Dalibor Lešovský

The Granting of a New Coat of Arms to Albert of Habsburg: An Unknown Drawing by Abraham Godyn

Several artists were invited to contribute to the decorative painting of Troja Palace, a building project initiated by Count Václav Vojtěch of Šternberk. The most significant commission — the decoration of the Habsburg Hall — was entrusted to the Flemish painter Abraham Godyn (1655/1656 — after 1724). Held in the collection of prints of the Musée du Louvre is a drawing whose composition and subject matter reveal a clear connection to the scene The Granting of a New Coat of Arms to Albert of Hapsburg depicted above the springing of the vault on the east wall of the palace’s main hall. There are only minor differences between the drawing and the wall painting. The drawing is unsigned. It authorship cannot be confirmed through stylistic analysis, since no other drawing by Godyn has yet been reliably identified. Moreover, the insufficient knowledge of the draftsmanship of painters within his circle prevents broader stylistic classification. Nevertheless, the drawing can be confidently attributed to Abraham Godyn. The subtle compositional and iconographic differences between the two works offer compelling evidence of a direct relationship between the preparatory design and the final outcome. The article places this newly discovered work — currently the only drawing associated with the name Abraham Godyn — within the broader context of his oeuvre. It focuses on the iconography of the work and addresses historical inaccuracies in the treatment of its subject matter. The source of these errors is also identified.

Author's email:

dalibor.lesovsky@ngprague.cz

DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.54759/ART-2025-0204

Full-text in the Digital Library of the Czech Academy of Sciences:
https://kramerius.lib.cas.cz/uuid/uuid:c40dd4ab-4681-4875-a43b-8920bf9e15c9_1

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