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High altar in Vugrovec (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)

The high altar in Vugrovec, detail with the tabernacle (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Nikolina Oštarijaš, 2011)

High altar in Vugrovec, reconstruction of polychromy from 1759 (drawing by Ksenija Škarić, 2022)

High altar in Vugrovec, reconstruction of repolychromy from 1838 (drawing by Ksenija Škarić, 2022)

High altar in Vugrovec, reconstruction of repolychromy from 1858 (drawing by Ksenija Škarić, 2022)

High altar in Vugrovec, reconstruction of repolychromy from 1897 (drawing by Ksenija Škarić, 2022)

Location

Croatia, City of Zagreb, Vugrovec Donji

Parish church of St Francis Xavier (Župna crkva sv. Franje Ksaverskog)

Artwork

High Altar of the Parish Church of St Francis Xavier in Vugrovec

Type

High altar

Dimensions

Height: 600 cm, width: 365 cm, depth: 80 cm

Inscriptions

OBNOVLJENO god. 1944 / 7. STUDENA NOVCEM / ŽUPNE CRKVE. / PO IVANU ROBNIKU IZ ZAGREBA / ZA ZA ŽUPNIKA IVANA MITREČIĆ. / CRKVENIH ODBOR... (on the right side of the concrete mensa)
Stroy pinx: / 1838. (on the painting of St Francis Xavier)
1759 (above the entrance towards the old part of the building)
Felix Stuhec / (poz)latio 1897 (on the pulpit)
Renovirat / 1897 / 1/9 W. E. (on the side altar of Our Lady)

Critical History

The church was built in 1759 (Ins. 3) as a donation of the Zagreb bishop Francisus Thauszy, replacing a wooden chapel near the market place on the bishopry estates.1 It was affiliated to the parish of St Michael until 1803 when it became a parish church.2 The church was consacrated along with the three altars by the same bishop on 29th July 1759.3 The high altar was mentioned in the canonical visitation in 1765 as a donation of bishop Franciscus Thauszy.4 Originally, there was a painting of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa (transferred from the high altar in the previous chapel)5 above the painting of St Francis Xavier. Several sculptures were placed between the four columns.6 These two paintings were replaced in 1838 by a single, much larger painting "The Miracle of St Francis Xavier" (after P. P. Rubens)7 painted by Mihael Stroy (Ins. 2), who received 500 forints from the Parish.8 In the same renovation the attic bearing glory with the Christ's monogram (described in 1779) was replaced by the Classicist pediment, which was repainted to imitate closely the polychromy of the older parts of the altar architecture.9 Nevertheless, the renovation of all altars and the pulpit was mentioned as soon as in 1858.10 The conservation-restauration investigations reveal pale bluish and pale red marblings from that phase.11 Doris Baričević attributed the four sculptures of angels to Franz Anton Straub, based on the comparison with the style of his brothers.12 According to the symbols of the cross and the palm branch, the adoring angels were previously placed aside the tabernacle. The posture of the two smaller angels indicate that they were pointing to the painting, probably the one of the Madonna of Częstochowa that was mentioned to be framed by gilded ornaments.13 A representation of the slaughtered lamb on the tabernacle, although common in Southern Germany's late rococo,14 is very rare in Croatia.

The parish chronicle recorded that altars were damaged in the 1880 earthquake and many sculptures fell off. The next year the church and its inventory were repaired on the expenses of the archbihop of Zagreb Josip Mihalović.15 According to the conservation-restoration investigations, the high altar was not repolychromed during that renovation, but it was repainted soon after, in 1987, by Felix Stuhec (Ins. 4) and Eduard Wagmeister (Ins. 5).16 The altar was repolychromed again in 1944 by the gilder from Zagreb Ivan Robnik, on the expense of the Parish Vugrovec (Ins. 1). The work was paid 200 000 kn.17

In 2011 the previously polychrome crucifix was recently completely regilded by Branimir Bobnjarić, together with columns and flowers of the tabernacle.

Components

Carpentry: Construction of the retable; Completed: ca. 1759; Patron(s): Franciscus Thauszy, bishop; Technique(s): sawing; Material(s): softwood
Carpentry: Construction of the pediment; Completed: 1838; Material(s): softwood
Sculpture: Author: Franz Anton Straub (Wiesensteig 1726 – Zagreb ca. 1774); Completed: ca. 1759; Patron(s): Franciscus Thauszy, bishop; Material(s): wood
Painting: Black Madonna of Częstochowa
Painting: St Francis Xavier; Completed: ca. 1759; Patron(s): Franciscus Thauszy, bishop
Painting: The Miracle of St Francis Xavier; Author: Mihael Stroy (Ljubno na Gorenjskom 1803 – Ljubljana 1871); Completed: 1838; Patron(s): owner, parish; Technique(s): oil on canvas
Polychromy: Polychromy of the lower part and the sculptures; Completed: ca. 1759; Patron(s): Franciscus Thauszy, bishop; Material(s): calcium sulphate dihydrate, gold leaf, iron oxide, lead white, silver leaf, ultramarine, vermillion
Polychromy: Polychromy of the pediment; Completed: 1838; Material(s): azurite, calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate dihydrate, gold leaf, iron oxide, lead white
Polychromy: First repolychromy; Completed: 1858; Material(s): barium sulphate, calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate dihydrate, iron oxide, lead white, silver, ultramarine, zink white
Polychromy: Second repolychromy; Author: Eduard (Slavoljub, Aloys) Wagmeister ( 1840 – Zagreb 1909); Completed: 1897; Material(s): barium sulphate, brass leaf, calcium sulphate dihydrate, gold, iron oxide, lead white, ultramarine, vermillion, zink white
Polychromy: Third repolychromy; Author: Ivan Robnik; Completed: 1944; Patron(s): owner, parish; Material(s): barium sulphate, brass leaf, calcium carbonate, iron oxide, lead red, lead white, vermillion, zink white
Polychromy: Forth repolychromy; Author: Branimir Bobnjarić; Completed: 2011; Patron(s): owner, parish; Material(s): brass leaf

Comment

The original paintings of St Francis Xavier, as well as of the Madonna of Częstochowa, are not anymore existent. The visible repolychromy was executed by Ivan Robnik in 1944 (Ins. 1).18 Parts of the tabernacle were regilded in 2011.

Conservation-restoration

2022

Strategy: preserving one or several repolychromies, removing dirt

Approach to the presentation of losses

Reintegration of lacunae – mimetic: total

Reintegration of losses – other: total

Reconstruction of losses: total

Materials: 3M Spray Mount, Brij 30, buffer, citric acid, demineralized water, epoxy filler, ethyl alcohol, Hydro-Grund, Japanese tissue, Klucel G, Lascaux® Medium for Consolidation, Pemulen TR-2, wood, wood powder, wooden pins

Treatment Description

The church was damaged in earthquake on March 22nd 2020 when the high altar also suffered minor damages of the left vase and left angel's wing which fell off. The altar was partially dismentled within the same year to allow the building to be repaired. In 2022 the Croatian Conservation Institute executed conservation-restoration investigations of the church inventory and started conservation of the high altar.19

Images

High altar in Vugrovec (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Goran Tomljenović, 2019)
The high altar in Vugrovec, detail with the tabernacle (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Nikolina Oštarijaš, 2011)
High altar in Vugrovec, reconstruction of polychromy from 1759 (drawing by Ksenija Škarić, 2022)
High altar in Vugrovec, reconstruction of repolychromy from 1838 (drawing by Ksenija Škarić, 2022)
High altar in Vugrovec, reconstruction of repolychromy from 1858 (drawing by Ksenija Škarić, 2022)
High altar in Vugrovec, reconstruction of repolychromy from 1897 (drawing by Ksenija Škarić, 2022)

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Catalogue entry prepared by Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić

Recommended citation: Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić, High Altar of the Parish Church of St Francis Xavier in Vugrovec, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 26/01/2026) URL

Sources and Bibliography

Archive of the Archbishopric of Zagreb, Canonical visitations, Cathedral Archdeaconry, protocol 60/XVI, 1765
Archive of the Archbishopric of Zagreb, Canonical visitations, Cathedral Archdeaconry, protocol 63/XIX, 1779
Parish Archive Vugrovec, Spomenica Župe svetog Franje Ksaverskoga u Vugrovcu
Ivan Galović, Vugrovec i okolina, Zagreb, 1969
Doris Baričević, Članovi kiparske obitelji Straub u Hrvatskoj, in: Peristil. Zbornik radova za povijest umjetnosti, 35–36, Radovan Ivančević (ed.), Zagreb, 1992–1993, 193–218
Lelja Dobronić, Stari "vijenac" sela oko Zagreba, Zagreb, Muzej grada Zagreba, 2003
Ivan Klaić, Po kašinskom i vugrovečkom kraju, Zagreb, 2002
Johannes Hamm, Barocke Altartabernakel in Süddeutschland, Petersberg, Michael Imhof Verlag, 2010
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ksenija Škarić, Polikromija i polikromatori oltara 17. i 18. stoljeća u sjeverozapadnoj Hrvatskoj, PhD Thesis, Zagreb, 2014
Prigorje Museum, Dubravka Habuš Skendžić et al., Inventar župne crkve svetog Franje Ksaverskog u Vugrovcu, 2014–2015
Dubravka Habuš-Skendžić, Heda Šlogar, Misno ruho župne crkve sv. Franje Ksaverskog u Vugrovcu, Sesvete, Muzej Prigorja, 2018
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
Croatian Conservation Institute, Ksenija Škarić, Vugrovec, župna crkva svetog Franje Ksaverskog, sakralni inventar. Elaborat konzervatorsko-restauratorskih istraživanja

Notes

1 Canonical visitations, Katedrala Archdeaconry, protocol 60/XVI, 1765, 32: "Quae paulo antea lignea et desolata fuit, ad praesens secundum modernum gustum murata eaque elegans, eximia excellentissimi, illustrissimi et reverendissimi domini, domini Francisci Thauszy, praelati gratiosissimi, liberalitate surrexit. Est haec capella tam in sanctuario, quam in corpore ecclesiae sub fornicem posita, quercineis asseribus tecta, campanili similibus asseribus ad formam imbricum elaboratis viridique colore decoloratis in cupula exornato, atque in cujus summitate duplicata crux inaurata posita. (Transcribed by Šime Demo)

2 The Zagreb bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac declared the church of St Francis Xavier a parish church in 1803. Lelja Dobronić, 2003, 38–39

3 Canonical visitations, Katedrala Archdeaconry, protocol 63/XIX, 1779, 330: "Hae omnes arae una cum ipsa capella consecratae sunt.“ Spomenica Župe svetog Franje Ksaverskoga u Vugrovcu, 3: "Capella sancti Francisci Xaverii Wugrae consecrata est. Anno millesimo septingentesimo quinquagesimo nono (1759), die 29. Julii, Dominica prima post festum Sancti Jacobi apostoli, per excellentissimum, illustrissimum et reverendissimum dominum, dominum Franciscum Thauzy, Dei et Apostolicae Sedis gratia episcopum Zagrabiensem, abbatem Beatae Mariae Virginis de Thopuska, Comitatus Berzence supremum ac perpetuum comitem, Sacratissimarum cesareo-regiarum Majestatum actualem intimi status consiliarium, nec non regnorum Dalmatiae, Croatiae et Slavoniae regium locumtenentem banalem etc. etc." (Transcribed by Šime Demo). See also: Ivan Galović, 26.

4 Canonical visitations, Katedrala Archdeaconry, protocol 60/XVI, 1765, 32–33: "In hac capella tres arae reperiuntur, in quibus sive arcularij sive statuarij sive denique pictoris opus spectetur, elegantes sunt. Prima sive major munificentia ejusdem excellentissimi domini, sub patrocinio Sancti Francisci Xaverij, in summitate imaginem Beatissimae Mariae Virginis Chesztakoviensis habens, est erecta... Hanc capellam visitans in debita munditie et nitore reperi atque in tabernaculo arae majoris monstrantiam inauratam et sua theca provisam, reliquijs Sancti Francisci Xaverij repletam, inveni." (Transcribed by Šime Demo)

5 Dubravka Habuš Skendžić et al., 2014–2015

6 Canonical visitations, Katedrala Archdeaconry, protocol 63/XIX, 1779, 330: "In ejusdem capellae sanctuario obverso septemtrioni est ara elegans sculptorij operis inaurata et inargentata, in cujus medio intra columnas 4 variasque statuas est imago picta Sancti Francisci Xaverii; superne velo intra ciratas inauratas est imago picta Sastakoriensis Beatissimae Mariae Virginis; ejusque sumitatem claudit intra radios inauratos Sacratissimum Nomen Jesu... Hae omnes arae una cum ipsa capella consecratae sunt" (Transcribed by Šime Demo) The canonical visitation from 1765 uses the form "Chesztakoviensis", while in 1779 the same name is written "Sastakoriensis".

7 Dubravka Habuš-Skendžić, Heda Šlogar, 2018, 27.

8 Ivan Klaić, 2002, 197.

9 Ksenija Škarić, 2022, 23.

10 Spomenica Župe svetog Franje Ksaverskoga u Vugrovcu, 6: "Anno 1858. in parochiali ecclesia praesuscepta est restauratio majoris altaris, collateralium ararum et ambonis, sumptibus parochialis ecclesiae, quae etiam ad finem vergente eodem anno consummata est." (Transcribed by Šime Demo)

11 Ksenija Škarić, 2022, 24.

12 Doris Baričević, 1992–1993, 211. See also: Martina Ožanić, 2018, 74.

13 Canonical visitations, Katedrala Archdeaconry, protocol 63/XIX, 1779, 330.

14 Johannes Hamm, 2010, 177.

15 Spomenica Župe svetog Franje Ksaverskoga u Vugrovcu, 9.

16 Ksenija Škarić, 2022, 24–25.

17 Spomenica Župe svetog Franje Ksaverskoga u Vugrovcu, 41.

18 According to an inscription in Slani Potok dating from 1931, Robnik worked for the company "Josip Kaplan" dedicated to trade and execution of church art. Ksenija Škarić, 2014, 551–552, 536–537.

19 Ksenija Škarić. 2022.