Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePaintingbetween 1423 and 1426

The Burning of a Heretic

Sassetta · between 1423 and 1426

A painting by Sassetta showing the burning of Jan Hus, made within a decade of his execution.

Depicts the execution by burning of Jan Hus, painted within a decade of the event.

Ask Jan Hus about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Painting of a crowd in medieval dress on horseback and on foot. At center, a kneeling figure in a yellow robe tends a fire with flames rising beside a figure in dark robes. At right, a seated robed figure on a raised platform with attendants. A city with towers is at upper right.
Sassetta, The Burning of a Heretic (The Burning of Jan Hus), c. 1423-1426.

About this source

What it is

This painting, attributed to the Italian artist Sassetta, was made between about 1423 and 1426 — within a decade of Jan Hus's death. It shows a crowd gathered around a fire where a figure is being burned, with a seated robed official watching from a raised platform.

Why it matters

Painted so soon after Hus's execution in 1415, this image reflects how quickly his death became a subject for art and how it was understood, and judged, by those outside Bohemia. It shows the public and ceremonial nature of his execution as a condemned heretic.

Look closer

  • What does the crowd's arrangement around the fire suggest about how executions were treated as public events?
  • Who is the seated figure on the platform, and what role might they have played?
  • Why might an Italian artist, far from Bohemia, have painted this scene?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Jan Hus on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Jan Hus sources

Meet the AI Jan Hus →
Document

Primary source

Appeal to Jesus Christ

Jan Hus · 1412

Document

Primary source

Safe Conduct to John Huss

Sigismund

A medieval parchment document with dense handwritten Latin-style text in brown ink, hanging in a dark frame against a red background. Many dangling seals with cords hang along the top and bottom edges, and the parchment shows folds and wear.Document

Primary source

Letter of Complaint Against the Burning of Jan Hus

1415

Exterior of a gothic-style stone chapel with a steep red tile roof and tall pale gable walls, with pointed arched windows along the side, a clock on a pole in front, and a sunny blue sky above a city street.Artifact

Primary source

Bethlehem Chapel

founded 1391

A photograph of a medieval parchment document with handwritten Latin script in brown ink, decorated initial letters and two small ink drawings, with a red wax seal hanging from a cord at the bottom. The parchment is aged and slightly curled.Document

Primary source

Decree of Kutná Hora

Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia · 18 January 1409

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Jan Hus now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions