The dissertation deals with the reception of Dutch realism in the late Gothic panel painting in Bohemia. Its aim is to examine the principles of reception of new artistic forms and ideas that originated in the Dutch art centers in the 15th century. The Czech painting of the 15th century was adopting these innovative trends exclusively from the neighbouring countries. Therefore, the work addresses mainly issues related to artistic exchanges between Bohemia and the surrounding - mostly German-speaking - regions. It looks into the specific ways in which artistic exchange took place - the mobility of artists, art imports, the importance of graphic and other models. The dissertation focuses on the most important examples that show the reception of Dutch realism: The Ark of Grand Master Puchner, The Křivoklát Altarpiece, and works associated with it. These matters are addressed mainly through a formal stylistic analysis and formal comparison. In the case of the Puchner Ark, via these methods, it has been possible to point out a possible artistic basis of the author in Swabia - within a circle of the followers of the Master of the Sterzing Altarpiece. The dissertation has tried to prove the artistic origin of the Master of the Litoměřice Altarpiece within the circle of the Ulm painter B. Zeitblom. These...

The Diploma thesis "Křivoklát Altarpiece" tries to process the monographical issues of a late gothic altarpiece retable. The altar has survived as a part of stylistically uniform area of Křivoklát's chapel. Author primarily studies this work of an outstanding quality in the context of the second half of the 15th century of the Central European artistic product. The work is compared with the artistic works of the same type. In addition to that the author tries to clarify iconographic issues of the altarpiece which are often mentioned in specialized literature. The Diploma thesis mainly focuses on the altar's sculpture decoration with the goal to clarify its stylistic origins and the time of its creation. Křivoklát Altarpiece represents one of the most important works coming out of Prague's Jagellonian court.

Many pieces of fine art are made of wood that has been treated with coatings. Since wood is a very hygroscopic material, the moisture content strongly influences the deformation of wooden parts. Coatings often act as moisture barriers. Therefore, the moisture permeability of coatings must be considered for the evaluation of the structural behaviour. The mechanical properties are also relevant to evaluate the deformation of thin artwork like panel paintings as well as the damage of paintings and varnishes. Therefore, the mechanical properties and the permeability of selected coatings used for cultural wooden artwork are investigated and presented in the article at hand. In this study, coatings of three artworks are investigated: a Lusatian cupboard from the eighteenth century, an altarpiece by L. Cranach the Elder and a Russian icon from 1912. The coatings considered are white ground, colours, varnishes, glue and textile reinforced sizing. Mechanical tests are conducted to evaluate the stiffness and tensile strength of the Russian icon’s coating. Cup tests are made to identify the moisture permeability of the coatings. This test was conducted for single coatings as well as for coating systems consisting of different coatings to investigate both the moisture barrier of single coatings and the interaction of coatings. Exponential functions for the relative humidity-dependent permeability are fitted based on the experimental data. The results allow the quantification of permeability for all investigated coatings—from white ground with a high permeability to beeswax with a low permeability—and the magnitude of moisture dependency of the coating’s permeability. Furthermore, it is shown that the simple addition of the water vapour resistance of single coatings underrates the resistance of a total coating system. By the mechanical tests, the strength, ultimate strain and Young’s modulus are obtained. The permeability and the mechanical parameters are required as input for numerical simulations of the structural behaviour of coated wooden artwork. These results are a good step forward to assess the risk of damage of coated wooden artwork.