© Moravská galerie v Brně


Name of Object:

Adoration of the Painting of the Virgin Mary of Znojmo

Location:

Znojmo, Moravia, Czech Republic

Holding Museum:

Museum of South Moravia, Znojmo

Current Owner:

Museum of South Moravia, Znojmo

Date of Object:

1678

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Jan Daniel de Herdt / Giovanni de Hertz

Museum Inventory Number:

O-336

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

h: 241 cm; w: 167 cm

Type of object:

Painting

Period of activity:

1646–1648 in Antwerp, Brescia, Vienna, Znojmo, Brno and Třebíč

Place of production:

Znojmo

Description:

The image within, praised by angels, is a painted reproduction of an adoration picture of the Virgin Mary of Znojmo which originated in the 1630s. Its subject is the miraculous transportation of the picture which, according to legend, was brought to its new location by angels. The gloomy landscape in the bottom section of the painting has, beyond doubt, an allegorical meaning, while the illuminated adoration image presents a reality higher than the earthly life, here represented by thistles, military fortresses and rocks. The artist accentuated the difference between the miraculous picture and mundane reality through quaint, rustic elements in the picture of the Virgin Mary, in terms appropriate to chronology and the taste of the period. On the other hand, the figures of the angels and the landscape are rendered in Herdt’s trademark warm red-brown and golden tones, revealing his Flemish training.
This sizeable painting is an example of the then popular picture-within-a-picture type. The intention of such paintings was to visually enhance, or “update”, well-known and already worshipped miracle-inspiring pictures. These “miraculous” pictures were displayed on altars, like relics, and as such were to be venerated. At the same time, pictures-within-pictures were employed, by Counter-Reformation and missionary orders in particular, for more striking presentations of “miraculous” pictures among ordinary town and country people.
The origination of the painting marks a key moment in the history of the worship of the miraculous Znojmo picture, since the burgeoning importance of the Znojmo Dominicans in South Moravia involved the cult of the Virgin Mary of Znojmo. One of the first mentions of a Marian brotherhood of the Holy Rosary, active in one of the chapels of the monastery complex, date to the same period. In 1734 the “miraculous picture” was festively crowned and placed on a new altar in the monastery church.

View Short Description

The canvas is typical of the picture-within-a-picture approach of the time, intended to visually “update” miracle-inspiring pictures. Rustic elements used in the painting within the painting contrast the sacred with the mundane; the warmly rendered angels and landscape reveal the artist’s Flemish training.

How date and origin were established:

The painting is signed and dated 1678. The Dominican monastery, established in Znojmo around the mid-13th century, suffered serious damage during the Thirty Years' War and was not substantially restored until several decades later. At that time, The Invention of the Holy Cross, a painting by Jan Daniel (de) Herdt a Dutch artist formerly active in Brescia, Italy, was obtained for the main altar. A year later, Herdt painted another canvas for the monastery, its subject being the adoration of a picture of the Virgin Mary of Znojmo.

How Object was obtained:

The painting was probably found in one of the chapels of the Dominican monastery church in Znojmo which was pulled down in the late 19th century. The picture was transferred to Znojmo Castle chapel, administered by the Museum of Znojmo since the early 20th century.

Selected bibliography:

Václav Richter – Bohumil Samek – Miloš Stehlík, Znojmo, Prague, 1966, p. 67.
Libor Šturc, in Pavel Ciprian – Libor Šturc, Staré umění Znojemska, stálá expozice gotického barokního umění ze sbírek Jihomoravského muzea ve Znojmě. Průvodce expozicí, Znojmo, 1996, p. 12, no. 15.
Jiří Kroupa, in: Dans le miroir des ombres. La Moravie a la age baroque 1760–1790, Brno–Paris–Rennes, 2002, pp. 93–94, cat. 7.

Citation of this web page:

Zora Wörgötter, Jiří  Kroupa "Adoration of the Painting of the Virgin Mary of Znojmo" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;cz;Mus11_E;1;en

Prepared by: Zora WörgötterZora Wörgötter

SURNAME: Wörgötter
NAME: Zora

AFFILIATION: Moravian Gallery in Brno

TITLE: Museum Curator and Local Co-ordinator

CV:
Zora Wörgötter studied Applied Painting at the Secondary School of Applied Arts, Video Art (Faculty of Fine Arts) at the University of Technology in Brno and Art History and Ethnology (Faculty of Arts) at Masaryk University, Brno. She has worked at the Moravian Gallery since 1997 and was curator of the Ancient Art Collection up until 2008. Specialising in Dutch and Central European painting of the 17th and 18th centuries, she has participated in the preparation of several exhibitions, catalogues and research projects in the Czech Republic and abroad, and published in the Moravian Gallery Bulletin, Opuscula historiae artium, and other journals. She is co-ordinator of the Art History Database www.ahice.net for the Czech Republic.
, Jiří KroupaJiří Kroupa

SURNAME: Kroupa
NAME: Jiří

AFFILIATION: Department of the History of Art (Faculty of Arts) Masaryk
University, Brno

TITLE: Professor

CV:
Professor Jiří Kroupa studied Art History, History and Sociology Masaryk University, Brno. He was a curator at the Kroměříž Museum and the Moravian Gallery in Brno before joining the staff at Masaryk University in 1988 (Head of the Department 1992–2002; Professor 1999 to present). His particular fields of interest are in the history of architecture, 18th-century cultural history and the methodology of art history. His long list of publications includes an edition on the architect Franz Anton Grimm and an essay “The alchemy of happiness: the Enlightenment in the Moravian context”. He was contributing editor for the volume Dans le miroir des ombres. Moravie a la age baroque. 1670–1790 (2002).

Copyedited by: Jiří KroupaJiří Kroupa

SURNAME: Kroupa
NAME: Jiří

AFFILIATION: Department of the History of Art (Faculty of Arts) Masaryk
University, Brno

TITLE: Professor

CV:
Professor Jiří Kroupa studied Art History, History and Sociology Masaryk University, Brno. He was a curator at the Kroměříž Museum and the Moravian Gallery in Brno before joining the staff at Masaryk University in 1988 (Head of the Department 1992–2002; Professor 1999 to present). His particular fields of interest are in the history of architecture, 18th-century cultural history and the methodology of art history. His long list of publications includes an edition on the architect Franz Anton Grimm and an essay “The alchemy of happiness: the Enlightenment in the Moravian context”. He was contributing editor for the volume Dans le miroir des ombres. Moravie a la age baroque. 1670–1790 (2002).

Translation by: Irma Charvátová
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: CZ 02

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