The Polyptych of Dobczyce. History, Iconography and an Attempt at Reconstruction

• Authors: Moskal Katarzyna

Title variants

PL

Poliptyk z Dobczyc. Dzieje, ikonografia oraz próba rekonstrukcji

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

The Polyptych of Dobczyce (currently in the collection of the National Museum in Cracow) used to serve as the retable of the high altar in the church of Saint John the Baptist in Dobczyce, and has been dated to 1500-1505. The paintings on its lateral wings (seven panels survive, of which three are double-sided) have been attributed to an anonymous Cracow painter, called the Master of the ffoly Kinship, while the central panel is the work of a different hand. The paper presents the results of an investigation which has revealed unknown facts from the history of the Dobczyce retable - for example, that it was in the mid-seventeenth century that the altarpiece ceased to serve as the churchs high altar, and that prior to their inclusion in the collection of the National Museum the panels of the polyptych had decorated the ceiling of a timber chapel at Dobczyce. Yet, the main problems dealt with in the article are: an attempt at reconstructing anew the disposition of the panels, taking into account some hypotheses regarding the subjects of the missing paintings, and a proposal for a new reading of the retables iconographic programme. The altarpiece has been reconstructed as a polyptych with two pairs of movable wings. When closed, it displayed scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary; when the outer wings were opened, the Passion Cycle was revealed, and when the inner wings were opened, scenes from the lives of the two Saint Johns, the Baptist and the Evangelist, were disclosed. Large-scale figures of both saints were painted flanking the Virgin and Child in the central panel.

• Publisher: Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Institute of History of Art
• Journal: Modus. Prace z historii sztuki
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 14
• Pages: 39-70

Contributors

author

Moskal Katarzyna

• Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa