Original scientific paper
St Leopold, Austriae Marchionis, within the Habsburg »Iconographic Panorama« of 18th-Century Croatia
Jasmina Nestić
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Odsjek za povijest umjetnosti
Abstract
The »iconographical image« of 17th- and 18th-century Croatia was greatly shaped by its political framework, the Habsburg Monarchy. The process of gradual liberation from Ottoman occupation was followed by a prolifi c period of restoration of catholic identities of Croatian cities. The choice of saints conveying new messages was directly infl uenced by the ruling House of Habsburg. The promotion of the Habsburg saints, whose canonisation processes they encouraged and spread their veneration all over the Monarchy, directly shaped the state’s iconographic stage. Refl ections of similar aspirations can be
discerned in numerous examples of Croatian 18th-century art: public stone monuments bearing distinct catholic messages emerged specially in frontier areas (with St John of Nepomuk as the most frequent saint), accompanied by an increased veneration of saints Joseph (especially as the patron of happy death) and Teresa of Ávila (four grandiose churches dedicated to her were built in only half a decade). The role of these signs was not only the dissemination of Tridentine aspirations, but they were also strong symbols of royal power. Unlike the overt promotion of the aforementioned saints, the veneration of the Holy King Leopold III of Babenberg (Melk 1073 – Klosterneuburg 1136) did not spread to Croatia. The infrequent appearance of his image in Croatian art makes the surviving artwork of the kind even more interesting, among which the painting of St Leopold from the Capuchin monastery in Osijek. The painting is considered in direct relation to the painting of the same subject in St Leopold’s Chapel in the Jesuit church in Vienna, derived from the same graphic model. The text is conceived as a contribution to the understanding of 18th-century painting in Slavonia and its relations to the Viennese royal milieu.
Keywords
St Leopold; House of Habsburg; post-Tridentine iconography; Osijek; the Capuchins
Hrčak ID:
188428
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2011.
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