St. Mary Magdalene
Zagreb, North-West Croatia, Croatia
Museum of Arts and Crafts
About Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb
The painting hung above the altarpiece in St. Mary’s Church, Zagreb until 1908
1770
Anton Cebej (1722, Ajdovčina-After 1774, Ljubljana)
MUO 5395
Oil on canvas
H: 182 cm; w: 105 cm
Boot-Makers’ Guild altarpiece, St. Mary’s Church, Zagreb
Altarpiece (painting)
1750–1774
Ljubljana
The altarpiece has a semi-circular top edge and shows the figure of St. Mary Magdalene placed in a shallow diagonal in the mid-ground behind step-like stone blocks. She is wearing a dress with long, wide, slightly flattened and relaxed folds and with her head thrown back, she is casting a repentant look at the sky, her hands around a large Crucifix. The scene, which takes place in a forest with a cave, has Mary Magdalene kneeling upon and leaning against natural stone blocks. Her other attributes are a whip with five lashes, a pot of ointment, a skull and an open book. The colours are muted and in many places dark, with an accent of light only on Magdalene's breast, face and hands and on the two angels' heads that peep from the cloud above the rounded cave opening.
St. Mary Magdalene, commissioned by the boot-makers' guild to hang above an altarpiece in St. Mary's Church in Zagreb, was the work of Anton Cebej, who besides Valentin Metzinger, Franjo Ilovšek and Fortunato Bergant was one of the most respected Slovenian painters of the time. Three years later, in 1773, the cobblers' guild commissioned a painting from him for an altarpiece, which depicts the Death of St. Joseph.
Cebej was particularly distinguished in religious compositions and portraits, and among his contemporaries, his style is closest to the Italian model. The professional crafts guilds of the same or different professions had a very strong humanitarian and religious component, and to express their religious obligations some guilds had their own altars of which they took permanent care, such as the guilds of Zagreb's Gradec already mentioned.
Removed during renovation of the church, the altars and paintings became the property of collector Solomon Berger, founder of the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb. The Museum of Arts and Crafts on several occasions bought or was donated pieces from his collection.
St. Mary Magdalene, commissioned by the boot-makers' guild to hang above an altarpiece they had also commissioned for St. Mary's in Zagreb, was painted by Anton Cebej, one of the most influential Slovenian painters of his time, distinguished in religious compositions and portraits. Among his contemporaries, Cebej's style is closest to the Italian model.
In the bottom right-hand corner, on the edge of the open page of the book is the signature “17 Antonius Zebey F.70.”
Acquired in 1935, the painting originally came from the estate of the art collector, Solomon Berger, in Zagreb, and was gifted to the Museum by the Royal Bank of the Savska Banovina Administration.
Buntak F., Župna crkva Sv. Marije u Zagrebu (Parish Church of St Mary in Zagreb), Zagreb, 1939.
Šerbelj F., Anton Cebej, 1722–1774, Ljubljana, 1991.
Nela Tarbuk "St. Mary Magdalene" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;hr;Mus11;12;en
Prepared by: Nela Tarbuk Nela Tarbuk
SURNAME: Tarbuk
NAME: Nela
AFFILIATION: Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb, Croatia
TITLE: Museum Counsellor, Head of the Sacral Sculpture, Ivory and Musical
Instrument Collections
CV:
Nela Tarbuk was awarded her BA in Art History and Comparative Literature from Zagreb University (Faculty of Philosophy). As head of the Museum if Arts and Craft’s Sculpture, Ivory and Musical Instruments collections, she has curated several exhibitions and written many articles. Her special research interests focus on sacral furniture. Exhibition catalogues include Culture of the Paulines in Croatia (1989), Jesuit Heritage in Croatia (1992), Peace and Virtue (2000), Hidden Treasures (2005) and Musical Instruments from the Holdings of the Museum of Arts and Crafts (2007).
Translation by: Nikolina Jovanović
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez
Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.
True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.
MWNF Working Number: HR 12
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