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High altar in the Parish Church in Kloštar Ivanić (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)

High altar (photo by Silvije Novak, 1991)

Sculpture of Saint Joachim (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)

Sculpture of Saint Anne (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)

Attic zone of the high altar (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)

Angel on the attic zone (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)

Location

Croatia, Zagreb County, Kloštar Ivanić

Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Artwork

High Altar in the Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kloštar Ivanić

Type

High altar

Dimensions

Height: 915 cm, width: 560 cm, depth: 145 cm

Inscriptions

F:T / E:Z (in cartouche above the painting, on the sides of the bishop’s coat of arms)
1762 (under the bishop’s coat of arms)
MARIA (monogram at the top of the altar)
IHS (within gloriole on top of the tabernacle)

Critical History

The altar was first mentioned in the canonical visitation of 1761. At the time, the old altar was still standing in the presbytery, but a larger altar, and proportional to the dimensions of the sanctuary, was being created, as a gift of the Bishop of Zagreb, Franciscus Thauszy. 1 In 1765, it was already standing, completed with the polychromy. 2 The coat of arms above the painting reveals the donor Franjo Thauszy, the Bishop of Zagreb (Ins. 1). The painting dates from1644 and originates from an earlier altar. It was a devotional gift from a lady who recovered from a serious illness.3 This original painting had been replaced by a new one made by Johann Beyer in 1851, 4 but later the old painting was returned to the altar.5 The art historian Doris Baričević attributed the sculptures to Franz Anton Straub by on the basis of stylistic resemblance to the works of his brothers. 6 The tabernacle is similar in style to the altar. The upper part of the tabernacle used to be a baldachin with a curtain. The window behind the two concentric circles of the attic that surround the triangle of the Eye of Providence used to be gin lazedyellow. In the past, four angles encircled the Eye of Providence.

The authors of the now nonexistent repolychromies are mentioned in the parish chronicle: Carolus Haman,7 Carspar (Gasparus) Milavc8 and Marco Antonini9. The repolychromy by Carolus Haman (Karl Hamann) was donated by the local priest and Vice-archdeacon Nicola Vučinovec. In the course of the 19^th-century renovations, part of the gilding was peeled off. In the 1950s, some partial repairs with imitation gold (metallic paint) were carried out on the gilded surfaces.

Construction / Execution

The design of the retable is unique among Franz Anton's works. The pair of columns close to the altar painting have stepped forward and are separated from the retable. They are larger than the rest of the retable, as if they followed different proportions and order. They rest on the mensa that is connected with the altar supports and predella, and carry only fragments of the entablature and the curved bases with large sculptures of adoring angels with a trumpet and a thurible. The sculptures of Saint Joachim on the left and Saint Anne on the right stand beside the altar painting. There are many sculptures of putti and angel heads which seem to be the work of the workshop, whereas the sculptures of the adoring angels at the bottom of the painting, and those sitting on the entablature close to the cartouche, bear more resemblance to the works of the master himself.
The design of the altar shows similarities with the side altar of the Virgin Mary (1752, Antun Reiner) and the altar of St Aloysius de Gonzaga (1758, Antun Reiner) in the church of St Francis Xavier in Zagreb, implying that they might have relied on the same graphic model. Fragments of entablature curl in small volutes in front, thus creating a particularly decorative detail which is also present on the high altar in Prepolno.10

Components

Carpentry: Author: Franz Anton Straub (Wiesensteig 1726 – Zagreb ca. 1774); Completed: 1761 – 1762; Patron(s): Franciscus Thauszy, bishop; Technique(s): sawing, wood carving; Material(s): softwood, wrought nails
Sculpture: Sculptures and carved ornamentation; Author: Franz Anton Straub (Wiesensteig 1726 – Zagreb ca. 1774); Completed: 1761; Patron(s): Franciscus Thauszy, bishop; Technique(s): wood carving; Material(s): limewood
Painting: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Completed: 1644; Patron(s): Unnamed devoted lady, individual devotion; Technique(s): oil on canvas
Painting: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Author: Johann Beyer (Sanerwitz 1804 – Graz 1876); Completed: 1851; Technique(s): oil on canvas
Polychromy: Polychromy; Completed: 1762; Patron(s): Franciscus Thauszy, bishop; Technique(s): oil gilding, tempera, water gilding; Material(s): calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate dihydrate, copper-based green pigment, gold leaf, lead white, lead-tin yellow, magnesium sulfate, oil, organic black, red bole, red ochre, resin, silver leaf, ultramarine, umber, vermillion, yellow bole
Polychromy: First repolychromy; Author: Karl Hamann; Completed: 1853; Patron(s): Nikola Vučinovec, priest; Technique(s): oil, water gilding; Material(s): gold leaf, lead white, oil, resin, silver leaf, vermillion
Polychromy: Second repolychromy; Author: Caspar Milavc; Completed: 1863; Technique(s): oil, water gilding; Material(s): lead white, oil, resin, silver, vermillion
Polychromy: Sevond repolychromy; Author: Caspar Milavc; Completed: 1863; Patron(s): owner, parish; Material(s): oil, resin, ultramarine
Polychromy: Third repolychromy; Author: Marco Antonini (Gemona del Friuli 1849 – Zagreb 1937); Completed: 1900; Material(s): green earth, oil, resin

Comment

The repolychromies from 1853, 1863 and 1900 (Fig. 3) no longer exist. The restored polychromy from 1762 (Ins. 2) is visible. The blue colour present on the dress of St Anne dates from 1863.

Conservation-restoration

1993–2002

Strategy: removing dirt, removing one or several historic repolychromies, removing patina, removing varnish

Approach to the presentation of losses

Reintegration of lacunae – mimetic: total

Reconstruction of losses: total

Materials: ammonia solution, chrome yellow, ethyl alcohol, gold leaf, gold powder, limewood, litophone, methyl bromide, paint stripper, paint thinner, Paraloid B-72, Prussian blue, red bole, silver powder, titan white, turpentine oil, wood, yellow bole, zink white

Treatment Description

In 1991, due to the Homeland War, all the sculptures and some of the ornaments were dismantled and deposited in the Holy Sepulchre under the bell tower where, in the coming years, they deteriorated because of high humidity. In 1993 these objects were placed in more appropriate conditions. Conservation-restoration works were carried out in the Restoration Institute of Croatia/Croatian Conservation Institute from 1993 to 2000. They included the removal of all repolychromy layers and exposing the 18^th century polychromy on all the objects, except for the clothing on St. Anne’s statue, where the first repolychromy was kept. Conservation was led by Vesna Šimičić.11

Images

High altar in the Parish Church in Kloštar Ivanić (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
High altar (photo by Silvije Novak, 1991)
Sculpture of Saint Joachim (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
Sculpture of Saint Anne (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
Attic zone of the high altar (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
Angel on the attic zone (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)

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Catalogue entry prepared by Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić

Recommended citation: Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić, High Altar in the Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kloštar Ivanić, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 19/10/2025) URL

Sources and Bibliography

Archive of the Archbishopric of Zagreb, Canonical visitations, Čazma Archdeaconry, protocol 108/IV, 1761
Archives of the Archdiocese of Zagreb, Canonical visitations, Čazma Archdeaconry, protocol 108/IV, 1765
Parish archive Kloštar Ivanić, Liber memorabilium Parochiae Ivaničensis
Paškal Cvekan, Franjevci u Ivaniću, Kloštar Ivanić, Franjevački samostan Kloštar Ivanić, 2008 [1979]
Doris Baričević, Članovi kiparske obitelji Straub u Hrvatskoj, in: Peristil. Zbornik radova za povijest umjetnosti, 35–36, Radovan Ivančević (ed.), Zagreb, 1992–1993, 193–218
Mirjana Repanić-Braun, Sakralno slikarstvo u Kloštar Ivaniću i Ivanić Gradu, in: 900 godina Ivanića: Kloštar Ivanić-Ivanić Grad-Križ, Božo Rudež (ed.), Ivanić Grad, Kloštar Ivanić, Križ, Odbor za obilježavanje 900. obljetnice Ivanića, 1994, 82–89
Croatian Conservation Institute, Vesna Šimičić, Kloštar Ivanić, crkva B. D. Marije. Glavni oltar, restauratorsko-konzervatorski radovi, Zagreb, 1998
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Martina Ožanić, Atektonsko građeni oltari XVIII. stoljeća na poručju sjeverozapadne Hrvatske, PhD Thesis, Zagreb, 2017
Martina Ožanić, Altaristika u opusu Franza Antona Strauba na području sjeverne Hrvatske – geneza motiva, utjecaji, odjeci, in: Peristil, 61, Zagreb, Društvo povjesničara umjetnosti Hrvatske, 2018, 65–87

Notes

1 Canonical visitation, Čazma Archdeaconry, protocol 108/IV, 1761, 164: “In sanctuario novo adhuc stat ara antiqua, sed ex munificentia supra alte titulati Excellentissimi Domini actualis Praesulis collatoris actu elaboratur ara nova major et magnitudini sanctuarii proportionata, proxime futura visitatione describenda. ” (transcribed by Irena Bratičević)

2 Canonical visitations, Čazma Archdeaconry, protocol 108/IV, 1765, 263.

3 Paškal Cvekan, 1979, 103.

4 Liber memorabilium, 9: “Anno hoc (1851) in ara majori erecta est nova imago Beatae Virginis Mariae in Coelos Assumptae sumptibus Ecclesiae nempe 200 fl. M. C., festo Nativitatis Beatae Virginis Mariae, hoc est 8.a Septembris per reverendissimum dominum Petrum Šattvar canonicum et abbatem sub infula benedicta (tj. koji je imao pravo nositi mitru iako nije bio biskup.), praesentibus reverendissimis dominis Stephano Ledinski et Ignatio Kristianović canonicis Zagrabiensibus et aliis quamplurimis sacerdotibus. Sanctum sermonem dicente domino parocho praesidii Ivanić Ioanne Samuel.“ (transcribed by Irena Bratičević)

5 Mirjana Repanić-Braun writes that within 1664 and 1909 the old painting was replaced twice with newer paintings and returned again. Mirjana Repanić-Braun, 1994, 83.

6 Doris Baričević, 1992–1993, 206; Baričević, 1994, 76–78; Baričević, 2008, 269–271.

7 Liber memorabilium, 9: „Anno hoc ara major Beatae Virginis Mariae in Coelos Assumptae cura et solicitudine localis parochi et vicearchidiaconi Nicolai Vučinovec sumptibus parochianorum restaurata est; restauratio constat 200 fl. M. C. Laborem hunc praesuscepit inaurator Zagrabiensis Carolus Haman, qui victum et quarterium cum suis duobus sodalibus in curia parochiali habuit.“ (transcribed by Irena Bratičević)

8 Liber memorabilium, 17: „Anno 1863. novitus renovatae et inauratae sunt arae laterales S. Petri Apostoli, Septem dolorum Beatae Virginis Mariae, ac Patientis Salvatoris Iesu Christi; item faltisterium renovatum; cathedra restaurata, magna ara novitus marmorisata. Et quidem ara lateralis Patientis Salvatoris Iesu Christi, ex legato defuncti Reverendissimi domini Nicolai Vučinovec, canonici Zagrabiensis, archidiaconi de Urboc, qui in renovationem dictae arae testamentaliter legavit 150 fl. Aus. Val. Reliquae duae arae laterales, cum majori ara, cathedra et faltisterio ex cassa Ecclesiae parochialis cum indulta Inclyti Regiminis Crisiensis sub domino capitaneo centuriae Kl. Ivanicensis Georgio Terbojevic et administrativo locumtenente domino Carolo Matÿs manipulantibus cassam ecclesiae. Per Gasparum Milauz inauratorem ex Haselbach penes Gurgfeld erga conventionem factam 550 fl. Aus. W. sub gubernio huius parochiae, meo anno septimo. Magister cum quatuor adjutoribus per quinque menses a 27. Aprilis usque ultimam Augusti 1863. habuit victum et hospicium in curia parochiali.“ (transcribed by Irena Bratičević)

9 Liber memorabilium, 84:“Ovu radnju izveo je crkveni slikar Marko Antonini iz Zagreba, na sveopće zadovoljstvo.” (This work was carried out by the church painter Marco Antonini from Zagreb, to the public satisfaction.)

10 Martina Ožanić, 2017, 70. See also Martina Ožanić, 2018, 74–75.

11 Vesna Šimičić, 1998.