Kateřina Horníčková

The Roman Fisherman and Pašek of Vrát: On a Unique Czech Printed Broadsheet from the Early 16th Century

This study introduces a newly identified Czech printed broadsheet dating from 1525, surviving in only two copies, now preserved in Scottish and Dutch collections. Through an iconographic, historical and stylistic analysis, it interprets the print as an exceptional example of early Reformation visual polemic associated with Prague’s “Pašek coup” of 1525. An examination of its visual motifs and Czech inscriptions, and the identification of the figures depicted, namely, Jan Pašek of Vrát, Havel Cahera, and Zikmund Vaníčkovic, makes it possible to reconstruct the original confessional and political context in which the print was produced. It presents leading conservative Utraquists as traitors aligned with the papacy. The study also traces the transformation of the print’s meaning following its later use in German and Dutch Reformation contexts, where it was stripped of its original texts and reinterpreted as a general critique of the papacy. The second part of the article places the broadsheet within the broader context of Central European print production in the first third of the 16th century and demonstrates its close connections with the circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder and with pupils of Albrecht Dürer, especially Erhard Schön and Hans Sebald Beham. The article contributes to our understanding of the visual culture of the Bohemian Reformation, the transfer of Reformation prints between the Bohemian and German lands, and the role of visual communication in the religious conflicts of the early modern period.

Author's email:

katerina.hornickova@upol.cz

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54759/ART-2026-0205



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