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DOI Artikel:Klípa, Jan: The Madonna of Vys̆s̆í Brod and the Madonna of Wrocław and their donors: =
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.35032#0310
300
JAN KLIPA
figure of St. John the Baptist, patron of Wrocław Cathedral, logically supplements and con-
cludes the groupé The stylistic orientation of the painting is related to the bishop's political
orientation towards the Kingdom of Bohemia, whether under Wencesłas IV, or later
Sigismund of Luxembourg.-^
The close association of the commissioner of the Wrocław panel with the Cathedral
Chapter in Wroclaw is also attested by the following detail: two fragments of the decora-
tion survive from the altar architecture in the northern section of the Cathedral gallery, in
which the panel had originally been planted, fragments which are in fact part of the sub-
structure of the building itself, and which therefore could not have been removed together
with the rest of the altarpiece. These are a pair of frescoes, and the fact that they were part
of the former altarpiece is testified by an inscription made in relation to the renovation
carried out by canon Bartholomew Jerin in 1609 (ill. 10). This event is related also in the
oldest surviving record mentioning the image of the Virgin in the Wroclaw Cathedral. The
later Mannerist reconstructions somewhat obscured the original stylistic character of the
paintings, yet scholarly literature still unanimously places them in the 1420s.-^ In the con-
text in question, worth noting is especially the subject matter of the paintings - the Cruci-
fixion on the left plinth, and the figures of St. Barbara and St. Vincent on the right one.
While bishop Konrad's relation to the cult of St. Barbara has already been mentioned, the
latter-named saint is the main patron of the Wrocław Cathedral Chapter, of which Konrad
had once been Provost. Yet a common share in the commission between bishopric and
chapter can be ruled out with a high degree of likelihood, since the relationship of the two
^ On!y by way of an addendum do ! cite the characteristics of bishop Konrad and the description of his appearance as
committed to paper by Jan Długosz: 'Dr vigor <?i cAo/orioM.v, porvae /iiierae, Atoiurao para/?? /'//.star, /??oro crapa/ae of
ve?Pr/ &v//U/,s', à? /o/??/'aa.s' /??a/o to/?:pora/a.s', pror//'gu.s' expoaso/; cra,sx/ co/por/.s*, oca/o.S' Aai/o/M //pp/oats', .sor/aoao a?a//-
/a/o /o i/a/ZaP/ato u/oiza/ar.. (Jan DŁUGOSZ, Ca?a/oga,s' Zp/sooporaa? tfra//s/av/oa.s'/aa:, Cracoviae 1887, p. 472).
Długosz' harsh and biased judgment (in which Konrad appears as a person possessed of ah deformity of physique and
ałł the vices of the spirit) amounts ałmost to caricature and perhaps even topicał critique, and we cannot categorically use
it to size up the figure of the donor portrayed. Długosz, a patriotic Polish chronicler and a younger contemporary of
Konrad, here most likely reveals his attitude to the bishop who in 1435 had issued a decree which made access to all
church offices impossible or at least extremely difficult for all non-Silesians, a provision aimed in its day particularly
against the Polish higher clergy and its influence in Wroclaw. (See: Johann HEYNE, DoD;/??6?P;E/Pe Gevc/Pc/pg
RA/7?t/???x M/?P /foc/Mp/tes ßraPaM. DrZPe?-ß<r//?<7, Breslau 1868, p. 704; DOLA, MEocPwW/ Æap/P/P/, op. cit., p. 139) I
would nonetheless like to highlight one striking detail - the markedly squinting-cum-half closed eyes and the slightly
veiled gaze of the portrayed bishop. I must underline in this respect Długosz' expression "ocu/ox 7zu7zg??v P)cyz/g??A " -
i.e., loosely translated as 'rheumy eye'.
^ A similar career to that of Konrad of Oleśnica was undertaken also by his successor in office Piotr ff Nowak. He was
also a canon of the Wroclaw Chapter (and provost after 1442), and after the death of Konrad also briefly the administra-
tor of the diocese. In September 1447, he was elected as his successor. Thus far, he could also in theory be the portrayed
donor. However, this is contravened by the fact that in terms of style, this image of the Madonna would have appeared
rather retrograde in Wroclaw by the late 1440s (let us note that in the year of Nowak's election the progressive St.
Barbara altarpiece in the St. Elizabeth Church was created; a work with a Nuremberg influence) - but we End no support
for the preference of such a feature in Nowak's biography. Moreover, bishop Nowak oriented his entire power and
political strategy towards the Habsburg Court in Vienna. It was there that he had studied canonic law in the 1420s,
becoming chaplain and courtier to Albrecht H of Habsburg in 1438; it was to Emperor Friedrich III that he appealed for
help in the matter of his election as bishop, and it was for the Emperor and his protégé, Ladislaus the Posthumous, that
he managed in 1449 the royal dependencies in Silesia. And on the other hand, nothing at all is known of any connections
of Piotr Nowak to the Bohemian milieu, and neither was the general political situation favorable to any as such (see:
HEYNE, DoD/wenO'er/g Ggygń/c/ńg 777., op. cit., pp. 711-2; DOLA, WToc/awy/h /L^/m/a, op. cit., pp. 215-7).
^ Alicja KARŁOWSKA-KAMZOWA, ,%vDg 7230-7450, Wroclaw 1979, p. 48, 120, ill. 91; Jerzy
DOMASŁOWSKi, Alicja KARŁOWSKA-KAMZOWA, Marian KORNIECK1, Helena MALKIEWICZÓWNA,
Go/ycDE wa/arx/wo 3c/g??/?g w TY/vgg, Poznań 1984, pp. 89, 122.
JAN KLIPA
figure of St. John the Baptist, patron of Wrocław Cathedral, logically supplements and con-
cludes the groupé The stylistic orientation of the painting is related to the bishop's political
orientation towards the Kingdom of Bohemia, whether under Wencesłas IV, or later
Sigismund of Luxembourg.-^
The close association of the commissioner of the Wrocław panel with the Cathedral
Chapter in Wroclaw is also attested by the following detail: two fragments of the decora-
tion survive from the altar architecture in the northern section of the Cathedral gallery, in
which the panel had originally been planted, fragments which are in fact part of the sub-
structure of the building itself, and which therefore could not have been removed together
with the rest of the altarpiece. These are a pair of frescoes, and the fact that they were part
of the former altarpiece is testified by an inscription made in relation to the renovation
carried out by canon Bartholomew Jerin in 1609 (ill. 10). This event is related also in the
oldest surviving record mentioning the image of the Virgin in the Wroclaw Cathedral. The
later Mannerist reconstructions somewhat obscured the original stylistic character of the
paintings, yet scholarly literature still unanimously places them in the 1420s.-^ In the con-
text in question, worth noting is especially the subject matter of the paintings - the Cruci-
fixion on the left plinth, and the figures of St. Barbara and St. Vincent on the right one.
While bishop Konrad's relation to the cult of St. Barbara has already been mentioned, the
latter-named saint is the main patron of the Wrocław Cathedral Chapter, of which Konrad
had once been Provost. Yet a common share in the commission between bishopric and
chapter can be ruled out with a high degree of likelihood, since the relationship of the two
^ On!y by way of an addendum do ! cite the characteristics of bishop Konrad and the description of his appearance as
committed to paper by Jan Długosz: 'Dr vigor <?i cAo/orioM.v, porvae /iiierae, Atoiurao para/?? /'//.star, /??oro crapa/ae of
ve?Pr/ &v//U/,s', à? /o/??/'aa.s' /??a/o to/?:pora/a.s', pror//'gu.s' expoaso/; cra,sx/ co/por/.s*, oca/o.S' Aai/o/M //pp/oats', .sor/aoao a?a//-
/a/o /o i/a/ZaP/ato u/oiza/ar.. (Jan DŁUGOSZ, Ca?a/oga,s' Zp/sooporaa? tfra//s/av/oa.s'/aa:, Cracoviae 1887, p. 472).
Długosz' harsh and biased judgment (in which Konrad appears as a person possessed of ah deformity of physique and
ałł the vices of the spirit) amounts ałmost to caricature and perhaps even topicał critique, and we cannot categorically use
it to size up the figure of the donor portrayed. Długosz, a patriotic Polish chronicler and a younger contemporary of
Konrad, here most likely reveals his attitude to the bishop who in 1435 had issued a decree which made access to all
church offices impossible or at least extremely difficult for all non-Silesians, a provision aimed in its day particularly
against the Polish higher clergy and its influence in Wroclaw. (See: Johann HEYNE, DoD;/??6?P;E/Pe Gevc/Pc/pg
RA/7?t/???x M/?P /foc/Mp/tes ßraPaM. DrZPe?-ß<r//?<7, Breslau 1868, p. 704; DOLA, MEocPwW/ Æap/P/P/, op. cit., p. 139) I
would nonetheless like to highlight one striking detail - the markedly squinting-cum-half closed eyes and the slightly
veiled gaze of the portrayed bishop. I must underline in this respect Długosz' expression "ocu/ox 7zu7zg??v P)cyz/g??A " -
i.e., loosely translated as 'rheumy eye'.
^ A similar career to that of Konrad of Oleśnica was undertaken also by his successor in office Piotr ff Nowak. He was
also a canon of the Wroclaw Chapter (and provost after 1442), and after the death of Konrad also briefly the administra-
tor of the diocese. In September 1447, he was elected as his successor. Thus far, he could also in theory be the portrayed
donor. However, this is contravened by the fact that in terms of style, this image of the Madonna would have appeared
rather retrograde in Wroclaw by the late 1440s (let us note that in the year of Nowak's election the progressive St.
Barbara altarpiece in the St. Elizabeth Church was created; a work with a Nuremberg influence) - but we End no support
for the preference of such a feature in Nowak's biography. Moreover, bishop Nowak oriented his entire power and
political strategy towards the Habsburg Court in Vienna. It was there that he had studied canonic law in the 1420s,
becoming chaplain and courtier to Albrecht H of Habsburg in 1438; it was to Emperor Friedrich III that he appealed for
help in the matter of his election as bishop, and it was for the Emperor and his protégé, Ladislaus the Posthumous, that
he managed in 1449 the royal dependencies in Silesia. And on the other hand, nothing at all is known of any connections
of Piotr Nowak to the Bohemian milieu, and neither was the general political situation favorable to any as such (see:
HEYNE, DoD/wenO'er/g Ggygń/c/ńg 777., op. cit., pp. 711-2; DOLA, WToc/awy/h /L^/m/a, op. cit., pp. 215-7).
^ Alicja KARŁOWSKA-KAMZOWA, ,%vDg 7230-7450, Wroclaw 1979, p. 48, 120, ill. 91; Jerzy
DOMASŁOWSKi, Alicja KARŁOWSKA-KAMZOWA, Marian KORNIECK1, Helena MALKIEWICZÓWNA,
Go/ycDE wa/arx/wo 3c/g??/?g w TY/vgg, Poznań 1984, pp. 89, 122.