Impression of a relief depicting standing saints; on the reverse: Christ on the Mount of Olives

Originally a relief depicting five standing saints adorned the feast-day side of a large-scale movable wing of a former winged altarpiece. Behind the impression left by the relief, a gilt, brocade-patterned background can be seen. The composition was crowned by a pierced, carved tracery decoration. The outer, workday side of the wing presented a depiction of the Mount of Olives. When the museum inventory was compiled the panel was presumably separated into two halves (which is why the left and right sides of the picture at present have two separate inventory numbers). Later, when the two sides were re-joined, their positions were reversed.

Provenance

Ipolyi Collection. ’90. Two versos of an altarpiece wing in one frame; the two together depict Christ and his disciples on the Mount of Olives. 15th-16th c. With overpainting.’ (Lakatos-Balla 293). Earlier they were mistakenly identified as items numbered 141 and 142.

Restauration

There is no information about the restoration of the work. The overpainting and infills observed on the strongly abraded, painted surface were probably done prior to the museum’s acquisition of the work.

Bibliography

• Lakatos-Balla Attila: Ipolyi Arnold püspök hagyatéka Nagyváradon. Miscellanea Historica Varadinensia III. Nagyvárad 2012 293.
• Boskovits Miklós-Mojzer Miklós-Mucsi András: Az esztergomi Keresztény Múzeum képtára (Budapest, 1964. Akadémiai Kiadó), 161-162, 309.
• Magyarország műemléki topográfiája I. Esztergom 1. Esztergom műemlékei (összeállította: Genthon István; Budapest 1948) 121.
• Kalauz a Bihar vármegyei és Nagyváradi Régészeti és Történelmi Egylet Múzeumához. Nagyvárad 1898., 90 sz.