Takács Imre – Buzási Enikő – Jávor Anna – Mikó Árpád szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve, Művészettörténeti tanulmányok Mojzer Miklós hatvanadik születésnapjára (MNG Budapest, 1991)

SHELEST, Dmitri: Franz Anton Maulbertsch: „Christ on the Cross". Oil Sketch in Lviv (Lemberg)

A similar interpretation of the crucified Christ in Maul­bertsch's fresco „Christ on the Cross", painted in 1767 in the oratory of the Carmelite (now Seminar) Church in Székesfehérvár (Hungary), also attracts our attention. 7 On the basis of formal characteristics and similarities in the distribution of light, it seems convincing to associate the sketch published here with his works from the early 1770s. Similar peculiarities can be seen in the altarpieces in the Augustinian Church in Korneuburg (Lower Aus­tria), about 1770/71. 8 In one of them, „St. Odo Appealing to the Crucified Christ for the Souls in Purgatory", we also find a similar iconographical character of Christ. Important analogies in handling are the following oil sketches of the 1770s: „The Holy Family" in Landesmuse­um Joanneum, Graz (about 1772-1773, or a little earlier, a sketch for an unknown altarpiece), „The Triumph of Christ" in the Museum of Merano, Italy (before 1779, a design for the fresco in the Cathedral in Győr, Hungary), 9 and executed somewhat later, „The Fourteen Holy Inter­cessors" in Museum Narodowe, Warsaw (before 1779, a sketch for the altarpiece in the parish church in Vranov (CSFR). 10 In particular, the treatment of the contours of the figures, draperies, hands and crystal-facets noses of the angels in our sketch compares well with another sketch in Warsaw, „The Mystical Betrothal of Herman Joseph with the Virgin Mary" („Mystische Verlobung des sel. Herman Joseph mit Maria"), a design for the altarpiece in the former Premonstratensian Church in Zeliv (Seelau, CSFR). 11 The exact date of the latter commission is not clear. At first it was set by K. Garas to 1770/72 and later to ca. 1775, while I. Krsek put it to 1767-70. 12 One may ascribe these discordances to a change in Maulbertsch's style around 1770, when it began to transform from the baroque-rococo of the 1760s to the incipient classicism of the next decade. This process in general is more vis­ible in the artist's frescos of the early 1770s („Am Hof" Church in Dresden, Cathedral Churches in Vác and Győr, both in Hungary) in which the clearer composi­tions and greater calm of the figures somewhat contrast with those in his oil sketches of this period; in the latter works we still find more baroque bravura. Taking into consideration all above-mentioned features, it is possi­ble to date our sketch chronologically to the beginning of the 1770s. The closest iconographical analogy to the Lviv sketch is a bozzetto „The Allegory of Salvation", formerly in the collection of Menghin in Vienna (present location un­known). It is publlished in the monograph by F. M. Ha­berditzl as a hypothetical design for the destroyed Maul­bertsch fresco in the Ca maid u lia n Church in Majk (near Oroszlány, Hungary) painted in 1762. 13 There is no more detailed information about this commission. 14 Undoubtedly, the composition of the sketch from the Menghin collection was not created later than the early 1760s and was in­tended for an oval ceiling fresco, so it could not be con­nected with the sketch from Lviv. The latter may rather have served as the preparatory work for an altarpiece. 15 Nevertheless, unrelated to any known work of the artist, it is an important addition to the corpus of Maulbertsch's oil sketches. NOTES 1 Lviv Art Gallery, Inv. no. 329, oil on canvas, 650x330 mm. 2 Galerya miejska. Przewodnik Tymczasowy. Lwow 1907, 7. (unknown); Katalog Galeryi miejskiej. Dzial I. Lwow, 1908. p. 19. no. 175 (Spanish baroque artist, end of 17th century). 3 V. Ovsijtchuk (former curator of West European Depart­ment of Lviv Gallery), L Slavfcek and M. Mojzer sugges­ted to me by oral communication that this sketch could be attributed to Maulbertsch. 4 Garas, K,: Franz Anton Maulbertsch. Budapest 1960, 83, 87. no. 215, 229. ill. 186, 195. Idem: Franz Anton Maul­bertsch. Leben und Werk. Salzburg 1974, 244. See also the exhibition catalogue: Schelest, D.: Maulbertsch in Lemberg. Ölskitze und Zeichnungen österreichischer Barockmaler aus dem Legat des K. K. Majors karl Kühnl (1818-1872) in den Sammlungen der Ukrainischen Aka­demie der Wissenschaften und aus der Lemberger Ge­mäldegalerie. Salzburger Barockmuseum, 1990, 32-35. no. 7-8. 5 Among them are his collaborators Felix Ivo Leicher, Johann Bergl, Vinzenz Fischer; such important perso­nalities as Franz Sigrist, Caspar Franz Sambach, Franz Karl Palko were also strongly influenced by Ma­ulbertsch (the latter relate to the early period of their ac­tivities). 6 For this problem see: Garas, K.: Joseph Winterhalter (1743-1807). Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux­Arts 14 (1959) 75ff. Idem: Franz Anton Maulbertsch (1724-1796). Neue Zuschreibungen und neue Probleme. In: Festgabe für Eduard Hindelang. Museum Langenar­gen, 1986, 143ff. Garas was inclined to attribute to Win­terhalter (by means of the reproductions available at that time) the group of oil sketches from Lviv, connected with an unexisting Maulbertsch fresco in the Premonstratensi­an cloister in Klosterbruck (Louka, CSFR), 1765. The correct attribution of these oil sketches to Maulbertsch was suggested for the first time by O. Benesch during his visit in Lviv in 1937 (O. Benesch, Notizbuch 1937. Ma­nuskript. Privatarchiv Benesch) and confirmed by F. M. Haberditzl (HaberdüzL F. M.: Franz Anton Maulbertsch. Zum Druck eingerichtet und mit Anmerkungen versehen von G. Aurenhammer. Sonderheft der Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Galerie. Wien 1977, 555. note 156. ill. 5-7). See also: Schelest, DL: Unbekannte Ölskizzen des Franz Anton Maulbertsch und seines Kreises. Die Samm­lung K. Kühnl in der Bibliothek der Wissenschaften in Lwow (Lemberg). Acta Históriáé Artium 28 (1982) 305ff.

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