F. Mentényi Klára szerk.: Műemlékvédelmi Szemle 1997/1-2. szám Az Országos Műemléki Felügyelőség tájékoztatója (Budapest, 1997)

MŰHELY - Claudia Piovano: A siklósi plébániatemplom szentélyének falképei

Claudia PIOVANO WALL-PAINTINGS OF THE APSE OF THE SIKLÓS PARISH CHURCH New viewpoints concerning the date of the wall-paintigs. Stylistic Problems. Historical sources had only a few mentioning of the wall-paintings of the parish church of St.Anne built at the first half of the 14th century by Augustinian monks. That is the reason why it was necessary to use stylistic methods in order to determine the date of the wall-paintings. The art historian Pál Lővei - basing his view on the coat-of-arms representation dated the fresco-cycle to around 1410-20. The representations of the coat-of-arms of the Garai and Cillei families and mainly that of the Order of the Dragon allows however a date only after 1408. According to the restorer Péter Boromisza (he published together with Lővei the result of his investigations in the 1995/1-2 number of this publication) the coat-of-arms originate from the same date as the wall-paintings. In the case of using the technique of limy painting or mezzo-fresco, it is impossible to tell the exact date of the coat-of-arms. That means that they could have been painted even later and then put in the cycle. This way it might be supposed that the painting of the chuch was ordered by a member of the Siklósi family living there preceding the Garais. The style and conception of the frescoes in Siklós can clearly be explained by a date around the mid 14th century. Based on paralels it could be possible that certain masters had come even from Italy. The so-called „Face-painter" (his works are the Crucifixion of the nortern wall, the Coronation of the Virgin and fragments of Annunciation in the apse) must have been a Central - Italian artist, of probably Umbrian or Tuscan education, and was perhaps charged with the execution of the whole cycle. His works show similarities with works of the Italian trecento. The figures of the sediles at the apse's basement zone show the style of Giotto's workshop, the paralels can be found at the painted sediles of the church of Santa Chiara in Naples. The side walls of the apse of Siklós were covered by large-scale scenes, where Gothic sediles of Italian architecture were present like characteristic landscapes as well. The so-called „Trecento-painter" might also have been of Italian origin, the paintings of the vaults are attributed to him (in foiled frames the Fathers of the Church, and figures of the Old Testament in medalions). The fine lyrical representation of the Mettercia-scene is worth mentioning. The whole surface of the vaults was painted blue as a hint to the sky, their only, unfortunatley destroyed decoration were star-motives gilt and made with secco technique. As a whole the decoration is similar to that of the Capella Leonessa of the church of San Pietro a Majella in