Artworks Catalogue

The sculpture of St Nicodemus (Photo by Croatian Conservation Institute, Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
The sculpture of St Mary Magdalene (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
The sculpture of St Nicodemus, detail (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
The sculpture of St Mary Magdalene, detail(Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
The vase on the side altar of Holy Cross (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
The vase on the side altar of St Vitus (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
The side altar of Holy Cross, total (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)

Location

Croatia, Koprivničko-križevačka County, Sveti Petar Čvrstec

Parish Church of St Peter and Paul (Župna crkva sv. Petra i Pavla)

Original location:

Croatia, City of Zagreb, Remete

Pauline Monastery Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Remete (Pavlinska crkva Majke Božje Remetske)

Artwork

Sculptures of St Nicodemus and St Mary Magdalene in Sveti Petar Čvrstec

Type

Sculpture

Critical History

The sculptures of St Nicodemus and St Mary Magdalene originate from the Pauline Monastery Church in Remete, where they were once on the side altar of the Suffering Christ, erected in the second half of the 18th century. 1
However, after 1820 most of the church inventory was disassembled and stored in a depository. 2 At the same time, in 1820/1821 the parish church in Sveti Petar Čvrstec was being rebuilt and its pastor Franjo Pukšec asked Maksimilijan Vrhovac, Bishop of Zagreb, for permission to purchase the inventory from Remete. In 1825, five altars and a pulpit were sold for 20 forints and transferred to Čvrstec. In 1826, they were repaired and installed in the church for the total sum of 300 forints. Over the years, only the pulpit and two of the former five altars from Remete have been preserved in Čvrstec.3
The sculptures of St Nicodemus and St Mary Magdalene are placed in the side niches on the retable from the 17th century, which was probably originally consecrated to St Anthony of Padua, but in Čvrstec changed to The Holy Cross.4
In 1978, Doris Baričević analysed the sculptures and concluded that they were made by an anonymous, probably Pauline, sculptor. 5
In 2018 Martina Ožanić proposed a new attribution of the sculptures to Franz Anton Straub, based on stylistic and comparative analysis with his other proposed works. 6 The sculpture of St Nicodemus with his facial features (triangular-shaped face, small lips, modelling of the beard etc.), broad shoulders and the treatment of the drapery and body, shares similarities with the sculpture of St John the Evangelist in Prepolno, and the accentuated body movement with, for example, sculptures on the side altars in Kloštar Ivanić. The sculpture of St Mary Magdalene with her face, strong neck and the way in which her hair falls in snake-like locks resembles the figure of St Mary Magdalene in Prepolno, while the gesture of the hand holding a cloth to wipe away tears is similar to the sculpture of the angel in Lužnica.

There are also two rocaille shaped vases which can be linked to the former altars from Remete, and also dating probably from1760s. The vase with flowers is placed on top of the side altar of The Holy Cross, and the vase without flowers is placed on the top of the side altar of St Vitus.

Construction / Execution

The renovation of the church inventory in Čvrstec was carried out in 1885 by Eduard Wagmeister, gilder and renovator from Zagreb, for a total sum of 900 forints. 7

Components

Sculpture
Sculptures of St Nicodemus and St Mary Magdalene
Author: Franz Anton Straub (Wiesensteig 1726 – Zagreb ca. 1774)
Completed: ca. 1760
Technique(s): wood carving
Material(s): wood
Polychromy
Completed: ca. 1760
Material(s): gold leaf, red bole, silver leaf, yellow bole
Polychromy
Repolychromy
Author: Eduard (Slavoljub, Aloys) Wagmeister ( 1840 – Zagreb 1909)
Completed: 1885
Technique(s): oil gilding, stencil ornamentation
Material(s): gold, gold leaf

Conservation-restoration

2006

Treatment Description

Conservation-restoration investigation of the wooden inventory was carried out by Miroslav Pavličić and Ivona Peranić.7

2014 – 2015

Strategy: preserving one or several repolychromies, removing dirt

Approach to the presentation of losses

Reintegration of losses – other: total

Reconstruction of losses: total

Materials: acrylic, black bole, Bologna chalk, demineralized water, gold leaf, gold powder, oil, oil colour, Paraloid B-72, PVA adhesive, rabbit-skin glue, red bole, silver powder, wood powder, wooden pins, yellow bole

Treatment Description

Conservation-restoration works were carried out in 2014 and 2015 by the private restorer Ivona Peranić-Marin.9

Images

  1. The sculpture of St Nicodemus (Photo by Croatian Conservation Institute, Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
  2. The sculpture of St Mary Magdalene (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
  3. The sculpture of St Nicodemus, detail (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
  4. The sculpture of St Mary Magdalene, detail(Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
  5. The vase on the side altar of Holy Cross (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
  6. The vase on the side altar of St Vitus (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
  7. The side altar of Holy Cross, total (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)

Catalogue entry prepared by Martina Ožanić and Ksenija Škarić

Recommended citation: Martina Ožanić and Ksenija Škarić, Sculptures of St Nicodemus and St Mary Magdalene in Sveti Petar Čvrstec, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 19/10/2025) URL

Sources and Bibliography

  1. Archive of the Archbishopric of Zagreb, Canonical visitations, Kalnik Archdeaconry, protocol 140/XI, 1842
  2. Sv. Petar Čvrstec, in: Katolički list. Crkveno-bogoslovni časopis, 43, Nadbiskupija zagrebačka (ed.), Zagreb, 1902, 546–547
  3. Janko Barlè, Remete. Povjesni podaci o samostanu, crkvi i župi., Zagreb, Tisak i naklada Marka Mileusnića, 1914
  4. Franjo Štefan, Nešto iz prošlosti župe sv. Petar Čvrstec, in: Katolički list. Crkveno-bogoslovni časopis, 10, Zagreb, 1917, 111-113
  5. Artur Schneider, Propovjedaonica iz stare pavlinske crkve u Remetama, in: Hrvatski narod, 615, Zagreb, 1942, 15
  6. Kamilo Dočkal, Samostan bl. Djevice Marije u Remetama, Zagreb, Arhiv Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti XVI-29/ b) , 1955
  7. Doris Baričević, Umjetnički spomenici Remeta u drvetu i kamenu, in: Umjetničke znamenitosti crkve i samostana Majke Božje Remetske, Stjepan Draganić (ed.), Zagreb, Kajkavsko spravišče, 1978, 23-44
  8. Stjepan Kožul, Crkva i inventar u sv. Petru Čvrstecu, in: Croatica Christiana Periodica, 7, Zagreb, Časopis Instituta za crkvenu povijest Katoličkog bogoslovnog fakulteta u Zagrebu, 1981, 114–122
  9. Ante Sekulić, Remete. Pavlini u Hrvatskoj, Zagreb, Kršćanska sadašnjost, 1986
  10. Doris Baričević, Kiparstvo u pavlinskim crkvama u doba baroka, in: Kultura pavlina u Hrvatskoj 1244.-1786., Đurđica Cvitanović (ed.), Zagreb, Globus, Muzej za umjetnost i obrt, 1989, 183-222
  11. Stjepan Kožul, Sakralna umjetnost bjelovarskog kraja, Zagreb, Prometej, 1999
  12. Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, Conservation Department in Zagreb, Miroslav Pavličić, Marta Budicin, Istražni radovi na drvenom sakralnom inventaru ž. c. sv. Petra, Sv. Petar Čvrstec, Zagreb, 2006
  13. Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, Conservation Department in Bjelovar, Ivona Peranić-Marin, Izvještaj o provedenim završnim restauratorsko-konzervatorskim radovima na oltaru sv. Križa u Sv. Petru Čvrstecu, 18. stoljeće , Rijeka, 2015
  14. Martina Ožanić, Altaristika u opusu Franza Antona Strauba na području sjeverne Hrvatske – geneza motiva, utjecaji, odjeci, in: Peristil, 61, Zagreb, Društvo povjesničara umjetnosti Hrvatske, 2018, 65–87

Notes

1 Doris Baričević, 1978, 35; Doris Baričević, 1989, 200.
According to Janko Barlé, bishop Thauszy frequently visited the Pauline monastery in Remete and made donations, so he might have been involved in the selection of an artist who built new altars, probably in 1760s. Since the bishop was a well-known supporter and benefactor of Franz Anton's work, it is not unlikely that he had recommended him for the new commission. Janko Barlé, 1914, 35.

2 Five side altars in the nave had been listed on the occasion of the canonical visitation by archdeacon Josip Sermage on the 16th of November 1820. Soon after, Maksimilijan Vrhovac ordered them to be disassembled due to their bad condition, and stored in a depository where two other side altars (dated in 1658 and the former high altar dated in 1694) had already been placed. Janko Barlé, 1914, 35-36; Kamilo Dočkal, 1955, 694; Doris Baričević, 1978, 30-31; Stjepan Kožul, 1981, 118; Stjepan Kožul, 1999, 471.
See also Archives of the Archdiocese of Zagreb, Canonical Visitations, Katedrala Archdeaconry, Protocol 67/XXIII, 1820, 638.

3 Katolički list, 1902, 546-547; Katolički list, 1905, 220; Katolički list, 1917, 112; Katolički list, 1918, 105; Kamilo Dočkal, 701; Doris Baričević, 1978, 31-32; Ante Sekulić, 1986, 107; Stjepan Kožul, 1999, 471-472.
The text of the canonical visitation in 1842 mentioned five altars which were all consecrated differently than in Remete: high altar of St Peter, side altar of the Suffering Christ, side altar of the Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary, side altar of St Anthony of Padua and side altar of St Vitus.
Kemlek Archdiconry, Canonical visitation, 140/XI, 1842, 30: "Altaria quinque, et quidem altare majus sub invocatione Sct. Petri [...], altare ad meridiem S.S. Salvatoris patientis, tertia ad septemtrionem B. Maria V. Conceptionis; quarta versus septemtrionem Sct Viti Mart.; quinta versus meridiem Sti Antonii."

4 Doris Baričević, 1978, 34.
Artur Schneider (1940) described the church inventory, among which was still a side altar of St Anthony of Padua. At some time after 1940 the altar changed its patron and was consecrated to Holy Cross. See Artur Schneider, 1940, 15.

5 Doris Baričević, 1978, 35. See also Doris Baričević, 1989, 200.

6 Martina Ožanić, 2018, 83.

7 Doris Baričević, 1978, 32; Stjepan Kožul, 1981, 119; Stjepan Kožul, 1999, 472.

8 Miroslav Pavličić, Marta Budicin, 2006.

9 Ivona Peranić-Marin, 2015.

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

Creative Europe