Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (19.2019)

with painted marbling in the shades of grey and pink with wbite veins. Parallel-
ogram-shaped panels located in the fields of the pedestal, and panels in the form
of vertical rectangles, decorating the elements that separate the fields, are covered
with light, partly pink, painted marbling and brown spots. Part of the panelling
decorated with paintings, as well as the topmost section, are covered with pink
painted marbling with white veins and brown spots. Columns, picture frames
and wood-carved decorative elements are gilded. The wide frame of the painting
further away from the main altar consists of two bars, filled with stylized leaves.
The canted corners are filled with stylized plant forms, consisting of a flower bud
placed on a stylized leaf. The second frame consists of two bars, incorporating
simplified leaves and flowers. Its arches are filled with stylized floral composi-
tions, which include a flower bud and a stylized leaf. The panelling on the north
side has a structure similar to that described above, with two narrower bays
added on the side of the aisle, whereas the panelling on the opposite side of the
chancel differs in painting decoration (see: Figurę 2). The elements constituting
the panelling structure are painted with dark brown paint. In the strips above
the pedestal, the panels are covered with painted decoration, its background
lighter than that the panelling structure. In the parallelogram-shaped panels,
there is a stencilled decoration with two axes of symmetry, and on the pedestals
under the columns the panels take the form of a vertical rectangle, and are covered
with geometrie decoration interwoven with floral elements. In the first of the
added bays of the panelling there is a picture in the shape of a vertical rectangle
in a wide gilded frame consisting of a narrow bar and a belt of lush, stylized
leaves. Above the frame, there is a gilded composition of a flower bud placed on
a stylized leaf. The part closest to the sacristy entrance is narrower - only a half
of the other sections - and has no finial. In lieu of the paintings, it is decorated
with a panel in the form of a vertical rectangle, painted in a lighter colour than
the structure itself, and covered with a painting decoration depicting an ornate
trivet, entwined with stylized foliated scroll, on which a bowl is set with dames
rising from it. Next to the last of the bays, there is an additional, lowest panelling
section, adjacent to the sacristy door, decorated with two smaller parallelogram-
shaped panels. This part was cut in half the length, in order to match its shape
to the stone epitaph on the wali.



Figurę 3. Stefan Zaborow-
ski, Skalbmierz, church,
view of the interior from
the organ gallery, based
on A. Szyszko-Bohusz, Be-
szowa, Skalbmierz i system
krakowski, “Sprawozdania
Komisyi do Badań Historyi
Sztuki w Polsce”, 9,1913
-> see p. 37
Figurę 4. Our Lady of Mount
Carmel, painting in the
panelling on the north side
of the chancel. Photo by
K. Chrzanowska
-> see p. 40

1.3. Description of the paintings
Ali the paintings decorating the wood panelling on the north side of the chancel
were nailed to the boards with nails that are visible in the image field at the edges
of the frames. The two extreme panels on either side were painted on mechanically
woven canvas. Their condition is better than of those paintings in the middle,
whose paint layer is damaged. The paintings in the panelling on the south side
of the church have undergone renovation in 2017.
The image furthest from the main altar on the north side shows Our Lady of
Mount Carmel, holding the naked Child in her arms (see: Figurę 4). Virgin Mary
was depicted at half-length. She is wearing a red dress with a blue coat cover-
ing her hands. Her face is oval, her eyes large, her nose is straight and long, her
lips smali and fuli. Her head is covered with a white scarf. Baby Jesus is holding
the edge of Virgin Mary s dress with his right hand, bends his head down and
to the left. His eyes are lowered, and his mouth slightly open. In his left, slightly

Panelling in the chancel of the church of Saint John the Baptist in Skalbmierz

57