Central European Baroque Painting and Sculpture
Permanent exhibition in Mirbach Palace
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The works from the Bratislava City Gallery´s collection included in the permanent exposition represent the Central European art of the eighteenth century. Selected paintings and sculptures provide a comprehensive overview of art production in Bratislava in the Baroque period, put in a broader, Central European context.
In the 18th century, the art was mainly commissioned by sacral and church dignitaries who used Baroque art to demonstrate their social status. Most artists came to Bratislava to work for specific patrons.
Jozef Kurtz, for instance, settled in today´s capital to work under the patronage of Archbishop Imrich Esterházy. In addition to portraits of the archbishop, he also executed many church commissions. Among Kurz´s most appealing works in the GMB collection is the picture of St John Nepomucene, which naturally combines a sacral and a profane motif: the Bratislava castle in the background.
The oeuvre of a gifted painter Franz Anton Palko is represented by two impressive altarpieces from the Church of the Elevation of the Holy Cross (known as the Church of the Clarisses) in Bratislava: The Annunciation and Saint Claire. The exhibition also features the artist´s small-scale oil paintings depicting St John Nepomucene and St Hubertus.
Daniel Schmidely stands out among Bratislava artists as a portraitist of numerous noblemen as well as the members of the ruling family. The portrait of Johana de Walderode comes from the series “Ladies in Blue” and is one of the two paintings signed by the artist.
Most sculptural works featured in the permanent exposition were made by unknown artists, except for Andreas Johann Eglauer´s precisely curved sculptures of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist and Franz Xaver Messerschmidt´s works Capuchin and Character Heads, characterised by realistic depiction.
Artworks
The heart of the exhibition features works by painters such as Josef Kurtz, Daniel Schmideli, Paul Troger, Franz Anton Palko, and Franz Anton Maulbertsch, and pieces by sculptors such as Andreas Johann Eglauer and Franz Xaver Messerschmidt.
