MASTER THEODERIC

Bohemian painter. He was first head of the painter's guildGLOSSARYAn association of the masters of a particular craft, trade or profession (painters, goldsmiths, surgeons, and so on) set up to protect its members' rights and interests. Such guilds existed in virtually every European city in the 16th century. The guild also monitored standards of work, acted as a court for those who brought their trade into disrepute, and provided assistance to members in need. in Prague, founded in 1348, and was painter to the emperor Charles IV between 1359 and 1367. For Charles he decorated the Holy Cross ChapelGLOSSARYa small separate place for worship, either part of a large church or a separate building. of Karlstein Castle near Prague with more than a hundred panels of saints, prophets, and angels, most of them still in situ. He shows even more clearly than the Master of Vyssi Brod the evolution of a distinct Bohemian School from Italian and French antecedents.