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
- 1738 / ID/M / AD (in a cartouche hold by two angels, in the repolychromy layer)
- Sta. / MARIA . / MATER DEI / INTERCEDE / PRO NOBIS. (above the painting of Mariahilf, in the repolychromy layer)
- Quis ut Deus (previously on the shield of St Michael)
- Josef Obletter / Bildhauer-Altarbauer / Ehrenmitglied der königlichen Kust-Academie, / St. Ulrich. Gröden. Tirol (the plate on the right column base of the main altar)
- 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
- 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)
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 22/05/2025) URL
