Zprávy památkové péče 2019, 79(3):235-244 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2019.3.02

God the Father with Angels in Tismice - a newly discovered commission of Josef Ignaz Mildorfer

Petr Arijčuk

NPÚ ÚOP v Josefově

The Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Tismice is a valuable testament to Romanesque architecture in Bohemia. The building has been primarily presented in literature as such. In contrast, the Baroque ceiling and wall paintings in the church's interior, dating back to the mid-1850s, have only been only marginally highlighted. The authorship of the paintings has traditionally been credited to a virtually unknown local chaplain, Jan Svoboda. The Baroque painting covers the entire surface of the arch over the presbytery as well as the shallow niches in the front walls of the two naves; other paintings are located in the individual arches of the main nave and above the choir box.
An earlier restoration of this Baroque painting from the second half of the 19th century influenced its previous appearance. A recent restoration carried out in 2016 and 2017 revealed an interesting visual transformation. Most of all, the part of the painting restored in the church presbytery demanded re-evaluation. Here, under an earlier general overpainting that preserved the almost fully original Baroque composition, containing the central figure of God the Father accompanied by a cluster of angels, an unusually high-quality Baroque painting was discovered and revitalized. The clearly exceptional quality of the painting as revealed by the restoration virtually eliminated the notion of Jan Svoboda as the author.
Research of period sources specified that the painting in the church presbytery originated in 1755, in association with the newly purchased main altar. It was ordered by Maria Theresa Anna Felicitas Duchess of Savoy, Countess of Carignan, née Princess of Liechtenstein (1694-1772), to whom Tismice belonged as part of her estate in Central Bohemia. The painting on the presbytery wall replaced the traditional altar painting, and a sanctuary was added above the new marble altar refectory, which held a medieval mercy statue of the Madonna. It was the Duchess of Savoy who addressed this particular painter. Although his name does not appear in the well-preserved and hitherto studied sources, the Duchess's written texts repeatedly mention the painter she will have sent to Tismice from Vienna.
The painter may be identified as Josef Ignaz Mildorfer (1719-1775), a painter active in Vienna; he was a distinctive personality associated with painting in the Austrian lands as well as Hungary and Moravia. Mildorfer repeatedly appears in the service of Maria Theresa of Savoy from the late 1840s and worked for the Duchess until the end of her life. His earliest works in her service were done for the famous Savoy Knight Academy in Vienna, then he later worked on decorations for the Viennese Institute of Noblewomen at the Viennese Ursuline Monastery on Johanngasse. The only surviving commissioned work that Mildorfer created for the Duchess, however, is now only the paintings in Tismice. Other works, including both listed in Vienna, were lost in the 19th century or are now hidden (as was the case in Tismice for a long time) under later renovation works.

Keywords: Tismice, Maria Theresa of Savoy, Josef Ignaz Mildorfer, Černý Kostelec estate, Viennese Academy, 18th-century Austrian painting, Vienna and Bohemia

Published: September 1, 2019  Show citation