Location
Slovenia, Areh na Pohorju
Succursal Church of St Henry (Podružnična cerkev sv. Areha)
Parish Šmartno na Pohorju
Artwork
The high altar of the Succursal Church of St Henry in Areh na Pohorju
Type
High altar
Dimensions
Height: 960 cm, width: 530 cm, depth: 130 cm
Inscriptions
- Renov...1895...Anton...A. Zoratti...Podkrižnik (signature on the backside of predella)
Critical History
The high altar in the church of St Henry in Areh na Pohorju was mentioned for the first time in the visitation record in 1756.1 After early descriptions of the altarpiece,2 it was Sergej Vrišer who attributed the high altar to Joseph Straub.3 He also pointed out that the architecture of the altar represents an exception in Joseph Straub`s opus:4 note, that columns – which are missing here – are the most important feature in the architecture of Joseph Straub`s altars.
There is a niche with the statue of St Henry in the centre of the altar, two pair of statues are set on each side (St Peter and St Francis Xavier on the left, St John of Nepomuk and St Paul on the right) with the canopy and volutes above. The role of the figures is significant.
Construction / Execution
The high altar is made of wood. The altar table is made of stone and it is covered with non original wooden antependium. The altar is completely repolychromed.
The back side of the altar has well finished and smoothen surface because it was meant to be seen during certain procession activities.
Components
- Carpentry
- Carpentry
- Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)
- Technique(s): sawing, wood carving
- Material(s): softwood
- Sculpture
- Sculpture
- Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)
- Technique(s): wood carving
- Material(s): limewood
- Polychromy
- Polychromy
- Technique(s): oil, water gilding
- Material(s): gold leaf, red bole
- Polychromy
- First repolychromy
- Author: Angelo Zoratti (Udine 1839 – Maribor 1913)
- Completed: 1895
- Technique(s): oil, oil gilding, stencil ornamentation
- Material(s): metal leaf, oil
- Polychromy
- Second repolychromy
- Author: Podkrižnik
- Technique(s): oil
- Material(s): metal leaf, oil
Comment
The wood is infected by wood-boring insects, rot and fungi. There are some losses of the ornamental carving. The angel head on the left side of attic is missing. The ground is lifting and falling off on several parts of polychromy, particularly on gilded parts where the ground is thicker. Especially the ground on the lower part of altarpiece is in a very bad condition because of the great amount of the humidity in the church floor. The first polychromation of the altar architecture was an imitation of marble in blue, orange and brown shades. The drapery of the sculptures, angel wings and ornaments were partly gilded to imitate gold. Some parts of drapery are painted in white and black. Skin parts of sculptures are painted naturalistic. The clouds in the attic were silvered.
The altar was renovated in 1861 by Tomaž Kotnik and Ignacij Holc5 , also in 1895 by Angelo Zoratti6 and later by Podkrižnik (Ins 1). During the last two repolychromies the gilded areas were covered with metal leaves.
Conservation-restoration
- Consolidation/facing
Materials: Hydro-Grund, Japanese tissue, Lascaux® Medium for Consolidation
Treatment Description
The lifting ground with polychromy and gilding was localy consolidated with application of acrylic resin over Japan paper.
Images
- The high altar of the Succursal Church of St Henry in Areh na Pohorju (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of St Henry (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculptures of St Peter and St Francis Xavier (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculptures of St John of Nepomuk and St Paul (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of St Paul, detail (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of angel from the atic (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The top of the altar The sculpture of angel from the atic (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The tabernacle of the high altar (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The inscription on the back side of the altar (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The high altar of the Succursal Church of St Henry in Areh na Pohorju, old photograph (source of the photo: Regional Archive Maribor)
Catalogue entry prepared by Valentina Pavlič and Saša Dolinšek
Recommended citation: Valentina Pavlič and Saša Dolinšek, The high altar of the Succursal Church of St Henry in Areh na Pohorju, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 03/02/2026) URL
