The Allegory of Dynastic Succession on the Façade of the Prague Belvedere (1538–1550)

The paper analyses a unique relief sculpture which decorates the Prague Belvedere built by Ferdinand I. It represents an old man on horseback passing the globe to a young man standing in front of him. The scene may be interpreted as the allegory of dynastic succession. The adjoining reliefs corroborate this hypothesis, on the left we find the coat of arms of the Bohemian Kingdom and on the right Andromeda liberated by Perseus, alter ego of Ferdinand I.

1. Bažant, J., 2003a. 'Emperor Ferdinand I, Boniface Wolmut and the Prague Castle'. Listy filologické 76, 32–52.

2. Bažant, J., 2003b. 'The Prague Belvedere, Emperor Ferdinand I and Jupiter'. Umění 51, 262–277.

3. Bažant, J., 2005. 'Le Belvédère Pragois de l'empereur Ferdinand Ier. Les aspects politiques du renouveau de « la maison antique » du 16ème siècle'. Eirene 41, 161–210.

4. Bažant, J., 2006. Pražský Belvedér a severská renesance [The Prague Belvedere and Northern Renaissance]. Praha: Academia.

5. Bažant, J., 2016. 'Perseus as Alter Ego of Ferdinand I'. Studia Hercynia 20, 2016, 127–150.

6. Bažant, J., Bažantová, N., 2014. Pražský Belvedér. První renesanční vila ve střední Evropě [The Prague Belvedere. The First Renaissance Villa in Central Europe]. Praha: Festinalentepress.cz.

7. Bonsignori, G., 1497. Ovidio Metamorphoseos vulgare. Venezia: Zoane Rosso Vercellese.

8. Buchholtz, F. B. von, 1968–1971. Geschichte der Regierung Ferdinand des Ersten. I–IX. Um ein Vorwort vermehrter Nachdruck der 1831–1838 bei Schaumburg und Co. in Wien erschienenen Ausgabe. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt.

9. Calvete de Estrella, J. Ch., 2001. El felicísimo viaje del muy alto y muy poderoso príncipe don Phelippe. Ed. P. Cuenca. Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Conmemoración de los Centenarios de Felipe II y Carlos V.

10. Carradice, I. A., Buttrey, T. V., 2007. The Roman Imperial Coinage. Volume II – Part 1. From AD 69 to AD 96: Vespasian to Domitian. 2nd fully rev. ed. London: Spink & Son.

11. Chlíbec, J., 2011. Italští sochaři v českých zemích v období renesance [Italian Sculptors in the Czech Lands in the Renaissance Period]. Praha: Artefactum.

12. Cox-Rearick, J., 1984. Dynasty and Destiny in Medici Art. Pontormo, Leo X, and the two Cosimos. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

13. Cunnally, J., 1999. Images of the Illustrious. The Numismatic Presence in the Renaissance. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

14. Díez Platas, F., 2015. 'Et per omnia saecula imagine vivam: The Completion of a Figurative Corpus for Ovid's Metamorphoses in the XVth and XVIth Century Book Illustrations'. In: P. Mack, J. North (eds.), The Afterlife of Ovid [= Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement 130]. London: Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 115–135.

15. Du Choul, G., 1556. Discours de la religion des anciens Romains. Lyon: Guillaume Rouille.

16. Erizzo, S., 1559. Discorso di m. Sebastiano Erizzo, sopra le medaglie antiche. Venezia: Nella Bottega Valgrisiana.

17. Erizzo, S., 1568. Discorso di m. Sebastiano Erizzo, sopra le medaglie de gli antichi. Nuovamente ristampato, corretto et ampliato. Vinegia: Appresso Giovanni Varisco & compagni.

18. Erizzo, S., c. 1585. Discorso di m. Sebastiano Erizzo Sopra le Medaglie de gli Antichi. Quarta editione. Vinegia: Appresso Gio. Varisco & Paganino Paganini.

19. Fairclough, H. R., Goold, G. P., 1999. Virgil, Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid, Books 1–6. With an English translation by H. R. Fairclough, revised by G. P. Goold. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

20. Fossi, G., 2004. Uffizi. Firenze: Giunti.

21. Geronimus, D., 2006. Piero do Cosimo. Visions Beautiful and Strange. New Haven: Yale University Press.

22. Hirschauer, G. A., Geronimus, D. (eds.), 2015. Piero di Cosimo. The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art.

23. Holzschuh-Hofer, R., 2014. 'Ikonologie der Hofburg'. In: H. Karner (ed.), Die Wiener Hofburg. 1521–1705. Baugeschichte, Funktion und Etablierung als Kaiserresidenz. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 530–548.

24. Kalina, P., Koťátko, J., 2011. Praha 1437–1611. Kapitoly o pozdně gotické a renesanční architektuře [Prague 1437–1611. Chapters on Late Gothic and Renaissance Architecture]. Praha: Libri.

25. Langdon, G., 2006. Medici Women. Portraits of Power, Love, and Betrayal. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

26. Ruscelli, G., 1584. Le imprese illustri. Venezia: F. Rampazetta.

27. Schauenburg, K., 1981. 'Andromeda I'. In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae I/1. Zürich / München: Artemis Verlag, 774–790.

28. Seipel, W. (ed.), 2003. Kaiser Ferdinand I. 1503–1564. Das Werden der Habsburgmonarchie. Eine Ausstellung des Kunsthistorischen Museums Wien, 15. April bis 31. August 2003. Milano: Skira.

29. Shearman, J., 1962. 'Pontormo and Andrea Del Sarto, 1513'. The Burlington Magazine 54, 478–483.

30. Vasari, G., 1568. Delle vite de' piu eccellenti pittori, scultori et architettori. Firenze: Giunti.

31. Vico, E., Zantani, A., 1548. Le imagini con tutti i riversi trovati et le vite de gli imperatori tratte dalle medaglie et dalle historie de gli antichi. Libro primo. Venezia: [s. n.].

32. Vico, E., 1554. Omnium Caesarum verissimae imagines. Venezia: Paolo Manuzio.

33. Walker-Oates, V., 2001. 'Representing the Perfect Prince. Pontormo's Alessandro de' Medici'. Comitatus. A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 32, 127–146.