Location
Slovenia, Malečnik
Parish Church of St Peter (Župnijska cerkev sv. Petra)
Artwork
Side Altar of St John the Baptist in the Parish Church of St Peter in Malečnik
Type
Side altar
Dimensions
Height: 320 cm, width: 190 cm, depth: 60 cm
Inscriptions
- Sv. Johanes Kr. prosi Boga za nas! (in the cartouche on the altar)
Critical History
In the Parish Church of St Peter in Malečnik there are six side altars placed in the side chapels facing the entrance. Sergej Vrišer attributed two of them (the altars of St Francis Xavier and St St Anthony of Padua) to Joseph Straub and all the others to Philipp Jakob Straub.1 Vrišer also wrote that according to the chronicle, the polychromy was done by Dominik Cocconi in 1746.2
The side altar of St John the Baptist is placed in the second chapel on the left side of the church. The author of the painting with a depiction of the Baptism of Christ is unknown. On the left side of the painting, there is a sculpture of St John the Evangelist, and on the right of St Roch. In front of the altar, there is a sculpture of the Archangel Raphael with Tobias. The elegance of the sculpture of the Archangel Raphael is similar to the elegance of the sculpture of the Archangel Michael from the opposite altar. On the other hand, the faces of St Roch and St John the Evangelist show significant characteristics of Philipp Jakob Straub’s personal style: long bony noses, thin lips, significant finger joints, rich drapery.
Construction / Execution
The altar is made of wood and placed on the stone altar table. The architecture imitates marble. The sculptures and ornaments imitate gold. The clouds and the Holly Ghost imitate silver.
Components
- Carpentry
- Carpentry
- Technique(s): sawing, wood carving
- Material(s): softwood
- Sculpture
- Sculpture
- Author: Philipp Jakob Straub (Wiesensteig 1706 – Graz 1774)
- Completed: 1746
- Technique(s): wood carving
- Material(s): limewood
- Polychromy
- Polychromy
- Author: Dominicus Cagoni
- Completed: 1746 –
- Technique(s): oil, water gilding
- Material(s): calcium carbonate, gold leaf, natural resin, red bole, silver leaf, size
- Polychromy
- First repolychromy
- Technique(s): oil
- Material(s): oil
- Polychromy
- Second repolychromy
- Technique(s): oil, oil gilding
- Material(s): metal leaf, oil
Comment
The side altar has two repolychromies. The original polychromy of the architecture imitate marble in brown-red and grey-blue shades. It is well preserved under the oil painting repolychromies. The construction of the altar is in a stable condition. There are some surface fissures on the sculptures. The limewood of the sculptures and ornaments is infested by wood-boring insects. The ground is lifting, cracking and there are some paint losses. Some gilded parts are covered with metal leaves.
Images
- The side altar of St John the Baptist in the Parish Church of St Peter in Malečnik (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The upper part of the side altar of St John the Baptist in Malečnik (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of St John the Evangelist (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of St Roch (Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, photo by Valentin Benedik, 2018)
- The sculpture of the Archangel Raphael (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 of St John the Baptist in the Parish Church of St Peter in Malečnik, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 23/10/2025) URL
