DOI Artikel:
Kochanowska-Reiche, Małgorzata: Beautiful Madonna of Wrocław: the Question of Provenance and Original State
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18949#0071
transpired that white-blue colouring with white robę was also in accord with
the pattern. This colour composition was used in very important Beautiful
Madonnas - the Madonna of Krumlon and the Madonna from Franciscan
church in Salzburg (analysed)48 as well as the Madonna ofPilsen, the Madonna
ofjudenburg and Madonna of Stralsund (not analysed). The common use of
white-blue mantle colouring is indirectiy confirmed by numerous wooden
figures of Beautiful Madonnas type from the beginning of the 15rh century and
even, in fewer cases, from the first ąuarter of that century.49 The white-blue
mantle colouring is found in some figures of saints contemporary to Beautiful
Madonnas, for example in polychromy of St. Catherine of Lubiąż and St.
Catherine ofKarlśtejn (possibly also from Jihlava), St. Barbara and St. Catherine
of Ptuj in Slovenia; their robes are of green and red hue. We do not know
what colour was the Madonna’s of Toruń robę; her mantle was probably
white. In 1921 during preservation works four layers of paint in white hue
were found (starting from the outermost: marbled white or grey, white,
light-grey and ivory). Furthermore, on the mantle’s fold (on the lining?)
cobalt-blue pigment was found, on the veil - white pigment, on the crown’s
points and lower robę rim - gold.'°
In painted analogies of Beautiful Madonnas a traditional colouring of
Western iconography of the Virgin was used - a blue mantle with red lining.
A possible exception is the epitaph of knight Jan of Ujazd from ca. 1450
(Royal Castle in Kraków) where the Virgin is dressed in a white mantle and
a red robę. Despite a late dating, this painting fully represents the Beautiful
style’s features. We know of one earlier example of a white mantle - that of
the Madonna of Straboy from ca. 1350. In the present colouring of the
Madonna of Wrocław dominant shabby-grey hue characterises the robę and
the entire mantle’s outer surface. The grey colour is spread unevenly, in
smudges, creating a “negative effect” useless for enhancement of corporeity:
the fiat inner parts of folds are lighter while the convex ridges much darker,
at times tar-grey. The mantle lining is dark blue, the veil - greyish-white, the
shoe - dark with traces of gilding. Partly withered away gilding can be found
on the crown, on both-sided mantle rims, rims of decolletage and sleeves as
well as on the robę belt. The hair of both the Virgin and the Child is also of
golden hue. The figure’s complexion is flesh-white, one may notę serious
losses in the Child’s forehead, cheek, hand and left leg. The description of
the Madonna provided by Max Semrau ca. 1919 differs from the above by
a different colour of the mantle and the robę which, according to Semrau,
were white.'1 This, however, did not accord with the actual State of affairs as
the photograph of the figurę attached to Semrau’s work clearly shows uneven
colour intensity and numerous darkenings, especially in the folds ridges.
48 Koller, op. cit., p. 150.
49 Austellung Schóne Madonnen, op. cit., cat. no. 39, 40 42, 44, 47, 48, 52, 53, 57, 58.
50 Kruszelnicka, op. cit., p. 11, footnote 18.
31 Semrau, op. cit., p. 185.
69
the pattern. This colour composition was used in very important Beautiful
Madonnas - the Madonna of Krumlon and the Madonna from Franciscan
church in Salzburg (analysed)48 as well as the Madonna ofPilsen, the Madonna
ofjudenburg and Madonna of Stralsund (not analysed). The common use of
white-blue mantle colouring is indirectiy confirmed by numerous wooden
figures of Beautiful Madonnas type from the beginning of the 15rh century and
even, in fewer cases, from the first ąuarter of that century.49 The white-blue
mantle colouring is found in some figures of saints contemporary to Beautiful
Madonnas, for example in polychromy of St. Catherine of Lubiąż and St.
Catherine ofKarlśtejn (possibly also from Jihlava), St. Barbara and St. Catherine
of Ptuj in Slovenia; their robes are of green and red hue. We do not know
what colour was the Madonna’s of Toruń robę; her mantle was probably
white. In 1921 during preservation works four layers of paint in white hue
were found (starting from the outermost: marbled white or grey, white,
light-grey and ivory). Furthermore, on the mantle’s fold (on the lining?)
cobalt-blue pigment was found, on the veil - white pigment, on the crown’s
points and lower robę rim - gold.'°
In painted analogies of Beautiful Madonnas a traditional colouring of
Western iconography of the Virgin was used - a blue mantle with red lining.
A possible exception is the epitaph of knight Jan of Ujazd from ca. 1450
(Royal Castle in Kraków) where the Virgin is dressed in a white mantle and
a red robę. Despite a late dating, this painting fully represents the Beautiful
style’s features. We know of one earlier example of a white mantle - that of
the Madonna of Straboy from ca. 1350. In the present colouring of the
Madonna of Wrocław dominant shabby-grey hue characterises the robę and
the entire mantle’s outer surface. The grey colour is spread unevenly, in
smudges, creating a “negative effect” useless for enhancement of corporeity:
the fiat inner parts of folds are lighter while the convex ridges much darker,
at times tar-grey. The mantle lining is dark blue, the veil - greyish-white, the
shoe - dark with traces of gilding. Partly withered away gilding can be found
on the crown, on both-sided mantle rims, rims of decolletage and sleeves as
well as on the robę belt. The hair of both the Virgin and the Child is also of
golden hue. The figure’s complexion is flesh-white, one may notę serious
losses in the Child’s forehead, cheek, hand and left leg. The description of
the Madonna provided by Max Semrau ca. 1919 differs from the above by
a different colour of the mantle and the robę which, according to Semrau,
were white.'1 This, however, did not accord with the actual State of affairs as
the photograph of the figurę attached to Semrau’s work clearly shows uneven
colour intensity and numerous darkenings, especially in the folds ridges.
48 Koller, op. cit., p. 150.
49 Austellung Schóne Madonnen, op. cit., cat. no. 39, 40 42, 44, 47, 48, 52, 53, 57, 58.
50 Kruszelnicka, op. cit., p. 11, footnote 18.
31 Semrau, op. cit., p. 185.
69