DOI article:
Secomska, Krystyna: Freski w opolskiej Kaplicy Piastowskiej i malowidła w kościele w Lubiechowej: ze studiów nad gotyckim malarstwem ściennym na Śląsku
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16407#0181
FRESKI W OPOLSKIEJ KAPLICY PIASTOWSKIEJ I MALOWIDŁA W KOŚCIELE W LUBIECHOWEJ
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a „dramatized" interprétation of the legend which was enriched with a new narrative and psychological coloring in the spirit of
the Italian Trecento. Perhaps it was this aspect of the Czech painting under Charles IV that 14th-century Silesian and Cracow
donors found attractive (remembering a high literary culture of the Piast courts).
The increasing significance of narrative éléments in the late médiéval art was not only and exclusively dépendant on major
artistic centers. According to Franciscans and Dominicans who propagated didactic art, paintings were supposed to function as „the
silent sermons" (fn.174). Thus in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in the oeuvre of provincial artists, a process of reducing
complex, multi-thread cycles down to brief, mnemotechnically understandable schemes can be observed. For this tendency A.
Karlowska-Kamzowa (fn.176, 177) has proposed a term: „a catechist method". It was just the inverse process - back to the simple
"pictographs". An interesting and certainly not banal example of a „catechist" program constitutes the choir décoration in a
Romanesque-Gothic church at Hohenliebenthal (Lubiechowa) near Hirschberg (Jelenia Góra) (on the territory of the former Duchy
of Schweidnitz-Jauer): see Part 3 of this article.
The conservation of the paintings (which had been started since 1969) was for fmancial reasons interrupted several years
ago; we don't have thus a complète view of the iconographie program. In her accurate récognition A. Karlowska-Kamzowa (fn. 7)
reports that at Hohenliebenthal traces of two phases of décoration have sustained. Back to the 14th century date a splendid image
of St Christopher in an aisle (ill. 33) along with two paintings on the northern wall of the choir: The Adoration of the Kings and
St George fighting with The Dragon (ill. 34). In the second quarter of the 15th century Deesis was painted on the vault of the choir
and on the altar wall the images connected with The Last Judgement (ill. 35). On the southern wali one can see mostly figures
of saints (ill. 36, 37; on certain iconographie peculiarities: cf. fn. 10,11). On the northern wall, 14th-century scènes were later quite
ineptly retouched (similar cases of „renovation" of an older polychromy - betraying the full compréhension of the idea - were
noted also in Silesia; fn. 22).
The subjects in the next bay of the same wall - i.a. the Story of Adam and Eve (ill. 38) - require a more thorough discussion.
I suppose that in decorating the choir at Hohenliebenthal participated several painters and among them one active also in
nearby Schônau (ill. 40; fn. 24, 29). Karlowska-Kamzowa (fn. 8, 17) has classified the Hohenliebenthal's paintings as an example
of the so-called graphie manner. The dominating motif is there thick red-iron ochre contour shaded with stripes of paint. Sti 11,
a variegation (a light azuré, a dark red, pale and darker greens - copper and warmer one; a touch of ochre gold and pink) and above
ail éléments of modelling deserve attention against a hypothesis of a "simple" woodeuts' imitation. A source of this style is no
doubt graphie. A direct model of the Hohenliebenthal's cycle, however, was obviously a cheap illustrated manuscript. It might have
been similar to the Austrian codex of Spéculum Humanae Salvationis from the end of the 14th century (formerly at Innsbruck, now
at Neustift near Brixen; fn. 26; ill. 41). Both thèmes depicted in the 14th century in the western bay of the northern wall (ill. 34)
have enjoyed quite a popularity in the late médiéval Silesian art, thanks to their „chivalrous" or „courtly" character (fn. 30).
Nevertheless - in the light of fondamental publications of E. Guldan and E. M. Vetter (fn. 32, 41) - what cornes into account here
is a much more meaningful imperative: an idea of triumph over the evil. Already in the early médiéval art The Adoration of the
Kings interpreted as Christ's Epiphany and at the same time the exaltation of His mother, was associated with the story of Adam
and Eve (fn. 34,35). In Lochstedt paintings (fn. 37) opposite to The Adoration of the Kings was pictured St George fighting with
the beast.
The complex message of the Original Sin, Mary's mission and the legend of St George has found its expression in the so-
called the Virgin Jackowa at Cracow from the end of the 14th century. George, „miles Christianus", might have been an „imago"
of Jesus as the satan's conqueror; however, Jesus also protected His mother's against „the breath of the hellish beast", against
the stain of the Original Sin (fn. 41). The power of the Evil, released by the Sin of the First Parents, was overwhelmed by the
Messiah's coming and in a way also due to Mary („Ipsa conteret caput tuum").
In the second quarter of the 15th century, in the eastern bay at Hohenliebenthal the thème of Adam and Eve was expanded.
The First Parents might have appeared already in an earlier cycle of décorations. In any case, in the 15th-century iconographie
program the three motives - the Original Sin, the Epiphany and St George fighting with The Dragon - form a consistent entity.
The Adoration of the Kings désignâtes the beginning of the history of Salvation: it opens the „via vitae" for the mankind. The story
of the fall of the First Parents is a warning against the everlasting danger from the Tempter, the „via mortis" which ends in
Leviathan's Mouth.
In the 15th century, just over the cycle of Adam and Eve the représentations of the Dead and the Alive were placed (ill. 38,
42). Similar painting of two lovers hemmed in by two devils appears the cycle of Seven Mortal Sins (beneath The Last Judgement
in the hospital chapel at Frauenberg (Frombork) (after 1433?), clearly displayling attributes of „dissipation" : a mirror and a
bagpipe (fn. 44, 45). The artist active at Hohenliebenthal had probably followed the same model - a miniature or graphie cycle
of the Mortal Sins. Were the remaining walls of this church decorated with similar allegorical scènes devoted to other Sins?
A parallel of Luxuria and Death might have as well had a separate représentation related purposefully to The Original Sin and to
the central eschatological idea. The archétype of this particular iconographie concept are French illustrations to the 13th-century
Bible moralisée (fn. 47- 49, ill. 44): „Concupiscentia", the reason of the First Parents' fali, was identified here with Luxuria.
Despite numerous différences between the 13th-century miniature paintings and the Hohenliebenthal scènes, the motif of a jester
with a put-out tongue (ill. 42, 44), seems to confirm their genetic link. In the Bible moralisée apart from the couple of lovers we
fmd also a figure of a monk - or rather „le fou" in a monk's frock; the devil is drawing his tongue out. In both cases the motif
might symbolize giving in to the power of „voluntas diaboli" (fn. 49), as in the late médiéval iconography a jester was associated
with „dirty" jauntiness and licentiousness (fn. 51). This thème was also associated with the motif of „insipiens" from Psalm LII
(fn. 52). It was over the painting of the jester that the inscription was set at Hohenliebenthal: „Ite ad iudic<ium>".
As to the iconography of Mortal Sins, a bit more significant example should be mentioned here: an illustration in a German
codex dated to the second quarter of the 15th century and published by F. Saxl (fn. 71-73). It features Luxuria as a licentious couple
179
a „dramatized" interprétation of the legend which was enriched with a new narrative and psychological coloring in the spirit of
the Italian Trecento. Perhaps it was this aspect of the Czech painting under Charles IV that 14th-century Silesian and Cracow
donors found attractive (remembering a high literary culture of the Piast courts).
The increasing significance of narrative éléments in the late médiéval art was not only and exclusively dépendant on major
artistic centers. According to Franciscans and Dominicans who propagated didactic art, paintings were supposed to function as „the
silent sermons" (fn.174). Thus in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in the oeuvre of provincial artists, a process of reducing
complex, multi-thread cycles down to brief, mnemotechnically understandable schemes can be observed. For this tendency A.
Karlowska-Kamzowa (fn.176, 177) has proposed a term: „a catechist method". It was just the inverse process - back to the simple
"pictographs". An interesting and certainly not banal example of a „catechist" program constitutes the choir décoration in a
Romanesque-Gothic church at Hohenliebenthal (Lubiechowa) near Hirschberg (Jelenia Góra) (on the territory of the former Duchy
of Schweidnitz-Jauer): see Part 3 of this article.
The conservation of the paintings (which had been started since 1969) was for fmancial reasons interrupted several years
ago; we don't have thus a complète view of the iconographie program. In her accurate récognition A. Karlowska-Kamzowa (fn. 7)
reports that at Hohenliebenthal traces of two phases of décoration have sustained. Back to the 14th century date a splendid image
of St Christopher in an aisle (ill. 33) along with two paintings on the northern wall of the choir: The Adoration of the Kings and
St George fighting with The Dragon (ill. 34). In the second quarter of the 15th century Deesis was painted on the vault of the choir
and on the altar wall the images connected with The Last Judgement (ill. 35). On the southern wali one can see mostly figures
of saints (ill. 36, 37; on certain iconographie peculiarities: cf. fn. 10,11). On the northern wall, 14th-century scènes were later quite
ineptly retouched (similar cases of „renovation" of an older polychromy - betraying the full compréhension of the idea - were
noted also in Silesia; fn. 22).
The subjects in the next bay of the same wall - i.a. the Story of Adam and Eve (ill. 38) - require a more thorough discussion.
I suppose that in decorating the choir at Hohenliebenthal participated several painters and among them one active also in
nearby Schônau (ill. 40; fn. 24, 29). Karlowska-Kamzowa (fn. 8, 17) has classified the Hohenliebenthal's paintings as an example
of the so-called graphie manner. The dominating motif is there thick red-iron ochre contour shaded with stripes of paint. Sti 11,
a variegation (a light azuré, a dark red, pale and darker greens - copper and warmer one; a touch of ochre gold and pink) and above
ail éléments of modelling deserve attention against a hypothesis of a "simple" woodeuts' imitation. A source of this style is no
doubt graphie. A direct model of the Hohenliebenthal's cycle, however, was obviously a cheap illustrated manuscript. It might have
been similar to the Austrian codex of Spéculum Humanae Salvationis from the end of the 14th century (formerly at Innsbruck, now
at Neustift near Brixen; fn. 26; ill. 41). Both thèmes depicted in the 14th century in the western bay of the northern wall (ill. 34)
have enjoyed quite a popularity in the late médiéval Silesian art, thanks to their „chivalrous" or „courtly" character (fn. 30).
Nevertheless - in the light of fondamental publications of E. Guldan and E. M. Vetter (fn. 32, 41) - what cornes into account here
is a much more meaningful imperative: an idea of triumph over the evil. Already in the early médiéval art The Adoration of the
Kings interpreted as Christ's Epiphany and at the same time the exaltation of His mother, was associated with the story of Adam
and Eve (fn. 34,35). In Lochstedt paintings (fn. 37) opposite to The Adoration of the Kings was pictured St George fighting with
the beast.
The complex message of the Original Sin, Mary's mission and the legend of St George has found its expression in the so-
called the Virgin Jackowa at Cracow from the end of the 14th century. George, „miles Christianus", might have been an „imago"
of Jesus as the satan's conqueror; however, Jesus also protected His mother's against „the breath of the hellish beast", against
the stain of the Original Sin (fn. 41). The power of the Evil, released by the Sin of the First Parents, was overwhelmed by the
Messiah's coming and in a way also due to Mary („Ipsa conteret caput tuum").
In the second quarter of the 15th century, in the eastern bay at Hohenliebenthal the thème of Adam and Eve was expanded.
The First Parents might have appeared already in an earlier cycle of décorations. In any case, in the 15th-century iconographie
program the three motives - the Original Sin, the Epiphany and St George fighting with The Dragon - form a consistent entity.
The Adoration of the Kings désignâtes the beginning of the history of Salvation: it opens the „via vitae" for the mankind. The story
of the fall of the First Parents is a warning against the everlasting danger from the Tempter, the „via mortis" which ends in
Leviathan's Mouth.
In the 15th century, just over the cycle of Adam and Eve the représentations of the Dead and the Alive were placed (ill. 38,
42). Similar painting of two lovers hemmed in by two devils appears the cycle of Seven Mortal Sins (beneath The Last Judgement
in the hospital chapel at Frauenberg (Frombork) (after 1433?), clearly displayling attributes of „dissipation" : a mirror and a
bagpipe (fn. 44, 45). The artist active at Hohenliebenthal had probably followed the same model - a miniature or graphie cycle
of the Mortal Sins. Were the remaining walls of this church decorated with similar allegorical scènes devoted to other Sins?
A parallel of Luxuria and Death might have as well had a separate représentation related purposefully to The Original Sin and to
the central eschatological idea. The archétype of this particular iconographie concept are French illustrations to the 13th-century
Bible moralisée (fn. 47- 49, ill. 44): „Concupiscentia", the reason of the First Parents' fali, was identified here with Luxuria.
Despite numerous différences between the 13th-century miniature paintings and the Hohenliebenthal scènes, the motif of a jester
with a put-out tongue (ill. 42, 44), seems to confirm their genetic link. In the Bible moralisée apart from the couple of lovers we
fmd also a figure of a monk - or rather „le fou" in a monk's frock; the devil is drawing his tongue out. In both cases the motif
might symbolize giving in to the power of „voluntas diaboli" (fn. 49), as in the late médiéval iconography a jester was associated
with „dirty" jauntiness and licentiousness (fn. 51). This thème was also associated with the motif of „insipiens" from Psalm LII
(fn. 52). It was over the painting of the jester that the inscription was set at Hohenliebenthal: „Ite ad iudic<ium>".
As to the iconography of Mortal Sins, a bit more significant example should be mentioned here: an illustration in a German
codex dated to the second quarter of the 15th century and published by F. Saxl (fn. 71-73). It features Luxuria as a licentious couple