The article discusses a notable Austrian politician of the Vormärz period, Clemens Count of Brandis (1798−1863), and his role as art patron. Brandis was a member of the famous Tyrolean aristocratic family, who, among others, owned several estates in Lower Styria. As a governor and Landeshauptmann of Tyrol, and later Obersthofmeister of Emperor Ferdinand I., he was active also as an art patron. In additions to several significant commissions for the Hofburg in Innsbruck (furnishing the governor’s office, Summer House, now Art Pavilion, etc.), he also commissioned the buildings of the Tyrolean Provincial Museum Ferdinandeum and the Tyrolean Provincial Theatre as well as the convent of Carmelites, all in Innsbruck, while he also led the rebuilding of the Zákupy and Ploskovice mansions in Bohemia which became Ferdinand’s summer residences. The article is the first contribution which raises our understanding of Brandis’ commissions in Styria, especially the substantial rebuilding of Slivnica Manor near Maribor, his main residence after the retirement, and his role as commissioner and promotor of art in Lower Styria before an immediately after the mid-19th century.
COBISS.SI-ID: 40793133
The paper discusses iconography of murals by Slavko Pengov (1939) on the building of carpentry workshops designed by Jože Plečnik in Žale Cemetery, and the wall paintings by Tone Kralj (1940) in the Slavic Chapel of the Students Residence Hall of St. Cyril in Streliška street. The two discussed iconographic programmes are highly specific in Slovenian art patrimony. Due to their prominent Slavic content, they convey not only a religious but also a political message. Kralj’s frescoes of 1944 in the village of Soča also fall into this context, but are only presented for comparison. Based on archival sources, the paper sheds light on the origin of the Slavic Chapel, the history of its painted decoration, complications related to it, responses to it, and consequences it had for the client Lambert Ehrlich, head of the Hall and professor of comparative religiology at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana.
COBISS.SI-ID: 42498605
Based on analysis of painting records in surviving inventories of the movable propertiites of Bistra Charterhouse, the article discusses for the first time picture furnishings of the Charterhouse's residential and representative premises (i. e. prior's residence and foresterie). It provides valuable information on subject matters of paintings and their display in the residential premises of charterhouses. In 1782, when Bistra Charterhouse was abolished, the furnishings were sold at an auction. Based on surviving auction records now kept at the Archives of Slovenia, which include names of buyers, the author provides invaluable novel data on subsequent owners – mostly representatives of the local nobility. The article therefore represents an important departing point for further research of transfers of former monastic artworks and their new role in the private collections of the Carniolan gentry.
COBISS.SI-ID: 40792621
Invited chapter in the Festschrift in honour of the most recognised Austrian researcher of 13th century architecture, prof. Mario Schwarz. It provides a comprehensive survey of the sacral monuments in Slovenia that have been associated with Styrian and Austrian duke Leopold VI. of Babenberg. The new discoveries and the analysis of monuments in wider context enabled the author to reject several older hypotheses. The author arguments that the duke took part in the establishing of parish and monastic networks of the early Gothic churches in Lower Styria.
COBISS.SI-ID: 39157293
Among the medieval stained-glass windows in St. Erhard's church in Breitenau in Lower Styria is also a donor image of duke Albert III of Habsburg (reigned 1365–1395), who was depicted together with his wives Elizabeth of Luxembourg and Beatrix of Nernberg. Until now, the reasons for the duke’s commission of the stained glass windows were linked especially to the acquisition of precious metals in Breitenau valley, the control over which was namely reserved for provincial lords. In this extremely important contribution, the author analyzed the previously unresearched wider social background of the creation of this depiction and of its commission. The key to new findings was the analysis of the cult of St. Erhard in elite dynastic houses of (Central) Europe. In the Middle Ages, the Breitenau church was one of the central pilgrim temples of this saint. The research revealed that Albert was connected to the cult of St. Erhard through his dynastic network, moreover, following the example of the saint bishop, he also cultivated a personal ambition of reaching ideals of knighthood.
COBISS.SI-ID: 40513837