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ABSTRACTS

COMPLETE VOLUME

CONTENTS

DISSERTATIONES

APARATUS

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ABSTRACTS AND KEY WORDS

Martin Madl

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, religion in Bohemia was unified and the Catholic faith recognised as the only valid denomination. However, the propagation of the faith had been entrusted to religious institutions with miscellaneous traditions, spirituality and cultural, social and political strategies. Monumental art such as ceiling painting was often based on conformity to religious programmes, but could also manifest the particular ideological and political interests of patrons, as the article tries to show with selected examples from the Prague milieu.

Manfred Koller

The paper gives an overview of the situation in Central Europe before and around 1700 from written documents and examinations of the paintings from the perspective of the ‘technical history of art’. Five technical options are discussed, with their advantages and drawbacks when chosen for specific functions and building conditions. Oil paintings on textile support and stretcher are portable and easy to move. Oil paintings on textile support glued onto a dry wall (marouflage) were even made in the studio under favourable conditions. Secco paintings with oil colours or aqueous media worked in situ required scaffolding and were chosen according to the location and stability needed in the given environment. Fresco painting was possible only on new building sites in cooperation with plasterers and other artists and was therefore time consuming and expensive, despite the fast painting process. Around 1700, Andrea Pozzo not only painted a secco and a fresco in Vienna, but had a great influence on the development of monumental painting in Central Europe with his book on perspective Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum, which included an introduction on fresco and secco painting.

Ana Lavrič

The paper briefly presents characteristic iconographic themes in Baroque Ljubljana, which, on the one hand, are related particularly to the introduction of the cults of new saints or those who previously unknown in Carniola (e.g. Anthony of Padua, John Nepomuk, Philip Neri, etc.), and on the other hand, to the revival of the worship of old saints, especially those related to ancient Aemona (Maxim of Aemona, Pelagius, etc.). Thus Baroque Ljubljana was an interesting network of universal and specifically local content, as well as a hub from which some of these spread to the countryside. 

Key words: iconography of Saints, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis Xavier, Sts. Cosmas and Damian, St. Rosalia, St. Joseph, St. Augustine, St. John Nepomuk, St. Philip Neri, St. Dismas, St. George, St. Maxim of Aemona, Baroque, Ljubljana

Sylva Dobalova

The article provides a detailed comparison between the St. Wenceslas cycle in the Palace of Albrecht von Wallenstein in Prague, painted around 1623–24 by Baccio del Bianco in the chapel of the palace, and an early renaissance cycle of a life of the saint in the Cathedral of St. Vitus in Prague. In addition to the iconographic analysis and interpretation of the cycle – especially the scenes from the life of an unknown saint in Wallenstein’s private oratory, certain iconographic details are interpreted from a new perspective. The paper emphasises Wallenstein's interest in renovating an ancient church of St. Wenceslas located near the Palace, effigies of Saint Wenceslas which were displayed there, and the role of the painter Matyáš Mayer, who worked in both the church and the Cathedral. The article also describes the context in which Wallenstein dedicated his private chapel to the saint most venerated by the Czechs.

Andrzej Kozieł

The article presents the Baroque decoration in the interior of the parish church in Kłodzko (Glatz) in the context of the biography of the first archbishop of Prague, Arnošt of Pardubice (1297–1364). As a young boy, he had a Marian vision in the church while singing the Salve Regina and later ordered his body to be buried precisely in the place where he had the vision. After the Jesuits took over the church in 1623, Arnošt’s vision became an ideological basis for the new Baroque decoration of the church interior, painted by Karl Dankwart. This pictorial decoration together with the medieval tombstone of the Archbishop, situated in the very place of the vision, visually restored the moment of his youthful mystical vision. For the Jesuits, it was a medium for the re-Catholisation of the county of Kłodzko, one of the counties most affected by the Reformation in the BohemianKingdom.

Giuseppina Raggi

When the Earth Touches the Sky
Quadratura as “a Dynamic Architecture” of Soul

In ceiling painting, quadratura is a concept defined by a set of characteristics which refer not only to the intertwining of technique and understanding of perspective - the reason quadratura was often seen as a ‘special’ genre of painting - but are also closely related to its development in the 17th century in the oeuvres of Bolognese artists, especially Agostino Mitelli and Angelo Michele Colonna, active in the first half of the 17th century.
Mitelli and Colonna transformed the artistic tradition of the 16th century, as it was presented in treatises on perspective and architecture, to reflect the new world view which became established in the late 16th and early 17th century and the emerging needs of the Italian and European courts. Mitelli’s talent enabled him and Colonna to discover dynamic forms by using his knowledge of perspective as a foundation for exploring new, limited and infinite worlds. By establishing a relationship between the worldly, the human ability to attain virtue and elevation to a heavenly triumph in the sphere of ‘physical space’, they greatly influenced 17th and 18th century painting, and contributed to the transformation of quadratura in the colonial churches of Salvador de Bahia.

Key words: Quadratura, Angelo Michele Colonna, Agostino Mitelli, quadratura drawings, quadratura prints, figure and illusion, symbolic forms of quadratura, transfer of artistic ideas in Portugal, Vicenzo Bacherelli, Salvador de Bahia in Brazil

Esther Meier

The Open Skies
Theology and the Image of the Iconographic Programme in Waldhausen Abbey Church

The Augustine monastery in Waldhausen (Upper Austria) was decorated with an unusual iconographic programme depicting various aspects of the ‘open skies’ motif. The decorations of the newly built basilica were begun amid intensive planning in 1666 at the latest. Provost Laurentius Voss made the arrangements for the decoration with fresco-painter Georg Hausen, carver Johann Seitz and a number of altar painting specialists, with Joachim von Sandrart’s painting for the great altar deserving special mention. Complementing each other, the images lead the way from west to east of the church. There is a fresco in the presbytery with an illusionist view of the open skies of eternity depicting Apocalyptic Woman and Apocalyptic Lamb. The scene, which is associated with the Eucharist, presents the sacrament as a symbol of the open skies.

Julian Blunk

The Painter and His Heavenly Image
Andrea Pozzo’s “Self-Reflections” in San Ignazio

The contribution focuses on a detail – an Angel with a concave mirror – in Andrea Pozzo’s ceiling painting in the Roman Jesuit church of Sant’ Ignazio, and discusses its meaning in the context of the iconographic programme and with reference to Pozzo’s technique of illusionism. Within the painted system of allegorical rays of light in the ceiling of the nave, the concave mirror symbolises Ignatius; the monogram IHS is a symbol of Christ, as well as a symbol of the Jesuit Order. With reference to a ‘genuine Jesuit’ theory of optics and cognition, the detail illustrates the general dissimilarity between the other world and its terrestrial visualisations. While the reflection of IHS makes sense with reference to the allegorical programme, it is optically not an accurate representation.
From this, it follows that Pozzo seems to have reinterpreted the mirror, an established symbol of painting itself, as a symbol of illusionistic painting: inthecapacityof a concave mirror comprehending ‘anamorphic’ effects, Pozzo’s mirror reveals the illusionist character of his own work in Sant’Ignazio; and last, but not least, in this spirit, the detail is a formal echo of the adjoining illusory dome.

Marinella Pigozzi

Painting and Devotion in the Chapel of Madonna Miracolosa del Serraglio in San Secondo Parmense
Ferdinando Galli Bibiena’s Virtual Architecture for the Scene of Assumption of Mary

The chapel of Madonna miracolosa del Serraglio in San Secondo Parmense near Parma is devoted to Virgin Mary. On the 7th October 1684, Count Scipione Rossi assumed the patronage of the chapel and immediately decided to build an entirely new chapel for the miraculous image of Mary. Painting of the interior began on 9th December 1685 and was completed a couple of years later in October of 1687. The commission for the illusionist and foreshortened architecture went to a quadraturist Ferdinando Galli Bibiena. Sebastiano Ricci, who was commissioned to paint the scene of Assumption of Mary, was paid 3499 liras, and Bibiena 3502 liras; the remaining 2720 liras were divided between the two painters. The exterior of the chapel of Madonna miracolosa del Seraglio, known as ‘del Serraglio’ because of the nearby fortifications, is characterised by the perfection of its geometry which is echoed by the opulent wall paintings in the interior.                                    

Key words: Ferdinando Galli Bibiena, Sebastiano Ricci, Scipione Rossi, San Secondo Parmense, Chapel of Madonna miracolosa del Serraglio, quadratura, Assumption of Mary, 17th century, 1687

Erika Giuliani

Gioacchino Pizzoli (1651–1733)
An Echo of Tradition

The paper discusses the painter Gioacchino Pizzoli and his role in the development of Bolognese quadratura between the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century.
His creations have nothing in common with the opulent iconographic programmes developed by Colonna and Mitelli for European and Italian courts, nor do they follow the evolution of architectural and figurative forms established by Canuti, Haffner, the brothers Rolli and Crespi, which were followed by Bibiena in the course of the 18th century. Pizzoli spent several years collaborating with Angelo Michele Colonna and received important public and private commissions, thereby influencing the present-day reception of his creativity. By analysing Pizzoli’s independent oeuvre between 1680 and 1725, this paper presents the outlines of his activity in the context of the Bolognese tradition of quadratura and sheds light on his exploration of forms and the richness of times past, which are defining features of his style.

Jozef Medvecký

The former Jesuit and university church in Trnava was commissioned by Nicolas Esterházy, Count Palatine of Hungary in 1629-1637. It was as late as 1699/1700, when the vault was decorated with stucco and frescoes, that the interior decoration of the church was finished. Four scenes depict the martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist. The central scenes are accompanied by emblematic images in medallions, which metaphorically accentuate recognition of the Saint, his work and his mission. The vault painting was designed and executed by stucco specialist Pietro Antoni Conti. The paper proposes a new attribution of the frescoes, formerly considered the work of the Viennese painter Joseph Grueber. The initials of the Viennese painters Carl Ritsch (C. R.) and Franz Joseph Graffenstein (FIG), who regularly collaborated on the creation of a number of frescoes, could be considered as the starting point for this attribution. 

Key words: Carl Ritsch, Franz Joseph Graffenstein, Erhart Josef Grueber, Pietro Antonio Conti, Trnava (Slovakia), university church of Saint John the Baptist, Baroque, ceiling painting, Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist

Michaela Šeferisova Loudova

Ceiling Painting around 1700 in the Town of Jihlava (Iglau)
Burgers as Patrons, Burgers as Audience

The article deals with the question of whether the rich citizens of the 18th century Bohemian city of Jihlava (German Iglau) influenced artistic life in the city. It is widely agreed that rich citizens played only a passive role only as viewers – passive spectators of paintings or other artefacts. New research challenges this view by demonstrating numerous cases of rich citizens financing a large number of artefacts, such as the wall-paintings in the Chapel of Mater-Dolorosa in the church of St. Jacob the Greater, the church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, or wall decorations on the exterior walls of some rich private houses in Jihlava. In the first two cases, patrons were not involved in developing the iconographic programme of wall-paintings, whereas the artistic programme of decoration on the private houses was completely under their control.

Key words: Václav Jindřich Nosek, Michael Václav Halbax, Karel František Antonín Tepper, Baroque art, ceiling painting, patronage, Jihlava/Iglau

Gabriele Schmid

Contemplatio and actio
The Frescoes in the Ursuline Church in Straubing as Education Programme

The monastery church of St. Ursula in Straubing was consecrated to the Immaculate Conception of Mary in1741. The church is the last joint work of the brothers Egid Quirin and Cosmas Damian Asam. The architecture and aesthetic appearance of the interior decoration of the church reflect the founding ideas of the Ursulines: the education of young girls. In consequence, the decoration of the church was made in sight of its users. Church, cloister and school are closely connected. The decoration of St. Ursula gives an account of the concept and history of the Ursuline order by means of paintings and words incorporated into a space of shimmering light. The whole of the decoration concerns the central subject: the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The inner space of the church requires both intellectual and sensual attention, which reflects the integration of contemplatio and actio which characterises the Ursuline order.

Key words:  Ursuline order, Cosmas Damian Asam, Egid Quirin Asam, reception aesthetics, context, Straubing, Immaculate Conception, monastery church, education

Steffi Roettgen

Imperium sine fine dedit
Late Baroque Imperial Iconography
On Painting Furnishings in the Villa Poggio Imperiale in Florence in the Time of Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1768–1778)

The subject of this essay is the series of frescoes painted for Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany in his Villa on the Poggio Imperiale near Florence by the painters Tommaso Gherardini, Giuliano Traballesi and Giuseppe del Moro from 1769 to 1777. The iconographic programme of the frescoes which decorate the southern and western wings of the ground flour is related to the situation of the Habsburg dynasty in these years. Some crucial events and protagonists of the Sacro Impero Romano are represented. They reflect the problems of succession which arose at the Viennese court as a consequence of Emperor Joseph’s II two childless marriages. In fact, the heir to the imperial throne was the eldest son of Pietro Leopoldo in Florence. Furthermore, the Grand Duke is celebrated as a worthy successor to the Medici dynasty, who had ruled Tuscany for two centuries. His state office in Poggio Imperiale was decorated by Giuseppe Antonio Fabbrini with a ceiling in which portrait allusion is combined with allegorical personifications of power and enlightened government. The Buon governo in economy, trade, religion and culture practised in Tuscany by Pietro Leopoldo – as one of the most important enlightened rulers of his period – is displayed in four neo-Classical wall paintings in the same room. Another room contains two vedute campestre alluding to the principles of Pietro Leopoldo in agriculture. Finally, of particular interest is the fact that, by transferring a room and its painted decoration from one wing of the building to another, he paid hommage to the Florentine artistic tradition of the early Seicento and to Medici rule.

Key words: Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, Poggio Imperiale, Tommaso Gherardini, Giuliano Traballesi, Giuseppe del Moro, iconographic programme, Habsburg dynasty, Giuseppe Antonio Fabbrini, Buon governo, hommage to Medici rule.

Janos Jernyei-Kiss

The Power of Performance in Ceiling Painting
Religious Experience and Pictorial Rhetoric in Maulbertsch’s Late Oeuvre

The fresco of the main altar in Vác Cathedral in Hungary by Franz Anton Maulbertsch shows the scene of the Visitation, as the Virgin in the hymn Magnificat praisesthe future glory of God and the coming of his kingdom. This prophecy appears in the dome as a vision of all saints and the Virgin adoring the Holy Trinity. A well-known theme of Baroque frescoes, the vision of Paradise, is integrated here into an ensemble which visualises the revelation to the Virgin, and thus mystical experience in the Tridentine spirit. The study analyses the capacity of pictorial illusionism of fresco painting in connection with the devotional practice of the Tridentine era.

Key words: Maulbertsch, illusionism, liturgy, Tridentine devotion