Location
Slovenia, Dravograd
Parish Church of St John the Evangelist (Župnijska cerkev sv. Janeza Evangelista)
Artwork
The right side altar in the Parish Church of St John the Evangelist in Dravograd
Type
Side altar
Dimensions
Height: 520 cm, width: 285 cm, depth: 80 cm
Inscriptions
- ET INCEINATIO CAPITE TRADIDIT SPIRITUM (in the cartouche on the altar)
Critical History
The right side altar in the Parish Church of St John the Evangelist in Dravograd was attributed to Joseph Straub by Sergej Vrišer.1
The altar`s architecture is simple, with two columns and two sculptures on each side – on the right there is a sculpture of St Florian and on the left probably a sculpture of St Bartholomew the Apostle. In the upper part, there are volutes, four flying angels, a painting and two rococo-style vases. Both sculptures of saints show significant characteristics of Joseph Straub’s personal style: faces with big open eyes and curly beard. There are three other sculptures of St Florian in Joseph Straub’s opus (Sladka gora and Ptujska Gora, both in stone and Nagykanizsa in Hungary), which might have been made after the same model. In addition, the posture and the dress of St Bartholomew the Apostle can be well compared with the sculptures of the same saint in Sladka gora (in stone) and in Spodnja Polskava (in wood).
The altar painting was removed in the past and a sculpture of Sacred Heart of Jesus was placed on the altar.
Construction / Execution
The altar is made of wood. The polychromy of architecture is imitating marble and gold, sculptures are naturalistically painted and have gilded drapery and wings. The painting in the upper part of the altar is made on canvas and is placed in the opening with gilded frame.
Components
- Carpentry
- Carpentry
- Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)
- Technique(s): sawing
- Material(s): softwood
- Sculpture
- Sculpture
- Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)
- Technique(s): wood carving
- Material(s): limewood
- Polychromy
- Polychromy
- Technique(s): oil, oil gilding, water gilding
- Material(s): calcium carbonate, gold leaf, red bole, size, yellow bole
Comment
The altar was restored by restoration workshop of Maribor archdiocese around 2008 and possible repolychromies were removed. First polychromy is visible. Sculpture´s drapery, ornamentation and wings are regilded.
Conservation-restoration
- Restoration
Strategy: removing one or several historic repolychromies
Images
- The right side altar in the Parish Church of St John the Evangelist in Dravograd (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of St Bartholomew (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of St Florian (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The upper part of the altar (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, The right side altar in the Parish Church of St John the Evangelist in Dravograd, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 18/11/2025) URL
