The Hussite King Jiří of Poděbrady (1923), No. 13 in the Mucha Foundation’s individual Slav Epic catalogue.
Buy Art Prints Nowfrom Amazon
* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Page Created on / Page Updated on
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
The Hussite King Jiří of Poděbrady by Alphonse Mucha: A Broken Audience
A bright window floods a crowded chamber. At one side, a red-clad visitor faces the court; at the other, a king has risen so suddenly that his chair falls behind him. Officials and attendants watch across a table, while a child and books occupy the foreground. Alphonse Mucha's The Hussite King Jiří of Poděbrady turns an argument over religious authority into a room full of reactions. The Mucha Foundation identifies it as No. 13 in the Slav Epic, painted in 1923, and sets the encounter in 1462.[1]
The dispute concerns the Basel Compacts, an agreement connected to the position of the Utraquist Church in Bohemia. Pope Pius II refused to continue recognising it, and his demand was brought to King Jiří's court.[1][2] Mucha does not show a battle. He shows a political break taking shape through posture, distance and a small book closing at the edge of the scene.
At a Glance
- ArtistAlphonse Mucha
- CycleThe Slav Epic, No. 13 of 20[1]
- Foundation titleThe Hussite King Jiří of Podĕbrady. Treaties Are To be Respected (1462)[1]
- Painting date1923[1][3]
- Mediumegg tempera on canvas[1]
- Dimensions405 × 480 cm, for the finished canvas[1]
- Depicted subjectKing Jiří's 1462 confrontation with a papal representative over the Basel Compacts[1][2]
The thirteenth Epic canvas in Mucha’s career
Contents
- Why the agreement mattered
- A king rises from his chair
- What Pius II remembered of the assemblies
- The red visitor and the watching court
- The book marked Roma
- A dispute that travelled beyond Prague
- Painted in 1923
- Looking again
Why the agreement mattered
King Jiří of Poděbrady ruled Bohemia from 1458 to 1471. The Foundation explains that the Basel Compacts had recognised beliefs and practices of the Utraquist Church after the earlier Hussite conflicts.[1] When Jiří sought papal confirmation of Bohemia's religious position, Pius II refused to recognise the agreement and pressed the king to bring the kingdom under Rome's direction.[1][2]
The journey to Rome makes the court scene more specific. The Old Czech Annals name five members of the delegation sent in January 1462: Zdeněk Kostka, Jan Malovec, the royal chancellor Prokop of Rabštejn, Václav Vrbenský and Václav Koranda. They were to seek confirmation both of the Compacts and of the elected archbishop Jan Rokycana.[10] A Czech introduction to Pius II's own memoir identifies Rabštejn as Catholic and the other principal spokesmen as Utraquists.[9] The king was therefore trying to negotiate through a delegation that crossed the very confessional division at issue. Its failure affected more than a single court faction.
Pius's memoir supplies the Roman side of the encounter, although its language is openly hostile to the Bohemian request. It records the ambassadors asking Rome to confirm their agreement with the Council of Basel and presents the pope's refusal as a defence of church authority.[9] Read alongside the Bohemian annals, this is evidence of two incompatible interpretations of the same diplomatic mission, rather than a neutral record of what all parties believed. Pius also says the envoys asked for Fantino to accompany them back to Bohemia; the Czech editor questions that explanation. The reason for his appointment remains less certain than the fact that he carried the papal answer.[9]
The timing needs care. Prague City Gallery says the envoys returned to Prague with Fantinus de Valle on 3 April 1462, then describes the audience at the king's court in the Old Town.[2] Italian historian Paolo Cherubini, using a dated payment in Rome's state archives, says Fantino was paid for the journey on 2 April, reached Prague only in mid-May, and was received by the king on 13 August.[5] The Gallery's April return cannot describe Fantino's arrival if that archival chronology is right. The painting reconstructs the confrontation, not a dated document; this article follows Cherubini's more specific evidence for the envoy's journey and audience.
The Old Czech Annals put the Bohemian delegation's return after 18 April and say a diet was convened in Prague for 10 August. They place the announcement of Pius's refusal and Fantino's speech before that assembly.[10] Those dates help bridge the Roman mission and the August confrontation, but the day the diet was called is not necessarily the day Fantino spoke. Cherubini's 13 August audience date remains the more precise date for his reception by the king.[5] The different records also show why an April return for the royal ambassadors should not be confused with an April arrival by the papal envoy.
The papal decision had already been made before Fantino's meeting. A Czech scholarly account explains that Jiří's delegation sought confirmation of the Compacts in Rome; after negotiations, Pius II declared them invalid and treated the settlement as a concession made to one earlier generation.[6] That helps explain why the scene is charged. The visitors were bringing a decision about the kingdom's religious order into a court whose ruler did not accept that the agreement could simply be set aside.
The Foundation's subtitle, “Treaties Are To be Respected,” tells readers how Mucha frames the disagreement.[1] It places weight on a prior settlement and on Jiří's refusal to abandon it. A treaty can be a legal text, a political promise and a symbol of collective memory at once. Mucha makes that abstract problem visible as one group confronts another before a watching court.
A king rises from his chair
Jiří stands at the right, set higher than many of the people before him. The Foundation and Gallery both read the tipped chair as the result of his sudden, forceful response.[1][2] His outstretched body gives movement to an otherwise formal audience. A viewer can trace the exchange from the red visitor, across the table, toward the king's raised position.
The Gallery recounts a fierce verbal reply from Jiří.[2] The Old Czech Annals also attribute an extended answer to him: he would not exchange his faith for a more advantageous kingdom, and he spoke for his wife and children as well as himself.[10] This is a partisan chronicle's report of a speech, not a stenographic transcript. We cannot hear it in the painting. Mucha conveys the reply through action: the fallen chair, the king's posture and the faces turned toward him. The room seems to have been interrupted in the middle of court procedure.
In the annals, the king calls in representatives from Bohemia and Moravia, the Six Cities, two bishops, nobles and towns. The queen stands at his right and his sons at his left.[10] That written arrangement conveys how broadly the reply was meant to be witnessed, even though it cannot be used on its own to identify every figure Mucha painted. The canvas similarly widens a dispute between envoy and monarch into a public test of allegiance. Its many observers matter because a papal refusal had consequences throughout the kingdom, not only for the person who delivered it.
In After the Battle of Vítkov Hill, a commander stands apart after fighting. Here, a ruler takes a public stand inside a political assembly. Both paintings concern the long consequences of the Hussite movement, with this canvas shifting the conflict from arms to authority over a religious settlement.[1][2]
What Pius II remembered of the assemblies
The pope's Commentarii gives a second, sharply partisan narrative of the Prague meetings. In its account, Jiří first gathered Utraquist and Catholic representatives to hear the returning Bohemian envoys report on their Roman mission. He then defended the Compacts before asking each religious group whether it would support him if the kingdom faced war over them.[11] This is the king's declaration as retold by his opponent, not a recording of his exact words. The passage is nevertheless useful because it makes visible a political question behind Mucha's raised chair: could the ruler call on both confessions to defend a settlement that only one embraced?
Pius describes a confident Utraquist answer through Zdeněk Kostka, one of the envoys, but gives the Catholics a more qualified reply through Zdeněk of Šternberk. They would retain their attachment to Rome and had not agreed to the Compacts, although they would not willingly abandon king and kingdom where conscience and justice allowed support.[11] That distinction complicates the Gallery's impression of a single proud court. A crowd could witness Jiří's stand without sharing his reading of the agreement. Mucha's dramatic focus makes the king's position legible while leaving the different responses of Catholic and Utraquist nobles harder to see.
In Pius's sequence, Fantino addressed a subsequent assembly, after the king had heard the Bohemian envoys. The papal account says Fantino asked to speak and return safely as an envoy; it then has him defend papal authority, challenge Jiří's interpretation of his coronation oath and argue that the Compacts' concession had been forfeited.[11] Its rhetoric also portrays Fantino as courageous and the king as threatening. Those judgments served Pius's case. Set beside the Old Czech Annals, which preserve a pro-Utraquist royal reply, the memoir shows competing efforts to make the confrontation morally decisive. Neither text confirms that Mucha drew a specific gesture from its wording.
The accounts disagree even about the calendar. The Danish edition of Pius's book heads the first assembly 9 August and describes Fantino's appearance next; Cherubini places his reception by the king on 13 August, while Boublík dates the Diet's opening to 12 August.[5][6][11] They may describe different stages of proceedings, but the sources here do not establish one continuous, precisely timed meeting. Mucha's single room can therefore be read as a condensation of report, declaration and confrontation. The boy closing Roma gives that sequence a visual full stop that the historical record does not supply.
The red visitor and the watching court
The Foundation calls the red-clad figure Cardinal Fantin; the Gallery describes Fantinus de Valle as a returning Bohemian emissary and papal representative.[1][2] Cherubini identifies him as a canon of Zara in an April 1462 payment record and says he became a bishop only in 1463.[5] The “cardinal” title is therefore unsupported by this biographical evidence. Here he is a papal envoy. He had previously served as Jiří's own representative in Rome, which made the confrontation more personal than a meeting with a stranger.[5]
Cherubini's account says the king rebuked Fantino for failing in his former duty as royal procurator and then had him imprisoned for roughly three months.[5] The Old Czech Annals say he was arrested a day or two after the speech and held at Poděbrady for several weeks.[10] Prague City Gallery likewise reports imprisonment after the audience.[2] The sources agree on the arrest but differ over its duration; the article cannot turn “weeks” and “three months” into one certain term. Nor can the outcome be read from the red garment alone. It does, however, show that the figure across from Jiří stood at the centre of a relationship that had crossed from royal service into papal service.
The annals also say the king arrested his chancellor Rabštejn, suspecting that he had departed from his instructions during the Rome mission, then restored him to office. They describe Fantino's release and escort towards Regensburg after intercession by Duke Ludwig of Bavaria and other princes.[10] Cherubini likewise links Fantino's release to pressure from European rulers.[5] This aftermath complicates the apparent simplicity of Mucha's scene. Even within the king's own delegation, a Catholic chancellor could become suspect; beyond Bohemia, other rulers pressed for the papal envoy's freedom. The argument in the chamber did not remain within its walls.
The Gallery identifies several figures in the crowd, including Jan Rokycana, a lord of Rožmberk and the king's adviser Jan Paleček.[2] It reads their expressions as a mixture of shock and pride. Those named figures make the room a political assembly as well as a royal audience. Jan Boublík's Czech study describes the Old Town Diet convened in August 1462 as including both Utraquists and Catholics, Queen Johana and Jiří's sons.[6] It reports Utraquist support for the king but a Catholic noble's reluctance to break with the papal court. Mucha's court is visually united by a single dramatic exchange; the historical assembly contained divisions that the painting's decisive gesture cannot settle.
Mucha's large luminous window does more than decorate the room. It makes the assembly look exposed, almost staged before public judgment. The officials are not hidden in a private negotiation; they form a visible audience for a break in authority. The grandeur of the architecture contrasts with the disorder of the overturned chair.
The book marked Roma
Near the lower right, the Gallery identifies a boy closing a book whose cover reads “Roma.” It interprets the gesture as Mucha's sign that negotiations with Rome have ended.[2] The Foundation also notes the closing book and its symbolic meaning.[1] The word is too small to read securely in the inherited reproduction, so that identification rests on the institutional accounts.
This small action balances the king's large one. A toppled chair makes rupture immediate and physical; a closed book makes it procedural and final. Yet the painting does not prove that every relationship between Bohemia and Rome ended at this instant. It dramatizes a particular failure of agreement and Mucha's chosen meaning for it.
The title's appeal to respecting treaties is also an argument. It tells us where Mucha places moral weight, not that every participant in the historical dispute would have understood the Compacts in the same way. The canvas is most revealing when seen as an interpretation of a contested decision rather than an impartial courtroom diagram.[1][2]
A dispute that travelled beyond Prague
The rupture was not confined to a debate between court and curia. Jiří Jurok's study of the king's diplomatic missions identifies 31 March 1462 as the date when Pius cancelled the Compacts. It also places Jiří's meeting with King Casimir IV of Poland at Głogów in May, before the August Prague audience. Their 27 May agreement pledged friendship and mutual help, especially against Ottoman attack, while excepting the pope.[7] These dates show that the king was already managing alliances across borders as the religious dispute sharpened. They do not make the Głogów agreement an illustration hidden inside Mucha's chamber.
Jurok also traces the later peace-league proposal associated with Jiří and his adviser Antonio Marini. The plan developed through several missions rather than springing from a single indignant royal reply.[7] Mucha's canvas captures the force of a refusal; diplomacy required a longer series of messages, councils and negotiations. The contrast helps explain why the artist chose an indoor confrontation for this part of the Slav Epic: one broken audience can stand for a political turn, even though the practical response was dispersed across many courts.
An archival description in Thuringia records a later 1463–67 document in which Jiří explained to Duke Wilhelm of Saxony his reasons for Fantino's arrest and addressed the papal proceedings against him.[12] The record establishes that the king's own defence of the arrest circulated beyond Bohemia; the catalogue description does not disclose its full argument, so it cannot settle whether the imprisonment was justified. It also shows the limits of the painting's closing-book symbol. However final the gesture appears, both sides continued to argue their case in writing after the audience.
Painted in 1923
Mucha completed the canvas in 1923. The Foundation's timeline groups it with two other Slav Epic paintings presented to Prague that year.[3] Its more than four-metre height makes the confrontation monumental, even though the subject is an indoor exchange over the terms of an agreement.[1]
Jiří's reign extended well beyond this episode. After 1462, he pursued diplomatic alliances and a proposed league of Christian rulers. Jurok's study places negotiations in France in 1464, and a later Council of Europe speech recalls his peace proposal.[7][8] These later efforts help explain why the king remains prominent in European historical memory. They belong after the confrontation shown here; Mucha's canvas focuses on an audience over the Compacts, not the drafting of a peace league.
The historical dispute was also less cleanly divided than Mucha's staging. Boublík's account notes that Jiří's coronation oath was read differently by Rome and by the king: the pope counted Utraquists among the people to be suppressed, while Jiří did not.[6] The title's “treaties” therefore names a genuine conflict over obligations and interpretation. The king's refusal had support, but it also placed Catholic allies under growing pressure. Mucha gives the audience a moment of moral clarity; the history that followed remained politically unsettled.
Looking again
Follow the gaze from the red envoy toward the king, then down to the boy and the closed book. The painting moves from a demand, to a public response, to a compact sign of broken negotiation. The surrounding officials make the room feel full of witnesses to a decision that will travel beyond it.[1][2]
The Hussite King Jiří of Poděbrady gives Mucha's Slav Epic a scene of resistance without weapons. Its dramatic chair and quiet book translate a dispute over authority into gestures anyone can see. The room is crowded, but the central choice is clear in Mucha's telling: whether a ruler will yield a religious settlement or insist that it be honoured.[1][2]
Watch: Alphonse Mucha
Place Mucha’s Czech and Slavic projects beside his better known Paris work.
Prague’s Art Nouveau, Mucha, and the Slav Epic
A short view of Mucha’s Prague legacy and the Slav Epic cycle.
Watch on YouTubeArtworks directory
| Name | Date | Medium |
|---|---|---|
| 'Accept Love and Enthusiasm from Your Son, Mother of the Holy Nation': study for the mural 'By Own Strength III' at the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pencil and charcoal on canvas |
| 'By force towards freedom, with love towards unity!': study for the mural 'By Own Strength II' at the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pencil and charcoal on canvas |
| 'The Passing Wind Takes Youth Away': design for a fan and the façade of the 'Pavilion of Man' (unrealised) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| 'Through humiliated and tortured, you will live again, my country!': study for the mural 'By Own Strength II' at the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pencil and charcoal on canvas |
| 1918-1928: Poster for the 10th Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Czechoslovakia | 1928 | Colour lithograph |
| 6th Sokol Festival | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| 8th Sokol Festival | 1925 | Colour lithograph |
| After the Battle of Grunwald | 1924 | egg tempera on canvas |
| After the Battle of Vitkov Hill | 1923 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Age of Love | 1936–1938 | |
| Age of Reason | 1936–1938 | |
| Age of Wisdom | 1936–1938 | |
| Amants | 1895 | Colour lithograph |
| Apotheosis of the Slavs | 1926 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| As Hamlet | 1899 | colour lithograph |
| Au Quartier Latin | 1898 | Magazine cover |
| Banknotes of Czechoslovakia, designed by Mucha: 500 crown; 50 Crown; 10 Crown | 1929 | Banknotes |
| Bieres de la Meuse | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Biscuits Champagne Lefevre Utile | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Biscuits Lefevre Utile | 1896 design for 1897 calendar; Foundation object/Carnavalet 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Blessed are the Pure in Heart | 1906 | Printed magazine illustration |
| Bleu Deschamps | 1903 (deposit) | Colour lithograph |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina Pavilion - illustration featured in 'Le Figaro Illustré' (1 March 1900) | 1900 | Reproduction from Le Figaro Illustré after watercolour original |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion: cartoon for the mural 'The Roman Period and the Arrival of the Slavs' | 1899-1900 | ink and crayon on paper |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion: fragment of the upper frieze featuring Ivo and Anica, characters from Bosnian legends | 1899-1900 | tempera and watercolour on canvas |
| Bosnian Legends: Death of Hasanaga's Bride | 1899 | Charcoal on paper |
| Bosnian Legends: Murcia - The Plague Lady | 1899 | Charcoal on paper |
| Bosnian Pavilion Restaurant at the Paris Exhibition 1900: design for the menu | 1900 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Boutique Fouquet (interior design) | 1901 | Shop interior design |
| Boutique Fouquet: sketches of the shop's signboard and decorative details | c.1900 | Pencil, ink and watercolour on paper |
| Box for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits: Gaufrettes Vanille | c.1900 | Tin box covered with lithographed label |
| Box for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits: Madère | c.1900 | Tin box covered with lithographed label |
| Brightness of the Day | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Broach with Pendant | 1900 | Gold, ivory, mother-of-pearl and semi-precious stones |
| Byzantine Head - The Blonde | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Byzantine Heads (pair) | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Byzantine Heads: Brunette | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Bénédictine | 1898 (BnF deposit); Hamburg 1899; MNAC 1896 or 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Champagne Ruinart | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Chocolat Ideal | before or in 1897 (catalogue conflict) | Colour lithograph |
| Chocolat Masson (1897 calendar) | 1896–1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Choirboys at Petrov Church, Brno | 1905 | Watercolour on cardboard |
| Cloches de Noel | 1900 | Illustrated book |
| Comedy: study for a mural for the German Theatre, New York | 1908 | Oil on canvas |
| Cours Mucha: poster advertising Mucha's art classes held at the Académie Colarossi, Paris | 1900 | colour lithograph |
| Creative Force - Jan z Pernštýna: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| Crucifixion | c.1868 | Pencil, crayon and watercolour on paper |
| Cycles Perfecta | 1897 or 1902 (catalogue conflict) | Colour lithograph |
| Dance | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Dead Couple - Abandoned | c.1899-1900 | Charcoal and pastel on blue paper |
| Defense of Sziget against the Turks by Nicholas Zrinsky | 1914 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Design for a champagne poster | c. 1896 | Charcoal and pastel on paper |
| Design for a display stand at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | c.1899-1900 | Pencil and wash on paper |
| Design for Champagne Ruinart | c. 1896 | Pencil, watercolour and gold leaf on paper |
| Design for the cover of the magazine 'Fantaz' | 1882 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| Design for the heading of the cover of the magazine 'Krokodil' | 1885 | Pen and ink on cardboard |
| Design for the poster for the Mucha Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, January-February 1921 | 1920 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Designs for cutlery | c.1900 | Charcoal and white on card |
| Designs for tableware | c.1900 | Charcoal, coloured pencil and white on card |
| Diadem for 'La princesse lointaine' | 1895 | metal and pearls |
| Diploma of Ivančice: Mock diploma honouring a local celebrity, with illustration of the first line of 'May', a poem by Karel Hynek Mácha | 1882 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: designs for a watch and accessories (unused) | 1901-1902 | Pencil, ink and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 25, featuring studies of lily | 1901-1902 | Pencil on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 43 | 1901-1902 | Pencil, ink and wash, heightened with white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 49 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 50 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 60 | 1901-1902 | Pencil, ink and wash, heightened with white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 63 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 67 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 71 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 72 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and wash, heightened with white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: line drawing for Plate 33, featuring lily motifs | 1901-1902 | Pencil, pen and ink on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: Plate 54 | 1902 | Lithograph |
| Dreaming of Freedom: study for a Panel of the Small Reception Room at the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Dusk | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Evening | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| F. Champenois (Rêverie imprint) | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| F. Guillot-Pelletier calendar (1898) | 1897–1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Feather | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Figures décoratives: final study for Plate 2 | 1904-1905 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Figures décoratives: final study for Plate 3 | 1904-1905 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Figures décoratives: final study for Plate14 | 1904-1905 | Pencil with white on paper |
| Figures décoratives: sketch study for Plate14 | 1904-1905 | Blue pencil on paper |
| Flirt Lefevre Utile | 1899 (Foundation design); BnF legal deposit 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Flower | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Flower: final study for decorative panel | 1897 | Pencil, ink and watercolour on paper |
| France Embraces Bohemia | 1918 | oil on canvas |
| Fruit | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Georges Fouquet (1858-1929), Paris, after design by Mucha: Ornamental Chain with pendants | 1900 | Gold, enamel, fresh-water pearls, mother of pearl and semi-precious stones |
| Georges Fouquet (1858-1929), Paris, after Mucha design: 'Peacock' Ring (Exhibited at the Paris Exhibition 1900) | 1900 | Opal and gold |
| Girl Weeping | c.1899-1900 | Black chalk and pastel on paper |
| Girl with Loose Hair and Tulips | 1920 | Oil on canvas |
| Gismonda | 1894 | Colour lithograph |
| Head of a Girl, statue for the stand of the Houbigant Perfumery at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | 1900 | Bronze, silver and parcel gilt |
| Head of Sarah Bernhardt: Study for 'Lorenzaccio' | 1896 | Pencil on paper |
| Heather from Coastal Cliffs | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| Heidsieck & Co | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Holy Mount Athos | 1926 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| Ilsée, Princesse de Tripoli | 1897 | Illustrated book |
| In the Desert: Study for an illustration for the Světozor magazine | 1889 | Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper |
| Incantation (Salammbô) | 1897 | Lithograph |
| Independence - Jiří z Poděbrad: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| Interior and furniture designs | c.1900 | Pencil on paper |
| Interior of Boutique Fouquet: design for a wall-mounted display cabinet with statuette and mirror | c.1900 | Pencil on paper |
| Interior of Boutique Fouquet: design for the fireplace with statuettes, mirror, and the ornamental details of the wall | c.1900 | Pencil and watercolour on cardboard |
| Interior of Boutique Fouquet: sketches of the fireplace with statue, mirror, display cabinet, and the ornamental details of the wall | c.1900 | Pencil, pen and ink on paper |
| Ivy | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Jan Milic of Kromeriz | 1916 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Jaroslava and Jiří, the Artist’s Children | 1918 | Oil on canvas |
| JOB poster | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Judgement of Paris (calendar for Vieillemard printing company) | 1895 | Colour lithograph |
| Justice - Master Jan Hus: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| L'Annee Qui Vient | 1897 | red chalk on paper |
| L'Illustration magazine - cover for Christmas 1896/1897 | 1896 | Magazine cover |
| L'Illustré Soleil du Dimanche | 1897 | Magazine cover |
| La Dame aux Camélias: designs for cover and interior of special programme | 1896 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| La Nature | 1899-1900 | Bronze and amethyst |
| La Plume | 1897 | Magazine cover |
| La Samaritaine | 1897 | colour lithograph |
| Lance Parfum Rodo | 1896; Albertina print c. 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Laurel | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Le Monde Illustré | 1900 | Magazine cover |
| Le Pater | 1899 | Illustrated book |
| Le Pater: early study for the 1st allegorical scene 'Our Father who art in Heaven' (1899) (Mucha Foundation object 300) | 1899 | Pencil on paper |
| Le Pater: early study for the 1st allegorical scene 'Our Father who art in Heaven' (1899) (Mucha Foundation object 302) | 1899 | Pastel on paper |
| Le Pater: study for the 6th allegorical scene 'Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors' | 1899 | Charcoal and ink wash on paper |
| Lefevre Utile | 1904 | Advertisement |
| Leslie Carter | 1908 | Colour lithograph |
| Letem Českým Světem | 1898 | Printed book |
| Lorenzaccio | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Luchon poster (attributed to Mucha) | 1895 | Colour lithograph |
| Madonna of the Lilies | 1905 | Tempera on canvas |
| Master Jan Hus Preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel | 1916 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Maude Adams | 1908 | Lithograph, hand-coloured in watercolour and gouache |
| Maude Adams as Joan of Arc | 1909 | Oil on canvas |
| Medea | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Menu for the Bosnian Pavilion Restaurant at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Militancy - Jan Žižka: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| Military Camp in Winter, near a City on Fire | c.1899-1900 | Pastel on paper |
| Moet et Chandon | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Monaco Monte Carlo | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Moon | 1902 | |
| Moravian Teachers' Choir | 1911 | Colour lithograph |
| Morning Alphonse Mucha Painting / AlphonseMucha.org | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Morning Star | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| Moët & Chandon White Star | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Mrs Mucha’s Necklace | 1906 | gold, enamel and semi-precious stones |
| Mural for the Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion: The Roman Period and the Arrival of the Slavs | 1900 | tempera and watercolour on canvas |
| Murals by Mucha in the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům (Municipal House), Prague (1910-1911) | ||
| Music | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Nativity | c. 1934 | oil on canvas |
| Nestle's Food for Infants | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Night | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Nude on a Rock | 1898-1899 | Bronze |
| Official Banquet of the Paris Exhibition 1900: design for the menu featuring a fashionable woman wearing a Mucha-style jewellery | 1900 | Pencil, gouache and wash on grey paper |
| Ornamental motifs designed for 'Combinaisons Ornementales se Multipliant à l'Infini à l'Aide du Miroir' (1901) | c.1900-1901 | Blue and red pencil on paper |
| Packaging for 'Savon Mucha Violette' | 1906 | Colour lithograph |
| Packaging for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits: Boudoir | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Page's Costume: study for an illustration for 'Le Costume au Théâtre' | 1890 | Pencil and watercolour on cardboard |
| Painting | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Peonies | 1897–1898 | Ink and watercolour |
| Petr Chelcicky at Vodnany | 1918 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Poetry | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Portrait of Jaroslava | c.1927-1935 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Josephine Crane Bradley as Slavia | 1908 | Oil and tempera on canvas |
| Portrait of Marie Chytilová (Maruška), Mucha's Future Wife | 1903 | pastel on paper |
| Portrait of Mucha's Sister, Angela | c.1880 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Mucha's Sister, Anna | c.1885 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Mucha's Son, Jiří | 1925 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Mucha's Wife, Maruška | 1908/17 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Woman | c. mid 1910s - 1925 | Blue pastel on grey paper |
| Poster for 'Hommage Respectueux de Nestlé' (the Nestlé Company's tribute to Queen Victoria's 60th Jubilee) | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'Imprimerie Cassan Fils' | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| JOB poster (1898) | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'La Dame aux Camélias' | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'La Tosca' | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'Regional Exhibition at Ivančice 1913' | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'The Slav Epic Exhibition, Brno, 1930' | 1928-1930 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'Waverley Cycles' | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for the 'Lottery of the Union of Southwestern Moravia' | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for the Austrian Pavilion at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Prague Subjugated: study for a Panel of the Small Reception Room at the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Primrose | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Primrose and Feather (paired image) | 1899 | Colour lithographs (paired image) |
| Princess Hyacinth (Princezna Hyacinta) | 1911 | Colour lithograph |
| Print proof for the Biscuits Lefèvre-Utile tin | 1899 | Lithograph |
| Reverie | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Russia Restituenda [Russia Must Recover] | 1922 | Colour lithograph |
| Salome | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Salon des Cent | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Salon of the Hundred | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Sarah Bernhardt - La Princesse Lointaine - Lefevre Utile | 1903 | Colour lithograph |
| Sarah Bernhardt as La Princesse Lointaine: poster for 'La Plume' magazine | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Sarah Bernhardt in the role of the Duc de Reichstadt in L’Aiglon | 1900 | Pencil on paper |
| Sarah Bernhardt: study of her full-standing figure | c.1896 | Pen and ink on paper |
| Savonnerie de Bagnolet calendar | 1898 (calendar) | Printed advertising calendar |
| Self-portrait (1899) | 1899 | Oil on board |
| Self-portrait (1907) | 1907 | Blue and white crayon on blue Ingres paper |
| Self-portrait, sketching in his apartment, Paris | late 1880s | oil on canvas |
| Sketches of flowers for Documents décoratifs | c.1900-1901 | Pen and ink on paper |
| Slavia insurance poster | 1907 | Poster |
| Slavs in their Original Homeland | 1912 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| Snake Bracelet with a Ring | 1899 | Gold, enamel, opal, ruby and diamond |
| Société Populaire des Beaux Arts | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Song of Bohemia | 1918 | oil on canvas |
| St. Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the central panels, featuring SS Cyril and Methodius | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St. Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the central panels, featuring St. Ludmila | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St. Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the central panels, featuring St. Wenceslas (Duke of Bohemia) kneeling next to his Grandmother, St. Ludmila | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St.Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the bottom left panels | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St.Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the bottom right panels | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| Stained-glass Window designed by Mucha at St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague | Early 1930s | N/A |
| Study for 'The Age of Reason' | 1936-1938 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic cycle' No.19: The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia | 1913-1914 | Watercolour and gouache on paper |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.14: The Sacrifice at Szigetvár by Nikola Zrinski | c.1913-1914 | Photographed drawings stuck together, tinted with watercolour and gouache |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.17: The Holy Mount Athos (1926) | c.1925-26 | Charcoal heightened with white on cardboard |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.18: The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree | c.1925-1926 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.1: The Slavs in Their Original Homeland (1912) | c.1910-1912 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.2: The Celebration of Svantovít | c.1910-1912 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.7: Jan Milíč of Kroměříž | c.1915-1916 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.9: Master Jan Hus Preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel. The Magic of the Word: Truth Prevails (1412). | c.1915-1916 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Three Ages' triptych: Reason, Wisdom and Love [unfinished project] | 1936-1938 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for 'Woman in the Wilderness' (c. 1922-1923) (Mucha Foundation object 315) | c. 1922-1923 | oil on canvas |
| Study for 'Woman in the Wilderness' (c. 1922-1923) (Mucha Foundation object 316) | c. 1922-1923 | oil on canvas |
| Study for Savon Notre Dame | c. 1896 | pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for the poster 'Russia Restituenda [Russia Must Recover]' | 1922 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Study of a Male Nude | 1885-1887 | Oil on canvas |
| The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia | 1914 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Arts (series) | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Arts: study for 'Dance' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Arts: study for 'Music' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Arts: study for 'Painting' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Arts: study for 'Poetry' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Bohemian King Premysl Otakar II | 1924 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Bulgarian Tsar Simeon | 1923 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Burr McIntosh Monthly, 1907 | 1907 | Magazine cover |
| The Celebration of Svantovit | 1912 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Coronation of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dusan as East Roman Emperor | 1923 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Devil and Mr Twardowsky: study for an illustration for 'The Tale of Pan Twardowsky' (a variation of 'Faust') | c.1887-1888 | Charcoal on paper |
| The Flowers (series) | 1898 | Colour lithographs |
| The Flowers: Carnation | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Flowers: Iris | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Flowers: Lily | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Flowers: Rose | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Hussite King Jiri of Podebrady | 1923 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Introduction of the Slavonic Liturgy | 1912 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Last Days of Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius) in Naarden | 1918 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Light of Hope | 1933 | Oil on canvas |
| The Meeting at Krizky | 1916 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Months (January-June) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| The Months (July-December) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| The Moon and the Stars (four-panel montage) | 1902 | Colour lithographs (four-panel montage) |
| The Moon and the Stars (series) | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| The Moon and the Stars: study for 'The Evening Star' | 1902 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| The Moon and the Stars: study for 'The Pole Star' | 1902 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| The New York Daily News art supplement | 1904 | Printed art supplement |
| The Oath of Concord of the Slavs (unfinished) | 1939 | oil on canvas |
| The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree | 1926, unfinished | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Precious Stones (four-panel montage) | 1900 | Colour lithographs (four-panel montage) |
| The Precious Stones (series) | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Precious Stones: Amethyst | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Precious Stones: Emerald | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Precious Stones: Ruby | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Printing of the Bible of Kralice in Ivancice | 1914 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Seasons (series) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons (series) (1900) | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons (variation in screen format) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Autumn (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Autumn (1900) | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Spring | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Spring (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Summer | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Summer (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Winter | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Winter (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Slavonic Concord: study for the ceiling painting for the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| The Threat | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| The Times of the Day (series) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| The West End Review | 1897 (Foundation); 1898 promotional cover | Colour lithograph |
| Thistle from the Sands | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| Théâtre de la Renaissance: design for poster advertising Sarah Bernhardt's theatre | c.1895 | Pen and ink on paper |
| Tin for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits | 1899 | Circular tin with lid and handle; colour print on metal |
| Topaz | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Tragedy - study for a mural for the German theatre New York | 1908 | Oil and tempera on canvas |
| Trappistine Liquors | 1897 | colour lithograph |
| Wiener Chic | 1905 | Magazine cover |
| Woman in the Wilderness | 1923 | Oil on canvas |
| Woman masked in white head-scarf - study for the illustration of the Bosnia & Herzegovina Pavilion featured in 'Le Figaro Illustré' (1 March 1900) | 1899 | Pencil and wash heightened with white on paper |
| Woman with a Daisy - textile designed by Mucha | 1900 | Printed upholstery fabric |
| Zdenka Cerny | 1913 | Colour lithograph |
| Zodiac (La Plume calendar) | 1896–97 | Colour lithograph |
| Zodiac (textless decorative panel) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| ‘At the sight of the two storks the owl rose.’ Study for an illustration for Contes de Grand-mères | 1891 | Watercolour and gouache on paper |
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Mucha paint The Hussite King Jiří of Poděbrady?
What are the Basel Compacts?
Why is a boy closing a book?
Discussion
Mucha arranges a papal envoy and King Jiří across a crowded court chamber.
The overturned chair and closed book make a political break visible.
Reader Insights
Where does the bright window direct your attention?
How does the king’s fallen chair change the mood of the room?
What role do the watching figures play in the scene?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice about the envoy, the king and the book in the foreground.
References
- Mucha Foundation, “The Slav Epic cycle No. 13: The Hussite King Jiří of Podĕbrady,” object 224, finished-canvas identity, date, medium, dimensions and interpretation. View source.
- Prague City Gallery, “The Hussite King Jiří of Poděbrady,” illustrated story presented through Google Arts & Culture, based on the 2022 Moravský Krumlov exhibition catalogue. View source.
- Mucha Foundation, timeline, 1923 entry recording the canvas among three Slav Epic works presented to Prague. View source.
- Radio Prague International, “George of Podebrady,” interview with historian Miloslav Polívka on the king's reign and wider papal conflict. View source.
- Paolo Cherubini, “Della Valle, Fantino,” Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 37 (1989), documenting the 2 April travel payment, mid-May arrival, 13 August audience, prior royal service, rank and imprisonment. View source.
- Jan Boublík, “Měnové poměry doby poděbradské,” Sborník Národního muzea v Praze, series A, 60, nos. 1–2 (2006), historical introduction on the Compacts, coronation oath and August 1462 Diet, pp. 22–23. Read the National Museum PDF.
- Jiří Jurok, “Mírová a propagační poselstva krále Jiřího z Poděbrad v letech 1461–1467,” Historica Olomucensia 53 (2017), 47–86; Czech-language study of the 1462 papal decision, Głogów agreement and subsequent diplomacy. Read the university journal PDF.
- Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, 1990 address recalling Jiří's proposal to Louis XI for a peace league. View source.
- Pius II, Commentarii, book VII, chapter 15, Czech translation by Monika Navrátilová with introduction by Jiří Špička, published by iLiteratura; papal account of the 1462 Bohemian embassy and editorial discussion of its perspective. Read the translation and introduction.
- Ze Starých letopisů českých, edited by Jaroslav Porák and Jaroslav Kašpar (Prague, 1980), p. 188, digitised by AHISTO; Bohemian chronicle account of the embassy, August diet, royal reply and arrests. Read the edited chronicle.
- Pius II, Commentarii, book X, chapters 1–3, Danish translation hosted by Wikisource; papal account of the separate Prague assemblies, confessional replies, Fantino's speech and arrest. Its sequence and judgments are partisan, and its dating conflicts with other records. Read the translated primary text.
- Thuringian State Archives, Ernestine General Archive, Reg. B, file 1515, catalogue record for Jiří's 1463–67 explanation to Duke Wilhelm of Saxony concerning Fantino's arrest and the papal proceedings; description only, not a full text. View archive record.
