottom. The painting has been preserved in its original form from around 1360 and was restored in 1991 (H. Kohlová).
Theodoric's painting is characterised by an extraordinary sophistication of pictorial expression and colour balance. The drapery is modelled in relief and uses incident light to illuminate the top layer, while the deep parts are highlighted with dark blue. The drapery itself consists of a motif of long vertical folds on the right forearm, short transverse lines around the upraised left hand with a book, and deep bowl-like folds in the center. The painter used azurite and lead white as the ground and the rarest pigment, ultramarine blue, as the top layer. The blue is balanced by white, ochre and red.
The head of St. Luke is modelled with knowledge of real physiognomy, and its expression is enlivened by the direct gaze of the eyes on the viewer. It is characterized by the typical features of Theodoric's style - the slightly larger-than-life size of the broad face, the grey incarnation and the rich beard. The veins on the hands are realistically depicted and the left hand holding the book is rendered in perspective. The painting, like other paintings by Theodoric, extends partly onto the frame. The painter thus disrupts the regular geometric order of the picture frames on the wall of the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which limited his creative freedom. This is also evident in the generous conception of the test sketches that have survived on the chapel wall, by which the painter verified the format and proportional relationships with respect to the dimensions of the wall.Luke's attribute, the winged bull, is painted with a great degree of realism in the upper left corner of the painting. The background of the painting consists of a plastic decorative ornament known as pastiglia, which originated in Italy and was almost exclusively used in Bohemia by Theodoric. The background was originally gilded, as some of Theodoric's paintings retain traces of gold or show damage caused by the removal of gilded ornaments. This happened at the beginning of the 15th century during the siege of Karlštejn by the Hussites, when it was necessary to pay the defenders' rents. The saint held a cross in his right hand, the outline of which and traces of its attachment have been preserved.
Theodoric's stocky and short stature, massive head with fleshy cheeks and protruding nose, and wide-open eyes with large pupils reveal a knowledge of human anatomy. The impression of material corporeality is also reinforced by the shallowly modelled and poorly articulated draperies, whose relief is created by muting local colour tones rather than deepening the intensity of the colours. The sharpness of the contours is replaced by greyscale transitions. The monumental construction of the picture, the generous and relaxed painterly presentation and the treatment of muted colours have no predecessors in European Gothic art and place Theodoric among the most important Gothic painters in Europe.
Theodoric Chapel of the Holy Cross pastiglia ochre ultramarine blue lead white St. Luke azurite Hussites perspective red Karlštejn Gothic art