Artworks Catalogue

Location

Slovenia, Selnica ob Dravi

Parish Church of St Margaret the Virgin (Župnijska cerkev sv. Marjete Antiohijske)

Artwork

Side Altar of St John of Nepomuk in the Parish Church of St Margaret the Virgin in Selnica ob Dravi

Type

Side altar

Critical History

Sergej Vrišer attributed the side altar of St John of Nepomuk in the parish church in Selnica ob Dravi to Joseph Straub.1 In the centre of the altar, there is a painting with a depiction of St John of Nepomuk by an unknown painter. On the right side, there is a sculpture of St John the Evangelist, and on the left a sculpture of an unknown saint.2 In the upper part of the altar, there are two sculptures of kneeling angels on the sides, and putti and angel heads in the middle. The quality of the sculptures is not as high as of some other works by Joseph Straub, but they still share some significant similarities in the shape of the faces and bodies. Also, the ornamentation – wreath of roses and rocaille – is significant for his works.

Construction / Execution

The side altar is placed by the wall in the corner between the apse and the side chapel. The altar is made of wood and is placed on a stone altar table.

Components

Painting

Painting

Technique(s): oil on canvas

Carpentry

Carpentry

Technique(s): sawing, wood carving

Material(s): softwood

Sculpture

Sculpture

Author: Joseph Straub (Wiesensteig 1712 – Maribor 1756)

Technique(s): wood carving

Material(s): limewood

Polychromy

First repolychromy

Technique(s): oil, water gilding

Material(s): calcium carbonate, gold leaf, oil, size

Polychromy

Second/third repolychromy

Technique(s): oil, oil gilding

Material(s): gold leaf, silver leaf

Comment

The side altar has three layers of painting. On the altarpiece there are four layers of paintings. All three polychromies on the architecture are marbled, the ornaments and drapery are gilded. The first, original polychromy of the altar architecture imitate marble in blue, grey and red brown tones. The ground is cracking, lifting and falling off on many places on the architecture, ornamentation work and sculptures. The wooden support of the sculptures and ornaments is badly damaged by wood-boring insects and fungi. Some pieces of ornamentation work are missing. We assume that during the past renovation some changes in composition were made on the attic. There is a lot of bronze painting on the drapery and clouds.

Images

1. The side altar of St John of Nepomuk in the Parish Church in Selnica ob Dravi (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)