Ars Adriatica, No. 6, 2016.
Original scientific paper
Silver Wall Candelabra at the Franciscan Convent of Trsat, Donation of Emperor Leopold I
Mateja Jerman
orcid.org/0000-0003-3980-5079
; independent scholar
Abstract
The sanctuary of Our Lady of Trsat is a pilgrimage centre in the northern Adriatic visited for centuries by pilgrims and dignitaries, who brought various artefacts in fulfilment of their vows. Most of the oldest votive objects are today exhibited at the convent's treasury, but the two silver wall candelabra in question remain deposited in the convent's storage. They were first mentioned by Bishop Juraj Franjo Ksaver Marotti in 1710, who wrote that they had been donated to the convent in 1693 by the Emperor Leopold I (1658-1705). Petar Francetić and Klaro Pasconi corroborated this information, and late in the 19th century Julije Janković mentioned that they were standing on marble columns at the main church altar. In the early 20th century, the candelabra were briefly described by Riccardo Gigante, Gjuro Szabo, Apolinar Braničković, and Artur Schneider, but a scholarly study establishing the true value of these precious artefacts was still missing.
The candelabra of Trsat used to hang on the wall like paintings, but today they are lacking the holders with candle plates. At their centre, formed of stylized fleshy acanthus leaves made of silver, there are shell-like cavities with applique silver busts of a Roman emperor and a young warrior wearing a helmet. The edge of the cavity under the busts is decorated with an embossed masqueron resembling a lion’s head, placed between the curving volutes.
By donating the candelabra to the Franciscans of Trsat, Emperor Leopold I. made a political gesture and also continued the tradition started by his predecessor Charles V (1519-1556), who had donated a golden pendulum in the shape of a two-headed eagle decorated with gems in 1536 as a symbol of Pietas Austriaca practiced by members of the Habsburg family from the first half of the 17th century onwards. Candelabra of this type were mostly produced for the private chambers or lavish salons of noble families and similar examples made of various materials are found in museum collections all over Germany and France. Even though the candelabra were intended for religious space, Emperor Leopold I was probably guided in their commission by the idea of expressing his power by iconographically relating himself to the mythology and history of ancient Rome. Thus, the figure of Emperor Augustus should most probably represent the emperor himself, while the young Roman warrior was to impersonate his son Joseph, who was to inherit the imperial throne.
Hallmarks have been identified on the candelabra that had previously gone unnoticed and that positively relate them to a particular goldsmith’s workshop in Augsburg. One of them has the form of a stylized pinecone, while the other shows a stork with a fish in its beak. This was the hallmark of Antoni Grill I, documented in Augsburg as a master from 1668 until his death in 1700. Even though he stemmed from a family of goldsmiths, whose members had been producing imaginative artefacts for European courts since the mid-16th century, his own identified works are preserved only in a few museums and private collections. Most of them are gilded silver plates with carefully elaborated compositions that reveal great skill in embossing motifs in various depths and their even distribution over the plate surface. The same feature is evident in the candelabra of Trsat. Grill’s models possibly included drawings by graphic artists Jakob Wilhelm (Augsburg, documented since 1694-1738) and Leonhard Heckenauer (b. ca. 1655 in Augsburg, d. 1704 in Munich), who likewise belonged to the Augsburg circle of artists. Their maps contain several examples of wall candelabra, with complex compositions and a choice of decorative motifs that bear some similarities with the Trsat ones. Compared to other known examples, the candelabra of Trsat may be considered among the first cases of this typology in the goldsmith circle of Augsburg, and considering their provenance and the importance of their imperial donor, they are certainly special items in the rich heritage of artefacts made of precious metals preserved in the church treasuries of the eastern Adriatic.
Keywords
silverwork; wall candelabra; 17th century; Trsat; Emperor Leopold I; Augsburg; goldsmith Antoni Grill I
Hrčak ID:
170711
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2016.
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