Barokne skulpture iz kapele sv. Jakoba (Blažene Djevice Marije) na Očuri

Abstract

Gothic chapel of St Jacob (originally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary) in Očura (Gorjani Sutinski near Radoboj in Hrvatsko Zagorje) underwent Baroque modifications in the mid-18th century (1752). Its degradation, initiated with damage during World War II, primarily impacted the wooden inventory, including altar sculptures that adorned its interior. Among the surviving remnants of the once luxurious Baroque furnishing, a group of seven statues with uniform design features, evidently associated with the extensive furnishing campaign shortly after the building’s renovation, deserves special attention. Only two years later (1754), an Apostolic visitator described the appearance of the remodelled and newly furnished chapel, crediting the local (Mihovljan) parish priest Ivan Kukuljević, later appointed a Zagreb canon (1755), for the entire project. In the last year of his ministry, the symbolic completion of Kukuljević’s efforts to adorn the Očura chapel was marked by the establishment of a branch of the prominent Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, as indicated by a report from the canonical visitation conducted three years later (1758). Unfortunately, records from the aforementioned canonical visitation (as well as later ones) do not provide a detailed description of the newly erected altars or the iconographic programme of their statues. These are known only from a series of historical photographs from the first half of the 20th century, related to the chapel’s devastation. Given the fragmentary preservation of the sculptural ensemble in Očura and its generally poor condition, previous publications could offer only brief stylistic and formal analyses. Nevertheless, the harmonized design of the sculptures’ bases, the roughly hewn and hollowed-out backgrounds, their proportions, and their basic typology suggest that they are part of the same programme. Additionally, the morphological features of the drapery, physiognomy, and anatomy lead to the assumption that they were all produced by the same sculpting workshop. Based on the described affinities with works from the oeuvre attributed to Joseph Straub, it seems possible to connect the Očura statues with his circle, which – in addition to the master’s assistant and successor Joseph Holzinger – included other, anonymous sculptors active in the area of Lower Styria and north-western Croatia.