Panel with a view of Hradčany and the Lesser Town

This view of Hradčany and the Lesser Town is one of the most popular subjects produced by the Castrucci workshop in Prague. Four variants of the view are known to exist – two in Vienna, one in Prague, and one in Munich. The Prague variant features a looser treatment of detail and proportions, a more complex structure of the coloured planes, and the suppression of large solid surfaces. The work may have been based on a print produced by Johann Willenberg in 1601 and the widely known view of Prague published by Aegidius Sadeler in 1606. As its authorship has not been substantiated, the panel can only be attributed to the Castrucci workshop. DK