Location
Croatia, Međimurje County, Čakovec
Parish Church of St Nicholas the Bishop (Župna crkva sv. Nikole Biskupa)
Artwork
High Altar of the Parish (and Franciscan) Church in Čakovec
Type
High altar
Dimensions
Height: 990 cm, width: 1100 cm, depth: 137 cm
Inscriptions
- Sv. AMBROZIJE (in the repolychromy layer on the base of the sculpture of St Ambrose)
- Sv. GREGORIJE (in the repolychromy layer on the base of the sculpture of St Gregory)
- Sv. JEROLIM (in the repolychromy layer on the base of the sculpture of St Jerome)
- Sv. AUGUSTIN (in the repolychromy layer on the base of the sculpture of St Augustine)
- 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)
- Renov: M. Sodič aus Stridon i87i 6/9 (on the backside of one the large shell-like ornaments)
- i87i / M. Sodič renov. (under the painting of St Nicholas)
Critical History
According to a document from the monastery archive, the design for the high altar was commisioned on 15 March 1742 by Ana Maria Pignatelli, the widow of the local nobleman, Count Althann.1 The sculptures were attributed to Joseph Straub by the art historian Sergej Vrišer in 1967.2 The painting St Nicholas Pledges Čakovec to the Mother of God3 (St Nicholas with the Mother of God and Angels4) depicts Čakovec from the mid-18th century true to life. The altar was partially renovated in 1871 by M. Sodič from Štrigova (Ins. 7 and 8)5 and completely repolychromed in 1911 (Ins. 5 and 6) by Josef Obletter Szent Ulrich from Gröden (Val Gardena) in Tyrol6 who also created the new tabernacle and antependium.7
Construction / Execution
According to the conservation documentation, the carpentry was executed in firwood, while the sculptures and ornaments were carved in limewood.8
Components
- Concept/design
- Completed: 1742 – ca. 1750
- Patron(s): Ana Maria Pignatelli, noble
- Carpentry
- Completed: ca. 1743 – ca. 1750
- Patron(s): Ana Maria Pignatelli, noble
- Technique(s): sawing
- Material(s): softwood
- Sculpture
- Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)
- Completed: ca. 1743 – ca. 1750
- Patron(s): Ana Maria Pignatelli, noble
- Technique(s): wood carving
- Material(s): limewood
- Painting
- St Nicholas Pledges Čakovec to the Mother of God
- Completed: ca. 1750
- Patron(s): Ana Maria Pignatelli, noble
- Technique(s): oil on canvas
- Painting
- The Holy Family
- Completed: ca. 1750
- Patron(s): Ana Maria Pignatelli, noble
- Technique(s): oil on canvas
- Polychromy
- Completed: ca. 1743 – ca. 1750
- Patron(s): Ana Maria Pignatelli, noble
- Technique(s): incision, oil gilding, tempera, water gilding
- Material(s): gold leaf, oil-resin varnish, red bole, silver leaf, white bole, yellow bole
- Polychromy
- First repolychromy
- Author: Martin Sodič
- Completed: ca. 1871
- Technique(s): oil
- Material(s): oil size, silver leaf
- Polychromy
- Second repolychromy
- Author: Josef Obletter
- Completed: 1911
- Technique(s): oil, oil gilding, water gilding
- Material(s): aluminium leaf, gold leaf, industrial nails, metallic pigment, oil size
Comment
According to the Velimir Ivezić, the polychromy was executed in tempera and covered by shellac varnish, while the repolychromies were carried out in oil. The gilding of the frame dating from the 18th century was in parts scratched by means of metal hooks to form tendril shapes.9
Conservation-restoration
- 2001–2011
Strategy: preserving one or several repolychromies, removing dirt, removing partial repairs, removing varnish
Approach to the presentation of losses
Reintegration of lacunae – mimetic: total
Reconstruction of losses: total
Materials: acetone, Bologna chalk, Carbopol, demineralized water, Ethomeen C/25, ethyl acetate, gouache, limewood, mastic resin, paint stripper, paint thinner, Paraloid B-72, Plextol 500, PVA adhesive, rabbit-skin glue, red bole, Shellsol T, turpentine oil, white bole, wood powder, wooden pins, yellow bole
Treatment Description
The sculptures of St Jerome and St Gregory were exhibited in 1999 in the exhibition of Franciscan art Mir i dobro.10 After 2001 conservation-restoration work on the four sculptures of the church fathers started, following the restoration of all the other sculptures on the high altar (led by Vesna Šimičić and Snježana Hodak). On the sculptures the repolychromies were preserved, but the darkened varnish and the partial repairs of gilding executed with gold imitation (colours containing copper) were removed.11 The restored sculptures were returned to the owner in 2011 and placed on the restored altar in 2015. The paintings were restored in the Croatian Conservation Institute in 2008 (conservation-restoration led by Vjeran Potočić).
- 2003–2015
Strategy: removing dirt, removing one or several historic repolychromies, removing partial repairs, removing patina, removing varnish
Approach to the presentation of losses
Reintegration of lacunae – mimetic: total
Reconstruction of losses: total
Materials: acetone, beeswax, dammar varnish, gold leaf, gold powder, gouache, gum arabic, oil colour, paint thinner, red bole, triamonium citrate
Treatment Description
The conservation-restoration of the retable was carried out in the private restoration workshop headed by Velimir Ivezić. The treatment included the dismantlement of the structure and the removal of the repolychromies. When two layers of gilding could not be separated without damaging the earlier one, the regilding was preserved.12
Images
- The high altar in Čakovec (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2017)
- The high altar, detail (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Nikolina Oštarijaš, 2015)
- The high altar, detail (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Nikolina Oštarijaš, 2015)
- The sculpture of the Archangel Gabriel (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2012)
- The sculpture of an angel (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Ljubo Gamulin, 2013)
- The high altar 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, High Altar of the Parish (and Franciscan) Church in Čakovec, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 04/10/2023) URL