Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 15. (Budapest, 1995)

ÁCS Piroska: „Átváltozások" - Stobwasser-szelencék dekorációinak művészeti párhuzamai

Aut mihi continget felix audacia falva, Aut mors solliciti finis amoris erit. Oplabo tarnen, ut partes expellar in illas, Et teneant, portus naufraga membra tuos! Flebis enim visuque meum dignabere corpus, Et, mortis, dices, huic ego causa fui!

19 The dramatic moment neverthless appears on the miniature in an idealized form. The attitude of the characters is etherial despite the presence of death's senselessness and of boundless suffering on a human scale. Such dignity in the representation of this scene was achieved by the Flemish painter Jan Van den Hoecke (1611-1651) in a work he produced between 1635 and 1637 (Fig. 4.).

20 (This work, earlier ascribed to Cornelis Schut,

21 shows a strong parallelism to Anthonis Van Dyck's "Mourning of Christ" (Fig. 5.).

22 Hoecker was probably influenced both by the art of Antiquity and by Italian painting.

23 The origins of the small picture on the box must therefore go back to these -although the scene has of course been adapted to the romantic taste of the time. The theme of the illustration of the next box we will discuss is linked to Rubens: on it is the inscription: "Les anciens (pères) de l'église d'après Rubens (The Fathers of the Church / After Rubens) (Fig. 6.)

24 There is actually a copperplate entitled "Les Quatre Pères de L'Eglise Latine (The Four Fathers of the Latin Church) (Fig. 7.) figuring in the great work of Max Rooses on the life-work of Rubens.

25 It was done by Cornelis Van Dalen after a work by Rubens;

26 the original painting, however, is not know.

27 The composition on the box is simple. It depicts figures in three-quarter size: from left to right, we can distinguish St. Ambrose, with his mitre and his crosier; St. Gregory, wearing the papal tiara; and St. Jerome in bishop's vestments. A little behind them stands St. Augustine in his bishop's vestments. They gaze seriously towards the open book in the hands of St. Jerome, possibly the famous Vulgate, the origin of which is linked to his name.

28 Their clothing is austere; their dignity in the Church is only alluded to. (This is probably exercised a great influence on Jacob Jordaens' "The Four Evangelists". As it was painted between 1619 and 1627, Rubens' composition may be dated earlier. But the keen-eyed artist who worked on our box certainly followed the engraving by Van Dalen. The inscription of the last box also gives the title of the picture and the name of its painter: "Le trompette, L'après (d'après) Vernét" (The Trumpet, After Vernet) (Fig. 8.).

30 The rather unusual warpicture represents the dead bugler of the first hussar regiment, with his horse mourning him almost like a human being. The look of the animal shows horror and intense suffering. The moment freezes in the foreground, while the battle is still going on behind the cottage. The original painting is the work of Emile-JeanHorace Vernet (1789-1863), son of Carle (17581836). Both members of that dyansty of painters depicted battle-scenes (Fig. 9.). The younger Vernet was one of the most important warpainters of French romanticism.

31 The work in question is an early painting, created in 1819.

32 Together with another, contemporary work of similar size (The Wounded Dog of the Regiment), it enjoyed great popularity, and engravings based on the two paintings were exhibited in every shopwindow. They link, in their representation, war action and elements of psychology: they allude in a truthful manner to the unpredictability of fate and mortality. Our composition was transposed onto the box unaltered - even in the colours. Only the corners had to be cut, because of the round form of the box. The range of the "metamorphoses" is therefore large. In our case, they are the variants, adapted to the taste of a large age, of colourenriched engravings and of paintings representing religious topics. The miniatures are surviving versions of lost works by of forceful artistic personalities through the medium of engraving, and skillful arrangements of pictures so as to suit a given space. There is, however, one common feature that all these boxes share: they all proudly advertise the name of Stobwasser.