In: ARS, vol. 56, no. 2
Marián Zervan - Vratislav Zervan
Details:
Year, pages: 2023, 185 - 208
Language: slo
Keywords:
iconography, iconology, St. John the Almsgiver, charity, almsgiving, crypto portrait, Gustav
Adolf Müller, Joseph Kurtz, Sebastian Zeller
Article type: štúdia
About article:
The study is a contribution to the iconography of St. John the Almsgiver. The paper focuses on the
copper engravings and the painting of Joseph Kurtz from the 18th century in Slovak collections, which
depict St. John the Almsgiver distributing the alms. While writing the study, we gradually discovered
that to explain the etchings and the painting, we need to examine the origins of this iconographic
theme. It was confirmed that the form of the representative portrait of St. John Almsgiver originated
in Byzantium. Byzantine psalter illuminators undoubtedly created the essential iconographic attributes
with portrait features of the scene. However, it is also indisputable that the transfers and robberies of
the saint‘s remains before and after 1204 contributed significantly to the cult of the saint in several
places in the Latin West. An important factor in consolidating the cult was the saint‘s inclusion in
the Golden Legend hagiographic collection. This collection‘s illustrated manuscripts and first prints
undoubtedly influenced the composition of the iconographic scene of the distribution of alms by St.
John the Almsgiver. The Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus, who received the entire body of St. John
Almsgiver most probably based on the peace treaty, and his court had contributed to the extraordinary
promotion of the cult of the saint. Thanks to the painted decoration of the chapel in Buda, where
the remains of the saint were kept, visual representations inspired by the Golden Legend collection
spread not only in the territory of today‘s Slovakia but also in several places in today‘s Poland. Only
the paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries prioritized the iconographic scene of giving alms to such
an extent that most of their elements were adopted by Gustav Adolf Müller. In the representative
crypto portrait of Joseph Kurtz, the beggars are strikingly similar, as if they were a multiplication of
the exact figure. If we accept such an interpretation, the question of the reason for such a procedure
arises. A hypothesis could be made that the painting was a mixture between a representative portrait
and a narrative image.
How to cite:
ISO 690:
Zervan, M., Zervan, V. 2023. Poznámky k ikonografii a ikonológii scény rozdávania milodarov sv. Jánom Almužníkom. In ARS, vol. 56, no.2, pp. 185-208. 0044-9008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/ars-2023-0013
APA:
Zervan, M., Zervan, V. (2023). Poznámky k ikonografii a ikonológii scény rozdávania milodarov sv. Jánom Almužníkom. ARS, 56(2), 185-208. 0044-9008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/ars-2023-0013
About edition:
Published: 16. 11. 2023