POLICHROMIA DWÓCH TRÓJC W KOŚCIELE P.W. ŚW. JÓZEFA WE WSCHOWIE

• Authors: Witwińska Magdalena

Title variants

EN

Polychromy of two Holy Trinities in the church of St. Joseph in Wschowa

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

The Observant Franciscan church in Wschowa, a picturesque historical town in southern Great Poland, contains a valuable Late Baroque polychromy of the interior. It was executed in 1745–1747 by three co-operating artists: Joachim Eggenfeldner, a Silesian guild master from nearby Głogów, and two monks of the aforementioned order, arrivals fromPoznań—Walenty Żebrowski and Liboriusz Stanis ławski. Recently (1996–1997), the polychromy, which totals some 1200 square meters, was subjected to extremely careful conservation (conducted by a team headed by Maria Kiepuszewska). The paintings were cleaned, fragments were reconstructed, and large parts covered in 1882 by a layer of repainting were disclosed. The retouching was performed by means of spots. All conservation was carried out thoroughly, working for more than ten hours daily for a period of 17 months. The polychromy is well documented in sources. The monastic chronicles of the Great Poland province contains a copy of a contract for its execution, signed with Eggenfeldner, and an iconographic description of the whole work, while the chronicle of the monastery records the realisation. An occasional print from 1747 describes the ceremony of the installation in the church of the painting of St. Peter Regalatus, indicating that the completion of the polychromy was synchronised with this event, which entailed also triumphal gates and other decorations. Pertinent references are to be found in paintings on some of the church walls, depicting floral festoons and illusionistic fabrics. Nonetheless, the main theme, presented on the nave ceiling of this single–nave church, is the mystical Marriage of St. Joseph and Mary. The bridegroom and the bride are accompanied by angelic musicians, brandishing an interesting group of Old Polish instruments, as well as by angelic choirs singing Sanctus, sanctus..., together with saints selected according to a key which it was possible to discover in the text of a certain sermon. The main scene was solved in a manner referring to a song of the St. Joseph Fraternity: Joseph, may you be praised by heavenly hosts! The polychromy is composed of several contextual motifs. The ceiling of the presbytery features the throne of the Holy Trinity, consisting of clouds and surrounded by nine angelic choirs. A sequence of gentry coats of arms above the windows is supported by angels, illustrating the custom of honouring the protectors and founders, whose group is rather numerous in this instance, and whose names are recorded in the monastic chronicle. A particularly interesting problem as regards the iconography of the polychromy is the fact that it contains a rather late reflection of a new form of the cult of St. Joseph, devised at the end of the seventeenth century in a Cistercian abbey in Krzeszów by Abbot Bernard Rosa, mystic and author of theological works. The earthly supplementation of the Holy Trinity is the Creata Trinity, and hence the Holy Family. Both Trinities share the figure of Jesus. It is the motif of this second Trinity which we encounter upon several occasions in the nave paintings (Flight to Egypt, Adoration of the Shepherds, The Patrocinium of St. Joseph ). Its conception is expressed expressively by a lunette scene with a monk dressed in a Franciscan habit, kneeling before the Holy Family, suspended in air. St. Joseph presents the monk with a book entitled Joseph–Buch, and thus entrusts him with a certain task. Below, we see monastic buildings. Presumably, the depicted monk is supposed to implement the cult, and his person should be deciphered as the author of the contextual programme of the polychromy. Indubitably, this is Father Manswet Grabowski, the Great Poland provincial, whose signature is found on the mentioned contract as the commissioner of the Silesian painter, and the person who brought over the two monastic artists. Grabowski realised the idea of the two Holy Trinities, contained in Grüssauisches Joseph–Buch , by means of the polychromy. Not by accident did the painting in question refer to the composition and contents of a copperplate by Michael Willmann, which, as a frontispiece, decorates the first edition (1694) of this work, propagating the cult of Joseph, Mary and Jesus as a Trinity. Here, however, the kneeling abbot hands the saint his work. Today, the cleaned polychromy makes it possible to distinguish easily the range of the work performed by all three painters, who did not leave their signatures. Nevertheless, we may discover a discreet signature made by Żebrowski on the lower part of the canvas of The Deposition from the Cross (first half of the seventeenth century), featured in the main altar. The technique applied in the ceiling paintings was the fresco, a thin layer (about 2 mm.) of dry plaster. The walls are painted in the tempera technique. The discernible so– called giornata of Brother Walenty are larger than those of Eggenfeldner. Żebrowski was an inferior draughtsman, but he solved the ornamental parts with a great sense of decorativeness. Despite all the draughtsmanship errors, and the conservative solutions applied in this spherical and dense composition, the impact of this panting remains irresistibly attractive and aesthetically powerful. Its harmony must have also left an imprint on the co–operation of the three artists, making it possible for a portrait of the two monastic painters, executed by Eggenfeldner, to be placed on the nave ceiling.

• Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa
• Journal: Ochrona Zabytków
• Year: 1999
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 264-279

Dates

published

1999

Contributors

author

Witwińska Magdalena

References

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Identifiers

ISSN

0029-8247