Inventive iconography in remote village churches: The fourteenth-century Lónya-Group

Béla Zsolt Szakács*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview Articlepeer-review

    Abstract (may include machine translation)

    Far from the medieval royal centres of the country, a number of village churches in eastern Hungary were researched and restored during the last decades of the twentieth century. During restoration, wall-paintings rich in iconographic subjects related to specific saints, were discovered. This material in Lónya was restored between 2000 and 2008, while further frescos were discovered in Laskod in 1994-1999 and Palágykomoróc in 2006-2012. They proved to be stylistically related to earlier known monuments in Csaroda and Gerény; thus the eastern Hungarian group presently consists of five churches. Traditionally dated to the late thirteenth century or more recently to the early fourteenth century, these churches are characterized by some unusual fresco representations. One group comprises rarely represented saints (e.g. St Julianna, St Gallus, John Chrysostom, St Januarius) and might also include the set of Hungarian dynastic saints, first represented on the private altar of King Andrew III around 1290. Another group consists of depictions of the unique Hungarian legend of St Ladislas; two of the very first occurrences of this cycle can be found in these churches (Laskod and Palágykomoróc). The third category consists of meditative images such as the Eucharistic Man of Sorrow (Laskod), the Mater Misericordiae (Lónya), and the Holy Kinship (Csaroda). These images were very modern at the beginning of the fourteenth century. The use of three basic image types (imago, historia and Andachstbild) in the same cycles was remarkable in itself. This practice can be observed in a contemporary illuminated manuscript connected to royal courtly circles and was probably transmitted to the region by the influential Druget family.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)213-220
    Number of pages8
    JournalIKON
    Volume14
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 2021

    Keywords

    • Druget family
    • Fourteenth century
    • Holy Kingship
    • Hungarian Kingdom
    • Man of sorrow
    • Mater Misericordiae
    • St Ladislas
    • Wall-painting

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