iNational Gallery Prague – Wallenstein Riding SchoolMalá Strana
Anna Jagiellon (1503–1547): Queen on the Threshold of a New Era
Marking 500 years since the Habsburgs' accession to the Bohemian throne, this show traces the life of Queen Anna Jagiellon through Renaissance portraits and works by Cranach, Dürer and Titian.
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Preview: written before the show opened
Among the more than 200 loans is King Ferdinand I's notebook, which the gallery calls rare. Ferdinand got his crown through his wife: when her brother Louis died fighting the Ottomans at Mohács in 1526, Anna Jagiellon's husband was elected King of Bohemia and Hungary. This show marks 500 years since then, and it is about her.
You hear Anna through her own letters, set against a life of constant duties, frequent travel and fifteen children. Around her are works made for the royal couple and their circle by Cranach, Dürer, Titian, Conrat Meit, Hans Maler and Jakob Seisenegger, lent by Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Berlin state museums and Wawel Castle. One section follows how Prague Castle, one of the couple's main seats, was transformed.
Guided tours in English run from 8 November to 14 March. A musicologist leads a tour of the music exhibits on 20 January, and a dress historian covers the portraits, clothes and jewellery on 17 February (320 CZK, booked through GoOut).
Editor's pick
King Ferdinand I's own notebook is among more than 200 loans, beside works by Cranach, Dürer and Titian made for the royal couple. Queen Anna's life, fifteen children included, comes through her own letters rather than a chronicler's.
Look for
King Ferdinand's notebook
Look for the rare notebook that belonged to Anna's husband, Ferdinand I, proof that sixteenth-century kings kept notebooks too.
Anna's letters
The queen's own correspondence is on show, so you read her private life in her words rather than a chronicler's.
Court clothes and jewellery
Royal and noble portraits hang beside actual garments, jewellery and accessories, showing German, Italian and Spanish court styles mixing in Anna's time.
Good for
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
With kids
On 13 March 2027 there are two 120-minute art workshops for children 6+ with an adult, 190 CZK per person over six, booked through GoOut.
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
9
- Anna Jagiellon (1503–1547): Queen on the Threshold of a New EraCourtesy of National Gallery Prague – Wallenstein Riding School
- Annette Messager: TragikomedieCourtesy of Kunsthalle Praha
- Crested/mâcistan: Tanya Lukin Linklater and Duane LinklaterCourtesy of Galerie Rudolfinum
- Radka Bodzewicz: FAUSTCourtesy of DOX Centre for Contemporary Art
- National Gallery Prague – Wallenstein Riding SchoolVitVit, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Franz Kafka MuseumDobroš, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Kunsthalle PrahaLukáš Masner / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Galerie RudolfinumMihael Grmek / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Lobkowicz PalaceErudy, via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain