Maulbertsch és a tragikus festészet. A pápai plébániatemplom Szent István vértanú történetét ábrázoló mennyezetképei

Abstract

Abstract Special literature ascribes a distinguished role to the Papa cycle in both the late phase of Franz Anton Maulbertsch's oeuvre and in the history of late baroque ceiling painting. Its specific features are interpreted by the authors as manifestations of unfolding neo-classicism and the Enlightenment. The St Stephen cycle is, however, a series of history pictures set into the medium of fresco painting, and accordingly, the mode of rendering adapts to the classic, centuries-old tradition of history painting and is not necessarily the outcome of a period style. The utterances of the client, bishop of Eger Karoly Eszterhazy and Maulbertsch are to be interpreted as reflections upon the rules of this genre. The demand for dramatic unity is already discernible in the formulation of the scheme and recurs repeatedly in their correspondence. The narrative unfolding in the ceiling paintings in Papa can be taken for a painted tragedy of a complex plot based on Aristotle's notions of change of fate (peripeteia...