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How permanent is the permanent exhibition? What kind of key should it use to sort artworks? How can old art touch a 21st century person? Does he or she have to know the historical context of a work to understand it, or is it simply an aesthetic object?

Even during the reconstruction which the SNG is currently undergoing, we would like to offer visitors the chance to see the most significant original works from the Old Masters Collections. At the same time, we are taking this as an opportunity to revise ideas surrounding permanent exhibitions. We have prepared an untraditional, in many aspects experimental installation of Gothic & Baroque painting and sculpture. Instead of a linear chronology we offer a number of fundamental themes; and instead of describing the stylistic history of art we create space for questions. They explore the choices which confronted artists centuries ago, but they also illuminate the functions of art and its perception in the past as well as today.

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guide

Dušan

Buran

Katarína

Chmelinová

impermanent slovak national gallery exhibition

contents introduction

8

expression

emotion

type

&

&

individual

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space

&

illusion

light

&

d a r k n e s s  4 8

body

&

gesture

life

&

death

list

of

36

56

66

exhibited

recommended

10

works

reading

91

80

introduction

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Permanent exhibitions, possibly the most important goal of every museum, have recently become a richly debated territory, both at home and abroad. For some they are an expression of a collection’s quality, a ‘presentation case’ of the collecting institution; for others, on the contrary, they are a tool of power which a museum or gallery wields to exert undue influence within society. Whatever the case, and as with a whole raft of other cultural phenomena, the seemingly entrenched and stable genre of the permanent exhibition as it appeared but yesterday has, today, found itself at the crossroads.

For the Slovak National Gallery, this crossroads is simultaneously a building site. The reconstruction of buildings and the gallery complex as a whole, in effect a comprehensive rebuilding of the institution, brings with it many challenges. For some it would be a fitting reason to at least temporarily incarcerate the collection to impenetrable deposit rooms (and its curators to research cabinets), while for others it is an opportunity to experiment or to ask some questions. It is not difficult to guess to which group the SNG belongs: you are holding that very experiment in your hands – or you see it around you. Doubtless you will add many more questions to our fundamental ones: how ‘permanent’ should permanent exhibitions really be? Is their division along historical styles still relevant? Should division into artistic media, such as painting and sculpture, still play its crucial role?

Instead of straightforward answers, the curators of the SNG Old Masters Dušan Buran and Katarína Chmelinová rather offer alternatives in each section of the exhibition: and certainly not just in the spirit of scholarly debate regarding dating or the stylistic place of a particular

sculpture or painting. The section titles, such as space & illusion or type & individu­al may seem breaking with tradition for the gallery visitors. And yet these and similar approaches today form the everyday part of art historical interpretation. When we bring the scholarly terms from their cabinets and before the eyes of the public, our most important wish is to offer the visitor these interpretational perspectives, different from those they may be accustomed to. But precisely this could reveal alternative, still unnoticed sides to works of art.

As if that did not suffice, the chosen forms of presentation and installation of artworks are also anything but traditional. The laconic tone of the exhibition’s architecture was set by a trio of architects – Igor Marko, Martin Jančok and Aleš Šedivec. On one hand it forms an independent, unified shape, which – accompanied by external information, such as the flyer and app – should give the viewer basic information regarding the significance of individual artefacts, but also create an experience of the show. On the other hand the exhibition is simultaneously an open-ended organism which would welcome even more radical intervention.

Why, for instance, could not Gothic sculptures and Baroque altarpieces stand side by side with contemporary drawing; or photography forming a shocking (and why not) contrast to 18th century illusionistic painting?

By now, when you are holding this guide in your hands, the im/permanent exhibition is living its own life, raising further questions or exciting surprise; and the above-mentioned interventions have become reality. We trust that you will have reason to visit the SNG more and more often.

Alexandra Kusá General Director Dušan Buran Head Curator of the Old Masters Collection

expression

&

emotion

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Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1 7 3 6 – 1 7 8 3 ) Character Head 2 0 Enraged and Vengeful Gipsy 1777 – 1783 cast 1 9 8 5 SNG P 2 2 2 6

The bust is allegedly an image of a gipsy in the army being physically punished. His strained expression is dominated by pain, humiliation, as well as thirst for revenge. It is part of the legend-wreathed series of 69 busts which have been subsequently named, during their first exhibition, as “Character Heads”, along with particular titles of individual artworks. Their author, a descen­dant of the Straub carving family from Southern Germany, made most of them in a house in the Zuckermandel suburb of Bratislava, where he retreated due to ill health from a successful career in Vienna.

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Master of the Matejovce Royal Figures Saint Nicholas from Partizánska (Nemecká) Ľupča Madonna from Ondrej/Hôrka (called „from Švábovce“) Beginning of the 1 6 th century SNG P 2 2 8 1 , P 2 2 8 2

The “Master of the Matejovce Royal Figures” is a name of necessity for one of the leading personalities of Spiš carving around 1500. In contrast to Master Paul of Levoča, the style of this contemporary is more deeply touched by naturalism and a liking for formal contrasts: the drapery could be sheet metal, its sharp and almost broken crinkles are difficult to imagine in real life.

Faces, sometimes bordering on grimaces and a deliberate ‘aesthetics of ugliness’, are marked by dreary and sharp features. The hair and beards of the male figures are roughly carved, seemingly routinely, which adds to their expressive look.

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Master Paul of Levoča (?)

Saint Andrew from Strážky After 1 5 2 0 (1 5 2 4 ) SNG P 1 3 8

A rather untypical sculpture in its technique – in essence a refined relief with surprising spatial qualities – it stood originally by the side of a Madonna on a side altarpiece from 1524 in the Church of Saint Anne in Strážky. Its high quality is demonstrable in a spectrum of details, in particular the sophisticated depiction of the head. Its realistic appearance is based on a contrast between the delicate structuring of muscles and wrinkles of the one hand, and the cropped hair and rich flowing beard on the other. The sculpture as a whole is the product of the exceptionally confident carving of the Spiš region, and is probably directly

by Master Paul – the author of the High Altar in Levoča.

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Anonymous sculptor Crucified Christ (Plague Crucifix) After 1709 SNG P 2697

The carving with its unique icono­ graphy comes from the depository of the Franciscan church in Kremnica. It draws attention in the first place by the numerous wounds on the body of the dead Christ nailed to the cross. Plague wounds in particular are rare phenomena in Baroque art at the turn of 18th century. The expressiveness of depicting Christ’s pain contrasts with the classic elegance of His slender body, so different from the most wellknown plague crucifix by the Austrian sculptor M. Guggenbichler (beginning of the 18th century, Schnütgen Museum in Cologne).

The polychromy, on a red base and with its gradual highlighting, builds a suggestive flesh tone of the pale and dead body with its bruises and repeated ‘pustule-like’ wounds.

The sculpture, by a still unknown master, was without doubt made as a direct response to the plaque epidemic which struck Kremnica in 1709.

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Paul Troger (1 6 9 8 – 1 7 6 2 ) circle Lamentation of Christ Second half of the 1 8 th century SNG O 6 5 5 2

The emphasised emotionality of the traditional mourning scene of the Lamentation of Christ by angels was achieved through a refined composition, but especially through the effective and contrasting lighting.

With it the painter created an intimate atmosphere with an almost otherworldly mysticism of light.

The author is unknown, but, in

view of stylistic parallels and the handling of the whole scene, we should look for him in the circle of the influential Vienna Academy professor Paul Troger. Indeed, he made a painting on the same theme, but in an even more ambitious work for the church of the Bratislava nuns of Saint Elizabeth in 1743.

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Central European sculptor Christ in Triumph End of the 1 7 th century SNG P 1 6 4 7

This small-scale carving of the nude Christ, with its dramatically

billowing loincloth, is an example of brilliant High Baroque work.

It captures a separate motif derived from the Resurrection. Unlike a descriptive scene with a tomb and accompanying figures, the emphasis is placed on Christ’s expression and stance. From the 14th century

onwards He was increasingly shown in a shroud rather than a loincloth, and with torture wounds. He also carried a cross or banner with a cross as a symbol of victory over death, in Baroque iconography attended by a defeated serpent-Satan crushed under His feet.

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expression

&

emotion

The suggestive installation of the Character Heads series by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt led us – in medias res – to a fundamental aspect of fine art, irrespective of when or where the particular artwork was made. Of course, the forms of facial expressions as we know them from this famous series are exceptional, and even after 240 years after their creation they represent an extreme position of human appearance. But they are also examples of a situation when form in itself becomes content, and as such they carry the basic message of the artefact. The form itself is reminiscent of the antique sculptural type of representative Roman busts hailing from the Republican era.

In the environs of Imperial Vienna this kind of reference was, naturally, self-evident. After the overwrought theatricality of the Baroque, the art of Classicism consciously pointed to the antique principles of rationality and formal simplicity. But its unusual re-interpretation in the shape of a myriad of grimaces as shorthands for diverse characters, situations or emotional states excited considerable surprise. It was long speculated that the reason for Messerschmidt’s expulsion from the Academy of Vienna, and therefore the motive for his move to Bratislava, was a result of his mental ill-health. New research is increasingly more sceptical towards this belief.

Even though interpretations of the psychological stimuli of the artist himself remain legitimate, the motivation for tense, and often even highly expressive figures do not always have to originate in the decisions of the creative individual. Art history is replete with entire eras which preferred expressive and ‘psychologically’ articulated depictions – the Expressionism of the early 20th century is even named after

these recurring tendencies. Equally, most of the artworks exhibited in this section linked with representations of pain or joy – in contrast to the Character Heads – are rather typical of their times.

Pre-historic art, familiar from archaeological finds, already show that the expression of a figure played a significant role in their production as well as subsequent perception. The overwhelming majority was linked to religious rituals on the one hand, and the human or animal figure on the other. The body and facial expression became fundamental mediators of the emotional message vis-à-vis the viewer.

Nevertheless, the facial expression remains more or less neutral until Greek Hellenistic art; the Middle Ages, too, only began to articulate emotion more clearly during the Italian trecento (14th century). But the face was still not yet the bearer of the subject’s identity, and instead it rather communicated various generic situations in which the figure – in Medieval times usually a protagonist of a Biblical tale or a saint’s legend – found itself. From this perspective, the task of fine art was akin to the functions of the theatre and other dramatic arts. After all, most of them were initiated by various shamanic rituals, the need for an active experience of religious revelation or the broadening of the liturgical environment by new visual elements.

In man’s imagination – almost on an anthropological level – facial mimicry, movements or specific gestures were associated with many personal experiences (sometimes indeed striking) and in this way they enhanced the credibility of the picture or sculpture. In theatrical or ritualistic environments the mask was a ‘replacement identity’ and its frequent and

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especially continual use in almost all cultures cemented its importance for entire centuries.

In the end, the image of the face of Christ (the Veronica), represented in the exhibition by a late 15th century Spiš relief, is heir to this tradition. The Biblical tale of Saint Veronica, who offered her veil to Christ into which He pressed His image, like other versions of this popular legend (such as the one of King Abgar) provides essential narrative sources to understanding such artifacts. But they draw their primary power from cultural or religious processes which are far older that Christianity itself. The Egyptians and Sumerians already saw in the human face and its expression the essence in capturing and depicting human identity.

Somewhat anachronistically we still have a habit of using the modern phrase, ‘psychology of emotion’ in art historical writing. But the expressiveness imbuing old art is subsumed by the spirit of the age and its correct ‘reading’ is possible only within the historical context.

Joy and pain were articulated in one way by a Gothic altarpiece sculpture of a saint, and in another way by the Baroque crucifix. With the former, the repetition of motifs according to established models bolster credibility within the hagiographic or liturgical context. The sign, gesture, and communication between the figures themselves dominate; a direct exhortation to the audience is limited to the most important figures (Christ or the Virgin), and that only in the Later Middle Ages. In contrast, in Baroque sculpture, even traditional symbolic motifs (such as blood or the Five Holy Wounds) are part of a naturalistic, even expressive form addressed directly to the viewer. The so-called Kremnica Plague Crucifix from the beginning of the 18th century broadens the classic repertory of symbolic motifs with this type of

stylization, and raises associations with the wounds of contemporary plague victims. The expression of a sacral sculpture is thus made relevant to contemporary issues, and Christ is – once more – identified with the most needy and miserable.

In contrast, the works of older, medieval art for a long time aimed at formal stylization. During the Romanesque, for instance, the idea of ‘realism’ played no significant role at all; figures were often stylized to their very limits of abstract form. As a result, representational depiction became limited to basic identifiable features, without a deeper interest in expression. But from the 13th century onwards European art undergoes revolutionary shifts; Gothic artists begin to capture nature and everyday objects with increasing realism, and often not without detailed finesse. Figures of saints and angels shed the schematism of the past, their movements become more naturalistic and their faces those of living man. And yet the path to realism was long and crooked; the goal of altarpieces was not to mirror external reality in quite the way in which it was later defined by photography.

Still; already in 14th century sculpture (and to a lesser extent, painting) we find approaches in which facial expressions, strenuous gestures and spasmodic movements emerge, albeit in various forms and different levels of intensity. Crucifixes and generally scenes of Christ’s Passion or the martyrdoms of saints are in this way particularly informative. In fact, around the year 1500 these tendencies, sometimes called late Gothic expressionism, become the dominant aesthetic approach towards the end of medieval culture. Paintings of the so-called Danube School or the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald represent this tendency in

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the same way as the – admittedly less famous – sculptures by an anonymous Spiš carver called the ‘Master of the Matejovce Royal Figures’ – such as the Madonna from Hôrka or the Saint Nicholas from Nemecká Ľupča. His workshop (or workshops), active apart from the Spiš in and around Banská Bystrica, offered in the busy environment of late Gothic, prosperous cities an identifiable style, and an alternative to the idealizing sculptures of Master Paul of Levoča and his workshops.

The selection of artefacts in this section is completed by Baroque works of various formats and media. Amidst hundreds of hagiographical motifs, particularly popular in 17th and 18th century iconography were – significantly – various emotionally agitated scenes.

Here they are represented by works such as the sumptuous reliefs of Josef Gode (the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa & Ecstasy of Saint Francis). The theatrical effects of both sculpture and painting often suggest vicarious inspiration from Italian masters such as Bernini or Caravaggio; but they also make use of technological innovations. So, for instance, the small-scale sculpture of Christ Triumphant from the end of the 17th century may be considered as a ‘model’ for later, today lost monumental commission. This kind of workshop process from the Gothic era is wholly unknown to us. The large painting Lamentation of Christ from the circle of Paul Troger from an unknown locality fulfils all the attributions of a composition which we may without qualm call scenic, along with its subtle light ‘direction’ and ‘choreography’. Along two levels, the viewer’s sight reaches Christ’s massive body, unnaturally twisted, yet with a cleverly depicted wound in His side. The two angels, as if basking in the rays of unearthly light (though – paradoxically – surrounded by clouds), draw attention

with their gestures. These fulfill several functions at once – whether as signals to important motifs, such as the wounds in Christ’s palms, but also as a compositional element linking the individual picture planes. The pyramidal composition itself suggests the imminent Resurrection and Ascension, and pain and emotion do not take the form of an expressive exhortation here as, for instance, in the Kremnica crucifix.

Its effect is from the beginning calculated and it relies on a viewer conversant with both the Bible and artistic tradition; but, amongst other associations, it offers the illusion of a view into the heavens.

The degree of Baroque dramaturgy, in which idioms were often taken to the limits of expressiveness, was dependent on knowledge of actual reality. The more that 18th century Central European man knew about the world surrounding him, the more the image of a transcendental world had to be different, even theatrical. It is precisely this degree of theatrical stylization which added to the persuasiveness of God’s image. D B

Recommended reading Bartlová 2012 Fajt – Roller 2003 Freedberg 1991 Chmelinová – Poljak 2007 Kat. Bratislava 1983a Kat. Siena 2009 Pötzl-Malikova 1982 Pötzl-Maliková 2004 Pötzl-Malikova 2013

type

&

individual

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Unknown painter from the Spiš region or Lesser Poland Altarpiece Triptych from Strážky After 1 4 5 0 SNG O 1 5 9 0 , O 1 5 9 1 , O 1592

Scholars sometimes call the style of these paintings ‘the modest style’ (modus humilis). It was typical in the mid-15th century, and in certain Central European regions it represented a reaction against the so-called ‘beautiful style’ – the formally cultivated, in expression and materials often luxurious idiom of Central European art made around 1400. Partly due to the Hussite opposition the artists of the second third of the 15th century began to prefer more ascetic forms: silver foil rather than gold, less props and decoration, but simultaneously a greater characterization in figures and faces. This eventually facilitated a more effective running of workshops, whose products were more affordable for smaller parishes.

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Anonymous sculptor from the Spiš region Madonna from Ruskinovce Beginning of the 1 4 th century SNG P 1 7 0 0

This Madonna belongs to the kind of sculpture with particular functions: the head of Jesus is adjustable and its setting on a rotating pin is similar to that of the Madonna from Podolínec as well as the Madonna from Toporec I. This rare, but locally repeated motif probably played a significant role beyond the horizon of official liturgy: thanks to the simple mechanism and a hole in the Madonna’s back, the head could be turned towards the Virgin and thus create an attractive emotional contact between mother and child – and to do so ‘live’, in a sense.

At the same time the sculpture, modified in this way, could be pointed out in sermons and hymns during various feasts of the Virgin.

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Anonymous Swabian sculptor Saint Barbara from Ľubica Around 1 5 0 0 SNG P 1 3 9

Two other sculptures come from the same workshop, of Saint Mary Magdalene (P 140) and the Madonna (today in Poprad-Matejovce). Un­ usual for the Spiš region, the equally clearly distinct style of these sculptures points to the important role of contemporary imports. Indeed, we know that surviving paintings from this altarpiece (in the East Slovak Museum in Košice and Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest) are almost certainly of local, Spiš provenance. The presence of Swabian sculptures in the Spiš region in around 1520 implies the already common arrangement of altar retables from diversely sourced artworks.

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Sculptor from the circle of Master Paul of Levoča Sculptures from the Altarpiece from Hozelec Christ as the Man of Sorrows Saint Emeric the Prince Before 1 5 2 0 SNG P 2 2 8 6 , P 2 2 8 7

The differences between the figures of the Hungarian dynastic saints, St Stephen (P 2284), St Ladislas (P 2285) and St Emeric, when compared with the sculpture of the Man of Sorrows, as well as clear qualitative disparities within one and the same sculpture suggests that they were a ‘collective work’.

While the relatively cultivated and professionally carved faces and generous draperies were probably made by the master himself, the general ‘puppet-like’ physiognomy, particularly in the knightly Saint Ladislas, betrays the hand of a less experienced assistant.

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Josef Kurtz (1 6 9 2 ? – 1 7 3 7 ) Portrait of Archbishop Emeric Esterházy 1735 SNG O 4 8 8 4

This High Baroque portrait, signed by the Tyrolean painter Josef Kurtz, is a traditional full-length portrait of an archbishop on a background of architecture with ceremonial drapery. The 72-year old archbishop and Primate of Hungary is in a conventional pose, with his right hand on his chest, and with his left pointing to the devices of his status placed on a table. Emeric Esterházy was a generous patron of the arts, and thanks to him Bratislava was for a time the centre of Central European artistic activity, when distinguished artists such as Georg Raphael Donner, Paul Troger or the Palko family of painters worked there. The works of artists invited here by Esterházy are in the Upper Hungarian context a rare, pure tributary of the High Baroque.

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Franz Anton Palko (?)

(1 7 1 7 – 1 7 6 6 ) Self-portrait in a Fur Cap Around 1 7 4 0 SNG O 8 8

The portrait of a small bust form, very different from a magnificent representative likeness, charms with its seductive atmosphere based on the principle of light and a tenebrous technique. It is liberated from descriptive detail, and emphasizes the actual face. This portrait of a man was for a long time thought to be the only original work of Johann Kupezky in Slovak museum

and gallery collections. The painting, later signed and dated with the year 1709, was on the basis of comparisons considered to be a Kupezky self-portrait from around 1700.

In the new artist’s monograph, Eduard Safarik suggests that the work is an early self-portrait by the substantially younger Franz Anton Palko.

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type

&

individual

At the sight of a passport photograph only a few people will realise that the face, as a means to identify a particular person, is the result of a relatively recent cultural development.

While art from antiquity, such as Imperial busts or full-figure sculptures of senators, worked towards a highly idealised but still ‘accurate’ physiognomic image, the art of medieval Europe fundamentally suppressed this illusionistic and representational concept for whole centuries. Even depictions of particular historical figures – rulers, knights or popes – underwent a strict stylisation. The idea of man, his spiritual kernel, was seen as important: unlike physical appearance and facial features. We only see significant shifts in this perception of the world by medieval craftsmen (which included painters and sculptors) during the establishment of Gothic art. The end of the 13th and the entire 14th centuries saw the rise of an idea of physiognomic characteristics which captured the appearance of the depicted person in his individuality. It will surely come as no surprise that these depictions were mostly of kings, courtiers, or church dignitaries. Even though to us the sculptures and paintings on Gothic altarpieces may sometimes be reminiscent of particular people, their status (as in their place in the story and their religious importance) was communicated differently than through facial features. Their faces resemble each other, and on closer inspection it becomes clear that even entire figures, their dress and gestures are overlaid with a certain unifying power, as if they were variants of only a few mutual models. The summary of these formal exigencies we call a technique, and over longer time periods – style. At times it serves as the only way to date or locate the place of creation of a specific altarpiece, sculpture or paining. At other times, however, it is very eloquent about the sources of its inspiration.

A single example: during the 13th century Central Europe begins to receive increasingly more artworks from France, including the relatively easily moved ivory carvings. Their natural, curved shape gradually influenced more monumental wooden sculptures, where the bow-like arch of the figure was repeated – indeed without

the original physical limitations. The Madonna from Ruskinovce from the early 14th century represents one of the later, but locally influential examples of the reception of French Gothic, perhaps already mediated by Danubian (Austrian) models. Linear stylisation of ‘Western European’ origin and the use of decorative draperies to monumentalise altarpiece figures survived in the Gothic sculpture of our region up to the 16th century. This was dependent on other influences, in the 14th century usually from Italy, the only change being in the amount of bodily volume suggested underneath the drap­ery.

The Madonna from Ďapalovce, probably from around 1420, is a later example which integrates the concept of French cathedral sculpture with new motifs which may be described as emotional, whose expression is focused on articulating the relationship between mother and child. This relationship, strengthened by the same facial type, is convincing even if we cannot speak of realism in today’s understanding of that term.

But the repetition of certain types, whether in faces or entire figures, had in the everyday running of Romanesque and Gothic workshops different reasons to continue than preference for a certain style. Let us try to imagine all the work necessary to make a large Gothic altarpiece – for instance the central one in the Parish Church of Saint James in Levoča, by Master Paul of Levoča (around 1508 – 1514). Apart from the three sculptures in the central section, it contains tens of other small and large figures.

In view of a certain ‘rationalisation’ of work this workshop also preferred the copying of compositions from other sources, or the varying of fundamentally very similar head types, hair styles or drapery motifs. Another incentive to repeat types and motifs was the easy identification of these figures within narrative wholes, and thus their better legibility. Besides, it can be shown that some of the relief compositions (such as the Beheading of Saint James) were made after prints by Veit Stoss, while the paintings on the altarpiece wings when closed were directly inspired by a Passion cycle by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Most of the Late Gothic altarpieces in Slovakia were produced in this

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way, such as the Christ as Man of Sorrows and three smaller sculptures of the Hungarian dynastic saints from Hozelec. After 1500 we even know of arranging altar retables from imported sculptures and paintings at the very place of their final use. The two sculptures from Ľubica – Saints Magdalene and Barbara – are examples of the contemporary importation from Swabia into the prosperous Spiš urban environment.

A singular place in this web of influences is occupied by South German printmaking. Woodcuts and later engravings, due to their nature as media of reproduction, became frequently used tools in the dissemination of particular compositions or motifs, but also generally of the entire Late Gothic style throughout Europe. Names such as Martin Schongauer, Israhel van Meckenem or Lucas Cranach the Elder are only the most famous; many other artists traded with their prints which other artists – sculptors, painters or illuminators – used as models. Perhaps the most fertile and simultaneously the most influential printmaker was the Nuremberg master Albrecht Dürer. [The image of the Madonna on a Crescent Moon, presented in the next section on light & darkness, was painted after Dürer’s copper engraving from 1516; another Madonna, along with a number of motifs from other prints by Dürer, can similarly be identified in the monumental painting of the Czobor epitaph in the section life & death.]

But how was the portrait as we know it today established? How did its path end in the passport photograph mentioned in the introduction? We have already noted that, in royal or Episcopal courts from the 13th century onwards – slowly but ever more urgently – there grew a need to capture the individual features of a king, courtier or prelate. As early as antiquity, likenesses were used as a tool in art – on tombs and other sepulchral monuments (epitaphs, mortuaries, tombstones, and so on). The increasing number of splendid tombs in churches and the subsequent need to better distinguish the identities of persons for whom the living prayed, caused the inevitable distinctions in figural ornament as well as in the faces of the deceased.

In the 14th century we begin to find the first true likenesses in Central European painting,

too. The Imperial court in the Prague of Charles IV was as important a centre as Paris or Vienna for the development of the European portrait at the end of the Middle Ages. But nothing has survived of this early phase in the whole of the historic Hungarian Kingdom (of which Slovakia was once part), and certainly not in the collection of the Slovak National Gallery.

And who introduced the form of the half-figure (bust) with the portrait of a particular individual into Western art? At the birth of this – most popular idea of the Modern Era – stood once more the alliance of antique illusionism of Imperial and senatorial portraits, and Byzantine sacred art. The painted icon of the Mother of God became a compositional type which determined the portrait form so admired during the Renaissance. In the end, its compositional rules were borrowed in the 19th century by portrait photography, whose descendants include our passport ‘photos’. The enrichment of documents by further biometric data also however points to the fact that a likeness, a portrait in the sense of a modern image, still does not (and never has) fully identify a person. It was always – as with photography – a construct of historical context, and never a true reflection of reality. D B

Recommended reading Bartlová 2004–2005 Belting 2013 Endrődi 2003 Endrődi 2006 Kat. Bratislava 1983a Kat. Bratislava 1983b Poleross 1988 Büchsel – Schmidt (eds.) 2003 Schmidt 2000 Safarik 2014 Sontag 1977 Török 2005–2007

space

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illusion

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Franz Anton Maulbertsch (1 7 2 4 – 1 7 9 6 ) circle of the artist Ascension of the Virgin (sketch for a ceiling fresco in Vác) 1760 SNG O 1 8 0 1

This preparatory sketch for an illusionistic ceiling fresco from the circle of the genius of Late Baroque painting F. A. Maulbertsch builds on a sharply low viewpoint with a contrast between the foreground and the incandescent heavenly depths. But compositionally it uses the centripetal force of the middle.

It proceeds from the wavy circumference to a centrally placed, circular lantern core, which indicates a cupola painting. The convincing impression of space, leading the viewer quite literally from darkness to light, is in large part due to the colour palette and handling of light.

Sketches were valued in the Baroque as independent works of art, and they were desirable collectors’ merchandise in Central Europe.

They also give us a relatively accurate idea about many lost artworks.

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Master Martin Madonna from Jánovce 1497 SNG O 1 5 9 4

Gothic painters created pictorial space in several ways simultaneously, though they were still unfamiliar with the laws of linear perspective.

The enthroned Madonna from Jánovce is an instance of this

attempt at a perspectival trick – in the form of the throne, or the podium to be precise. At the same time, the figures’ placement is itself a space-creating element; even if both saints on the flanks – Catherine as well as Elisabeth of Hungary – appear to be on a single level, the intention was to push them slightly to the background. In the end, the folded and modelled dresses create

a more or less convincing illusion of depth. But the golden decorative (brocaded) background negates all these efforts. It is the inheritance of an older tradition and its goal is not to create an illusion of space. On the contrary; on the one hand it suggests an otherworldly environment, and on the other it underlines the luxurious materiality of Late Gothic altarpiece paintings and triptychs.

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Jakob Bogdani (around 1 6 6 0 – 1 7 2 4 ) Cat Amongst Cockerels 1706 – 1710 SNG O 3

The signed painting by Jakob Bogdani, a native of Prešov, demonstrates not only the new thematic area developed in the 17th century –

the genre painting – but also shows its specific language in depicting the temporal world. It contains, in the spirit of the Baroque, a dramatic scene from a poultry yard full of realistic details. These kinds of ‘earthy’ scenes were the polar opposites to religious works, particularly the lofty constructs of heavenly spheres. After a period in

Amsterdam, Bogdani settled in London permanently in 1688.

The exhibited picture was made during his time in England, and together with the pendant capturing a Cockerel Fight it went to one of his patrons, Admiral George Churchill.

The inspiration may have been the admiral’s famous aviary in his park in Windsor.

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Johann Lucas Kracker (1 7 1 7 – 1 7 7 9 )

Franz Anton Pilgram, as well as the sculptor Johann Anton Krauss, the stucco artist Johann HennevoBaptism of Christ (sketch for gel, but especially the painter Jothe High Altarpiece painting hann Lucas Kracker; between 1762 in the Premonstratensian and 1765 they produced in the Monastery Church of Jasov) church one of the most fascinating Before 1 7 6 2 and unified Gesamtkunstwerk – SNG O 1 4 9 8 universal artwork type of interior in Thanks to the Provost Andreas our country. It is brought together Sauberer, the construction and

by Kracker’s fresco which exalts the fittings of the Jasov Premonstraten- church’s chief patron – Saint John sian church involved such distinthe Baptist – while the altarpiece guished names such as the architect works in tandem with the fresco to

create a thematic and formal core.

The sketch presents the scene in three intertwined zones, projecting both in depth and height, around the radiant body of Christ on a background of a white shroud. The central scene, wedged between foreground and background, is accented by the sanctifying light and is also linked symbolically and spatially, through the heavenly sphere, with the real-life liturgical space.

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Johann Michael Rottmayr (1 6 5 4 – 1 7 3 0 )

An example of a brilliantly executed view into the heavenly sphere with a convincing three-dimensional Triumph of Love (sketch illusion is a sketch which was to for a ceiling painting) be found in the Premonstratensian Before 1 7 2 0 Monastery in Jasov in as late (1 7 1 3 /1 7 1 4 ) as the 1950s. On this basis it was SNG O 1 2 3 6 erroneously associated with designs Spectacular ceiling paintings which for this building and with the refute the existence of wall and painter J. L. Kracker in particular. which suggest the latter’s dynamic The interpreted and discussed opening into (simulated) heavenly subject (variously as an Allegory of depths are typical Baroque artworks. Virtue – Victory of Day over Night,

a Triumph of Art with Apollo, a Triumph of Aurora, and Allegory of Life and Death) represents an allegory of the love of the ruling couple, with Queen Elisabeth Christina as Bellona. It decorated the Leopoldine tract of the Hofburg after her return from Spain. The ‘zig-zag’ composition of the dramatic fight is captured from a sharply low viewpoint on a background of the heavens defined by clouds.

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Master of the High Altarpiece from Spišské Podhradie Annunciation / Refusal of Joachim’s Sacrifice Adoration of the Magi / Meeting at the Golden Gate Nativity / Annunciation to Saint Anne and Joachim Death of the Virgin / Tree of Jesse

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After 1 4 9 3 Property of the Roman Catholic Episcopal Office Spišské Podhradie – Spišská Kapitula

Certain scenes from the life of the Virgin (Meeting of Joachim and Anne at the Golden Gate, the Annunciation, or the Adoration of the Magi) are placed within a simple

landscape. It includes hills and occasional clumps of trees. But the landscape has no natural continuation into the sky: on the contrary, the latter is instead dominated in almost all panels by a flat golden surface. Gold’s natural as well as symbolic qualities associated it with the heavenly realm, one that was only partially intelligible with the senses. But architecture probably

played an even more significant role for most of the scenes from the former Spišské Podhradie high altarpiece. Apart from the thematic connection with the story (the Golden Gate and the Nativity stable, for instance), its function lies in the spatial division of the scene, creation of compositional accents and generally the structuring of picture planes.

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space

&

illusion

Generally speaking, we can describe the construction of visual illusion as the essence of fine art. It includes architecture from the facade up to ideas around urbanism and scenography, as well as sculpture, but particularly painting and other related two dimensional work. It is especially the difficult anchoring of the illusion of depth and the resulting tricking of the eye (trompe l’oeil) which was a recurring test and challenge for the master. To create this illusion, the artist gradually adopted a plethora of formal means, and the degree of its success depended both on the circumstances around its making as well as the expectations of the work. With the depiction of space, we see a historically variable approach to the creation of a convincing version of reality as well as suggestive visions of different worlds. It must be borne in mind that not every culture had the ability (and more importantly not always the motivation) to make works which were ‘mirrors’ of the real world. This group of Gothic and Baroque works on show documents both these poles, from the symbolism of space to extreme trompe l’oeil.

The opportunities to suggest three-dimensional illusion on a surface arise on the one hand from the physiology of the human eye, and on the other hand from the psychology of our own perception and everyday experience. Alongside figures or objects in front of an unarticulated background, for instance, it is usual to employ an association purely to suggest space. The use of different angles of viewing for individual bodily parts in figures is familiar since classical antiquity. In so doing the figure demonstrated its multi-dimensionality without having to use illusionistic means. Throughout the centuries it is also common to use a variable registering system, in which what is above stands for the background, or a way of overlapping elements in a composition.

After the mimetic as well as illusionistic and decorative experiments in capturing space during classical antiquity, the Middle Ages, like Byzantium, began by committing itself to the opposing principle of visualising sacred space.

It often employs the older associative effect of depth, as well as visual significance, and thus hieratic perspective. The flat, unarticulated

background contrasts with the depicted figure, particularly if it is plastically modelled. Gilding adds a unique inner light to the image (cf. the section on light & darkness). The increasing interest in telling stories was accompanied by clearer depictions of the environment, and along with that came experiments to deepen space. Although what we commonly first imagine by the word ‘perspective’ is mathematically constructed linear perspective, there was a number of earlier, similar approaches. These were less thorough but often very convincing, based on optics and visual study, from straightforward or sometimes leaning architectures in stereometric forms (see the monumental panel paintings from Spišské Podhradie) to the complex capturing of articulated and deep interiors.

The revived method of linear perspective (of a single vanishing point) was unequivocally formulated for European art in Renaissance Florence during the 1420s. This development breakthrough owes much to Leon Battista Alberti and Filippo Brunelleschi. Alberti, in fact, explains perspective in detail and recommends it as the most fitting approach to making pictures in his treatise On Painting from 1435.

But the direct application of it in painting occurred earlier, under Brunelleschi’s influence, when Masaccio made his celebrated fresco of the Holy Trinity for the church of Santa Maria Novella in 1427; creating a faultless illusion of a ‘hole in the wall’. Faith in the universality of mathematics and perfection of geometry is typical for both painting itself and its theories in the 15th century. And not without reason does it emerge at a time when the artist shed his status as a craftsman. Knowledge of this system naturally led to great precision, but also playful and even extreme application and various visual tricks.

Leonardo significantly influenced the painterly depiction space, summarising his thoughts in a part of his manuscripts on painting from the late 15th century. He defined atmospheric perspective, for instance, with its condition of colour adjustment as it recedes into space.

He also experimented with extreme perspective through anamorphosis, but most of all

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he worked on a concept of perspective which respected the curvature of the human field of view. He also offers a practical manual on transferring a figure onto a curved wall without affecting its naturalistic effect on the viewer, and by so doing tricking the eye, which he mines extensively in his later illusionistic paintings.

North of the Alps, information was spread through personal experiences as well as theory, especially Dürer’s Treatise on Mensuration (1525 and 1536).

Interest in suggestive depictions of depth, whether earthly or heavenly, was also characteristic of Mannerism and the Baroque. Both these styles achieved this aim by a combination of spontaneous painting and theoretical foundations. Intellectual interest in the scientific study of the problem was stoked by the ever more influential art academies. But we also encounter such interest outside of those circles. An eloquent example is Velázquez’ famous collection of theoretical works: apart from writings by his ‘colleagues’ such as Dürer’s Treatise on Mensuration or Four Books on Human Proportion, or the Five Orders of Architecture by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, he also had texts by ancient authors such as Vitruvius, or Euclid’s Geometry in a Spanish translation. He also owned Cespedes‘ Book of New Geometrical Tools, meant for applied geometry with the most recent draughting tools. His collection included Practical Perspective by Daniele Barbaro, or the collected works of the mathematician Niccolo Tartaglia, who believed that geometry was the cornerstone of truth. He also drew ideas from the medieval philosophical text Optics by Witelo. The latter was still regarded as the basis of learning, and in concert with his tutor the Arab scholar Alhazen he maintained that light is a mystical substance which draws us closer to God. Velázquez was no exception. A Baroque artist, but also a consumer of art, he enjoyed perspective and its challenges, especially in different specific conditions (for instance in Dutch landscape painting). Numerous technical paraphernalia for depicting perspective or even outright trompe l’oeil contraptions were widespread. At the beginning of the early Modern Age the single vanishing point perspective

became established, but by its end it morphed into an extreme form of elevating space to the key position in an artwork. This is demonstrated most clearly by ceiling paintings simulating the endless heavens. One of the peaks of such radical illusion is the ceiling of the church of San Ignazio in Rome, depicting the Jesuits’ missionary activities (1691 – 1694). Here Andrea Pozzo painted, onto the flat ceiling, a fictitious architecture with a view through to the heavens. The perfectly convincing painting was composed along a single vanishing point with the strict placement of a viewer standing on the floor; from other angles this monumental system more or less disintegrated. The influence of Pozzo’s work, but especially through his treatise Perspective in Painting and Architecture (1693 and 1700) was enormous and also made an impact in Central Europe. But this was still not the end of illusionistic effects and play in Old Master art. Already during the Baroque we encounter a different type of monumental illusionistic ceiling fresco, which similarly suppresses the limits of real architecture and formed without its elements. Its principle became light, unifying space together with variously composed, foreshortened figures and other objects. Good examples are the exhibited pair of preparatory sketches for ceiling paintings from Johann M. Rottmayr and Franz A. Maulbertsch.

The various forms of perspective which imitate human perception of space remained, though in a less overt way, the basic building block of a painting through to the 19th century. It could be described therefore as one of the fundamental elements of Old Master art. K C h

Recommended reading Gombrich 1959 Hildebrand 2004 Puttfarken 2000 Kat. Bratislava 1983b Javor 2005 Matche 2005 Javor – Slavíček (eds.) 2009

light

&

darkness

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Anonymous painter (after Albrecht Dürer) Madonna on a Crescent Moon After 1 5 1 6 SNG O 3 3 2

The gold backgrounds of Gothic panel paintings developed during the 15th century into sophisticated, technologically almost independent parts of the artwork. Punching,

incising, and brocading are only some of the many techniques. They were used to further divide the metallic and reflective background, and finally also to mimic the appearance of a precious, jewel-like object in altarpieces, triptychs or independent paintings. The gold leaf covered background of the Virgin panel (with sun rays and leaf ornament) of unknown provenance is

finished in a brocading technique – contrasting various surfaces akin often to flower patterns familiar from contemporary fabrics. The gilded background articulates the vision of Saint John’s Apocalypse: a woman clothed by the sun, and simultaneously representing the Mother of God.

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Josef Ignaz Mildorfer (1 7 1 9 – 1 7 7 5 ) circle

European painting. On the one hand it shows the resurgence of a tenebrous style which developed during the Late Baroque in Central Europe Holy Family in a particularly vital form and in 1760 – 1780 various guises. In this instance the SNG O 3 1 4 5 only source illuminating the intiThis painting, attributed to an unmate scene is the otherworldly glow known artist from Mildorfer’s circle of the child’s body – of Jesus held in is connnected to the following work; Saint Joseph’s hands. The quality of but it also demonstrates two typical this atmosphere-creating light is, as contemporary tendencies in Central with the Nativity, a significance

which emphasises its divine source.

On the other hand the picture demonstrates the new emphasis on Post-Tridentine iconography of the Holy Family, with the particularly accented position of Saint Joseph with elements of intimacy and everyday details. Within Habsburg lands the figure of God’s nursing father developed into the role of family patron.

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Josef Ignaz Mildorfer 1719 – 1775 Nativity 1763 – 1764 SNG O 5 3 0 6

This cultivated painting with its tenebrous base in the spirit of the Late Baroque finds its source of light in the small glowing body of the newly born Son of God. Formally as well as artistically it is testament to

the dissemination of Paul Troger’s variously modified style: he was a painter and professor at the Vienna Academy. Its author Josef Ignaz Mildorfer, a member of a large Innsbruck artistic family, is a significant representative of this approach. He worked as a professor as well as court painter to Archduchess Emanuela of Savoy in Vienna. Works which are linked to our region begin with the now lost altarpiece

paintings for the capuchins in Holíč (from around 1755) and end with the similarly lost fresco of the Marianka Paulite Church choir (1769). The exhibited painting most probably comes from chapel of the manor house in Považské Podhradie, and is connected to its redecoration by the Szápary family between 1763 and 1764.

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light

&

darkness

Light, a natural and even irreplaceable part of our existence, is a physical value. Fine art not only consciously uses it, especially with three-dimensional works, but has always at the same time explored its adequate visual appearance; particularly in two-dimensional artefacts. From the three elements which are visible to the eye it translates two into artistic language – colour (frequency) and illumination (amplitude), giving each a specific content. It allows for differentiation between its real physical appearance, where colour and light are identical, and our own perception of these attributes as two separate categories; light as an unfixed phenomenon and colour as an independent, constant attribute of objects.

Their depiction is similarly independent, although in the case of light mostly with the help of pigment, and less often through the use of a reflective and rare material such as gold (in the miniature section of the exhibition this position is represented by Gothic panels – Madonna on a Crescent Moon and an Altarpiece Wing from Tvrdošín with the Figures of Saints Peter and Paul). Such a constructed relationship between pictorial light and colour offers many expressive opportunities and is additionally influenced by the actual illumination of the artefact.

Light in an artwork, and especially in painting, which is central to this small section, has several functions. The first place is occupied by real as well as depicted light, without which the existence of painting and related mediums would lose all meaning. Light also facilitates the optical perception of the third dimension, and as such it plays an important part in building this dimension. This is so irrespective of the type of art, with the distinction that in the case of architecture and sculpture the light is real, while painting mostly uses the depicted form of light. Apart from the already mentioned formal

aspects, light has a powerful emotional function. In relation to our direct psychological reaction to light conditions it becomes a forceful expressive and atmosphere-forming tool. We also cannot ignore its meaning. Light symbolism enjoyed great significance since antiquity – it was linked to higher being and both the Sun and Moon deities. In ancient Greece we encounter its philosophical metaphysics, in the Middle Ages its mystical interpretation. Even later it retains the ability, in both form and content, to evoke the unearthly, in Western Christian culture mainly heavenly environment.

The art of the presented time scale, from the Gothic to the Baroque, used a large number of equipment to capture light on a pictorial surface. The development of pictorial light begins in the Middle Ages with its depiction in glowing pigments. As such it is part of the image, does not cast a shadow and has no parallel with natural light. The abstract golden background, dividing the upper sphere from earthly life also tends to shine. The gradual shift to depictions of so-called illuminating light begins in the Italian 14th century – the trecento. It is not always consistent, but as can be seen with Giotto (1266? – 1337), for instance, illuminated objects cast shadows and volumes are clearly and plastically modelled by the light.

The Renaissance era also pioneered new ways of constructing pictorial light which simulates reality: from the consistently diffused illumination of scenes from a quasi-natural source outside the image with emphases on the beauties of local colour, through the defining of atmospheric perspective, to the development of sfumato – a soft modelling with shadow. In this connection we cannot omit to mention both the art and theoretical works of Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519). In relation to the understanding of painting as a creation between light and darkness, he wrote in 1492 that “shadow is more

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powerful than light”. Particularly seminal is his text On Shadow and Light which establishes painting as a science. It maintains that the mutual correspondence of light and dark is the height of painterly perfection, and that shadow is essential in capturing beauty, and so is the general foundation of art. The ideal artistic result is also a convincing effect of plasticity created with the help of light and shade.

After the successful creation of the illusion of naturally lighted reality with a constant luminosity, there come from Mannerism onwards various experiments with the expressive qualities of pictorial light. Artists became increasingly more interested in the simulation of changeable lighting, since changeable intensity belongs to the basic characteristics of daylight.

It changes not only the colour scale which veers away from local tones, but also the relationship between light and colour, as the former ceases to shine and becomes suppressed.

These tendencies were fully developed in the subsequent Baroque period. From the early 17th century, theories on the unity of light and colour developed rapidly and peaked with Newton’s work on Optics from 1704. Simultaneously the Baroque, fond of applying the principles of scenographic directing to pictorial light, offered various solutions for its depiction. This happened under the influence of artistic schools or styles, as well as for instance the function or type of realisation with a view to the requirements of newly developing genres such as landscape or still life. The light sources of paintings were natural as well as otherwise, and were happily combined within and outside the scene. A peculiarity was the expansion of various ‘tenebrous’ paintings – made on the principle of extreme chiaroscuro technique, popularised by Caravaggio (1573 – 1610) between the 16th and 17th centuries. Only directly illuminated parts of the composition advance from the

otherwise dark backgrounds. This technique was exceptionally popular until almost the end of the 18th century, though it was used very individually and inventively. Under Venetian influence it also enjoyed a great flowering in Central European Baroque; a leading exponent of this approach was Josef I. Mildorfer, whom we present here with his Nativity. But it was far from the only way in which pictorial light was handled. Out of them all, we must at least mention the so-called painters of light in 17th century Holland. From these, for instance, Vermeer van Delft (1632 – 1675) explored the relationship between atmosphere and the changing light in his own interiors, including with the use of the technical innovation of camera obscura: he happened to believe that yellow and blue were the fundamental colours of light.

A kind of apogee of the scientific exploration and application of pictorial light is the discovery of luminism in the 18th century. Its beginnings are linked especially to Venetian painting of the late Baroque and Rococo (Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1696 – 1770). It consists of a technique which is the opposite of tenebrous painting; its central goal is light and light atmosphere with changing local colour. The colour-light contrast is used to build space. The end of this period is marked by the ascent of the Enlightenment, during which both the form and content of light changes. Its cooler tones become synonymous with thought and reason. K C h

Recommended reading DSVU – Gotika Chastel 2008 Leube–Payer 2011 Pedretti 1965 Preiss 1999

body

&

gesture

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Anonymous painter from the Spiš region (Master Nicholas of Levoča?)

Madonna with Angels from Poprad 1484 SNG O 1 5 9 3

The central message of the Virgin-themed panel from Poprad is the Body of Christ. But this Eucharistic motif (such as the Crucified Christ or the Man of Sorrows) is not depicted here directly. Rather it is transformed into the naked body of Baby Jesus, contrasting with the background fabrics. Mary’s veil seems to create a theatre stage:

angels hold it on either side, and so their looks and gestures cleverly lead the viewer’s eye towards the main motif. Moreover, the parapet which supports the open breviary and several other more or less symbolic motifs is reminiscent of the top of an altar stone – another nod to the Eucharist in this web of visual signals.

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Dionysius Ignaz Stanetti (1 7 1 0 – 1 7 6 7 ) Saint Elisabeth 1762 – 1764 SNG P 1 8 4 0

The trio of richly gilded sculptures is a fragment from the sculptural decoration of a side Altarpiece of Saint Anne in the former Parish Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kremnica, which was demolished due to static issues in 1880.

The centre of this altarpiece was taken up by a painting by the Viennese Anton Schmidt. Together with the Silesian author of the sculptures he made an experienced artistic duo which produced the majority of Central Slovakian commissions in the 1750s and 60s.

The pendant to the Saint Anne sculpture was her husband Zacharias, a Jewish priest (Slovak National Museum in Martin, inv. no.

KH 7137). The surviving carvings also document the communication system of the figural decoration of the whole, made equally with gestures and figural poses with their slightly elongated proportions.

Despite their coverings into layers and partly archaizing dress, we can discern the bodies’ elegant poses with their sinuous contours, thanks to the rhythmical repetition of tightly fitting parts. Hand gestures suggest not only the placement of their respondent, and so the position of the carving as a whole, but also greeting and signs of respect, or holding and presenting an attribute.

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Paul Gross the Elder (? – around 1 6 8 8 ) Last Supper 1660s SNG P 1 5 6 7

The Last Supper relief from Veľká is characteristic of Paul Gross the Elder, the founder of a key Early

Baroque sculpture workshop in the Spiš region. It was probably made with the help of a print composition, and itself became a model for contemporary and workshop replicas (such as one in Spišská Teplica). By utilising the heavy figures typical of the artist, along with repeated physiognomic

signs, the relief offers a summation of stereotypical thematic gestures: from Christ’s hands emphasising the nearby bread and chalice, through Peter’s left hand reverently placed on his chest, to the free gestures of discussion or serving on the right side of the scene, derived from everyday life.

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Ludwig Gode (? – 1 7 5 8 / 5 9 ) workshop Angel Around 1 7 4 0 SNG P 8 0

Thanks to Georg Raphael Donner’s stay in Bratislava, the city for a short period became the centre of an important Central European school of sculpture. Under its influence, the Classicist aesthetic principle became familiar in our environment and resonated deeply into the 18th century. Evidence of this powerful Donner tradition includes this gilded carving of an angel, from the workshop of one of the former’s most talented pupils and followers – Ludwig Gode. The figure, similar to representations of guardian angels, betrays in its composition the admiration of antique as well as Renaissance models. It is reminiscent of an elegant antique ephebe in a casual contrapposto, with large wings smoothly resolving its outer contour. Unlike the dynamic expressions of the Baroque, here precedence is given to the ennobling sincerity of anatomically meaningful movement, which also corresponds with the gentle drapery softly covering the bottom half of the body.

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Ludwig Gode (? – 1 7 5 8 ) follower Melancholy 1770 – 1790 SNG P 2 5 5

Another example of Donner’s strong tradition in Slovakia is the allegorical female figure of Melancholy, made by an unknown follower of Ludwig Gode. The small, calmly sitting allegorical figure from an anonymous tomb expresses the Classicist influence in sepulchral sculpture. At the same time this 18th century tomb sculpture, rare in museum collections, demonstrates a clearly defined mourning gesture which hides part of the downturned face. We can already find such gestures, similarly functioning as visual representations of grief or mourning, in the reliefs of antiquity.

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body

&

gesture

Old Master art, with its preponderance of figurative work, represents the human body as undoubtedly the key means of expression. The variety of its depiction is as a result very great and was in no way determined by the actual physical diversity of individuals. The formal portrayal of the body as the main expressive medium was set by a number of factors, including the cultural surroundings, the time in which the work was produced, as well as its function and technique. Evidently it was extensively influenced by contemporary changes in taste and the changing ideals of beauty, and so, especially with regards to geometrical stylisation, it oscillates between the idealisation of various canons and simulation of reality, bordering at times on verism.

The canon applied to physical form was determined by a proportional system which resolved the perfect relationships between individual parts. From the Gothic age to the end of the Baroque it continued to be inspired by, or identified in relation to, the immortal model of classical art. These rules continue to lay a prominent aesthetic norm even today.

Paradoxically, however, both the Gothic and the Baroque (excepting its classicist branch) preferred a differently stylised bodily form, favouring elongated proportions. The expressive element was accentuated by two factors, closely tied to the body, and which played a key role: One of these factors was drapery – in the Christian context an integral part of the figure since

the expulsion of the first humans from Paradise. In Gothic and Baroque art, nakedness was used less often and was linked particularly with mythological themes and tended to be an attribute of the divine origin of the depicted subject.

From the artistic point of view the correspondence between the body and drapery was especially important, and could have been taken from a position of mutual contrast or similarity.

The drapery folds flowing around a body could respect and reveal physical form, but could also directly reject it, in order for example to compositionally highlight content or expression. These kinds of draperies which repudiated physical laws became during the Gothic and Baroque another compositional plane of both the figures and the whole artwork, for instance an altarpiece. Apart from this, the context and theme-dependent dress of a figure also spoke significantly about the latter’s character, profession or social status – for proof of this we only have to compare the liturgical copes and Episcopal mitres of the Church Fathers Saints Augustine and Ambrose in this section.

But the indisputably key position of emotional mediator in depictions of the human body was taken by the expressive gesture, which is simultaneously a convenient compositional centre point. Since Old Master art is overwhelmingly figurative and compositions are based on bodies mutually interconnected by poses and gestures, it is necessary to analyse these attitudes in detail. In the non-verbal communication of fine

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art not only the subject-matter, but the entire expression of the part or the whole is intimately bound with the gesture. Its seemingly obvious use furthermore creates both emotional and formal links which enable the artworks to be ‘read’. Artistic ‘gestuality’ is then a system of a number of gestures with varying degrees of codifying certain forms – from the ceremonial to routine gestures of everyday life (an example of the former may be given by the Madonna from Poprad, the latter in a relief context by the Last Supper by Paul Gross). A respectable part of it is given to symbolic forms which are often unintelligible for the modern world without access to old writers. The study of rhetoric, from as far back as Cicero and Quintilian, contains a wealth of gestures which are used to this day. The world of antiquity required one set of tools for non-verbal communication, since it combined mythology itself with intimacy and the everyday; another was needed by the Hebraic-Christian environment, whose ritualised gestures linked to activities of a cult, such as blessings, prayer, or greeting were codified by the image and carried symbolic value.

Gestures may be organised into groups and systems according to different criteria; primarily into the sacred and profane, extraordinary and quotidian, but also for instance the celebratory and the commemorative (such as the sculpture of Melancholy in this exhibition). Awareness of this is also contained in one of the oldest theoretical works on the gesture, The Art of Signs by

Giovanni Bonifaccio from 1616; in it he understands physical gestures and signs as a type of rhetoric. Fittingly he dedicates his work, which contains more than 600 such signs, to monarchs who “in their dignity communicate more in signs than in words”. But as Charles Darwin correctly noted in 1872, explaining gestures physiologically as reflex movements, the depicted documentation of human gestuality is selective. He was disappointed that, despite their naturalistic appearance, he could not find true forms but only attenuated movements arranged in novel ways. They represent, therefore, an independent image-sign language, only rooted in perceived reality. K C h

Recommended reading Eisenbichler – Sohm (eds.) 1986 Gombrich 1982 Chastel 1984 Chastel 2008 Chmelinová 2002 Kat. Bratislava 1983b

life

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death

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Anonymous painter Catafalque portrait of George D. Balthazar Horvath-Stansith 1678 SNG O 4 8 4 1

So-called catafalque portraits are a peculiarity of 16th and 17th century Hungarian painting. The nobility relished the opportunity to stage

splendid funeral marches and the portraits served as reminders of the deceased’s appearance for the mourners, including family members who were late for the actual ceremony. These artworks now serve as a source of historical research (since they often include written details and dates), and they also offer a view into contemporary

dress and furnishings of aristocratic homes, depending on the social status or wealth of the deceased.

But they are much less reliable when it comes to the actual appearance of the deceased. Since they were often painted during the latter’s life, sometimes during youth, these portraits strongly adhere to type and idealisation.

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Master Paul of Levoča circle Holy Trinity (Throne of Grace) from Poloma Around 1 5 2 0 SNG P 2 2 6 2

The subject of this relief, whose original use is not entirely clear (altar relief?, devotional image?), is a particular type of the Holy Trinity, whose abstract theological principle is transformed into a convincing form: God the Father holds the lifeless and pale body of Christ (the dove

of the Holy Spirit has not survived), while two flanking angels lift a veil (almost a curtain) to allow the viewer to gaze upon Christ’s body. This is simultaneously the symbol of the Eucharist, whose cult was propagated and spread by brotherhoods of the Holy Body all over Europe.

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South German sculptor Imago Pietatis Man of Sorrows with the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist Around 1 5 0 0 SNG P 2 7 0 0

The sculpture group of Christ as the Man of Sorrows, accompanied by the figures of the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist, derives from Byzantine iconographic traditions.

Though the actors play principal roles in the Crucifixion, the Bible does not contain a scene formulated in this way. Christ in the tomb was first depicted on separate icon

panels – triptychs. Italian painting not only concentrated all three figures into a single scene, but together with the developing cult of the Eucharist (the Body of Christ) it made the most of its theatrical potential. Similar sculpture groups decorated predellas on Late Gothic altarpieces in Slovakia well into the 16th century.

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Anonymous painter Epitaph(?) of Emeric Czobor from Skalica Around 1 5 2 0 SNG O 3 8 5

This unusually large panel painting depicts the Madonna and a knight in armour lying at her feet. Both figures are borrowed from the prints of Albrecht Dürer (from 1508 and 1502/3). The angelic pair above is also taken from a 1513 Dürer print. The magnificent coat of arms with its crest and ostrich feathers belongs to

the Czobor family: the arms contain a six-pointed star below crossed ostrich feathers, all on an azure shield. The helm and crest is completed with more feathers and a heron (or stork) with a fish in its beak. But this waterfowl itself becomes the prey of another bird landing on its back.

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Anonymous Viennese or Bratislava sculptor (perhaps Hans Kamensetzer) Adoration of the Lord (so-called Nativity from Hlohovec) Around 1 4 8 0 – 1 4 9 0 SNG P 5 3

This monumental deep relief was originally the central sculpture group of the High Altarpiece in Saint Martin Parish Church in Bratislava (now its Cathedral); this church was also known throughout the Middle Ages to use its older patron, the Most Holy Redeemer.

The relief shows both a richly developed Nativity narrative as well as exceptionally high sculptural quality. The workshop which made the altarpiece was probably based in the Imperial court of Federick II in Vienna or Wiener Neustadt. During Baroque redecoration of the Bratislava church interior after 1732, the Gothic altarpiece relief was removed by the Erdődy family, who built a special chapel and initiated pilgrimages for its worship at Hlohovec Castle.

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Anonymous painter from the Spiš region Predella from the Altarpiece of Saint Anne from Spišská Nová Ves Around 1 5 0 0 SNG O 3 1 4

This work of unusual format was originally the bottom part of an altar retable, placed directly above the altar stone. Hence the faces and the flesh tones overall (all depiction of skin) are painted in great detail.

The image of Christ was even cut out in the past, reassembly of the work having been made only during the conservation in 1950. The main

trio of Christ, Our Lady of Sorrows and Saint John are accompanied by Saint Wolfgang Bishop and Pope Saint Boniface – each holding their attribute of a church model. The particularly individualised faces of these figures imply that they may have been based on actual church dignitaries from when the altarpiece was being made.

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life

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death

According to some anthropologists and art theo­rists, the fundamental aim of art was from its very beginnings to represent man’s vision of death. Indeed, the firm majority of artefacts from archaic cultures are directly connected to the cult of the dead. It suffices to mention Egyptian pyramids, but also burial methods and material evidence found in tombs in other cultures (the Maya, ancient Greece or Rome).

The birth of what we now consider to be art would never have come to being without intense reflections upon death. The so-called Fayum portraits – depictions of faces of the dead from 1st to 6th century A.D. Egyptian tombs – clearly document this function: their primary function was to preserve the visual appearance of a person for as long as possible after death.

This aim, amongst other things, determined for entire centuries the human face as a ‘natural’ means of identifying individuals (see the section type & individual for more on this function). Simultaneously the direct experience of visual culture with the human body exercised a fundamental, still-continuing influence on the development of portraiture. It created a key principle from the image of a body (including capturing its transience), often at loggerheads with religious convention. Man was confronted with it not only in the surrounding environment, but also in ideas reaching beyond the horizon of life and empirical experience. The image or sculpture therefore had from the beginning an advantage over the word: apart from a disposition to make present the absent it could also delineate the invisible.

The Central European cultural experience was, along with traditions from antiquity, deeply affected by Christianity. It concentrated the

idea of death in many places of the Old and New Testaments and in the lives of saints, which served as models worthy of following not only in a moral way; they were also formative in illuminating a variety of other stances of man to the world around him. It is not surprising therefore that, in hagiographic legends and their depictions, the central role fell to the martyr’s death, which was an expression of sacrifice for a certain religious ideal, and often accompanied by a miracle. A prominent place in the Bible is given to the death of Christ – the Crucifixion, an image of sacrifice in order to redeem sinners, and its connected themes – the Resurrection or Ascension, among others.

In terms of the holdings of the Slovak National Gallery, the theme of death in the Gothic collection is represented mainly by sculpture and painting which originally formed parts of Gothic altarpieces. The Predella of the Altarpiece of Saint Anne in Spišská Nová Ves represents a widely-known iconographic type of Christ as the Man of Sorrows in a tomb (Imago Pietatis in Latin), accompanied by the Sorrowful Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist, with further Bishop saints on either side. We recognise this central group again, albeit in sculptural form, in the sculptural group of Christ as the Man of Sorrows, which was made on the cusp of the 16th century probably in one of the very productive southern German workshops.

The iconographic type of Christ in a tomb, with Mary and Saint John, has its source in Byzantine art, particularly in 12th and 13th century triptychs. Their content, but also often their formal and compositional solutions came to Europe through Italian 13th and 14th century painting. By the 15th century they were

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a regular part of Central European altarpieces, especially the predellas under the central sections. Their placement at the celebrating priest’s eyelevel furthermore allowed the concentration of individual motifs. This is also the reason why, despite a firm iconography, the predella sometimes highlights other motifs.

At the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries they display a certain theatricality – the tortured Christ’s figure is ‘presented’ to the viewer, while compositional motifs (the tomb, movement gestures) within the image confirm the hierarchy of figures. Rich details, together with relatively high visibility, also opened the possibility to show so-called crypto-portraits – moments when even Biblical or saintly figures wore the features of particular people from the time of the painting’s creation. In many cases the latter had themselves depicted in the figure of one of the kneeling kings or saint-bishops assisting the scene with Christ in the tomb.

But often, despite the evident desire to show individual features, we cannot name the historical person.

Another iconographic variant of the Man of Sorrows is the Throne of Grace. This early 16th century relief from the wider circle of Master Paul of Levoča depicts God the Father embracing the limp body of Christ. But the effect of this sculptural group does not end with the prosaic depiction of an idea – one that is more or less absent in the Bible. The Throne of Grace is in fact an iconography which was not formulated by scholars – theologians, but by artists themselves on the basis of an older and very popular type of sculptural group – the Pieta. Originally it contained the Virgin with the dead Christ on her lap. Its powerful emotional charge excited great interest (and many commissions) in

various levels of the contemporary society; and even during its height there appeared experiments with a version which depicted Christ in the arms of God the Father. The dove of the Holy Spirit completed the overall iconography as a visualised idea of the key Trinitarian dogma.

The growing reticence of church authorities over certain medieval ‘illustrations’ and later (after the Council of Trent) the attempt to ban them outright point to art’s power, especially when it is beyond official religious doctrine.

In this section we gave prominent place to a large painting, probably an epitaph, with the Madonna, Knight and Arms of the Czobor Family from the Franciscan Church in Skalica. The knightly figure at the Virgin’s feet continues to be a conundrum. At first sight he appears to be asleep (the Madonna in her radiance could then be interpreted as his dream or vision). Recently some authors compared this visual reference with the widespread image of Adam at the foot of the Cross, or its typological (Old Testament) prototype of Adam at the foot of King Solomon’s throne. The painting’s function is not entirely clear: it could be the epitaph of one of the Czobors, and in view of the coat of arms, the painting’s style and its hypothetical dating it could represent Emeric I, a royal diplomat, and amongst other functions the captain of Bratislava Castle, the Lord Lieutenant of Bratislava and Temes Counties, and foremost ally to the court of Vladislas II Jagiello. But it could equally be a memorial painted on the occasion of a commemorative mass celebrated for one of the family members.

Apart from the two decisive poles of Christological iconography, the present collection also illustrates other pictorial functions of death. We may consider the catafalque portraits from the

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Kingdom of Hungary as unique in the context of Central Europe. Their function is still not wholly apparent, but they were probably directly used during the funeral ceremonies with the attempt to retain the deceased’s likeness not just for the eyes of the wider family (who often spent weeks travelling to a funeral), but forever.

We may ascribe this commemorative function to the death portraits of two Horváth Stansith family members. Both were later adjusted to their current format, but it is still clear that they belong to a small group of Renaissance epitaphs (tomb memorials) whose figures of the dead could – in fact for the last time – be stylised into sleeping men and women surrounded by their everyday life attributes (or with trophies from the battles their men were prepared to suffer). Similar paintings are often the only source of information regarding the various objects, current fashions and luxury fabrics in Slovak noble courts, which now exist only in fragments – and again were found in tombs.

And yet: however ‘death-gazing’ Gothic and Baroque sacral art appears to us today, its omnipresent visualisations of death were balanced by convincing celebrations of life, even the birth of life. Since the 15th century empirical observations by artists began to confront religious teachings, in the first place the knot of ideas linked to the so-called Immaculate Conception of the Virgin. The key object in this section is the tall relief of the Nativity, called ‘from Hlohovec’, in fact originally from the main altarpiece of the Cathedral (then Parish Church) of Saint Martin in Bratislava. Its central theme is the birth of Jesus. This version, however, made by a sculptor from the circle of Niclaus Gerhaert of Leyden after 1480 for the Bratislava provost church is more of a genuflection – an Adoration

of the Child. In light of the date of its creation the scene has an unusually rich narrative context (the Saint Joseph doffing his hat, shepherds with their flock, midwives clambering over the fence). The illustration of the vision of Saint Bridget of Sweden (†1373) purposely marginalises all physical aspects of the Nativity in an attempt to support the doctrine of Mary’s everlasting virginity – even after the Birth of Jesus.

Younger, Baroque paintings usually develop the events around the Nativity and Jesus’ childhood in separate scenes. Examples are two paintings of an unusual format by Erasmus Schrött from the end of the 18th century – the Annunciation to the Shepherds and Circumcision in the Temple. D B

Recommended reading Ariés 1977 Bartlová 2012 Belting 1981 Belting 2001 DSVU – Barok Endrődi 2001 Homolka 1972 Kat. Bratislava 1983a Kroos 1984 Krötzl – Mustakallio (eds.) 2011 Labuda 2006 Panofsky 1964 Poleross 1988

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intro Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1 7 3 6 — 1 7 8 3 ) Character Head 2 2 Virtuous 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 9 0 Patinated lead alloy 4 2 × 2 3 × 2 6 cm SNG P 2 5 7 3 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 9 0

Character Head 3 Rude Mocker 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 8 5 Patinated lead alloy 4 4.5 × 2 3 × 2 3 cm SNG P 2 3 1 0 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 5

Character Head 4 4 Suppressed Laughter 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 8 3 Patinated lead alloy 3 1 × 2 3 × 2 2 cm SNG P 2 1 5 7 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 3

Character Head 1 5 Emaciated Old Man with Painful Eyes 1777 — 1785 cast 1 9 8 4 Patinated lead alloy 4 4.5 × 2 4 × 2 8 cm SNG P 2 1 6 9 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 4

Character Head 6 Peculiar “Beaked” Bust 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 8 5 Patinated lead alloy 4 2 × 2 7 × 2 3.5 cm SNG P 2 2 2 7 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 5

Character Head 4 3 Important Secret 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 8 9 Patinated lead alloy 4 2 × 2 3 × 2 4.5 cm SNG P 2 5 0 4 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 9

Character Head 5 Yawning 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 8 4 Patinated lead alloy 4 3 × 2 3 × 2 4 cm SNG P 2 1 7 0 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 4

Character Head 3 9 Hypocrite and Gossip 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 8 9 Patinated lead alloy 3 7 × 2 4 × 2 8.5 cm SNG P 2 5 0 5 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 9

Character Head 1 9 Heavily Wounded 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 8 5 Patinated lead alloy 4 5.5 × 2 6 × 2 3.5 cm SNG P 2 2 6 0 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 5

Character Head 4 9 The Sharpest Smell 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 8 2 Patinated lead alloy 4 7 × 2 7.5 × 3 1 cm SNG P 2 1 5 6 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 2

Character Head 3 2 Serious Self-Portrait 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 8 5 Patinated lead alloy 4 3 × 2 2 × 2 2 cm SNG P 2 1 5 8 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 5 Character Head 2 0 Angry and Vindictive Gypsy 1777 — 1783 cast 1 9 8 5 Patinated lead alloy 4 3.5 × 2 4 × 2 5 cm SNG P 2 2 2 6 Cast for the SNG in 1 9 8 5

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expression

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emotion

Master Paul of Levoča(?)

Saint Andrew from Strážky After 1 5 2 0 (1 5 2 4 ) Lime wood, gilded and polychromed 1 0 6.5 × 3 5 × 2 8 cm SNG P 1 3 8 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 2 Master of the Matejovce Royal Figures Madonna from Ondrej/ Hôrka (called „from Švábovce“) Beginning of the 1 6 th century Lime wood, gilded and polychromed 1 0 9.5 × 2 8 × 2 0 cm SNG P 2 2 8 2 Gained from the National Gallery in Prague in 1 9 7 4 Master of the Matejovce Royal Figures Saint Nicholas from Partizánska (Nemecká) Ľupča Beginning of the 1 6 th century Lime wood, gilded and polychromed 1 3 9 × 3 7 × 2 7 cm SNG P 2 2 8 1 Transferred from the National Gallery in Prague in 1 9 8 7 Spiš sculptor Saint Nicholas from an unknown locality in the Spiš End of the 1 5 th century Lime wood, gilded and polychromed 1 2 1 × 3 5 × 2 2 cm SNG P 7 0 6 Bought in 1 9 6 3

Unknown sculptor Our Lady of Sorrows from Kalinka Before 1 5 0 0 Lime wood, polychromed 6 5.5 × 2 0 × 1 6 cm SNG P 1 4 0 3 Bought in 1 9 7 1 Anton Schmidt (1 7 1 3 — 1 7 7 3 ) Saint Peter of Alcantara Before 1 7 6 3 Oil on canvas 2 4 5 × 1 6 0.8 cm SNG O 6 8 3 3 Bought from the parish in Kremnica in 2 0 0 5 Jozef Gode (1 7 3 4 — 1 8 0 6 ) The Ecstasy of Saint Francis 1776 — 1778 Lead relief, later copper plated 4 2.5 × 2 4 cm SNG P 1 6 0 0 Bought in 1 9 7 3 Jozef Gode (1 7 3 4 — 1 8 0 6 ) The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa 1776 — 1778 Lead relief, later copper plated 4 2.5 × 2 4 cm SNG P 1 6 0 1 Bought in 1 9 7 3 Central European sculptor Crucified Christ (Plague Crucifix) After 1 7 0 9 Wood, polychromed 1 3 7 × 9 0.5 × 3 1 cm SNG P 2 6 9 7 Bought from the parish in Kremnica in 2 0 0 5

Vít Stadler (1 6 3 5 — 1 6 5 5 documented in Slovakia) Pieta altarpiece 1650 Wood, gilded and polychromed 2 5 7.5 × 1 6 0 × 4 1 cm P 2721 Gained as part of the interior of Zvolen Castle — SNG Bratislava in 1 9 6 5 Paul Troger (1 6 9 8 — 1 7 6 2 ) follower The Lamentation of Christ Second half of the 1 8 th century Oil on canvas 2 6 4 × 2 3 0 cm SNG O 6 5 5 2 Bought in 1 9 8 9 Anonymous woodcarver Our Lady of Sorrows End of the 1 7 th century Wood, traces of polychromy 1 1 4 × 4 0 cm SNG P 8 5 1 Bought in 1 9 6 4 Anonymous woodcarver The Body of Christ (Corpus Christi) Around 1 7 0 0 Wood, traces of polychromy and gilding 8 5 × 3 3 × 2 3.8 cm SNG P 1 7 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 0

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type Anonymous woodcarver Our Lady of Sorrows Second half of the 1 8 th century Wood, gilded and polychromed 1 6 0 × 6 9 × 5 3 cm SNM — HM UH 3 Property of the Slovak National Museum — Historical Museum Anonymous woodcarver Mary of the Assumption (study) Beginning of the 1 8 th century Wood, polychromed, silvered with glazes 4 3 × 1 6 × 1 3 cm SNG P 2 5 7 4 Bought in 1 9 9 1 Martin Vogerle (?)

(1 7 1 4 — 1 7 7 0 ) The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception (study) Around 1 7 4 0 Wood, traces of polychromy 5 0 × 2 6 × 1 5 cm SNG P 2 3 4 8 Bought in 1 9 8 8 Franz Xaver Seegen (1 7 2 4 — 1 7 8 0 ) Calvary 1761 Wood, dark brown patina 6 9 × 3 5 cm SNG P 4 2 2 Gifted by the Slovak Religious Fund in 1 9 5 5 Central European sculptor Christ Triumphant (study) End of the 1 7 th century Wood, polychromed 6 2 × 1 8 × 1 3 cm SNG P 1 6 4 7 Bought in 1 9 7 3

Ľudovít Gode (? — 1 7 5 8 /5 9 ) follower Saint John the Evangelist Around 1 7 6 0 Wood, gilded 6 5 × 3 4 × 1 8 cm SNG P 2 7 2 8 In the deposit Unknown sculptor of the Spiš Region Head of Christ (The Cloth of Veronica) Circa 1 4 8 0 Wood (polychromy and board are younger) 3 1 × 2 1.5 × 1 5 cm SNG P 2 2 8 0 Gained from the National Gallery in Prague in 1 9 8 7

&

individual

Unknown painter (from the Spiš or Lesser Poland) Triptych from Strážky 1460 — 1470 Wood, egg tempera, silver foil with yellow glaze, punching Central panel 1 3 9 × 1 0 2 cm; wings 1 3 8.5 × 5 1 cm SNG O 1 5 9 0 - 1 5 9 2 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 7 Anonymous Viennese or Bratislava sculptor (Hans Kamensetzer?)

The Virgin from an Annunciation group Around or after 1 4 8 0 Lime wood, gilded and polychromed Height 1 4 8.5 cm Property of the Roman Catholic parish — Veľký Biel Anonymous woodcarver Madonna from Žiar nad Hronom Around or after the mid-1 5 th century Lime wood, base coats of polychromy, traces of gilding 1 2 0 × 4 6 × 2 2 cm SNG P 1 4 0 4 Bought in 1 9 7 1 Master Paul of Levoča circle Sculptures from Hozelec (Man of Sorrows; Saints Stephen, Ladislaus and Emeric) Around 1 5 2 0 Lime wood, polychromed and gilded (traces) 1 1 5 × 3 4 × 2 6 cm, 8 0 × 2 4 × 1 7 cm, 8 4 × 2 6 × 2 1 cm, 7 6.5 × 2 3 × 1 4 cm SNG P 2 2 8 4 - 2 2 8 7 Transferred from the

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National Gallery in Prague in 1 9 7 4 and 1 9 8 7 Sculptor from the Spiš Region Madonna from Ruskinovce Beginning of the 1 4 th century Lime wood, traces of polychromy and gilding 1 3 9 × 4 0 × 3 8.5 cm SNG P 1 7 0 0 Bought from an church owner in 1 9 7 4 Anonymous Viennese sculptor Two bishops from Marianka (Saints Nicholas and Blaise) After 1 5 0 0 Lime wood 9 7 × 3 0 × 1 7 cm SNM — HM UH 1 1 5 2 6 , UH 11525 Property of the Slovak National Museum — Historical Museum Sculptor from the Spiš Region Saints Helena and Catherine from the Virgin altarpiece in Pikovce Around 1 5 0 0 Lime wood, traces of gilding and polychromy 9 1. 5 × 2 1.5 × 1 4 cm, 7 6.5 × 1 9.5 × 1 4 cm SNG P 2 2 8 8 -2 2 8 9 Transferred from the National Gallery in Prague in 1 9 8 7 Unknown Swabian Sculptor Two saints from Ľubica (Saints Mary Magdalene and Barbara) Around 1 5 0 0 Lime wood 1 1 9 × 3 8 × 2 7 cm,

1 2 0 × 3 6.5 × 2 7 cm SNG P 1 3 9 -1 4 0 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 1 Unknown sculptor Madonna from Ďapalovce Around 1 4 2 0 Lime wood, traces of polychromy 1 4 8 × 4 7 × 2 9 cm SNG P 1 5 1 2 Bought from an church owner in 1 9 7 1 Franz Anton Palko (?)

(1 7 1 7 — 1 7 6 6 ) Portrait of a Man (Self-portrait) Around 1 7 4 0 Oil on canvas 6 8.2 × 5 6 cm SNG O 8 8 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 0 Johann Kupezky (?)

(1 6 6 7 — 1 7 4 0 ) Portrait of a Wealthy Burgher (Johann Melchior Dinglinger?)

Around 1 7 1 2 Oil on canvas 8 5.9 × 6 9.3 cm SNG O 3 1 0 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 0 Jozef Kurtz (1 6 9 2 ? — 1 7 3 7 ) Portrait of Archbishop Emeric Esterházy 1735 Oil on canvas 2 1 6 × 1 2 9 cm SNG O 4 8 8 4 Gained from the estate of Margita Czóbel in 1 9 7 2

Johann Gottlieb Kramer (1 7 1 6 — 1 7 7 1 ) Marek Horvath-Stansith as a Six Year Old 1740 Oil on canvas 1 1 3 × 6 6 cm SNG O 4 8 4 5 Gained from the estate of Margita Czóbel in 1 9 7 2 Johann Gottlieb Kramer (1 7 1 6 — 1 7 7 1 ) Johana Zuzana Horvath-Stansith as a Seven Year Old 1739 Oil on canvas 1 2 3 × 6 8 cm SNG O 4 8 4 4 Gained from the estate of Margita Czóbel in 1 9 7 2 Johann Adam Messerschmidt (?)

(1 7 3 8 — 1 7 9 4 ) Capuchin Monk Around 1 7 7 0 — 1 7 8 0 Patinated wood 1 2 6.2 × 6 0.5 × 3 1 cm SNG P 2 3 2 Bought in 1 9 5 4 Johann Adam Messerschmidt (?)

(1 7 3 8 — 1 7 9 4 ) Capuchin Monk (Saint Felix of Cantalice) Around 1 7 7 0 — 1 7 8 0 Patinated wood 1 2 6.5 × 5 2 × 2 9 cm SNG P 2 2 3 Bought in 1 9 5 4

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space

&

illusion

Bratislava or Viennese painter Panels from an unknown altarpiece The Crucifixion / Saints Barbara and Ursula/ The Resurrection / Saint John the Baptist and a bishop saint (Saint Adalbert?)

1420 — 1440 Egg tempera on panel, gilded cca 9 8 × 7 5.5 cm SNG O 6 7 1 1 , O 6 7 1 2 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum — Bojnice Castle in 1 9 9 5 Master of the High Altarpiece from Spišské Podhradie Annunciation / Rejection of Joachim’s Sacrifice Adoration of the Magi / Meeting at the Golden Gate Birth of Christ / Annunciation to Saint Anne and Joachim Death of the Virgin / Tree of Jesse 1 4 9 0 s (after 1 4 9 3 ) Egg tempera on panel, gold foil 1 3 3 × 1 4 2 cm (each panel) Property of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spišské Podhradie — Spišská Kapitula

Master Martin Madonna with Saints Catherine and Elizabeth (Madonna from Jánovce) 1497 Egg tempera on panel, gold foil, punching 1 4 4 × 1 1 5 cm (in original frame 1 5 8.8 × 1 3 0.3 cm) SNG O 1 5 9 4 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 7 Franz Anton Maulbertsch (1 7 2 4 — 1 7 9 6 ) circle Assumption of the Virgin.

Sketch for a ceiling fresco in Vác 1750 — 1760 Oil on panel 1 0 0.2 × 8 9 cm SNG O 1 8 0 1 Transferred in 1 9 5 3 Central European painter — Josef Zanussi (?)

Resurrection (sketch for a ceiling painting) Around 1 7 7 0 Oil on panel 5 2 × 4 4 cm SNG O 5 3 1 7 Bought in 1 9 7 6 Johann Lucas Kracker (1 7 1 7 — 1 7 7 9 ) Baptism of Christ (sketch for the High altarpiece of the Premonstratensian Abbey Church in Jasov) 1762 Oil on canvas 8 7.5 × 5 3.5 cm SNG O 1 4 9 8 Gifted by the Slovak Religious Fund in 1 9 5 7

Johann Michael Rottmayr (?)

(1 6 5 4 — 1 7 3 0 ) Triumph of Love (sketch for a ceiling painting) Before 1 7 2 0 (1 7 1 3 /1 7 1 4 ) Oil on canvas 9 4 × 8 6 cm SNG O 1 2 3 6 Gifted by the Slovak Religious Fund in 1 9 5 7 Štefan Michal-Vörös Izbighy (documented in Slovakia in 1725 — 1756) Still-Life with Pumpkins and Cucumbers 1734 Oil on canvas 6 7.5 × 9 6.5 cm SNG O 3 8 4 4 Bought in 1 9 7 1 Jakob Bogdani (1 6 6 0 — 1 7 2 4 ) Cock Fight 1706 — 1710 Oil on canvas 1 1 2 × 1 2 5 cm SNG O 2 Bought in 1 9 4 9 Jakob Bogdani (1 6 6 0 — 1 7 2 4 ) Cat amongst Cocks 1706 — 1710 Oil on canvas 1 0 3.5 × 1 2 6 cm SNG O 3 Bought in 1 9 4 9

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light

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darkness

Unknown Painter Altarpiece wing from Tvrdošín Saints Paul and Andrew / Our Lady of Sorrows Around 1 4 6 0 Egg tempera on poplar panel, silver foil, glazing, punching 1 2 0.5 × 4 7.5 cm SNG O 5 4 8 /a, b Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 2 Central European painter (after Albrecht Dürer) Madonna on a Crescent Moon After 1 5 1 6 Egg tempera on wood, gilding 7 6.8 × 5 1.8 cm SNG O 3 3 2 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 0 Josef Ignaz Mildorfer(?)

(1 7 1 9 — 1 7 7 5 ) Nativity of Jesus 1763 — 1764 Oil on canvas 1 4 1 × 2 0 0 cm SNG O 5 3 0 6 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 7 5

Josef Ignaz Mildorfer circle of the artist Saint Joseph with Family 1760 — 1780 Oil on canvas 6 3.2 × 7 4.5 cm SNG O 3 1 4 5 Bought in 1 9 6 6 Franz Xaver Wagenschon(?)

(1 7 2 6 — 1 7 9 0 ) The Nativity of Jesus Second half of the 1 8 th century Oil on canvas 6 2.5 × 3 9.7 cm SNG O 8 9 3 Bought in 1 9 5 5

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body

&

gesture

Unknown Painter from the Spiš Region (Master Nicholas of Levoča?)

Madonna with Angels from Poprad 1484 Egg tempera on wood, brocade and gold foil 7 7.3 × 6 1.5 cm SNG O 1 5 9 3 Transferred in 1 9 5 7 Unknown sculptor Madonna from the Turiec Region End of the 1 5 th century Lime wood, gilded and polychromed 1 1 4 × 3 5 × 2 4.5 cm SNG P 3 5 0 Bought in 1 9 5 7 Central European sculptor Saint Peter the Apostle Around 1 5 0 0 Lime wood, traces of polychromy 9 3.5 × 2 7 × 2 0 cm SNG P 2 6 2 8 Bought in 1 9 9 4 Paul Gross the Elder (? — around 1 6 8 8 ) The Last Supper 1660s Polychromed wood 6 5 × 1 1 7 cm SNG P 1 5 6 7 Bought in 1 9 7 2

Unknown sculptor Madonna of Kremnica Around 1 4 8 0 Lime wood, traces of polychromy and of gilding 7 4 × 2 4.5 × 1 9 cm SNG P 7 6 6 Bought in 1 9 6 4 Ľudovít Gode (? — 1 7 5 8 /5 9 ) workshop Angel Around 1 7 4 0 Wood, gilding 9 5 × 4 5 × 2 8 cm SNG P 8 0 Bought in 1 9 5 1 Ľudovít Gode (? — 1 7 5 8 /5 9 ) follower Melancholy 1770 — 1790 Sand — stone 7 7.5 × 5 1.4 cm SNG P 2 5 5 Bought in 1 9 5 5 Andrew Zallinger (1 7 3 8 — 1 8 0 5 ) Saint Anthony 1 8 th century Oil on canvas 1 4 0 × 9 5 cm SNM HM UH 2 5 4 7 Property of the Slovak National Museum — Historical Museum

Dionýz Ignác Stanetti (1 7 1 0 — 1 7 6 7 ) St. Elisabeth Around 1 7 5 0 Wood, gilding 1 4 7 × 7 6 × 3 1 cm SNG P 1 8 4 0 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 7 5 Dionýz Ignác Stanetti (1 7 1 0 — 1 7 6 7 ) Two female decorative figures Around 1 7 5 0 Wood, gilding 9 9.4 × 8 9.3 × 3 3 cm SNG P 1 8 3 9 , P 1 2 2 0 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 7 0 Unknown sculptor Saint Augustine of Hippo Around 1 7 4 0 Wood, traces of polychromy, gilding and flesh tones 1 4 9 × 5 4 × 5 3 cm SNG P 2 5 6 7 Bought in 1 9 9 0 Unknown sculptor Saint Ambrose (?) of Milan Around 1 7 4 0 Wood, traces of polychromy, gilding and flesh tones 1 5 5 × 5 0 × 4 6 cm SNG P 2 5 6 8 Bought in 1 9 9 0

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Central European painter Saint John of Nepomuk.

Silent Confessor First half of the 1 8 th century Oil on canvas 6 0.3 × 4 5.4 cm SNG 5 7 4 5 Bought in 1 9 8 0 Georg Raphael Donner circle of the artist Saint Paul The first Hermit Around 1 7 3 6 Sandstone 2 3 0 × 8 0 × 7 7 cm SNG P 1 9 5 0 Bought in 1 9 7 8 Georg Raphael Donner circle of the artist Saint Anthony the Great Around 1 7 3 6 Sandstone 2 3 0 × 8 3 × 7 7 cm SNG P 1 9 4 9 Bought in 1 9 7 8

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life

&

death

Unknown painter of the Spiš Region Predella of the altarpiece of Saint Anne in Spišská Nová Ves Around 1 5 0 0 Egg tempera on panel 5 8.7 × 1 7 4 cm SNG O 3 1 4 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 0 Unknown Viennese or Bratislava sculptor (Hans Kamensetzer?)

Relief with the Nativity (so-called Hlohovec Nativity) Around 1 4 8 0 — 1 4 9 0 Lime wood, gilded and polychromed 2 0 6 × 1 1 8 × 5 1 cm SNG P 5 3 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava in 1 9 5 1 Unknown Southern German sculptor Imago Pietatis (Man of Sorrows with the Virgin and Saint John the Baptist) Around 1 5 0 0 Lime wood, traces of polychromy 5 0.8 × 4 5.4 × 2 0 cm SNG P 2 7 0 0 Bought at the SOGA auction house in 2 0 0 7

Master Paul of Levoča circle of artist Holy Trinity (Throne of Mercy) from Poloma Around 1 5 2 0 Relief, lime wood, polychromy 1 2 5 × 1 1 3 cm SNG P 2 2 6 2 Bought in 1 9 8 6

Unknown painter Catafalque Portrait of K. Horvath-Stansith, née. Kiss 1680s Oil on canvas 7 8 × 7 9 cm SNG O 4 8 4 2 Gained from the estate of Margita Czóbel in 1 9 7 2

Unknown sculptor Death of the Virgin from Chrenovec Around 1 5 2 0 Relief, lime wood, polychromy, gilding 9 6 × 9 5 cm SNG P 2 6 3 3 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum — Bojnice Castle in 1 9 9 6

Erasmus Schrött (1 7 5 5 — 1 8 0 4 ) Annunciation to the Shepherds End of the 1 8 th century Oil on canvas 1 8 9 × 3 9.2 cm SNG O 1 4 9 2 Bought in 1 9 5 8

Anonymous painter Votive panel (epitaph?) of Emeric Czobor from Skalica Around 1 5 2 0 Lime wood, polychromy, gilding 2 1 5.3 × 1 3 4.8 cm SNG O 3 8 5 Transferred from the Slovak National Museum in 1 9 5 1 Unknown painter Catafalque Portrait of B. Horvath-Stansith 1678 Oil on canvas 7 2.5 × 8 8 cm SNG O 4 8 4 1 Gained from the estate of Margita Czóbel in 1 9 7 2

Erasmus Schrött (1 7 5 5 — 1 8 0 4 ) Circumcision of Jesus in the Temple End of the 1 8 th century Oil on canvas 1 8 9 × 3 9.2 cm SNG O 1 4 9 3 Bought in 1 9 5 8

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Recommended

reading

Ariés 1977

Büchsel – Schmidt (eds.) 2003

Ariés, Philippe: The Hour of Our Death. Das Porträt vor der Erfindung des Por(1977). London 1987. träts. Eds. Martin Büchsel – Peter Schmidt 2003.

Balážová – Medvecký – Slivka 2009

Balážová, Barbara – Medvecký, Jozef – Slivka, Dušan: Medzi zemou a nebom.

Majstri barokovej fresky na Slovensku.

Bratislava 2009.

Bartlová 2004 – 2005

Bartlová, Milena: Modus humilis.

Záhada malířského stylu tzv. krakovské školy. In: Galéria – Ročenka SNG 2004 – 2005, 167-179.

Bartlová 2012

Chastel 1984

Chastel, André: „Signum Harpocraticum“. Multigrafica Editrice 1984.

Chastel 2008

Chastel, André: Gesto v umění. In: Leonardo da Vinci aneb vědy o umění.

Gesto v umění. Brno 2008, 51-78.

Chmelinová 2002

Chmelinová, Katarína: Sochárska rodina Grossovcov zo Spišskej Soboty.

Levoča 2002.

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i s n g e

mpermanent lovak ational allery xhibition

Published by the Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 2 0 1 5 General Director: Alexandra Kusá Exhibition concept and curators: Dušan Buran D B, Katarína Chmelinová K C h Project assistants: Eva Specogna Kotláriková, Barbora Mistríková Translation: Miroslav Pomichal Pre-press: Vratko Tóth, Anton Kajan Editorial support: Irena Kucharová, Luďka Kratochvílová Installation images: Martin Dökereš Graphic design and layout: Braňo Matis, Zuzana Liptáková Architecture of the exhibition: Igor Marko, Martin Jančok, Aleš Šedivec Copyright © Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava 2 0 1 5 Texts © Dušan Buran, Katarína Chmelinová 2 0 1 5 Translation © Miroslav Pomichal 2 0 1 5 Photographs © Archives of the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava 2 0 1 5 Graphic design © Braňo Matis 2 0 1 5 Printed by Tiskárna Helbich, Brno 2 0 1 5 ISBN 9 7 8 - 8 0 - 8 0 5 9 - 1 8 5 - 4 No part of this publication may be reproduced, published or distributed, whether in printed or electronic form, without the prior written permission of the Slovak National Gallery.