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DOI Artikel:Kemperl, Metoda: Villa de Seppi at Hrastnik and the Painters Eduard Lebiedzki and Constanze von Breuning: Unknown Paintings
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71008#0347
Villa de Seppi at Hrastnik and the painters Eduard Lebiedzki and Constanze Von Breuning 341
10. Constanze von Breuning, Supraporta with the Allegory of agriculture, 1894, Villa de Seppi,
Hrastnik. Foto M. Kemperl
nography of the painting depicting St Bishop by Constanze von Breuning. As already
mentioned, the work was probably an altarpiece which, bearing in mind the above-men-
tioned painting, might represent St Bonaventura as a bishop. The saint is holding a book,
which is his attribute.
The other rectangular painting by Lebiedzki depicts an outdoor scene with the Holy
Family in front of a colonnaded building. Joseph, with his back to the viewer, is standing
in front of a carpenter's table, holding a saw in his right hand and glancing at the seated
Mary. Jesus as a boy is standing next to her, Mary gently embracing him with her left arm.
She is holding an open book in her right hand and Jesus is reading from it. It looks as if
Mary were teaching Jesus. As regards the iconographic motif of the Holy Family, Jesus is
most often depicted as an infant or a boy doing carpentry work, but he is very rarely
depicted reading. Therefore, one could conclude that iconographic emphasis expressed
through the chapel's furnishing was on erudition or wisdom. Namely, both St Bonaventura
and St Thomas Aquinas have been considered so-called Fathers of the Church since the
16th century due to their significant contribution to the development of Scholastic theolo-
gy. It is yet unclear what Emma de Seppi intended to express through her choice of themes.
The four-metre-high stained glass windows that used to adorn the chapel would certainly
help in solving the iconography problem, since saints were depicted on them. However, as
already mentioned, the chapel has not been in use since 1939. In fact, it was demolished in
1954, and the stained glass windows were lost. Thus, all that can be said at the moment is
that the owner might have intended to emphasize erudition or wisdom.
On the other hand, perhaps this emphasis is connected with the iconography of the
paintings preserved in the grand hall of the villa. It contains six semi-circular, so-called
supraporte paintings, set over the doors in pointed arch frames, and executed by Constan-
ze von Breuning in 1894 (one of the works is signed and dated).102 Each painting depicts
102 RESMAN et al., Upravna enota, p. 92. It is stated in the Zasavski vestnik journal that these paintings are portraits of
the owner Emma de Seppi, thus the author described her as a beautiful fair-haired girl and, due to the insufficient
clothing of the women, concluded his article with a remark that only the walls knew what went on in the villa at night
(HOFBAUER, Hrastniski grad, p. 4); perhaps this is why Ivancic Lebar wrote that Emma De Seppi was a coquettish girl
10. Constanze von Breuning, Supraporta with the Allegory of agriculture, 1894, Villa de Seppi,
Hrastnik. Foto M. Kemperl
nography of the painting depicting St Bishop by Constanze von Breuning. As already
mentioned, the work was probably an altarpiece which, bearing in mind the above-men-
tioned painting, might represent St Bonaventura as a bishop. The saint is holding a book,
which is his attribute.
The other rectangular painting by Lebiedzki depicts an outdoor scene with the Holy
Family in front of a colonnaded building. Joseph, with his back to the viewer, is standing
in front of a carpenter's table, holding a saw in his right hand and glancing at the seated
Mary. Jesus as a boy is standing next to her, Mary gently embracing him with her left arm.
She is holding an open book in her right hand and Jesus is reading from it. It looks as if
Mary were teaching Jesus. As regards the iconographic motif of the Holy Family, Jesus is
most often depicted as an infant or a boy doing carpentry work, but he is very rarely
depicted reading. Therefore, one could conclude that iconographic emphasis expressed
through the chapel's furnishing was on erudition or wisdom. Namely, both St Bonaventura
and St Thomas Aquinas have been considered so-called Fathers of the Church since the
16th century due to their significant contribution to the development of Scholastic theolo-
gy. It is yet unclear what Emma de Seppi intended to express through her choice of themes.
The four-metre-high stained glass windows that used to adorn the chapel would certainly
help in solving the iconography problem, since saints were depicted on them. However, as
already mentioned, the chapel has not been in use since 1939. In fact, it was demolished in
1954, and the stained glass windows were lost. Thus, all that can be said at the moment is
that the owner might have intended to emphasize erudition or wisdom.
On the other hand, perhaps this emphasis is connected with the iconography of the
paintings preserved in the grand hall of the villa. It contains six semi-circular, so-called
supraporte paintings, set over the doors in pointed arch frames, and executed by Constan-
ze von Breuning in 1894 (one of the works is signed and dated).102 Each painting depicts
102 RESMAN et al., Upravna enota, p. 92. It is stated in the Zasavski vestnik journal that these paintings are portraits of
the owner Emma de Seppi, thus the author described her as a beautiful fair-haired girl and, due to the insufficient
clothing of the women, concluded his article with a remark that only the walls knew what went on in the villa at night
(HOFBAUER, Hrastniski grad, p. 4); perhaps this is why Ivancic Lebar wrote that Emma De Seppi was a coquettish girl