Location
Slovenia, Malečnik
Parish Church of St Peter (Župnijska cerkev sv. Petra)
Artwork
Side Altar of St Anthony of Padua in the Parish Church of St Peter in Malečnik
Type
Side altar
Dimensions
Height: 340 cm, width: 190 cm, depth: 50 cm
Inscriptions
- SV. ANTON. PUŠ. (on the base of the sculpture of St Anthony the Great)
- SV. PAUL. PŠ. (on the base of the sculpture of St Paul of Thebes)
- Mili darovi za uboge (on the new predella in front of the altar)
Critical History
In the Parish Church of St Peter in Malečnik there are six side altars placed in the side chapels, facing the entrance. Sergej Vrišer attributed two of them (the altars of St Francis Xavier and St Anthony of Padua) to Joseph Straub and all the others to Philipp Jakob Straub.1 Vrišer also wrote that according to the chronicle, the polychromy was executed by Dominik Cocconi in 1746.2 The side altar of St Anthony of Padua is placed in the last chapel on the left side of the church. The altar painting with a depiction of St Anthony of Padua with the baby Jesus is an attributed work of Valentin Metzinger.3
On the left side of the painting, there is a sculpture of St Anthony the Great, and on the right of St Paul of Thebes. The sculpture of St Anthony the Great looks a bit stiff, especially the right arm and the position of the head. The sculpture of St Paul of Thebes is better in this respect, but we can mark that his hands are extremely big. Nevertheless, the head of the saint is similar to other works by Joseph Straub – open mouths with teeth, big open eyes, curly beard and hair, and also the lower part of the drapery.
Construction / Execution
The side altar is made of wood and it is placed on the stone altar table. The sculptures and ornaments imitate gold. The clouds imitate silver.
Components
- Carpentry
- Carpentry
- Technique(s): sawing, wood carving
- Material(s): softwood
- Sculpture
- Sculpture
- Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)
- Completed: 1746
- Technique(s): wood carving
- Material(s): limewood
- Polychromy
- Polychromy
- Author: Dominicus Cagoni
- Completed: ca. 1746 –
- Technique(s): oil, water gilding
- Material(s): bole, calcium carbonate, gold leaf, natural resin, silver leaf, size
- Polychromy
- First repolychromy
- Technique(s): oil
- Material(s): oil
- Polychromy
- Second repolychromy
- Technique(s): oil, oil gilding
- Material(s): metal leaf, oil
- Painting
- Painting of St Anthony of Padua
- Author: Valentin Metzinger (Saint-Avold 1699 – Ljubljana 1759)
- Technique(s): oil on canvas
Comment
The altar has two repolychromies, except for the sculptures of the saints, which only have one thin layer of overpaint. The original polychromy of the architecture imitated marble in brown-red and grey-blue shades. It is well preserved under the oil painting repolychromies. The construction of the altar is in a stable condition. The limewood of the sculptures and ornaments has been attacked by wood-boring insects. The ground is lifting, cracking and there are some paint losses. The polished gold is highly abraded. Some gilded parts are covered with metal leaves. There is dirt on the sculptures´ skin surface.
Images
- The side altar of St Anthony of Padua in the Parish Church of St Peter in Malečnik (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The upper part of the side altar of St Anthony of Padua in Malečnik (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of St Anthony the Great (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of St Paul of Thebes (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
Catalogue entry prepared by Valentina Pavlič and Saša Dolinšek
Recommended citation: Valentina Pavlič and Saša Dolinšek, Side Altar of St Anthony of Padua in the Parish Church of St Peter in Malečnik, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 23/10/2025) URL
