Session of the Supreme Court of 1723

The picture depicts with relatively great documentary accuracy the meeting of the larger provincial court in the Old House at Prague Castle on 15. October 1723. Regular autumn meeting of this supreme judicial body in Bohemia, held at the time from 2 to 15. October, it was extraordinary that he was again attended by the monarch after almost a century of disregard (the last time Ferdinand II was present in 1628). Charles VI. He chose to use his right and attended two-hour morning meetings of the court four days in his conclusion. He has been lying in Prague since 30. June and there was also 4. crowned king of Bohemia in September. The painter captured the final ceremonial moment of subtraction of the judgment (in a fairly common property case), when the highest burgrave sits at the feet of the monarch and the highest marshal stands behind his throne with his naked sword. The hall was filled with aristocratic spectators that day, including the Empress’s cousin with a consort on a raised podium on the far right. Judges from the manor state sat on the sides of the throne, and knights on the side benches. Writers and clerks were on the somewhat too high painted department. All of them sitting are identifiable by painted coats of arms, most of their heads carry portrait features. However, the picture is not just a reportage record of an important event. Cartouche with the Latin Nine and modified zodiac signs (the Lion with the Sun, the Virgin in the form of the goddess Themis with scales and sword and Libra), combined with a pair of talking bands to the lower edge, raises the scene into symbolic spheres. The Latin texts, combining a little violent astrology, ancient mythology and Czech patriotic symbolism, benefit from the fact that the court took place under the sign of Vah, in which Charles VI. (1 October) born and celebrate the monarch as the Bohemian Sun, the Bohemian Lion and the supporter of the ancient Themida, the goddess of justice.