Artworks Catalogue

The high altar in Trški vrh (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
The sculpture of St Elisabeth (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
The sculpture of St Joachim (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
The sculpture of St Joseph (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
The sculpture of St Anne (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
The sculpture of an adoring angel (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)

Location

Croatia, Krapina-Zagorje County, Trški Vrh

Church of St Mary of Jerusalem (Crkva Majke Božje Jeruzalemske)

St Nicolas Roman Catholic Parish Krapina

Artwork

High Altar in the Pilgrimage Church of St Mary of Jerusalem in Trški Vrh

Type

High altar

Dimensions

Height: 788 cm, width: 697 cm, depth: 137 cm

Inscriptions

  1. 1759 (on the cartouche behind the sculpture of St Mary of Jerusalem)
  2. MOLITVA / Pozdravljena nam / budi ljubljena Majko / Marijo Ti brambo / i utočište grešnika / Pozdravljena nam / budi u ovom sve-/ tom mjestu. (on the book in the hand of St Elisabeth)
  3. Miroslav / Strobach / poztar / Zagreb / 5/1903 / renovat (on the open book of St Luke on the side altar of the Holy Apostles)

Critical History

According to the parish chronicle the altar was a donation of Nikola Bedeković Komorski,1 while Gjuro Szabo mentions a noble couple – Josip Jagušić and his wife Francisca Pullay.2 A venerated 12 cm tall sculpture of the Madonna was brought from the Holy Land by Stjepan Balagović (Franciscan brother Joachim) in 1669 and placed in a glazed frame ornamented with rocaille.3 The sculpture was covered by silver foil in 1756, which was donated by Josip Jagušić.4 The altar construction and sculptures were executed by Philipp Jakob Straub in Graz, and then transported to Trški vrh and erected in 1759. The polychromy was carried out by an unnamed painter from Graz in 1759 (Ins. 1).5 The repolychromy dating from 1903 was executed by Miroslav Strobach from Zagreb (Ins. 3).6

Construction / Execution

The backside of the altar shows a well finished and smoothed surface, indicating that it was meant to be seen from the back during festivity processions.

Components

Carpentry
Author: Philipp Jakob Straub (Wiesensteig 1706 – Graz 1774)
Completed: 1759
Patron(s): Josip Jagušić, bishop's secretary
Technique(s): sawing
Material(s): wood
Sculpture
Sculpture and ornamentation
Author: Philipp Jakob Straub (Wiesensteig 1706 – Graz 1774)
Completed: 1759
Patron(s): Josip Jagušić, bishop's secretary
Technique(s): wood carving
Material(s): wood
Sculpture
Madonna and Child
Completed: ca. 1600 – ca. 1669
Patron(s): Stjepan Balagović, Franciscan friar
Polychromy
Completed: 1759
Patron(s): Josip Jagušić, bishop's secretary
Technique(s): oil gilding, tempera, water gilding
Material(s): Bologna chalk, calcium sulphate dihydrate, gold leaf, oil size, red bole, silver leaf
Polychromy
First repolychromy
Author: Miroslav Strobach
Completed: 1903
Technique(s): casein
Material(s): calcium sulphate dihydrate, chrome yellow, copper, gold, lead white, litophone, metallic pigment, oil, protein, Prussian blue, silver, vermillion, zink

Comment

Because of the thick coatings, the material the sculpture of Madona and Child remailed unknown.

The repolychromy was attributed to Miroslav Strobach, church painter from Zagreb, based on comparison with the repolychromy of the left side altar of the Holy Apostles. The binder medium for the repolychromy contains oil and terpen resins.7

Conservation-restoration

1991

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

Treatment Description

The sculpture of St Joachim was restored for the exhibition Tisuću godina hrvatskog kiparstva (Thousand years of Croatian sculpture) by the Mimara Museum conservation workshop and the repolychromy from 1903 was removed.

1994

Strategy: preserving one or several repolychromies, preserving varnish, removing dirt

Approach to the presentation of losses

Reintegration of lacunae – mimetic: total

Reconstruction of losses: total

Treatment Description

Minor conservation works were executed on the sculptures of St Elisabeth, St Anna, St Joseph and St Joachim in 1994 for the Sveti trag (Holy trail) exhibition in the Mimara Museum. The work was led by Vesna Šimičić in the Restoration Institute of Croatia.8

2006−2007

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

Approach to the presentation of losses

Preserving lacunae: total

Materials: acetone, demineralized water, ethyl alcohol, Japanese tissue, Klucel G, metal screws, Plextol 500, PVA adhesive, rabbit-skin glue, Shellsol T, sturgeon glue, wood, wooden pins

Treatment Description

In 2006, research on the church inventory was executed by the Croatian Conservation Institute (led by Miroslav Pavličić and Ksenija Škarić). The pigment identification was carried out non-destructively, using the portable XRF for the in situ pigment investigation.9 In 2007 the on site consolidation of the altars and the pulpit was carried out.

2013

Materials: acetone, benzyl alcohol, Brij 92, buffer, Carbopol, demineralized water, Dowanol PM, Ethomeen C/12, Ethomeen C/25, ethyl alcohol, Japanese tissue, Klucel G, Pemulen TR-2, Shellsol T, Vulpex, xylene

Treatment Description

In 2013 additional comparative and archival studies were carried out, as well as research on materials and solubility. The research was led by Ksenija Škarić in the Croatian Conservation Institute.10

Future

Strategy: removing dirt

Images

  1. The high altar in Trški vrh (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
  2. The sculpture of St Elisabeth (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
  3. The sculpture of St Joachim (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
  4. The sculpture of St Joseph (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
  5. The sculpture of St Anne (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)
  6. The sculpture of an adoring angel (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2018)

Catalogue entry prepared by Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić

Recommended citation: Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić, High Altar in the Pilgrimage Church of St Mary of Jerusalem in Trški Vrh, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 19/10/2025) URL

Sources and Bibliography

  1. Parish archive Krapina, Spomenica župe Krapina
  2. Zercalo mariansko kipa Jerusalemszkoga vu Krapine Pod Bratovschinum Sz. Skapulara Podignyenoga, vu Zagrebu stampano pri Andrasu Besse Purgaru Klobucharu, per Anton Jandera Factorem, Krapina, Narodno sveučilište Krapina, 1996 [1768]
  3. Gjuro Szabo, Spomenici kotara Krapina i Zlatar, in: Vjesnik hrvatskog arheološkog društva, Nove serije sveska XIII. 1913/1914, Josip Brunšmid (ed.), Zagreb, Tisak kraljevske zemaljske tiskare, 1914
  4. Doris Baričević, Štajerski kipari na Trškom vrhu, in: Vijesti muzealaca i konzervatora Hrvatske, 24, 1/6, Ivo Lentić (ed.), Zagreb, Muzejsko društvo Hrvatske; Društvo konzervatora Hrvatske, 1975, 21–32
  5. 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
  6. Croatian Conservation Institute, Vesna Šimičić, Pripreme i troškovnici za umjetnine koje će se izlagati na izložbi "Sveti trag" 1994, Zagreb, 1994
  7. Croatian Conservation Institute, Miroslav Pavličić, Ksenija Škarić, Konzervatorsko-restauratorska istraživanja u crkvi Majke Božje Jeruzalemske na Trškom vrhu, Zagreb, 2007
  8. Croatian Conservation Institute, Laboratorijsko izvješće br. 256/2013, Zagreb, 2013
  9. Croatian Conservation Institute, Ksenija Škarić, Izvješće o konzervatorsko-restauratorskim istraživanjima drvenog inventara u crkvi Majke Božje Jeruzalemske na Trškom Vrhu sa smjernicama za daljnje radove, Zagreb, 2014
  10. Vladan Desnica, Ksenija Škarić, Dubravka Jembrih-Simbürger, Stjepko Fazinić, Milko Jakšić, Domagoj Mudronja, Miroslav Pavličić, Ivona Peranić, Manfred Schreiner, Portable XRF as a valuable device for preliminary in situ pigment investigation of wooden inventory in the Trski Vrh Church in Croatia, in: Applied physics. A: Materials science & processing, 92, Springer-Verlag, 2008, 19–23, URL

Notes

1 Spomenica župe Krapina.

2 Gjuro Szabo, 1914, 164.

3 Zercalo mariansko, 1768, 19.

4 Zercalo mariansko, 1768, 39–40.

5 Doris Baričević transcribed the text from the old parochial chronicle: „Eodem Anno 1759 major Ara Beatissimae V. Mariae Jeros. ex munificentia perillustris ac Generosi Domini Josephi Jagussich ejusdem nobilis Dominae Conthoralis natae Pullay per sculptorem Graecensem Straub extructa et erecta Graecio, et posita fuit, ac per pictorem pariter Graecensem inaurata, et marmorizata.“ Doris Baričević, 1975, 22; Doris Baričević, 1992–1993, 196.

6 Miroslav Pavličić, Ksenija Škarić, 2007.

7 Laboratorijsko izvješće br. 256/2013.

8 Vesna Šimičić, 1994.

9 Vladan Desnica, Ksenija Škarić, Dubravka Jembrih-Simbürger, Stjepko Fazinić, Milko Jakšić, Domagoj Mudronja, Miroslav Pavličić, Ivona Peranić, Manfred Schreiner, 2008.

10 Ksenija Škarić, 2014.

The TrArS project is dedicated to the study and presentation of artworks created by members of the Straub family in 18th century Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. This website is being updated regularly and reflects the current state of the ongoing research.

Project Management Office

Ksenija Škarić, project manager
Croatian Conservation Institute

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