GEORGE OF PODĚBRADY

Mucha has chosen to dedicate one of the canvases to the "King of both people", George of Poděbrady (1458-1471), due to the sovereign's exemplary manners, directness and uprightness. The painting depicts an event that happened during George's reign.

Zdeněk Kostka of Postupice and Prokop of Rabštejn delivered a message to Pope Pius II in Rome, who did not take it kindly. On April 3, 1462, the envoys returned to Prague, along with the permanent representative of the Czech Kingdom in the Vatican, Fantinus de Valle. He brought forward the pope's demand that King George, his family and the whole nation renounce the Hussites, as well as his decision not to continue to recognise the validity of the Compacts of Basel that regulated relations between the Hussites and the Catholic Church. The King receives ambassadors from Rome at the King's Court in Prague's Old Town during the Diet. His reaction to the pope's request is furious. He rises from the chair so fiercely he knocks it over and answers: "I do not recognise the pope as a judge over my conscience, my family, or my nation." The papal envoys had to stand as no one offered them seats to mirror the fact that the Czech envoys had to stand before the pope in Rome. The horror over the sharpness of the king's answer reflects on the faces of the papal legate's entourage. The Czech nobles watch the scene with proud postures and expressions.

Several historical figures are present in the painting. The five-petalled rose on the back marks the lord of Rosenberg, a member of the royal council and ruler of southern Bohemia. Sitting opposite him is Archbishop Jan Rokycana, with a cross on a purple robe. In the right corner, we can see a figure with a fool's cap, a wise and educated man who has renounced all privileges to advise the king: Brother Paleček, the most famous court jester in Czech history. To his left, a boy vigorously closes a book with the inscription "Roma". Mucha used this to symbolise the end of all negotiations between the Pope and George of Podebrady.

At the end of this audience, the king dismisses all papal envoys. The next day, he summons Fantinus de Valle and imprisons him for betraying and misrepresenting the interests of the Czech Kingdom. The pope responds by anathematising George, even refusing to accept him as the King of Bohemia. When George heard of these decisions, he declared that he would die a Czech king. And he did, almost ten years later, in 1471, at the age of 51, at the peak of his diplomatic and political power.