Art historian focusing on early modern art Associate Professor at the Department of Art History, Comenius University Bratislava Curator of Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava
Despite several partial findings, our image of an academically trained painter is mostly formed b... more Despite several partial findings, our image of an academically trained painter is mostly formed by a generalizing tradition implying his position in the top ranks among artists as well as certain style uniformity. In many aspects, these ideas are anchored in the 19th century and cannot be applied to 18th century Central Europe. At that time, the k. k. Hofakademie der Maler, Bildhauer und Baukunst (Imperial and Royal Court Academy of Painters, Sculptors, and Architecture) in Vienna became a crucial training institution for artists. The ambitions of this institution did not yet measure up to reality; however, its influence in the middle of the century became essential. Based on new research, this study presents an example of the heretofore unknown painter, Johann Georg Walter. After completing his studies at the Vienna Academy, Walter settled in the small wine town of Modra, outside the local artistic centres. For several decades Walter created various types of paintings, but primarily sacral paintings. He can be considered as a model example of a painter who disseminated Vienna's impulses on its periphery, one of the hundreds that the Academy trained. New findings about him also allow us to pursue a wider range of issues related to how the Vienna Academy graduates were able to find work and the issues of the transfer, modification, and rooting of its impulses outside artistic centres.
Summary The chapel of the Franciscan Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Bratislava (Pozson... more Summary The chapel of the Franciscan Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Bratislava (Pozsony, Pressburg) was finished probably in autumn or at the end of the year 1709. In January 1710 there was a festive mass celebrated by the Esztergom Archbishop in the presence of the Palatine Prince Paul Esterhazy, the Convent's guardian Ludovicus Kirkay and the noblemen who took part in the Hungarian Diet. Until recently, out of the known archive sources, only one donator of the Bratislava Loretto Chapel was concretely known – the already mentioned Palatine Paul Esterhazy. However, last year an unknown source was identified, enlightening the background of the foundation of this sight. It is the Heraldic Codex from 1710 with an artistic design of extraordinary quality. The Codex, with 67 full-page paintings of coats of arms, originated in Bratislava on the initiative of the guardian of a Franciscan Convent, Ludovicus Kirkay. Its form reminds of the materials of religious fraternities. Loretto chapels were common...
In post-WWII Slovakia, art history was available only as a university field of study at Bratislav... more In post-WWII Slovakia, art history was available only as a university field of study at Bratislava University (in 1954 regaining its name Comenius University) at the Seminár pre dejiny umenia / Seminar of Art History, a separate part of the Faculty of Arts of the university, where art history had been taught as an independent discipline since 1923 before its conversion to a department. Post-war changes in state structures and the new political system radically affected Slovak society and the education system in the country. This article is the very first attempt to present in detail the extent and character of changes in university art history instruction in the part of the socialist era of the Czechoslovak Republic. It is based on the study and comparison of previously unprocessed sources from various university and state archives and their classification in the context of known historical facts. This contribution represents an in-depth probe into the post-war efforts to build a ne...
Rezension zu: Rubensowa siła transformacji Recenzja katalogu wystawy: Rubens. Kraft der Verwandlu... more Rezension zu: Rubensowa siła transformacji Recenzja katalogu wystawy: Rubens. Kraft der Verwandlung / Rubens. The Power of Transformation, Hrsg./ed. Gerlinde Gruber, Sabine Haag, Stefan Weppelmann, Jochen Sander, Hirmer Verlag, München 2017, ss. 336 Includes a summary in English
This article is an in-depth probe into A. Güntherová-Mayerová’s pedagogical activities at the Com... more This article is an in-depth probe into A. Güntherová-Mayerová’s pedagogical activities at the Come-nius University in Bratislava, which affected an entire generation of our art historians. It based on the summarizing and verifying of known, but especially new information acquired through the study of various archive sources. It strives to provide answers to questions arising from our existing knowledge about the aforementioned issues starting with the clarification of the true extent of her work since the second half of the 1930s until 1961. The character and extent of her teaching is presented aga-inst the historical background of our university instruction of art history. Emphasis is placed on the crucial period of her university work in the socialist era of the Czechoslovak Republic in the1950s with the significant professionalization of education in the discipline, which we have partly inherited today, accompanied by its strong political deformation. Unfortunately, her forced dismissal from the university in 1961 meant the loss of the universal expert with vision, ability and a team capable of building a strong art-historical scientific-educational institute.
K. Beňová - K. Kolbiarz CHmelinová (eds.): Mecénstvo umenia okolo roku 1800 : k pamiatkam výtvarného umenia a architektúry z obdobia neskorého osvietenstva (nielen) na Slovensku. - : 1. vyd. ISBN 978-80-8127-295-0. - Bratislava : Stimul, 2020. - S. 110-151, 2020
The Baroque Church of the Holy Trinity in Košice was originally the property of the Jesuit Košice... more The Baroque Church of the Holy Trinity in Košice was originally the property of the Jesuit Košice University and later the Košice Royal Academy. Its turbulent history from the time of the suppression of the Jesuits (1773) until the church was taken over by Premonstratensians (1811) was overlooked for many years. And this is the time of the origin of the interior furnishing of this church characterized by a series of illusively painted altars, the largest known in our country, including the painting created by Erasmus Schrött of 1797 in the center. The study examines the character and background of this commission, intentionally reminiscent of the Jesuits, even several decades after their demise. Within this framework it mentions forgotten adjustments to the church in the 1780s and other changes in the following decade. It also demonstrates the key position of Karol Eszterházy, the Bishop of Eger, who intentionally helped to preserved the idea of the roots of the Church and in a certain sense the fact that the academy belonged to the Church. The history of the church renovations reflects, on a small scale, the ongoing tension of a transforming society searching for new bonds between church and state.
The majority of the 18th century altars in Central Europe are objects made of polychromed wood, s... more The majority of the 18th century altars in Central Europe are objects made of polychromed wood, stucco, or stone. There are, however, other altars whose retabula – as a whole or predominantly – take the form of a wall painting. The basis for these works is a spatial and material illusion, which imitates the presence of a real reredos within the painting, and in some cases even the imagined space around it. The beginnings of the monumental, architecturally illusionistic murals in Central European art are undoubtedly connected with the Viennese activity of Andrea Pozzo in the early 18th century, and his famous treatise entitled Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum. The principia of new formal achievements, instilled in the Habsburg capital, subsequently radiated ontowall painting, including the illusionistic altars of various kinds and constructed at different timeswithin neighbouring countries. In Slovakia, painted, illusionistic altars have not so far been the subject of systematic research. Over the centuries, numerous such altars have either been destroyed or preserved in a truly terrible condition. Thus, this article is the first to present a summary view on such types of works in the region, with the elaboration of a new, basic, chronological and typological order.
Generationen, Interpretationen, Konfrontationen. Bratislava : Ústav dejín umenia SAV, 2007.
Beitrag zur Geschichte einer Künstlerfamilie im 18. Jahrhundert in Mitteleuropa der Bildhauer Jos... more Beitrag zur Geschichte einer Künstlerfamilie im 18. Jahrhundert in Mitteleuropa der Bildhauer Joseph Leonard Weber und Trnava / Katarína Chmelinová In: Generationen, Interpretationen, Konfrontationen. - ISBN 978-80-968682-9-2. - Bratislava : Ústav dejín umenia SAV, 2007. - S. 151-165
Zimná sezóna 2016/2017 bola z hľadiska výstavných projektov v našom okolí plodná a pú-tavá. V rám... more Zimná sezóna 2016/2017 bola z hľadiska výstavných projektov v našom okolí plodná a pú-tavá. V rámci nej značnú pozornosť pritiahla i rozsahom síce neveľká výstava viedenského Belvederu inštalovaná v priestoroch Winterpalaisu, ktorá prvýkrát v Rakúsku predstavila legendu roko-kového sochárstva východu strednej Európy – Jo-hanna Georga Pinsela. Štyri roky po úspešnej mono-grafickej výstave tohoto majstra v parížskom Louvri 1 uviedla Viedeň do nemeckého jazykového prostredia tvorbu sochárskeho génia zviazaného s dnes ukrajin-ským Ľvovom a jeho okolím, patriacim v čase umel-covho pôsobenia do Poľsko-litovskej únie. Umelca s nezameniteľným expresívnym rukopisom a mimo-riadnym vplyvom presláveného takmer výlučne len vďaka tvorbe z 50. rokov 18. storočia a mimo nej stále len ťažko historicky i umeleckohistoricky ucho-piteľného. Záujem o štúdium tohto umelca iniciovala putovná výstava diel majstra a jeho kruhu s názvom Majster Pinsel – legenda a skutočnosť realizovaná v závere 80. a na počiatku 90. rokov 20. storočia napríklad aj v Moskve, Prahe či Wilanowe, tvoriaca neskôr základ stálej Pinslovej expozície v bývalom kostole klarisiek vo Ľvove. 2 V tom čase sa údaj o sliezskom sochárovi Johannovi Pinselovi, publikovaný v roku 1937 v Holubcových dejinách ukrajinskej kultúry, nepodarilo archiválne potvrdiť a umelec bol zvyčajne označovaný len ako majster Pinsel bez známeho pôvodu a ďalších životopisných dát. 3 Za viac ako štvrťstoročie bádaní sa ukrajinským a poľským znalcom sochárstva 18. storočia podarilo zistiť viacero zaujímavých poznatkov o Pinselovom živote, jeho tvorbe i o umelcoch z jeho okruhu. Napriek tomu skutočný pôvod tohto majstra, školenie, ale napríklad i pres-né roky jeho života ostávajú naďalej bez odpovede. Každopádne, či už pochádzal z južné-ho Nemecka, Sliezska, Čiech alebo Moravy, je Pinslov originálny zjav výrazne zapísaný tak 1
Despite several partial findings, our image of an academically trained painter is mostly formed b... more Despite several partial findings, our image of an academically trained painter is mostly formed by a generalizing tradition implying his position in the top ranks among artists as well as certain style uniformity. In many aspects, these ideas are anchored in the 19th century and cannot be applied to 18th century Central Europe. At that time, the k. k. Hofakademie der Maler, Bildhauer und Baukunst (Imperial and Royal Court Academy of Painters, Sculptors, and Architecture) in Vienna became a crucial training institution for artists. The ambitions of this institution did not yet measure up to reality; however, its influence in the middle of the century became essential. Based on new research, this study presents an example of the heretofore unknown painter, Johann Georg Walter. After completing his studies at the Vienna Academy, Walter settled in the small wine town of Modra, outside the local artistic centres. For several decades Walter created various types of paintings, but primarily sacral paintings. He can be considered as a model example of a painter who disseminated Vienna's impulses on its periphery, one of the hundreds that the Academy trained. New findings about him also allow us to pursue a wider range of issues related to how the Vienna Academy graduates were able to find work and the issues of the transfer, modification, and rooting of its impulses outside artistic centres.
Summary The chapel of the Franciscan Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Bratislava (Pozson... more Summary The chapel of the Franciscan Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Bratislava (Pozsony, Pressburg) was finished probably in autumn or at the end of the year 1709. In January 1710 there was a festive mass celebrated by the Esztergom Archbishop in the presence of the Palatine Prince Paul Esterhazy, the Convent's guardian Ludovicus Kirkay and the noblemen who took part in the Hungarian Diet. Until recently, out of the known archive sources, only one donator of the Bratislava Loretto Chapel was concretely known – the already mentioned Palatine Paul Esterhazy. However, last year an unknown source was identified, enlightening the background of the foundation of this sight. It is the Heraldic Codex from 1710 with an artistic design of extraordinary quality. The Codex, with 67 full-page paintings of coats of arms, originated in Bratislava on the initiative of the guardian of a Franciscan Convent, Ludovicus Kirkay. Its form reminds of the materials of religious fraternities. Loretto chapels were common...
In post-WWII Slovakia, art history was available only as a university field of study at Bratislav... more In post-WWII Slovakia, art history was available only as a university field of study at Bratislava University (in 1954 regaining its name Comenius University) at the Seminár pre dejiny umenia / Seminar of Art History, a separate part of the Faculty of Arts of the university, where art history had been taught as an independent discipline since 1923 before its conversion to a department. Post-war changes in state structures and the new political system radically affected Slovak society and the education system in the country. This article is the very first attempt to present in detail the extent and character of changes in university art history instruction in the part of the socialist era of the Czechoslovak Republic. It is based on the study and comparison of previously unprocessed sources from various university and state archives and their classification in the context of known historical facts. This contribution represents an in-depth probe into the post-war efforts to build a ne...
Rezension zu: Rubensowa siła transformacji Recenzja katalogu wystawy: Rubens. Kraft der Verwandlu... more Rezension zu: Rubensowa siła transformacji Recenzja katalogu wystawy: Rubens. Kraft der Verwandlung / Rubens. The Power of Transformation, Hrsg./ed. Gerlinde Gruber, Sabine Haag, Stefan Weppelmann, Jochen Sander, Hirmer Verlag, München 2017, ss. 336 Includes a summary in English
This article is an in-depth probe into A. Güntherová-Mayerová’s pedagogical activities at the Com... more This article is an in-depth probe into A. Güntherová-Mayerová’s pedagogical activities at the Come-nius University in Bratislava, which affected an entire generation of our art historians. It based on the summarizing and verifying of known, but especially new information acquired through the study of various archive sources. It strives to provide answers to questions arising from our existing knowledge about the aforementioned issues starting with the clarification of the true extent of her work since the second half of the 1930s until 1961. The character and extent of her teaching is presented aga-inst the historical background of our university instruction of art history. Emphasis is placed on the crucial period of her university work in the socialist era of the Czechoslovak Republic in the1950s with the significant professionalization of education in the discipline, which we have partly inherited today, accompanied by its strong political deformation. Unfortunately, her forced dismissal from the university in 1961 meant the loss of the universal expert with vision, ability and a team capable of building a strong art-historical scientific-educational institute.
K. Beňová - K. Kolbiarz CHmelinová (eds.): Mecénstvo umenia okolo roku 1800 : k pamiatkam výtvarného umenia a architektúry z obdobia neskorého osvietenstva (nielen) na Slovensku. - : 1. vyd. ISBN 978-80-8127-295-0. - Bratislava : Stimul, 2020. - S. 110-151, 2020
The Baroque Church of the Holy Trinity in Košice was originally the property of the Jesuit Košice... more The Baroque Church of the Holy Trinity in Košice was originally the property of the Jesuit Košice University and later the Košice Royal Academy. Its turbulent history from the time of the suppression of the Jesuits (1773) until the church was taken over by Premonstratensians (1811) was overlooked for many years. And this is the time of the origin of the interior furnishing of this church characterized by a series of illusively painted altars, the largest known in our country, including the painting created by Erasmus Schrött of 1797 in the center. The study examines the character and background of this commission, intentionally reminiscent of the Jesuits, even several decades after their demise. Within this framework it mentions forgotten adjustments to the church in the 1780s and other changes in the following decade. It also demonstrates the key position of Karol Eszterházy, the Bishop of Eger, who intentionally helped to preserved the idea of the roots of the Church and in a certain sense the fact that the academy belonged to the Church. The history of the church renovations reflects, on a small scale, the ongoing tension of a transforming society searching for new bonds between church and state.
The majority of the 18th century altars in Central Europe are objects made of polychromed wood, s... more The majority of the 18th century altars in Central Europe are objects made of polychromed wood, stucco, or stone. There are, however, other altars whose retabula – as a whole or predominantly – take the form of a wall painting. The basis for these works is a spatial and material illusion, which imitates the presence of a real reredos within the painting, and in some cases even the imagined space around it. The beginnings of the monumental, architecturally illusionistic murals in Central European art are undoubtedly connected with the Viennese activity of Andrea Pozzo in the early 18th century, and his famous treatise entitled Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum. The principia of new formal achievements, instilled in the Habsburg capital, subsequently radiated ontowall painting, including the illusionistic altars of various kinds and constructed at different timeswithin neighbouring countries. In Slovakia, painted, illusionistic altars have not so far been the subject of systematic research. Over the centuries, numerous such altars have either been destroyed or preserved in a truly terrible condition. Thus, this article is the first to present a summary view on such types of works in the region, with the elaboration of a new, basic, chronological and typological order.
Generationen, Interpretationen, Konfrontationen. Bratislava : Ústav dejín umenia SAV, 2007.
Beitrag zur Geschichte einer Künstlerfamilie im 18. Jahrhundert in Mitteleuropa der Bildhauer Jos... more Beitrag zur Geschichte einer Künstlerfamilie im 18. Jahrhundert in Mitteleuropa der Bildhauer Joseph Leonard Weber und Trnava / Katarína Chmelinová In: Generationen, Interpretationen, Konfrontationen. - ISBN 978-80-968682-9-2. - Bratislava : Ústav dejín umenia SAV, 2007. - S. 151-165
Zimná sezóna 2016/2017 bola z hľadiska výstavných projektov v našom okolí plodná a pú-tavá. V rám... more Zimná sezóna 2016/2017 bola z hľadiska výstavných projektov v našom okolí plodná a pú-tavá. V rámci nej značnú pozornosť pritiahla i rozsahom síce neveľká výstava viedenského Belvederu inštalovaná v priestoroch Winterpalaisu, ktorá prvýkrát v Rakúsku predstavila legendu roko-kového sochárstva východu strednej Európy – Jo-hanna Georga Pinsela. Štyri roky po úspešnej mono-grafickej výstave tohoto majstra v parížskom Louvri 1 uviedla Viedeň do nemeckého jazykového prostredia tvorbu sochárskeho génia zviazaného s dnes ukrajin-ským Ľvovom a jeho okolím, patriacim v čase umel-covho pôsobenia do Poľsko-litovskej únie. Umelca s nezameniteľným expresívnym rukopisom a mimo-riadnym vplyvom presláveného takmer výlučne len vďaka tvorbe z 50. rokov 18. storočia a mimo nej stále len ťažko historicky i umeleckohistoricky ucho-piteľného. Záujem o štúdium tohto umelca iniciovala putovná výstava diel majstra a jeho kruhu s názvom Majster Pinsel – legenda a skutočnosť realizovaná v závere 80. a na počiatku 90. rokov 20. storočia napríklad aj v Moskve, Prahe či Wilanowe, tvoriaca neskôr základ stálej Pinslovej expozície v bývalom kostole klarisiek vo Ľvove. 2 V tom čase sa údaj o sliezskom sochárovi Johannovi Pinselovi, publikovaný v roku 1937 v Holubcových dejinách ukrajinskej kultúry, nepodarilo archiválne potvrdiť a umelec bol zvyčajne označovaný len ako majster Pinsel bez známeho pôvodu a ďalších životopisných dát. 3 Za viac ako štvrťstoročie bádaní sa ukrajinským a poľským znalcom sochárstva 18. storočia podarilo zistiť viacero zaujímavých poznatkov o Pinselovom živote, jeho tvorbe i o umelcoch z jeho okruhu. Napriek tomu skutočný pôvod tohto majstra, školenie, ale napríklad i pres-né roky jeho života ostávajú naďalej bez odpovede. Každopádne, či už pochádzal z južné-ho Nemecka, Sliezska, Čiech alebo Moravy, je Pinslov originálny zjav výrazne zapísaný tak 1
Ján Jakub Stunder (1759 - 1811). Nikde cudzincom. , 2021
Ján Jakub Stunder (1759 - 1811), a painter of Danish origin, was one of the proponents of the new... more Ján Jakub Stunder (1759 - 1811), a painter of Danish origin, was one of the proponents of the new style of Classicism, which became part of the fine art and culture around 1800 in the area of the former Kingdom of Hungary. The artist was connected with his birthplace in Copenhagen; however, he is generally neglected in overviews of the history of Danish art. His work brought him to Vienna, Pest (now Budapest), Levoča, Košice and Banská Bystrica. The experts participating in this book contributed to new information and knowledge related to Stunder´s life and work in a wider sense of the period scene and artistic practice. Not only in terms of artistic genres but as well as contribution to the contacts among the Freemason community or Protestant church.
In contrast with the neighboring countries, the art of altarpiece in Slovakia lacked sufficient a... more In contrast with the neighboring countries, the art of altarpiece in Slovakia lacked sufficient attention. The book (and related exhibition) follows the typological transformations of altars in the 17th and 18th centuries in present Slovakia in their Central European context. It offers the only systematic treatment of the issue with clarification of problematic terminology, new findings and an overview of current comparative and supplementary literature. The text has a German summary.
Monuments of the Franciscan order created in Slovakia in the 19th century and Konrád Švestka.
Th... more Monuments of the Franciscan order created in Slovakia in the 19th century and Konrád Švestka. The art of the 19th century and fine arts of religious orders have been paid more and more attention in Central Europe in recent decades. However, the process of uncovering the past is only at the beginning in Slovakia. Baroque art of religious orders is the field we know most about. We have also some information about the first half of the 20th century, mainly thanks to a monograph written about a monk Teodor Tekel. Monastic artists of the 19th century in Slovakia are almost unknown, though. The publication you are holding is rather small but based on research and uncovers a lot about monuments of the monastic culture. It focuses on Franciscan monuments in the Province of the Holiest Saviour, which had in the territory of our country in the second half of the 19th century 14 monasteries. Since there was one artist who was working for the majority of them, most of this book is dedicated to him. His name is Konrád Švestka. A “case study” depicts him not only as a person but also as a type of monastic artist in the 19th century, with a rather unknown role, scope and kind of work. Both authors of this book were following their previous research but got the final impulse to write the book when a part of Konrád Švestka´s personal estate was discovered and saved. There were more than 70 pictures, various graphic works, topographic works of the 17th and 18th century and various archives. All of it was donated to the collections of the Slovak National Gallery in 2009.
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around it.
The beginnings of the monumental, architecturally illusionistic murals in Central European art are undoubtedly connected with the Viennese activity of Andrea Pozzo in the early 18th century, and his famous treatise entitled Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum. The principia of new formal achievements, instilled in the Habsburg capital, subsequently radiated ontowall painting, including the illusionistic altars of various kinds and constructed at different timeswithin neighbouring countries.
In Slovakia, painted, illusionistic altars have not so far been the subject of systematic research. Over the centuries, numerous such altars have either been destroyed or preserved in a truly terrible condition. Thus, this article is the first to present a summary view on such types of works in the region, with the elaboration of a new, basic, chronological and typological order.
In: Generationen, Interpretationen, Konfrontationen. - ISBN 978-80-968682-9-2. - Bratislava : Ústav dejín umenia SAV, 2007. - S. 151-165
around it.
The beginnings of the monumental, architecturally illusionistic murals in Central European art are undoubtedly connected with the Viennese activity of Andrea Pozzo in the early 18th century, and his famous treatise entitled Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum. The principia of new formal achievements, instilled in the Habsburg capital, subsequently radiated ontowall painting, including the illusionistic altars of various kinds and constructed at different timeswithin neighbouring countries.
In Slovakia, painted, illusionistic altars have not so far been the subject of systematic research. Over the centuries, numerous such altars have either been destroyed or preserved in a truly terrible condition. Thus, this article is the first to present a summary view on such types of works in the region, with the elaboration of a new, basic, chronological and typological order.
In: Generationen, Interpretationen, Konfrontationen. - ISBN 978-80-968682-9-2. - Bratislava : Ústav dejín umenia SAV, 2007. - S. 151-165
The text has a German summary.
The art of the 19th century and fine arts of religious orders have been paid more and more attention in Central Europe in recent decades. However, the process of uncovering the past is only at the beginning in Slovakia. Baroque art of religious orders is the field we know most about. We have also some information about the first half of the 20th century, mainly thanks to a monograph written about a monk Teodor Tekel. Monastic artists of the 19th century in Slovakia are almost unknown, though. The publication you are holding is rather small but based on research and uncovers a lot about monuments of the monastic culture. It focuses on Franciscan monuments in the Province of the Holiest Saviour, which had in the territory of our country in the second half of the 19th century 14 monasteries. Since there was one artist who was working for the majority of them, most of this book is dedicated to him. His name is Konrád Švestka. A “case study” depicts him not only as a person but also as a type of monastic artist in the 19th century, with a rather unknown role, scope and kind of work. Both authors of this book were following their previous research but got the final impulse to write the book when a part of Konrád Švestka´s personal estate was discovered and saved. There were more than 70 pictures, various graphic works, topographic works of the 17th and 18th century and various archives. All of it was donated to the collections of the Slovak National Gallery in 2009.