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The overview study summarises in an updated context the findings of a long-term research into sepulchral sculpture in Moravia and Czech Silesia, which dealt primarily with whole-figure sepulchral monuments, ranging from examples dependent on fading Central European late Gothic tradition, through examples gradually influenced by early Renaissance italianising elements up to such forms that were marked by Italian and Nordic Mannerism. Based on a comprehensive regional and broader Central European style-critical comparison, applying the criteria of contemporary artistic influences, individual creative approach, craftsmanship routine and other indicia important for a work to be done, the study presents the efforts to incorporate works into circles given by a specific author or workshops, or to highlight the provenience ties of solitary works.
The study shows that despite the enormous loss of sepulchral monuments that have occurred in the past, Moravia and Czech Silesia excel in its numerous production of figural tombstones, which demonstrate the ability of the monitored area to accept and operate with new humanist and representative content, and by the existence of which the local sepulchral sculpture reached specific expression. In addition to eschatological significance and private memorial function, the sepulchral monuments of nobility served also as a family policy, whereby the privileged strata confirmed the old tradition; which contained a personal, genealogical, confessional and political reminder.
Despite the selective character of the study, the processed material brings findings that can contribute to deeper understanding of the overall picture of sepulchral tomb sculpture of the monitored area as well as to its evaluation in the national and European context.
Style and Inscription
Inscriptions in classical and early humanist capital letters cut in stone in Hungary in the age of King Matthias and the Jagiellos
–II , Szentendre , 1979 , I, 7 – 62 . Rózsa Feuerné Tóth : Reneszánsz építészet Magyarországon [Renaissance architecture in Hungary] , Budapest , 1977 . Gyula Forster : Árpádházi síremlékek [Sepulchral monuments from the Árpádian age] , in III. Béla
cathédrale , Pierre-qui-Vire, s. a. [2001], 301 – 302 . 21. About the reconstruction of coat of arms on the broken shield of the sepulchral monument see Takács, op. cit. (note 15), 16
A turócszentmártoni Szent Márton-templom késő reneszánsz és barokk funerális emlékei (16–17. század)
Late Renaissance and baroque funerary monuments in the St Martin church at Turócszentmárton (Martin) (16–17th centuries)
Abstract
The parish church of Turócszentmárton (Martin, Slovakia) was the main burial place of the Szklabinya and Blatnica lines of the Révay family in the 16–17th centuries. The members of the Hungarian aristocratic family who were buried here were the hereditary holders of the ispán's and chief ispán's offices in Turóc county (lat. perpetuus et supremus comes comitatus Turociensis). Few original funerary monuments survive in the church: there is a single figural tombstone (Ferenc Révay I, †1553) and a painted and gilded funeral coat of arms (Pál Révay I, †1635). The funeral arms of crown guard Péter Révay (†1622) is only known from archive photos, and the only information about the funeral banners is gleaned from collections of inscriptions especially from a collection discovered in the last time in the manuscriptcollection of the University Library in Bratislava. Ferenc Révay's effigy in relief shown in secular attire is rare in the sepulchral art of the Hungarian Kingdom (two analogies are propalatine i.e. a chief justice of the Hungarian Kingdom, Imre Czobor of Czoborszentmihály's tombstone [†1581] in Sasvár [Šaštín] and László Kubinyi's [†1598] in Galánta [Galanta]), but the funeral coats of arms fit in well with pieces found in Nagyszombat (Trnava), Lőcse (Levoča), Csetnek (Štítnik), etc.
Bocskay György kalligráfus antikva betűs síremlékfeliratai
All’antica reprezentáció I. Ferdinánd bécsi udvarában
Sepulchral inscriptions in antique Square Capitals by the calligrapher György Bocskay
Representatio all’antica at the court of Ferdinand I in Vienna
György (George) Bocskay (†1575) was a member of a well-known Hungarian noble family. He was capable to adapt himself to the expectations of the Viennese court of the Habsburg Monarchy to build a significant career at the Hungarian Royal Chancellery as royal court secretary, royal councillor and calligrapher. He decorated various writing model books and charters for the Habsburg rulers as well as several letters of arms for Hungarian noblemen. However it is less known that the calligrapher made sepulchral inscriptions in stone as well applying a new technique of his time, the acid-etching. Emperor Ferdinand I commissioned him to prepare the Square Capitals for the marble cenotaph of Emperor Maximilian I in Innsbruck. Additionally, he used similar letters to inscribe the sepulchral monument of the highest ranking official of the Hungarian Kingdom, the Palatine Tamás Nádasdy and his wife, Orsolya Kanizsay in Léka (Lockenhaus).
After the Treaty of Passau (1552) the claim was established that after Emperor Charles V the member of the Austrian line of the Habsburg dynasty, Ferdinand I could have imperial power. The revival of the antiquity significantly influenced the rebuilding of his main residence, the Hofburg, the development of the Roman lapidaries and collections of antiquities at his court (Hermes Schallauzer, Wolfgang Lazius, Ferdinand I), and the style of festive decorations and artworks all’antica he commissioned during this era.
In 1562 Bocskay dedicated a writing model book to Ferdinand I in order to be commissioned to prepare the inscriptions of the sepulchral monument of Emperor Maximilian I. The manuscript included several writing samples in Square Capitals imitating the epigraphic monuments of the ancient Romans. Later he worked on the acid-etched and gilded inscriptions in Vienna in 1563–1568 according to the archival sources. He prepared inscribed marble plates for 24 marble reliefs of the cenotaph representing scenes of the life of Maximilian I as well as 18 plates of the sepulchral inscription on the frieze. The Latin texts were compiled by the vice-chancellor of Ferdinand I, Georg Sigmund Seld.
Bocskay was accommodated in the house of the Nádasdy family in Vienna. He probably equipped a workshop for the process there. He also prepared three more inscribed limestone plates for the sepulchral monument of the already mentioned Tamás Nádasdy and Orsolya Kanizsay. The marble cenotaph was erected in 1566 in the castle of Léka where the Palatine and later his wife were buried. The monument was transferred to the new family crypt of the Augustine monastery of Léka in the 17th century.
Egy Andriolo de Santinak tulajdonítható Krisztus-szobor a budapesti Szépművészeti Múzeumban
A Christ Statue in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Attributable to Andriolo de Santi
Abstract
The sculpture, which the extant invoice claims to have originated from the Sant' Agostino church of Cremona, was bought by the museum from Achille Glisenti, a painter and art dealer, in 1895 (figs 1–2). The frontal pose and the compactness of the white marble sculpture of exquisite quality in composition and execution (h.: 52 cm, w.: 21 cm, d.: 16 cm), as well as the finish of the sides and the back clearly reveal that it was designed for some niche. The representation of the enthroned Christ Pantocrator was prevalent in Venetian sepulchral sculpture in Italy in the 14th century, mainly in the 1340s–60s. The Budapest sculpture is most closely analogous with specimens of this strain by virtue of the iconography and style. Just like the analogies, it was probably set in the middle of the longitudinal side of the sarcophagus recessed in the shape of an ornate throne. Although no Christ figure carved separately of the side of a sarcophagus is known, there are at least two specimens of the enthroned Madonna figures far more frequently featuring in Venetian sarcophagi in the same place (figs 3–4). These two Virgin figures were carved for an exceptionally representative type of sepulchral monuments “with acroteria”, which is attributable to one of the most notable local master of the period, Andriolo de Santi.
The closest analogy to the Budapest sculpture can also be found in this circle. Christ Pantocrator adorning the main portal of the San Lorenzo church in Vicenza made by Andriolo's workshop in 1342–44 is almost like a copy of the Budapest work (figs 5–6). It is however hard to decide whether it was made by the same hand or it is a copy. There is yet another carving – that of the enthroned Madonna in the tympan of the portal – that resembles even more closely the Budapest statue in terms of quality, overall form and certain details (fig. 8). Though there are hardly any clues as to the authorship of individual parts of the portal, it is not far-fetched to presume – in agreement with many researchers – that the tympan figures were in all likelihood carved by Andriolo. In this way it is possible to attribute the Budapest sculpture to him, too, and it may as well be presumed that it was made for an above-mentioned representative sarcophagus. Furthermore, the quality even permits the assumption that it might be the prototype for the Venetian Pantocrator series of the 1340s–60s.
All this confirms that the Christ statue and the respective tomb must have been made for a distinguished person. There is however no data in connection with the Sant' Agostino church of Cremona or the related sources that might be linked to this sepulchral monument in any way, therefore the identification of the person is not possible. The client must have been a Cremonese with close contacts to Venice, which may be why he imported the sepulchre to the Lombardian city. The phenomenon fits in well with the overall situation of sculpture in Cremona in the 14th century: there was probably no noteworthy stonecarving workshop in the city, at least all the surviving works are by masters active elsewhere.