Artworks Catalogue

Altar of the Holy Cross in the Varaždin Cathedral (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)
Altar of the Holy Cross, detail (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)
Sculpture of the Virgin Mary (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)
Sculpture of Mary Magdalene (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)
Sculpture of St John the Evangelist (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)
Sculpture of St Barbara (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)

Location

Croatia, Varaždin County, Varaždin

Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Katedrala Uznesenja Blažene Djevice Marije)

Artwork

Left Side Altar of the Holy Cross in Varaždin Cathedral

Type

Side altar

Dimensions

Height: 780 cm, width: 340 cm, depth: 110 cm

Inscriptions

  1. pIa / soDaLIVM agonIæ / ChrIstI patIentIs LiberaLItas / .I.It In CrVCe MorIentI / DeI patrIs fILIo (the chronogram in the cartouche marks the year 1764)
  2. ALTARE / PRIVILEGIA/TUM (formerly in the layer above Ins. 1, now removed)
  3. Smilujte se / Smilujte / se meni / Prijatelji / moji. (inscription in the hand of the soul from the Purgatory, maybe from 1900)
  4. O blagi / Gospo-/dine / Jezuse, / daruj pokoj / vječni Amen (inscription in the hand of the soul in Purgatory, maybe from 1900)

Critical History

In the centre of the retable is an old painting The Crucified Christ by an unknown Austrian painter dated around 1678, moved from a previous altar.1 The altar was commissioned in 1762 by the Fraternity of the Passion and Death of Christ,2 along with the stucco and the wrought fence in the chapel. In 1764 the new altar was mentioned as being recently erected.3 The date of completion can be read on the chronogram (Ins. 1). The works were completed for the cost of 1600 florins.4 Scholars connect the sculptural work to the workshops of Veit Königer5 or Philipp Jakob Straub.6 Based on analogy with the pulpit from 1761, Franz Karcher was responsible for the polychromy.7 The painting was covered in crystal glass in 1737.8 The altar and the painting were revarnished in 1900.9 The tabernacle dates from the same period, and the relief on the front shows stylistic resemblance to the relief on the pulpit in the same church. In 1764 it was recorded to be covered by marble and gold from the outside, and by mirrors from the inside.10

Components

Carpentry
Author: Philipp Jakob Straub (Wiesensteig 1706 – Graz 1774)
Completed: 1762 – 1764
Patron(s): Christian fraternity, Christian fraternity
Technique(s): sawing, wood carving
Material(s): wood
Sculpture
Sculpture and ornamentation
Author: Philipp Jakob Straub (Wiesensteig 1706 – Graz 1774)
Completed: 1762 – 1764
Patron(s): Christian fraternity, Christian fraternity
Technique(s): wood carving
Material(s): wood
Painting
The Crucifixion of Christ
Completed: 1678 – 1680
Patron(s): Christian fraternity, Christian fraternity
Technique(s): oil on canvas
Polychromy
Author: Franz Karcher
Completed: 1762 – 1764
Patron(s): Christian fraternity, Christian fraternity
Technique(s): oil gilding, tempera, water gilding
Material(s): gold leaf, red bole, silver leaf, yellow bole

Comment

The gilding was partially repaired by imitation gold and the inscriptions were repainted. The altar was revarnished, but never widely repolychromed.

Conservation-restoration

1991–2016

Strategy: removing dirt, removing partial repairs, removing varnish

Approach to the presentation of losses

Reintegration of lacunae – mimetic: total

Reconstruction of losses: total

Materials: Bologna chalk, bone black, brown ochre, caput mortuum, ethyl alcohol, gold leaf, gold powder, limewood, Paraloid B-72, PVA adhesive, rabbit-skin glue, red bole, red ochre, sienna, silver leaf, terra pozzuoli, titan white, umber, yellow bole, yellow ochre

Treatment Description

Restoration began in 1991–1992 when several sculptures were prepared for the exhibition The Jesuit Heritage in Croatia (supervisor Đuro Šimičić).11 The academic painter Radovan Pavlek removed the yellowed varnish from the retable. Later conservation was performed from 2008 until 2016 at the Croatian Conservation Institute, supervised by Đuro Šimičić and Danuta Misiuda.12 The altar has never been completely repolychromed, only subsequently added layers of varnish (shellac) and partial repairs (imitation of gilding), which have been removed.

Images

  1. Altar of the Holy Cross in the Varaždin Cathedral (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)
  2. Altar of the Holy Cross, detail (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)
  3. Sculpture of the Virgin Mary (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)
  4. Sculpture of Mary Magdalene (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)
  5. Sculpture of St John the Evangelist (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)
  6. Sculpture of St Barbara (Croatian Conservation Institute Photo Archive, photo by Jovan Kliska, 2017)

Catalogue entry prepared by Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić

Recommended citation: Ksenija Škarić and Martina Ožanić, Left Side Altar of the Holy Cross in Varaždin Cathedral, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 24/10/2025) URL

Sources and Bibliography

  1. Archive of the Archbishopric of Zagreb, Canonical visitations, Varaždin Archdeaconry, protocol 173/XIV, 1808
  2. Miroslav Vanino, Bratovština muke i srmti Isusove u Varaždinu (1662–1773.), in: Katolički list, 14 (68), 1917, 160–163
  3. Miroslav Vanino, Isusovci i hrvatski narod, II, Zagreb, 1987
  4. Sergej Vrišer, Vezi med baročnimi kiparji Štajerske in Varaždinom, in: Varaždinski zbornik, 1181 – 1981 (Proceedings from the Symposium held in Varaždin 1–3 October 1981), Andre Mohorovičić (ed.), Varaždin, JAZU, 1983, 437–440
  5. Ivy Lentić-Kugli, Prilog istraživanju dokumentacije o pavlinskom (bivšem isusovačkom) sakralno-samostanskom kompleksu u Varaždinu, in: Isusovačka crkva i samostan u Varaždinu. Prilog istraživanju. Mala biblioteka Godišnjaka zaštite spomenika kulture Hrvatske, addition to 13/1987, Ivy Lentić-Kugli, Silvije Novak, Doris Baričević, Radovan Ivančević (ed.), Zagreb, Republički zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture, 1988, 3–26
  6. Doris Baričević, Kiparstvo 17. i 18. stoljeća u crkvi Sv. Marije u Varaždinu, in: Isusovačka crkva i samostan u Varaždinu. Prilog istraživanju. Mala biblioteka Godišnjaka zaštite spomenika kulture Hrvatske, addition to 13/1987, Ivy Lentić-Kugli, Silvije Novak, Doris Baričević, Radovan Ivančević (ed.), Zagreb, Zagreb, Republički zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture, 1988, 53–67
  7. Ivy Lentić-Kugli, Sakralno slikarstvo hrvatskih isusovaca, in: Isusovačka baština u Hrvata. U povodu 450-te obljetnice osnutka Družbe Isusove i 500-te obljetnice rođenja Ignacija Loyole (exhibition catalogue), Biserka Rauter Plančić (ed.), Zagreb, Muzejsko-galerijski centar, 1992, 290–311
  8. Doris Baričević, Barokno kiparstvo u isusovačkim crkvama u Hrvatskoj, in: Isusovačka baština u Hrvata. U povodu 450-te obljetnice osnutka Družbe Isusove i 500-te obljetnice rođenja Ignacija Loyole (exhibition catalogue), Biserka Rauter Plančić (ed.), Zagreb, Muzejsko-galerijski centar, 1992, 312–321
  9. Doris Baričević, Barokno kiparstvo sjeverne Hrvatske, Zagreb, Školska knjiga; Institut za povijest umjetnosti, 2008
  10. 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
  11. Danuta Misiuda, Martina Wolff Zubović, Radovi u 2016. godini: Varaždin (on CD), in: Portal, godišnjak Hrvatskog restauratorskog zavoda, 8, Ksenija Škarić, Janja Ferić Balenović (ed.), Zagreb, Croatian Conservation Institute, 2017, 309–310, URL

Notes

1 Ivy Lentić-Kugli, 1992, 296 (cat. 51).

2 Canonical visitations, Varaždin Archdeaconry, 173/XIV, 1808, 53.

3 Miroslav Vanino, 1917, 161: "nova ara recens extructa, in qua aurum colorumque varietas blande oculos afficiunt."

4 Miroslav Vanino, 1917, 163.

5 Sergej Vrišer, 1983, 439; Doris Baričević, 1992, 319 (cat. 22)

6 Doris Baričević, 1988, 65; Doris Baričević, 2008, 362–365.

7 Ksenija Škarić, 2014, 451.

8 Miroslav Vanino, 1917, 161; Ivy Lentić-Kugli, 1988, 21.

9 Ivy Lentić-Kugli, 1988, 22.

10 Miroslav Vanino, 1987, 450. The mentioned "marble and gold" probably stands for marbling and gilding.

11 Danuta Misiuda, Martina Wolff Zubović, 2017, 309.

12 Ibid.

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

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