Location
Slovenia, Rogatec
Parish Church of St Bartholomew (Župnijska cerkev sv. Jerneja)
Artwork
Side Altar in the Parish Church of St Bartholomew in Rogatec
Type
Side altar
Dimensions
Height: 650 cm, width: 490 cm, depth: 150 cm
Critical History
The side altar of St Anthony of Padua in the Parish Church of St Bartholomew in Rogatec was attributed to Joseph Straub by Sergej Vrišer.1 The altar forms a pair with the side altar in the opposite chapel (the Rosary Altar) and was designed in 1748.2 The confraternity of St Anthony of Padua had their seat at the altar and was probably also the patron of the altar.3 The gilding of four side altars was executed in 1765 and it costed 500 fl.4
Both the altar paintings are documented works of Valentin Metzinger, who lived in Ljubljana: the main altar painting depicts St Antony of Padua and, placed in the upper part of the altar, a smaller painting depicts St Anthony the Great.5 The altar architecture is the most common type in the oeuvre of Joseph Straub: there is a pair of columns on each side of the altar painting, with sculptures placed in between (St Aloysius Gonzaga and St Martin on the left, and St Nicholas and St Stanislaus Kostka on the right). In the upper part, there are angels sitting on volutes, putti and angel heads. The altar represents a high quality work in the oeuvre of Joseph Straub.
We should point out that Joseph Straub and Valentin Metzinger worked together on other locations, too: Malečnik, Slovenska Bistrica and Taborsko (Croatia).
Construction / Execution
The side altar is placed by the wall. It is made of wood. The polychromy of the architecture imitates marble and gilding, the sculptures imitate white marble.
Components
- Carpentry
- Carpentry
- Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)
- Completed: 1748 –
- Technique(s): sawing
- Material(s): softwood
- Sculpture
- Sculpture
- Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)
- Technique(s): wood carving
- Material(s): limewood
- Polychromy
- Polychromy
- Completed: 1765
- Technique(s): oil, water gilding
- Material(s): gold leaf, Marseille soap, red bole, size, yellow bole
- Polychromy
- First repolychromy
- Technique(s): oil, tempera
- Material(s): gold leaf
- Polychromy
- Second repolychromy
- Technique(s): oil
- Material(s): metallic pigment
- Painting
- Paintings
- Author: Valentin Metzinger (Saint-Avold 1699 – Ljubljana 1759)
- Completed: 1748
- Technique(s): oil on canvas
Comment
The side altar had three polychromies before restoration. The first repolychromy was made in tempera and it was only found on the architecture. Some parts of the polished white were gilded. During the second repolychromy the architecture and sculptures´ skin parts were covered with oil paint. The gilded parts and polished white were painted with bronze.
Conservation-restoration
- 1997–2001
Strategy: removing dirt, removing one or several historic repolychromies
Approach to the presentation of losses
Reintegration of lacunae – mimetic: total
Reintegration of losses – other: total
Materials: acetone, Bologna chalk, bone black, dammar varnish, gold leaf, limewood, Marseille soap, rabbit-skin glue, red bole, shellack, size, titan white, turpentine oil
Treatment Description
The restoration works were done by the private restorers Anton and Gregor Podkrižnik. Both repolychromies were completely removed. The losses were reconstructed by historical recipes.
Images
- The side altar in the Parish Church of St Bartholomew in Rogatec (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The central part of the side altar in Rogatec (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The upper part of the side altar in Rogatec (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of St Martin (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of St Stanislaus Kostka (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of an angel (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 in the Parish Church of St Bartholomew in Rogatec, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 19/11/2025) URL
