Hagiografia, heraldyka, ideologia. Obrazy Johanna Jacoba Eybelwiesera młodszego dla klasztoru Franciszkanów Reformatów we Wrocławiu i ich fundatorzy

Abstract

This article analyzes paintings by the Wrocław painter Johann Jacob Eybelwieser the Younger (1667–1744) for the cloisters of the former Reformed Franciscan monastery in Wrocław. Only five of the original series of 22 oil paint­ings on canvas depicting scenes from the life of St. Anthony of Padua have been preserved. Today they embellish the interior of the parish church of St. Anthony of Padua in Wrocław-Karłowice. Among them are: Presentation of St. Anthony, St. Anthony’s Sermon on the Rain, Resurrection of the Dead, Confession of St. Anthony and Sermon of St. Anthony. The paintings feature the coats of arms and initials of the funders. Their exact identification is pos­sible thanks to the monastery chronicle written in 1750–1756, deposited in the National Archives in Prague. It re­cords that between 1719 and 1722, the friars received donations from 21 contributors to fund the creation of the cycle. Reading their names leaves no doubt that these were the most prominent representatives of the official elite, holding leading positions in the structures of the imperial administration, and in particular in its two most important institutions in Silesia – the Superior Office and the Silesian Royal Chamber. Therefore, the overarching aim of this article is to revisit the chronicle’s records of the cycle’s funding, to identify the donors, and to describe the surviving paintings, defining their ideological program, function, and purpose.

Keywords

• johann jacob eybelwieser młodszy
• malarstwo xviii w.
• wrocław
• franciszkanie
• heraldyka
• św. antoni padewski