Artworks Catalogue

The angel on the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Miroslav Pavličić, 2018)
The angel on the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, detail (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Miroslav Pavličić, 2018)
Sculpture from the back (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Miroslav Pavličić, 2018)
The altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Čakovec (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Mario Braun, 2006)

Location

Croatia, Međimurje County, Čakovec

Parish Church of St Nicholas the Bishop (Župna crkva sv. Nikole Biskupa)

Artwork

Sculpture of the Archangel Michael from the Altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Parish (and Franciscan) Church in Čakovec

Type

Sculpture

Dimensions

Height: 132 cm, width: 98 cm, depth: 54 cm

Inscriptions

  1. 1738 / ID/M / AD (in a cartouche hold by two angels, in the repolychromy layer)
  2. Sta. / MARIA . / MATER DEI / INTERCEDE / PRO NOBIS. (above the painting of Mariahilf, in the repolychromy layer)
  3. Quis ut Deus (previously on the shield of St Michael)
  4. Josef Obletter / Bildhauer-Altarbauer / Ehrenmitglied der königlichen Kust-Academie, / St. Ulrich. Gröden. Tirol (the plate on the right column base of the main altar)
  5. IN HONOREM / S. IOANNIS / NEPOMUC. / RENOVATA 1911. (in the cartouche on the altar of St John of Nepomuk)

Critical History

The left side altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Mariahilf, Maria Auxiliatrix) was erected in 1738 (Ins. 1) and consecrated in 1750 by Bishop Franjo Klobušicki.1 Paškal Cvekan considered it to be later, namely from the same time and concept as the high altar (particuarly because of the use of colonnades on the upper floor).2 The sculptures are heterogeneous in style and most of them are not part of the original set. The altar might have been damaged in the 1741 fire, after which it was altered. The angel on top points to certain features of Joseph Straub's style, although it also shows differences compared with the sculptures of the high altar. Doris Baričević mentioned the now non-existant shield with a text (Ins. 3), which defined the sculpture as St Michael.3

The four big sculptures in the intercolumns were placed there only recently. They originate from the destroyed Franciscan church in Kloštar Ivanić and are documented works by the sculptor Joseph Weinacht and painter-gilder Isaias Gasser.4 Earlier the sculptures of Sts Emeric and Agnes by Johann Adam Rosemberger stood by the columns, but now they are placed on the altar of St Anthony of Padua in the same church. The sculptures on the second floor might also be by Rosemberger, while the two angels carrying the cartouche were made by another sculptor.5

The altar together with the sculpture of St Michael were repolychromed in 1911 (Ins. 4 and 5) by Josef Obletter Szent Ulrich from Gröden (Val Gardena) in Tyrol, who also executed the tabernacle.6

Ivy Lentić-Kugli considered the painting of Our Lady to be one of the best copies of Lucas Cranach's Madonna Auxiliatrix in then Slavonia, dating from 1738 and created by an Austrian painter.7

Components

Carpentry
Completed: 1738
Patron(s): Ivan Mihael Althan, noble
Technique(s): sawing
Material(s): wood
Painting
Our Lady (Mariahilf)
Completed: 1738
Patron(s): Ivan Mihael Althan, noble
Technique(s): oil on canvas
Material(s): calcium carbonate, iron oxide, lead white, linen canvas, minium, vermillion, yellow ochre
Painting
St Joseph
Completed: 1738
Patron(s): Ivan Mihael Althan, noble
Technique(s): oil on canvas
Material(s): calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate dihydrate, green earth, iron oxide, lead white, natural terpen resin, red ochre, ultramarine
Metalwork
Crowns and heart on the Mariahilf painting
Technique(s): embossing
Material(s): brass, crystal glass, gold, silver
Sculpture
Sculptures on the upper floor
Author: Johann Adam Rosemberger ( – Varaždin 1758)
Completed: 1738
Patron(s): Ivan Mihael Althan, noble
Technique(s): wood carving
Material(s): wood
Sculpture
Four sculptures on the lower floor
Author: Joseph Weinacht ( – Zagreb)
Completed: 1744
Sculpture
St Michael
Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)
Completed: 1750
Technique(s): wood carving
Material(s): wood
Polychromy
Polychromy of the altar
Completed: 1738
Polychromy
Polychromy of the four sculptures on the lower floor
Author: Isaias Gasser (Brixen 1709 – Kloštar Ivanić 1751)
Completed: 1745 – 1747
Technique(s): water gilding
Material(s): gold leaf, silver leaf
Polychromy
First repolychromy
Author: Josef Obletter
Completed: 1911
Technique(s): oil, oil gilding, water gilding
Material(s): aluminium leaf, gold leaf, metallic pigment, oil size

Conservation-restoration

1999–2000

Treatment Description

The four sculptures from Kloštar Ivanić were restored in 1999–2000 for the exhibition of Franciscan art Mir i dobro.8

2016–2017

Strategy: removing dirt, removing varnish

Materials: acetone, Aquazol 200, benzyl alcohol, Beva 371, Brij 30, Champagne chalk, demineralized water, Dowanol PM, Laropal A 81, Marlipal® 1618/25, methyl cellulose, Pemulen TR-2, Plextol D 498, Polyamid-Textil-Schweisspulver No. 5060, rabbit-skin glue, Shellsol T, Tinuvin 292, triamonium citrate, triethanolamine, Triton X-100

Treatment Description

The paintings of Our Lady and St Joseph were restored by Ivana Sambolić in the Croatian Conservation Institute.9

2018

Treatment Description

In 2018 the altar was dismantled for restoration, which will be carried out by the private restorer Velimir Ivezić.

Images

  1. The angel on the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Miroslav Pavličić, 2018)
  2. The angel on the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, detail (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Miroslav Pavličić, 2018)
  3. Sculpture from the back (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Miroslav Pavličić, 2018)
  4. The altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Čakovec (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Mario Braun, 2006)

Catalogue entry prepared by Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić

Recommended citation: Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić, Sculpture of the Archangel Michael from the Altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Parish (and Franciscan) Church in Čakovec, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 04/10/2023) URL

Sources and Bibliography

  1. Anđela Horvat, Spomenici arhitekture i likovnih umjetnosti u Međimurju, Čakovec, Matica hrvatska, 2010 [1956]
  2. Ivy Lentić-Kugli, Kopije BMV Auxiliatrix u slikarstvu Slavonije 18. stoljeća, in: Vijesti muzealaca i konzervatora Hrvatske, 20/3, Radoslav Puntar (ed.), Zagreb, Muzejsko društvo Hrvatske; Podružnica za Hrvatsku Društva konzervatora Jugoslavije, 1971, 15–26
  3. Paškal Cvekan, Čakovec i franjevci. Povijesno-kulturni prikaz tri stoljetne povezanosti Čakovca s franjevcima – na pragu 320 godišnjice njihova dolaska u grad Zrinskih, Čakovec, Franjevački samostan Čakovec, 1978
  4. Paškal Cvekan, Franjevci u Ivaniću, Kloštar Ivanić, Franjevački samostan Kloštar Ivanić, 2008 [1979]
  5. Doris Baričević, Unutrašnje uređenje franjevačke crkve sv. Nikole u Čakovcu. Stručna analiza drvenog baroknog inventara crkve i slika, in: 350 godina franjevaca u Čakovcu (proceedings from the symposium held on 20th and 21st February 2009), Stjepan, Hranjec, Jasminka Bakoš-Kocijan (ed.), Čakovec, Franjevački samostan Čakovec, 2010, 115–120
  6. Croatian Conservation Institute, Vesna Šimičić, Izvještaj o provedenim konzervatorsko-restauratorskim radovima po programu financiranom od Ministarstva kulture RH za 2000. godinu na četiri skulpture: sv. Rok, sv. Sebastijan, sv. Ana i sv. Joakim, Zagreb, 2003
  7. Croatian Conservation Institute, Ivana Sambolić, Izvješće o provedenim konzervatorsko-restauratorskim radovima na slikama Marija Pomoćnica i Sv. Josip iz crkve sv. Nikole Biskupa u Čakovcu, Zagreb, 2017
  8. Ivana Smbolić, Votive Painting of Our Lady, HR_StNC_001, Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf ; Technische Hochschule Köln, 2018, URL

Notes

1 Doris Baričević, 2010, 118

2 Paškal Cvekan, 1978, 31

3 Doris Baričević, 2010, 116

4 Paškal Cvekan, 1978, 32; Paškal Cvekan, 1979, 49–52

5 Doris Baričević, 2010, 118

6 Anđela Horvat, 2010, 98

7 Ivy Lentić-Kugli, 1971, 22

8 Vesna Šimičić, 2003

9 Ivana Sambolić, 2017; Ivana Sambolić, 2018