Jan Milíč z Kroměříže

Jan Milíč was a son of a master weaver from Kroměříž, so he came from the burgher class. Initially, he worked as a notary of the Bohemian chancery of King Charles IV in Prague. He later became the King’s vice-chancellor and a canon at St. Vitus Cathedral. Both of these posts were very profitable. However, Milíč soon learned that many high officials, both secular and clerical, lived immoral lives and their example was followed by burghers and the lower classes.
At that time, Charles IV invited German preacher Konrad Waldhauser from Vienna to Prague to point out the sins and vices of the Praguers. Under the influence of his teachings and according to the example set by Saint Francis of Assissi, Jan Milíč gave up his offices, lived voluntarily in poverty and influenced others by his words and by setting an example. He preached in Czech, Latin and German in churches and in the streets, agitating against pride, adultery and greed. As a result he was accused of heresy and had to defend himself before the Pope. In 1372 he achieved remarkable success. Many prostitutes of Prague, moved by his words, began to do penance. Milíč asked the King to give him the place in Prague’s Old Town where a brothel called Venice used to be and he purchased and was given several surrounding building sites where he founded a chapel and a monastic asylum for women, called New Jerusalem.

The background of the painting captures the remains of the brothel and an onlooking crowd. The left part shows the Gothic buildings in Prague’s Konviktská street. In the foreground, under the scaffolding at the building of the new asylum, Jan Milíč is speaking to women who, under the influence of his words, are taking off their jewellery and become penitent. The woman with her mouth tied represents a symbol of repentance, reformation and good deeds.