Jávor Anna - Lubomír Slavícek szerk.: Késő barokk impressziók, Franz Anton Maulbertsch (1724-1796) és Josef Winterhalder (1743-1807) (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai)
Smohay András: Franz Anton Maulbertsch művei Székesfehérvárott
András Smohay Franz Anton Maulbertsch' works in Székesfehérvár It was in all certainty upon the invitation of the first prior of the Carmelite monastery in Székesfehérvár, P. Sebastianus a S. Emerico (1717-1781) that Franz Anton Maulbertsch (1724—1796) came to the city. For lack of other sources, the only document that contains overt reference to his stay in the town is the ornately bound book of the Scapular Confraternity regularly kept from 1689. The master and his two pupils are recorded for 1768 as members of the religious society. From other sources the interference of Josef Winterhalder jr. (1743-1807) could also be presumed but his name is not included in this document. The first work of Maulbertsch in the church is in the right side chapel opening from the vestibule: an Annunciation scene in the dome with the portrait of the prior on the side wall. The two spherical vaults of the nave show the scenes of the Virgin's earthly life, from her birth to the Assumption. Around the Virgin's nativity scene, at the corners of the vault section Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and King David are depicted in painted niches as Mary's ancestors. Between the two vaults a thin barrel vaulted strip is inserted with St Stephen and St Emeric at its two ends. The next ceiling fresco shows the Assumption. Some female figures of the Old Testament, Rachel, the pharaoh's daughter, Judith and Esther, depicted in the spandrels - maybe by Winterhalder - allude to Mary similarly to the patriarchs around the previous vault scene. In the sanctuary the apotheosis of the Queen of the Scapular is depicted in a complicated composition of multiple iconography. Maulbertsch composed the Virgin equipped with the attributes of the Immaculate Conception into the scene of prophet Elijah's cloud miracle. The cloud is created from the filthy, salty, undrinkable water of the sea by the rays of the Sun evaporating pure water from it and after evaporation a cloud arises from the purest water. That is why Prophet Elijah's long awaited cloud became the archetype of the Immaculate Conception in the Carmelite theology. The spandrels of the sanctuary vault include four church fathers - or, more precisely, three doctors and a teacher of the church - painted in grey grisaille: St Ambrose (339-397), next to him enthroned St Jerome (f420); on the right St Cyril of Constantinople, general of the Carmelites (tl234) is shown wearing an archiépiscopal pallium with five crosses. The last doctor of the church is St Augustine (354-430). All four scholars were admirers and protectors of the Virgin, their teaching is the basis for the Church's doctrine of the Virgin. On the south wall of the oratory above the sacristy is Maulbertsch' legendary Christ on the Cross, an adaptation of a Rubens composition. The canonic visitation of 1817 says that the furnishing of the church together with the St Joseph and St Anne altarpieces was completed by 11 December 1765. The altarpieces carry complementary contents to the iconographie program expressed in the ceiling frescoes. One of the central themes of 18 th century art theoretical treatises was colouring, which did not merely refer to the individual colour scheme of a work, its endearing and light appearance, but also to the overall effect of the whole, the harmony of colours and the balance of lights and shades. It can be demonstrated that the different colouring on each vault section served the accentuation of the iconographie, theological contents and their comprehension. The colours mentioned in the prayers and liturgical songs also sung in the church and used by Maulbertsch' brush are the symbols of the Virgin.
