The icon of Old Brno: a reconsideration

The article is focused on a panel painting of the Virgin Mary with Child kept in the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Old Brno. A review of all previous studies revealed a necessity to examine the panel from the perspective of Mediterranean icon painting. In view of the fact that contemporary sources relating to the origin of the panel do not exist, a thoroughgoing formal analysis remains the only instrument which could lead to a more probable time and place for its origin. From the formal point of view we can observe a fusion of the elements characteristic both for Eastern and Western icons. Therefore we can consider the Brno panel a result of the intersection of the two traditions and determine time and place when the intersection was not only possible, but in light of historical events, logical as well. We have found the closest analogous artistic features of works originating in Puglia in the second half of the 13th century. Puglia as one of the regions, steeped in Byzantine culture, could have given the icon its marked Eastern character, as well as permitting a broader dialogue with Western production. The analysis of this broader historical and geographical context explains the Brno panel's exceptionality in style and quality that ranks above production of Czech territory.