Blaž RESMAN

The article deals with some black marble altars from the late 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries in Slovenia. In the region of Dolenjska at least two stone retables from the late 17th century, those of the left side altar in the parish church at Mokronog and of the altar of St. Anthony in the succursal church at Kal pri Krmelju, have been overlooked in the hitherto literature, and so have been the mensas of three side altars in the parish church at Otočec. On the other hand, some altars of a later date, e.g. that of the Holy Cross in the crypt of the chapter church in Novo mesto, have been erroneously believed to originate from as early as around 1700.

In the Gorenjska region the most ambitious and interesting as yet overlooked stone altars are the main altar at Ljubno, which was slightly reworked in the late 19th century, and the one at Zadnja vas. The author of the original sculpture of the latter, Angelo Putti from Padua, has also proved to have made three reliefs representing the Arma Christi which survive as remains of the former altar in the chapel of the Smlednik mansion. The altar of the Holy Virgin at Moravče, hosting marble statues by the Venetian Jacopo Contieri, was most probably carved by the Ljubljana stonecutter Lucas Mislej, and the high altar at Homec, completed in 1728, has been archivally corroborated to be by his hand. Archival sources also document his work (not specified) for the pilgrimage church at Višarje (Monte Lussari, Italy).

In addition to Mislej's proven altars made in the Štajerska region on the commission of Count Ignatius Maria Attems, the lower stone part of the high altar in the pilgrimage church at Slake can plausibly also be attributed to him.

Two stone reliefs from the National Gallery in Ljubljana identified as original parts of two marble side altars at Vrh Sv. Treh Kraljev prove these altars to have been made at the same time and by the same masters as the high altar in the same church. Another hitherto unknown stone altar in the same Notranjska region, i.e. the high altar at Ravnik pri Hotedršici, dated 1725 and being an ambitious and stylistically articulate piece of art, can probably also be added to the oeuvre of Lucas Mislej.