Ursuline Church of the Birth of Christ (Uršulinska crkva Rođenja Isusovog)
Artwork
Sculptures of St John of Nepomuk and St Francis Xavier on the Façade of the Ursuline Church in Varaždin
Type
Sculpture
Dimensions
Height: 176 cm
Critical History
The façade of the ursuline church in Varaždin is decorated with six sculptures dating from different periods. According to Doris Baričević, four of them – two angels and the sculptures of St John of Nepomuk and St Francis Xavier – bear features of the sculptor Joseph Straub.1 They were probably erected during the enlargement of the church and the monastery in the period 1747–1752 when the façade was completed with a round pediment and side volutes bearing four bases for the sculptures. The reconstruction was a donation of the Zagreb archdeacon Sigismund Szinersperg, so there is a probability that the sculptures were a donation of the same patron as well.2
While the sculptures of angels are difficult to observe because of their high position and the sharp angle, for the sculptures of St John and St Francis the similarity with other stone figures by Joseph Straub can be noticed.
Components
Sculpture
Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)
Completed: 1746 – 1752
Patron(s): Sigismund Szinersperg, archdeacon
Technique(s): stone carving
Conservation-restoration
2001
Treatment Description
The sculptures were restored by Božo Martinčević in 2001.3
Images
The sculpture of St John of Nepomuk (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Miroslav Pavličić, 2018)
The sculpture of St Francis Xavier (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Miroslav Pavličić, 2018)
Catalogue entry prepared by Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić
Recommended citation: Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić, Sculptures of St John of Nepomuk and St Francis Xavier on the Façade of the Ursuline Church in Varaždin, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 25/10/2025) URL
Sources and Bibliography
Marija Assumpta Svalina, Ana Klaudija Đuran, Hrvatske uršulinke, povodom 275-godišnjice osnutka uršulinskog samostana u Varaždinu, Varaždin, Provincijalat hrvatskih uršulinki, 1979
Varaždinske uršulinke 300 godina od dolaska u Varaždin (exhibition catalogue), Varaždin, Gradski muzej Varaždin; Uršulinski samostan u Varaždinu, 2003
Željko Trstenjak, Zaštitni radovi na uršulinskom samostanu i crkvi u Varaždinu, in: 300 godina uršulinki u Varaždinu (proceedings from the symposium), Zagreb; Varaždin, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, Zavod za znanstveni rad u Varaždinu; Uršulinski samostan u Varaždinu, 2003, 143–146
Doris Baričević, Barokno kiparstvo sjeverne Hrvatske, Zagreb, Školska knjiga; Institut za povijest umjetnosti, 2008
