CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2008
| Author | Sarkadi, Emese |
|---|---|
| Title | PRODUCED FOR TRANSYLVANIA. LOCAL WOKSHOPS AND FOREIGN CONNECTIONS - Studies of Late Medieval Altarpieces in Transylvania - |
| Summary | The studies of several aspects of late Medieval altarpieces in Transylvania presented in the thesis provide a selected overview of a larger topic, particularly concentrating on the problem of local workshops versus invited foreign masters. Along with nineteenth century literature published on the topic, early interest in the preserved altarpieces was mirrored by the care for them, by the fact that their restoration began at a very early date. A short overview of the sholarship and a history of the restoration attitude as it changed over the centuries is presented in the introduction of the thesis. Transylvanian altarpieces were mainly preserved in the territories inhabited by the Saxons. However, there are certain examples known from the Székely sedes, a region that remained overwhelmingly Catholic during the centuries but practically nothing was left from the retables in the region of the noble counties. A short part of the thesis deals with the historical, economic, ecclesiastical situation in these three large administrative territories naturally concentrating on their altar production and the written sources referring to this aspect. A brief characterization of the early period (fourteenth and the early fifteenth centuries) of Transylvanian winged altarpieces aims at providing an image of the very beginnings of altar production in or for Transylvania. The first significant period of Transylvanian winged altarpieces, a period from which the first large number of high quality retables has been preserved comes in the 1470s - 1480s. Although a strong foreign influence is evident, these are the first pieces which permit conclusions to be drawn on local workshop production practices versus foreign masters and also important stylistic trends in Transylvania. A group of retables from the time of King Matthias which almost exclusively characterize the period from the stylistic point of view, was selected in order to represent this era. These pieces reveal the strong influence of the Viennese Schottenmaster and his circle and are clustered in a quite narrow geographic region marked by the altarpieces of Mediasch (Mediaş, Medgyes), Grossprobstdorf (Proştea Mare, Nagyekemező), Birthälm (Biertan, Berethalom) and a wall-painting cycle from Schässburg (Sighişoara, Segesvár). Through a thorough analysis of these paintings along with the historical data related to the history of the given locality in that period, light has been shed on the circumstances under which these altarpieces came into being. The heyday of unmistakably local, Transylvanian winged altar production can clearly be grasped in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. In order to offer a glimpse into this world, one special workshop from sixteenth century Hermannstadt (Sibiu, Nagyszeben) has been selected and presented through the oeuvre of Master Vincentius. A catalogue at the end of the thesis contains detailed data and objective descriptions of the pieces discussed in the chapters. |
| Supervisor | Sebők, Marcell; Takács, Imre |
| Department | Medieval Studies PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2008/mphnae01.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University