Abstract

Abstract The order of the hospitaller brothers of St John of God worked in Eger from 1726 to 1950. One of them, brother Lucas Huetter (†1760) adorned the window shutters of the monastic cells with paintings between 1749 and 1760. The oil paintings are equally 68×38 cm. The painter in Eger used for his pictures the late 16th century print series by Johannes and Raphael Sadeler made after the works of Antwerp painter Marten de Vos (1532–1603) (titles of the series: “Solitudo sive vitae patrum eremicolarum”, “Sylvae sacrae” and “Trophaeum vitae solitariae”). The twelve scenes on the six window shutters are tightly connected to the monastic way of living. In the first pair of shutters Martinianus and Evagrius exemplify triumph over temptation. The second pair (St Venerius and St Paul the Simple) stresses the importance of obedience. The saint hermits (St Mary the Egyptian, St William of Maleval and Onuphrius) and St Francis of Assisi are paragons of poverty, asceticism and self-denial. The saints on the window shutters of the third cell (St Ignatius of Loyola, St Isidore of Madrid, the hermits Mutius and Simeon) all receive celestial help for the execution of their tasks. In “The Imitation of Christ” Thomas à Kempis presents the holy hermits and sainted founders of the orders as examples to be imitated by the monks and all God-fearing people. The window shutters in Eger did not merely serve as decoration for the cells but filled clearly didactic, exemplary roles: how to overscome the difficulties of the everyday life, to keep focused on God and to become a saint.

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