„Ut pictura meditatio”. A győri volt jezsuita rendház díszlépcsőinek dekorációja a jezsuita Mária-emblematika kontextusában

Abstract

This paper aims towards a contextual analysis of the emblematic decoration of the staircase of the former jesuit (today Benedictine) college in Győr, North-Western hun-gary. The decoration, created in 1697, visualizes the prayer Salve Regina, and its content is closely connected to the jesuit spiritual exercise of meditation. According to my interpretation, the emblems of the staircase offered a visual aid to the jesuit clerks, for their meditations on the significance of holy Mary. The emblems, thus, embody the idea of “Ut pictura meditatio”, as defined by Walter S. Melion.I offer an analysis of the meditational programme of the decoration of the Győr staircase, and a brief outline of its place in late 17th-century devotional emblematics. The source of the emblematic decoration could be found in the context of jesuit emblem literature and applied emblematics. Besides several analogous emblematic publications, according to my research, the visual source for the Győr programme was the Salve regina print-series by the Antwerp artist Anton Wierix. Through an analysis of this source, I aim to distance the interpretation of the staircase’s decoration from the former attempt of Éva Knapp, proposing that the decoration was based on creative visual translations of emblem-descriptions by jacob Masen.Through my interpretation of the emblems and their overall programme, the decoration of the Győr college could be placed in the context of jesuit meditation and applied emblematics. I also aim to elaborate on the practical function of the decorative programme, and thus widening our knowledge on early modern practices of emblematic meditation in monastic communities.