A Veszprém Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 23. (Veszprém, 2004)

S. Lackovits Emőke: Krisztus-ábrázolások a veszprémi Laczkó Dezső Múzeum Néprajzi Gyűjteményében. I. A szenvedő Krisztus megjelenítése

REPRESENTATIONS OF CHRIST IN THE ETHNOGRAPHIC COLLECTION OF THE MUSEUM „LACKÓ DEZSŐ", VESZPRÉM I. DEPICTION OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST The most frequent depiction of the suffering Redeemer and the most important symbol of the Christian faith is the crucifix, which in folk religion signifies Jesus Christ himself. This is considered to be the most widespread sacral article, which has also been used as a sacred symbol to provide protection and to ward off evil. In house interiors, at least one was to be found in each room, either hung on the wall or placed on a chest of drawers or wardrobe. It was indispensable on the domestic altars prepared for individual festivals and in Corpus Christi tabernacles. They were obtained from traders in devotional objects on saint's days or other special occasions. The examples preserved in the Museum collection are of various forms, materials and sizes, on the basis of which they are divided into seven groups. The representation of the suffering and painful death of Christ in pictures or statues is linked with the events of Holy Thursday, and in particular Good Friday. Of the depictions connected with folk religion, this is one of the groups which is illustrated in the most rich and varied ways. Representations of the passion, and also the Arma Christi (the weapons of Christ, the instruments of his torture), have been present in Hungarian cultural history since the 13 th century. European parallels can be traced from this same period, although occasionally earlier compositions have turned up (8

lh-9

,h century). Individual incidents from the suffering of the Redeemer became independent thus forming various cults, chiefly in the Hungarian language territory, but also with the Czechs, Poles, Bavarians and Austrians. The Bible had little influence on these compositions, Franciscan mysticism being more decisive. From the 14th century, the iconography of the passion was powerfully determined by Johannes de Caulibus' work Meditationes vitae Christi. From the late Middle Ages right up until the 18

th

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th century, though, the cult of Christ's mystical sufferings based on visions was significant. The role of the depictions connected with the Lord's suffering in the formation, subtlety and richness of folk religious thought is indisputable. The pictures and statues preserved in the Ethnographic Collection of Dezső Laczkó Museum follow the stations of the way of the cross only in part. These are decisively linked with the five mysteries of the Sorrowful Rosary, and provide pictorial conceptions for these, indicating the particularly powerful presence of devotion to the rosary in folk religion which became widespread from the 15

th century. At present, 26 depictions are preserved in the collection, of which 9 are statues or statue groups, and 17 are paintings. The first group places Jesus in the centre as he prays on the Mount of Olives, perspiring blood. This is a simple, unassuming, coloured paper picture, produced in the early 20

th century. Prototypes are known from the 15

th century. The second group contains statues and pictorial representations of the scourged Christ. These are an 18

th century painted statuette, a 19

th century Sandl type glass picture, and an early 20

th century painted wooden statue standing in a small painted cabinet. The prototype for all of these was provided by the devotional statue of the scourged Christ bound with three fetters kept in the church of Wies, multiple variants of which are to be found in other parts of Europe as well as Hungary. The literary source for the Baroque representations are the works of Martin von Cochen, „Das grosse Leben Christi" (The great life of Christ, 1677), and Judit Ujfalussy, „Makula nélkül való tükör" (Mirror without blemish, 1712). The basis of the veneration of the scourging, as the second incident in the suffering of the Saviour which became independent, is to be sought in the mediaeval processions of penitential self-scourging flagellants, which were revived in the 17th century after a temporary ban, and by the 18th had become a mass movement. They lapsed in Hungary in the 19th century due to a church ban, but Good Friday processions where the statue of the scourged Redeemer is carried have survived in Spain and southern Italy. The third group is formed by depictions of the Saviour crowned with thorns, numbering four late 19th century coloured paper pictures, individual examples of which were produced in a Dresden printing house. They are all typical examples of the Vir Dolorum (Man of Sorrows) and belong to the picture type Ecce Homo; the Klagenfurt Sacred Head can be said to be the prototype. This concept can also be seen on the pictures depicting Veronica's kerchief (sudari

um). The fourth group is the scene of carrying the cross, in which a single coloured paper picture can be found, a 19th century, Viennese Doll type print. This picture is just as ifit were an illustration of the Golden Pater Noster. The depiction of the scene itself has been found in European art since the early period of Christianity. This theme is also directly linked with the representation of the moments preceding the crucifixion, the apocryphal incident in the passion story known as the sorrowful Christ, of which an 18th century wooden statuette is kept in the Collection of Applied Arts. The Germans refer to it as „Rastchristus", or „Christus in der Rast" (Christ at rest). Parallels are know primarily and in large numbers from the German language territory and western Hungary. The fifth group is formed by depictions of the crucifixion, or Golgotha. Of these, four statue groups in cabinets or under glass covers used for domestic altars, five coloured paper pictures, some produced in Dresden, some in Vienna, and two plastic relief pictures fixed on pierced paper are preserved in the Collection. Whilst in the statue groups the Virgin Mary and John or two angels are chiefly to be found by the crucifix, in the pictures, the three or four persons known from the Scriptures are standing at the foot of the cross. Both Hungarian and European art have provided large numbers of these representations preserved in folk religion. Works depicting the implements of torture along with the cross are also linked with the representations of Golgotha. Of these, two 143