Die Deckenmalereien der Pauliner Wallfahrtskirche Sassin. Betrachtungen zum Freskowerk Jean-Joseph Chamants und Joseph Ignaz Mildorfers

Abstract

The paper analyses the baroque ceiling paintings of the Pauline pilgrimage church in Šaštín (Slovakia), signed in 1757 by Jean-Joseph Chamant, scene designer and theatre architect at the Vienna court and protégé of Emperor Franz I Stefan of Lorraine. In 1736 Franz Stefan purchased manors in the neighbourhood, thus became patron of the pilgrimage church in Šaštín, built in 1736–62. The Emperor and Queen Maria Theresa frequently visited the pilgrimage shrine while sojourning in their chateau in Holiè and contributed with significant donations to the construction of the church, and then to the decoration of the church interior: the high altar was commissioned by the Queen in 1762 and designed by the court architect Nikolaus Pacassi. According to archival sources Chamant's fee was paid by the Paulines, consequently the frescos can not be qualified as explicit court commission. Chamant was the primary contractor of the work, yet, being a scene designer, his contribution to the fresco cycle must have been limited to the painted architecture, including a trompe-l'oeil dome over the nave. The figurative compositions of the fresco cycle were carried out presumably by Joseph Ignaz Mildorfer, professor of the Vienna Art Academy, who received several court commissions in the 1750s. The fresco cycle consists of allegorical scenes referring to Christ's redeeming death, in correlation with the miraculous statue, a Pietà, placed on the high altar.